LINK TO KICKSTARTER: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1474140048/toys-for-your-toys-science-fiction-wargaming-acces

Hi Guys and Girls,
Rhys from PDC Gaming here – some of you already know me from The Games Shop in Aldershot, UK !

Here at PDC we have been hacking around with the idea of making some Injection Mould Tools for plastic war games components and accessories in 28mm – as PDC Ltd, Plastic is what we do for a living – and, as a good portion of us are modellers and gamers, it has been almost a natural progression!

Below are some of the images from the Concept CAD work we have been doing:

you can find more of these on our Facebook page - PDC Gaming on Facebook - swing by and see what we have been up to!


Other Manufacturers Miniatures shown for Scale Purposes ONLY.

As you can also see from these images, we have been using our Rapid Prototyper to produce First Pass prototype models – these allow us to check things like scale, fit, and whether the components are suitable for manufacture in a plastic injection environment.
So – to the end of my ramble!
On May the 4th 2013 (Happy Star Wars Day!) we will be launching our First Kickstarter Campaign!
PDC Gaming Kickstarter - The Page is currently being updated in readiness for Saturday's launch, stand by for more details!
Our funding target is only £10,000 – this would enable us to lay down 3 different injection mould tools to run here in the UK – using the machines we already have at PDC Towers.
The pictures below show samples from the Assault Rifle prototype tool which we have manufactured in the run-up to the launch of the campaign – sprues from this will be up for grabs at certain levels of the Kickstarter!

Please swing by and give us a look – hopefully you like what we’re doing!

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1474140048/toys-for-your-toys-science-fiction-wargaming-acces
Cheers,
All the Boys @ PDC Gaming.

If you would create a quad barreled gun tracked gun, I would certainly consider ordering three.

Well, the treaded contraption is very cool! Will definitely watch this.

 Valhallan42nd wrote:
If you would create a quad barreled gun tracked gun, I would certainly consider ordering three.

http://www.manticgames.com/Shop-Home/Warpath/Forge-Fathers/Vehicles/Product/Forge-Father-Jotunn-Heavy-Hailstorm-Cannon-Bundle.html

Very interesting. The gun seems bland, will your kits for the kickstarter be more detailed?


Automatically Appended Next Post:
I do like the idea of the tracked heavy weapon platform. Place it on a 60mm base with two infantry and you have an easy way to make heavy weapon teams.

 RiTides wrote:
Well, the treaded contraption is very cool! Will definitely watch this.

Agreed. Id like to have a couple to use as autonomous gun platforms. Kinda like a tracked version of Tau gun drones.

Depending on the size the heavy weapons might make good guns for 10/15mm mecha as well. Ill be keeping an eye on this for sure...I may be able to use a bunch of this stuff.

Hmmm plastic....

Will have to keep an eye on this

This I like! They will make excellent additions to my SM force. I notice some Jetbike renders on your Facebook as well, any plans to have them show up on the ks? I can tell you that I would be in for at least 5 of them.

Edit: Ah, just checked your Kickstarter page, roll on jetbikes!

The detail looks to shallow, almost toy-ish.

Subbed.

I am not quite understanding the pledges...

If I wanted 3 of the 'tracked gun' I can pledge "The main event" (ME)

My ork Big gunz could use some TLC, so I would be interested in getting possibly 9 of these 'guns' and magnetising the barrels, or if cheap enough 15 guns and just having extras (9 kannons, 3 lobbas, 3 Zzaps)

 Riquende wrote:

 Valhallan42nd wrote:
If you would create a quad barreled gun tracked gun, I would certainly consider ordering three.

http://www.manticgames.com/Shop-Home/Warpath/Forge-Fathers/Vehicles/Product/Forge-Father-Jotunn-Heavy-Hailstorm-Cannon-Bundle.html

Thank you, but no. I'm not fond of Mantic's scale.

 Valhallan42nd wrote:

 Riquende wrote:

 Valhallan42nd wrote:
If you would create a quad barreled gun tracked gun, I would certainly consider ordering three.

http://www.manticgames.com/Shop-Home/Warpath/Forge-Fathers/Vehicles/Product/Forge-Father-Jotunn-Heavy-Hailstorm-Cannon-Bundle.html

Thank you, but no. I'm not fond of Mantic's scale.

And potentially, this is 3 guns for £10.00 opposed to 3 guns for £30.00. (If I understand the pledge correctly, you can potentially get 10 guns for £30.00)

 Lockark wrote:
The detail looks to shallow, almost toy-ish.

I'm not saying that you're wrong, but I think that this is almost a strength, rather than a weakness. I've seen some other 3rd party bits makers that have decent designs that are either too busy, or the detail is soft, or some other problems. This is simple, straightforward and clean. I'd be interested in more of this company's stuff, and will keep my eye out for a KS if they go that route.

-C6

 Commander Cain wrote:

Spoiler:

This I like! They will make excellent additions to my SM force. I notice some Jetbike renders on your Facebook as well, any plans to have them show up on the ks? I can tell you that I would be in for at least 5 of them.

Edit: Ah, just checked your Kickstarter page, roll on jetbikes!

Where did you find the painted pic spoilered above? (On the kickstarter placeholder page?)

I can see both sides, that these could use a little more detail, but are at least nice and clean. Like I said, will be watching!

 RiTides wrote:

 Commander Cain wrote:

Spoiler:

This I like! They will make excellent additions to my SM force. I notice some Jetbike renders on your Facebook as well, any plans to have them show up on the ks? I can tell you that I would be in for at least 5 of them.

Edit: Ah, just checked your Kickstarter page, roll on jetbikes!

Where did you find the painted pic spoilered above? (On the kickstarter placeholder page?)

I can see both sides, that these could use a little more detail, but are at least nice and clean. Like I said, will be watching!

The facebook page has some I believe.

These guys are my local FLGS etc so thumbsup from me

Those are some gnarly mold lines you got on those things, bud. You really need to look into QC of either your mold cutting or your casting. Something's gone soft somewhere.

I really like that weapon platform you've got there and the jetbike renders I'm seeing could be very interesting!

 Lockark wrote:
The detail looks to shallow, almost toy-ish.

These are prototypes, expect rivet heads, dials etc in production models.

Look us up on Facebook!

Regards

Celt

Admin, PDC Gaming


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Breotan wrote:
Those are some gnarly mold lines you got on those things, bud. You really need to look into QC of either your mold cutting or your casting. Something's gone soft somewhere.

Hi there!!

These are from the prototype tool - production parts will come from new tooling - see our "real" (ah-hem) business site www.pdclimited.net for our pedigree and www.protomould.co.uk for our manufacturing business (though unless Kickstarter goes orbital we would still manufacture these parts on our development machines in Winchester - tool life guarantee 10k shots)

Look us up on Facebook for more pics and info

Regards

Celt

Admin, PDC Gaming

Looks good, and I love the concept, but you guys need a proper sculptor hired, and not just some of your own 3d designs... they look more like playmobil than wargames parts at the moment.

Just being totally honest, there. There's not many people making plastic sprues, so I'd love this to succeed, but the sculpt and design quality needs to be a bit better.

The only thing I would say looks passable are the not-bolters, and even there you've made the classic 3d sculpt newbie mistake of making the detail too shallow on the digital designs so that it gets a little lost on the 28mm final sculpts. It all looks like a selection of shapes arranged together rather than something designed to look cool from the ground up (the underhang on some of the combi-bolters looks bad, especially on the one with the triangle-shaped bit underneath it). If you're not an artist, hire one.

Still, it's a great idea.. perhaps you might look into setting up business as a plastic sprue manufacturer for-hire in the UK? At the moment, there is Renedra, and no-one else with the skills required to make/ interest in making plastic sprues for wargamers, and their prices are *extremely* expensive.. £40k for a small sprue and an 18 month wait. If you set up shop as an alternate tooling company based in the UK, you'd get a LOT of business. Not everyone wants to work with Chinese toy companies to get their sprues tooled (Mantic had their goblins tooled in China, and the end result was terrible, blobby sprues lacking detail, much worse than your prototype sprue, which is very nicely cast), there is a huge gap in the market there, at the moment it's basically "Renedra or nothing". If you just contact a few companies with an offer, you'd get interest, it's as simple as that.

Good luck!

3 "tracked cannnons" for £10? I will be on for a bit of that.

The main area that could do with some improvement are the tracks but otherwise looking decent an very good for the price.

I've been lucky enough to see some of these "bits" up close (the gun carriages are wonderful and could be a good jumping off point for all kinds of conversions, I'm thinking Iron Warriors Chaos spawn might work).

For anyone else, diving straight into plastics would be an enormous challenge and risk, the fact that they do this as a day job means that they're miles ahead of where a lot of people would be.

Personnally, I'm in for a pledge, can't wait to see what you guys are going to come up with and good luck.

 scarletsquig wrote:
Looks good, and I love the concept, but you guys need a proper sculptor hired, and not just some of your own 3d designs... they look more like playmobil than wargames parts at the moment.

Just being totally honest, there. There's not many people making plastic sprues, so I'd love this to succeed, but the sculpt and design quality needs to be a bit better.

The only thing I would say looks passable are the not-bolters, and even there you've made the classic 3d sculpt newbie mistake of making the detail too shallow on the digital designs so that it gets a little lost on the 28mm final sculpts. It all looks like a selection of shapes arranged together rather than something designed to look cool from the ground up (the underhang on some of the combi-bolters looks bad, especially on the one with the triangle-shaped bit underneath it). If you're not an artist, hire one.

Still, it's a great idea.. perhaps you might look into setting up business as a plastic sprue manufacturer for-hire in the UK? At the moment, there is Renedra, and no-one else with the skills required to make/ interest in making plastic sprues for wargamers, and their prices are *extremely* expensive.. £40k for a small sprue and an 18 month wait. If you set up shop as an alternate tooling company based in the UK, you'd get a LOT of business. Not everyone wants to work with Chinese toy companies to get their sprues tooled (Mantic had their goblins tooled in China, and the end result was terrible, blobby sprues lacking detail, much worse than your prototype sprue, which is very nicely cast), there is a huge gap in the market there, at the moment it's basically "Renedra or nothing". If you just contact a few companies with an offer, you'd get interest, it's as simple as that.

Good luck!

Hi There!

Our development speciality is engineering product (ie mechanical rather than biomorphic forms) - we can have functional rapid tools with a capability of 10k shots in 2-3 weeks from receipt of CAD and deposit. Our tooling uses a modular tool chassis (similar to the established MUD - multi-unit-dock production tooling solution) - to be honest if the kickstarter went to £20k we'd lay down all the tools as fully hardened production MUD tools and drop the eventual RRP to say £5 a sprue - but we don't know if the kickstarter will even fund so *gulp* who can tell!!! As I said in previous posts look at our "day job" company websites for an idea of what we can do...

Further down the line we can look to branch out into more "artistic" directions but that's why our first offering is weapons and vehicle bits - we're "learning" sculpt CAD and already have some outline designs for actual figures - but we don't want to compete with Mantic/GW or anyone else - we're in in for the craic and want PDC Gaming to be all about the hobby and having fun - any money made will be reinvested to make more toys (minus a few rounds at the bar).

TO THE POPULATION of DakkaDakka - if any of you want to talk to us about moulding figures and accessories - get in touch - we're new to toy manufacture but ancient to plastic materials and processing - will gladly trade shares in the business for designs...

If you'd like to pop in and visit we'd be delighted to show you what we're up to (and probably pick your brains!?! ) - our 3D printing kit is as used by A N Other gaming company to make their masters - so we have the gear to do things right!!

Regards

Celt, Admin, PDC Gaming

If those weapon platform guns would fit on a dreadnought, I'll be up for a few sprues.

Any chance of seeing a sprue of nice chunky wheels or a modular track system? I really miss the old Imperial Guard tank track sprues; they were such a great resource for scratchbuilders. Wheels and tracks are also the worst parts of a vehicle to have in resin or metal, because they come into direct contact with the table and get chipped to hell.

Want to pledge, kickstarter not open, will likely not remember this exists when it does eventually open

May 4th !! - only 2 days to wait -

celticfable, thanks for posting! It seems you guys have great plastic ability... if you can match that with some great designs, I think you'd make a lot of people very happy

Maybe I missed it in the KS, but what is the expected 'turn around' from end of Kickstarter to having molds machined and sprues in-hand?

"Maybe I missed it in the KS, but what is the expected 'turn around' from end of Kickstarter to having molds machined and sprues in-hand?"

Hi There --

Pledge special items (prototype sprues, resin product masters and "supersize" bits) within one month of launch - the main run of product will be sent out in September 2013 - we're giving ourselves plenty of time to make it PERFECT.

Regards

Celt

Admin, PDC Gaming


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Silly video of PDC people now up on Pdc Gaming's Facebook page - catch it quick before it gets pulled!!!!

Regards

Celt

Admin, PDC Gaming

What a tease, with me stuck at work and facebook inaccessible!

Well, I for one like the cleaner aesthetic on the tracked gun carriage. I'll back this, especially since it isn't that expensive. Maybe it'll give me the extra kick I need to get working on kitbashing a techmarine for my Relictors.

Thanks for all the feedback guys, very useful !

Can't believe we are only 12 hours away from launch !!!

I will certainly be backing this if only to see you guys succeed!

I am pretty sure there are quite a few skilled 3D designers on Dakka and that they do some commission work from time to time, can't remember their names for the life of me though...

Also, am I correct in thinking that Joel from Anvil Industries has been in touch with you? Plastic models from him would be a dream come true!

Only one and a half hours to go until launch !! - I am quite excited, if you had not already guessed ! :O)

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1474140048/toys-for-your-toys-science-fiction-wargaming-acces

Our Kickstarter is up.... And may god have mercy etc etc...

Wish us luck!


Celt

Admin, PDC Gaming

Cool stuff, good prices. It's nice to see something that isn't dumpy, disproportional, or just silly. Pledged with pleasure. This stuff will find a home all over my armies.

The oversized gun looks awesome. As an ork player I would love these in both sizes.

I can't tell if the gun comes off of the carriage. That gun looks very much like a scatterlaser, but I'd rather put something like an autocannon, lascannon, or even a battlecannon on that thing... Can the weapons from the heavy weapon sprue be put on them?

I LOVE your capabilities!

I do think the designs could use a bit of polish- but I like the tracked gun quite a bit . That jetbike WIP cad model (for the stretch goal) needs a bit of work, though.

All the best in this endeavor, and even if it doesn't take off, I hope you guys stick around! Seems like you could do some great things if and when your excellent production capabilities get combined with some really good 3D models

I second what RiTides said in both ways. I'd love to get up on something like this, but you guys are (so just barely) missing the mark with the designs. I will definitely be watching this for furtehr developments, it's a hell of a swing the first time out of the gate.

Things I would change:

Raise the ammo drum just a little into the body of the gun
The additional underslung weapons need some more detailing - not much, just a hair. The one that looks like a heat ray type weapon is fine, but the one with the droop on the end, which I am guessing might be a flame unit? I'd change the shape of the vents to further distinguish it, maybe circular ones.

The tracked vehicle is very solid as is, I think. I'd like to see slightly larger ordnance on it, perhaps the possibility to magnetize it for different guns (that is maybe already in the design).

The prices are great. They are so great.

Ah the kickstarter is ago! I will pledge in the morning when I am more awake, save one of the bigger early birds for me!

I pledged a bit. I'm quite excited about what I am seeing here, and if the eventual stretch goal designs are neat, I'll go for them, too.

Funny that back in September I pitched this exact idea here on dakka: http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/476937.page

Glad to see someone with the means get it up and running. Now to see if it's a project I'm down to back.

Ahhhh.... It's so little money to help a little guy with such promise get started, how could I say no? I'm in.

 Aerethan wrote:
Funny that back in September I pitched this exact idea here on dakka: http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/476937.page

Glad to see someone with the means get it up and running. Now to see if it's a project I'm down to back.

Hi Aerethan

Just finished reading that thread.... Very interesting indeed!?

When I set up PDC Limited (the serious engineering outfit) nearly 5 years ago I used some spare cash to try and implement the basic set up that was outlined in the thread... I bought a Galomb hand moulder and a second hand micro mill - total outlay $4000. I played at it in my spare time a d discovered that: resin tools make a handful of pieces and then begin to deteriorate ( and I went through all different types ending up with the metal loaded stuff that goes through a complicated annealing process to boost its max temperature resistance), anything less than a full on workshop lathe (second hand about $6000) doesn't cut metal that well, you actually need a spark eroder to get the cavity shapes of anything more detailed than the minimum radii of your cutter and after all that the size of the mould on these hand moulders is very small!, very finicky to work with and really is only good for say making 25mm custom bases... And a REALLY good 3D printer (circa 25micron(metric!)) accuracy is a godsend too... Add $70k to the pot...

PDC now has lots of equipment and out of hours capacity to let PDC Gaming dive in and play. I agree with the post about it being a tough commercial pitch - although our model pays PDC Ltd for the actual sprue moulding process it wouldn't fund the whole entity as a stand-alone; and needs the staff to do all the development work for free... And access to a full-on engineering business prepared to be flexible with their kit.

Luckily if our Kickstarter funds it will output a viable suite of mould tools that would then be able to operate anywhere - allowing the business to eventually spin off from PDCLimited - though prolbably to the garage of one of the founders! ;-) and because we will be running a modular tool build additional tools will become even more affordable (hence the stretch goal extras)

Many thanks for highlighting a very interesting post; I've been in the plastics industry for 25 years and this modelling project has been one of my most difficult (and that's down to working on a thin budget, not the complexity of the thing!?)

Wish us luck!

Celt

Admin, PDC Gaming

celticfable wrote:

 Aerethan wrote:
Funny that back in September I pitched this exact idea here on dakka: http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/476937.page

Glad to see someone with the means get it up and running. Now to see if it's a project I'm down to back.

Hi Aerethan

Just finished reading that thread.... Very interesting indeed!?

When I set up PDC Limited (the serious engineering outfit) nearly 5 years ago I used some spare cash to try and implement the basic set up that was outlined in the thread... I bought a Galomb hand moulder and a second hand micro mill - total outlay $4000. I played at it in my spare time a d discovered that: resin tools make a handful of pieces and then begin to deteriorate ( and I went through all different types ending up with the metal loaded stuff that goes through a complicated annealing process to boost its max temperature resistance), anything less than a full on workshop lathe (second hand about $6000) doesn't cut metal that well, you actually need a spark eroder to get the cavity shapes of anything more detailed than the minimum radii of your cutter and after all that the size of the mould on these hand moulders is very small!, very finicky to work with and really is only good for say making 25mm custom bases... And a REALLY good 3D printer (circa 25micron(metric!)) accuracy is a godsend too... Add $70k to the pot...

PDC now has lots of equipment and out of hours capacity to let PDC Gaming dive in and play. I agree with the post about it being a tough commercial pitch - although our model pays PDC Ltd for the actual sprue moulding process it wouldn't fund the whole entity as a stand-alone; and needs the staff to do all the development work for free... And access to a full-on engineering business prepared to be flexible with their kit.

Luckily if our Kickstarter funds it will output a viable suite of mould tools that would then be able to operate anywhere - allowing the business to eventually spin off from PDCLimited - though prolbably to the garage of one of the founders! ;-) and because we will be running a modular tool build additional tools will become even more affordable (hence the stretch goal extras)

Many thanks for highlighting a very interesting post; I've been in the plastics industry for 25 years and this modelling project has been one of my most difficult (and that's down to working on a thin budget, not the complexity of the thing!?)

Wish us luck!

Celt

Admin, PDC Gaming

I agree that quality machinery is the crux of making the idea work, and you are quite fortunate to have access to said equipment early on from an already established company.

Once I figure out exactly which pledge level I want, I will definitely be adding my name to the list of supporters.

At work right now, i will pledge the exact moment i hit home. Your "Rifle Sprue" made it for me...

Waiting for the jetbikes and anything else you guys could do...

The Kickstarter is gathering momentum, thanks a lot guys !

BTW: The gun on the tracked unit does come off , it even tilts !!

I have not tried a Guard Heavy weapon in them, but I am sure they will fit after a little modding !

Thanks again
The Buzz

Admin, PDC Gaming

The Buzz, you might want to edit the first post to say at the top somewhere that the kickstarter is live and putting the link to it there . I know there is a link to it in the OP but it's kind of buried and still says "when it goes live" rather than that it's live.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Okay, you got me! I have pledged. One more thought, I think you will soon want to consider adding a pledge level that yields 8-10 sprues. That's one thing about Kickstarter, once people commit, then tend to want more

Or if you don't want to add a pledge level, you may want to add a "sprue add-on price" if you want to give people the option to get more. Right now, the most anyone can choose is 5.

So for myself, if the project succeeds I'd be getting 3 tracked weapons and 2 heavy weapon sprues. But if we made it to the hand-to-hand weapons, I'd want some way of adding them if possible.

Also, if throughout the course of this project you are able to make an alternate barrel tip for the tracked gun- you'll get a ton of business from people wanting to use them as stand-ins for these:

http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/catalog/productDetail.jsp?catId=cat440276a&prodId=prod1600062a

Something to consider! That's what I'd be using them for, perhaps with a bit of converting, and it opens up your market a Lot.

Very cool idea and I hope you succeed

I'd consider a 4-barrelled weapon to include for your tracked unit too. But this is looking good. I'm a backer.

For some reason kickstarter does not want to accept my Visa card so I will have to try again later.

I am simply astounded by the price... I'm in. Not so much for the different weapon spruces, but the tractor unit... Gun design is nice too, dare i say original?


I'd love to see any stretches expand upon the tracked unit... How about a mortar variant?

OK fellas , im in!!

Suggestion -- Big fat beefy wheels for our Orkies!!!

And I second the whole "Sprue of tank treads" -- make the treads in big sections and little singles.

Got my pledge in this morning. I hope this turns into a successful Kickstarter. Have you been promoting on other boards/sites?

The combi-melta looking rifles look like they might find a home in some of my models, not so sure about the other combination rifles.

Absolutely no clue what I'd use the treaded gun carriages for, but they're neat. For 22GBP (shipped), what the heck, I'm in for a BEB.

One thing I wasn't clear on, will the tracked weapon things come with a full set of the gun bits? If so, jebus, I'm definitely in. Bits up the dang wazoo.

Edit: Took a look at the page again. It looks like there's a base piece to the gun, and then a hopper-type attachment and a barrel-type attachment. So you'd have one base, and then glue/magnet the other two pieces onto that. Sound about right?

Hm. I might have to pledge if only for the tracked turrets. Would make an excellent, cheaper alternative to the various Rapiers from Forge World.

I think you only get one gun with each carriage. But for the 22 pound early bird pledge (including international shipping) you get 5 sprues, which could be:

3 tracked guns
2 heavy weapon sprues

You also get 30 of the combi-weapons from their prototype run. It seems as if these actually will ship as soon as the campaign ends, and the rest later in the year. Probably why those pledges are so limited. I have one of them

All for 22 pounds... the price here is pretty impressive!

If you just want 3 sprues, you can get the 12 pound pledge (again including shipping). And get something like 2 tracked weapons and 1 heavy weapon sprue, PLUS one of the combi-weapon prototype sprues (which again would ship as soon as the campaign is finished).

Both are really, Really cheap... the wonders of mass-production, I guess

 Barzam wrote:
Got my pledge in this morning. I hope this turns into a successful Kickstarter. Have you been promoting on other boards/sites?

I've seen one running on the Reaper forums

Tracked gun is great, A Wheeled gun would be also great for so many games.

I also agree about 10-packs... I easily need 10 big gunz....

The stuff shown so far looks great, but is unfortunately nothing I currently have a need for.

 insaniak wrote:
The stuff shown so far looks great, but is unfortunately nothing I currently have a need for.

Hi there

Don't be too dismayed by our initial offering - which seems a bit.... Well... "Human"

Our Kickstarter funds the master unit dock tool base that makes future tools cheaper...

Rough break even on a set of core & cavity inserts (the bits inside the mould base that actually form the thing you want) for this type of injection tool is about 500 sprues - but that would be more if you had to make each tool as a "stand alone".

We've spent a couple of years developing a cost effective, low volume injection moulding process... Which is commercially viable in the world of product development - and this process would work for gaming too...

If (and that is still a big "if") we launch, our website would host pre-launch ballots that would trigger the production of new sprues after an "intent to buy" vote of 500 sprues... So our customers would direct our production... Meaning we would hopefully be making things that would sell...

We've had some really good ideas put forward already (thank you and please keep 'em coming!) and we think there is a market for injection moulding in this sector - the Kickstarter might be the way to start it....

Please spread the word and wish us luck!

Regards

Celt
Admin, PDC Gaming

Was wondering how much movement you have on the positive and negative z axis for your moulds? Hope that makes sense? Essentially how large can you go component wise for things like tyres, tank hull parts etc without having to further break into components?

UNCLEBADTOUCH wrote:
Was wondering how much movement you have on the positive and negative z axis for your moulds? Hope that makes sense? Essentially how large can you go component wise for things like tyres, tank hull parts etc without having to further break into components?

In development/low volume we form undercuts via loose inserts in the tool - or if moulding in soft material (why not make tyres from rubber??) the component would simply peel off the core. In volume (10k upwards) production hydraulic or mechanical actions would pull these inserts clear before the part was ejected.

We make tyres for CREATIVE ROBOTICS (search HUBee robot motor) - in fact we did all their tooling and plastics... Look them up!

We are offering a new "product development" pledge where we'd actually do tool layout and commercial assistance for just this type of request.... A snip at £500

If there's an appetite for it I can post some tool info showing how this stuff is done... Though maybe off-forum as it might be considered off-topic!!

Regards

Celt
Admin, PDC Gaming

Ps size wise - our development system moulds are about 10"x5"x3" XYZ of useable space, max shot weight 80g (ie heaviest thing it can make in one go!?)

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1474140048/toys-for-your-toys-science-fiction-wargaming-acces

UPDATE:

After only 40 hours, we are over 25% funded! £2500 and climbing! Thanks so much to everyone who has pledged so far - rest assured, further updates and prototypes will be produced for your viewing pleasure this coming week!

Keep those pledges coming!
Rhys

Admin, PDC Gaming
(Link fixed)

I think that's a broken link, Buzz (at least, it is for me).

Keeping my eye on this. Thinking of using the Tracked Weapons as a base for Grot Tanks.

Yeah, the link here is broken (it has the ... instead of the original). The one in the first post is fine.

Still buried in the middle of the first post, though! Buzz, you can edit it to put it at the top for folks checking here for the first time

Watching this one... seems interesting! I'm particularly interested in the stretch goals... the melee weapon sprue looks like it'll be good for some homemade warscythes!

Might as well pledge for this, I'm sure I could find a use for lots of guns at some point, hmm I do have a lot of the old Warzone Bauhaus plastics hanging around (120 of the buggers) they could look pretty damn good with some of these weapons on them. Now what would I do for tanks.....

Oh great thanks guys you've got me planning another Imperial Guard project and I've already got one on the go.

I remembered that I looked at this last week - pledge made today!

Pledged. This is a great project and excellent value.

One thing I'd very much like to see is a scythe blade added to the close combat weapons sprue alongside the various speartips etc - would be good for people doing things like Scythes of the Emperor (like me) as well as Death Guard etc.

pgmason wrote:
Pledged. This is a great project and excellent value.

One thing I'd very much like to see is a scythe blade added to the close combat weapons sprue alongside the various speartips etc - would be good for people doing things like Scythes of the Emperor (like me) as well as Death Guard etc.

That would be awesome. I've wanted to put scythes on a few of my models and, well, my scratch building isn't all that great yet. I'd love to grab a sprue with something already like that on it.

Posted in the comments:

PDC Gaming wrote:the hand to hand weapons sprue will contain the items shown (plus some scythe-like ends if we can squeeze them into the tool!?!)

Yay, they're reading this thread . A scythe would be sweet!

 RiTides wrote:
Posted in the comments:

PDC Gaming wrote:the hand to hand weapons sprue will contain the items shown (plus some scythe-like ends if we can squeeze them into the tool!?!)

Yay, they're reading this thread . A scythe would be sweet!

Hi RiTides.... Yes, we're watching YOU. - And we intend to cram as many bits as we can into every sprue!

We're at 33% funding after 5 days but the next 67% is going to be hard work - since we're new to Kickstarter (normally our clients come to PDC, give us a bag of gold and then we go away and sort out their plastic components for them) I'm asking you Dakkanauts for suggestions (since links from this thread have provided 20% of the funding so far I hope there are some pro-launch folks reading) for boosting funding.

I was thinking of posting the following to existing backers and as an edit on the Kickstarter - feedback please!!!!!

"Hi folks

We're a third of the way to the launch goal after 5 days - many thanks for your support!!

Several backers have asked about follow-on sprues at Kickstarter rates. Looking at other projects they all seem to state that "over pledge" amounts will be dealt with in the post launch survey stage (when we'll be asking you what types of sprue you'd like us to send you).

This of course allows us to hopefully boost our funding (and thus increase the chance of success) and you, our backers, to get more sprues at Kickstarter rates...

So here's the pitch - for every £10 pledged above the minimum pledge level we will provide 3 more sprues (+£1 postage for outside the UK) to your total number of sprues.

Regards

Fergus"

Since feedback from retailers is they'd want an RRP of £7 this seems a good offer.... Maybe?

I look forward to hearing from you

Regards

Celt
Admin, PDC Gaming

Post this Kickstarter on every Miniature forum, facebook and wargaming page to get exposure.

And an event with scantily clad ladies usually also helps

So I am pledged for an Early Bird Bonus atm giving me three sprues so if I pledged an additional 10 quid I would receive a total of 6 sprues correct?

 Commander Cain wrote:
So I am pledged for an Early Bird Bonus atm giving me three sprues so if I pledged an additional 10 quid I would receive a total of 6 sprues correct?

Hi Commander Cain

A bit better than that actually - on this deal you will IMMEDIATELY get a combined assault weapon sprue on launch (we have several hundred from our prototype tool in stock!) and then with the additional £10 SIX sprues when you complete the tools... Making SEVEN sprues in total.

Many thanks for your support (and please spread the word!)

Regards

Celt
Admin, PDC Gaming

well thats an extra £10 from me

Me too!

I stumbled across this kickstarter today and must say I am VERY interested in your heavy weapons sprues they would be amazing for my Space Wolves Wulfen army. However your kickstarter doesn't really clarify that whether the heavy weapon sprues are amongst those available for choosing when you pledge at say the "Main Event" level. I know it states any of the "accessory sprues produced" but is a heavy weapon sprue included under that heading? I apologize if it's a dumb question I'd just like some clarification before I send in a pledge with my American "we're not worth as much as your Pounds Sterling" Dollars.

celticfable wrote:
Don't be too dismayed by our initial offering - which seems a bit.... Well... "Human"

Oh, don't get me wrong, I don't have a problem with what you're offering, and I really, really hope it goes well for you. My post was really just by way of explaining why, as much as your product looks good, I wouldn't be backing the Kickstarter.

I'll certainly be watching for future developments, thought

So how many rifle/carbine weapons will be on a final sprue? And how about heavy weapons?

The heavy weapons render shows 8 different varieties, but the KS page also states that there will be 5 varieties - and how many of those will be on a sprue? Same question for the close combat stuff.

With the tracked heavy weapons, the tracks look very "toy like" right now, especially when they're painted. If you took some small divots out of the sides it would help to make them look like actual separate tracks. Similarly, the wheels lack detail. It wouldn't take much to add a little bit of rivet detail that is easily picked out by washing/drybrushing.




Either, or better yet, both of these improvements would help the tracked sets become a lot less "toy like".

Thanks Aza. There was something about those tracked units that felt a bit off to me but I couldn't place it, and I think you nailed what it was. You could probably obscure the 'Toy-ness' of them with some heavy mud and weathering, but it'd be nice if you didn't need to hide stuff.

Alternatively you could just add your own rivets.

https://www.tichytraingroup.com/Shop/tabid/91/c/ho_nbw--rivets/p/8017/SearchValue/rivets/Default.aspx

Not sure how you would go about separating the tracks though, perhaps with a knife and a lot of patience?


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Oh and at PDC, I only just checked out your video and you might want to consider adding something in there about what you are selling! As it is you seem to be going off the assumption that we already know what it is that you are offering.

Put £10, not much but every little helps I guess. I hope it comes to fruition as it could really help independent bit and model makers massively expand there goods and reduce costs!

As far as ideas are concerned - we guard players are screaming out for more weapon, leg and arm bits! Especially a bullpup rifle

Well, I'm in if only for the shed-loads of combi-bolters.
If there is a Thunderfire Cannon in there, too, all the better.

 Commander Cain wrote:
Alternatively you could just add your own rivets.

https://www.tichytraingroup.com/Shop/tabid/91/c/ho_nbw--rivets/p/8017/SearchValue/rivets/Default.aspx

Not sure how you would go about separating the tracks though, perhaps with a knife and a lot of patience?

I could, but I'm not likely to have the time or patience to do either. If I go in for these, I'll be knocking them out with some quick effective paint. I won't have the motivation to go over them to add details. Especially for something that could be changed in final tooling that would also make every one of them look a lot better.

You know what would be awesome? A whole sprue of spears. I have a ton of old lead fantasy minis (elves and samurai) with spears that look like driftwood. If I could replace them with something that would always be straight, I would be in hog heaven. I suspect I might be the only one, though...

That said, I'm in for 30 GBP.

I would love more Weapon options for the Tracked Weapon platforms.

Hi Guys and girls !

Rhys from PDC Gaming here !, with a small update for all you wonderful people...
So far, we are 46% funded, after just over a week! Thanks to everyone who has already pledged, and for all of you who are unsure...
Firstly, we have the First Pass of the sprue layouts for both the Handheld Heavy Weapons and Tracked Tech Platform Sprues:




We are in the process of updating the handholds for the Heavy Weapons, we will be able to put up some images of the adjustments later in the week... for the time being, these are the 5 weapons currently included on the sprue:



The track unit sprue is also in the process of being updated - to take away the split in the centre of the track - as it is supposed to be representing a single solid rubberized section!
We have also added a new member of the Hand Weapon Stretch Goal family - we have taken out one of the axes, and replaced it with a Scythe blade, at the request of several Pledgers - hopefully we will get as far as this stretch goal!!!


The Kickstarter page will be updated later this week with these images, at the moment the three of us are still working hard to get all the work done in our spare time - somewhat tricky with families and Real Work to look after as well! Please bear with us...
Keep your eyes peeled for an additional Pledge level with a very personal reward, available in limited numbers, coming to you this next weekend! as well as an update on the design for the "Jet Cycle" !

Thanks again for all your support!

Rhys - The Buzz
Admin, PDC Gaming

Some good looking stuff popping up here now. Fully intend to pledge in the next couple of days, after some number crunching and what not.

Shame the CC sprue isn't in the initial three, especially with the variety that it offers, but the others are still going to be a handy addition to most bits boxes. So even if you don't have a use for them straight away, no reason not to go for one of the lower pledges. A tenner isn't much for a few sprues of weapons / weapon platforms, and you could always resell / trade them later if you wanted.

As for getting more interest. Posting on places like Dakka is the obvious one, along with a few more updates on the project page. I'd also suggest getting the website up and running, rather than just a holding page. Even if it's just some more pictures and background to the company that you can expand on later.

Could you lengthen the scythe handle to be 2-handed? I think that is what people are picturing . Other than that, looks great!


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Oh, and be sure to add that in the Update tab on kickstarter, any excuse to update helps

Hi RiTides,

The handles on the Close Combat Sprue are all separate, so you can put any length/style on to the "heads"

Rhys - The Buzz
Admin, PDC Gaming

Perfect, thanks for the quick reply

Hello to all !

Fergus has just posted an update on the Kickstarter, here it is for you !

"Hi folks

There's a lot going on in the background at the moment - later today we'll be posting the new exclusive "4x personalized rifle and stand" 3D model pledge and in the week we'll begin to release more info on the 3D prints of the jet bike... which based on the current level of interest should create another boost.

We also have a "bonus" sprue in design to be given FREE to ALL pledge levels if we fund but we're still discussing what to put on it before going public (suggestions please!).

Will we fund? Like all Kickstarter projects the jury will be out until the last day - I can say that we're discussing posting special "we'll make a mould tool for you" pledge levels that would be of sufficient project value to springboard us into "funding achieved" status if pretty much any of them go ahead. Several of these are for different scales and game types - however all would contribute to our project pot...

Anyone interested in this option please contact us directly on info@pdcgaming.co.uk

The overall feedback and goodwill from the gaming community demonstrating the need/desire for a business offering affordable injection moulded plastic accessories has been very encouraging - as stated before, 500 orders for a £7 sprue launches a product line and after Kickstarter that is how we would be pitching the follow on products (cannons, armour plates, grav platforms, servitors etc)

Where to follow what's happening... As previously discussed we all have fairly demanding day jobs (Our "proper" engineering company is having a very busy time developing everything from hovercraft lift impellers to "smart" energy products through to medical device enclosures... about 30 live programs on the books right now) - so please check out/ sign-up to the following links for more information feeds...

https://www.facebook.com/pdc.gaming - our "facebook" page on the world

Please keep the questions and suggestions coming

Regards
Fergus"

Thanks for looking

Rhys - The Buzz
Admin, PDC Gaming

Very cool update! Is the "free" sprue to be one of the ones already shown, or a different one altogether?

I'd be happy with any of the sprues other than the normal rifles / combi-weapons as the free one (since a lot of people are already getting some of those right away). Close combat weapons, heavy weapons, treaded gun... all are attractive to me

So, wait, the heavy weapon sprue will come with enough bits for 5 separate heavy weapons? If so that's a great deal.

Also, I'm pretty sure this was mentioned but I don't see it in any of the updates: How much to add on an additional sprue to a pledge? I'd simply up my pledge to one of the higher sprue pledges, but I think I'd like to keep the prototypes that come with the EB pledges.

Hi Guys

1. The "bonus" sprue would be a completely new one - probably have such goodies as a turret option for the tracked unit, a heavy weapon that didn't make it on to the first 5 and maybe some scenic bases... we want suggestions please dakkanauts!

2. Yes - the heavy weapon sprue will allow you to make FIVE of any of the heavy weapon combinations - ie five autocannons...

3. ADDITIONAL stop press: Guys - if you pledge the 10 or 20 sprue option we WILL make sure you get a sprue from the prototype - though don't forget you can pledge on one of the early birds and simply pledge a higher amount for further sprues at the Kickstart price (ie 3 for £10)

Keep watching the kickstarter/facebook and forums for more updates ---- we have a lot going on!?!

Regards

Celt

Admin, PDC Gaming

If the bonus sprue could be weapon options that fit on the treaded unit- particularly a quad-barreled one- many people would be Very happy, myself included!!

I'd go for a quad-barrelled trolley gun.

Would some scatter scenery on the sprue wet people's appetite? A few futuristic barrels, ammo crates... Would appeal to me more than scenic bases... though I am already a backer!

The thing with ammo crates, jerry cans and barrels is that there's already quite a lot out there already at an inexpensive price. I'd rather see more wargaming-oriented stuff.

I agree- weapons / options for weapons they're already making / etc would be best, imo

Hi folks

The new large rifle 3D print reward level is now active - please see the kickstarter page for information... http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1474140048/toys-for-your-toys-science-fiction-wargaming-acces/posts

teaser pic: https://s3.amazonaws.com/ksr/projects/492745/posts/485579/image-259916-full.jpg?1369002647


regards

Celt
Admin, PDC Gaming

Those look quite nice

Do you know when you'll decide / announce what the free sprue will be?

Maybe Im missing it, or having a bout of denseness, but what do I need to pledge for the tracked weapons? Im not doing anything with infantry, so I have no need of hand held weapons.

You just pledge based on the number of sprues you want. So:

15 pounds + 2 pounds shipping for five tracked weapons
10 pounds + 2 pounds shipping for three tracked weapons (plus a free assault weapon sprue, due to the early bird special still available)
4 pounds + 2 pounds shipping for one tracked weapon

Let me know if that isn't clear

 RiTides wrote:
You just pledge based on the number of sprues you want. So:

15 pounds + 2 pounds shipping for five tracked weapons
10 pounds + 2 pounds shipping for three tracked weapons (plus a free assault weapon sprue, due to the early bird special still available)
4 pounds + 2 pounds shipping for one tracked weapon

Let me know if that isn't clear

Gotcha, thanks. Wasnt sure if the tracked weapons counted as a single sprue, or if they were referring to only the smaller weapons.

celticfable wrote:

teaser pic: https://s3.amazonaws.com/ksr/projects/492745/posts/485579/image-259916-full.jpg?1369002647

regards

Celt
Admin, PDC Gaming

Looks good, any chance of another pic that gives us a better idea of scale? No way to tell if that's a 'standard' gaming D6 or one that's larger/smaller than that.

I have backed this for 10 sprues, worth it in my opinion just to have all the different weapons available whenever you need them. I'd really like this one to succeed.

Almost 6K pounds of a 10K goal, with 11 days left... I think this will fund even without a big molding pledge level, but of course that would help

Yeah, I expect that there will be a mad rush in the last 24-48 hours like all of the other Kickstarters I've pledged. I might have to back this one for a sprue or two...

I went in for the rifle plaque; it looks like a fun little tchotchke if nothing else (although spending about $30US on it *is* fairly silly I suppose.)

 Lansirill wrote:
I went in for the rifle plaque; it looks like a fun little tchotchke if nothing else (although spending about $30US on it *is* fairly silly I suppose.)

Hi Lansirill

That's not silly.... this is silly http://bracknellforestgamers.wordpress.com/events/awards/fergus-award/

Watch the boards this week - some good update info coming up...

Regards

Fergus

Admin, PDC Gaming

ps the battlewagon pic doesn't do it justice -- not only was it radio control (most of my ork stuff is ) it had an onboard MP3 that played the ork song and sound effects from the "Space Marine" game... and could light up and dance...

How big is that rifle plaque? About 2" wide?

Apparently it is getting more detail with pics coming this weekend!

I know that there's often a surge in pledges in the last couple of days, but I think the guys are PDC are going to have to pull something pretty good out of the bag to get the basic target let alone any of the stretch goals at the moment. Especially as it's dropped back under the 6k figure again today.

I think the fact is that there is not enough incentive for people to pledge higher amounts. I am in for three gun platforms which is all I would ever really need.

I think this really highlights the problems of small plastic production, while you can get incredible products, each sprue is a much larger investment over say, a resin mold.

Also, I would like to see a size comparison pic of the 4X gun with a space marine or any other model really, considering picking one up!

I still really hope this funds- might get an uptick at the end from folks wanting the bits, and hopefully someone is interested in having them make a mold! I was actually pursuing that, as well, but just don't have time to work out the details and pull the trigger on that big of a commitment this week.

I think regardless, this has shown that there is a real market for these things and has gotten the name PDC out there for all to see

Yeah, part of me still hopes that this funds, thought it's looking less likely each day given the average pledge that'd be needed to push this to target.

Certainly a shame if it doesn't fund, though I'm sure they'll get things going and be able to offer some of the items in the near future based on the information that we have seen.

Though I think the lack of options available and lack of updates/posts from the project creators hasn't helped matters really.

The hour is late...well it is in the UK

But if I may direct your attention One and All to the Concepts Album - there are several new images for your viewing pleasure!

Hi Guys and Girls, Rhys here from PDC Gaming, with another awesome update!!!

Over the next few days, final details of the latest sprue to be added to our Kickstarter are going to be shown to you all!

This sprue contains:

Minigun option for the Tracked Platform
Top Plate and Turret Mount for the Tracked Platform
Rocket Pod/Tri-Mortar/Cannon weapons for the Tracked Platform
Mounting Bracket for fitting your own weapons to the Tracked Platform

6 'Industrial' themed 25mm bases

Heavy Weapon Bipods

and anything else we can squeeze in there!!!

EVERYONE who pledges on Kickstarter will receive one of these sprues FOR FREE!

Additional copies of the sprue can be purchased in the normal manner, when you specify the sprues you would like to order after the Kickstarter ends!

Tell your friends!

We are tantalizingly close to our target of £10,000, will your pledge make the difference?

Thank you to everyone for all your support so far - further updates will be coming during this week, as we make our final push for funding!

Rhys
PDC Admin

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1474140048/toys-for-your-toys-science-fiction-wargaming-acces

Well, that's a pretty kick arse update- love those new weapon variants! Pics:

Ok, that is pretty awesome!

They say that everyone who pledges gets one... but I hope they don't overlook the fact that they have a 1 pound pledge level...

I think it's safe to assume it's "everyone who pledges a shipped reward" gets one, since if you're not in the UK you have to add 2 pounds for shipping most rewards, anyway (meaning people paying 1 pound wouldn't have paid for shipping).

This is a very welcome upgrade! I really hope this project succeeds, even more so now!

Oh, here is the picture of the new sprue...

Never mind, RiTides seems to have beaten me to the punch..

Gonna have to pledge for more now methinks!

I am in for the 5-sprue pledge, and with us getting one of these sprues free that is now 6 . I'll be selecting:

3 tracked weapon sprues
2 upgrade sprues (+1 free!)

So for non-UK backers, for 15 pounds + 2 pounds shipping, i.e. $26, you can get 3 of those tracked weapons configurable in any of the above ways... pretty darn sweet!

While the deck-plating bases are nice, and I do think there is market for casted plastic bases like this over resin alternatives (IE: 15 terrain bases for 5$ on a single sprue is a good deal) but I kinda would rather have more turrets crammed in.

It feels like you could fir at least 3 of those turret/lobba/missile things on one sprue. The idea that I need 6 sprues to make 3 lobbas hurts! If I could get 3 track bases and 1 upgrade sprue to make a 3-pack of whatever gun I was wanting, then it would be a better deal to me.

Well just 5 sprues, since one is free but that's definitely a fair point.

Honestly, I would love to get 10 sprues of just those bases. Basing is my absolute least favorite part of painting, but resin bases are too expensive for my tastes.

I'll definitely see if I can try and get in on this. Ends on the same day as deadzone which is unfortunate since I still don't know what I'm spending on that, but the stuff you're making would be great for it, specifically the urban bases and the weapons platforms (which both deadzone and warpath can make use of).

The £10 level seems like a really great deal, and your renders have improved a lot even just in the last month or so.

Edit: Threw in £10, gave this a shout-out over on the Mantic forums.

The kickstarter page is a bit of a mess and it's not clear what you get for the money, and it took ages to find the actual link to the kickstarter in the first post of this thread (it's buried in the middle of several large images).. there's a few things you guys have to learn about presentation and marketing at this point.

The new sprue renders look amazing, get them in the OP, get a big UNMISSABLE LINK to the KS page in the OP, with easy-to-follow breakdowns of what you get in each pledge level... look at the deadzone thread I made for some ideas on how to format the first post, if it isn't simple or the links are hard to find, people will click away and never come back.

Good points squig, and they did edit the pics onto the top of the KS page. The £10 early bird is a Fantastic deal! Actually an even better deal than the £20 one I am in . There are about 40% of them left, too.

You get 3 sprues + the free one. So, you can get 2 tracked weapons with all the above options (2 tracked weapon sprues + 2 upgrade sprues). You also get their prototype assault weapon sprue shipped as soon as the campaign ends, which is a nice bonus! Adding in the 2 pounds shipping, all that is still only ~$18 US

Also, since you mentioned the KS link is a little hard to see in the OP, here it is for anyone not wanting to search (I agree it should be edited in at the top):
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1474140048/toys-for-your-toys-science-fiction-wargaming-acces

It's gone up £500 since the upgrade sprue was unveiled yesterday afternoon (and revealed that each backer gets one free!) so that is a great sign

I'm pretty damn stoked about this project. I hope they can pull it out - I'm also in at the £20 level.

Agreed- still going up after this new sprue reveal, whereas it had been stalled for the last week or so. Looking a lot more hopeful now with most of the week still to go and under £3.5K more needed.

I'm tempted to bid but I'm a little confused.
I like the larger tracked guns you have shown, but I'm not sure what I would need to bid to get 3 of the big guns.

How much would that cost?

^ £10 would get your three of them + the extra upgrade sprue for them + a bonus assault weapon sprue. if you select the early bird £10 pledge level.

Isn't that 3 of the smaller tracked guns?
Or is it no extra cost for the larger ones?
If so I will definitely bid a tenner.

Unfortunately, the giant gun was a limited reward and is already claimed up to it's reward limit. As it is a 3d printed part it's more expensive and would probably cost signifcantly more even if they were to mold it. Hopefully the mini-me's are useful to you, or if not you can keep an eye on the page and see if one of the big gun pledgers backs out! But there is no level to get 3 of the big versions, regardless.

I think that they might be better off doing what Powered Play did: cancel the KS, reassess the reward/funding levels, and reboot.

 RiTides wrote:
Unfortunately, the giant gun was a limited reward and is already claimed up to it's reward limit. As it is a 3d printed part it's more expensive and would probably cost signifcantly more even if they were to mold it. Hopefully the mini-me's are useful to you, or if not you can keep an eye on the page and see if one of the big gun pledgers backs out! But there is no level to get 3 of the big versions, regardless.

Ok thank you for answering my question. If you ever do decide to produce the larger gun I would be interested.
I've decided to back the kickstarter anyway as I'm sure I can find a use for the smaller guns somewhere.

Now I just really hope this attracts enough backers to be funded.

Honestly don't think it will fund...

Not enough info, scale comparison photos and the reward levels are probably priced too low. £10 for 3 sprues ples other stuff. No incentives to bid any higher.

 Valhallan42nd wrote:
I think that they might be better off doing what Powered Play did: cancel the KS, reassess the reward/funding levels, and reboot.

That might not be a bad idea! If they've got a person interested in making a mold for £2K or so, though, they could easily still fund. They might still fund without that. It will be interesting to see!

But I agree, Powered Play is a pretty good success story with cancelling and re-launching! See here. So, imo this could turn out great for PDC whether they fund or not, if handled well

Can someone answer these few questions about kickstarter as I can't find them on their site;
1) How do you pay? Is it solely by paypal or can you pay for instance by debit?
2) Where do you actually pay the money to (I've heard Amazon mentioned a few times but have not worked out the link here)
3) When do you actually pay? Is it when the funding time expires?

Slipstream wrote:
Can someone answer these few questions about kickstarter as I can't find them on their site;
1) How do you pay? Is it solely by paypal or can you pay for instance by debit?
2) Where do you actually pay the money to (I've heard Amazon mentioned a few times but have not worked out the link here)
3) When do you actually pay? Is it when the funding time expires?

1+2: For US people, it goes through the Amazon Payment system, which is very similar to Paypal or Google Checkout... just run by Amazon. I'm not sure what the UK folks have.

3: It should come out at the end of the funding period (if successful.) Again, this is what happens for the US... UK might be different.

Edit:

Oh, hell, I forgot this was a UK-based Kickstarter. Item 3 stays the same, but items 1 and 2 are handled by Kickstarter themselves. You should be able to pay with a credit or debit card.

Thanks for that Lansirill!

Yes, for this kickstarter it asked for payment directly by credit card through the kickstarter website, not through Amazon payments. Payment will only be charged at the end of the campaign if funding is successful.

New update:

Hi Everyone

Just three days left to make the cut -will we do it?

We've had lots of interest for our mould tool and moulding service which on the right deal I'd be happy to roll out as a pledge to support this launch. As things stand we haven't been able to do a deal (folks either aren't ready to move in our time frame or we can't get a price deal) which means we're down to product sales only.

We did nearly £3k of sales in the first 3 days but as has been noted our initial offering might not be broad enough. if we can't tap into a wide enough section of the gaming community we can't generate the sales needed.

If we don't fund WE WILL BE BACK. And we will take on board all the helpful advice from people to assist with the relaunch.

However the costs will go up if we don't amortise the initial tool system across several moulds - something like 2 rather than 3 sprues for £10 and the relaunch might just focus on one or two tools.... So it is better for you, our backers, that this launch MAKES IT!

So spread the word, please keep the support coming and fingers crossed that we get to launch.

Regards

Fergus

It's cleared 7K pounds now, but still need 3K by Sunday evening! It's possible, but would really help if this could be seen by more people as it needs lots of low-level pledgers with the way it is set up.

I wonder if any podcasts / blogs / etc might be willing to advertise it? A hard plastic bits maker other than GW would be Most welcome!!

I had to jump into this for 5 sprues. Might even bump it to 10. Really hope it funds.

Can anyone tell me if the heavy weapons are designed to fit figures or vehicles? I've looked at the KS and several pages of the thread and I can't find the answer.

They're for figures!! Weapon platform (or adaptable for other vehicles) weapons are on the bonus sprue - one free to all backers but this can also be chosen as a reward in its own right.

As an Ork player I want these to mount on my orky wagons...

Regards

Celt, Admin, PDC Gaming

I just don't understand a world in which a project to sell what are essentially Thunderfire Cannons, 3 for $15 total, ... in plastic.... can't get funded.

As a backer, I has a sad :/

 Ouze wrote:
I just don't understand a world in which a project to sell what are essentially Thunderfire Cannons, 3 for $15 total, ... in plastic.... can't get funded.

As a backer, I has a sad :/

Who needs 3 thunderfire cannons?

If they had gone for Guard or Ork-style heavy weapons carriages, it might have been a different story.

Thats a pretty good point, actually.

Although, of course, you could make it into a Lobba, Zappa or Kannon with absolute minimum effort if you don't mind treads over wheels.

I agree that this project deserves a lot more attention.

Hard plastic sprues!

£10 sweet spot!

Definitely worth a punt.

Ladies and gentleman of Dakka, I think we need to see what we can do to get this the remaining £3k it needs.

Accounts on other forums? Go mention it.

Not only have I done my part by pledging (tore the funds right out of Mantic's hands), but I also did my part by telling everyone about it at the Y, at Micky Dee's and on the bus home.

You're welcome.



On a more serious note, I can't believe this hasn't been funded days ago. Has no one at Bolter and Chainsword seen this? Those power weapons are gorgeous!

Well, to hell with it, I'm in...

Nice, welcome aboard

It's listing it in hours now, hopefully it will get a surge! I just emailed the local 40k group about it

 insaniak wrote:

 Ouze wrote:
I just don't understand a world in which a project to sell what are essentially Thunderfire Cannons, 3 for $15 total, ... in plastic.... can't get funded.

As a backer, I has a sad :/

Who needs 3 thunderfire cannons?

If they had gone for Guard or Ork-style heavy weapons carriages, it might have been a different story.

I am getting enough tracks for 9 kannons and 3 lobbas and maybe some grot tanks... but right now I can only really make lobbas from combining the sprues. I kinda would have liked to see a 'kannon' somehow. Maybe the thunderfire gun with a different barrel.

I hope this funds!

Upped my pledge and went pimping too. Good Luck PDC!

I upped my pledge as well to support them, as I believe this is a worthwhile product whose time has come. I just don't know if it'll end up funding.

I think this is a great product and I would have loved to see them funded to their goal. That being said, the video on their KS page needed a lot of work to draw in funding.

I'm not one for lots of OTT production, but some cool intro and more painted close ups will sell much better then staff introductions.

Whoa, someone jumped in for the 500-pound pledge! That helps a Lot, only 2.3K pounds of the original 10K left to go by Sunday night

Come on lads, you can spare 10 pounds to help a new bits company get off the ground. It's a good deal and would set a great precedent. All of you who have been asking for hard plastic on Everything... you know who you are

Where is Breotan, I assume he has pledged!

Pledged now, may up it on Sunday

I'm in. I really hope to see this make it.

Welp, I shared it on my Facebook page and put a post on a local gaming group's forum. Think I may have found one interested person; not much but, eh, every little bit helps.

Iron Warriors renegade guard auxiliaries heavy weapons squads ahoy. Don't think I'll go for the weapon sprues other than the bonus, but mount 40k weapons on them instead.

The KS page is definitely not well organised, but I love what they're doing.

 Centurionpainting wrote:
I think this is a great product and I would have loved to see them funded to their goal. That being said, the video on their KS page needed a lot of work to draw in funding.

I'm not one for lots of OTT production, but some cool intro and more painted close ups will sell much better then staff introductions.

*sniff* we weren't going to have any video but in the end decided a short introduction with three grown men looking uncomfortable in front of a camera at least put a face to the business...

We've pointed out from the get go that this was a hobby/enthusiast project - we've had comparisons made with Mantic and lots of other full time production businesses...

If we don't fund I'm tempted to have the project tooled through PDC Limited but we're not a toymaker - we're a very serious engineering outfit and if I take the "staff work for free in development because we love it" aspect out of the equation we become like the Evil Empire.... I never wanted this venture to be all about the money.

Plastic parts SHOULD be cheap - in volume runs these sprues cost $1 off the mould machine - using the tooling system we've developed the actual injection mould tools aren't ridiculous money either... We would invest our profit in further tooling and eventually have an "off the shelf" range of hard plastic vehicles and components that would be fun to model and play with .

We've had some very generous offers of assistance with marketing future Kickstarter ventures (as well as graphic design assistance!?).

We can lay out technical presentations (see the case studies on the www.pdclimited.net website) but simply haven't got the time to struggle with Kickstarter's rigid system: I couldn't find a way to import my beautiful layouts from Adobe for instance.... But since there are some nice looking KS pages out there it's obviously doable if you know how.....

Anyway enough of my whinging - I hope we fund but other than taking help with the KS presentation part I wouldn't change our "doing it for fun" approach - I have more than enough seriousness in my day job!?

Regards

Celt
Admin, PDC Gaming

Some jump.... Nearly funded...

Still a ways to go, but looking better.

I bumped up to 20 sprues just to help out. I seriously don't need that many, but they are so cool, they will make great trade fodder.

Someone bought a mold! Only 1K pounds left to go. Come on Dakka, a full day to go and we can help it get there

I've spread the word to my gaming group, I really hope this one gets funded, I need some plastic thunderfire cannons and some Hyperios platforms!

They've crossed the 10K mark. Hope it stays there!

I'm in for 10 sprues. Not that I especially need them, but these guys deserve our support.

I like this thing a lot. Only negative comments:
- the bases should be a separate sprue, and with more variants, thus giving customers a quick and easy way to base an entire 'industrial' themed army even if they're not interested in the weapons. (Some base size variants would be nice too, e.g. a couple of 40mm bases?)
- the tracks don't visually have separate links (on their edges), and so look like rubber bands. I know some real-world small diggers actually do have one-piece rubber tracks like this, but for a military model it looks too toy-like. Fixing this would simply require adding some detail to the track edges to suggest separate links.

Good luck!

Well it seems to got to £10k. Well done PDC.

 Clang wrote:
- the tracks don't visually have separate links (on their edges), and so look like rubber bands. I know some real-world small diggers actually do have one-piece rubber tracks like this, but for a military model it looks too toy-like. Fixing this would simply require adding some detail to the track edges to suggest separate links.

Yep, lack of detail is the only problem I see, but with the weapons mainly. Some spiky bits will spice up the tanks nicely for my Iron Warrior auxilaries.

I'm glad to see this fund finally. This deserved to make way more though. I'm really surprised at that. But, hey, congratulations, PDC.

Ill pledge too, I actually ran out of bolters to use on the DF storm troopers and was gonna buy some on ebay. This seems like a better way to spend some cash money. Plus, them tracked dealies are sweet.



edit: On further inspection, I wish I had the funds to do the 3k pledge. Sounds more like an investment option that I would actually have an interest in. Well, 20 sprue pledge for me as I can't help myself.

I just wish there was a £20 Early Bird option left.

I can't believe they pulled it out. I hope they can stay above that level at the end.

They're secure now as per the kickstarter terms of service

•Backers may increase, decrease, or cancel their pledge at any time during the fundraising campaign, except that they may not cancel or reduce their pledge if the campaign is in its final 24 hours and the cancellation or reduction would drop the campaign below its goal.

so while funding could drop back it can't fall back below 'funded'

Interesting! I'll still be biting my nails but very stoked they got the 2 mold deals to push it over 10K!

Congrats guys! Very glad this one funded.

Well, we have funded - phew !

I am so pleased with the response to our Kickstarter, and I wanted to thank all of you who pledged and spread the word about PDC Gaming.

There are more 'kits' to come, and this is just he start !

Many thanks again

Rhys
PDC Admin

Glad to be a part of it

Very nice, they responded to feedback before the end of the KS by splitting the bases off to their own sprue. Much better. Update Link.

We've had SO MUCH support for the scenic plastic bases that we're splitting them from the bonus sprue (feedback on that has been split between I only want the weapon bits and I only want the bases!?) and creating their own 16 impression tool.

As such ALL pledges at £10 and above can claim ANY of following on top of their normal sprue reward as an alternative to the originally suggested bonus sprue... ie you still get a bonus sprue but now it can be ANY sprue you desire...

Sprue choices are now:

1. combined assault weapons - 5 each of flamethrower, plasma and microwave

2. Scenic bases (see pic below of painted 3D prints) - 16 assorted

3. Heavy weapons - 5 weapon bodies and bits to make any 5 finished guns

4. Tracked weapon platform with heavy cannon

5. Weapon platform guns, top body, accessories etc as per previous pics

I hope this meets with your approval and wish to thank everyone for your support, goodwill and most importantly your pledges!

I'm going to be sticking with the original bases + weapon upgrade sprues, but it's nice that they gave people the option to split if they want to.

Is the 'giant' version of the tracked gun available at all?

Not unless someone changes their pledge level in the next few hours and you're lucky enough to grab the reward before someone else does.

 Alpharius wrote:
Is the 'giant' version of the tracked gun available at all?

They should really consider making them. They seem just big enough to work as Imperial Guard Artillery carriages, which considering that the basilisk one is almost £70 on forgeworld seems like it would work as a money spinner.

If they had offered something like 1/2 a big artillery piece per sprue (or even 1/3) I would have invested much more heavily.

So are there still bases on the upgrade sprue, or more guns? Sorry if it's obvious

It's now two different sprues, as I understand it, one is purely the bases and the other is the alternate weapons for the tracked platform. Though you can choose any of the sprues available as the bonus sprue.

Hi Paul --- the bases can be selected as a separate sprue choice - and the jury is out as to whether we can cram a couple of 40mm bases in there; I think the 40mm bases will follow VERY quickly as a separate sales item - this allows us to add more bits on to the platform weapon sprue -
Hope this is still OK for you
regards
Fergus

Looked through the comments and saw this, so I guess the bases have been removed from the sprue. Oh well. It looks like you can equip multiple weapon platforms from a single alternate gun sprue (so 4 tracked weapons and 2 alternate gun sprues would be a reasonable split) so I could still grab some bases if I'd like to. I may just get Secret Weapon stuff instead though.

Glad this funded, looking forward to my artillery sprues.

I think Dakka can be a huge help for these sorts of micro kickstarters with a really good product.

I'm so glad this project was successful, for purely selfish reasons. I hate basing with a passion, and I'm too cheap to buy resin bases for all the stuff I'm going to get from the Deadzone kickstarter. The timing is perfect!

There's a dearth of plastic scenic bases. I know for certain that part of my sprue count will be those 40mms. If only they made 60mm.... HINT.

Glad to see they made it. I wasnt able to pledge, finances are quite bad right now. However, when this stuff goes to retail Im likely going to pick up some of the tracked guns.

Okay, survey is now out and I am completely and utterly baffled by it.

As I understand, my £10 early bird should be 4 sprues total (3+1 bonus sprue), and a prototype weapon sprue.

However the survey is asking me which 3 sprues I would like, and whether I can drive down to PDC or Knight Gaming to collect my prototype weapon sprue or if I'd like to replace it with a different sprue instead?

What on earth is going on, I'm completely confused.

It would be nice for them to put up an image of each of the sprues so that I can make a more informed choice

I think there are images of the sprues on the main page... I just filled out the sprues I wanted in the first blank of the survey (3 weapons platforms, 2 platform guns/accessories, plus the 1 bonus "free" platform gun/accessory sprue) and that yes, I do want the prototype assault weapon sprues from the early bird bonus shipped to me in the second blank.

He just posted an update and also a long comment answering some questions. As far as pics of the sprues, I think there have been pics of most of them in previous updates but I don't see them all on the main page (doesn't affect me since I know which ones I want, though).

 RiTides wrote:
I think there have been pics of most of them in previous updates but I don't see them all on the main page (doesn't affect me since I know which ones I want, though).

Same here. 160 bases, allowing me to avoid my most hated stage of painting miniatures. Yay!

Hmm the timing of this is giving me a serious problem as it's 99% sure that I'll be moving between now and the dispatch date. However I've got to wait for another week or so for confirmation.

As a side note buying a house is a surprisingly difficult process!

I hope that they eventually put some of this stuff up on their website for sale. Right now the site just has a placeholder image talking about going live alongside the Kickstarter. It would be kind of nice to be able to purchase plastic scenic bases later on.

 Nick Ellingworth wrote:
As a side note buying a house is a surprisingly difficult process!

They tried a walmart-esque format once but had some issues with the shopping carts

See pic of the first fruits of our labours...

Regards

Celt
Admin PDC Gaming

Glad the tool is working can't wait to see the tracked weapon platform when it is made.

Sweet! I can't wait to get my bases!

Hi Guys

We will have ALL the kickstarter plastics at PDC next week (I brought a suitcase full of samples back with me!?)

Tools will then transfer by slooow boat and we'll have Winchester, UK manufacturing up by the end of October --- Huzzah!

It was discussed earlier in the thread viz using the tracked platform with guard - please see the pic of my quick cut'n'shut effort to do a "proof of concept" -- waddayay think?

Regards

Celt
Admin - PDC Gaming

ps - webstore opens on Monday -- see www.pdcgaming.co.uk for a preview

Just got my prototype assault weapons, they're pretty good. Planning to use the tracked weapons with the weapon upgrade sprue with space marines as a thunderfire cannon, I think that will be the best fit.

celticfable wrote:
Hi Guys

We will have ALL the kickstarter plastics at PDC next week (I brought a suitcase full of samples back with me!?)

Tools will then transfer by slooow boat and we'll have Winchester, UK manufacturing up by the end of October --- Huzzah!

It was discussed earlier in the thread viz using the tracked platform with guard - please see the pic of my quick cut'n'shut effort to do a "proof of concept" -- waddayay think?

Regards

Celt
Admin - PDC Gaming

ps - webstore opens on Monday -- see www.pdcgaming.co.uk for a preview

"Do you have a larger pic" is what I think.

All UK orders have shipped for this KS, looking forward to getting my sprues any day now.

Anyone got theirs already?

Their webstore is now open, too:

http://www.pdcgaming.co.uk/shop-

Looks like we got a pretty great deal during the kickstarter, I got £40 of sprues for £10.

Looking forward to trying out the mini-tank build for the weapon platform.

My Bases have just turned up,

I now have more bases than I can shake a stick at, the detail is lovely and crisp, really looking forward to getting some models on them!

Got my stuff too, here's some pics:





Really, really happy with this... loads of weapon options and perfect for Warpath.

The detail on them is just as good as any Renedra sprue, top-notch tooling.

My only regret with this Kickstarter is not being able to spend 5 times as much cash at the time.

looking sharp! cant wait for my stuff to get here

 scarletsquig wrote:
Got my stuff too, here's some pics:





Really, really happy with this... loads of weapon options and perfect for Warpath.

The detail on them is just as good as any Renedra sprue, top-notch tooling.

My only regret with this Kickstarter is not being able to spend 5 times as much cash at the time.

I'm really looking forward to this! Did you get any other sprues?

 scarletsquig wrote:
Got my stuff too, here's some pics:
Really, really happy with this... loads of weapon options and perfect for Warpath.
The detail on them is just as good as any Renedra sprue, top-notch tooling.
My only regret with this Kickstarter is not being able to spend 5 times as much cash at the time.

Excellent. Maybe Ronnie should go talk very nicely to these guys...

 Azazelx wrote:

 scarletsquig wrote:
Got my stuff too, here's some pics:
Really, really happy with this... loads of weapon options and perfect for Warpath.
The detail on them is just as good as any Renedra sprue, top-notch tooling.
My only regret with this Kickstarter is not being able to spend 5 times as much cash at the time.

Excellent. Maybe Ronnie should go talk very nicely to these guys...

Why? Why do you want PDC games to do unspeakable things we can never know to Ronnie's great sculpts?


I'm very excited for PDC's future. I do wish the prices in their online store were a bit more reasonable.

@Azazel: Well, these already are the artillery entries for the Corporation and Rebs army lists as far as I'm concerned (and Marauders too). All of the weapon options, and then some are covered, and it's all hot-swappable. Lovely.

The mini-tank build is also really cool, it's chunky enough to use as a forgefather or goblin vehicle.

@Valhallan: Nope, just a bunch of those pictured, but from what I've heard all the rest of it is just as good.

I'm amazed at the sheer quantity of stuff they got tooled for £11k of KS funding:

- assault weapon sprue
- heavy weapon sprue
- urban bases sprue
- tracked vehicle sprue
- tracked vehicle accessories sprue

..and it's all really good quality. And they tooled, manufactured and shipped it all in the space of 3 months. In their spare time.

Really, really impressed. If PDC does another KS, can we all please throw a gakload of money at it to see what happens?

These came out really nice it seems. Makes me a little sad I didn't kickstart this but I think I'll be putting in an order

Got my order: 3 mini tanks, 2 upgrade sprues, 2 packs of bases and 1 assault rifle sprue. Fantastic value and quality.

I've yet to assemble anything, but my only concern is after looking at the upgrade sprue that there doesn't appear to be a camera style piece for the front plate of the tank. (The upgrade sprue adds a mount for a gun) yet it looks like there's a version of a camera on the kickstarter page. It is entirely possible I've missed it on the sprue!

Overall though a 9/10 project and company. Very excited to see what else PDC gaming can do in the future.

Looking really cool, squig! Thanks for the pics . Can't wait to get my 3 tracked weapons.

Have they started shipping to the States yet?

Still waiting for mine to turn up, certainly hadn't arrived as of yesterday. Not a massive issue, provided that they turn up at some point.

Just got mine. Really well done imo.

Got mine today, really nice stuff. Ill do some sprue on the model pics later. I didn't realize how much I ordered

I got mine a couple days ago. The parts all look great, but I haven't assembled anything yet. I wish they'd packed in some instructions though. The ones on their website are tiny.

Glad you guys got them! I ended up collaborating with PDC to ship out their US/Canadian packages last week... and man, I am so sick of going to the post office now

I haven't assembled my own sprues yet, but the tracked weapons look really good I think!

Tracked weapons might be getting purchased by me here in a little bit. I really ilke the way they turned out.

They assemble very quickly and easily.

Still no sign of mine!

Mine came a few days ago. I assembled one of the tracked guns partway at work tonigh before deciding it made a great base for a Grot tank and will switch gears on it. They are about the perfect size to use a a TFC though.

I also have 10 heavy weapon sprues, no idea what I am going to do with those yet.

They seem to be having some real issues with the post office, that, frankly don't appear to be the post office's fault. Lots of people saying they had to pay RM an extra pound or two as the items were sent with insufficient postage, etc.

I'm wondering if that's perhaps why my stuff hasn't arrived yet, as my orders from Troll Trader, Book Depository and just random UK-based eBay sellers are still coming in comfortably in 5-10 days.

Nice review of the tracked weapons here:
http://forgemechanicus.blogspot.dk/2013/10/pdc-gamings-tracked-weapon-platform.html

 Azazelx wrote:
They seem to be having some real issues with the post office, that, frankly don't appear to be the post office's fault. Lots of people saying they had to pay RM an extra pound or two as the items were sent with insufficient postage, etc.

I'm wondering if that's perhaps why my stuff hasn't arrived yet, as my orders from Troll Trader, Book Depository and just random UK-based eBay sellers are still coming in comfortably in 5-10 days.

Considering all the issues, including lots of packages getting lost entirely, I suspect PDC's local post office is at fault. It's not like PDC would "forget" to ship out a bunch of rewards seeing as they're replacing them (with recorded delivery this time). More likely the post office lost a whole outgoing bag or two at once. That kind of thing happens.

Losing a bag is possible, but the postage issue makes me wonder. I don't mean to imply that they're deliberately being dodgy and not sending stuff out - just that there may be a LOT of stuff with insufficient postage getting gummed up in the UK system because of it.

Forgot to exalt this thread so missed all the talkies, DOH! Yeah no parcel here yet either, latest update was amusing. We're not all crims just trying to get a second set of stuff free, I swear on me mum.

 Yonan wrote:
Forgot to exalt this thread so missed all the talkies, DOH! Yeah no parcel here yet either, latest update was amusing. We're not all crims just trying to get a second set of stuff free, I swear on me mum.

I don't know, there is that whole prisoners-sent-to-the-island thing

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convicts_in_Australia

Still, from the comments it does look quite universal that folks in Australia didn't get theirs. Something obviously went wrong here...

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1474140048/toys-for-your-toys-science-fiction-wargaming-acces/posts/651547#comments

I shipped the US/Canada packages for them and it seems those have gotten through, phew

 Azazelx wrote:
Losing a bag is possible, but the postage issue makes me wonder. I don't mean to imply that they're deliberately being dodgy and not sending stuff out - just that there may be a LOT of stuff with insufficient postage getting gummed up in the UK system because of it.

I can't speak for PDC but until I did a Kickstarter I had no idea at all that there really isn't any good software for bulk shipping. I tried a bunch and finally settled on Stamps.com but out of all the ones I tried - USPS Click & Ship Business, Endicia, etc etc - they all totally blow in some ways. Stamps.com sucks the least, but it's not especially good either.

I did not know that just futzing with the software would eat anywhere near as many hours of my time as it did.

 Ouze wrote:

 Azazelx wrote:
Losing a bag is possible, but the postage issue makes me wonder. I don't mean to imply that they're deliberately being dodgy and not sending stuff out - just that there may be a LOT of stuff with insufficient postage getting gummed up in the UK system because of it.

I can't speak for PDC but until I did a Kickstarter I had no idea at all that there really isn't any good software for bulk shipping. I tried a bunch and finally settled on Stamps.com but out of all the ones I tried - USPS Click & Ship Business, Endicia, etc etc - they all totally blow in some ways. Stamps.com sucks the least, but it's not especially good either.

I did not know that just futzing with the software would eat anywhere near as many hours of my time as it did.

This means I will be picking your brain if the time ever comes for me to do similarly, Ouze!

 RiTides wrote:

 Yonan wrote:
Forgot to exalt this thread so missed all the talkies, DOH! Yeah no parcel here yet either, latest update was amusing. We're not all crims just trying to get a second set of stuff free, I swear on me mum.

I don't know, there is that whole prisoners-sent-to-the-island thing

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convicts_in_Australia

Still, from the comments it does look quite universal that folks in Australia didn't get theirs. Something obviously went wrong here...
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1474140048/toys-for-your-toys-science-fiction-wargaming-acces/posts/651547#comments

I shipped the US/Canada packages for them and it seems those have gotten through, phew

That's okay, homeboy. I'm at least 3/4 from the much more recent generations of immigrants here.

The thing is that all my orders from other places in the UK, like book depository, ozgameshop, troll trader, eBay, etc keep on coming in like clockwork, so the problem is specifically with PDC and/or their local post office. I suspect that they screwed up on the postage in some way since there seemed to be a lot of that amongst UK backers and our packages have gone into some kind of Royal Mail purgatory. Or maybe to Austria?

 RiTides wrote:
This means I will be picking your brain if the time ever comes for me to do similarly, Ouze!

Lesson one: print out some bulk labels as a test on plain paper before ordering boxes or labels. For example, Stamps.com will let you print labels on label type X, but batch printing has much more limited support for label size X - and if you want to do 4 or whatever to a sheet, you better have the right size boxes. And so on.

Sorry for the digression, PDC!. Just saying, I understand your shipping woes.

Thanks, Ouze! For shipping PDC's boxes I just went to Kinko's and had them print out a bunch of return addresses for me. Will keep that in mind

So supposedly the stuff has been in Australia for a while now, but has been held up and should be shipping within the next few days. Shipping is generally what bites KS operators in the ass, but this one seems to take the cake in that regard ; p

Woot! My bases arrived today, less than a week after Deadzone (for which I had originally backed this project). I'd call that perfect timing.

Yep got mine yesterday, stuff looks great.

Hey guys,

Be sure to post that you got them in the comments on the KS page. People usually only post that they haven't gotten something and it sounds like PDC ate a bunch of costs for Aus shipping in the end (having to ship multiple times etc). Not that it's not their fault but I'm sure they'd be glad to hear some things finally made it through to that portion of the world

Linkage:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1474140048/toys-for-your-toys-science-fiction-wargaming-acces/comments

Edit: I see you already did so in the comments of the Aus shipping update! I had just been looking at the main comments area. Good show

Haven't seen Aza in that Aussie update thread for a while, but yeah a lot of us have said we received our stuff finally. The delay didn't bother me, I just think it's a shame they might be dissuaded from continuing since this would have sucked pretty bad for them.

So long as they fire their distribution, I'll happily consider their next KS.

I get a large mail pickup once per week. My parcel arrived Monday and I got it a couple of hours ago. Have just glanced at the stuff so far but it looks decent. Not quite as good as I was expecting from the way they were talking though (they said the final versions would have scopes, etc) and there's some of that.. you know when a plastic kit has a shrinkage spot because the mould wasn't quite fully filled with plastic?

But yeah, I held off on buying some of Anvil's combi-bolters for these (and my otherwise-almost finished Techmarine has been waiting on his gun for several months now). The combi-bolters aren't terrible, but they're not impressive either. Not impressive or distinctive enough for me to use on character models. I'll have to buy some Sternguard to finally finish that Techmarine, though...

So on the combi-weapons, they basically just have some undersling barrels that kind of look like they might have GW equivalent weapons, but without power sources, flamer cannisters, etc. They're not garbage, but not great. They're OK and will basically just be used as stock bolters with drum mags. I'll probably cut a lot of the "combi" barrrels off. But it's better than binning them...

I'll have a look at the other stuff tomorrow, or on the weekend, etc.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 RiTides wrote:
Hey guys,

Be sure to post that you got them in the comments on the KS page. People usually only post that they haven't gotten something and it sounds like PDC ate a bunch of costs for Aus shipping in the end (having to ship multiple times etc). Not that it's not their fault but I'm sure they'd be glad to hear some things finally made it through to that portion of the world

Linkage:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1474140048/toys-for-your-toys-science-fiction-wargaming-acces/comments

Edit: I see you already did so in the comments of the Aus shipping update! I had just been looking at the main comments area. Good show

Pretty sure they didn't repost anything to Australia. They got dicked around by their distributor but were also slack and and didn't follow up with them for ages. When they finally started to look at options a week ago they suggested refunding (in a month or so) or keep on waiting (they didn't mention reshipping as an option), This was only suggested a few days before the local guy apparently got off his arse and actually shipped them (after promising for weeks, apparently).

I'll post on the KS page tomorrow or Sunday. Going to bed now and have mates over for most of tomorrow. I feel no obligation rush to offer confirmation on their site within a couple of hours for something that arrived three months late, after all.

...but I'm not convinced this requires a whole separate thread. Question: is PDC gaming still alive? I got my stuff from the kickstarter, and ordered some bases from their website, but have received neither bases nor replies to messages.

I was wondering that, too :-/. Did you pay by PayPal? Maybe open up a case just to get their attention... I haven't heard much about them since the end of last year unfortunately.

Not sure. They seem to have disappeared. They had some potential, but they weren't very well organised, even for a modest-sized KS.

As an aside, they seem to have used their prototype tool for the final not-bolters - since what I received was the same as the pic below of their prototype (except grey, not clear). and the scopes, etc never materialised.

PDC on their KS wrote:
We've improved the design from the prototypes making the mould process better - during our development we even had time to mould clear weapons... not sure when they'd be used though...

The production sprue will also feature a few extras - targetters, scopes, scanners etc.

Wow. I really thought these guys were going places.

But it looks like the only place they went...


...was nowhere.

[/John Bunnell]


Man, if I had known they were going to disappear so soon, I would have used my KS reward sprues on less lame conversions.

Well, it's unfortunate that they may have died.

I'm glad I got my lifetime supply of modular heavy weapons when I got the chance.

Have you tried contacting them at their main business (the gaming stuff was very much a side line they were trying)

http://www.pdclimited.net/

It could be they are too busy with their 'real' work

(not that it's really an excuse if they are taking money for orders)

Thanks for the link. I contacted them via this website, but the message came back as undeliverable. I guess that's 20GBP wasted.

PayPal dispute?
Credid Card Chargeback?

One of those should still be valid...

If you're really worried, look here for more contact info:
http://who.is/whois/pdclimited.net
It''s publicly-available info, with a mobile number for domain-based queries.

I know I'm necroing slightly, but these guys appear to have popped back up again. You can buy the track sprues on their ebay page now.

https://www.facebook.com/pdc.gaming/

http://www.ebay.co.uk/usr/pdcgaming?_trksid=p2047675.l2559

They seem to just run batches off, and wait for each to sell before doing another.

The prices seem a little high.. 35 pounds for a single gun platform?

There is little detail on it, so the retail price of it is a bit high.
I got a couple from the Kickstarter here, and have yet to build it as a TFC, so will post my attempt up when I manage to get around to doing it.

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
The prices seem a little high.. 35 pounds for a single gun platform?

the listing i found shoes £35 for 6 not for 1...

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Tracked-Gun-Weapon-Platform-with-accessories-PACK-OF-SIX/282364266057

 bubber wrote:

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
The prices seem a little high.. 35 pounds for a single gun platform?

the listing i found shoes £35 for 6 not for 1...

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Tracked-Gun-Weapon-Platform-with-accessories-PACK-OF-SIX/282364266057

Oh. That's much more reasonable. Carry on. *cough*