Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

 BroodSpawn wrote:

No matter how much people on forums will say they wanted something that's no longer available now there was a clear situation of items just not selling, which was why they will have been removed. No company normally cuts items that are selling.

The thing is, it's not like Forgeworld was sitting on a pile of unsold stock. They can cast as needed. So their excuse for dropping various stuff was that it was the molds that were taking up too much storage space.

 BrookM wrote:
Kindly cease all recast discussion, thank you.

kInDlY cEaSe AlL rEcAsT dIsCuSsIoN, tHaNk YoU.

 Tannhauser42 wrote:

 BroodSpawn wrote:

No matter how much people on forums will say they wanted something that's no longer available now there was a clear situation of items just not selling, which was why they will have been removed. No company normally cuts items that are selling.

The thing is, it's not like Forgeworld was sitting on a pile of unsold stock. They can cast as needed. So their excuse for dropping various stuff was that it was the molds that were taking up too much storage space.

Well, that and the moulds need to be replaced; if they're not selling enough of a model that it's economical to replace the mould, then they'll stop selling that model.

 AndrewGPaul wrote:

 Tannhauser42 wrote:

 BroodSpawn wrote:

No matter how much people on forums will say they wanted something that's no longer available now there was a clear situation of items just not selling, which was why they will have been removed. No company normally cuts items that are selling.

The thing is, it's not like Forgeworld was sitting on a pile of unsold stock. They can cast as needed. So their excuse for dropping various stuff was that it was the molds that were taking up too much storage space.

Well, that and the moulds need to be replaced; if they're not selling enough of a model that it's economical to replace the mould, then they'll stop selling that model.

With the ability to print molds with a 3D printer it is hard to take any of these reasons seriously. They can even say "hey, we're not making new units until we get a certain number of orders for that item". That way you're assured of reaching the profit level. For whatever reason, GW chronically underfunds FW and that is causing all the subsequent issues. Maybe it's as simple as GW doesn't believe that the profit margin is high enough to warrant funding FW to a level where they're not a joke.

Printing molds? My understanding was that they use their best 3D printers (which are constantly booked - takes weeks or months to get a spot in line) to print masters, and they use those to create rubber molds. Resin production as FW does it requires flexible molds. Can that be printed?

The molds are a lot bigger than I would’ve guessed, something like 3 ft in diameter. They each cover a variety of products, and that’s probably why some useful ones got discontinued when poor sellers were culled.

Totally agree though that it feels like GW is holding FW back. Decimate the product line and raise prices that were already keeping people away? Brilliant!

Also, moulds for small run resin have to be made of a flexible material - can you even 3D print to a silicon rubber-type material?

From what I remember, the massive 3ft moulds are the steel ones they use for plastic sprues. The really good 3D printers are used for rapid prototyping of resin models.

The way it works is that you take the original sculpt - green stuff and putty traditionally, but now a 3D print of a CAD model - and make a master mould of that. Quite often, the original model won't survive the moulding process. You then cast up a dozen or so master models and use those to make production moulds, which are then used to manufacture the actual models sold to the public.

You do this two-step process because a production mould will have a dozen or so copies of a single model, unlike the master mould which will only have the one.

The production moulds don't last forever and wear out. Replacing these costs time and money, so if it gets to the point that sales don't justify the expense of doing that, they'll get retired instead.

There's also the logistics, of warehouse space for moulds and for finished products, the time and other resources required and the like. Doing short runs is less efficient than repeated batches of the same things.