Leviathan VR5 Mortis (Totenköpfe - Deaths Head)

For those of you who have not seen it, I felt I should post a description of the first Leviathan release. For those that have.... Here is some new eye candy.

Grandfather of all Leviathans; the VR5 design is over 200 years old and has seen many improvements and variants. It and its variations are widely considered some of the finest designs ever produced. A balance of size, speed, armor and armament all come together to make a very formidable vehicle.

The decision to design the cockpit after the Totenköpfe was primarily nostalgic and a matter of national pride. The frame of the first Leviathan was designated VR5 in honor of the 5^th Regiment commanded by Colonel von Ruesch, the first Hussar commander to use the deaths head symbol. The Prussian army Hussar first adopted this symbol in 1744.

The Mortis in its purest form is outfitted with two close combat weapons, and no additional armor, this allows for the fastest possible movement and a vicious close combat capability. The massive oil stacks provide the option of overcharging the reactor for enhanced speed or combat. Two KwK 200 20cm auto cannons mounted in the torso ensure its survivability in a ranged engagement.

Here is a pic. to help add a little scale referance...

Leviathan Mortis release date

I have a (tentative) release date of December 15th. If all goes well and there are no major hiccups.

There is still ALLOT of work to be done. Molds checked for vent and sprue issues, Instructions, Box art, Web store and shopping cart integration, ect. Perhaps a more realistic date would be January but I like to push myself.

I may releases the first one or two on Ebay if I don’t have time to work out the cart and website issues.

Pricing as it stands now:

Leviathan Mortis: With Scythe and right hand Claw $350.00

Optional weapons: Right hand Vulkan $45.00

 

The Leviathan Mortis is a all resin model kit, roughly 9.5" tall

I will be working a lot of late nights to try to get this out the door by the 15^th, so please be patient with me if the date is bumped.

Please understand that they will initially be produced in house so the number of kits available will be limited due to having only one set of production molds and production equipment.

I will update the blog with pictures of the final casts and assembled model as soon as they are completed.

I am the great and powerful OZ!

Many people ask why is this so expensive. The short answer is that nothing about making resin models is quick or cheap. The long answer requires a more in depth look at the costs involved. Unlike many manufacturers, I do not feel it is constructive to dance around this question. An honest question deserves an honest answer.

So let us pull back the wizards curtain and see what hides behind...

Pricing my models is a subject that often causes me a great deal of discomfort. Every kit, every release begs the question what is a fair price? What do I need to charge to keep the doors open and continue making things I, and hopefully others enjoy. While understanding not every model will be a spectacular hit, what is a reasonable number of models you should expect to sell to amortize your upfront costs?

Now we look at the ugly numbers. I already own the equipment so I will not count that in the total but I show them here for general reference. Also, keep in mind this rough overview is for a rather large and complicated model with over 32 molds and 136 parts. Although the costs are not accurate to the penny, they are honest reflections of the true costs. There are numerous other costs that will not reflected in this break down, such as overhead, web development, problems with molds, etc. These costs likely reflect another 3% to 5% reduction in true profit.

Initial equipment investment: (This cost is not reflected in the totals below)

Compressor, Pressure pots, Vacuum pump, Vacuum chamber, assorted tools, mixing containers, etc

Rough estimate- $1800.00

Initial materials investment:

Model print cost, Initial molds (RTV Silicone cost), Mold boxes, clay and other tools, Resin for mold master.

Rough estimate- $3850.00

Cost for each model produced:

Assuming a conservative25 pulls per mold, before mold needs replacing. Estimate for resin, rubber and packaging.

Rough estimate-$89.00

Cost for casting service:

Assuming the molds are made and supplied by me.

Rough Estimate-$75.00?? (This number is still unresolved)

Shipping costs back to me from caster-$4.00

Credit card transaction fees:

3% to 6.5% (average 4.75% of $350.00 retail) $16.62

TOTAL  PER KIT COST TO PRODUCE AND SELL A SINGLE MODEL- $185.00

RETAIL PRICE PER KIT- $350.00

Taxes on profit:

 $65.00 (Uncle Sam and California demand their share of my hard work)

 TOTAL NET PROFIT- $100.00

DreamForge-Games company profit- $50.00 per kit

Costs of initial investment, $3850.00. (First true profit after 77 kits have been sold)

My profit per kit- $50.00 per kit

Target of $15.00 an hour for my time. CAD Modeling, Benching, Mold Making. Four hundred and sixty hours invested, and an additional ninety hours for the three mold change outs needed to meet the 77 total kits sold to square up the initial model/materials costs.

Total dollar cost of my time $8,250. (First true profit after 165 kits have been sold)

What do I make per hour, if we try to zero my hourly rate at the 77 kits sold, based on the initial investment costs of the model and materials. I net $6.99 an hour for my time…Hmmmm…

Add the taxes back into the total that we removed earlier and were up to a “respectable?” $9.44 per hour actual working wage. This begs the question, if you possessed the creativity and the skills set in CAD and mold/model production, would you work for $9.44 an hour with no health plan.  I am not crying poor me, this work is something I love doing or I would not be doing it.

I hope that this release is a smashing success and I sell hundreds…  This would improve the look of my financials greatly. I would much prefer to amortize my investment to the first 40 or 50 kits sold, and on smaller less expensive models, this is always my target.

For the immediate future, I will need to cast these in house while I search for a suitable service provider. This will increase my profit margin but will slow the development of new models and severely limit the number of kits available to my customers. With this in mind, moving production out of house is a very high priority. If the contract casters services are far greater than expected, I will need to increase the price to reflect the additional costs.

Things being what they are, I feel it is a fair price for my customers and a fair price for the product I deliver. I hope that you feel the same and I hope that I helped to dispel the age-old question “why is the price so damn high?!”

Leviathan Azazel sneak peek.

Azazel will be the last of five in the series of VR5 frame Leviathan.

Azazel and subtlety are two words seldom used together. There is nothing subtle about this Leviathan. It wields one of the largest projectile weapons mounted on any Leviathan and a whirling blade of destruction. This is the King Tiger of Leviathans

Just to recap, here are the five VR5 frame Leviathans in the series.

 I hope to start limited production of the Leviathan Mortis some time in December, with the crusader soon after and the remaining three in this series to follow ASAP.

Anti-Grav upgrade for the Siler Tank

Jon at Khurasan asked me to make him a plug in unit for the track area of the Siler tank. I wanted to design something that changed the silhouette of the Siler and made it immediately recognizable as a Grav Tank.

I went with an asymmetrical design that mounted larger grav units to the front and adjustable jets to the rear... I felt it gave the model a vroom, vroom, ready to race look.

Here you can see the component view and how they simply plug into the track slot.. You can also see the additional nose length added to further change the lines away from the tracked version.