1/55 scale reproduction sticker question.

[Photogirl]

I'm in the process of designing my own 1/55 conversion sticker set for Transformer Jetfire into Roys VF-1S, and it occured to me that this is a good opportunity to design not only a toy accurate reproduction set, but to enhance the toy with hyper details such as from the Hasegawa 1/72 waterslide sheets. 

Would there be a market for such an upgrade, or, just keep it to what was original to the toy?

[nightmareB4macross]

There still might be a market for a select group of customizers and collectors. Just not sure how big that market would be.

Maybe cross post interest in other media platforms could garner more potential customers.

Do you have a sample to show of your current progress?

I think Anazasi used to make these sets. I believe I still have some in my customs piles.

Wish you luck on your project.

[Photogirl]

8 minutes ago, nightmareB4macross said:

There still might be a market for a select group of customizers and collectors. Just not sure how big that market would be.

Maybe cross post interest in other media platforms could garner more potential customers.

Do you have a sample to show of your current progress?

I think Anazasi used to make these sets. I believe I still have some in my customs piles.

Wish you luck on your project.

Oh, i just literally started.
I've got my reference images from the various sticker sheets for the toys, and i just started placing the tape on the figure for the shape and size as the starting base.

[Anasazi37]

Just responded to your PM

[Skull Leader]

A while back i was going to provide both a scan of original 1/55 decal sheets in addition to a custom drawn decal set for all four major DYRL valkyries, with more to follow on later, to the guys at reprolabels (responsible for transformers reproduction sticker sheets) but they weren't interested on two grounds: first, they didn't think there was enough interest (they print on demand... not sure how thats a concern), and second,  they were sure Harmony Gold would completely sue them out of existence if they offered them... wonder when they changed their minds.

 

With the advent of the 1/60 and 1/48 scale markets, the days of the 1/55 collectors/customs have largely gone down in the west. You'll find a very tiny niche market probably, but if you're wanting to make money, I wouldn't get your hopes up.

Edited July 30, 2021 by Skull Leader
Better grammar

[Photogirl]

6 hours ago, Skull Leader said:

A while back i was going to provide both a scan of original 1/55 decal sheets in addition to a custom drawn decal set for all four major DYRL valkyries, with more to follow on later, to the guys at reprolabels (responsible for transformers reproduction sticker sheets) but they weren't interested on two grounds: first, they didn't think there was enough interest (they print on demand... not sure how thats a concern), and second,  they were sure Harmony Gold would completely sue them out of existence if they offered them... wonder when they changed their minds.

 

With the advent of the 1/60 and 1/48 scale markets, the days of the 1/55 collectors/customs have largely gone down in the west. You'll find a very tiny niche market probably, but if you're wanting to make money, I wouldn't get your hopes up.

i don't do it to make a fortune. 
I make sets that I want, how I want them. first and foremost. it just so happens that early on, people asked me to sell them sets of what i had done, so now, when i make myself a set, i make it available to other people. 
If i print a few sets and they sit on ebay for a few months, no skin off my back. I just want my own figures to look good. 
 

[pengbuzz]

11 hours ago, Photogirl said:

i don't do it to make a fortune. 
I make sets that I want, how I want them. first and foremost. it just so happens that early on, people asked me to sell them sets of what i had done, so now, when i make myself a set, i make it available to other people. 
If i print a few sets and they sit on ebay for a few months, no skin off my back. I just want my own figures to look good. 
 

Nothing like made-to order work to suit your projects.

[Anasazi37]

18 hours ago, Photogirl said:

i don't do it to make a fortune. 
I make sets that I want, how I want them. first and foremost. it just so happens that early on, people asked me to sell them sets of what i had done, so now, when i make myself a set, i make it available to other people. 
If i print a few sets and they sit on ebay for a few months, no skin off my back. I just want my own figures to look good. 
 

You just described how I've operated for the past twenty years. First and foremost I needed the decals/stickers for my own projects, and I have high quality standards (a.k.a., a bit of a perfectionist), so they had to be good. Because of the quality, the sets would attract interest from other collectors. If there was enough interest, I'd occasionally do small print runs. These days it's a lot more expensive for me to do those runs because the printer I use (ALPS) and the ink it requires are rare, but even back in the day it wasn't cheap. I'd set the prices so I could recover my printing costs, but that's it. Definitely not a money-making venture.

[pengbuzz]

On 7/31/2021 at 9:29 AM, Anasazi37 said:

You just described how I've operated for the past twenty years. First and foremost I needed the decals/stickers for my own projects, and I have high quality standards (a.k.a., a bit of a perfectionist), so they had to be good. Because of the quality, the sets would attract interest from other collectors. If there was enough interest, I'd occasionally do small print runs. These days it's a lot more expensive for me to do those runs because the printer I use (ALPS) and the ink it requires are rare, but even back in the day it wasn't cheap. I'd set the prices so I could recover my printing costs, but that's it. Definitely not a money-making venture.

That reminds me: I know that a lot of folks who have the ALPS printer are having a hard time finding inks for it. I heard something about the company who makes it isn't making the white ink for it anymore or something to that effect (don't exactly remember). I wonder if anyone else out there is making that ink, or if it's now a very finite supply?

[Anasazi37]

23 minutes ago, pengbuzz said:

That reminds me: I know that a lot of folks who have the ALPS printer are having a hard time finding inks for it. I heard something about the company who makes it isn't making the white ink for it anymore or something to that effect (don't exactly remember). I wonder if anyone else out there is making that ink, or if it's now a very finite supply?

I source my ink from Japan, where it's kinda still made, but not always easy to get. Definitely not cheap. The other problem is that the most widely available ink is made for the most recent ALPS printer, which was never sold in the US. There are slight differences in formulation, which can cause problems with the older printers if you're not careful. Even then, it doesn't always work well.

[Photogirl]

I wonder what TOYHAX uses to print their stickers. 
There must be other printers out there. If ALPS is so limited, there has to be options.

 

[Anasazi37]

1 hour ago, Photogirl said:

I wonder what TOYHAX uses to print their stickers. 
There must be other printers out there. If ALPS is so limited, there has to be options.

 

ALPS is still the most affordable desktop option, unfortunately. OKI makes a color+white desktop laser printer for about $6000, but the results are crap because it doesn't hold onto the sheet between the print passes for white (background) and color (foreground), so you end up with misregistration/misalignment for designs at the scale we care about. They do make one that works the way we want, but it will set you back at least $30,000 and it's quite large. I'm pretty sure that Toyhax uses some kind of screen printing approach. Also not cheap.

[Photogirl]

6 minutes ago, Anasazi37 said:

ALPS is still the most affordable desktop option, unfortunately. OKI makes a color+white desktop laser printer for about $6000, but the results are crap because it doesn't hold onto the sheet between the print passes for white (background) and color (foreground), so you end up with misregistration/misalignment for designs at the scale we care about. They do make one that works the way we want, but it will set you back at least $30,000 and it's quite large. I'm pretty sure that Toyhax uses some kind of screen printing approach. Also not cheap.

its sad that 3d printers are so cheap now, and good options for home printing are still prohibitive. 

[Sanity is Optional]

5 hours ago, Photogirl said:

its sad that 3d printers are so cheap now, and good options for home printing are still prohibitive. 

Considering 3D printed started with homemade hobbyist builds, I wonder if anyone's designed and built their own decal printer?