9th-Sep-20, 05:51 PM
Firstly i'd like to thank Andy for posting the above news and for the team at SlotRacer Online for providing this platform.
If i can, i'd like to explain our position re this project and what we hope to learn from it.
We see 3D printing as a natural progression in the developement of our own range of kits and scratch building accessories.
Many of our kits are now modelled from scratch or updated from our range of existing models in house.
We have several body kits which have been in the range for a number of years which there is still a demand for but would benefit from updating.
For example we recently updated several of our Penelope Pitlane bodies to accept Policar mounts with a 3D printed chassis. They have been well recieved and customers have asked if we will do more with similar conversions. These are relatively simple to do and the 3D prints could be done in house. However, we want to push the boundries further and develope chassis which would cater for another significant part of our business - Racers.
Thats when Revoslot came to mind. It offered us the opportunity to design a series of chassis which would be totally different to the box stock releases but more in keeping with what club racers (in the UK) are used to.
We haven't tried to be too clever, the chassis have been designed so that they are easy to build with readily available parts and will fit the standard bodies without any modifications. The aim was to learn the intricasies of chassis designs along the way. We started with the Toyota Supra as its a car that appeals to me, we binned 15 different chassis designs for this body alone, each one rejected, updated and reviewed again. We now have a chassis which we are happy with and which sets a standard for the other chassis in the range to follow.
It was important to choose a 3D print partner that we could use who would help us along this road. Thats why we chose TA71 as they are providing market leading print services and have a vast experience of 3D printing for the slot car market.
To respond to some of the comments raised in your replies, i understand that pricing was always going to be an issue. However i do believe we have pitched the prices appropriately. The body & chassis only option offers the opportunity to build a car to your own spec with common parts out of your pit box. Its difficult to make like for like comparisons on pricing with the Revolot Painted body kit at £25 as most manufaturers only release unpainted kit bodies which retail around £17-£25. As many have already commented £20 for the chassis may seem steep but when compared with other Shapeways offerings its pretty much par for the course.
I did work out the cost of purchasing all the parts for the running gear separately, it came out at over £50 (using our own already discounted prices) so to offer it for £40 would seem reasonable.
The above 2 options are probably where we will see most sales, RTR cars are always going to be subjective and we have possibly put ourselves in the firing line, as any experienced racer knows, one car set up doesn't suit all tracks. However, anyone purchasing an RTR will be guarenteed a well set up car built by Nick, who has over 20 years experience of building and racing cars. Each car will be tested on our own club track to make sure they are silky smooth before being posted out.
To reply directly to some of your comments:
I'd be happy to swap out the motor for the quicker Allslot red motor at no additional cost.
Already covered above but i think its inportant to stress the difference in quality between a home printed PLA chassis which typically sells around £10-12 and one that has been printed using the lastest MJF printers.
We have entered into this relationship with our eyes open. Hopefully it will be good for both - we have some interesting news concerning this agreement which we'll be releasing soon.
This is in my mind for future additions to the range. However, on step at a time!
Sean
If i can, i'd like to explain our position re this project and what we hope to learn from it.
We see 3D printing as a natural progression in the developement of our own range of kits and scratch building accessories.
Many of our kits are now modelled from scratch or updated from our range of existing models in house.
We have several body kits which have been in the range for a number of years which there is still a demand for but would benefit from updating.
For example we recently updated several of our Penelope Pitlane bodies to accept Policar mounts with a 3D printed chassis. They have been well recieved and customers have asked if we will do more with similar conversions. These are relatively simple to do and the 3D prints could be done in house. However, we want to push the boundries further and develope chassis which would cater for another significant part of our business - Racers.
Thats when Revoslot came to mind. It offered us the opportunity to design a series of chassis which would be totally different to the box stock releases but more in keeping with what club racers (in the UK) are used to.
We haven't tried to be too clever, the chassis have been designed so that they are easy to build with readily available parts and will fit the standard bodies without any modifications. The aim was to learn the intricasies of chassis designs along the way. We started with the Toyota Supra as its a car that appeals to me, we binned 15 different chassis designs for this body alone, each one rejected, updated and reviewed again. We now have a chassis which we are happy with and which sets a standard for the other chassis in the range to follow.
It was important to choose a 3D print partner that we could use who would help us along this road. Thats why we chose TA71 as they are providing market leading print services and have a vast experience of 3D printing for the slot car market.
To respond to some of the comments raised in your replies, i understand that pricing was always going to be an issue. However i do believe we have pitched the prices appropriately. The body & chassis only option offers the opportunity to build a car to your own spec with common parts out of your pit box. Its difficult to make like for like comparisons on pricing with the Revolot Painted body kit at £25 as most manufaturers only release unpainted kit bodies which retail around £17-£25. As many have already commented £20 for the chassis may seem steep but when compared with other Shapeways offerings its pretty much par for the course.
I did work out the cost of purchasing all the parts for the running gear separately, it came out at over £50 (using our own already discounted prices) so to offer it for £40 would seem reasonable.
The above 2 options are probably where we will see most sales, RTR cars are always going to be subjective and we have possibly put ourselves in the firing line, as any experienced racer knows, one car set up doesn't suit all tracks. However, anyone purchasing an RTR will be guarenteed a well set up car built by Nick, who has over 20 years experience of building and racing cars. Each car will be tested on our own club track to make sure they are silky smooth before being posted out.
To reply directly to some of your comments:
Quote:I looked into this as a host class (RTR £125.00) and at that price for four including currency conversion is $950 Australian, that makes each car $224.95 AUD.... OUCH!!! four will be just shy of $900 plus freightWe do deduct VAT for export sales reducing the cost of an RTR from £125 to £104.16.
Quote:A 22K motor would be way too slow for our modified GT class and I suspect other racers would prefer to use a different motor so the body and chassis option will probably be the most popular.
I'd be happy to swap out the motor for the quicker Allslot red motor at no additional cost.
Quote:Good idea, but £20 for a 3DP Chassis sounds steep to me ….
Already covered above but i think its inportant to stress the difference in quality between a home printed PLA chassis which typically sells around £10-12 and one that has been printed using the lastest MJF printers.
Quote:Interesting that The Area 71 is supplying Pendle. They got an extremely bad reputation (Area 71 not Pendle's) a while back for non-existent/very late deliveries and there were complaints all over the forums and Facebook. It was a year or so ago, have they improved since then? Anybody got recent experience with them?
We have entered into this relationship with our eyes open. Hopefully it will be good for both - we have some interesting news concerning this agreement which we'll be releasing soon.
Quote:One observation is that the chassis could have been designed to take a digital chip, such as the tiny Slot.it Type-C decoder - which is cross-compatible with the Scalextric, Carrera and Slot.it oXigen digital systems. Sadly, the chassis does not make fitting a digital chip easy at all. I suspect the plastic chassis option will be particularly interesting for digital racers, so this is a shame. However, the joy of 3D printing is that revisions can be made for future print runs.
This is in my mind for future additions to the range. However, on step at a time!
Sean
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