Rubicon Models > Wish Lists

Focusing on the more useful kits – wake up and smell the molded plastic!

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ultravanillasmurf:
I think, and Tracks can correct me if I am wrong, that his (Tracks) point is there are some key vehicles (and guns)  that are not currently being produced in plastic by any manufacturer. He thinks that Rubicon (encouraged by forum members, and I include myself) is getting distracted from producing these items and producing flights of wish fulfilment and not bread and butter items that will sell well to wargamers who want a platoon of common tanks, lorries to carry a platoon of infantry and an AT gun or two.

I understand this position (and am guilty of flights of fancy over my wish lists).

The following are my own thoughts and not based on actual information from Rubicon.

I suspect that some of the (slightly esoteric) projects we do see are "apprentice" pieces (in the old meaning), where a project is given to a new team to prove their capability. This covers some of the "odder" items and  includess fencing etc.

The confusion over the QL series lorry might be that the initial design process by a team assumed that the troop variant and the cargo variant were only cosmetically different (this might be due to available information - for many years the vehicles aboard the SS Thistlegorm were authoritively described as being certain models. Lots of books have been published on the subject. A recent in-depth analysis has shown that the models are not as previously described).

If the cargo version was more advanced, we might get to see the work in progress. Rubicon has invested time in it, so it might not sell as well as the troop carrier, but does provide a return while the troop carrier is completed.

The other thing is the competition. The Loyd carrier is the most recent example. I was hoping to  pick up three at Salute, but it was not quite available. It was noticeable that someone else has released a Loyd carrier this month.

Rubicon released renders of their future Italan tanks, and someone else "rushed" their plastic versions.

As the "fully fledged" projects that have been shown to us without preamble, Rubicon do not  always show what they are working on. We have no idea if they curremtly have any of the listed models under development. We also do not know if any projects assigned to a team have not met their requirements.

As the M4A1 project has shown, this is complicated develppment.

Rubicon Models:
Venting is good for your health, please do it outdoor though ;)!

Back to the subject, you must all realise we have 70 kits just under the "WW2 Plastic Kits" category (not counting pewter or resin items) in 55 months since our first release back in late Oct 2014.  That's an average of 1.27 kits per month for the last 4.5 year!  We are not aware there are many companies in this hobby who are willing to keep this up at this pace.

There is a large amount of work needed to kickstart and then work on each project:

1. Research on the subject, reference material on variants, blueprints & measurement, and related model kits in various scales (if any).
2. Then came the painstaking process of drawing the 3D model from scratch.
3. Compare with historical photos and blueprints from various sources with our 3D model, making changes if necessary.
4. Look at different variants and "think" of a way to combine all of them into a single design.
5. Print 3D prototype to help visualise assembly and the final product.
6. Make changes again to ease assembly and simplify parts or overall design.
7. Try to fit all the parts onto the proposed number of sprues for the project until all parts can fit.
8. Otherwise, back to the drawing board to make more concessions.
9. Once approved, the factory will start doing parts layout based on our requirement.
10. If approved, mould making will commence.
11. Wait for the first test-shot (TS1).
12. Once done, get sample sprues, compare with drawings and test assemble the parts.
13. Make changes if need until everything is perfect.
14. Sign off the moulds and proceed to the first commercial run.
15. In the meantime, the studio will start doing assembly instruction diagrams and decal sheet.
16. Cover art, graphics and text material are needed to complete the box design.
17. Once all after-production material is ready and approved, they will be sent to the factory for printing.
18. Samples of these materials will be sent back to the studio for approval before final printing.
19. Set a date for the production run where everything will be sent to the packaging line to produce the final product.
20. Arrange the finished product to be shipped to our warehouse, and then arrange freight to ship everything to our overseas partners.

From R&D to the final product usually will take 10 to 11 months IF there are no hiccups; that is, unexpected events like another urgent project, holidays, or problems with mould-making.

About TOPICS

This is a hard one.  What subject to choose for a project?  We have a list of subjects on our production list and each one is sorted by priority based on many factors, BUT “game system” is not one of them.  Completion schedule is different for each project. We select new projects when there are projects closed to completion.  We look at each new project based on completion time, complexity, and budget.

Some projects are so difficult to do, we have to put them towards the end of the list or until we have the experience to tackle them… some early war vehicles are good examples.  It is not just about the rivets, but the size of the vehicle as well.  The smaller the vehicle the more difficult it is to make it into a sturdy gaming piece, but yet be able to show all the details in a proportionate manner.

Let’s take a look at our M4 Sherman Digital Library project – this is our first large scale project that had spanned over two years to get FIVE M4 Sherman variants out to the market, but we got stuck with the M4A1, the last of the variants that we planned.  We can release it with ease by using old components from our previous M4 variants with new parts that are only available for the M4A1.  But we scratched the whole design by redoing the M4A1 from the ground up… yet it had to maintain compatibility with our other M4 kits.

Besides the M4 turrets, the new M4A1 has a new upper and lower chassis, a new roadwheel & track system, and new transmission housing.  All these parts are designed to be M3 Lee/Grant and M7 Priest compatible IF these latter projects are to commence in the near future.

These issues and the experience gained enable us to create a much well organized Panzer IV project, which only took us less than 2 years to complete.  The experience we gained from both projects enables us to complete our Panzer III project in record-breaking time… the first TS1 sprues are expected towards the end of April.  The T-26 project is also a breakthrough in design and production by using different technologies through trial and error.

About WHAT YOU WANT

We cannot promise what we will do next until we post them on FB or here at the forum.  At times, we had to stop projects at the R&D phase because of design issues, or we know they are well over budget, or simply someone is already doing it.  But I think you all agree we do listen to all requests – like the M3A1 scout car and the Chevy 30cwt truck.

We simply do not want to disappoint you if we promise you to do one particular vehicle and not doing it.  There are some new projects that we really wanted to start this year:
1. Some Allies AT guns (not too many, but at least a start)
2. One Allies armour car (probably, will depend on schedule)
3. M3 Lee/Grant
4. One or two Panzer IV variants

Projects that we will NOT do this year:
1. French vehicles
2. Japanese vehicles

About FUTURE PLANS

We will definitely NOT limit ourselves to just WW2… period!

;)

Jaeger:
I liked that.
I see that projects on vehicles that appear in post WWII conflicts to be beneficial for the future.  And of course work on vehicles used by multiple armies.

tyroflyer:
Will be interested to see what the Panzer IV variants you (Rubicon) have in mind. Disappointed to read early war vehicles are difficult to do.

Rubicon Models:

--- Quote from: tyroflyer on April 26, 2019, 01:22:53 pm ---Disappointed to read early war vehicles are difficult to do.

--- End quote ---

It is not possible, just take more time to explore and work with. We will still tackle them one at a time!

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