Yet More RAFM Traveller Ship Minis

[shield]

four packs of the RAFM traveller minis are up on ebay.com

1 pack of 2 gazelles
1 pack of 2 far traders
1 pack of 2 free traders
1 pack - Broadsword Merc cruiser.

All have current bids at about the $6-7 level. The seller ships internationally.

There is also a pack of the Citadel / RAFM 15mm aliens (vargr, aslan, droyne) up for sale from the same seller

Cheers
Richard

 

[Stevie-the-Gamer]

RAFM Traveller ship Miniatures

I've been buying some of the 15mm figures from RAFM lately and dropped them a line about the New Era Ships. Here is the exchange...

I believe all the molds are packed away in storage. We have been unable
to interest anyone in there sale.

STEPHEN BANKHEAD wrote:
> Ad Astra games have a couple of larger scale "small" ship and two
> fleet packs, but nothing like the Traveller THG range you used to do.
>
> (See link)
>
> http://www.genreconnections.com/shop/index.php?p=catalog&parent=117&pg=1
>
> I presume that you don't have the molds?
>
> Regards
>
> Stephen
>
> ----- Original Message ----- From: <customerservice@rafm.com>
> To: "STEPHEN BANKHEAD" <stephen.bankhead@btinternet.com>
> Sent: Monday, March 01, 2010 6:18 PM
> Subject: Re: Traveller Range Releases
>
>
>> Hello Stephen,
>> No we have no plans for them. Isn't the traveller license owned? There
>> was someone making the ships now I had thought.
>>
>> Best Regards
>>
>>
>> STEPHEN BANKHEAD wrote:
>>> Dear Sir/Madam
>>>
>>> I know that you have been re-issuing the 15mm Traveller figures on a
>>> fairly regular basis and I have been buying packs as they are released.
>>>
>>> I would be interested in knowing if you have any plans to re-release
>>> the range of "Traveller New Era" space ships? I feel that given the
>>> upsurge in 15mm Sci Fi gaming recently that there would be healthy
>>> market for them.
>>>
>>> Regards
>>>
>>> Stephen Bankhead
>>>
>
>
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>
>
>
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>

Now is it just me or have RAFM confirmed that they still have the molds?

Regards

Stephen

 

[far-trader]

I've been buying some of the 15mm figures from RAFM lately and dropped them a line about the New Era Ships. Here is the exchange...

I believe all the molds are packed away in storage. We have been unable
to interest anyone in there sale.

o:

Makes me wonder just who they asked?

Given the usually quick and pricey sales on eBay over the last several years I think there's as much demand as ever.

Is that really what they said?

I thought there was some kind of licensing issue as a possible holdup. And something about the molds being lost, destroyed in a fire, or sold or something. Not "no interest"...

...my first "If I win the jackpot." splurge has long been "Get the old Traveller Ship Minis reissued!" (buy the molds, the business, the license, whatever it takes... )

 

[Commander Truestar]

OK,

As I currently understand it, Ad Astra holds the license now and they are dormant after releasing both the Imperial and Zhodani fleet boxes.(which I grabbed) MegaMinis also had bought up a license to put out larger scale ships and had started doing the old classics. Ad Astra bought up that license(and those molds) and still produces those at a trickle.
I think the reduced rate on the MageMini's molds is due to the hope that ad astra will come up with new fleet sets.
My last comment on their message board, placed some time after the first two sets had been anounced "first run sold out" was tatly responded to when I asked when they would put out a new set. But I believe RAFM's license is no longer valid and they would have to negociate a new one with FFE.(Not that that is likely to be beyond happening if they tried)

Marc

I've been buying some of the 15mm figures from RAFM lately and dropped them a line about the New Era Ships. Here is the exchange...

I believe all the molds are packed away in storage. We have been unable
to interest anyone in there sale.

- Snip -

Regards

Stephen

 

[Commander Truestar]

o:

Makes me wonder just who they asked?

Given the usually quick and pricey sales on eBay over the last several years I think there's as much demand as ever.

Is that really what they said?

Actually, you have to se it from their view.
The "quick and pricey sales on EBay" are only due to the extreme rarity of the items.
Like DGP books, they command a price because they are not out there.

If you are a manufacturer, you can not just order a handful of minis at a time without punching your per piece cost through the roof. So you have to spend a large cash outlay to fund a larger run. and once you push that out the door, you are not just facing the few rabid buyers on EBay but the broader market.
which first reduces by Miniature buyers.
then reduces by Traveller miniature buyers or those who think this or that mini is *kewl*

Eventually you get to the point where there may well not be a market for the thousands of figures you have to pay to produce even though there is a rabid hunger for several hundred of them.

Having been inside the market, I understand this better

My personal disaster happened when I teamed up with a stubborn artist and bought a spin caster(which now lives dormant in my garage). Having gotten the caster and made plans to rewire the run to the garage, I was struggling to get the artist to accept the market's desires over his artistic sense of "better" when I learned FASA had cut a deal to release Aerospace fighters and warships for Aerotech 2...

Sigh

Marc

 

[shield]

There are a bunch of rare RAFM traveller starship minis on www.ebay.com.

Seller has

2 packs of gazellers
pack free traders
pack far traders
pack of yachts
pack of cutters
pack of patrol cruisers
pack of SDBs

They only ship to the us.

Cheers
Richard

 

[LeperColony]

Thanks for the notice. Been wanting Far Traders for a while.