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Hi Cav Not familiar with the game, so do you have any images to share? Going down an plastic kit seems like a very expensive way to test the water. The current trend seems to be for a 3D print which is then resin cast, which is generally much more economical. Interested to see where this goes. Alun

Cobra mk3 from the front

From the back

The Cobra Mk3 is the iconic ship from the game and as such has so far been voted the favourite as a first model.

 

 

Personally I`d like to see either the Asp

Or the diamondback explorer

There are 23 ships to go at at present though.
I totally get the resin route and to be honest this was my very first thought. However getting people to buy into that is a little difficult. I`m having all on tbh getting people to buy into a proper styrene kit! They have to build it? Oh my god!!!! Half of them are wanting a diecast prefinished affair!
I am very experienced with 3D printing. I am a CAD designer by trade. I could certainly turn something around using that but it will still take a lot of money just to print the masters.

I would be interested potentially in any/all of those. but I do like the DiamondBack in particular. 

Of course, price would be a factor. but yep, interested. 

They would be reasonably priced however I go about it. Resin is still on the table at the moment with more than likely some etched detailling bits and bobs.

I`m planning to scale all ships to approx 1:250. That may seem small but what isn`t apparent is the size of those ships. The Cobra is 27m long x 44m wide, the Asp is 56.5m long x 51m wide and the Diamondback looks to be approx 40m to 50m long but no official data on that one. I`d have to rip it from the game and measure it up to get actual figures. 

So something between ~10-20cm depending on the size of the ship.  That`s not bad but depends on the level of detail you`ll get into it, and as Paul flags-the price.

I agree with Alun and Paul on the price point, but as to which ship to produce, my vote would have to be with the Diamond Back (although I do like the look of the Imperial Clipper & Courier)

Here is a link to see all of the ships: Elite Dangerous Wiki

Indeed. I`ve pitched that scale there as the anaconda is approx 152m which would be a couple of feet long at 1:250. I would like any future ones that I do to be in scale with the rest. There is quite a wide size range of the shops from 14m to 152m. 

What price point would you guys see as reasonable?

Quote from Cavan Millward

What price point would you guys see as reasonable?

Now there is an open question!  For a big plastic kit it could well be in excess of £100 (thinking something like the Pegasus Models MLEV which is $180) but then you cut down your market to only those people who are really keen on the subject matter.  For the smaller kits (10-20cm) I would think £20-30 (£30 being a max in my mind).  This could be low enough for someone to take a punt on an unknown manufacturer and subject matter which only be of passing interest.  

Assuming these are licensed? If not your Cease and Desist might arrive quite fast...

I was thinking around the £30 mark myself (finger in the air of course at this stage), maybe a tad extra if I`m doing etched detail parts as well, of course it would depend on the size of the model and the cost to get the kits (be them resin or IM) made up. I`m a bit OCD myself about detail so I would hope that the finished product would be good enough to pass acceptance and I would of course do approval and QA myself prior to sending anything out. Again though, the levels of included detailing parts etc have a knock on effect to cost so will need to look into that and get a mock up of the kit underway probably in order to assess whats doable and whats not.

As for Licencing I have been in communication with Frontier Developments who make the game and I`m currently going through the licencing process so hopefully this will be sorted soon and I will get approval, I certainly won`t be spending oodles of my time developing a kit prior to getting a licensing agreement through as that really would be a major stumbling block.