A manufacturers view on scaling

Firstly before i lead into the question of scales and why modern manufacturers find it difficult, i thought it was time that i introduced myself
Obviously some of you know me as Egbert but others also know that i am James from Mojo, so hello to everyone

I have been following STS for well over a year now and have to say i am a huge fan. Sometimes it's difficult not to get caught up in a debate and discuss the issues, but given my position and from a professional point of view I have avoided such situations thus far.
However now that everyone knows who i am, I feel more relaxed in opening a debate or even discussing issues raised, obviously provided they relate to Mojo only. I will not discuss other companies or their products and i trust you will both understand and respect my decision on this matter.

OK my first topic..................here goes!
I have read so many times on STS, debates in respect of scaling and why today’s manufacturers don’t seem to follow the scale set by companies such as Brittains.
Well the answer put simply is modern safety standards.
To build a range to scale firstly you have to make your smallest pieces to such a scale that when the larger animals are made they will not be way too large for any retailer to comfortably fit on their shelves nor of such a price that would adversely affect sales. Obviously companies such as Brittains did not have the modern day restrictions and so were able to make very small animals and therefore the larger animals sat comfortably alongside and gave a true feeling of perspective.
Today’s regulations mean that animals such as rabbits have to be a minimum size in order to avoid possible choking hazards, hence the average rabbit from most manufacturers is probably around 1:6-1:8 scale. Obviously to make a larger animal in a scale to match this would be impractical.
Another problem with the smaller models is that if they are made too small the average retailer will not stock them, seeing them as a potential shrinkage problem or perhaps not representing value for money. At the other end of the scale the same can be said of the bigger models, if we make them too big, then again there will be a pricing issue, the product will be seen as too expensive and no matter the collector market and its importance, without good retail support it is very difficult for any manufacturer to survive.
In truth scale is only one part of the problem, and whilst from a collector’s point of view having everything in scale would be Eutopia. From a manufacturers point of view we have to consider that size costs and whilst the collectors market is very important it probably represents no more that 10% of overall sales. In order for us to create some special animals that are different and not made purely for commercial purposes then we must cater first and foremost to the other 90% market share who want a very nice animal but at a reasonable price.

Many thanks for listening James (we need a squirrel emoticon!)

Very very interesting. Many thanks for this informations

And welcome

Now I can say:
Welcome James on forum! It is a huge honour to have you as a emember and friend here in STS. You are a part of our family and it is great to know that you enjoy with us!
Thanks for clearing up everything around the scale subject. A very informative topic to all of us that never worked in a company. If I expected something like this it was surely from you. The company manager I know that work closer to collectors! Thanks!

Thank you Roger and Andreas......its great to be here!

Also just in case anyone is wondering, just because i am a forum member doesn't mean that you can't discuss our animals honestly and openly.
If you don't like something then just say it, without an honest platform and unbiased critical review how can any company improve.

James

I would say that. But i worked a long time in a shop and so i know the amrket rules. But my wish, i think any of us know that, are more unusual species.

Now i worked with childrens they are go to school. And i know that elephants, lions ... are important for the market but i also know that childrens are very interested in animals, so i know where i work a lot of the kids have animal and dinosaur figurines. And so i could imagine that also unusual species will be good.
But Mojö do anything for my zoo- i know

Egbert wrote:

Thank you Roger and Andreas......its great to be here!

Also just in case anyone is wondering, just because i am a forum member doesn't mean that you can't discuss our animals honestly and openly.
If you don't like something then just say it, without an honest platform and unbiased critical review how can any company improve.

James

(o)): (o)): (o)):

Hello, hello, - so the anonymous Egbert is really the generous James Connolly

Great, and VERY interesting, to hear about the real life of a manufacturer.
And great to see that you are so interested in us collectors that you even are a member of our forum

This is a surprise! Welcome here, even though I guess you have been around a while.

Wow!!What a surprise and great to have you on board!!My big problem is that I have no stockist of Mojo in my area!!

It's so nice to be able to call you James now

Its you. Wow, thats kinda embarrassing that I never even suspected... shows how observant I am... Well, WELCOME MR. CONNOLLY! That is very interesting what you shared about the scales, thanks for sharing.

Roger... I need to know the truth... Are you the owner of Maia+Borges ?

James, I thought you were a zero posts member and I never suspected you were the famous Egbert. So welcome again on STS forum James Egbert Connolly

And now I will suspect every members of this forum to be someone else. And I will suspect the other admins and mods to keep their cards well hidden. I'm happy to understand that Susanne was also unaware of this I will have to take my pills against paranoïa

A warm welcome Eg... James! I'm very happy you're also a member of the forum. I think we're the most lucky forum members in the world. That you're a member is like to have Santa living in home : he will bring you the presents you want or not, but you must be sure that he will listen to you (o)): That's what happens with Mojo. Although you think collectors is only a 10% you're giving us the opportunity to express our desires into reality and many of them. thank you very again much James!

About scales: this is an old request of mine . And expressed by a professional is entirely clear for me because in my work I am also very, very limited by regulations. It is a very expensive work to suit to them and be at once satisfied with your creation. It occurs to me to set different scales for different series, as you are doing now (I think) with prehistoric mammals; or work with different scales for different sizes, creating a progressive scale seriation eg 1:5, 1:16, 1 : 22 and 1:30

Kikimalou wrote:

And now I will suspect every members of this forum to be someone else. And I will suspect the other admins and mods to keep their cards well hidden. I'm happy to understand that Susanne was also unaware of this I will have to take my pills against paranoïa

No paranoia Christophe... I must say... I am Ramona Pariente!

Welcome James, it's indeed nice to call You officially James here also, haha. :) I'm not surprised that Egbert was not a pirate squirrel
Interesting info about scaling too. :)

Abu Rai wrote:

No paranoia Christophe... I must say... I am Ramona Pariente!

I already knew that

Kikimalou wrote:

Abu Rai wrote:

No paranoia Christophe... I must say... I am Ramona Pariente!

I already knew that

I apologize Egbert to avoid discussing the scale point, the hidden identity scoop was The big revelation for me .

I understand your point as a manufacturer and I agree it is more important than collector's points. You are playing the match and we are commenting, and love also, the sport .

Scales are important for me, not because I want to have everything in one scale but because I like to learn new things and, except in some zoos, we are not able to feel the real size of animals. I agree with Balti, it would be good to compare and watch animals at the same scale. A British child in the 1970's could see what is the size differences between an elephant and a leopard, just at looking at his toys. It is impossible now and I regret it even if I understand why it is impossible

Scales are so important for me that I use to collect them all . It's fun to discover your topic because I was thinking to open a new topic, a bit on the " Lilliput and Brobdingnag" style, about models in scale with each other whatever the brand. I just need now to make the first pics

Nevertheless, I hope you will try to match the scale everytime it is possible, for example with your 1:30 prehistoric mammal serie. I know it would be difficult for a baluchitherium

Funny how for example many Breyer horses are in scale to other toy brand birds, cats or rabbits Seriously, they look very nicely next to each other.

Well, hellloooooo James

ana wrote:

Funny how for example many Breyer horses are in scale to other toy brand birds, cats or rabbits Seriously, they look very nicely next to each other.

I agree

It would be nice to have all the larger animals in scale with one another.

Thank you everyone for your very kind words, i feel most humble to have such a warm welcome from STS friends.

So Kiki.....................Now i have to call you Captian Kiki Or maybe Long John Kiki

For the scale issue, frankly i do want to try to match scales wherever possible and i will try to the future, hence my trial with 1:30 scale for the Prehistoric range.
Like many of you I feel there is such beauty in a range that has true perspective, it looks so natural.

In respect of Breyer scaling, firstly you have to remember that most if not all of the larger horses are in fact blow moulded (hollow inside) and this manufacturing process is much cheaper. Hence they can offer a relatively large figure for a reasonable price. However Blow moulding also has its limitations in terms of texture and fine details. So the figure has to be larger in order to gain some good details.

If we manufactured a horse to the same scale as the larger Breyer horses whilst retaining our current production process (solid injection moulded).
Then our price for a horse of this size would be 25-30 EUROS, if we start to talk about something like a Zebra or Giraffe with difficult painting then it could be even more.

It is a good comparison but if you chose Breyer production technique and scaling it would be a trade off, fine detail and texture or scale?

Not easy i'm afraid

Egbert wrote:

Firstly before i lead into the question of scales and why modern manufacturers find it difficult, i thought it was time that i introduced myself
Obviously some of you know me as Egbert but others also know that i am James from Mojo, so hello to everyone

..........................

Many thanks for listening James (we need a squirrel emoticon!)

You are James Connolly from Mojo Welcome James! And BTW thanks for information! (o)): (o)): (o)): (o)): And again many thanks for your beautiful package!

What a great surprise (o)): (o)):
Hi james and welcome :) You are really one of us (o)):

Egbert wrote:

For the scale issue, frankly i do want to try to match scales wherever possible and i will try to the future, hence my trial with 1:30 scale for the Prehistoric range.
Like many of you I feel there is such beauty in a range that has true perspective, it looks so natural.

Captain James Egbert Connoly, I'm sure you will

Egbert wrote:

It is a good comparison but if you chose Breyer production technique and scaling it would be a trade off, fine detail and texture or scale?

Not easy i'm afraid

About the trade off, fine detail and texture or scale? I'm 100% for the texture, detail... and unusual species