JangoFett jr. - Yes they're reasonably rare, but they come up from time to time if you're patient - hence the $1200 price tag at firearm auctions. (Only someone who has more money than patience would buy one from a prop forum).
The second part of your reply, concerning price, speaks for itself. Think about why I would be inquiring about the price of a replica ... Think about the usual prices of replicas vs real items. Now you have your answer.
FieldMarshall/War-Machine-Paintball makes very accurate stuff that is very nicely machined, but make no mistake these "Project Threads" are a form of advertising with the intention of selling them. He's running a business for the purpose of making money - and good luck to him for doing so. He can set whatever price he wants for the items he makes, but I am free to display my "sticker shock" as a consumer.
I know what it's like to run a business / work in 3D modelling / research props / price products etc...
Before I got sick I used to run my own small business. My very first commercial project was to create a piece of software, a plugin for a limited version of widely used suite of 3D software (Lightwave 3D/Inspire 3D) which I spent many days per week using. The limited version was cheaper, but was drastically crippled. My plugin added back the missing functionality to the 3D modelling package. I wrote it myself, but paid to have 2 developers port the source code & compile the code for Mac and DEC Alpha platforms. I also found a CD manufacturer and had them press a coupleof thousand copies, plus print the glossy cardboard full-color CD sleeves (which I created artwork to fit their dimensions). I was living in the UK at the time and reached out to a major reseller/partner of the 3D software in the US and struck a deal with them for exclusive distribution rights and had to deal with Customs & Excise exports when making shipments to them.
I was also the sole person who spent well over a hundred hours researching the Mate-n-Lok connectors on the ESB EE-3, scouring electronics supplier catalogs and doing photogrammetry work in Photoshop, before finding the exact model of connector used. The connectors were only in stock from an electronics supply company in Italy, who needed a formal purchase order and money to wired internationally to their bank. I also had to deal with import duties, find a way to dye the natural colored nylon blocks black (to a depth of approx. 0.2mm). I offered a set of 4x for a very reasonable price of $20 on here & theRPF and sold all 98 sets (keeping 2 for myself). The profit was about $8 per set. Considering their lack of availability and hassle I had to go through to get them I could've charged double that, but I knew that I could either charge a lot and sell just a few, or charge a little and sell them all .... I chose to sell them all. When I listed them I made the details of my discovery public knowledge - in essence giving away the over one hundred hours of work I did for free to my fellow prop-builders. (I don't like people keeping prop secrets from the rest of their community).
I'm now a hobby machinist, but lack a lathe or CNC on my mill - which would automate the machining process and only require manual intervention when setting-up the piece (or changing bits on the smaller CNC's).
I explain all this to show that yes, I do know what it's like to run a business, to price a product, to jump through the hoops necessary to get to manufacture. I also have knowledge of metal working and have a good amount of experience in 3D modelling. So I'm not oblivious to what FieldMarshall is doing - In fact I know more about that entire group of relevant skills than most people here. I know the process(es), its frustrations and rewards. I also understand the principle of high-price vs high-volume.
I'm not irresponsible enough to slap an $1100 purchase like this on a credit card, only to end up paying 15% - 25% (APR) in interest for many months ahead (plus pay interest on the interest).
But, what do I know? ...Maybe I'm just miserable because I'm in pain.?
Our water heater finally **** the bed 9 days ago and I'm having to fix it myself, despite having disabilities, because we couldn't afford $1500 to pay someone else to do the repairs. I'm replacing the water heater / rewire it back to the panel / replace rotten stud framing / repair the drywall all by myself (despite being crippled with an inoperable ruptured disc & CFS/ME & 30% nerve damage) ... but the upside is we only end up paying $600.
fuuuuggggggggggggggggggggggggghhhhhhhh DAMN You have written a novel to explain how my stuff is over priced and you can buy a webley for 1200 bucks?????????????????????????????
I dont what is worse this very nice way of saying I should stop making good stuff and let all the crap 3d printed hack jobs take over completely??
Ill buy all the 1200 $ webley you can find me .. thats prices from 20 years ago!!!! no gun auction or owner is that stupid nowadays... Holy HOLY you finding parts for the community and giving them away .. How very noble of you .........
If this was my business this kit should have sold for over 2000$$ !!!!! See what a MR kit costs) this tooling and engineering alone was over 100,000 $$$$$ I do this for fun and as a side hobby... Like all the kits i do in metal!!! The real tragedy is having to by some hack prop and spends weeks sanding and painting try to make it look screen accurate ... Which is the ultimate goal i believe.. Thats why i ,, whenever humanly or inhumanly possible I laser scan REAL vintage parts so the builder that do find value in my PRODUCTS get something worth paying FOR!!!!!You say you know the pain of running a business,,,
I seriously doubt you have ever build of put anything into production at this level of detail or you would not have wrote such a vulgar ,MEAN post about what i do !!!!!
What are those modeling programs your using are for 3d printing? Before you slam me and tell me how great you are ,,, step up to bat and buy mastercam , autocad , and 2 million in cnc equipment for your hobby ... then you can tell me about manufacturing ! I HAVE ZERO IDEA WHAT CONTRIBUTIONS YOU HAVE DONE FOR THE PROP/REPLICA BUILDERS OF THE WORLD BUT POSTING THIS ******** ON MY BUILD PAGE IS REALLY RUDE ...
MY GOAL IS TO GIVE THE BUILDER THE BEST QUALITY PROP REPLICA MONEY CAN BUY. I MAKE NO EXCUSE FOR WHAT I DO AND GOOD STUFF WILL NEVER BE AS INEXPENSIVE AS DOING IT CHEAP OR TAKING SHORT CUTS !!!
Ive seen other alum kits on in this site made by another company sell for 1500 plus so i think i have done a wonderful job bringing this kit/ replica into the world at almost half that cost ...
To my friends and builders that follow my post on FB, whitearmor, rpf ect.... i will always put my talents to these goals im never making cheap crap. There is plenty of that in our community now.
What the last prop you made for the community? I saw a very serious shortage of good ee3 parts for the rotj and esb.. 3d copies of copies printed is not in my humble opinion preserving the continuity of the original parts ....
Thank GOD your to smart to use a credit card with 25 apr to buy something fun that will last.................... (my advice is to find a cc that doesn't have 25 apr)
GOT A GREAT IDEA FOR YOU ! IF YOU DONT HAVE NICE , GOOD, CONSTUCTIVE THINGS TO DISCUSS THEN STOP FOLLOWING MY BUILDS... IM NEVER DOING WHATEVER YOU THINK ANYWAY
***** To my friends and builders that follow my post on Dented helmetFB, whitearmor, rpf ect.... i will always put my talents to these goals im never making cheap crap. There is plenty of that in our community now. If I FAIL then i want my fellow prop builders to help me do better ,, if you need help with anything that im involved in then always ask ....