Ciao everyone,
I was over at AFV interiors, looking around, and feeling a little blue about losing one of my favorite web sites. It's just a darn shame about it.
It got me to thinking. Do you think that it would be a good marketing tool to sell a kit with a DVD (or CD) included that has interior/exterior photos of the model that you are building. I mean, didn't they have to have reference material to make the model in the first place? Why not include it with the model for those who want to super detail or those just interested?
Just an idea......
Ciao for now
Rob

I think that's not a bad idea, specially because the cost of a professionally printed CD it's not that high, something like less than a Euro per copy for printing 1000 of them.
The problem is the research and the copyrigth for the images you will put on the CD. Taking them from books it's not allowed, often museums do not allow re-publishing of the pics of their vehicles and the cost of this research/sourcing of the images and drawings could be quite high...
Ciao

Ciao Fabio,
Well, I can tell by the lack of response that it must be a bad idea.
I thought that it might be a good idea, but you are right on the money. I was considering putting the suggestion to Dragon directly (since I am a constant suggestor to them.) I still might because I think it would be an excellent addition.
Ciao for now
Rob

As one who does marketing and manufacturing, I can tell you that such a venture would appeal only to a small group of people. Very few people actually ever scratchbuild interiors. Some of the really young builders don't even understand beyond OOB.

The cost to manufacture the CD for every box of every kit would be a very daunting task not to mention the amount of additional inventory and space required. Then you have different operating systems and even PC v Mac.

The cost to research a cd for every version would be enormous, as Soccia pointed out. In addition, they would actually be admitting to some of the shortcomings of their kits if they didn't match the reference materials. No more cheating to use common sprues across multiple versions if it really didn't exist

Ciao Alan,
I'm beginning to think this is a bad idea!
Ciao for now
Rob

Well it's not really a "bad" idea. It might make for an interesting supplemental product but probably not a good value-add for your everyday kit.

One more thing, you might have to do it multiple languages which would increase costs.

Actually I have a kit in my stash that has a CD with reference pics, directions, and shots of the complete kit. It is a resin conversion of the T55 (trumpeter) to a T55 M I think. The cost is not that bad per unit to do it. More resin conversions would benefit from using it as a tool.