Recent Posts

1

Ships & Vehicles / Re: Sunken Galleon

« Last post by JPSA on Today at 05:20:44 »

More photos:













Note: The reason I made a big hole in the front section's underside, is because the playset was missing the trap door, up top, so I cut and fashioned one out of the base.  Then, I felt I had to put a smaller hole in the rear section, for balance.  ... Some reef, the galleon crashed into!

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Ships & Vehicles / Sunken Galleon

« Last post by JPSA on Today at 05:14:10 »

Just finished this galleon shipwreck:





I ordered an incomplete, used ghost pirate ship — set 4806 — on Ebay, a while ago ( $35 incl. shipping! ), and went to town with a dremel, jewelry saw, and acrylic paint.  Took about a week, in my spare time.

The acrylic paint held surprisingly well to the unprimed hull.  I started with a black wash, which I applied with a couple brushes ( one 1/2 inch, and the other one, small, to emphasize plank lines and cracks ), and then switched to an olive brown wash for the algae, using a torn sponge.

I finished by cementing PUA yarn ( which I dipped into the algae wash, to knock down the shininess ), and then a bit of model-making clump foliage, here and there.

Note: I was tempted, initially, to use a laser level to make a diagonal cut across the hull, so the ship would be more realistically tilted and sunken into the sand, but thought better of it, as that would make standing figures on deck impossible.  This is meant as a playset for my nephew, after all.

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Brainstorming For Playmobil / Re: What's wrong with Playmobil? 2

« Last post by Klickteryx on Today at 04:40:20 »

Most of the time the rotation was so quick that many sets ended up on clearance

Does this mean that stores offload lines if they don't sell enough in a given timeframe? Given the mostly empty boxes they sell I can see this making a bigger issue with shelf space taken up by air AND not moving quickly.

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Brainstorming For Playmobil / Re: What's wrong with Playmobil? 2

« Last post by Macruran on Today at 01:50:55 »

Several b&ms where I live carried PM but dropped it over the last five years or so. Sales were too slow. 

There was even a local grocery chain that carried a few small sets, which is where I caught my adult Playmofever, but they don't seem to have them anymore either 

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Brainstorming For Playmobil / Re: What's wrong with Playmobil? 2

« Last post by Rasputin on Today at 01:45:01 »

Amazon is the biggest retailer of Playmobil in the US, I suspect they sell more than Playmobil does off their own site. They get exclusive sets, and sometimes early releases of themes not arriving in Playmobil's own store until later.  Their influence on the market and the sucking away of sales from local brick and mortar is a huge factor.

They certainly have better sales also

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Direct Service/Parts Queries / Re: Playmobil DE ordering down?

« Last post by Tiermann on Today at 01:37:50 »

Problem seems to be fixed. I was able to finally complete my order using PayPal like normal without any extra hoop jumping. I did make sure to not allow my browser to translate the site. I have noticed in the past problems with sites where they dont recognize data submissions from auto translated pages.

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Brainstorming For Playmobil / Re: What's wrong with Playmobil? 2

« Last post by Tiermann on Today at 01:33:15 »

Amazon is the biggest retailer of Playmobil in the US, I suspect they sell more than Playmobil does off their own site. They get exclusive sets, and sometimes early releases of themes not arriving in Playmobil's own store until later.  Their influence on the market and the sucking away of sales from local brick and mortar is a huge factor.

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Brainstorming For Playmobil / Re: What's wrong with Playmobil? 2

« Last post by Macruran on Today at 00:28:47 »

Playmobil had a great shelf exposure when it came to brick snd mortar private family shops. The relationships with the store owners was rather odd, but they always , at least in the Bay Area, had plenty of visibility with opened sets to explore. Then most , if not all brick and mortar shops disappeared.

Several b&ms where I live carried PM but dropped it over the last five years or so. Sales were too slow. 

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Brainstorming For Playmobil / Re: What's wrong with Playmobil? 2

« Last post by Rasputin on April 24, 2024, 22:11:51 »

Playmobil had a great shelf exposure when it came to brick snd mortar private family shops. The relationships with the store owners was rather odd, but they always , at least in the Bay Area, had plenty of visibility with opened sets to explore. Then most , if not all brick and mortar shops disappeared.

Playmobil trying to negotiate with Costco, wal-mart, toys r us  and target never seemed to work for any length of time. Most of the time the rotation was so quick that many sets ended up on clearance

Brand recognition is a huge problem in the USA. Most people thought my convention layouts were LEGO . LEGO has a huge cult following with multi generational recognition. Playmobil ….only rich parents knew of it

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News / Re: Playmobil in the News

« Last post by JLMatterer on April 24, 2024, 21:50:17 »