Getting a kit made by mfgr

[ClayD]

As a "mfgr" le'me chime in here.

First off, if you have the urge to market your designs, I highly urge you to DO IT! There's room here for everyone.

That said, there are a few lessons to be learned. First one is- you can never tell what the folks out there will be hot to buy. Every time I think I have it, I'm dead wrong. Often it depends on exposure- what people see at their local launch can set off a buying spurt. So you never know until you try.

Next- REALLY crunch the numbers. Cost for parts... and I mean EVERY part. Little stuff like snap swivels and screw eyes can make you nuts. And parachutes... don't even talk to me about parachutes (I have to make more this week and it's a pain). Anyhow, you'll find that the margins are VERY narrow. You ain't gonna get rich, in fact you'll likely take a loss for quite a while. A total cost of just parts in the neighborhood of $7 to $8 has to have a wholesale of at least $15 and a retail of $25. That may sound like a handy profit, but when other factors are added in, such as packaging, illustration for instructions, printing etc. that margin narrows. If the business grows, you'll have to re-invest almost everything you earn back into the business to grow it.

Additionally, you have to consider custom parts as well as common parts. For example- I often have people approach me with neat-o looking rockets asking about how to "kit it." I'll point to a component and ask "So where'd you get that?" and they'll answer something such as they got it from the discount bin at a chain craft store. I always tell them that they have to consider where it is that they can get, not 100 of those, but 10,000 of those over the next 10 years. Because that is how you have to think. I currently buy paper centering rings a thousand at a time and sheets of raw balsa stock 100 at a time... and I buy often.

Lastly, if you think this is gonna be a part-time job... think again. Back in the 70's I worked on the clean-up crew at a local civic arena. The city hired slobs like me as what they called "Part-time, Full-time" employees. In other words they often worked us full time hours, but for part-time pay and no benefits. That's how you'll work your rocket company.

BTW- NEVER... I repeat NEVER transmit your instructions in digital form. Exactly as N5WD said- once it's out in digital form in cyberspace it's gone and EVERYONE gets it for free.

estes has emailed me many kit instructions in scale pdf :~)

I personally think if someone wants to build a from on line instructions, they would rather buy a kit... but i doubt someone would plaguerize that bad, better yet a number of people...But, if your worried there are ways around that.

Thanks for the breakdown, honest and realisic....

[gagreen]

all good info but i think it is a little ot. The op was just asking how to go about selling his plans to a mfgr, not kitting them himself. TRF must have all enterprising minds because from this little 2 page ot discussion someone could turn it into a chapter in a business text.

I havent tried to submit a design to a mfgr for consideration but i would imagine a few guidelines should be followed when building and prototyping a possible sell design.

1. If the company sells scratch components build the entire rocket out of their off the shelf components, no discount bin find parts.
2. Design should be accompanied with scaled drafts, cp cg diagram, a pretty full set of instructions, at least spell checked.
3. At least a few recommended motor selections.

The hard part is getting the plans in the right hands, it becomes about who you know not what you know. The smaller vendors such as fliskits, dr. zooch, etc.. are a little more accessible compared to estes, quest, aerotech.. But with them being smaller businesses the odds of a huge payout is nil.

The last thing to consider is what its worth to you to give your designs to someone to mass produce. Being a hobbiest and enthusiast I would be happy to sell a design for some merch and credit in the instructions somewhere. In the end i think the victory would be less monetary but more pride and the joy you would get from seeing someone at a launch with a kit rocket that came from your mind.

[kjohnson]

I did an R&D project a while back for NARAM about creating a limited run model rocket kit (a small boost glider) using laser cut parts and sourcing the parts from BMS.

I didn't focus on making a huge number of kits or on maximizing the profits as you would want to if you were going to be making it a business, it was more of an exploration into getting it done. I definitely could have extended the research along those lines.

kj