selling model ships

[Tim from Adelaide]

Any ideas for ways to sell completed models?

 

[AllanKP69]

Hi Tim

I have found it is much better to have the client first, let them pick a subject and give a budget, be it $1000 or $20,000. That way there was no issue later except delivery. Corporate clients such as cruise ship contractors are the best paying, but the worst for wanting fast delivery after waiting to the last minute to place orders.

Private clients are usually great, but hard to find, Interior decorators may be interested in taking something on consignment and craft fairs are another outlet for low priced pieces.

Allan

 

[Bryian]

I give mine away to the local thrift shop. There’s not really a market for completed ships.

 

[Dave Stevens (Lumberyard)]

I give mine away to the local thrift shop. There’s not really a market for completed ships.

i agree there really isn't a market for ship models. You will find them in art galleries, but they are high end scratch built and may sit there a long, long time before sold. Some museums or historical societies may be interested but want then donated. There are private collectors but they are far and few between. Interior decorators sometimes look for a model for a client's office or home but they do not want a model from a production kit and if they do the time you spend building the kit far exceeds the final price, you would be working for almost nothing.
I even tried to give away a model to a local library and they turned it down because they did not have room to display it. I tried

 

[Bob Cleek]

Any ideas for ways to sell completed models?

The question almost seems to invite a smart aleck response, but I'll refrain from attempts at humor for the moment.

The reality is that ship models are only of any predictable market value when they are 1) technically remarkably well executed, 2) well-documented historically accurate, 3) original works of art, 4) by reputable artists, 5) and professionally marketed by reputable galleries and auction houses, or folk-art pieces or antiques of historically substantiated provenance.

In other words, judge a ship model's marketability and appraise its value as if it were any other fine art object. This isn't to say that a ship model might not have non-monetary value to its builder as an example of his skill and accomplishment, or sentimental value as a family heirloom, but rather to answer the question, "Any ideas on how to sell completed models." The real answer is that selling any model other those defined above is solely dependent upon the off chance that somebody who wants a given model for reasons other than the marketplace or thinks it's worth a lot more than the asking price, might actually pay money for it. The value of a model ship kit are the materials and instructions it provides to the buyer to make possible the activity of building the model. Once a kit model is "completed," it's served its economic purpose and is, theoretically, at least, monetarily worthless. Completed models may have some relatively nominal monetary value as "decorator items," (AKA "dust collectors,") but their value in that market is so far below the value of the effort to create them that such sales are hardly a reliable business model. Moreover, marketable decorator models are preferably attractively cased, although the value of the piece will invariably exceed by multiples the value of the case alone. In fact, it's not unusual for a well-cased ship model to be worth money solely for the repurposed value of its case, rather than the value of the model inside of it.

As AllanKP69 explained above, if you want to make money building ship models, get your money up front. Time was, it was a safe bet that a young grandson or nephew could be depended upon to appreciate the gift of a ship model to display in their room, but these days, good luck with that! Sometimes a librarian or schoolteacher will accept the gift of a completed model for display in a library or classroom, particularly when the subject has some historical relevance, but there's no money in their budgets to be paying money for such things.

Realizing that none of the foregoing is particularly helpful, I'll end by saying that one might seek out a local antique or quality second-hand store that would accept a ship model on consignment for a percentage of the sale price. This is a stronger possibility the closer you are to a large body of water, though. There's probably not a lot of people looking to decorate their home with a nautical theme in some place like Kansas or Oklahoma.

Pity the poor ship model as a fine art form! Time was ship models represented highly sought-after examples of original handcraftsmanship of the highest order which took a great investment of time to create. Most well-connected British aristocrats ached to get their hands on a Navy Board model after the Admiralty was through with it, while the bourgeoise had to content themselves with the purchase of the relatively crude bone models sold by the French POWs for tobacco money. Once upon a time, the average person's perception of a ship model was a valuable work of art worthy of display in any upscale gentleman's study. Today, unfortunately, ship models seem to have lost that cache. Thanks to the glut of completed kit models of the "usual suspects" in circulation, a completed kit ship model gets about as much respect from the Average Joe as a completed Paint-by-Numbers copy of Van Gogh's sunflowers.

 

[Dave Stevens (Lumberyard)]

years ago at the Inland Seas Maritime Museum there was a modeling club in the museum. The model builders thought of an idea to use part of the gift shop to offer models for sale. To use the space in the gift shop a % of sales went to the museum. The idea was people going to the museum would have an interest in ships, maritime history etc so the gallery of models in the museum would be perfect. In the 3 years the ship models were on display not a single one sold. When the museum moved the gallery of models was not included.
Taking to a nautical themed decorator gallery i was told they would rather have crude "folk art" type of models rather than expensive high end models and no way were they interested in kit built models. The reason is the average person would not know the finer details or appropriate fine craftsmanship. They just wanted a cheap piece of folk art that sort of looked like a pirate ship.
so i think if you want to build and sell ship models for decorations in homes, bars, public places, etc make crude folk art

 

[Dave Stevens (Lumberyard)]

I live on the shores of Lake Erie and have been all around the lakes from Quebec thousand Islands and down to lake Champlain the finger lakes and all the way to the western most shores several times. Been to every maritime museum and gift shop and here are examples of model ship that do sell called "folk art"
So if you want to get into the business of making ship models these are the ones that sell from $30.00 to $75.00

 

[Roger Pellett]

If you are selling a kit model of a 1600-1800 era sailing warship you probably have made a cash out lay from $500 to $1500 to buy the kit. If your objective is to get that money back you would need to price the model in that price range. That’s still expensive for those only interested in decorating their home or even someone’s Man Cave, but uninteresting for the serious collector of ship models for the reasons posted above. They are willing to pay $$$ for a true work of art.

If your objective is to become a professional model builder, as they say “Don’t give up your day job!”

Roger

 

[AllanKP69]

Don’t give up your day job!”

Ain't that the truth!!!
A few extra dollars/Euros/pounds to buy a tool or two or a nice vintage Bordeaux is gratifying though
Allan

 

[Omega]

One question outstanding is - what models are you seeking to sell??,
Can we have some pictures,
Quite a number of us live in AU

 

[Dave Teel]

I guess I am the exception to the rule. I advertised on the local internet space to see if anyone needed their family ship model repaired. I was contacted by a local who had a distant relative who served aboard the Endeavor with Captain Cook. He asked me if I could build the Endeavor for him and I did for $ 1500.00.

 

[Winova]

Yes you may think your completed shipmodels are worth a few
thousand dollars,and perhaps they should , but the market is just
not there, best to donate to a museum,family member or a friend,
your reward is the satisfaction from building and completing your
model ,time well spent .
I prefer building scratch models not kits as they are my build from
ground up , so to speak , maybe my models are folk art category.
My children and their children have watched me building the models
and all want one . When I am gone , those models will remind them
of their times spent with Dad and Grandad , bringing back I hope
pleasant memories to themwhich monies received from building a
model could ever replace.

 

[BarrySR]

The bottom line. Everyone loves ship models. Lots of people want one, but no one wants to pay for one

 

[polydoc]

All of the responses are right on the money (except there isn't any to be made). It would take me 600-700 hours to build a model as nice as the one posted by Dave Teel. So if I charged $1500 I would be making about $2/hour. Hardly worth it unless you get substantial personal enjoyment from the effort. Fortunately I have a fairly large family that have provided home ports for most of my models.

 

[Roger Pellett]

Exactly! I am a member of our Community Sailing Association. Community Sailing Associations exist to provide low cost sailing opportunities for everyone. Every year they have an annual meeting that includes a silent auction. The patrons that bid on things are notoriously cheap! A member with a personal reputation for not reaching for his wallet wanted me to donate a model. I dismissed it as wanting something for nothing.

Roger

 

[Raul Armada]

Which model ships are you trying to sell?

 

[ubjs]

Unfortunately, this thread seems to be developing in the same way as so many others on this forum. There are two members who are constantly giving long, rude answers. If this continues, I will lose the desire to read, is there no moderator who can intervene?
The question in the thread was how to sell ships, no one has given a sensible answer.
In Sweden you can sell via Tradera, an auction site.

 

[Bryian]

I see you are Australian so you could try selling them on Gumtree or eBay.

 

[Roger Pellett]

Ok. In the USA you can Post them on EBay.

 

[Bob Cleek]

The question in the thread was how to sell ships, no one has given a sensible answer.

Well, you asked for it:

Question: How to sell ship models?

Answer: Ship models can't be easily sold because most all of them have no market value whatsoever.

1. What little customer base exists is generally ignorant and can't tell a good one from junk, let alone know how to appraise it.

2. There are very few people who care enough about ship models to spend money on one. (However, by some reports, there are still people in Sweden who haven't yet received the memo.)

3. The market is flooded with an oversupply of worthless finished kits and schlock from foreign sweatshops, resulting in a devaluation of true fine art ship models.

4. Styles change. Present interior design trends favor sparse, sterile, environments without display pieces like ship models. Few people have any interest in buying a dust catcher for their home or office.

5. Ship models are not perceived as a fine art investment vehicle as are other more marketable representational fine art forms. Ship models generally tend not to appreciate at the same rate as fine art except, in some rare cases, as antiques. They often require greater care and conservation than other representational fine art and generally take up much more space to display.