Quotes

Life is short, break the rules. Forgive quickly, kiss slowly. Love truly, laugh uncontrollably and never regret anything that makes you smile. - Samuel Longhorne Clemens (Mark Twain)

Thursday, January 10, 2013

Paying the Price - 28mm Laser Cut Old West Buildings

The comparison post that I made only compared the physical characteristics of these Old West buildings. For me that is the most important thing (or at least very, very close to the top anyway). It was pointed out that a price comparison between the various manufacturers would also be helpful. There are a lot of different variables involved though so I thought the easiest way would be to compare the five small buildings that I have received and built. The same ones that I showed pictures of in the prior post. I will also get around to comparing the 2 Story options but there are a lot more variables when comparing the larger buildings.

Here is the list, I have highlighted features that I consider important and what the kit comes with on a standard basis and where I had to purchase something extra to get it the way I wanted it. The chart is a little dry so I'll try and dress it up with some additional details below.


Std Floor Opt Floor Std Roof Opt Roof Boardwalk Porch Roof



Aetherworks Detailed NA Pitched NA Yes No



Battle Flag Detailed NA Pitched NA Yes Yes



Gamecraft Miniatures None Non-Detailed Pitched NA Yes No



Knuckleduster Non-Detailed NA Flat Slanted Yes No



Sarissa Precision Detailed NA Flat Pitched Yes Yes





Base Price w/Option         Shipping  Total
Aetherworks $41.00 0 $30.24 $71.24
Battle Flag $26.42 0 $4.24 $30.66
Gamecraft Miniatures $14.50 $2.00 $5.15 $21.65
Knuckleduster $20.00 $5.00 0 $25.00
Sarissa Precision $14.41 $3.20 $4.00 $21.61

Std Floor - this refers to the Standard floor that comes with the kit. Detailed simply means that the laser engraved a wood floor pattern. Non-Detailed means you just have a blank piece of wood or mdf. I just feel that not adding some detail here is a missed opportunity. 

Opt Floor - this means that the floor is an optional piece. Only Gamecraft Miniatures sells their floors as optional.

Std Roof - this refers to the type of roof that the stock kit comes with.

Opt Roof - this means that you can buy an alternate roof kit to replace the stock roof.
Boardwalk - The planked area in front of the building. Pretty standard on all the kits although in reality not every building had a boardwalk in front. Gamecraft Miniatures has additional boardwalks that you can purchase and I think Aetherworks and Knuckleduster may have those available as well.

Porch Roof - I'm just trying to indicate that for this particular building there is a wooden awning in front, covering the boardwalk.

Price - Then you have the price in US dollars, the price of any options that I may have purchased. Usually a roof kit because I hate the flat roofs that a number of these kits come with.
Following that is the shipping costs. That is not a mistake on the shipping price for Aetherworks.
And at the end is a a grand total.


None of these buildings really have interiors as such. All the walls are blank and there is no interior door or window detail. That's not an issue for game play and its something you can certainly add. I'm planning on adding some interior wall detail to all the buildings as floor detail where its needed
Aetherworks
Battle Flag
Gamecraft Miniatures
Knuckleduster
Sarissa Precision 


As far as pricing goes what you see is the current price in US Dollars. Aetherworks is out of Australia and their listed price is $39.95 AU, Battle Flag is out of the UK and their listed price is £16.50. Sarissa Precision is also out of the UK and their listed price is £9.00.

The Battle Flag buildings have a feature that  I haven't found in any other kit, one which I really like. I call this the "floating" floor. The front boardwalk on the Battle Flag kits is raised and all the doors on the kits are cut at the same level as the boardwalk. Battle Flag raises the interior floor up to match the height of the doors. This just feels "right" when you are looking at the building. 

So that's it. If you are looking for buildings for your old west town then you really can't go wrong with any of these companies. You really just have to look at the features that are important to you.


8 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. That's because all of them are nice. It really starts to come down to personal preference on what you like.

      Delete
  2. I love these comparison posts. Thanks so much! I don't think I'll ever buy a resin Western building again.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I'd just like to point out that the Knuckleduster buildings are actually produced by Tri-City Laser, Inc., and not Knuckleduster themselves.

    They are the primary retailer though.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That's true, I think I pointed it out once in here somewhere but I'm sure its managed to get lost in the sea of posts. However, I believe that Knuckleduster is the only web source for their buildings.

      Delete
  4. Just want to point out that the Knuckleduster buildings do have a porch kit option that fit's all there buildings.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I need to do a post that shows the different options available from each manufacturer.

      Delete