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Sticky bomb covers

ftobert

ftobert

Well-Known Member
Premium Member
Hello just a quick question I was wondering if I made some reproduction sticky bomb covers how many of you guys would want some and how much would you be prepared to pay ( a sensible price ) they would come painted and stencilled with the rubber bungs. All parts would be stamped with a reproduction into the metal deeply but in a inconspicuous place so it not to ruin the display. If you could let me know it would be great as I want to price up see if it's worth me making the press tools as there is a lot of time in making them and I don't want to do it for just a couple as it would take me a long time. Cheers rob
 
Hi Rob,
I dont have any grenades in my collection any more, but in the distant past I did own a sticky bomb and would have loved to have been able to display it with a cover, as originals are certainly not easy to come by. I am sure there are plenty of other people out there with a similar unit missing its cover, I have seen more Sticky bombs missing covers than complete.

My main reason for the reply is for a thumbs up on the 'reproduction' mark you intend to make in the metal!! Its great to see that you have enough respect for the hobby to make the effort to stamp them should you make them, I am sure the collectors of the future will thank you for this little extra time!!

regards Kev
 
I think what you need to do is decide how much its costing to make the tooling and your time and then say if you make 100 covers its this much each set, that way you decide the price, i know they will be over 50 a set, i have tried to get some made and the dies were stupid money and then finding a press big enough to do the job, not my field of expertise,,,,,,, Dave
 
Hello Dave yes I agree there is a lot of work making the dies I reckon there's a good 30 hours work making the dies plus the cost of materials etc. I was thinking if I do make them making them 2mm bigger aswell so people can never get them confused with Originals if they tried to remove the reproduction stamp. Thank you butterfly for your response and I would never make anything to decive anyone.
Do you have a original case Dave ? Also I was looking how easy the grenade it's self is to repro. Would be quite cheap to do especially the mk2 but I don't know anyone with one for sale. If you could point me in the right direction I would much appreciate it.
I have all the tooling available to do this job and think it would be worth doing but I am trying to find out how many people would want them as I don't want to make 100 then only sell 5 as it would be a waste of my time and money so far I have only had very limited interest.
 
I think perhaps you have hit on the major downfall of this idea, a somewhat 'limited market'. Great idea on the face of it, I'm sure if I had a Sticky bomb without a cover and little chance of getting an original then at the right price I would consider a repro for display. But when you talk about making 100 sets then you need to find 100 owners of Sticky bombs missing covers to buy them. Even if as many as 10% of owners of Sticky bombs missing covers were to agree to purchase from you, then that would mean you would have to find 1,000 collectors who own them in the first place.
Not sure if I am making sense in this??, but perhaps you may find only ten or so people who would commit to buying one on the forum, however does this mean there isnt a market for them? They are not being manufactured as far as I am aware so thats a good start. I think perhaps if you were able to make a reproduction of the grenade itself (as you mentioned above) -together with the outer case itself, then it may appeal more to the re-enactor for display purposes as well, and in this way attract more people, rather than just owners of 'missing cover' Sticky's.
But as Dave says it all comes down to costs........maybe you need to work out how much it would cost to do first, before you try to find out how many people would be interested, because at the end of the day I think much of it would come down to what you can produce them for, retail.

hope this makes sense?
regards Kev
 
Butterfly

From my experience you are talking a lot of sense there. In the last few years I have had some reproduction items made thinking people would buy them, and I am stuck with most of them. There are limited numbers of people wanting repro ordnance items. Most UK collectors want the real thing and are often prepared to wait a long time until it comes along.

With items that are in the 'hens teeth' category, there is a real risk that if they are well made they will be sold in no time at all as the real thing. Undermining the market for the real thing. Just look at the badge market for that effect.

From the number of cover-less sticky bombs I've seen in the last few years the market may be about 4 sets! Hardly worth doing the set up work.

John

P.S. I've got a set of originals - so no thanks from me ftobert!
 
Hi,

I'm one of those collectors who is in need of a set of covers. Whilst I'm happy to wait till I find a real set, I would probably be interested in a repro set. To be of interest it would have to be exactly the same size as an original. Not having seen a real set for sale for a while, I'm not sure how much I would pay for a repro set?

I have a nice SOE Clam mine put aside as a swap, if anyone has a real one for trade.

Cheers
 
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May be worth talking to the guys from dugup. They produce repro sectioned mills grenades. Considering the vast amount of real mills on the market I'd never have thought there would be people who would want to buy a repro one, presumably there are though and perhaps the same would be for a nicely marked up sticky bomb.

Dave.
 
I agree with what Dave is saying about the complete sectioned repro Mills, and I ask myself why anyone would want to pay 85 for a modern replica when an original grenade can be purchased for around the same price - this I dont get?

However unlike the Sticky bomb repro parts for the Mills may sell better as there are so many more of them around and the 'general' collector may wish to complete a 'one-off' mills by adding a repro spring/lever/filler plug etc - so I can in some ways see a better market for Mills, in that the demand may be greater.

Difficult one, but I think working out just how much the covers could be produced for would be the first step, then ask again at how many people would be interested on-site. From this you may work out wether its worth doing.

Kev
 
Hello all I will price ut all up when I get back to work. I am a little worried if I make them identical people will remove the reproduction stamp and age it then try and sell it as a original. As I know myself a lot of the grenades we buy are investments aswell as pleasure items for our collections and I don't want to devalue or make people question the originality of genuin covers. I will keep people informed on what the plans are cheers for the response guys. Rob
 
wouldn't it be better to use plastic or resin that way they cant be passed of as originals
Cheers
Andy
 
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