First, want to thank everyone for supporting the Miniature Building Authority. As many of you know, this is James Elmore's last month at MBA. He is retiring, and we wish him all the best. Jim is an amazing man, friend and business partner. We have seen a lot in the 20 years that we have been making toy buildings. He will be missed.
MBA is still in business, and we have new ideas and directions that we will be going. Jim has already designed two all-new series that will be going into production in 2023.
First, we have new castle items. This includes a new gate house, barracks and stable.
Secondly, we have new town houses. More on these as we get them into production and photographed.
So where is MBA going in the future? We will still be here for you providing cool, exciting new products. We are working on supporting all our lines to include Eurovillage, Castle, Middle Eastern, and modern figures and vehicles. We will continue to have products cast in resin, and metal castings as needed. However, like many companies in this business, the technology is changing. We too are moving in that direction.
Moving forward, our designs will be digital. As we can, we are scanning and converting our existing items and out-of-print items to bring them back into production. The first items done are the 10148 Row Boat, and several castle items.
We are now in production with 3Dprinting. We currently have three resin printers and four FDM printers. This will grow over the next year. This will allow us to have control over our production.
The plan at this point is to use traditional molding and casting for Kickstarter fulfillment, and then transition to 3Dprinting to supply the demand after the initial large requirement at the beginning of the product introduction. The plan is to sell more pre-painted items as well. Additionally, we can offer other scales than just the 28-32mm that we currently are offering. These would be print-on-demand options.
We are working with new sculptors. The goal is to match Jim's volume of work over the years as much as possible. This will allow us to bring out new, exciting projects that we have not had in the past. Additionally, with Jim now retired, we are looking at other avenues to bring fun, exciting items to our customers. We are acquiring commercial licenses from digital sculpting companies to sell their items as printed, physical merchandise. These will be listed on the website in a new category as MBA Licensed Products. They will be 3Dprinted either in resin or FDM, depending on the subject matter. Goal is to sell these pre-painted as well.
Lots of new and exciting news from MBA. I look forward to introducing you to the new designers and all the fun new products that will be available in the future. As items become available, we of course will be sending out press releases, so stay tuned.
At this time, we have added over 20 new items to the webstore. Here are the new categories:
- Partner Products
- Items from Reaper Miniatures.
- MBA Licensed Products
- Items from Kickstarters where we have purchased commercial licenses to sell physical products that they have designed.
- Fantasy Items
- New buildings, terrain, figures and accessories that pertain more to fantasy players.
- Ancient Items
- New buildings, terrain, figures and accessories that pertain to more of the Ancient realm of gaming.
These are all live now, with new products ready to go.