Sourcing

Finding the Right Suppliers

Part 3: Paint, Decals, and Everything in the Box

 

Design and prototyping get most of the attention when people talk about building a product. But running parallel to all of that — quietly and persistently — was another challenge entirely: finding the right suppliers for everything that goes in the box.

 

Screws. Screwdrivers. Paint. A filler substance for the screw holes. Decals. Every single item had to be sourced, tested, negotiated, and in some cases co-developed with the supplier before it was good enough to include.

 

Some of it was straightforward. Most of it was not.

 

 

The Easy Part: Screws and Screwdrivers

Fortunately, one of our team members has direct experience in supplier sourcing — communicating with manufacturers, managing samples, handling transportation logistics. That background made a significant difference.

 

The screws and screwdrivers were covered relatively quickly. Standard hardware components with established suppliers, manageable tolerances, and a straightforward sourcing process. We moved on.

 

The paint was a different story entirely.

 

 

The Hard Part: Paint

[ IMAGE: Row of paint sample pots from various suppliers being tested ]

A fraction of the paint samples we tested across more than 12 suppliers.

 

We tested paint from at least 12 different suppliers. Every single one failed to meet our standards.

 

The requirement sounds simple: a paint that works without a primer, covers consistently across all colours, on white plastic. In practice, finding a paint that does all three of those things — reliably, at an acceptable price point — turned out to be one of the most time-consuming parts of the entire project.

 

"It's very difficult to find a paint that works without a primer and covers sufficiently for all colours on white plastic."

 

No primer is a deliberate choice. Adding a priming step makes the build process longer, more technical, and less accessible — exactly what we were trying to avoid. But removing primer means the paint itself has to do more work, which narrows the field of viable formulas considerably.

 

Working With Suppliers to Get It Right

Eventually the search moved beyond off-the-shelf products. We started working directly with suppliers to adjust their formulas — sending back samples with specific feedback, requesting modifications, waiting for new batches to be shipped, testing again.

 

Sample shipped. Tested. Feedback sent. Formula adjusted. New sample shipped. Repeat.

 

It was slow. It was iterative in exactly the same way the prototyping phase was. And it had to happen while everything else was also in progress.

 

The Price Constraint

Finding a paint that performs well is one problem. Finding one that performs well at a price that keeps the final box affordable is another.

 

Every component in the box has a cost, and that cost ultimately determines what we charge. If the paint alone pushed the price up by €10 or €20, a meaningful portion of potential buyers would walk away — not because the model isn't worth it, but because price sensitivity is real and we have to respect it.

 

So the search was never just for quality. It was for quality at a price that made the whole thing viable. That combination is harder to find than either one on its own.

 

"It's an option to go for a very expensive paint that works well. But then fewer people would want to buy it."

 

We got there. A supplier that could produce the specific colours we needed, to the standard we required, at a price we could work with. It took longer than we wanted. But the paint in the box is something we're genuinely proud of.

 

 

The Decals: Rethinking the Standard

 

Traditional model kits use waterslide decals. You soak them in water, slide them off the backing paper, and position them on the model. In theory it works. In practice, for anyone without experience, it is a frustrating process — the decals tear, they fold, they go on crooked, and fixing a mistake is nearly impossible.

 

It also requires a pencil to burnish them down properly. Which is a tool most people building a model for the first time do not own and would not think to buy.

 

"Waterslide decals are not beginner friendly. And we want our model to be accessible for everyone."

 

We wanted something better. So we researched the alternatives.

 

UV Printed Decal Stickers

There are subcategories within the decal and sticker world that most people are not aware of. One of them is UV printed decal stickers — a technology that produces sharper detail, more durable colour, and a significantly easier application process than waterslide alternatives.

 

The challenge with this technology is resolution and scale. Some of the decals on a 1/48 model are very small. Finding a supplier capable of printing at that size without losing detail — and doing it consistently across a full production run — required its own search process.

 

We found the right company. The decals in the box are the result of that.

 

Applying them is easier. They look better. And you do not need a pencil.

 

 

Next up: Manufacturing.

The molds, the factory, and what it actually means to commit to producing something at scale for the first time.