I don't think the general public has any clue just how expensive injection molding is. Each part is quite cheap. It's the molds that are extremely expensive. Thousands of dollars each. A tradeoff needs to be made on those too. Do you want a cheaper mold that can only pound out 1 part at a time and therefore make a smaller quantity? Do you want a more expensive mold that can make a dozen at a time? Did your initial mold design work? If not, could it be modified to fix the issue or did you have to have another made at several thousand dollars? How many molds were necessary for the job? One? Two? Twenty? Each at several thousand dollars. What are the projected sales? Will it be enough to cover the investment in equipment and tools to build it as well as ongoing maintenance? This all assumes contracting out to an injection molding company. How are those molds going to be paid for? Up front in cash? Credit (loan)? Amortized over production life of the molds. That brings up another point. What if those molds wear out? It's more money. This is only talking about molded parts and not everything else.
Let's pretend for a moment that these guys actually started a company to make some money. That's the goal of every company. If it's not a goal there are two possibilities. One is that they aren't in business very long. The other is that they are setup as a non-profit agency. I don't recall seeing any good products coming out of nonprofit agencies that aren't intended as handouts for the poor. With money being a definite need and goal, they need to spend lots of it before they can ever even sell a car. What if you had to spend the same amount of money as it would take to buy a house up front just to sell an rc car kit in the hopes that you not only make your money back but actually make a little bit more? How long would you be willing to be at a loss until that happens? Not many would do it, and not many do.
They can't spend money they don't have. They need to generate revenue before they can generate product. It's an evil cycle but works best gradually over time by reducing risk. A new car is a huge risk.
I don't laugh at them for this. Especially with only a couple of people doing everything. This is very tough and it's respectable that they are doing this. Obviously they do it for their enjoyment too. Too often a hobby stops being a hobby when it becomes a job. This is far more than a job for them. It's way past that. It's their way of life. Give them a little credit for the effort. They sure look like they are tackling it correctly.
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