In case you have been living under a rock for the last decade Industria Mechanika is the brain (and love) child of Michael “FichtenFoo” Fichtenmayer and features original design resin kits, decals and photo etch . From the moment you visit the site you can tell that IM is something very special as the page has been exquisitely crafted with Michael’s signature design aesthetic.
I must admit that I don’t own any IM kits but that is only because I have a build list that is way too long and Chrissy would see me off to the doghouse if more kits started arriving. But a quick browse through the catalogue will have you drooling. From the dystopian 1/8 and 1/6 scale figures by Derek Stenning, radical Diesel punk kits like Her Majesty’s Estafette and mecha kits like Clyde and The Rook.
Industria Mechanika pride themselves on collaborating with great talent and that can be seen in all their products.
Patreon
COVID crisis shipping issues have made resupply tough for IM so Michael is branching out into 3D printable .stl files that will be available to Patreon subscribers. And although it seems to be a radical shift from where they started I can see IM having a great future if the District 74 and Otis. M are anything to go by. While I was corresponding with FichtenFoo he asked that I make it very clear that Industria Mechanika digital files would never be released as resin kits and vice versa. The reason why?
Piracy
It takes a lot of time, effort and cash to design, sculpt mold and cast a new model kit. And thanks to outfits like Industria Mechanika, Kallamity, John Moscato and Mike Salzo some really cool original ideas and classic designs with quality casts can be had. But they aren't cheap, not even close. That's because you just can't scale up production to make your money back. The people that get into the resin kit business do so because they love the art of it - trust me no one is getting rich. But these artists are having their work stolen and recast for profit by people who don't give two knobs of goat shit about the art or industry. So do yourself and everyone a favour and give recasters the finger. Those shitbergs buy a kit at retail price, throw it in some rubber and punch out shitty copies at the expense of the original kit maker. That means no funds being recovered which means no money to pay the pattern maker for the next new kit. There is a very special kind of hell for recasters, along with people who use mobile phones while driving. Yes original resin kits are expensive (in fact a cheap resin kit is the first clue it has been pirated. The second is that it is available from a website selling a metric shitload of them) but do the right thing and support the original artist rather than save a few bucks.
Now if you do the sums being a patron of Industria Mechanika makes a lot of sense. There are already three designs on offer and many more on the way. When you factor in what one of their resin kits cost you could potentially be a patron for a couple of years and have access to dozens of designs and these days 3D printers are cheap, or just pay someone do print it for you. It is all mind-blowing stuff and we really are living in the Golden Age of Modelling.
So if you haven’t done it yet treat yourself and swim by the Industria Mechanika site and follow them on Facebook. Your eyeballs will thank you.
And if you can then sign up to their Patreon - Your brainball will thank you too.
- BT