Dear Chris and Egbert,
Thank you so much for your encouraging words.

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Schilling-Figuren has cast my first two sets of ancient Greek sailors. Last month I received them. It took them 4 months, from sending my masters to Germany to receiving the copies in Holland, but I am very happy with the quality of their forging work. As usually they returned all of my master figurines back and there was minimal damage to them. Damage like broken limbs is something that usually happens when opening the mould for the first time and part of the figurine gets stuck in the lower halve of the mould while the other part got stuck in the upper halve.
Also the communication, which is always in German language, and usually in the hands of Miss Schilling, is going very well because she is very clear in what she wants to know and why she is making decisions together with Mr. Schilling. Casting models and figurines is usually somthing thats hidden for most of us in far away working places. For me there are still many mysteries to solve and there is a lot to learn. While the professionals do often not realize how little the newcomers (like me) know, I keep wondering why very basic questions asked by newcomers are very often not answered by various professionals.
Like this one:
How many figurines go into one single casting mould?
For me an obvious question because the first amount I have to pay is for making one mould, not for the number of figurines that go inside or the number of copies that can be casted once that mould exists.
But nobody can or will answer that question on forehand. Of course there are many variables. The size of the mould, the poses of the figurines, the number of separated limbs and tools that come with every figurine and also the distribution of one or more figurine 'sets' in a single mould.
Well, as I understood it, for my 26 figurines 2 moulds had to be made so it is a set of 13 figurines per mould.
My way of thinking is BIG SETS of 20 to 30 different figurines.
For some reason sets of 4 tot 8 figurines are common in the world of scale 1:72 metal and resin figurines.... and I don't know why.
I just have to many different poses in my head to put only 5 or so poses in one set for selling.
Funny detail: every customer till now bought both sets at once which is 26 figurines. Some even bought several of both. Nobody bought only SET 1 or only SET 2
Comes my question again: why does everyone else sell such small sets of about 6 different figurines only?
HOW TO PRESENT WORK FOR SALE?
My 12 different home casted resin sailors were presented fully painted a few months ago:

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I tried to present them as perfect and attractive as possible.
But how honest is this way of presenting a product?
The customer does not receive them painted. Which sounds obvious.
But also the customer can not see and will not know that most of my figurines have separate arms (limbs) that have to be glued to the torso.
And if a customer wants to reach perfection, he has to fill up (smoothen) the attachment seam with putty before he can paint it.
I still want to present my new models and figurines pictured fully painted or even as part of diorama's to gain interest.
But I think it is honest to show the pure, raw product as well, in the way a customer will receive it.
I tried several designs, showing my product in the most honest way with the most relevant information written on top of it.

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But wat is pure and honest?
Is it fair to remove flesh before I photograph the metal cast figurines? Even if I do not remove flesh before sending a product to a customer?
Should I remove flesh from my product at all before shipping it to a customer? It cost me lots of hours at the moment, mostly with my resin ones but also with the metal figurines, to clean them before shipping them.
Do I have to attach the separated limbs before making the picture (like Massimo always does)
Do I have to use ink or color shade to make profiles better visible?
Is it correct to repair small sculpting- or casting mistakes before photographing the product?
Is it correct to photoshop those pictures with the computer before posting them online?
It is all questions about ethics in our hobby and our industry. I hear very few people discussing or critisizing this.
And a last question, maybe to the English native speaking members:
What is a proper translation of German Zinn or Dutch Tin?
Is that:
Tin (sounds logical but not commonly used)
Pewter (American word and it should be a mixture of 90% tin and some other metals)
White metal (imitation silver?)
Please leave your opinion, it will help me decide about these subects.
Thanks already,
Cryns