# New release - SUV



## Holic46 (Dec 2, 2009)

John Labaj of Penola Toy Factory is proud to announce the release of Limited Edition Series of SUV Suburban and Avalanche utility vehicles


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## jw2170 (Jan 24, 2008)

Hi John, how long does it take to make one of those and what is the method?


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## Holic46 (Dec 2, 2009)

jw2170 said:


> Hi John, how long does it take to make one of those and what is the method?


I don't make individual items. All my products are limited edition series of six items in the series. In this particular case - six Suburbans and six utilities. Obviously, tooling and making various jigs is most time consuming. After that it is just another serial production.
I started this project sometime before Christmas, so it took me about 3 month to produce 12 items. However if you have a closer look - the Suburban and utility are almost identical apart for the cabin. Therefore only one tooling for all 12 items. 
As for the method, it is standard woodwork, using table saw, band saw and router. Jigs and templates are mainly for the router. I use the template to copy the production part using copying router bits.
I hope that the above was helpful. Do not hesitate to ask if you need more details.


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## boogalee (Nov 24, 2010)

That is so cool.


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## billyjim (Feb 11, 2012)

Very nice John. What kind of wood are you using? In your description to Jim, it sounds as if you have done this often times before. You must have a lot of patience, working on so many small, detailed parts.


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## Gaffboat (Mar 11, 2012)

Wow! Nicely done with a surprising amount of detail.


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## RainMan 2.0 (May 6, 2014)

Very nice work . Now if you could make a 78 TransAm  j/k


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## old coasty (Aug 15, 2014)

Fantastic


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## ksidwy (Jul 13, 2013)

superb! valuable three months!
Sid


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## mikemikemi (Feb 6, 2011)

Great job.


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## Holic46 (Dec 2, 2009)

billyjim said:


> Very nice John. What kind of wood are you using? In your description to Jim, it sounds as if you have done this often times before. You must have a lot of patience, working on so many small, detailed parts.


Door and side panels are walnut, roof is spotted red gum salvaged from 100 years old farm fence in Coonawarra, South Australia, bonnet is jarrah, cabin panels are camphor.


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## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

John these are very neat, I have said a few times that I never make one of anything, making one is harder than making many of them so setting up and making the jigs that let you make the same part over and over is always worthwhile. I can't imagine that the sets of cars would not be worth selling, now that the jigs are done then its all about the marketing so do that properly and you may well be making these SUV's for a long time. N

I had to do an edit, when you do photos like this then put some object of a known size in with them as it's hard to see their true size the way they are, could be a Golf ball or a Tennis ball, a lot of people put some coins there beside the object, doing that adds perspective.


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## Holic46 (Dec 2, 2009)

neville9999 said:


> John these are very neat, I have said a few times that I never make one of anything, making one is harder than making many of them so setting up and making the jigs that let you make the same part over and over is always worthwhile. I can't imagine that the sets of cars would not be worth selling, now that the jigs are done then its all about the marketing so do that properly and you may well be making these SUV's for a long time. N
> 
> I had to do an edit, when you do photos like this then put some object of a known size in with them as it's hard to see their true size the way they are, could be a Golf ball or a Tennis ball, a lot of people put some coins there beside the object, doing that adds perspective.


Marketing and selling anything (of quality) in Australia at present is very difficult. I have found it with my previous releases - Lattice Boom Construction Crane, Abram's tank and others. For item to sell, it needs to be made in China and be very, very, very cheep.
In saying that, I would be very happy to receive any advice/help on selling or marketing from you or other members.
Thank you.
P.S. - The moderators are very strict on using the forum as marketing platform.


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## old55 (Aug 11, 2013)

Very nice John.


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## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

Holic46 said:


> Marketing and selling anything (of quality) in Australia at present is very difficult. I have found it with my previous releases - Lattice Boom Construction Crane, Abram's tank and others. For item to sell, it needs to be made in China and be very, very, very cheep.
> In saying that, I would be very happy to receive any advice/help on selling or marketing from you or other members.
> Thank you.
> P.S. - The moderators are very strict on using the forum as marketing platform.


John were it true that people are only interested in getting the 'cheap thing' then we are all dead and gone and wont be able to sell anything, I still believe that people will pay a higher price for a unique item, the only way to sell a limited edition item is ' directly off your own private web site' put all your items there and it may take time to get the word out about the page, if the only place that they can be bought is off your own web site, then you can do it. N


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## jw2170 (Jan 24, 2008)

Hi Neville,

John already has a Facebook site for the sale of his items...

He is being very careful to comply with forum rules, for which I thank him.......


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## Holic46 (Dec 2, 2009)

neville9999 said:


> John these are very neat, I have said a few times that I never make one of anything, making one is harder than making many of them so setting up and making the jigs that let you make the same part over and over is always worthwhile. I can't imagine that the sets of cars would not be worth selling, now that the jigs are done then its all about the marketing so do that properly and you may well be making these SUV's for a long time. N
> 
> I had to do an edit, when you do photos like this then put some object of a known size in with them as it's hard to see their true size the way they are, could be a Golf ball or a Tennis ball, a lot of people put some coins there beside the object, doing that adds perspective.


Neville, following on your suggestion I am attaching a few photos with ruler to show the size of the object.


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## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

Thanks for the photos, they are bigger than I thought that they were, these are very neat, if they are not selling then its only because people don't know about your web site. I would not sell them in sets, I would sell them as singles. N


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## fishcad (Apr 15, 2012)

Wow! Simply, WOW.


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## Murtu01 (Mar 9, 2014)

Fantastic work


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