a new large imperial warship is coming

[playmofire]

That's an interesting collection, cheng.  I like the look of the soldier figures - they have a nice childlike quality with them, an innocent air.

[Hadoque]

To save costs (new moulds), they could use the previous flagship 3940 (US 3286) as a basis, end make it longer. I assume it must be doable to change the existing moulds to make that ship longer?

Then, like the Unicorn (Licorne), you could have a ship with 6 canon-hatches below deck on each side, and 3 masts. It shouldn't  necessarily have a large crew or 12 canons included in my opinion, to keep the price down. Additional crew, canons, and accessories could be purchased seperately.
The 3940 (US 3286) and 4290 were/are sold at the stores here (Belgium) for 90 à 100 Euros. The enlarged ship could then perhaps be sold for something around 140-150 euros, in the class of the big Knight's castle?
It would save a lot of fans much time & effort of reproducing a ship like the size of the Unicorn, ask Macgayver how many hours he spent making that ship.

If there's not enough market potential for such a big one (I can imagine only collectors who like ships would be interested and not the average parent buying a toyship for his/her kid), then perhaps a limited edition could be made available through the Collector's Club?

Again, using the 3940 as basis could save design/production costs... 

[Andy R]

I have a pragmatic concern; Stability. Many people have commented that the ships have a tendency to capsize (and some do). I roughly guest mated that using the same hull shape but ½” (12.7 mm) wider, they would be much more stable in the water.

[Customizer]

hmmm

what you thing about the DOLPHIN from Macgayver ??



Ok the mould is very expesive but if playmobil make a ship not only with one mould, use some moulds for the hulk and not afloat only to play and open at the half ??

world greets

Andi

[Justindo]

If Lego can sell their Imperial Flagship for $180 and Playmobil can sell their Knight's Empire Castle for $185, I see no reason why Playmobil couldn't sell a three-masted man-o-war with room for a number of guns for around $200.  While the average parent certainly wouldn't purchase such a set, I can see a lot of collectors buying it via the collector's club perhaps.  It may not be a huge seller in the grand scheme of things, but I can't believe it would sell any worse than Playmobil's $165 hospital.

[racerx]

hmmm

what you thing about the DOLPHIN from Macgayver ??

[Gustavo]

(The lego one should bring a stool for the captain to sit when he plays ... Will have to be improved )

 

Gus

[cachalote]

(at least this is not a topic where steck vs sytem-x can take over)  

  i have almost every pirate ship playmobil ever produced (i am still missing the 5775 and the 5869 us schooners) and i believe i can make a fair review on the way "they" are going.
  over the years, starting from the fabulous 3550 they have been loosing crew members, guns, "real" string rigging, food, accessories and - that's what i regret the most - a good equilibium in their designs.
if the 3750 or the 3940 (both from hans beck era) have a remarkable "natural" feel - despite being too little to match the scale of their crews - the same can't be said about the 4290 - too childish, too much fischer-price-ish in its appearance.
the schooners, on the other end, have moved to this un-natural look very quickly - torn sails, absurd printing - and have now stabilized in a dead-end design (the only addition seems to be the small and "stupid" skulls adorning the 5869).

  all this to say that maybe a very big napoleonic 3 masted ship is a bit too far-fetched.
  macgayver beautiful dolphin is an incredible ship but maybe to expect playmobil to produce one that size is aiming a little bit too high - and maybe the final result would also loose that strange balance of scale.

  ... and all this to say that maybe we could all aim at a 3940 size and then move over to another "battle" afterwards.
it is easier for lego to add length to their ships - they just have to add more "bricks" - but a new bigger mould (even if it can come from the 3940) will be very expensive.
a 3940 "dressed" in royal navy colours would be so much easier to produce.

... and so much easier to sell - unlike lego playmobil seems to have a very "neanderthal" approach to their marketing strategies.
a 200 euros ship could be sellable but geobra would have to know how to sell it (and i have a feeling that they have no idea on how to do it)  .

[BlackPearl2006]

I have a pragmatic concern; Stability. Many people have commented that the ships have a tendency to capsize (and some do). I roughly guest mated that using the same hull shape but ½” (12.7 mm) wider, they would be much more stable in the water.

Actually, simply extending the ship (not deepening the hull nor extending the mast heights), IMO, will help improve its stability as far as roll is concerned, assuming it comes with additional ballast for the extended length of the hull.  

Because there will be more boat to take on extra weight, it will have a greater capacity to hold a larger skeloton crew and compliment than a single 3286.

I make these hypothesis based on hours of experimentation and observation of my own 3286 in the water, playing with different ballasts, ballast placement, different crew/cargo compliments/height/location on ship, and even a temporary deepened hull.

Even customizing an extended hull length using 2  3286 ships, assuming the ballast from both ships were still connected to each respective hull once combined,  I believe would prove for a stable ship.

So in other words, if Playmobil did use the 3286 mould to make a longer ship ala the Unicorn, I do believe it would be at LEAST as stable as any of their current ships, if not moreso.

It's definitely feasible to make a longer ship that is also stable.

I'd love to hear if the Unicorn can float, but I doubt there is a way she can be tested with stock-masts.  Extending the masts higher as in the Unicorn may likely cause it to be unstable, however, as Andy suggests.

[BlackPearl2006]

(at least this is not a topic where steck vs sytem-x can take over)  

  i have almost every pirate ship playmobil ever produced (i am still missing the 5775 and the 5869 us schooners) and i believe i can make a fair review on the way "they" are going.
  over the years, starting from the fabulous 3550 they have been loosing crew members, guns, "real" string rigging, food, accessories and - that's what i regret the most - a good equilibium in their designs.
if the 3750 or the 3940 (both from hans beck era) have a remarkable "natural" feel - despite being too little to match the scale of their crews - the same can't be said about the 4290 - too childish, too much fischer-price-ish in its appearance.
the schooners, on the other end, have moved to this un-natural look very quickly - torn sails, absurd printing - and have now stabilized in a dead-end design (the only addition seems to be the small and "stupid" skulls adorning the 5869).

  all this to say that maybe a very big napoleonic 3 masted ship is a bit too far-fetched.
  macgayver beautiful dolphin is an incredible ship but maybe to expect playmobil to produce one that size is aiming a little bit too high - and maybe the final result would also loose that strange balance of scale.

  ... and all this to say that maybe we could all aim at a 3940 size and then move over to another "battle" afterwards.
it is easier for lego to add length to their ships - they just have to add more "bricks" - but a new bigger mould (even if it can come from the 3940) will be very expensive.
a 3940 "dressed" in royal navy colours would be so much easier to produce.

... and so much easier to sell - unlike lego playmobil seems to have a very "neanderthal" approach to their marketing strategies.
a 200 euros ship could be sellable but geobra would have to know how to sell it (and i have a feeling that they have no idea on how to do it)  .

I concurr, though the act of making such a ship is definitely feasible, if Playmobil's current trend continues, it is highly unlikely to happen as it would be severely opposite their current trend.

My guesses as to WHY the current trend exists and may continue to exist:

I'm still trying to figure out why the new line of Playmo pirates looks so fisher-pricey.  I thought 4290 was so kiddish, but the ghost pirate ship is even moreso, stock.  Is this for the U.S. market only?  I ask because I also collect Japanese mecha toys, and I notice the U.S. versions (even of the same exact moulds) are somewhat lacking and "dumbed down" for not only U.S. safety standards, but also U.S. age-appropriate complexity ratings (in other words, they lower the safety hazzard and complexity levels both to appeal to a younger age so that the product can be sold to a wider market, not just older kids or collectors.  In a way, such practices almost seem to say to me that marketers (both domestic and abroad) seem to think American kids are too dumb to "get it."  It really annoys me!  If the previous generation could have ships with real rope rigging and realistic metal bells and tiny little parts, why should the current generation be dumbed down?  (plus everyone's always ready to start a law-suit).  Sad sign of the times.