We were lucky to catch up with Jason Nikl recently and have shared our conversation below.

Jason, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Let’s jump right into how you came up with the idea?

Well I was a collector of scale models and wanted to have accessories for them. There was only a handful of people worldwide who build specific products but none of them built what I wanted. So me thinking outside the box , I will just build my own. I then shared on collector forums and then I started getting requests for items, so I built those aswell. Fast forward 17 years I have my own retail line of accessories and have a custom model side of the business aswell.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

Last article was about my photography business, Heavy Lift Productions. That business has kind if been put on the backburner, although I very much enjoy photography. My scale model business, Nikl Scale Models has taken over as my full-time hobby / business.
I still have a day job working for Davis Crane but after that it’s home to juggle family duties and life but fit in my scale modeling. Basically I have a bunch of different aspects to the business. I have a scale model accessories retail line, I have the custom model line and a design/ consulting part of the business.
Most nights consist of juggling emails, and getting orders packaged up and then drawing parts. Draw parts? I draw my parts in 3d CAD. Then I 3d print them. I am a one man show handling everything that is required to run a business. Sounds busy and it is but I somehow find a way.

Have you ever had to pivot?

A career pivot, well there’s been many. I started out 17 years ago building everything with a ruler and exacto knife. As my products got more popular I could not keep up, so moved in making 1 master model and mold and cast each piece. That helped for a couple years bit a new technology was starting to blow up, 3d printing. Now anyone could just print out a model . Not completely true you have to have skills for cad and 3d printer. But still this technology was starting to push me out. So time to adapt and stay ahead of it. Bought my first printer and sold parts like that fir awhile. Again I was am still am grateful for my customers I could not keep up, today I have 5 3d printers and use a print factory for my stock orders.
If you don’t keep up with technology you can be left behind and out of business.

Can you talk to us about how your funded your business?

Funding a hobby business can be tricky, I started out cheap buy a $5 pack of plastic $5 bottle of glue and run with it. Saving as much as I can but always buying stock and overstock asmuch as possible. As it grew I would take my profit from sales to fund the large custom builds. From there it turned into funds from large custom sales I saved for equipment to make my business run easier and more efficient. As stated early I have an amazing customer following and have never taken a penny from any investors. All self funded and proud of that achievement.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://NiklScaleModels.com
• Instagram: nikl_scale_models
• Facebook: Nikl Scale Models, Heavy Lift Productions
• Linkedin: Heavy Lift Productions

Image Credits

All photographs are my property. I took the photos.