I frequently get asked for some quite specialized figure origination. Most of the requests are serious and worthy of consideration but what is often not at the front of the questioner's mind is the cost to the manufacturer ie, me!
You might want a particular unit or figure for your collection. You may want only 15 or 20 models which in sales terms is perhaps £25-£30. The margin on this is of course a mere fraction. If cost recovery at least could be guaranteed, I would seriously look at such undertakings. On average, getting a single sculpt to market costs about £170. A set of 5 might cost between £700 and £750.
I can't afford to fund all of it myself as that is the road to ruin however, using the now popular crowd funding ideas, it may be possible to bring some of these ideas to the market. We did this with the GNW Swedish infantry which kicked off a range which is now the most extensive in the market for that period.
Some examples of specific requests which occur reasonably frequently and from different enthusiasts:
Dutch Gardes du Corps - drop sleeve coats etc
Danish Grenadierkorpset 1700+ - specific variation on grenadier uniform
Charles XII - mounted and on litter
Croats / Hussars
Winged Hussars with lance and later period with pistols etc
Swedish Grenadier firing line for GNW
Skane Wars Swedes and Danes
Sailors and Pirate for 17th century
If there is an appetite for such a project(s) the place to start is here with you. It would be good to know what would excite enough interest to get the whole thing off the ground. Consider it a very focused form of Kick Start. It would be done privately and not through such a site. I have done this previously and it works. Those interested would get the figures they want at a reduced rate and afterward, I would be free to continue to sell the miniatures to anyone else who might want them.
Happy to hear the suggestions here or by mail to wordtwister@hotmail.co.uk as per usual. I will also put this on the LoA page on Facebook and on the 17th Century Warfare