Why can't manufacturers just get it right?

[mmagliaro]

While mechanically it was a very good design, the clunky translucent-silver plastic didn't cut it appearance-wise.  It looked like a cheap toy. Finer metal siderods and valve gear would have been a crowning touch.

Wow... tough room! 
Sincerely, I never thought the rods looked bad, and we're talking 1980 tooling here.
I think they did much better than the other steam siderods and valve gear for the time - remember, we're talking
Rivarossi and Bachmann stuff that had all plain stamped rods with no detailing or relief at all.  Trix had a little fluting.

I think that even though cosmetically it wasn't anywhere near as good as today, it was really good considering its time.
And it looks like a really good attempt to make it prototypically accurate.  Just look:

[victor miranda]

fault finding is an art.

discovery seems harder...

yeah, max, this is a tough crowd.

allow me to start with the hardest defense there is.

For over 23 years from 1972 ( 'tis what I was told) to 1995
there was no better loco to be purchased in n-scale steam than the Kato Hudson.

If anyone wants to find fault with it....
what would they claim is better?
I have read someone state the Kato mike is better...
and then? ... the Kato FEF?  perhaps the Kato GS-4?

the saddest part here is that in the 20 years since...
will struggle to point out a steam engine that is a better
n-scale steam model.

in terms  of Why can't manufacturers just get it right?

this Kato Hudson is a good example of having got it right.
Both when it was first made and arguably all the way to today
Yet in those past twenty years since 1995 (Anno Mikado)
there have been over 15 NEW steam engines made...
anyone want to figure out where they missed getting it right?

there is a lot to get right.
having to state keep it simple...
concentric gears are required to 'get it right'
that list of fundamentals is very long.


 

[u18b]

Victor.  Forgive me for asking a dumb question.

But what is meant by concentric gears?

Is the problem that gears are sometimes not truly round?
Or that the hole is not 100% smack dab in the dead center of the gear.
Or something else?

[victor miranda]

Hi U18b,

concentric is the gear 100 % centered on the pivot

while it is a different kind of problem, an out of round gear
can't be made to be concentric.

the issue comes up with plastic gears because plastic....
is plastic and moves around while cooling.

The point about concentric gears it is that when making a mechanism,
one must not take any part as easy and automatically right. 

one would think gears are common and easy to get right.
yet....
I got a loco to repair with the wormwheel and counter-gear
molded together by design.
the pivot and two gears, all three... none were on the same center.

victor 

[peteski]

I got a loco to repair with the wormwheel and counter-gear
molded together by design.
the pivot and two gears, all three... none were on the same center.

Probably not from Kato.