Are manufacturers deserting a sinking ship?

[Chulvis]

Interesting topic.
Clearly the RTR market has moved in on the "modeling crowd" but their will always be guys, like many of us, who like to build things.

Being a father in todays world I am pulled in many directions and I just don't have the time to sit down and model like I used to, but I do miss it. However, Gianna's needs come before mine, so I give a lot of my spare time to her. I think a lot of parents do that these days and it plays into our "modeling time". Todays world is much different that it was thirty years ago so I don't think there is a fair comparison.

That said, I do think there are a lot of newcomers to the market place and they tend to get overlooked when you consider the old standbys that have left. Yes, Sunrise will leave a gap, but BLMA is in a position to fill that gap for us. New Rail Models, Branchline and others are filling holes. When you think about it things like metal castings are not big money makers for anyone. If the MSRP is $2.25 than the dealer is probably paying $1.50 for that part after delivery. What must the manufacturer be making? In 2007 those are pretty crappy numbers so something has to go. Fact of the matter is that the day of the $2.50 detail part just may not be feasible any more, but many of us will not want to pay 2007 prices for those parts...so....they move on.
Sunrise will make his etched metal parts and charge $5.50 for them and hopefully he will be able to make his signals and feed the market place for them. BLMA will continue to deliver us products we want at realistic prices so that everyone can enjoy them. Technology will at some point trickle down to N Scale and we will have what we need at whatever is considered a reasonable price at that point and we'll all be happy again.

I don't see this as  manufacturers deserting a sinking ship as much as I do a simple realignment.

[sirenwerks]

Maybe I am just imagining this, but what is also frustrating, IMHO, is that MRR magazines seem to be printing less in the way of actual detailed drawings for rolling stock and locos. The artciles that do appear seem to be more about modeling a particular car in a particular scale (and so rarely N) with all the parts measurements in actual size, the conversions can make you dizzy. Add to this the disappearing number of magazines and it's a wee bit disheartening.

When I peruse one of my favorite contemporary freight car photo sites, I see a whole bunch of cars I'd like to model but w/o plans or a slew of photos (compared to one 45 angle shot which misses too much end and roof detail for my taste and makes it hard to tell whether that car's a 50 or 60 footer or somehwere in between) it's frustrating. Especially when I am not able to get out and railfan for myself these days, and when I do I am confronted by so much security.

And then there's the vehicles I consider wanting to model... I tried to photograph a 18 wheel rig at a rest stop when I had to run an errand up 95 to PA last Sunday and almost got slugged by its driver. Try explaining your hobby in 15 seconds w/o sounding overly weird to even yourself. Was he having a bad day or is this terrorist thing getting carried away, I don't know?

[Sokramiketes]

I know one thing... those 14 year old Chinese girls (and whoever else is on the assembly crew) are better modelers than I am.  There is no way you or I can match the painting and lettering of an Athearn Genesis F-unit with an airbrush and decals.

They may be good at operating a pad printer, but when it comes to assembly, they need a few pointers.  First thing is to throw away the glue guns...

No, they know how to assemble just fine.  Again, there is plenty of stuff glued on the Genesis F's.  And like Tivo says, if the models are designed to snap together like an Atlas engine in the first place, then it's even less of a problem.

RTR models with glue blobs are just as much the fault of the importing company as the job shop in China.  Spend some time to fly to the factory and review samples, and then send back the crap when China tries to deliver it, and soon everyone will be on the same page and good RTR stuff will be available.  When the importer gets lax, either on model review or specing the models up front, then China's going to find the easy way out just like anyone else would...

[amato1969]

What I think should be focused on are simple "enhancements" like what Kel is doing with
trucks. Other possibilities about - different doors for boxcars, paintout decals for
freight cars, etc... 

I second the motion for aftermarket boxcar doors!  IMO, we need 7', 8', and even 9' doors -- Youngstown, Superior, Pullman.  These would allow us to accurately model many prototypes that don't exist out-of-the-box.  Mags like RMJ and RMC have tons of great reference photos...

  Frank

[Robbman]

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