Has Art Fahie of Bar Mills given up on N scale?

[3rdrail]

Just went to the Bar Mills website and there is nothing but HO and larger kits on it! Has Art Fahie given up on N scale? I know he has an emaiol "newsletter" available from the site, but if all he has is HO and larger, who wants it?

Anybody out there get his "newsletter" and know what the situation is?  ???

[Mark5]

Perhaps.

Interestingly Walther's has restock due in late April.

[Mark5]

Just checked the site, and there are still N kits there:

http://barmillsmodels.com/p_barmillsstructures2.htm

http://barmillsmodels.com/p_barmillsstructures3.htm

But if I wasn't looking for them I wouldn't know it ...

[160pennsy]

Has Art Fahie given up on N scale? Anybody out there get his "newsletter" and know what the situation is?  ???

At the last Timonium, MD (Zane) show, I asked Bar Mills a simple question regarding when one of his latest HO buildings was getting released in N...Art's response was basically this:

"Never !! The N-scale stuff doesn't move..nobody's buying enough of it".

That seemed like a weird reply since Art's an N-scaler himself.(Niagra & Pearl Creek RR)..but I guess it's nothing personal..just a business decision. Maybe we need to change his mind by ponying up & voting with our wallets.

[Chris333]

Never...  well thats basically what he told me by E-mail a couple years ago. I thought it was odd since he was an N scaler at the time.

Strange too is that all he has to do is resize those drawings for the laser, about 2 minutes worth of work.

[160pennsy]

Strange too is that all he has to do is resize those drawings for the laser, about 2 minutes worth of work.

2 minutes for the laser-cut plywood stuff...but what about the soft metal detail castings? If the kits require new n-scale detail parts that aren't already in his inventory, then making new masters along with new vulcanized rubber molds..might be a tad bit longer..

[FrankCampagna]

Strange too is that all he has to do is resize those drawings for the laser, about 2 minutes worth of work.

It still costs money to make and market them. If they don't sell, then it is still a losing proposition. Now seriously, everyone. How many of his kits has everyone bought? I am just at the point of getting a layout set up. Most of my money has gone to motive power and rolling stock. Already have track. Next step is the foundation and scenery. I have a few buildings, and they are my next item. I haven't bought any of his kits. Hope they are still around when I get to that point. Frank

[UP_Phill]

Strange too is that all he has to do is resize those drawings for the laser, about 2 minutes worth of work.

It still costs money to make and market them. If they don't sell, then it is still a losing proposition. Now seriously, everyone. How many of his kits has everyone bought? I am just at the point of getting a layout set up. Most of my money has gone to motive power and rolling stock. Already have track. Next step is the foundation and scenery. I have a few buildings, and they are my next item. I haven't bought any of his kits. Hope they are still around when I get to that point. Frank

I have every one of his kits. I'd love to see some of the others done in "N"....oh well!

[bobcat]

Art is an honarary member of my club(actually he was a past member before moving to Bar Mills) and some members of my club, Art and his wife and I went out to have dinner after the Big E show on Saturday night and the one thing I remember was how he was saying that model kits were not selling as well these days, that people wanted RTR.

I am not sure if that is why things in the pipeline seem slow in N, but if the bucks were there, I'm sure more kits would be.

[Chris333]

Sure he would want some inventory, but he has all his own equipment and could make to order in. And about the castings, there are some, but not like the HO kits have. I have 5 of their N kits.

Back when he told me "never" I was asking how long for this in N:
http://www.railroad-line.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=10904&SearchTerms=Bar,Mills


From the site:

N-Scale News
We're going to be waiting awhile while our friends at Tichy (they make our plastic windows) get tooling ready for some new N-Scale kit for us.  ALL of the "BASICS" will be made in "N", as well as the new 2-part kit "Collard's Creek" as mentioned in the HO scale release above.  Regardless of the scale, Bar Mills kits ALWAYS retain their identities, that's why custom windows & doors sometimes have to be produced when we are going "between-scales" on one of our kit releases.  Be patient N-Scalers... your time is coming !

[Ian MacMillan]

Art is a pretty good guy, and a true N scaler. While most of his kits are in N-O, HO is where the most money is made, and as a business he needs to capture that market. But don't worry, he will be producing more N scale kits. Some new ones were announced back in Springfield also, in the quick kit line. However, also remember that there are some of his O scale only kits, that the HOers bitch about not being done in HO, so the N'rs are not alone.

[tillsbury]

Email from 16th October 2004...

Charles...

Sorry about the belated response.  This time of the
year we focis more on HO scale, but we will be doing
the Tylick building in "N" in the future... possibly
Mooneys as well.  Please be patient with us.

Art Fahie

[TrainCat2]

I don't know if this is public info but, Bar Mills does all of the N Scale Architect's kits for Russ. So in a round-about way, he is doing N-Scale.

Bob

[Ian MacMillan]

I don't know if this is public info but, Bar Mills does all of the N Scale Architect's kits for Russ. So in a round-about way, he is doing N-Scale.

Bob

What?!

Russ has several of his own laser cutters, why would be be farming it out to Art?

[TrainCat2]

I don't know if this is public info but, Bar Mills does all of the N Scale Architect's kits for Russ. So in a round-about way, he is doing N-Scale.

Bob

What?!

Russ has several of his own laser cutters, why would be be farming it out to Art?

Russ told me this exact thing @ Philly himself. I would not think he would lie about himself....