Tempted by NSC Car, but...

[ljudice]

Then I looked for photos... For $38 you would think they would at least do the logo panel...

Proto:
 http://gelwood.railfan.net/plcx/tldx3981ak.jpg

Model:
http://nscalecollector.com/NSC_Singles/Pillsbury_TLDX3980LG.jpg

[John]

or use a car closer to the prototype ...

[ljudice]

The Walthers car is closer isn't it?

[wm3798]

But what a great candidate for a weathering challenge car!  Just for spite!  But I'd wait until they started hitting $100 on ebay before I posted a shot of it "finished"
Lee

[3rdrail]

Is that supposed to be the convention car? I hope not, because if it is, I'll have to trade or sell it before I leave Louisville...

[Sokramiketes]

Then I looked for photos... For $38 you would think they would at least do the logo panel...

Same issue came up on a topic about the special run of DT&I boxcars in Z scale over on Trainboard.  Joe D'Amato was somehow trying to convince everyone that it is cheaper to figure out how to print complicated graphics around ribs than it is to etch panels and print the graphics flat on the panels...

I think there was some more discussion about then having to figure out how to glue them to the sides without them falling off in transport, etc.  And any time you claim the price is too high, you get a lecture about how many American jobs they are paying good wages for, and how they should be treated as a charity organization because of it.  After all, those evil companies that just call up China and have product shipped over in containers arn't trying to make money to put food on their own table either. 

All I know is that the comapnies that talk to China are able to put large placards on the sides (Intermountain, Atlas, and Athearn come to mind) and they found a glue that works on overseas shipments without falling off, and they cost less than $38 per car. 

Oh, but we forgot an arguement!  Micro-Trains has better quality than those evil China Shoppers! I don't know though... I'm sitting here looking at a pre-production sample of the Atlas twin hopper, and it is a damn fine model, with printing just as crisp as MTL.  They even figured out how to get more weight packed into them!  And there's more bracing on the ends per the prototype, plus add on internal bracing if you want to add it. (Coal load pops out)  The only thing the MTL hopper has going for it now is the couplers.  Atlas car still has Accumates that stick out too far.  But aside from that, you'll be able to get 5 numbers right off the bat on the Atlas car, and they're likely to run more before the decade is out. 

Just wait until someone brings out a real N scale coupler to compete with MTL...

[bsoplinger]

Just wait until someone brings out a real N scale coupler to compete with MTL...

Have any of the Athearn cars with the N-scale McHenry shown up yet? How are they?

[wcfn100]

Same issue came up on a topic about the special run of DT&I boxcars in Z scale over on Trainboard.  Joe D'Amato was somehow trying to convince everyone that it is cheaper to figure out how to print complicated graphics around ribs than it is to etch panels and print the graphics flat on the panels...

They wouldn't really etch those panels would they?  I would think you could die cut those in house with just an arbor press.

Jason

[Sokramiketes]

Same issue came up on a topic about the special run of DT&I boxcars in Z scale over on Trainboard.  Joe D'Amato was somehow trying to convince everyone that it is cheaper to figure out how to print complicated graphics around ribs than it is to etch panels and print the graphics flat on the panels...

They wouldn't really etch those panels would they?  I would think you could die cut those in house with just an arbor press.

Jason

Depends if you want rivets or not, I suppose.  The Athearn ones on the AutoParts cars appear to be etched with rivet detail. 

[Ed Kapuscinski]

But... "Dey Turk errr jerrrbs!" So we HAVE to buy MTL cars, it's our patriotic duty! If you don't love Microtrains, you don't love freedom. Or puppies.

[wm3798]

Man, you sound like one of them bitter Pennsylvanians... :-\

Barak

[Erik W]

This thread is turning political.  It makes me want to over eat to ease my anxiety.  Someone pass me the Freedom Fries . . .

Erik

[Ed Kapuscinski]

This thread is turning political.  It makes me want to over eat to ease my anxiety.  Someone pass me the Freedom Fries . . .

Erik

Lol... but this is a good point, and I think the same point that Skibbe and I were both trying to make. People often give MTL a big pass because of their "american made" nature, but I think they're given WAY too big of a pass on that, since a lot of their issues stem not from issues that come from where things are made (in fact, doing it all under one roof should be an anti-excuse).

[tom mann]

But think of it another way:

Will MT sell out of these cars at $38 without having to invest the time to do the placard?  Sure, so from a business standpoint, they win without the extra time. ;D

<sam jackson tone>
Listen, the My Little Pony^tm brand of toy horses look nothing like real horses, but I don't bitch every time Hasbro releases a new purple horse with big anime-style drugged-up eyes.  I recognize that My Little Ponies aren't meant for me, and even if I did collect toy horses, I could just go out an buy anatomically-correct toy horses instead of My Little Ponies. 

So I can live a complete life buying up all the model trains I can afford regardless of what MT or Hasbro does.
</sam jackson tone>

[Sokramiketes]

But think of it another way:

Will MT sell out of these cars at $38 without having to invest the time to do the placard?  Sure, so from a business standpoint, they win without the extra time. ;D

But of course you're assuming that it takes less time to print over the ribs than it would to print on a flat plate and then glue on the placard. 

Maybe it is, maybe it isn't.  I just remember an article in the N Scale Collector about how "difficult" and time consuming it was to get graphics to print properly on irregular surfaces.  Think they showed some photos of the trial and error involved on tank car printing. 

So I guess the question is, do they have to do this trial and error for every new logo? Or, just once when they create a new carbody and then they know how to adapt and morph the printed images from there on out?