Open Question to Manufacturers

[Puddington]

Why?  To make profit of course!
This would be really easy and painless if the models were accurately modeled! 
Before you jump all over me, my statement was strictly in-jest.

I assumed as much......

[coosvalley]

On the N5C, also look above the cupola side windows, there is more body above them on the proto...I hadn't been aware of any of these problems before reading this thread, sometimes ignorance is bliss! ....I'm with Dave V. on this one, though, it doesn't bother me that much.....If I were an SPF, perhaps I might think differently.....

Funny how selective we each are about what bothers us.  This just doesn't bother me at all, and yet I'll get pretty spun up about other things.

[peteski]

On the N5C, also look above the cupola side windows, there is more body above them on the proto...I hadn't been aware of any of these problems before reading this thread, sometimes ignorance is bliss! ....I'm with Dave V. on this one, though, it doesn't bother me that much.....If I were an SPF, perhaps I might think differently.....

As a non-SPF the thing that to me is most objectionable is the large gap where the cupola molding joins the roof. Blend that in with your favorite filler (putty, CA glue, etc.), repaint it all black and I would find that model perfectly acceptable.

[victor miranda]

it is a fairly expensive car to buy as a kit...

.... well, other cars have caught up with it.

it was close to double other cabeese when it was introduced.

I only have a couple.

[SkipGear]

But now that the thread has been moved to the Product discussion forum, I'll ask my original question again.

Just wondering, why a streamlined cupola caboose has never been produced in "N" scale? Several railroads used the streamlined cupola design, among them the Wabash, Ann Arbor, DT&I and Norfolk & Western.

My guess is that there isn't a manufacturer with the combination of a big enough soft spot for one of these roads and the spare capital to do it. Any caboose is a risk, especially a very road specific caboose. You are drastically limiting your potential market. You can't slap B&O, PRR, UP or Santa Fe on one and expect it to sell.

The only people buying these will be modelers of the road of choice, who happen to be modeling in or around the time frame the caboose was used. There will always be the people that buy one of everything but those customers are not as common as they used to be.

As an earlier mentioned example, FVM has done two very road specific cabooses, the B&O Wagontop and Milwaukee Rib Side. Both were excellent models received well by the modeling community. Our shop picked up one of each of the Milwaukee variations when they released a couple years back. We still have over half of them left. We ordered 3 of each of the Wagontop variations, they didn't last 2 weeks. Obviously being in Cincinnati we don't have a ton of Milwaukee modelers. As good as the caboose looked, they just didn't sell in our area. You can't sell a road specific caboose to somebody who has no interest in it, no matter how nice it is.

It didn't hurt that the B&O caboose works for B&O, C&O (after the merger with B&O), and Chessie spanning almost 50 years and covering more territory than the Milwaukee caboose would have. The Milwaukee caboose was only good for Milwaukee in a narrower time frame.

[johnb]

The SP bay window is a different story since they were used all over the west and as far east as New Orleans.

[Robbman]

Lobby BLMA... I hear their design guy has a soft spot for N&W... hint,hint, and his tenth anniversary is coming up... hint, hint.

[Rich_S]

Lobby BLMA... I hear their design guy has a soft spot for N&W... hint,hint, and his tenth anniversary is coming up... hint, hint.

Just received a reply email from BLMA, they basically said no, but good luck asking other manufacture to produce the caboose.

[sirenwerks]

The SP bay window is a different story since they were used all over the west and as far east as New Orleans.

Um, GN and NP cabooses (the other transcontinentals) were just as much "all over the West" too and as far east as Chicago (on occasion). 

[jimmo]

Cody, I agree but the chance of getting a mass produced 100% accurate caboose is slim, unless you happen to be a fan of the same railroad as the manufacture. In other words, when Irv Athearn was alive, most of his HO scale models were of Santa Fe prototypes, Irv liked the Santa Fe. Mr. Kato's favorite railroad also happens to be Santa Fe. I've also found the other end of the spectrum to be true, the owner of a hobby company was not a railfan or modeler, nor was he a draftsman, he was simply a business man. He created what he thought people would purchase.   

It's nice to hear that I have something in common with the likes of Irv Athearn and Hiroshi Kato. I have asked (before I knew better) what do modelers want? Answer: everything. So as a very tiny manufacturer (I'm actually 1/160 scale) I decided that I should make whatever I wanted and if other modelers wanted some they could get as much as they wanted. And if nobody wanted what I made--I still had what I wanted. Win, bigger win.

Was the guy on the other end of the spectrum who got into model manufacturing but wasn't a fan the same guy who said: "The best way to make a million in model railroading business was to start with two million"?

I would take on the task of designing some of the cabeese in question but (at this time) I don't really want them bad enough. Maybe after I get some more experience...

[Rich_S]

Was the guy on the other end of the spectrum who got into model manufacturing but wasn't a fan the same guy who said: "The best way to make a million in model railroading business was to start with two million"?

No.

It's nice to hear that I have something in common with the likes of Irv Athearn and Hiroshi Kato.

Not Hiroshi, his father Yuji Kato started Kato Precision Railroad Models because he wanted an accurate model of the Santa Fe PA 1 and PB 1 passenger locomotives.

Here is a link to the old Ad that talks about the beginnings of Kato Precision Railroad Models. 

http://www.trainlife.com/magazines/pages/347/25584/june-1998-page-2

and as Paul Harvey use to say "Now you know the rest of the story"

Good Day. 

[jimmo]

No.
Not Hiroshi, his father Yuji Kato started Kato Precision Railroad Models because he wanted an accurate model of the Santa Fe PA 1 and PB 1 passenger locomotives.

Here is a link to the old Ad that talks about the beginnings of Kato Precision Railroad Models. 

http://www.trainlife.com/magazines/pages/347/25584/june-1998-page-2

and as Paul Harvey use to say "Now you know the rest of the story"

Good Day. 

Damn internet. Thanks for the correct info!

[nkalanaga]

That may explain why Kato's first N scale locomotive, for Con-Cor, was a PA-1.  At the time, it was considered one of, if not THE, best loco in N scale, although I never had any luck with mine.  Apparently it didn't like cat hair, so I stuck with MiniTrix Fs.  Besides, the GN never owned a PA.

[Ngineer]

Here is a link to the old Ad that talks about the beginnings of Kato Precision Railroad Models. 

http://www.trainlife.com/magazines/pages/347/25584/june-1998-page-2

I quote from the ad: "accurately replicating the numberboards (...) of the actual prototype"

That certainly ISN'T true.

I have the ATSF locos, and they DON'T have the numberboards above the windshield, right in the middle, where they should be.

   Javier

[Jesse6669]

IIRC there was an article in MR about the origins of Kato back in the 80's...