Athearn March 2022

[Ed Kapuscinski]

My assessment is that a lot of HO centric companies lack the awareness that the N scale market is unique and different from HO.  As a result they produce the wrong products and then blame the market when they fail to sell enough.

Yep. I think this is true.

But I also can't blame them. If you know a thing and it's responsible for the majority of your income, you're gonna stick with it.

[ncbqguy]

Am I missing something?  Why is there a picture of an Authenticast box?  AFAIK none of those items ever made it into Athearn or Model Die Casting lines.
Or is it like Model Power thinking it is good to bring back the Marx copy of the Varney F3 in HO?  Well, Lionel now has MP so maybe we’ll see the Marx NYC Hudson withe the F3 drive in the tender….
Charlie Vlk

[ncbqguy]

Authenticast stirred questions so I did a little research.   It was an east coast company that made spin cast pot metal soldiers, tanks, ships, and airplanes.  During WWII  they made identification models for the government. 
Their box is interesting as it shows early Mantua products…wonder if the made cast parts for them.   It was/is common for cooperation between manufacturers; Irv Athearn and Clarence Manteer (sp?) not only had lunch together, they supplied material to each other.  Even Con-Cor had MDC cast floors and other parts.
Authenticast also used the Comet trade name.  They made cars and trucks, signal bridges, and a few rolling stock items for HO and O Scale.  They lasted to the early 1960s and were gone by the time N Scale got going here.
I don’t think there was any connection to the many brands of Athearn.
Charlie Vlk