Behind the scenes at MT; Joe D'Amato

[tillsbury]

...The Slinky Effect in the couplers - I wish they'd come up with a more tangible solution for this than "drag springs"...

Pretty much the only other option is Accumates, and they stick out WAY too far from their coupler boxes.

Err, MT 1015's don't slink (sic) at all, as they have solved the problem by reversing the spring.  When the couplers are under tension the spring isn't loaded.  Well, ok, they slinky a little bit if you're *reversing* long trains of lightweight cars, I suppose )  But not when you're towing.  That's why I replace everything no matter what it is with 1015s, before cars or engines go anywhere near the layout... end of coupler problems...

I don't really understand MT bashing at all.  I have some great MT cars.  I happen not to like the fantasy cars but they're very nice chaps because they give me the option not to buy those.  I'm sure they make a few bum products, but I've yet to see a company that doesn't...

Charles

[John]

Isn't MT releasing a runner pack of 89' flats?

Oh, that's right, only in DODX... I'd love to hear the story there.

DODX uses those quite a bit now .. old TTX flats .. stenciled for DODX ... moves a lot of stuff like Humvees .. tanks are probably too heavy ... they would use the dodx 6 axle

the second us army runner pack is probably good thru the early 70s, max .. although I did see several older flats built in the 50s up at Aberdeen several years ago .. suspect they were captive service

[Mark5]

Err, MT 1015's don't slink (sic) at all, as they have solved the problem by reversing the spring.  When the couplers are under tension the spring isn't loaded.  Well, ok, they slinky a little bit if you're *reversing* long trains of lightweight cars, I suppose )  But not when you're towing.  That's why I replace everything no matter what it is with 1015s, before cars or engines go anywhere near the layout... end of coupler problems...

Uh, do you body mount all your cars? Just curious, as mine are the truck mounted variety and they slink transitioning from upgrade to downgrade, etc.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Reading Nato's post, it does remind me of the TRUE reason I get so agitated when thinking about MTL.

They DID so much for the scale. They were, far and away, one of the major factors in making N scale a viable scale for people who wanted more than lionel style layouts. Hell, they were the only manufacturer making cars that we don't consider junk for a long time.

They WERE the leader, hands down. They deserve a LOT of credit for that.

But...

Recently, as has been mentioned, they are definitely becoming the Tyco of N scale. No longer are they driving the scale forward, no longer are they breaking new ground in the hobby, no longer are they making it EASIER to be an N scaler.

No.

It seems that for a long time, MTL was working (consciously or not) to get N scale taken seriously. Now they seem to be hell bent on going the other way.

At least, that's how I see it anyway.

To sum it up, it's not that they suck, it's that they used to be so great, and now they suck.

[ednadolski]

Err, MT 1015's don't slink (sic) at all, as they have solved the problem by reversing the spring.  When the couplers are under tension the spring isn't loaded.  Well, ok, they slinky a little bit if you're *reversing* long trains of lightweight cars, I suppose )  But not when you're towing.  That's why I replace everything no matter what it is with 1015s, before cars or engines go anywhere near the layout... end of coupler problems...

I don't really understand MT bashing at all.  I have some great MT cars.  I happen not to like the fantasy cars but they're very nice chaps because they give me the option not to buy those.  I'm sure they make a few bum products, but I've yet to see a company that doesn't...

Charles, even with the 1015's, won't they slink just like the others in a long train moving down grade?  The couplers will still be in compression in that case, it won't really matter which end of the spring has the pivot post.   The truck vs. body mount issue is orthogonal to the slinky issue.

FWIW, I can understand the bashing to a degree -  it's frustrating because MT does some of the best tooling & graphics, but it seems like such a waste when combined with extensive toylike paint schemes and other issues like the high-rider cars, slinky couplers, and of course pizza-cutters.   Considering the limitations of model railroad production capacities in general, it only seems more frustrating for those who perceive that limited capacity as being "wasted", or perpetuating issues that by all rights really should have become solved problems by now.

Ed

[VGN50]

Ed and Ed,
I share your frustration with MT.  That's why I posted the "MT November" comment last night and referred to them as the Tyco of N Scale.  I don't know what their business model is; but it seems they are catering to the short term hobbyist and not those of us who are/have been in it for the long run.

Mark

[tillsbury]

Charles, even with the 1015's, won't they slink just like the others in a long train moving down grade?  The couplers will still be in compression in that case, it won't really matter which end of the spring has the pivot post.   The truck vs. body mount issue is orthogonal to the slinky issue.

They don't seem to, to any significant degree in my experience.  They do a little when you're reversing trucks into the yard, but I think if you watch them you'll see that the truck-mounted couplers (or indeed the old-fashioned larger body-mounts that don't have reversed springs) go from no load to high load until the spring eventually makes the car move forward, instantly unloading the spring and loading the next one in the line.  With 1015's going downhill, the springs are under light load and get unloaded from there as the train pulls away.  They never get fully loaded (unless the grade was extreme, I suppose).  The slink is probably there but it's so small you don't notice it.  Uphill, level, or on a very slight downgrade there's no slink at all. 

I suppose with a very steep downgrade and a large number of cars you could MU a helper on the back with a slightly lower speed curve to hold the train back.  Or make a nice DCC caboose that you could bung the brakes on with? )

NandW, yes I put 1015's on everything, even locos that aren't supposed to take them (they can always be put on somewhere).  I do a lot of hands-off coupling and uncoupling and get really cross unless it works perfectly just about every single time.  In my experience this is the only way to make it work.  Whenever there's a problem I find that it's an old coupler, or a truck mounted one, or an Accumate that's slipped past causing the issue.

Charles

[Ian MacMillan]

I think that any bashing that MT get is justly deserved....the tote themselves as a top notch company and then they cater to the collecting crowd. While that is fine because thats were the money may be, make it a separate division that isn't encroaching onto your "normal" monthly releases.

Also, they have historically printed wrong paint schemes and yada yada on wrong cars and really make no attempt to correct it on future runs. 

Too bad that article does not focus on their inane marketing and design practices lately..They are becoming the Kato of N scale.   :

Why no TTX of the 89'ers on the first runner packs? Come on! Thats like Kato refusing to release the RDC's in B&M!!!

[daniel_leavitt2000]

Why did Life-Like do such a great job compartimentalizing the company while Micro-Trains does it so poorly? MTL needs to have two distinct product lines. Micro-Trains would be the Innovators of prototypical accuracy and detail level. They would create new tooling using the latest technology such as die cast, injection molding, etched, resin and lost wax castings. These cars would feature full underframes, and lo-profile wheels (with pizza cutters included). Cabooses and passenger cars would feature DCC lighting kits. !00T trucks would feature 36" wheels.

Micro-Lines would be the fantacy stuff. Leave off some of the detail parts, simpler underframes, no interior lighting kits. These would appeal to the coolector who seem to be holding MTL back (lo-pro issues anyone?). This would blend in with Micro-Seasons and other lines. This would eliminate the annoyance runners have with limmited product availability at the benifit of collector only cars.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Aww shucks DL, now you're making sense, and we CAN'T have that!

[ednadolski]

Micro-Trains would be the Innovators of prototypical accuracy and detail level.

It'd be an improvement if they could just learn to cast their wheelsets in a nice flat burnt umber colored plastic instead of the shiny black & brown that they use.

[amato1969]

Micro-Lines -- I like it!  Daniel gets an "A" in marketing this semester.

[inkaneer]

Micro-Trains would be the Innovators of prototypical accuracy and detail level.

It'd be an improvement if they could just learn to cast their wheelsets in a nice flat burnt umber colored plastic instead of the shiny black & brown that they use.

But the tread portion is not black, brown or burnt umber color but rather is a shiny metallic color. Better yet is to cast them in a silver colored plastic so I could paint the wheels except for the tread portion. 

[bsoplinger]

Micro-Trains would be the Innovators of prototypical accuracy and detail level.

It'd be an improvement if they could just learn to cast their wheelsets in a nice flat burnt umber colored plastic instead of the shiny black & brown that they use.

But the tread portion is not black, brown or burnt umber color but rather is a shiny metallic color. Better yet is to cast them in a silver colored plastic so I could paint the wheels except for the tread portion. 

While I can see your point, silver would be the best color for those who'd want to take the time to do just what you say, paint the rest of the wheels and weather those bits, I think the brownish color Atlas uses is the best compromise.

That lets folks who just want to take the car out of the box and put it on the layout to run have wheels that look somewhat like they'd look in real life and for those who want to do more work and weathering its a decent base color.

Trouble is, that chocolate brown looks like plastic bigtime color that MT uses just doesn't cut it with me. I went to Atlas plastic wheels for everything I could before I then started switching over to the FVM metal wheels.

Now those metal wheels are the best. Easy to weather yet still have a metal looking tread portion, great tracking, inexpensive (they only cost about thrice what the Atlas replacement wheelsets cost).

But it would be nice if MT has a nice dark brown, not shiny, more like the Atlas color, for the couplers.