New Model Railroad Company coming.

[up1950s]

I still like the Intermountain kits as seen on todays view of my workbench...

I have many and I hate the fragility of the grabs .

[amato1969]

I have many and I hate the fragility of the grabs .

Me too, which is why I substitute .010 wire or the BLMA etched grabs.

  Frank

[wcfn100]

New email says the N scale will be announced next weekend in Springfield.


Jason

[daniel_leavitt2000]

I'll keep you covered.

[James Costello]

New email says the N scale will be announced next weekend in Springfield.

It also gives a hint as what to expect which has me pretty intrigued:

Visit us next weekend at the Railroad Hobby Show in W. Springfield, MA.  We’ll be announcing two all-new HO vehicles.  One will have a first-time feature.  We’ll also be unveiling our first two N scale vehicles.  These unlicensed models will be a great addition for Intermodal modelers.

[BruceStikkers]

I talked to Shane at the Indianapolis Train Show recently and the N-Scale offerings will definitely be slow but sure in coming. I know him from some operating sessions when he lived in Champaign, IL and worked at Horizon. The total amount of work setting up the company and getting things going is enormous. They want to do N, but HO will be first out of the box and N for the first year will be slow. They are trying to be sure what they come out with is high quality.  The HO Big Blow Turbines are truly remarkable.  They have setup Lombard Hobbies in the Chicago area as a dealer and some others. They do have a sales rep in the Champaign, IL area working for them, so I expect to see more dealers added as time goes on.

Bruce Stikkers
St. Joseph, IL

[OldEastRR]

We need Elon Musk to get into making N scale railroad models.

[daniel_leavitt2000]

Unlicensed vehicle eh? That would mean a truck of some sort - passenger cars are way too protected to attempt that. Shane and I have had many conversations over the years about licensing issues with Mack, Deere, etc. If I had to guess? a 50's/60's era tractor trailer of some type.

Really looking forward to seeing what's up.

[bman]

Didn't Classic Metal Works already saturate the market with 40/50's era trucks?  With Trainworx also now making trucks and trailers this area of the hobby in N scale is getting some love finally.  I know there are several resin casters and folks on shapeways making vehicles as well.  Time to start building roads on my plywood central.

[mu26aeh]

"Visit us next weekend at the Railroad Hobby Show in W. Springfield, MA.  We’ll be announcing two all-new HO vehicles.  One will have a first-time feature.  We’ll also be unveiling our first two N scale vehicles.  These unlicensed models will be a great addition for Intermodal modelers. "

Mentioning intermodal modelers, that leads me to think some sort of Yard tractor or something.

[sirenwerks]

Didn't Classic Metal Works already saturate the market with 40/50's era trucks? 

Yikes.  The Ford F700 and IH R190 were nice models (despite a few clunky details and bad paint), but they looked so much alike (especially considering the duplication of box/tank/flat in releases) that CMW's saturation could only be qualified if you define it as making too many of one vehicle and flooding the LHS with them.  The White WC was only OK, IMO.  Now if CMW would release the 1960 Ford it has in HO, that would be a nice step towards saturating with variety, which is what we need.


I'm hoping for a Ford N series:





Or Chevy Spartan:

[peteski]

Didn't Classic Metal Works already saturate the market with 40/50's era trucks?  With Trainworx also now making trucks and trailers this area of the hobby in N scale is getting some love finally.  I know there are several resin casters and folks on shapeways making vehicles as well.  Time to start building roads on my plywood central.

God question.  Judging by the deep discounted price they were selling for quit a while then yes, market was saturated. But I thing they were simply very slow sellers and they wanted to dump the inventory.

Let's face it: those models are quite crudely done and clunky.  The H0 versions aren't half bad, but diecast bodies just don't really work in N scale. They are way too thick and the details are soft. The window openings are too small and the window "glass" inserts are inset about 6 scale inches or more. The paint is usually way too heavily applied,the wheels are also crude and the raid-height is often terrible (I never thought that I would mention ride height in this context). 

 Plastic is much better suited for making those tiny N sclae vehicles.  The bodies can be made thinner and the detail engraving can be sharper.

[sirenwerks]

God question.  Judging by the deep discounted price they were selling for quit a while then yes, market was saturated. But I thing they were simply very slow sellers and they wanted to dump the inventory.

Let's face it: those models are quite crudely done and clunky.  The H0 versions aren't half bad, but diecast bodies just don't really work in N scale. They are way too thick and the details are soft. The window openings are too small and the window "glass" inserts are inset about 6 scale inches or more. The paint is usually way too heavily applied,the wheels are also crude and the raid-height is often terrible (I never thought that I would mention ride height in this context). 

 Plastic is much better suited for making those tiny N scale vehicles.  The bodies can be made thinner and the detail engraving can be sharper.

I completely agree.  The White, with it's horribly rendered hood and grill area and deeply inset flat windscreen, is a write-off.  New wheels, strip and paint, and ride-height and bumper adjustment can improve the Ford and IH though, and since they can be had cheaply, they make great scene fillers where 'fleets' are required, like for grain trucks at the elevator.


I would love to have CMW's new 1960 Fords, but not if they're shrunk in the same clunky manner as the past renderings.  Frankly, I think Shapeways is the way to go with N scale vehicles though.  I get they don't sell as well as HO and so don't garner the same $ attention from manufacturers, but the fineness of FXD, and consistency of quality and on-demand sales readiness of Shapeways makes large assortments doable.  As long as they're well done renderings to start (like MadAboutCars' stuff, not like Stonysmith's stuff)  I'll pay a slight premium and do some extra work hollowing bodies, painting, and adding windshields to get vehicles that don't scream "toy!" so loud in close-up photos and provide a realistic assortment of makes and models.

[Denver Road Doug]

It also gives a hint as what to expect which has me pretty intrigued:

Unlicensed, huh?...  It seems that JB Hunt has been the most difficult to license in the Intermodal realm in n-scale.   I know they were really making it difficult for Deluxe at one point.

But "vehicle" I guess might not really encompass containers...maybe trailers.  Trailers would also point to something like UPS or Fedex but that would be an odd choice given Trainworx.

Something GM comes to mind, but not as anything Intermodal?

Then I would lean to "Mi-Jack"?  Sort of a vehicle.

Anyway, unless it's JBH containers it probably is inconsequential to me.

[wcfn100]

I need something to unload my CGW reefers from the ramp.   


Jason