Info on Green Saskatchewan Grain Car from FRTS

[txronharris]

did you see prices for the cars somewhere... ?

No, but their other stuff is, IMHO, over-priced. $40 for a single covered hopper? No thanks.

I think you're generalizing about their hoppers being 40.00 each. They may have a few that were that much on a special run, but most of the time their prices are about the same as everyone's. The cars that are more expensive are road numbers only available through them, so it stands to reason they'd be a buck or two more than a normal Intermountain car. I don't see much flinching when MTL comes out with a car that's 25-30.00, so I think those that are holding a new company (North American Railcar) up in front of the firing squad right away may be jumping to conclusions. I for one am excited to see the car coming out and with the promise of future unique releases, most of us that model Canadian prototypes should be as well. If settling for Intermountain running all their hoppers on the same old mold is fine with you, then that's cool. I think having a new car style not offered yet and more cool ones to come is exciting. I'm just saying give them a chance before you bash them. I'm sure many of us wouldn't have ever paid 25-30.000 for a car or 100.00 and up for locos when we started this hobby. Quality=more expensive=you get what you pay for. If any of the other now known manufacturers had announced this car and said it was 25-30.00 no one would have cared and everyone would be lining up for one. Give the new guys a shot and if you don't like it after it's released, don't buy it.

[soo]

I will NOT give any of my money to PWRS/NARC.

  I will not go into what transpired here,,,I do not care for the company.

  I think we all should do these cars, and flood the market, and give a huge raspberry to PWRS , along with the #1 sign.

  Adios WYT

[nscalesteve]

I will NOT give any of my money to PWRS/NARC.

  I will not go into what transpired here,,,I do not care for the company.

  I think we all should do these cars, and flood the market, and give a huge raspberry to PWRS , along with the #1 sign.

  Adios WYT

what a great advise... !
...what will happen if you start to produce Mickey Mouse figures in China or NFL gadgets and start to flood the market ?

[bsoplinger]

... paint suggestions for that bright looks like plastic green they are painted?

Just asking for suggestions, seems we all agree that we're unhappy its PWRS making the cars.

[nscalesteve]

Just asking for suggestions, seems we all agree that we're unhappy its PWRS making the cars.

Bob I did use Badger Model flex #16-111 Gloss Green for mine...
...for a next bunch I will try to add some Johnson Wax Klear to the paint for a more glossy finish and some yellow to lighten the color a littlebit.
(and yes, I will use cars with the right hatches for the next bunch...)

[ljudice]

I had a very irritating experience with PWRS (which went well beyond the usual telemarketing complaints) and personally feel they are ridiculously overpriced (especially since many of their special runs end up at BLW or WigWag for 50-60% of list). However, I would gladly give them another try - and frankly, for new tooling of a rather rare car, I don't think $40 is out of line.  Actually, I don't think they have given any price for the model yet.

My complaint is the exclusive deal on the paint scheme. This could be really a disaster for the hobby, and it is far, far worse than the Union Pacific problem. We expect shareholder owned companies (even if the shareholder is a government) to be careful with their money and image. But it's infuriating to see a model maker set a precedent that almost everyone in the industry previously agreed was destructive (exclusive licensing).

It may be smart business - though I personally doubt this car will ever see the light of day - but it still is a very bad move for us as modellers.

[Robbman]

Message deleted

[nscalesteve]

Nothing... neither is exclusively licensed.  The Hawker-Siddely car NARC wants to do also is not exclusivey licensed either, so anybody could do those if they wanted to... just pony up 50 grand to the right Chinese manufacturer.  The only thing you can't do is paint it in the exclusively licensed scheme.

...we are talking about the Saskatchewan licensed scheme here not the Hawker-Siddely car it self

[sirenwerks]

The only thing you can't do is paint it in the exclusively licensed scheme.

Don't know about Canadian law much, but if it's for personal use in the US it's not an issue. As long as there's no profit from it, so if a manufacturer chose to make 'em and give 'em away there would be no issue. Fat chance that would happen but it is a way around the PWRS domination of the scheme on the market.

I guess since the Saskatchewan authorities gave PWRS an exclusive license, we won't be seeing MT slapping it on one of their inappropriate models, like that god-awful Glasshopper car.

[cv_acr]

Or the HO scale Model Power ACF Centreflows in the paint schemes of the Canadian cylindrical grain cars. I think I've even seen centreflows decorated in such paint schemes in photos in MR.

[Puddington]

This one has been done to death on many other sites; the consencus seemingly is that:

1. A Provincial Government has no business licencing stuff like railcars that are, in effect "owned" by the good people of that province. ( BTW - The NDP is indeed the "stepson" of the CCF - but the CCF wasn't the Canadian Communist Federation, it was infact the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation, a western Canadian left wing social democrat party - but I digress)

2. NARC is a self serving, bombastic name for a new Division of PWRS. There are as many opinions as potholes in the road about PWRS, from fantatstic to ^%$$%#@!! - There seems to be no middle ground - ya love em, or hate em.....But isn't "North American Railcar Company a silly, proto name for a model railway company - I think so.

3. The concept of this agreement is, indeed potentially more dangerous that the ill advised UP licencing scheme that made headlines for a number of years - leave it to the Government of Sask. to stur this up

4. The car; if and when produced will become a instant collector item and will fetch $ 100.00 per on EBay " just because it can"..... Yesh !

My take on this whole silly thing - when government gets involved in my hobby it's time for a change !

[lock4244]

Puddington, I live in Ontario so forgive the CCF error... like we care about what happens beyond Toronto, anyways  ;D

I concur this agreement is more ominous than the UP licencing situation. If you're like me, you'll vote with your wallet and ignore this release. I personally think the cars are gross (seen one, half green, half grafitti), but it's an annoying precedent. If you don't have enuogh IM CDN Govt hoppers already, buy them before this BS spreads.

[Ryan87]

Hate to play Devils Advocate... but

If Intermountain got the exclusive liscense for these cars would you all be as
pissed off about it? Or is it just because these cars are from Surrey?

BTW PWRS announced on the A-Fourm that the cars will retail in the 20-25$ range (for N Scale) 

Cheers

[Puddington]

The fact that they are from Surrey, B.C. isn't the issue, I like Surrey, having lived just across the river in Richmond for four years - and the real issue, at least with me isn't the fact that it's PWRS (NARC) making them. It's the idea a government is selling the rights ot the image of their citizen's assets; the fact that we are entering a dangerous area of "brand and image" valuation and protection that can have far reaching affects and that this silly car is becomig a "casue celeb" that will inevitably mean that a otherwise run of the mill grain car will reach $ 100.00 on EvilBay because "we've" made it special...

And, for the record, I'm not a huge PWRS fan, but that's a personal issue and I wish them no harm.... despite the silly name of their new company...... couldn't resist that one.....

[SquirrelHollow]

The only thing you can't do is paint it in the exclusively licensed scheme.

Don't know about Canadian law much, but if it's for personal use in the US it's not an issue. As long as there's no profit from it, so if a manufacturer chose to make 'em and give 'em away there would be no issue. Fat chance that would happen but it is a way around the PWRS domination of the scheme on the market.

I guess since the Saskatchewan authorities gave PWRS an exclusive license, we won't be seeing MT slapping it on one of their inappropriate models, like that god-awful Glasshopper car.

So.....  in theory......   one of the major manufacturers could sell you an undecorated car with a 'free' Saskatchewan paint scheme....