PCM - I give up or: Now - what to do about hoppers ...

[Mark5]

The announcement of the N&W H2a hoppers (what was it? 2005?) has been like a travel poster in a prison cell for me.
OFFICIAL PCM PROPAGANDA:


PCM has since released a steady stream of HO products and a N scale E7.

I recently emailed them about it and apparently they still don't have enough "orders". What a bunch of ********.

The last email was the final straw for me. I'll buy them if they ever come out, but meanwhile I have acquired a bunch more of the MDC peaked end rib side 70 ton hoppers for painting into N&W. They are the only 3 bay hoppers out there that even resemble a N&W 70 ton 3 bay (and Athearn either doesn't know they own the tooling or they don't care).

I'm ripping the travel poster down now.

[Dave V]

Yep...  I've written off Precision Crap Models.  I probably have an easier time kitbashing my need (the PRR M1) than you do for your hopper...  But if you can make one, you can cast a bunch in resin.  Heck, you should make enough to sell!  Beat 'em to the punch!

I have no time for a PCM anymore.  I used to say I didn't want them to fail, but now, honestly, I do.  We don't reward shady business practices and inconcievably stupid management styles.

Given that anything seems to go on these boards, am I out of line calling PCM a collection of a$$-clowns?

[sirenwerks]

We don't reward shady business practices and inconcievably stupid management styles.

Aww. But weren't they doing us such a big favor by entering the N scale market? Shouldn't we have thrown our money at them to support their noble endeavor, being as valiant as they were to serve our humble and lowly scale? All bow to the... 

The thing I don't get is the whole industry-0wide notion of the pre-order system. Didn't that used to call that market research? And didn't they used to do it BEFORE they announced a product?

[Mark5]

PCM's "policy" is complete BS. Did BLI pull this kind of crap in HO when they started?

PCM's management arrives at the office each morning, takes a revolver in hand, then fires one shot at their left or right foot. They then proceed with their business.

[keystonecrossings]

PCM is the biggest disappointment I have witnessed in this industry.

Had they not come along, initially announcing themselves as an "N scale company", I wonder what other companies and opportunities might have come along.

ANYONE can announce products on a whim, take advance reservations, then figure out how to produce it if they get enough orders to warrant it. It takes financing and brains to produce a product, market it to meet development and per unit costs, and return a decent profit to the investors and distribution channel.

If their business model worked, I would have announced Baldwin passenger sharks and centipedes long ago!

[Sokramiketes]

I once announced something, strictly to pester one individual.  Well, the link made it out to other Santa Fe modelers... and a couple missed the joke.  After making the rounds on the yahoogroups, it ended up in print as a new product announcement in The Warbonnet, the ATSF historical society mag. 

Oopsie.

http://cgwrr.com/ERModels/ERmodels.htm

There's probably modelers out there that are just as livid with Eraw Ropav, LLC as you guys are with PCM.  Makes you wonder if it's all a big inside joke.   

[Mark5]

But if you can make one, you can cast a bunch in resin.  Heck, you should make enough to sell!  Beat 'em to the punch!

Casting hoppers in resin would be "interesting". Anyone done that in any scale?

I have actually entertained the idea of a cast metal kit ala the old Ulrich HO hoppers (anyone here remember those?)

[DKS]

But if you can make one, you can cast a bunch in resin.  Heck, you should make enough to sell!  Beat 'em to the punch!

Casting hoppers in resin would be "interesting". Anyone done that in any scale?

Please ignore this post. I am not in good shape at the moment. I really should not be online at all.

[Mark5]

Are those really hoppers? They look like gons.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Given that anything seems to go on these boards, am I out of line calling PCM a collection of a$$-clowns?

Official ruling: a$$-clowns is 100% acceptable. a$$-hats is not, as it is a term of endearment around these parts.

[DKS]

Are those really hoppers? They look like gons.

Well, yes, now that you mention it. Gons they are. Post has been modified.

[Mark5]

Hoppers are quite a bit more complicated than most gons. That's sorta why I raised the question. 

[3rdrail]

But if you can make one, you can cast a bunch in resin.  Heck, you should make enough to sell!  Beat 'em to the punch!

Casting hoppers in resin would be "interesting". Anyone done that in any scale?

I have actually entertained the idea of a cast metal kit ala the old Ulrich HO hoppers (anyone here remember those?)

If Al Westerfield can do it in HO...


it can be done in N too. see www.westerfield.biz

[Mark5]

Are Westerfield's kits resin?

[John]

Are Westerfield's kits resin?

I believe they are