What do you think guys?

[daniel_leavitt2000]

I need detail parts, I hope you do too!
http://forum.atlasrr.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=44307

[Ian MacMillan]

Craig releases just as many new detail parts as he has signals and structures. It just so happens that they all are coming in at the same time. There are plenty more parts out there that I am sure Craig is working on. He even did the detail parts for the soon to be released HO MBTA K cars.

Now if he would just get off his a$$ and do the F40PH windshield "rock screens/shutters" all will be well!

[Frank Amato]

Excellent letter; thanks for sharing! My personal peeve has been a lack of aftermarket boxcar doors.  Now, MT and Intermountain have several varieties, but where are the 7-footers and 9-footers?  As a 1960-era modeler, I can use a bunch of these odd sizes to slap on my Micro-Trains PS-1s and Deluxe AAR boxes.

   Frank

[bsoplinger]

My personal peeve has been a lack of aftermarket boxcar doors.  Now, MT and Intermountain have several varieties, but where are the 7-footers and 9-footers?  As a 1960-era modeler, I can use a bunch of these odd sizes to slap on my Micro-Trains PS-1s and Deluxe AAR boxes.

Trouble is, most cars aren't made to take doors. That is most models the door is cast right into the side, it isn't a separate piece. That makes adding a 7 foot door to a boxcar with a 6 foot door much more work then just cutting a hole a scale foot wider like you could in HO.

I do like the Deluxe AAR boxes and their peg based doors. I'd rather have a static door that can be modeled open or closed instead of the huge foot thick (in scale terms) sliding doors that end up open half the time when they shouldn't be.

[wcfn100]

I've never seen anyone try and guilt a manufacturer into making new products.


For me, this issue always goes back to the same thing.  If there was really any money to be made, someone would make them.  You're essentially asking for charity and in the case of most small detail parts, you're asking someone else to do work that you don't want to do.  All of which is fine, I could use a lot of detail parts, but I don't condone phrases like "please help the modeling community" when you can only speak for yourself.


Jason

[wm3798]

I just want a steady supply of plows.  5-chime horns and plows.
Lee

[Scott Lupia]

The reason guys like Sunrise are dropping the detail parts line is because there is no money there.  I can see just by spending my time at my local shop that the market has shifted away from detailing, toward ready to run items.  Building kits don't sell like they used to, scenery stuff doesn't sell like it used to either.  Engine and car collecting seems to be where the market is right now.  Hopefully, the market will shift back toward the building and detailing but until then, be thankful for what there still is. 

scott

[Mark5]

If there's no market for N scale parts then that does not bode well for N scale.

If everyone is satisfied with generic three chime or generic five chime horns then N scale is getting pathetic. There's a lot of fussing or whining about an access door being 6" too low, missing sight glasses and whatnot, but nobody seems to care if their locos have the wrong horns.

I find this to be an odd contradiction.

I've been in N scale for nearly 40 years, but this may someday drive me to HO scale ...

[Scott Lupia]

And that is what bothers me about N-scale.  The thought that there may be no detail parts in the future.  Horns are a major problem for me as well.  I finally found an Atlas horn which I can cut apart and re-assemble in order to get the Leslie SU-3LR.  The round spark arrestors are getting scarce as well as other significant parts.  JnJ is an option but very hard to get stuff from them.  At least HO will always have detail parts.

scott

[engineshop]

From a business point of few it makes more sense to sell one brass bridge than 100 packs of 18" drop grab iron to make the same amount of money.
In both cases you have to come up with the initial investment but you have to wait much longer to sell all off the 100 packages to get the same profit.
I fully understand Craig to move his company forward as he always did, or he would still attach little flags to brass wires and make 5 cents a sale.
Since I do detailing and never bought a pre-assembled structure, I am also worried about BLMA's recent product announcements but I hope that either Craig does not give up on the small group of detailers or that some other teenager picks up where he left off.

[TiVoPrince]

Anybody know
if Canon & Company and Detail Associates are currently "in trouble" or rumoured to be on the downslide?  I'm sensing a possible move back to HO if the Nscale parts bin remains empty much longer.  Those Ahearn MP15ACs in SP are truly hard to resist...

[cv_acr]

Canon seems to be doing just fine. The original owner died a few years ago, but someone else is at the helm and continuing Canon's legacy and releasing some new parts. Did Canon have their parts in N scale? (As an HO modeller I don't really follow N scale detail parts.)

You can (and many have) build a EMD locomotive completely from scratch using Canon parts. (Other than the frame/drivetrain/trucks of course.

[Matthew Roberts]

Is this really all as bad as it seems, or is it just the share of detailing in N getting smaller as the overall N-scale market grows, with profitability increasing in other sub-markets? Just wondering, as I've not really bought anything detailing-wise in a long time, just drooled at other's results.

[RDG_Rich]

Doomsday!

If there's no market for N scale parts then that does not bode well for N scale.

Obviously there is a market for them, or we wouldn't be griping about the lack of 100 different types of horns. N scale isn't going anywhere. The fact that the big companies announce new models every month should be assurance enough that N scale isn't on a downward slide.

On some other forums, people gripe that a newly released model is 4" (scale) too tall, or that a grab iron is in the wrong spot, because X railroad refurbished them in Y year, and therefore the manufacturer's release is garbage. Maybe they should shut up and cut off the wrong one, and add a BLMA grab, or build one from some half cent wire, rather than gripe and get nowhere.

The reason guys like Sunrise are dropping the detail parts line is because there is no money there.

Exactly. How many 2 dollar parts do you have to produce, package, sell and ship before you turn a profit that is worth while? Doesn't it make more sense to produce models that have a 50-100 profit margin than 5-10 cents? And when they can have them built in China or wherever where labor is 10% of what it is in the States (don't quote that figure...not an ECON major) there is an even BIGGER profit margin.

The problem is more along the lines of...Americans want instant gratification. The BLMA bridge thread showed the Yin and Yang of modeling....those that would rather build it, (or have the time to) and those that would rather buy it. The fact is, most people would rather buy it, and I think that the mentioned thread backs that observation, even if it is limited to the opinions of this little universe.

So, if most people want to BUY...why sell products that you can't make money on for the handfuls of people who want to BUILD? Large(ish) companies can't be bothered with making items that only a couple of people want. If BLMA picks up all the fallout from the other parts manufacturers, great! If not, I bet someone on here could buy the tooling for a song....

If you look at the rest of the modeling world, you will find a vast difference in what we experience in the MRR world.  Armor modelers have it great. Eastern European and Asian companies are pumping out Photo Etched Brass detail sets as fast as the models themselves are produced. Tons of little workshop companies are churning out turned aluminum barrels, ammo, and resin accessories. Heck, for the same model M4 Sherman, DOZENS of nearly IDENTICAL detail parts are available from multiple manufacturers. Sci fi modelers have always depended on "garage kits" in resin and vinyl.

Not only do other genres of modeling have it good, take a look at On30...and Gn15...anyone who can pour resin...does. Some have great products, and some should have never been made, but that is how it works in the cottage hobby industry.

I think OUR problem is that we are just too darn picky! You can't please every person, every time.

[John]

Great post ..