Walthers reaches out...

[sirenwerks]

I keep wondering when the hobby industry will join the 21st Century and issue "catalogs" as DV-R's like Graingers and the big electronic houses have. I dream of the day that distributors have "real-time" inventory a shop can access to find out IF they have any Atlas "#xxxxxxx" cars/parts/turnouts in stock. If the cheap auto parts chains can do this for 20 years..... :

Hear, hear! Walthers is behind the times. Then again, it's a family choked controlled company. How often do those really progress meaningfully? I mean, what is Walthers on Facebook going to do for us? Probably not improve its product line.  >

[lock4244]

Hear, hear! Walthers is behind the times. Then again, it's a family choked controlled company. How often do those really progress meaningfully? I mean, what is Walthers on Facebook going to do for us? Probably not improve its product line.  >

Couldn't agree more with that statement! Been fighting that battle for 15 years... to the older generation, progress is a four letter word.

[SkipGear]

On the inventory topic.... Both Walthers and Horizon have real time inventory on their website that anybody can access. It may be delayed by a few hours but it's close enough for me.

I have both the Walthers and Horizon dealer online ordering programs on my laptop for work and the online listings match exactly what I see when I place orders.

[asarge]

keep wondering when the hobby industry will join the 21st Century and issue "catalogs" as DV-R's like Graingers and the big electronic houses have. I dream of the day that distributors have "real-time" inventory a shop can access to find out IF they have any Atlas "#xxxxxxx" cars/parts/turnouts in stock. If the cheap auto parts chains can do this for 20 years.....

As Tony said, the real time inventory or CLOSE too real-time inventory with the online catalogs are much more effective in todays retail world. A DVR is only realtime the minute it is issued. Horizon is way ahead of Walthers with their system.

As too Walthers commitment to N scale. In real dollars and customers, HO does sell better than N because there are more HO Scalers out there compared to N. But I thik Walthers is missing the point in that have a commanding lead in N scale w/structures and I would think they would put a focus on that part of the hobby mainlty because he new manufacturers seem to be crowding the rolling stock field.

N scale has seemed to reach critical mass where it is now possible for multiple maufacturers for the same loco and different versions of the same car. We now have 4 vehicle manufactueres of NA vehicles, Atlas, CMW, Athearn and WOT. We need more structures and Walthers needs to step up to the plate. That also means we need to hit the ball and support them thru purchasing their structures.

[sirenwerks]

That also means we need to hit the ball and support them thru purchasing their structures.

They need to do their homework. I think I speak for many when I say I'm not gonna buy something just because it's released. Purchasing N scale for N scale's sake just isn't in the cards. I don't need shacks or shanties. I need the grain series and the likes, something with meat to it.

[bigford]

if it was built in 1888 to 1950 it's not for me
my trains are modern so should my cars,trucks and buildings

[TiVoPrince]

Walthers
could be looking at the recent releases of excellent 86' auto parts cars and wondering why the Nscale automobile manufacturing plant is not selling up to expectations.  Oh, thats right, Walthers snubbed Nscale on that one too...

[sirenwerks]

I'd think it funny if one of the recent start-up companies gave Wally a few thumps on the head by releasing N scale industry kits, like the grain industry, ethanol plant, or auto industry series.

[Walkercolt]

The real "bummer" to me, is most of Walther's "big industries" in HO are REALLY N-scale with over-sized doors and such. (The Blast furnace was almost exactly 1/160th but with HO doors, ladders, etc.) N-scalers can use big industrial buildings, especially for modules, or even as the "heart" of a home layout. The old Trinity car shop down the street from me is nearly a half-mile long and a quarter mile wide. (It's a "collection" of connected buildings, of course, but that's about 15' x 6-8' built to scale!) An "industry" 12" x 8" in N-scale can't accept 20-30 freight cars a day. I had hopes (stupid of me) for Walther's "building sections". Too exspensive, not enough variety, and poor "packaging". You have to buy things you don't want to get things you need. Woodland Scenics is going more and more to pre-built (high dollar) very detailed "vignette" structures. They sell in-spite of the price. DPM had a good idea with their sectional walls, but didn't follow-thru with anything but the original pieces. Take about 5-8 PikeStuff "modern" buildings and you can "bash" together something convincing, but most large structures were built in pieces, so part of the building should be brick, the later addition concrete block, the newest part, either metal building or pre-formed concrete walls. When I win the lottery I never enter and win $300 million, I could go into the N-scale structure business.

[bbussey]

The real "bummer" to me, is most of Walther's "big industries" in HO are REALLY N-scale with over-sized doors and such. (The Blast furnace was almost exactly 1/160th but with HO doors, ladders, etc.) ...

Well if that's the case, can't the doors and windows be replaced with N scale counterparts offered by other manufacturers?

[TiVoPrince]

Textures
like metal siding don't scale well from HO to N. If the proper 'textures' were made available I'm fairly certain the etching brotherhood would step forward in about a minute with Nscale walkways and railings.  I have a handful of Walthers HO structures that look promising for some sort of repurposing.  Industries tend to dwarf trains and although thats not possible in HO, but the modelers there will continue to imagine that a 30x50 building can generate multiple boxcars or destination for an entire coal train.  Nscale is where you can truly dwarf trains with structures, but not the ones on the shelf at any LHS that I know of...

[Mark5]

There probably isn't a whole lot of market for truly large (scale) structures in N scale (yet).

I'm not saying it wouldn't be nice, but most modelers don't have basement size layouts (this is only a guess).

Mark

[wm3798]

The textures are the main problem with using their HO stuff as N scale stand ins.  By the time you use Plastruct or H&R brick sheets or Evergreen siding materials, you might as well scratchbuild the damn things.

I think there's a couple things to consider when planning a large industry.  The first, and I think most important thing, is how much traffic can your layout practically handle to serve it?  Yes, it would be wonderful to have a big plant that can handle a flow of 30-40 cars a day, but if your longest passing siding is only enough for a 20 car train, then what's the point?

Or if your yard has to fit between the water heater and the powder room, and you can only have 4 tracks that are 5' long, you can't handle enough cars for it anyway!



On my layout, the paper mill can handle 20-30 cars during an ops session, but can only digest them in small bites.  We usually plan two locals, one at the beginning and one at the end, each roughly 10-12 cars long, and at the beginning of the session, there's already cars in place that need to be spotted or pulled to make room for the first local.  Due to the space limitations, the buildings are dreadfully undersized compared to the prototype.  But I'm not modeling the paper industry.  I'm modeling the railroad that serves it.  I tried to make the buildings as large as practical, and then in photos, I try to shoot angles that make them seem even bigger.  But the important thing is that there are several destinations within the plant to spot cars for a particular purpose, and there's a clear purpose to the car movements to, within, and from the plant.

The way I try to approach things is to keep proportions on a sliding scale based on traffic that my layout can support.

Really, the Modular system that Walther's has done (and the earlier version from DPM) are ideal for this type of problem.  What fits on my layout may not fit on yours.  The problem with the current crop of modulars is that they are limited architecturally.

Some of us have the eye to scratch or bash our way out of a problem using strip and sheet stock, but for those who are more inclined to open a package and read the directions... it would be nice if modular wall sections for more modern construction could be available.  I.e. Corrugated metal or painted Galvalume siding with brick foundations, brick or masonry curtain wall construction, the stuff you see in modern industrial parks, for instance.  Pike Stuff/Rix structures already provide a lot of these things as full building kits, and they're really easy to "unfold" to make flats, or to rob the sidings and textures for kitbashes.

Walthers has taken baby steps in this direction, but their pricing makes it difficult to accept a "flat kit" (essentially half a building) for $30 or $40...

Lee

[asarge]

There probably isn't a whole lot of market for truly large (scale) structures in N scale (yet).

I'm not saying it wouldn't be nice, but most modelers don't have basement size layouts (this is only a guess).

The more I think about the less likely I see large single unit structures getting done anytime soon. I really think the market is more ready to digest a large industry in a series, like grain or ethanol. That allows the modeller flexibilty to fit the industry or parts of an industry to fit his space. The sales potential for that seems to be much greater. We just have to get Walthers to do something........anything in N scale.

[Chris333]

I wanna see the Atlas HO Middlesex MFG come out in N scale.
http://www.atlasrr.com/Trackmisc/middlesexmc.htm