this doesn't sound good...

[John]

I have enough cars, engines and building kits that if every manufacturer stopped making stuff, I could still die happy ..

BLASPHEMY!

No .. pragmatic

[bbussey]

All the more reason for manufacturers to consider permanently switching some of their lines to kit form. 

If that was a viable option, then Athearn would still be offering those blue-box kits.

N scale modelers in general want ready-to-run.  The percentage that build kits (and kitbash and scratchbuild) is far too small to reconstruct the entire business plan around.

[Dave V]

I have enough cars, engines and building kits that if every manufacturer stopped making stuff, I could still die happy ..

BLASPHEMY!

No .. pragmatic

Oh, but what about the "thrill of the buy?"

[ljudice]

The manufacturers hit with massive delays - OTHER than Atlas - are they the other Kader customers?

I'm thinking of two...

[Blazeman]

Two developments:

Like everywhere else, there is a two-tier pay system, one for regular employees, a lower level for trainees and apprentices. But, there is no advancement for the most part and regular employees are being axed. Some laobr activity is underway to correct that.

Yesterday, Beijing allowed the yuan to float against the US$. This should resonate at Best Buy and Sixth Ave Electronics and some sticker shock is forthcoming.

Now some deals may have been done in dollars which would not be affected.

But maybe there should be some accelerated buying decisions in the next week or so.

[Puddington]

Ok arnchair quarterbacks; here is one "in the know" take on the situation..... Once again, Jason at Rapido puts fingers to keys and gives his take on this very subject, including "made in Canada"...........

http://campaign.constantcontact.com/render?v=001Z75pTKZtbgt4X3CRC6XEU9BK5WpBsr47JAsgUbLm4YjEdHKM1zBSQlRP3hj1h0QJvtnz4qSeS3VrEvVIISWicLFiAKMhmcGaZ81XgMXUiP6lDHE1Iy3Yquqc1E28YQjfd519cCooGKY4xACloBfA550Vw21XmA7f2PEMdRm-lubsPQ7Dz75QwXEU4hcWn4LZZuhHfACpiOY%3D

So; who will be first to say Jason doesn't know what he's talking about ?  ;D

[tom mann]

Jason = class act.  Someone should tell him to register here.

[Mark5]

Yesterday, Beijing allowed the yuan to float against the US$.

This is something we've been expecting for over a decade. The Yuan has been held at artificially low exchange rates for a long time. This has worked in favor of Chinese exports.

No surprises here.

[ljudice]

Rapido story: cool!

But many have asked and no one has answered - who are the N-scale mfgr's using Sanda Kan?

[Mark5]

Personally I don't care who uses Sanda Kan.

I do care about who will deliver products that I want and/or need. ;D

Mark

[Dave V]

Re: Rapido....  Would much rather send my money north to Canada than overseas.  However, since Canada doesn't seem to have the facilities, I wonder if MicroTrains can expand to do work for some of the smaller manufacturers?

[Mark5]

I wonder if MicroTrains can expand to do work for some of the smaller manufacturers?

I tend to doubt it. I keep hearing that MT has capacity issues (cited as a reason that so much tooling "sits" for extended periods).

Joe correct me where applicable!

Mark

[ljudice]

I'll answer my own question - and anyone who googles can do it too...

Intermountain and Deluxe are the two major Sanda Kan customers in N (outside of Atlas, of course).  Lifelike was also a major customer, but Walthers uses someone else (Regal Way??) and it is not clear if LL was moved over.

Obviously, I stand corrected - in advance!

[Ed Kapuscinski]

So IM and Deluxe are going to be getting the boot? Or they're still "in"?

[ljudice]

With the delays they've had, I'd be surprised if they didn't have someone else lined up anyway.

Is it true that Sanda Kan did a lot of vendor financing - ie. you come to them with a product idea and they put up the $$$ and you settle up when the product goes to market?