Would Somebody PLEEEEZE Make These?

[DKS]

Of course it is possible.   The only question is, what are you willing to pay for it?   Producing good parts takes a lot of time and dedicated effort.

Thank you. I'm not being a classic nay-sayer; I'm speaking as a manufacturer of "niche within a niche" products. Like many other similar industries who have gone down the same road, I've responded to cries for "we need this" only to be met with sales in single digits. Because...

Anyone who wants to be even reasonably accurate would want some.

There are far fewer of these people than you may think. Especially when they see the price.

[Dave Schneider]

DKS,

Have a minute (just kidding)? Do you have rough guess at the percentage of people who say "I am in for X number", versus actual purchases? I know that I have done it a couple of times. I am  guessing 10% or less.

Best wishes, Dave

[BCR751]

OK, to hell with it.  It sounds like I'm the only one who would buy one, or two , or..............anyway.  So, having asked the question and being told it ain't gonna happen, I guess I'll just try and craft something out of styrene and hope it resembles a re-railer.  I don't know what the people were thinking that made n-scale canoes, cross country skis, or mooning people.  Couldn't be a huge market for those either but they're out there never the less.  Or, how about the umpteen varieties of the covered hopper? 

Doug

[Scottl]

Doug, I think you could put a good model together out of styrene.

It also strikes me as something that might be suitable for brass etching.  The half etch would not be as deep as the prototype, but it would be easy to make a nice clean detail that way.  A curved slot and tab kind of deal might make it possible to scale it better, but those parts would be hard to manipulate.  Either way, PPD could probably make you 50 of them for $20 if you had the artwork.

[Chris333]

FWIW Miniatures by Eric make a re-railer that showed up on Erie locomotives and I bought like 15 2-packs of them.

But then again if I needed them when no one made them and offered to buy 15 packs who knows where my head would be at many months or a year later when they were produced.

[BCOL 747]

Hi Doug

I think Scott has a good idea here. Do you have the correct measurements for the prototype? If so you may be in business. I would certainly be interested in a couple of dozen of them.

Chris

[DKS]

Do you have rough guess at the percentage of people who say "I am in for X number", versus actual purchases?

Not really. It varies wildly, and often defies expectations. I have three rough classes of product: ones where people line up to pledge their purchases that go nowhere, sleepers that explode, and old reliables that trudge along slowly but steadily. Unfortunately, all too often I've invested the greatest effort producing the first class, which compounds the loss.

[ntrakia]

in regard to sunrise going out of business, I do not know the specifics, but can easily surmise that modelers want a product but are just not willing to pay a fair price for it.  one can hear an awful lot of sentiments like that on this forum and anywhere modelers gather. 

[robert3985]

Every time I see the photos of the Miniatures By Eric parts, I wonder how the hell he stays in business with photos that crappy?  He's got some parts that read like they'd be interesting to me, but I won't buy them because the photos are so....friggin' substandard.

[peteski]

in regard to sunrise going out of business, I do not know the specifics, but can easily surmise that modelers want a product but are just not willing to pay a fair price for it.  one can hear an awful lot of sentiments like that on this forum and anywhere modelers gather.

Sunrise items had a fair price which modelers were paying for it. The business closed for other reasons (and the owner is unwilling to sell his masters/molds to someone who would be willing to revive the line.

[ednadolski]

Every time I see the photos of the Miniatures By Eric parts, I wonder how the hell he stays in business with photos that crappy?  He's got some parts that read like they'd be interesting to me, but I won't buy them because the photos are so....friggin' substandard.

Some have said that the MbE parts are rather crude, but it is impossible to tell from those pics on the site (I agree that those pics are practically worthless).  Anyways I just ordered some parts, so I will find out first hand for myself.

Sunrise items had a fair price which modelers were paying for it. The business closed for other reasons (and the owner is unwilling to sell his masters/molds to someone who would be willing to revive the line.

That's a real pity.   Some of the Sunrise parts were rather crude and/or oversized,  but some of them were pretty good.   The ones I miss most are the ditch lights, bells, spare knuckles, and air brake cylinders.  They also had some nice etched Sinclair antennas, but I found another source that makes a pretty nice double-sided etch ones in several sizes.

It's hard to see how replacements for these parts might ever come about.  Look what happened to Railflyer -- he tried to make high-quality parts in HO, and ended up in bankruptcy.   (Of course, there were some ways that he shot himself in the foot, several times over.)   Again, it comes back to the money.    Are there enough people willing to invest say, a few hundred dollars apiece, for the opportunity to bring a line of parts into existence, even at the risk of never getting anything more out of it than a lot of waiting and maybe a few samples?   That what I see as the barrier to entry.   Otherwise, as I said, the only options are to (a) scratchbuild, (b) switch to HO where more parts exist, or (c) just keep on pining and waiting indefinitely for someone else to take on the risk and the heavy lifting.


Ed

[Lemosteam]

Not really. It varies wildly, and often defies expectations. I have three rough classes of product: ones where people line up to pledge their purchases that go nowhere, sleepers that explode, and old reliables that trudge along slowly but steadily. Unfortunately, all too often I've invested the greatest effort producing the first class, which compounds the loss.

David, while slightly off-topic, (and I am NOT trying to start an SPF not putting money where there keybord is) how did the PRR containers fall into your statement above?  I was always curious about that, after such a dynamic whirlwind of development on those.

[wazzou]

Technically, that would, I believe, be a "no-no".... 

Ed

Technically, like you say...yes, however Sunrise is no longer in business either.

[fredmoehrle]

Technically, like you say...yes, however Sunrise is no longer in business either.

If the owner of the closed company still possesses the ability to create them, then it would be a No-No. 

But, since the item in question might still be out there to purchase, if you bought some, made resin castings of them for your own use, just never sell them, or actively advertise them,  there's not much they can do.
(A guy in a trench coat and dark sunglasses standing in an ally-way going "Psst.  Buddy, wanna buy some N scale re-railers?)

[BCR751]

I have used many of the Miniatures by Eric parts and, although some do require some minor clean-up, they are pretty accurate representations of the prototype.  That is, with the exception of the re-railer.  I have no idea what prototype that is supposed to represent.  I've never seen one like it.

Scott:  I would be interested in pursuing the possibility of getting these parts etched along with another order.  It may be the only way these will ever be produced.  Please contact me off list and provide more information so we can discuss.

Doug