New Micro Trains Weathered Pack for August

[Ngineer]

Personally, I think it is an amazing addition to our hobby that Micro-Trains is doing that kind of weathered cars. Not everybody is as gifted as e.g. Tom Mann.

And "weathering in 5 minutes" is a way to make your cars look odd, not weathered. Just my opinion, not to offend anyone who actually can. I for sure can't.

Javier

[Denver Road Doug]

To bring this a little bit back on topic...

I need assistance in finding the "best one" of these four cars to fit my era.   Depending on what day you ask, I model "Year 2000", or 1998-2003, or 2001, or 99-02, etc etc.    I think "98-03 focusing on 2000" is the best way of explaining it at the moment.   
GVSR 527802 Galveston Railroad
HPJX 19057 Helm Leasing
SSW 71645 Cotton Belt
CRLE 538044 Coe Rail
For reference, the list above is in order as they are shown on MTL's site: http://www.micro-trains.com/wc-GWS_1408.php

My initial thought would be the GVSR car, and I like that one as good as any of them even though it's not as weathered as the others.   I would think it would be the FIRST reporting marks for this scheme, no?   That and the photo of it from 2005 (assuming the date is accurate) would mean this SHOULD be a good fit for a long time period, yes?

I think the HPJX car would be completely out of era, but I am not 100% sure of that.

Initially I would have said the SSW would have been the next in line for being legit (or close) for my time period, but after reading the UMTRR, it seems like the CRLE car might be more relevant, and whether or not the SSW car is valid at all is another question.  It seems the CRLE were relettered into SSW...of course the timing of all this could mean ANY of the cars might have existed in my era.  It does seem to me that the phenomenon of SSW reletters happened later in the 2000's.

[Gozer the Gozerian]

So I've been looking for a GIF that shows a thunder cloud growing to put on this thread.     Thanks for the nice comments, We strive to make the cars better with each release. 

Cheers

Joe

[Smike]

Sarcasm in this tread will be promptly and sternly rebutted. 

[Smike]

Oh and Joe, another fabulous weathered runner pack.    (No sarcasm there)

[peteski]

I've been buying many of the tagged and weathered MT cars.  I think that those are wonderful addition to the line of the available N scale products. Joe's hand-weathering is excellent. The ink jet printed weathering/tags are pretty good too. The effect of printed rust streaks and patches is excellent. The only thing that bugs me is the thick texture and glossiness of the inks.  On some cars, this is masked by the flat-finish hand-weathering applied to the car, but on some the glossy ink is quite prominent. I know that some of the ink jet printed cars (and not specifically just the weathered ones) did received a factory-applied coat of clear flat lacquer. IMO, it would make sense to apply the flat finish to all the ink jet printed cars.

And an interesting side-note I like to mention that factory applied weathering is also gaining popularity in European prototype models.

But I think I at this point getting into a graffiti/weathering overload. When the first graffitied car special runs were mass produced and sold (not by MT), they were expensive and also highly-prized collectibles.  Now, with such a proliferation of those cars (thanks to MT Joe's efforts), they have just become another RTR model.  At this point I no longer automatically pick up every weathered car released by MT.  But I'm sure that others pick up the slack.  Most (but not all) of the grafitti releases have quickly sold out.

[ednadolski]

Suggesting that we can give Tom Mann  treatment to everything all the time just isn't feasible.

Obviously not (and I didn't see anyone suggesting this).   The point is simply that factory generated stuff isn't scalable.  You can't expect mfrs. like MT to provide enough individually-weathered cars to make up large collections without repetition -- they would have to carry dozens of SKUs.  And then when you take your cars to a club or show, there will be twenty other identically-weathered and tagged cars, on the same layout and even in the same train.   I'm sure plenty of folks won't mind, but some for some I am sure the redundancies will start to look a little, well, redundant after a while (and identically-weathered cars will be far more noticeable than identically-numbered cars.)

And don't forget the "foob factor" either.  How many time do we see mfr's get bashed over an incorrect paint scheme, or a wrong sideframe, etc?   Factory weathering schemes cannot match up all the underlying variants of individual proto cars, so in that sense each weathering scheme is a "one shot".

I'm not saying these won't have a niche, just pointing out a few of the caveats that they come with.

You look at it as being lazy and ruining the hobby.

IF that was supposed to be directed at me, then you've totally missed the point (and I don't particularly appreciate trying to put those kinds of words into my mouth).   (I do hope I am wrong about that)


Ed

[Rossford Yard]

I will be stopping in an LHS tomorrow that has some of those early runs, priced at $80 each.  Nice, but you are right. MT has brought the price down to a runners level, and more are buying, further helping pricing, I am sure.

I predicted lightly weathered cars, structures and locos a decade ago on the Atlas boards.  While Ed and I have different takes on it, there is no doubt that the entire mfg process has been to more realism all the time.  And, once molding gets (got) better, weathering and some semi custom tags just seems like the (or at least "a") next logical step.  As mentioned, even with dull coat, and some light weathering (which is all the mfgs would likely do - just like a Thai place cooking milder for US tastes than they might back home....) there is still room for weathering customization.  And, if the mfgs ever do get to offering weathered locos, cars and buildings, I am sure they will start with a partial production that way (sort of like half DC and half DCC locos) to see how they sell before ever going to fully weathered stuff.

Just think.  It will be a whole new area for us to gripe about....Nah, IC NEVER had a loco that clean!

[Dave V]

Joe,

Transition-era weathered runner packs (i.e., no graffiti) will be considered for procurement by the Juniata Division's Superintendent of Rolling Stock, especially if they're of common cars and schemes.   

[mu26aeh]

Along with the weathered sets coming mid-month, has anyone seen the Chessie Caboose set, or the UP SW's ?

[Denver Road Doug]

don't particularly appreciate trying to put those kinds of words into my mouth

"All there is to do is remove it from the box and put it on the rails" and "when did all the fun go out of this?" had me fooled, I suppose.

Weirdly enough, the rest of your statements lend themselves to making some of the same points I was suggesting...I don't think these are the be-all-end-all.   I get the shortcomings, and am willing to utilize them anyway as a stop-gap for that day when I am retired... and blind... and then try to start weathering 700 freight cars like Tom has taught me.   

And the whole MR thing...like I said I don't really understand what you're saying other than what I can extrapolate....guessing there was a 7 minute weathering article.   I guess that would be counterpoint to what I was saying with a Tom Mann-esque fleet of weathered cars....somewhere is a happy medium where we can produce nicely detailed and weathered cars without growing old and leaving a bunch of burnt umber to our kids.

[ednadolski]

"All there is to do is remove it from the box and put it on the rails" and "when did all the fun go out of this?" had me fooled, I suppose.

So what part of that isn't true?   (except I suppose for those whom all the fun does come from opening the box and putting the model onto the rails.)     But words like "lazy" and "ruining the hobby" are pretty choice, y'know.

And the whole MR thing...like I said I don't really understand what you're saying other than what I can extrapolate....guessing there was a 7 minute weathering article.

It would be nice to at least do the courtesy of figuring out what someone is talking about, before accusing them of loaded words. <sigh>

And I absolutely do hold that the MR article was a disservice, and they deserve the heat for that, but again words like "ruining the hobby" did not come from me.

I guess that would be counterpoint to what I was saying with a Tom Mann-esque fleet of weathered cars....somewhere is a happy medium where we can produce nicely detailed and weathered cars without growing old and leaving a bunch of burnt umber to our kids.

Well we are all growing old, and we cannot stop that, so the question I suppose is: how do you want to use the time that you do have?

I don't know what a "happy medium" is supposed to mean, honestly.   Everyone has their own ideas.  It takes effort to make weathered cars, so *someone* has to do it.  The balance is between quality, effort, and volume, and if you don't want to do it yourself then the additional prices are money, accuracy, and uniqueness.

There is no free lunch, even in the modeling world, so it seems to me that the key is to understand the tradeoffs and set one's goals accordingly.  It's easy to lose sight of that in the face of these "fast and easy" messages.

Ed

[Gozer the Gozerian]

+1

So what part of that isn't true?   (except I suppose for those whom all the fun does come from opening the box and putting the model onto the rails.)     But words like "lazy" and "ruining the hobby" are pretty choice, y'know.


It would be nice to at least do the courtesy of figuring out what someone is talking about, before accusing them of loaded words. <sigh>

And I absolutely do hold that the MR article was a disservice, and they deserve the heat for that, but again words like "ruining the hobby" did not come from me.


Well we are all growing old, and we cannot stop that, so the question I suppose is: how do you want to use the time that you do have?

I don't know what a "happy medium" is supposed to mean, honestly.   Everyone has their own ideas.  It takes effort to make weathered cars, so *someone* has to do it.  The balance is between quality, effort, and volume, and if you don't want to do it yourself then the additional prices are money, accuracy, and uniqueness.

There is no free lunch, even in the modeling world, so it seems to me that the key is to understand the tradeoffs and set one's goals accordingly.  It's easy to lose sight of that in the face of these "fast and easy" messages.

Ed

[Rossford Yard]

Seems as if the participants are getting closer to saying the same thing (not unusal around here) so not trying to flame anything, but ya know, I DO find it fun to put a new car on the rails.  Usually do it before weathering, and batch weather my herd when I get a chance.  But, running trains is still a source of satisfaction, and running it for the first time, is usually still something special. (Unless the $(#$**_))(*#@  thing falls of the rails more than once)

[basementcalling]

I like my weathered cars one at a time as opposed to in sets. Helps with the cost, as the graffiti cars often have a higher price tag because of the number of colors used on them.

As for the weathering, its a good thing. But I can remember when people looked at you very funny if you weathered a MT car (shuddered even) and ruined the resale value. How the circle has turned.

As for the MR article, I don't have too big a beef with it only because it's what I've come to expect from MR. But to large segment of hobbyists, time is the most precious resource. If you are looking to weather an entire train of cars (I have a PFE reefer train that comes to mind) and not out to recreate specific prototypes (more shuddering I know), seeing how to assembly line a large group of cars in a short time may get someone to start dirtying up their cars. That first step might lead to a more prototype focused attempt down the road. I am blown away by some of the RPM meet photos and stuff I've seen on the Weathering Shop website and in the newest issue of MRH. But not everyone wants to take a month of hobby time to weather one car.

We could go back to building wooden models out of stripwood that we buried in the back yard for sixth months to give it an authentic look.