Does it kill you when an HO only manufacturer makes a car you have been wanting?

[Specter3]

It seems we have two different types of manufacturers. Those that do multiple scales that include N and those that only do HO. Yes I know there are others but for this pitty party that is what I am going with. Does anyone else just rant when one of the HO only manufacturers produce a car they have been wanting? I was just about to bug Jason and co about perhaps doing a Fowler boxcar and maybe bringing it to Nscale. Runs right down their alley being a Canadian prototype and all. And then I saw that True Line has one in HO. Ohh the agony!

[ednadolski]

Does anyone else just rant when one of the HO only manufacturers produce a car they have been wanting?

If your hobby is making you rant, then maybe you need a different hobby.

Ed

[Specter3]

Hobby ranting, not elementary school teacher(day job) ranting. I have lounged around here long enough to have become way more interested in having rolling stock that is way closer to accurate rather than inaccurate. The seventies modeling I do is fairly easy to reproduce. Lots of good photos in color make it fairly simple. The 1920 time frame secondary interest I picked up a few years ago requires much more research, investigation, and general poking around to be fairly accurate. There are very few models RTR from that time frame in N. I knew that from the start. But as more folks start looking at different prototypes to make, especially when they are looking for "has not been made before/in the last 20 years" type they will wander down into the time frame I am modeling. The Fowler car would have been great for a Rapido type multi scale company. CN had 13,000 of these things themselves. They or clones found their way to many US roads. Any 1908 to 1940 railroad should have at least a few running around. But since it was done in HO already the likelyhood of an Nscale producer doing one drops significantly. Rant? Yes. Serious rant? No.

[ncbqguy]

We still have some goodies that the HO guys don't....
.....E-5s, most of the initial Kato Budd cars, and the ability to reasonably rapid prototype complete cars and locomotive shells.
I am sure there are others but, yes, it is still maddening to see stuff in HO that would be cool in N....but we still have a ton of existing and new products to choose from!
Charlie Vlk

[Missaberoad]

But since it was done in HO already the likelyhood of an Nscale producer doing one drops significantly. Rant? Yes. Serious rant? No.

If that logic were true nearly all of BLMAs products would have never been made. The fact it is made in HO doesn't preclude it from
being produced in N scale.  A dominion boxcar (or other fowler clone) is still a possibility in N, and as for Rapido I think it has more to do with Jason and Mike's perception of the market rather then if it was produced in an entirely different scale.

As for getting your fix right now Kaslo Shops and our own Geoff Gooderham both make very nice resin kits for the CP/CN Fowler boxcar, there's also Rock island and D&RGW versions on Shapeways

http://www.central-hobbies.com/products/ggood.html
http://www.kasloshops.com/products/nk-06
http://www.kasloshops.com/products/nk-07
http://www.kasloshops.com/products/nk-08?variant=9542810565
http://www.kasloshops.com/products/nk-09?variant=9542810629

Life could be worse

[basementcalling]

Nah, I gave up dying for Lent. Decided to keep living. Lots of structure kits in HO and not N in the Cornerstone line alone would have brought me to a bad end already if I let it bother me.

[Specter3]

Kaslo I had heard of once or twice but I didn't realize that they had those cars. Thanks for the heads up!

[Dave V]

Until recently, this was the lot pf every N scale PRR modeler.  While the HO scale PRR modeler got every obscure PRR prototype in RTR, often from more than one manufacturer, it was a matter of sucking it up and rolling your own in N scale.  However, over the last 5 years or so, that's changed tremendously.  I no longer look jealously at our HO brethren.  Now if only BLI would bring us an RTR H10sa in N scale...

[Missaberoad]

Kaslo I had heard of once or twice but I didn't realize that they had those cars. Thanks for the heads up!

No worries! and they are beautiful well detailed kits. 

[Iain]

More fun to build your own.

[jmarley76]

I shed the shackles of HO scale years ago...

I'm just glad those who were not fortunate enough to receive the good news about N scale have a place to go. 

[djconway]

...  Now if only BLI would bring us an RTR H10sa in N scale...

I don't want to wait 10 or more years for a H10sa -- Maybe Atlas or Bachmann should take on the challenge.

[Cajonpassfan]

Thanks for pointing me to the Fowler kits. I need another project like I need a hole in the head, but these Kaslo Fowler 36' cars are very cool, and I do need more 36' cars for my circa '50 timeframe (at the time, there were as many 36' house cars on the rails as there were 50 footers, and I have probably too many of those).
Where would one get appropriate decals, since the kit comes without them?
Otto K.

[bbussey]

It works both ways. ESM gets inquiries all the time as to when we will release our models in HO. You'd think that the frequency would have dropped with the release of the Tangent X58, but we still get the same amount of requests collectively on the other three models.

[jmlaboda - RIP]

Rant? Yes. Serious rant? No.

No.  I'm better than that.  I still remember the days before the Atlas ALCO RS3... I'm grateful for what we have but that is the way I live my life...