Microscale discontinues G&W products

[asarge]

"The road goes on forever and the party never ends."

We've been down this road before. UP and all the other class 1's and some regionals addressed awhile back. UP was all into major $$$ until the BoD of the railroad found out how much more it would cost than the expected revenue and in not such a quiet manner, instituted a new policy that was more in line with the other railroads. We'll have to wait and see where this leads but in the end, I suspect cooler more thoughtful minds will prevail.

[C855B]

I think there's a consultant at work here targeting smaller lines, promising big bucks by getting into licensing. The impasse with New Mexico Rail Runner over the same thing went on for a couple of years, the end result being the same - cost way more to administer than would be compensated by program fees.

[daniel_leavitt2000]

Anyone know if this will affect legacy roads? My worry is mainly for P&Ws orange and brown schemes.

[ljudice]

Anyone know if this will affect legacy roads? My worry is mainly for P&Ws orange and brown schemes.

No idea, but I bet not - I suspect this G&W locking down their image as they garner a lot of positive business press.

There is an active discussion on MS's FB page - with answers from MS itself....

[legostudios34]

Interesting that Microscale has pulled their G&W stock but Highball is still doing them (which is a good thing - may be time for me to stock up on RCP&E sets).

[jmlaboda - RIP]

...may be time for me to stock up on RCP&E sets...

Would be a good time to stock up on both G&W and Guilford/Pan Am decals... no telling just how long this situation may last...

Grab 'em while you can...

[C855B]

Interesting that Microscale has pulled their G&W stock but Highball is still doing them (which is a good thing - may be time for me to stock up on RCP&E sets).

Only because Highball hasn't yet received the nastygram from G&W's lawyers.

[peteski]

Only because Highball hasn't yet received the nastygram from G&W's lawyers.

IIRC, Highball is a small (1-man?) cottage-type operation which uses Alps MicroDry printer to print many of their decals.  Microscale is a much bigger player in the decal field.

[mu26aeh]

Possibly didn't know about Highball.  We all just may have outed them by posting about it 

(I'm sure the lawyers interns did countless hours of internet searches for any combination of G&W decals and will contact every one of them )

[C855B]

Yeah, that's right. Nastygrams are a one-size-fits-all sort of thing.

[peteski]

Maybe we should all delete the contents of our posts referring to Highball. 

[Missaberoad]

I think a more likely explanation is someone stumbled across a reference to Microscale selling G&W branded decals and got their lawyers to send out a C&D letter.

Maybe I'm being naive but it seems like it would be expensive to have someone combing the internet looking for cottage toy industries.

[peteski]

I think a more likely explanation is someone stumbled across a reference to Microscale selling G&W branded decals and got their lawyers to send out a C&D letter.

Maybe I'm being naive but it seems like it would be expensive to have someone combing the internet looking for cottage toy industries.

It happens. I've heard of General Motors going after a cottage-industry resin caster telling them to stop and desist making bodies of GM cars.

[wazzou]

It happens. I've heard of General Motors going after a cottage-industry resin caster telling them to stop and desist making bodies of GM cars.

I think there are ways around that though.  Take Showcase for example, what we all know are International Loadstars are "I Type's" or R-190's with no mention of International.
Also, they label some models as KW, with nary a mention of Kenworth.
I would think Kenworth would have KW trademarked, but maybe not.
I am surprised though that he has been able to say GMC 9500 or other GM designs with little to no camouflage.

[Mark5]

Maybe we should all delete the contents of our posts referring to Highball. 

I'll drink to that!