For N Scale.... I figure a manufacture takes the total sales of a certain item in HO...divides it by 4...maybe 3 if they are feeling generous....and if the bottom line amount isnt going to make em enough $$$$....it aint gonna happen...JMO.
One thing I noticed regarding this is Walthers rereleases old tooling as new kits. Take a look at the newer power and light kit, then look at the boiler house for the paper mill. I don't fault them for it in so much as calling it a new kit, Lego has done the same for decades as well. It just surprises me that they aren't seeing enough return on investment to justify something legitimately new. The ethanol series is certainly a prime example. Some N scalers actually have the room to model that entire industry. Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk
You must have talked to an Athearn rep lately. They have told me on numerous occasions that there really isn't a big enough market in N scale right now to risk producing many new models. And YES, there are a bunch of Athearn models that I think would be VERY welcomed in N scale. Ryan
Quite true same for Walthers, but they refuse. I know for modern things these days you really can't beat the offerings on Shapely. The cost might be higher but the offerings are different and not otherwise offered. Modern Structures, Vehicles in N Scale are quite rare
Its another 'Chicken versus Egg' issue. What comes first... the product or the customers??? Obviously you can't have customers if you don't produce the items for them to buy. There has to be some long lasting commitment from manufacturers to create a market in order to get the clientele. 'Dipping your toes' into the N scale market and saying it's too cold for me to continue is not going to cut it. I think the problem that the long-standing HO companies are having is that they don't want to compete against their own HO products by supporting N scale. As odd as that may seem... N scale is a competitor to HO scale. There are several model railroaders that do multiple scales... but the reality is that most do only one scale at a time. If people switch from HO to N... the manufacturers end-up with a net LOSS. They lose customers for their long-standing (amortized) tooled HO products and have new tooling to contend with in a smaller market.
I guess what this all boils down to is since the major players in the hobby don't want to play ball, we just have to continue scratching, kitbashing, and 3D printing. The longer we do so, and the more people take notice of N without major manufacturer's help, the more inclined said manufacturers will be forced to admit they dropped the ball and maybe, just maybe our great grandchildren will benefit! (I'm 30… so the great grandchild joke fits ) Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk
Once up on a time, some companies offered what I will call line extensions to their product line to keep loyal customers who had the option to find their needs fulfilled by other companies. Perhaps this sort of marketing concept is out of date. It seems obvious to me that Walthers has never tried that approach to retain or attract those of us who model n-scale. There may be fewer people who model in n-scale, but I feel comfortable in saying that many of us purchased more than one of a kit that is well done. Bottomline is that it is NOT the number of modelers in n-scale, but the number of purchases per item that n-scale modelers make that needs to be considered.
1. Red brick buildings with white columns on the facade and eight sided cupolas such as are found in many places in Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland and Virginia. 2. B&O or P&LE depots.
I would like to see a large, multi-story, brick warehouse that could take multiple box cars on one side and have a truck-loading platform on part of the other side. I think DPM had one in hydrocal, but regressed it into a flat, and an expensive one at that. But, too many N scale models for "industries" are just basically rectangular boxes with identifiable styling differences and signs proclaiming their purpose. We need more items INTENDED to help us individualize industries on our layouts. Seperate power houses for coal-era industries come to mind as well as some of the other items mentioned in other posts, like large grain storage silos, large water storage tanks, travelling cranes, etc. Sometimes these things are available as PARTS of (usually espensive) kits, but not individually. I also would like to see a mid-sized brewery, with identifiable power house, grain/malting, brewing, bottling, and shipping facilities to support multiple sidings taking various car types. Something where the individual structures are actually sized for N scale, not a too-large HO model with N scale doors as an option. Multiple structures instead of one big rectangle provides flexibility. That way we can fill odd-shaped areas on our layouts more easily and generate more diverse freight traffic more realistically. Steve
When Walthers and DPM created their 'Modular' systems of walls and associated other parts, I figured those products would be in regular production for the typical kit-builder/kit-basher in N scale. I actually expected the wall sections to be expanded to accommodate a greater variety of structures other than just industrial buildings. I was expecting to see some retail facades, apartment facades and different configuration of industrial facades. Instead... we didn't get any more necessary pieces to create more variety. The disappearance of the Columns/Cornices for the Walthers line of 'Modulars' was a bizarre event. Basically leaving the entire category unsellable. These strange aspects of the hobby directed mainly at N scale is bothersome. HO manufacturers continue to make their 'modular styled' products available (City Classics, Small Town USA etc..)
I'm in general agreement with the previous two posters, but would like to add a few observations- I think the biggest manufacturer mistake is to clone HO buildings by reducing the HO building to 55% of its size. The #2 reason (after "my room is too small for HO") for modelers to go into N scale is that they want to build things to real scale- that is, in N scale, I can run a scale size Super Chief, with 12 cars and 3 or 4 locomotives, on a modest sized layout. I WISH that manufacturers would think in those terms when they design buildings. My business in Chicago was in a building 48x100 feet, and that was the smallest building in that area. Manufacturers with rail docks had buildings on the order of 200x120, 2 to 7 or 8 stories. How about some N scale factory structures that are 16x9 inches, and 4 to 6 inches tall? Or perhaps a set of ladders and stairways and details to allow for N scale use of, for instance, an HO scale steel mill (which has been drastically compressed for HO, but would have the mass to be closer to scale in N with the right details)? Or a "downtown" structure with enough footprint to be a major department store, or corporate headquarters? On the modulars (a potential solution to the question of getting realistic sized buildings), the error Walthers obviously made was to try to market modulars as separate parts- you had to buy several sets to make anything. And some sets, like the columns, were much more popular- because you did not need Walthers walls to make a building with them- brick sheeting and the odd door and window castings and you were set. Once the columns sold out, the rest of the line became obsolete- purchasers were going to have to scratch their own columns. The various building kits- the 3 in 1s, or the Dairy, were much more useful because they had enough parts to build something, and were a better value, since you would have spent more for the same parts if you had bought individual modular kits. DPM includes the columns with their wall sections, making those kits much more useful than the Walthers were. But in all cases, because so few parts are packaged together, actually building a complete building can be an expensive proposition, and there are not enough door/window configurations, so difficult to do much beyond a warehouse type structure. A wall unit with more windows, for instance, would allow you to build an office building or apartment building.
I built one of those Nu Line kits and yes, it was quite simple. So much so that I realized how easy it would be to scratch build that type of building. Those type of buildings normally don't have any windows except on the front side and only a few doors on the other sides. Later when I wanted a the backside of an off line beer distributor on one of my modules I used the ribbed Evergreen styrene sheet material.
1: Triple decker. Apparently these things are only known here in the Northeast from Maine down to about New Jersey. No one ever knows what the hell I am talking about when I ask for them. Here is a photo of one. 2. Cut stone station. I know there are a ton of stations out there, but it would be really nice to see these. 3: Large modern warehouse/factory buildings. 4. Some sort of modular glass building/skyscraper modular system. This could build everything from the Hancock Tower in Boston to Freedom Tower in New York.
I do..............but then I am originally from Massachusetts.........There were not many on the Bradford side of the River, but there was one neighbourhood in Haverhill that was somewhat to the left of the County Bridge (as you crossed from Bradford) where it seemed that there were blocks of nothing but three deckers. I guess that every third house in Lynn is a three-decker, as well.
Aren't the row house kits from IHC examples of those triple-deckers. Sent from my SM-G530T using Tapatalk
Those look more like what we call "town houses". Are the triple deckers three appartments one above the other in a home? It looks like each story is a separate home. How do you get to the upper floors?
Power house I did the Mountain lumber Co. in Z scale from designing one from the foot print from there Train Modeling book. This was 3D printed only thing is, it's one piece Nothing to put together just like the building there is a few more pieces to complete my lumber scene. Main building Mountain Lumber Entry Building for log loading to the mill. Woodchip burner!
DPM modules can be used to create such a warehouse. I build a grocery warehouse for my layout using the module walls; it has all the features you mention.
