Looks like Arnold will come back after all www.rivarossi.com [ 15 October 2001: Message edited by: sd9043mac ]</p>
<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by sd9043mac: Looks like Arnold will come back after all www.rivarossi.com [ 15 October 2001: Message edited by: sd9043mac ]<hr></blockquote> Yes, Arnold stated production up again approximately 2 weeks ago. We are very happy to see them back as we already have thousands of dollars of models backordered for customers who are also now breathing a sigh of relief. One word of caution however, when Arnold came back online they wiped out all backorders. You should check with your dealer if you have anything on backorder to make sure they know about this. We import Arnold ourselves rather than go through Walthers. This way we can offer customers better prices. We hope Walthers is aware of this as well otherwise they are going to have some angry customers.
Good news indeed! Lets hope the Rivarossi N steamers and passenger cars aren't too far behind. (I didn't see any mention of US proto N scale at the site however)
Yeah, the only Rivarossi N scale steamers currently released are the ones Rivarossi built for Con-cor (2-8-2). The Big Boy might be released as well http://www.con-cor.com/instock/nbigboy.htm http://www.con-cor.com/instock/nriv282.htm http://www.con-cor.com/instock.htm Does anyone know how well the Mikados run, compared to the S2 Northerns?
<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by sd9043mac: Yeah, the only Rivarossi N scale steamers currently released are the ones Rivarossi built for Con-cor (2-8-2). The Big Boy might be released as well http://www.con-cor.com/instock/nbigboy.htm http://www.con-cor.com/instock/nriv282.htm http://www.con-cor.com/instock.htm Does anyone know how well the Mikados run, compared to the S2 Northerns?<hr></blockquote> Big Boys will be released 2nd Quarter 2002. We are currently taking reservations for them. The Rivarossi made Mikados looked better than they ran if you consider how they looked . . . well, we'll stop there. Maybe they will make improvements to them at a future date then again, KATO will surely offer a new production run of their Mikados sometime in the future and then no one will want a Rivarossi one.
FYI the distribution agreement between Rivarossi and Walthers is separate from the agreement between Rivarossi and Con-Cor. AFAIK Con-Cor will continue to import Rivarossi N U.S. steam locomotives as they have for many years. eNjoy Don B
Swiss - I'll probably be in the nursing home by the time Kato gets around to a new run of Mikados - Rivarossi would certainly be more likely.
<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by ajb: Swiss - I'll probably be in the nursing home by the time Kato gets around to a new run of Mikados - Rivarossi would certainly be more likely.<hr></blockquote> Really!? Considering rivarossi hasn't made anything new in N scale for 10 years. They are one of the vaporware companies, can never trust them, take 3 years to make something new. Kato will rerelease Mikados within the next 2 years and that is a fact!
<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>. Kato will rerelease Mikados within the next 2 years and that is a fact! <hr></blockquote> And you know this for sure? If they finally do - they will be so limited and sold out before anyone gets snowballs chance of having one - let alone get parts for it. Kato is the vaporware company - like there mythical GP38 - some say they have seen them, but I think they are like a flying saucer or the Yetti!
<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by ajb: And you know this for sure? If they finally do - they will be so limited and sold out before anyone gets snowballs chance of having one - let alone get parts for it. Kato is the vaporware company - like there mythical GP38 - some say they have seen them, but I think they are like a flying saucer or the Yetti!<hr></blockquote> Like getting parts for a rivarrosi loco is any easier? Come on, ajb you are exaggerating. Kato GP38s are on ebay all the time. So are Mikados. I dont know where some of you people get the idea that stuff is sold out and never to be found again as soon as it is released. ajb, do you even know what vaporware is?? It is when a company announces something and never makes it. I have 3 Kato GP38s so Kato must have made them. I'm pretty sure they didn't fall out of the sky and ended up on the layout.
Well, Scott, all I can say here is 1) yes i am exaggerating to make a point, 2) I have searched ebay several times in the last month for gp38's and not seen a single Kato ( lots of LL and Atlas) which i would prefer the atlas anyway because of better and more detail and slower. and 3) I have not had any problems getting parts for Riv from Concor - Still waiting for a reply to a parts request sent months ago to Kato however. Kato may produce something but they have little desire for service and availabity, which keeps them from being number one in my book. The products aren't vapor but their service is!
Oh, were did you see that Kato was making the mikes again - it has not been published in any magazine that I have seen.
swissrhb, yeah, I have seen the Riv Mikados, than I guess they don't run well. I got into N scale again recently (I built a simple layout 2 years ago), so I come after the Kato Mikado. How well do the Con-Cor northerns run (Question directed to anyone who owns one)
Guys, we didn't suggest any time frame as to when Kato will re-run the Mikado, but trust us, they will. We maintain an extremely close relationship with Kato and while they don't discuss time frames with us they do ask our input on other subjects from time to time. As far as everything being sold out before you can get a hold of it, that's nonsense. Pick your favorite dealer and learn to reserve your models. Many people have adapted this policy but others seem to resist it. There is no reason to resist. We have taken reservations for Kato models for almost 10 years. We have filled 99% of them and to this day NO ONE has contacted us after receiving a Kato model and said they were disapointed and want to return it. We can't say the same for other manufacturers but with Kato there are no issues. Trouble is that there are dealers that don't do a very good job of filling their customers reservations. They are either greedy and take too many reservations knowing they can't fill them all or they simply don't work with good distributors who can give them exact numbers for their allocations. Whatever, we won't go into that. Before we were dealers we were hobbyists. We used to place reservations at all of the well-known dealers with the cut-throat discount prices and we found that most of them did not deliver our reservations reliably. It was hit or miss at best. Ten years ago when we started THE N-SCALE DIVISION our first mission was to change all that and we like to believe we have. As stated above we fill 99% of all customers reservations. In all fairness, there are other dealers who are also capable of doing the same good job but so far we haven't seen any one of them mentioned on this board. Everyone is so concerned about paying the lowest price that they forget there are other important factors in selecting a dealer. What good is getting that big discount if the dealer never delivers the goods? REMEMBER, 35% OFF OF NOTHING IS STILL NOTHING. We believe we are doing the best job out there of spliting the difference between reliable customer service and offering those good discount prices. Now onto a slightly different subject. Rivarossi has been churning out the same models since the late 60's. Sure there have been "tweaks" to the tooling and modern finishing techniques have been applied but when you plunk down $110-140 (street price) for one of their GG-1's or $125-150 (street price) for one of their Mikados or Pacifics you are essentially getting 1960's technology at today's prices. We bought our first Arnold GG-1 in 1972. We paid the full list price of $39.95 for it back then (no one really discounted back in those days). We still have that model and it still runs as good as it did back then but when you compare it to today's standards, it's a really crude model. [ 16 October 2001: Message edited by: swissrhb ]</p>
<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by ajb: I have searched ebay several times in the last month for gp38's and not seen a single Kato Still waiting for a reply to a parts request sent months ago to Kato however. Kato may produce something but they have little desire for service and availabity, which keeps them from being number one in my book. The products aren't vapor but their service is!<hr></blockquote> According to ajb, a search on ebay for Kato GP38s doesn't yield anything. http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1650205678 http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1649085355 http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1649089267 http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1647950717 http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1649390504 Looks like I can find plenty Kato GP38s on ebay in just a few moments. This is just a sample of what has been on ebay recently. ajb, you are either lying about finding kato GP38s or you never took the trouble to search for them. In which case you would be lying about searching for them because the are so easy to find. This makes you a liar either way. I have never had trouble geting parts from Kato. Just a few months ago, I ordered some walkway/handrail pieces for some SD40-2s and I recieved them in a week. [ 18 October 2001: Message edited by: Scott Siebler ]</p>
<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by ajb: Oh, were did you see that Kato was making the mikes again - it has not been published in any magazine that I have seen.<hr></blockquote> First, anybody that relies on magazines for their new product information is 2 months behind. Second, I can't discuss how I know there will be a rerun of mikes.
ajb: On Kato's web page it says they cannot respond to all email. When I emailed them I had to send 2, (about a week apart) before I got a response. They have a 1-800 order number, and regular number.
From what I was told by Mr. Kato(he made a personal apperance at a train show this past spring)is to exspect the next run of mikes in 2002.
