Well, the problem is if it weren't for those of us who did reserve them the project would have been canceled. Then you wouldn't have the opportunity to buy one at all. Example from an etailer site: "Due to insufficient advance reservations received by Kato, this project has been canceled and will not be made!" Unfortunately the business model has changed.
Yes, and with steam locos, the advance reservation is really leap of faith, since there have been so many duds along the way. Though I've got to say that the most recent releases (Athearn Challenger, Big-Boy, Walthers 2-8-8-2, Kato GS-4 and now apparently the cab-forward, though I'm still waiting for mine) have been mostly hits. So maybe future advance reservations will be less a leap of faith . . . John C.
I hear this all the time, but I dont understand it as I have never seen an actual instance where a manufacturer seeks out customer commitment in the form of reservations before beginning the project. Sure, I see pre-orders all the time, but still I've never seen a project actually depend on the number of pre-orders. For instance, FVM recently announced the [SIZE=-1]Hiawatha. [/SIZE]Nowhere have I seen anything suggesting the production of the model depends on the number of reservations.
Mine arrived today too. I was in London yesterday when the courier called so had to wait another 24 hours. Just unpacking it as a type, quick spot of decoder fitting and then I'll be running this beauty. My only regret is I'm away in Iceland for the next few days so won't get a chance to indulge myself.
Go VERY carefully. The conductive "dental floss" they have for wiring the tender light is very fragile. In words, you take a small hobby screwdriver and carefully insert it STRAIGHT up into the inside edge of the bottom of the tender near the rear wheel on one side, and then very carefully do the same on the same side near the front wheel on the tender. Once it pops up a little on one side it will pop off. The wire to the tender light limits how far you can move it from the side, but mine has enough wire slack I can set it aside. I tested my TSU-750 decoder last night using my Digitrax LT-1 decoder tester. I also tested the socket to be sure that there isn't any shorting to the frame. Tonight, if I ge the chance, I will solder the 8 pin connector to my decoder and plug it in and, if all goes well, have DCC and sound in my AC-12. Adam
More pictures!! Here she comes cruising down past Milepost 7! There she goes! There she goes making her return working hard up the grade of Milepost 7!
My AC-12 arrived today. Spectacular model, too bad I have to wait until tomorrow to give it a shakedown run. It doesn't quite have the heft of my key brass locos but the detail is every bit as good. I would have ordered another one, but my wife would have killed me.
Mark, The instance quoted was for the war time Black GS-4's from Kato. Precision Craft still hasn't made the PRR M1 due to "lack of preorders". Red Caboose coil cars were the most recent cancelation due to lack of pre-orders. There are many other instances of the same thing happening, not only in N scale. As mentioned above, it is the new way of things. If a company can't confirm enough product sales to make a profit, they aren't going to take the chance.
Is it only me, or could someone run with heavyweight passenger cars and pretty much corner the market? There are no, count them, no heavyweights on the market since the now antique Rivarossi models.
Are you forgetting about the MT releases? RPO is here, 2 more sleepers and a parlor car are on the way with 4 more cars in the works. Then there is Wheels of Time.
Micro Trains are onto heavyweights, they've done an RPO (my ATSF one arrived today, not correct for ATSF but still nice). The problem being that with MTL's production schedule a full train will take a lifetime unless they come out in runner packs, and then it would be only one every few months, your road name might be ten years away. MTL BTW don't bother with pre-orders apart from runner packs, they just announce their new releases at the start of each month and then a week or two later they show up. Come to think of it I don't think any runner packs have been canceled for lack of orders either. Regarding the Warbaby GS4, I've theorized before that Kato saw all the Daylight GS4's selling like hotcakes because people who aren't even remotely interested in SP were buying them because they look nice, but they didn't realize that the Warbaby version wouldn't have as wide appeal. The AC12 is in the same boat, if IM had announced an SP 2-10-2 would it have got as many orders as the AC12?
I would have signed up for the 2-10-2's before the AC-12. Personally, I do not like the Cab Forward locomotives at all. But that is just personal preference. I think the AC12 did hit a nerve though, lots of places are sold out of them.
But Kato still produced the warbaby, just not as many as originally thought. I completely understand a manufacturer taking reservations as a hint to how many units to finally produce, however placing the entire production run on the popularity of reservations seems downright silly. Perfect example right here. PRR M1? I consider myself fairly up to date with N Scale announcements, yet I've never herd of such an announcement until today. I guess its no wonder why they didn't get enough orders. But even if I had herd of it, I'm supposed to send in a reservation and hope enough others do too, then maybe it will become a reality? Why bother? I'm busy saving my cash for those manufacturers willing to commit to their projects in full, like FVM and their upcoming Hiawatha. Anways, back to the AC-12. My video is uploading now and should be ready shortly.
Here's a video! She runs nice and smooth, but very loud. I have yet to apply oil as recommended, so we'll wait and see how she sounds after that. Chasing the AC-12 Cab Forward Enjoy!
PCM started taking pre-orders for the PRR M1a and M1b back in the 2004/2005 time frame. Not sure why it was missed, but BLW and many other internet sites have listed these for years Precision Craft PRR M1 They used to be listed on TexnRails, NScaleSupply, Rio Grande Hobbies and others. So this hasn't been any kind of secret.
