Blink your eyes these days and it's born, lived, and died in a week!

rray Apr 24, 2016

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  1. markm

    markm TrainBoard Supporter

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    Considering we're talking about railroading, the term "robber baron" also comes to mind. But do the math from the various posts for a different perspective. There will be 4 distinct releases per month for the rest of the year, plus the two from April for a total of 34 models. At 40 units each that 1360 units. That would be a unit for every member of the NMRA PCR, or a sale of 5 units for every 4 Ztrack subscribers.

    Since Rob(A) has admitted to standard industry yields and assuming each AZL principle gets a unit and two for show-and-tell, they're starting with 1700 units. Rob(K) took an average of 3 minutes to do incoming QC on the GP38-2s in Denver and assuming he doesn't do any better with chocolate in him, that's 8 seasons of "Glee" (with commercials!) for inspection time.

    Seems like quite a venture. Of course, none of this helps if you can't get the unit you want.

    Mark
     
    Last edited: Apr 30, 2016
  2. rray

    rray Staff Member

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    Thanks all, I found someone willing to take up my offer, so now I don't have to sweat getting the other two units I wanted. I really did not want to subscribe and get 5 other units that I don't want, just the 3 runners that I do want. WP, MKT, and MoPac.
     
  3. shamoo737

    shamoo737 Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    Me too. The only Borg I want is the 4141, and a couple CSX of course. :D
     
  4. ModelWarships

    ModelWarships TrainBoard Member

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    All I wanted was a couple of BNSF engines. How hard to order can that be?
     
  5. shamoo737

    shamoo737 Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    Rule #1 of new release, buy it early. The Ace is not the only z item that sold out early. It used to be that all new release sold out.
     
  6. Doug A.

    Doug A. TrainBoard Supporter

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    I finally (*think* I) have secured a BNSF ACe, but it took a little legwork. USZcale sent an email and their allotment of the second run sold out in 15m, so I missed there but another site still showed them in stock so I pulled the trigger. I didn't really want to spend the money now but figured I wouldn't get another shot at this. This is not unique to Z by the way, I had some similar issues in N at various times.

    I do think it pretty odd that they would short a BNSF run. Although to be fair, there are still BNSF SD70M's available. Maybe they overdid it on that particular run and based their decision on that history. Who knows... Other thing is, it seems that overall the runs are shorted, with only 10 locomotives left over on the heritage units. I don't know much about the history of Z or AZL so I can only conclude they may eventually do this all over again in a few years.

    I'm just hoping my order gets filled. I placed the order late one evening so I don't know if inventory was properly updated at that point. I have a fear I'm gonna get a "Sorry but..." e-mail any day now.
     
    Last edited: May 5, 2016
  7. ztrack

    ztrack TrainBoard Supporter Advertiser

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    Hey guys. Just some insight. AZL did not release these in limited quantity. The BNSF was not shorted. It is just the popularity is more than we had expected. No one is being a robber baron. Frankly, the pricing on these is lower than when the original SD70s came out. And these are FAR more detailed. Just something to think about.

    The really good news... we have more BNSF coming. Look for a slightly different version to be released shortly.

    Yes we still have the BNSF SD70Ms in stock. This is actually the 2nd run of the BNSF. There are slightly differences between run 1 and run 2. The first run sold out relatively quickly. We did increase the counts on the 2nd release so we would have some long term inventory.

    I would recommend working closely with your authorized dealer, especially if there are must haves on your wish list. I am also willing to work with folks if you want to go direct. But as pointed out on the AZL forum, you will get better pricing through the dealers. I am fully expecting many more sell outs of this SD70ACe run.

    We will be releasing the next group of SD70ACe mid-month.

    Rob
     
    Kurt Moose and ddechamp71 like this.
  8. HoboTim

    HoboTim TrainBoard Supporter

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    I would like to thank the owners of AZL for their releases of the isolated and non-isolated cab versions of the SD70ACe in the BNSF paint schemes!
    I look forward to future releases of both versions allowing me to further increase my modern fleet.

    Thanks AZL!!!

    Hobo Tim
     
    Bob Snyder, shamoo737 and Kez like this.
  9. Doug A.

    Doug A. TrainBoard Supporter

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    I will echo that...these are beautiful locomotives that are attracting a LOT of attention, even from non-Z-scalers. THAT is how you start a trend. :)

    Thank you AZL!!! Now bring on the Gevos!!!!
     
    Bob Snyder, HoboTim and Kez like this.
  10. rray

    rray Staff Member

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    Today is a VERY GOOD day for me. First of all I cut out of work at 11:00am after I looked at my email and read UPS had just dropped off my RadRover ebike on the porch. Nobody was home, and I had 4 hours to risk leaving it on the porch with a big box labeled with 40" x 6" lettering "Rad Power Bikes". Not good since I live on the corner of a heavily traveled boulevard, but my boss understood, so I blew home and sure enough, there it was exposed for the taking, and I took it in the house for assembly!

    The next good thing was upon opening the door I found the 3rd of the ACe's I wanted the MoPac. I took a photo of my set to share:
    [​IMG]

    Yes she is a beauty, the MoPac, and Katy were provided by Dave Olsen, and Mark gave me the heads up on the shop in Lodi that had the WP.

    The third good thing that happened came in the envelope under the ACe's... Yup! The paid off title to my retirement home. The house has a unique 16' x 24' shed in the backyard for my trains. The shed is insulated, has a ceiling fan, 24" carpeted border and hardwood floor in the middle, and looks like it was used for a dance studio or dance lessons according to my wife:
    My Future Train Room:
    [​IMG]

    The retirement house:
    [​IMG]
     
    ztrack, Kurt Moose and Kez like this.
  11. Doug A.

    Doug A. TrainBoard Supporter

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    That is indeed a good day. Your train room is very, very nice. And those ACe's are beautiful. Enjoy.
     
  12. ddechamp71

    ddechamp71 TrainBoard Member

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    Great news! Roughly the same size than the room hosting my future modelrailroad! Looking fwd to the following!

    Dom
     

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