Model power has been making die cast boilers for years, Bachmann has the die cast J class locomotive. Walthers/LifeLike has been doing separately applied details to their steam models for a few years now. Why not marry the 2 concepts together and come up with a heavy shell without the chunky look that MP has? It's probably not cost effective as a retrofit to the current dies, but as a specification for new models, it likely wouldn't add more than a few percent to the overall cost on "premium" models such as LL Heritage steam and would add much needed weight. Bob
As a relatively new convert to N scale from HO, I'm all in support of this change, especially since the technology exists NOW. However, I don't see much of a problem with track, unless you're talking about Unitrak. I use Atlas Code 55 turnouts and ME Code 55 and 40 flextrack, and am quite satisfied with it.
