What is your opinion? Does weathering a Micro Trains car decrease or increase the value of the car? Of course, that's assuming it's an above average job of weathering with paint or chalk. The reason I ask is that MT cars are generally seen more for their collectibility. Of course that's a very general statement.
I weather MT cars all the time. I purchased them for my enjoyment, not for the future enjoyment of a collector. Once you open the jewel case, they lose value because the air inside the case has changed. Stay cool and run steam... [ March 09, 2006, 04:12 PM: Message edited by: Powersteamguy1790 ]
I weather them with great pleasure. I don't care a whit about collectibility. They are little blobs of plastic that make me happy for the short time I'm on this earth. I've "collected" all sorts of things and fully understand that angle. Not for me, though.
I was weathering a MT car one fine day out on the back porch, and had finished one side. Well, when I turned it over, I noticed it was a misprint! Oh well, I told myself I didn't need the bazillion bucks, so I just calmly weathered the rest of the car...
From a collectors point of view they are probably going to want something as close to brand spanking new as possible -mint- I think they call it. Someone else may pay more for a really nice weathering job that looks good going around their layout. Two different types of buyers I believe. If you want to run the car around your layout I say weather it. If you are going to save it to try to beat the stock market-don't let the air out of the case out!
The only good MT car is a grubby MT car. Muck'em up!!!!!!!! Of course they are of no value to a collector now but who cares I buy them to run and enjoy. John
From a strictly collector standpoint, there are two conditions: 1) New in box. 2) Everything else. Weathering a car will significantly diminish its value in the aftermarket. Actually, with a few exceptions, that's true of just about any model railroad equipment. I can't speak for the scale at large, but the majority of my UMTRR readers are runners/ accumulators/ weatherers (I am in that category myself). I also believe the majority of the subscribers to The N Scale Collector magazine are also not strictly "collectors" in the pejoritive sense with which some employ the term. See Rule #1.
DITTO! I believe MT will soon be selling cannisters of pressurized factory air to help those who accidentally opened the boxes. On my layout, I am deeply commited to equal-opportunity weathering - no manufacturers are spared!
Depends on who you sell it to. Some people apparently think good weathering adds a LOT of value. This is HO scale, but just goes to show you what some people pay http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=6039781364&rd=1&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWA%3AIT&rd=1
I think I'd fall to - you bought it, it's yours, do what you will with it (up to and including the Gomez Adams technique). Life is too short to get bent out of shape about models
It's only worth what I paid for it. Most of my Micro Trains stuff comes undec anyway. When I open the new box, I steal the factory air and sell it in canisters on Ebay
Hi, Dave asked a specific question and every one went and talked about different things other than answering the question with yes or no. Is'nt this a waste of time and resource? Mo
Dave asked for our "What is your opinion?" He received several opinions the gist of which was: 1) Yes, it does 2) Most of those that repsonded felt a car should be weathered, seen and not stored. This was done with a great deal of friendly humor as befits a community like Trainboard.
Mo: The responses to the question were appropriate. The question was to weather or not to weather a MT car and it's relationship to it's subsequent value. Each responder gave his/hers opinion. Stay cool and run steam.......
Hi Dave; If you ask a real die-hard Micro-trains Collector he/she will tell you that doing anything to the car will decrease its value .. probably make it near worthless. To show you, however, what I think about that, here are cars 3 Great Northern Circus Cars from Micro-trains that I personally weathered .. To be fair, these are 'extras' of this series; but I believe in running them as well as collecting. And "Yes!" folks I know exactly what each car is worth!
Hi Guys, I've been interested to see what the response would be to the new weathered cars. We can't control (nor do we want to) the collectors market nor secondary sales so I do my best not to make product decisions based on that. The intent with these cars was to try and give the runners more options, which is always good. We've done that with Runner's Packs (ironically being accused of playing to collectors because we put them in a box!) and multipule road numbers. I think it's interesting that we explore how these effect the value of the car, when I doubt that question was asked when other's have dabbled in weathering their cars. I guess it's unavoidable considering our history and our following. I hope folks accept these in the spirit they were intended, more options, more cars that reflect what folks see running on their favorite line. It seems a shame to see these beautifully detailed layouts and modules, many weathered and reflecting real life, being serviced by bright shiney cars ) This scale seems divided into two camps, those who collect and the other who runs. I hope both see some value in what we are attempting. Cheers Joe MTL
