I thought about doing this for somewhat obscure paint schemes on existing car types. The run size required probably would exceed the demand in many cases. I also find interests are very specific by road and era. That narrows the scheme choices tremendously. The custom guys like H*llw*d*l and L*w*ll Sm*th don't release a lot of different schemes each year. Also, model RRers here and overall are more unwilling to pledge with a credit card than the typical crowdfunding customer who are, for one, much younger on average and are definitely more comfortable with the process.
I myself have no problem preordering...The problem I have seen first hand are the people that preorder every number of a new car or engine and when it shows up ...They purchase one or two leaving the hobby shop holding the bag on the rest. My friend has this happen time and time again. If it wasn't that he sells as part of his hardware store, he would be out of business! Next time he doesn't preorder without payment first....I can't blame him...can you?
I am going way before Model Power... brand names at the time would be more likely to be Atlas (First Generation), Aurora, AHM, Life-Like (the really early stuff), Parkway and Bachmann. I still recall buying Parkway boxcars in the clamshell boxcars in Korvettes. A previous post mentioned Woolworths and AHM/Rivarossi. My father purchased nearly the entire line of AHM HO locomotives there, all the way up to the Big Boy. I think he missed only the Cab Forward.
On the other hand, when pre-order becomes pre-pay, I'm done with buying and probably done with the hobby in its entirety. Let me emphasize that if this is happening on anything approaching a regular basis, I'm not aware of it. One exception is Micro-Trains (believe it or not), which does require deposits on pre-orders, when direct through their online store only-- not through MTL Authorized Dealers.
Don't get me wrong folks. I love the new models that are available to us. I like that there is so much more to offer us. I don't like the idea of preorder so much. Not when someone doesn't produce something. And we all have to wait. Like when TB did it's special run car. Sure he still has a few on hand I think. But Charlie had to get enough interest. And it was not a two year wait. I believe it was less than a year. That's how it should be. To many variables in our personal lives can make that preorder a bad thing two three years down the road. What I don't truly believe is the opinion that no on will buy enough if someone makes a quality product. In n-scale, we are starving for new quality. New ideas. New designs. The stuff will sell. I do not doubt that. And pre order, is prepaid. Until cancel. That's how I look at it.. Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk
Something else to consider for manufacturers having trouble reaching the minimum production quantity for a given model - bring back foobies. Athearn did that for its FP59 locos. They're listed as sold out on the Athearn site. I know some "modelers" who would buy anything and everything lettered for PRR or ATSF. What if Rapido were to offer its GMD-1 in a variety of "south of the border" liveries? Could BLI, for example, sell enough/more PRR M1s if they also made them available in non-prototypical roadnames?
I think what I said did not actually come out right. It was meant to say that the expenditure vs. profit needs to be there or none of us would do what we do. Thank goodness there are folks in business that figure out how to keep the industry in a profitable state. In the current day it is not like producing 100,000 cheap cheap cars to sell for years, the products now (as Mike said ) are way more complex and harder and more costly to produce, therefor higher quality and less of them. Mike
Sad its going in that direction..... Lamborghini, 2013 saw 2,121 Lamborghini cars sold, a rise from the 2,083 in 2012 The top five Chevrolet sales markets in 2013 were: United States 1,947,125 China 652,077 Brazil 649,792 Mexico 193,072 Russia 174,649 These days....model railroad manufactures all want to jump on the Lamborghini bandwagon and forget about all those Chevrolet buyers who made them what they are today to begin with !!!!!
An interesting analogy, George. It's getting to a point where modeling in HOn30, a scale where traditionally much has been kitbash and scratchbuild, is becoming easier and even less expensive than being an N scaler.
I typically 'phooey' foobies... but I agree that there are some buy them... including me. Of course... the foobies I have acquired over time were not always by choice... rather... lack of knowledge. If a manufacturer/importer is brave enough to state their product is not exactly prototypical to the road name it is decorated for... I find that acceptable. I can choose to purchase with that knowledge that I'm buying a foobie. I like to think I'm buying replicas of prototype equipment in N scale... I was stunned several years ago to learn how much unprototypical rolling stock I own. I'm a lot more lenient as a result... but... still would rather buy proto versus foobie. Sent from my SM-G530T using Tapatalk
On "another network" Jason Shron of Rapido Trains posted a scan of an advertisement for the first run of the HO Scale Bachmann Spectrum 44 Ton Diesels-- the ones that had one motor per truck. The production was limited run-- "only" 3600 pieces per roadname. Jason noted that the total production of some HO models across all roadnames and road numbers doesn't reach that 3600 pieces that Bachmann produced for one roadname. Contrast that 3600 pieces with the tens of thousands of pieces that were sold through discount department stores "back in the day." For the legendary Two Guys After Christmas Sales, there were probably 5000 copies of a single HO scale loco available in that one department store chain alone.
Bachmann runs may not reach those numbers today, but they are still selling a good number of units. Big reasons being price and availability.
How were those production run quantities set "back in the day?" They certainly weren't based on - or limited to - the number of end customer pre-orders.
"Back in the day" we didn't have fully detailed equipment or accurate paint schemes either. Little companies like Gold Medal models and others made their living on detail parts for the modeler to install themselves. The factory detail has driven quality and cost per model up and up, not a bad thing but the consumers hidden cost is low volumes , reserved models, (much like the brass models of old) and a dearth of aftermarket detail parts. This is an issue we ourselves have created. My current quandary concerns the upcoming meat reefers from Rapido, I want ALL of them , but I cannot afford to reserve all of them. I already have some expensive models from Fox Valley reserved and if they all hit at the same time (they will) I'll be scrambling to come up with cash for more mundane things like rent, car insurance and whatnot. So there is no way I will get all of the meat reefers I want. Of course I am assuming that they will be good selling models. I am also waiting for the new Intermountain 8000 gal tank cars but again I cannot afford to reserve them. I did reserve one scheme but again , I'd like to collect them all and I am VERY sure that they will sell out rather fast. Randy
Exactly who is this "we?" No model railroad manufacturer has ever solicited my opinion as to what level of detail should be incorporated into their products, nor have they ever asked how much more, if at all, I might be willing to pay for any such increase in fidelity to the prototype. Has there been a massive write-in campaign of which I'm not aware? My suspicion is either that there's an especially vocal minority who seem to have the ear of the manufacturers or that the various manufacturers are simply trying to "one up" each other in some sort of detail competition - at an ever increasing expense to the customer.
There is a vocal MAJORITY that demand ready to run , true to prototype fidelity. I'm not in that majority. I am a modeler, not a model buyer/ collector. I too resent being forced to buy locomotives that are DCC equipped more often than not with a decoder that will be changed anyhow, with sound decoders that I don't really want because I've been listening to REAL locomotives screaming in my ear for 30 years. I have no choice, I'f I want a certain locomotive I will have to pay the price for features that I don't particularly want. Intermountain used to make wonderful little freight car kits that sold for between $10.95 and $12.95. Now the same assembled models are twice that. The model railroaders/ collectors have spoken with their pocketbooks and now the nice decorated kits are history. So , It's not a vocal minority that insists on highly detailed ready to run equipment , it's a majority that speaks with their cash !
What bothers me here are those who will complain the hobby is dying, including manufacturers. As prices creep upward, pricing more folks OUT, and availability decreases, discouraging and driving folks OUT, what good is all this nice stuff these days? I have better things to do than participating in a brawl to acquire what I believe is needed for my enjoyment, fighting for my share of a deliberately restricted number of items. This is not a situation which has been created by consumers. It's roots are in the days a mere few decades ago, wholly a choice by the business sector, when JIT inventory philosophy took root. Now businesses work on a guaranteed profit or we don't do it philosophy. It's simply not sustainable. Life is not risk free, nor is business.
Like most of the 'old gaurd' I pretty much have what I need as far as trains. I would like to replace some older stuff...but the world isnt gonna stop turning if I dont. I wont pay such asinine prices for a "HOBBY". The 'new gaurd' can demand all they want. The manufactures can bend to those demands all they want. Those with more money then sense can be as foolish as they please. Long live the hobby.
JIT was a useful economic tool decades ago when interest rates approached 20%, but those days have passed. JIT is also a necessity if your business produces large items in continuously high volumes (such as motor vehicles or major appliances), where space is not readily available to store weeks (or even days) worth of raw material. None of this applies to the model train industry, so why does it appear to have become pervasive?
