Well, the results from Kiwibonds Trademe debut are in and the results are....interesting. (congrats to the winning chap however, hope that you get a few miles out of them)
Actually, no, they are ominous. If RTR models of Uk's with container's hit a price point of $25 then not even the Chinese making a couple of hundred thousand could break even at the moment. All this while S scale models sell at premium prices. Now i know that this was all hashed out on the group last year some time, but at prices like that no manufacturer in his right mind would even look at doing and kits. Even I've been forced to have a second look at the whole thing.
In a complete contrast to this I've been reading the forums over at www.rmweb.co.uk and the work that these guys do is amazing. Its also incredible to see the amount of reworking that they will put up with to have a model of a locomotive or wagon that they want. In some cases they will shell out for a kit and then completely rebuild it, as well as buying new bits to replace castings and chassis in the kit which are not up to scratch.
A comment from amateur fetler ( and possibly the only bit from an e-mail on this situation that I could print as he was a bit scathing) was also interesting.
"Is the scale full of people who are scared of scratchbuilding because they think they need to model at the same standards set by the new Sn3½ stuff and 9mm? Whatever happened to 2' models??"
This is a good question. My modeling efforts of late have ground to a halt partly/mostly as I'm not happy with the level of detail I'm getting on the models, and also as my subconscious has been seduced by the elusive lure of CAD/ RP stuff, which is creeping closer (my 8 year old computer may well be replaced in the not too distant future, and as long as theres a CAD program that will run under UNIX then everything should be good). It may well also be due to the aborted attempt to make a set of Ed sides in plastic, which them merrily warped to show their collective displeasure at my efforts. maybe a chunk of the problem is that i do look at all these nice we etched kits and think "Yes, thats the way to do it, hmmmm, now how do I do that...", which results in many grand designs and absolutely no concrete progress outside the 4 walls of my brain.
I'll leave this here for the moment and let some of you comment on this (well, I know its optimistic but you never know)
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5 comments:
Well, I'm one of your anonymous (previously!) viewers.
I thought I should comment on your philosophizing...
I'm not an active NZ120 modeller (yet...) - just looking to see what everyone is doing.
When I first came across NZ120, I assumed everyone would be converting N scale items into "near enough" models (your 2' models?).
Does this happen - or don't they look realistic enough (are they vastly out of proportion, for example?)
I've seen on another website, details of converting european wagons to an Lc, japanese prototype 4 wheel wagons, Ibertren passenger cars...
Do people do this - if not, why not?
Cheers, Andrew
My answer to that, Andrew, is "If they do, they arent telling anyone about it!"
What is the website?
Also, can I just point out that CAD isnt the panacea to all of our ills...its just another tool which can be weilded well, or badly. Just because you design a wagon or locomotive in CAD to produce, it doesnt mean its going to be any good! Plus you then need to pony up the money for the actual production of the item, and then put it together...
I've got an etched Wf chassis that I'm doing for VCC Models sitting on my bookshelf. Easy to design, but I've still got to get over my fears of making a mistake in putting it together, as well as finding the time to start! If you are scared of amking mistakes in your modelling, the fear will just be moved to another part of the process; I used to be fearful of cutting a straight line, now I'm scared of botching a soldor joint...where will it end? Scared of painting it? Running it?
Anyway, by the time you draw up say an Nz120 La in CAD (which youve taken 2 weeks to learn), sent it to be produced, paid the costs, made the mold and actually sat down and cast them you could have quite happily built at least 5 masters in plastic, honing your skills every time before doing a master you are happy with, all for the price of some thin plastic and MEK. And you would have a train to run, and the CAD jockey would still be telling everyone in sight about how the face of modelling is changing leaving eveyone else behind....
I've always thought that if you model NZ120, then you're doing so on the basis that you want to run a large empire that captures the spirit firstly, and secondly as a follow on, that the level of detail will be what you can add and keep looking right from 3 feet away!
I could be wrong!
If you want more detail, then the natural progression is to 3/16th, 9mm etc.
I started in HON21/2, a Merv Smith disciple and was happy until one day I discovered a Railmaster 'M' wagon kit and the (yes even then) level of detail that could be achieved in such a simple kit.
The other problem that I see as a stumbling block for many, is that scratchbuilding involved in so far as you need to marry commercial chassis to cast or homebuilt bodies. Maybe a lack of confidence?
The website with the "Build a LC...KP, 1909 main trunk passenger car etc" is in the links from this blog! The Chosen Scale co-op...
At http://www.automationz.co.nz/nz120/nz120.html
Cheers, Andrew
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