Theres another discussion raging on the NZ120 forum currently about RTR Nz120 models.
(forgive me now, as I think I've said all this before...)
Again its that old chicken and egg chat about how much people are actually prepared to pay for models in the scale. Its one of those things that seems to surface every year or so. Again I don't know what the answer is in such a small market. The local kit manufacturers in any scale are not getting rich quick ( I tend to compare it to being a monk) so they aren't in it for the money. I can only applaud the guys who actually get out and do it, and I look forward to some of the upcoming offerings.
Another comment got me thinking too. Wee Duggie commented that the local model assemblers are flat out and can't keep up (or can't give a timeline or budget). This is interesting on quite a few levels. Is it that the recession has had no effect on the guys who normally pay for kit assembly? Or is it that the old generation of kits are just that hard to get to go right (certainly the steam locos are). Or is it that the newer generation of kits frighten people that much (the AFK masterpieces) that they feel forced into getting someone else to make them for fear of making an error that marks then as somehow a lesser mortal for actually having a go oneself. In any case the kit assemblers are obviously making enough money to actually keep going at it, and not toss it in, regardless of the speed that they actually work at.
I do often wonder if it would be nice to go back to those carefree times of the 80's when not quite square models circled aimlessly between Otaki and Cass. maybe todays increased drive for higher and higher standards has actually lead to a decrease in modeling, as more and more people are scared off. Some times you just have to accept that its not going to be a great model, and that the only true waste of modeling time is when you don't learn anything new in a project.
(Helmet on and hunkering down behind a nice fire-proof rock)
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5 comments:
everyone knows how much an Atlas or Kato or Crapmann N scale model costs, add $100 give or take (because it's just a hobby, right ?) and that should be right - anyone asking for more is just a dawdler ! sorry if I did bother you with my question about how much someone asking for RTR NZ120 is actually willing to pay. I wasn't that much involved in NZ120 back in the late 80's as some others obviously were...
cheers...
steve w.
wtf is a 'trotov' ?
I was going to get someone to make up my etch ectra kits ( A dc and da). I decided to have a go at it myself, though my learnng to solder will have to be done on the white metal kits from trackgang. the Dx, which I have done ( need to take a photo) is a bit shoddy, in that a some of the bits got bent in transit when I moved and then I had the cab fall off the desk while it was being glued and now is bent out of shape in some areas.
cheers
Richard
Nothing like a good dose of "raging philosophising" about "hoary old model rail topics" to make one rethink current plans for one's leisure pastime pursuits - oh that the energy directed into such debate could be channelled into actual modelling, 80's style or otherwise.
Just to clarify re kit assemblers, I have only approached a few who are known to me, so my comments are only in respect to those, who are largely involved with Sn3.5 &/or P34 (i.e 9MM) stuff - one chap I know keeps busy assembling 4mm & 7mm kits of UK locos(steam) for happy Kiwi modellers of that persuasion. I am sure there are others out there who would like to have a crack at assembling some rtr NZ120 models, once the etches and power mechanisms are sorted out for the Ds, Dsc, Dh & now Hitachi Tr.
I think personally the major issue re NZ assemblers is that they (the ones I know anyway) are all gracefully ageing, so their output is down, and as a corrollary there does not seem to be a host of younger modellers keen to offer such services to other modellers, who don't want to accept this part of the hobby's challenge, but do want representative NZR type locos hauling the nice wagons they may have assembled from kits.
This debate surfaces in all the other jurisdictions and scales, so it seems like its going to be a perennial talking point - not particularly harmful.
Until our present government lifts our salary packets to equate those of inhabitants across the ditch, we shall continue to wring our hands and bemoan that no-one is prepared to offer NZ120 RTR stuff at prices which Mr Bachmann or Atlas require to keep them in business (although Herr Maerklin, Fleischmann et al & Triang, GEM etc all hit the wall anyway)
Virtually nothing the government does will have any effect on the affordability of RTR NZ120. Waiting for the government to increase your salary is about as meaningful as expecting the tooth fairy to help you with your hobby.
The NZ market is miniscule compared to the market for US N scale so there are no economies of scale. Pay the market rate, do it yourself or continue with the hand-wringing.
I myself would love to spend my time building for the RTR market. BUT (buggar)....in todays world I do have a full time job, so only get spare time to run my (hobby) business, do jobs around the house and look after the family. If I didn't need to sleep at night....hmmm I'll have to think how I can get around that one.
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