I appreciate your view, especially for the caboose. I can hardly imagine drilling holes and installing wire grab irons without breaking the details around the end platforms. I did build the undecorated kit so I avoided that problem. Didn’t break any drills either. The passenger cars should be much easier. Still, I believe we should begin a writing campaign to Walters asking that their RTR rolling stock include the grab-ons installed and that we’re willing to pay the price.
It’s obvious that YOUR standards are higher than your selected product’s are.
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The difference between MANUFACTURER’S is their STANDARDS - (Sorta like people?) Most manufacturer’s make their product’s to be compatible with their own products- not their competitors. ATHEARN still has low couplers - but they mate perfectly with ‘other’ Athearn products - as do their choice of couplers. See what I mean?
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Manufactures #1 goal is to SELL. Athearn parlayed incorrect dimensions , out of gauge wheels, and horn-hook couplers, to being No# 1 seller! - while others looking to be ‘correct’, went out of business. Is there a lesson here? YOU want perfection - but others want ‘price’. Manufacturer’s agonize over what to ‘leave’ out vs. adding what will sell, in bringing new products to market.
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As stated by IRONROOSTER. NMRA Standards are for ‘Compatability’ and only RECOMMENDED TO manufacturer’s. It’s up to them to follow - and ‘which’ of them they choose to…
My experience is: When someone makes something that’s ‘perfect’ - it’s inverably too expensive… also there is a ‘Truism’:
When something becomes ‘Idiot Proof’ - only Idiots will buy it.
Branchline and Intermountain are examples of detailed car kits, with lots of parts to assemble. Marx and Tyco cars, on the other hand are 1000% ‘track ready’. Something for everybody.
Yeah, most of the rolling stock on the train shops’ shelves now are RTR. Putting together a “craftsman” plastic box car with some 30 or so parts is a nice way to spend an evening, but now you may have to special order it.
REXHEA: It’s all in your point of view.
YOU DON"T. You can spend $350 on a ‘Coach Yard’ brass car with NO couplers!
… or use the ones you threw out with the $35 one.
On the other side of the coin, you have me! []
I don’t care that the prototype had 57" vs. 56" drivers or the smokebox was painted green for 6 months in 1843. I buy locos and cars on their looks alone. Over the years, I found out which brands perform the best and stick with those.
Sure I change out the wheels for IM and put magnetic couplers on those that don’t have them, but that’s for reliabilty, not realism.
I enjoy using my hands and MRR is an outlet that gives me the most variety of satisfying tasks wihout having to foist a bunch of picture frames on my kids and grandkids if I were in woodworking, for example.
How does a vendor balance between what I want and what other people want?
I sincerely apologize if I have offended anyone with my comments.
Tom
Has Kato applied? I doubt that they have. They make excellent products, As anyone who has been active in model railroading knows. They don’t need certificates to prove it.
“Anyone desiring a Product Inspection and/or applying for a NMRA Conformance Warrant should complete the applicable form indicated below and submit the completed form along with the product for Inspection.”
Submission Forms Page
Yes…Funny Kato has not applied…But,still you miss my point.The point being you can’t really depend on the NMRA standards or manufacturers following them.
True, there is nothing to force manufactures to comply, but there is much more compatibility than would otherwise exist because of the standards. Many products that don’t have certificates do comply or are so close that in most cases they are still useable with little, if any, modification needed.
I assume that MOST of the newer models are new tooling, so it should’nt involve extra expense to build the engine or car to the correct dimensions so that couplers are at the right height. If,let,s say Athern is introducing a new engine,they have enough model building experience to realize that the correct amount of weight will help pull more cars. We are not talking about $50 engines or $10 cars anymore .When you pay $300 for a plastic engine I don’t think it’s unreasonable to expect the model to have front & rear working couplers at the correct height or to include the right bulb(s) for analog & DCC.
If you are that annoyed by spending top dollar on something that is not “right” or not really RTR, then why did you purchase (or not return it) it to begin with?
It seems to me the best message you can send the people who make this stuff is to stop buying it.
Of course most of us can hardly afford the cheaper stuff anyway…
Oh, I must stop replying to topics before my morning coffee…[|(]
That’s my point…I do have the skills to install the correct lighting,fiddle around with couplers, add weight, re-power engines, super detail & paint brass and plastic engines and cars.I EXPECT to do that on lower priced equipment,I buy the newer stuff because they usually run and look great, I just would like the manufactures to bring it up ANOTHER notch.With my Mr. Magoo eyesight and my Fred Flintstone fingers, it,s getting harder to change/correct things.
The bottom line is that you should be able to trust that the product your are buying will be or do what it is designed for without further modification. Being on the low end should not mean a lack of quality in what is included with that particular model.
NOTE: $35.00 is not cheap for a name brand, empty, snapped together, RTR, plastic model, and should not require any further adjustment or modification to provide satisfactory performance.