Has anybody heard any recent news about Athearn’s blue box production plans?
I have recently moved into a larger house and am building a larger basement-sized layout. The benchwork is now completed and I am hoping to get to work on expanding my collection of a few hundred blue box kits that I have built over the past 20 yrs or so. I prototype-freelance (early 1980’s) and have relied on Athearn’s blue box kits to build my fleet of locomotives and rolling stock.
I just finished checking Athearn’s and Horizon’s web pages and to my dismay there are very few undecorated locomotives in stock at this time (or on the production schedule). It seems that most of the models that I am looking for are “temporarily out of production”. What does this mean?
If any of the folks at Athearn and Horizon read this post - I hope to see some undecorated SD40-2 (post 80 w Q-Fans), GP38-2 (DB w late grills), SW1500 (SP version), GP7, F7A (super power, single headlight) and F7B (super power) on the 2007 production schedule!
I love the blue box kits and hope that Athearn continues to produce them for a long time so that I can carry on the tradition with my children when they are old enough to start building the kits.
Athearn has always run batch production, but I don’t know how large the batches typically are. Past and present company policy is to run a new batch when the demand is there. Pre-Horizon days, Athearn would run a new batch when they felt that the supply had pretty much sold out. Now, Horizon looks to orders and demand from their hobby shops before making a run.
If you want a particular model run by Athearn, the way to get the demand through to Athearn/Horizon is via your LHS.
Even though Athearn says they have not cancelled Kit production. My hobby shop tells me that can’t get any in at all. Which is sad because I love to build my stuff.
I haven’t heard anything from Athearn regarding cancelling the blue box kits, but I know from experience that ordering them has been virtually impossible. Based on the in stock list from Horizon (the exclusive distributor of Athearn), there are very few things still available. I do know that there are some things in production with release dates however, so this is good news for someone looking for future kits. Just keep in mind the RTR revolution is upon us, and the kits days are starting to be numbered IMHO… [sigh]
Either they are not in good standing with Horizon and therefore cannot get anything Athearn, they are lying, or you guys are looking for kits that have not been made recently. The hobby shop I go to can get the recently produced Blue Box kits I order.
If the guy at the shop says he cannot get it, check Horizon Hobby’s website for availability. If the website says it is available, order it from Horizon and see if the guy at the hobby shop is being honest.
It looks to me like those that WANT these kits isn’t looking very hard or stuck buying from a dealer that is being less then honest about the availability of the BB kits.What I find hard to beluieve is those that STILL BELIEVES Athearn has stop making kits.True I haven’t seen any locomotive kits I have seen the freight car kits.
I believe Athearn still makes some kits, because they say they do and publish the schedule.
However just because a store has kits in stock does not mean they still make THOSE kits.
If someone wants Blue Box kits they are out there to buy! In stores, ebay, and shows. You can stock up on them all you want to as most stores are more than anxious to get rid of them since the RTR line outsells them by a large margin.
Very true. Many of the BB freight car kits are readily available. Just the other day I ordered a few from discount trains online. But the locomotive kits are VERY hard to come by, except for the F7s. Luckily my LHS has TONS of older BB kits[:D] Plus, I have found some good deals on eBay.
If you look at Athearn’s actions over the past few years, it does appear that Athearn perfers the RTR line and would probably like to get rid of the Blue Box line. It seems that more and more modelers are now wanting accurate and detailed cars. Athearn made such a thing with their PS 5344 cubic foot boxcar. Appearently, the Blue Box kit was always considered by Athearn to be offered for only a limited time. Then, once when they started bring back MDC kits, they offer them as kits only if they had no prototype. Of course, Athearn probably makes considerably more money on the RTR car than the same car as a kit.
At least they offer the 57’ mechanical reefer; 50’ exterior post, double door, PCF boxcar; ACF Center-flow; and PS covered hopper (all of which are pretty good representations of a prototype) as Blue Box kits. Although it does look like they will not be offering their container cars as kit again.