Just a question, It seems that all previous brass locos, had a prefix in front of the description like PFM etc. I assume this was the distributor who placed an order with a manufacturer in Asia, OK so far??? Is this still done today??? Who do you contact if the loco is non functional, the distributor or the maker??? Could a person contact the manufacturers in regards to information on loco construction?? I did hear of a chap in Vancouver who contacted a jeweler/model maker and had a locomotive built, and it cost as much as from a distributor.
The importer or distributor is the company to contact. The maufacturer overseas normally build the models under a contract to the importer and does not respond to inquiries or problems except to the importer.
Some of the companies will build a model for individuals, but this service costs much more than a production model. There is a company in Japan, (Formosa) I believe that used to do custom work, but you don’t want to know the price for an HO model. The price is more than double the street price for an importer and what you get is what you own.
Pacific Fast Mail was a company that imported brass models from several model manufacturers in Japan for many years and imported a few from Korea later on. They imported many of the regular brass models from United, but their Crowns were from Tenshodo, Fuji, Sakura and Toby.
Samhongsa manufactured most of the Korea build models for over twenty five years and built models for several different importers. Samhongsa stopped brass model manufacturing about four years ago, but are still in business for other products.
In my opinion, some of the latest models that are outstanding are built by Samtech. This company started up after Samhongsa stopped production and the people involved are the engineers from
Because of the warranty I would call the distributor where you purchased the model. He would send it to the importer who would fix the problem(s) or replace the model. That procedure should be easy. But some importers are very friendly so it could be as easy but time saving to contact them directly. Most importers have web sites where you could get call numbers and email adresses.
One time I tried to get in contact with TENSHODO, I have had a fairly simple question (but not too simple that I could have asked many other people aside of TENSHODO) - but I never got any response. I never tried with Korean makers, but don’t expect that this would be much better.
One the biggest importers today is Overland aka OMI. You can find their ads in any Model Railroader and most other mags.MR has ads for serveral other current importers as well. Most of the importers/dealers have their own web sites which are listed in the ads. Buy an issue of Model Railroader at your local hobby shop or Walmart.
For warranty service contact the importer, distributor or dealer. Unless you’re fluent in Japanese or Korean forget about contacting the manufacturer directly.
As far as out of warranty repairs or remotoring look for custom builders especially those that specialize in working with brass. I am one, check my profile for contact info or use the email link at the bottom of the post.