The latest Walthers sale flyer (Sept 2008) – with the NYC 20th Century Limited on the cover – has a sale price on a Faller “cement works” – assembled, not a kit, regular price is $68.99, on sale for $54.98. It is catalog number 272-193474. You cannot copy Walthers photos onto this website for some reason, but this website: http://www.udisco.com/hobbies/inv/FALL02.HTM
has this image
So I am thinking, where have I seen that model before? And then I realize – I just bought two of them, at the Walthers showroom, for a dollar each (damaged packaging). But what I bought is the IHC Cement Plant with Platform, also comes assembled, at a LIST price of $4.99! Catalog number 348-2.
So I ask the guy at Walthers, what is the difference. He says oh the Faller is much nicer, sharper detail (note the supports under the smaller verticle tanks for example)-- like the difference between LifeLike and Proto2000, he says. So I ask, you mean it is $64 nicer? Or $50 nicer? For that he had no comment. One issue is that Faller is consistently one of the most overpriced lines, in my opinion, compared to Heljan, Vollmer or Kibri – all also European and of comparable quality and variety.
The fair price for an item is what a willing buyer and a willing seller can agree on (Econ 101), but even so, this is quite a difference for what is in essence nearly the same structure. I wonder who copied who here, since IHC has been selling that cement plant for years (th
Amazing, I certain many of us would not have noticed had you not pointed this out. The photos clearly show how virtually identical these structures are!
I think a lot of us here would be willing to pay the $5.00 for the IHC version and with the cutting, painting, detailing and weathering techniques skills we’ve picked up over the years…spruce it up to look as good or even beter than the Faller version.
In the past some modelers would look down on those that purchased the cheaper structure kits from Bachmann, Life Like, IHC, and even Tyco. Yet, there have been many in the modeling magazines and forums that featured modelers that transformed cheap structures into works of art for less than $10 in materials.
I’ve downloaded both of the photos you posted above for future reference.
To this day I regret having gotten rid of my Tyco wooden freight station house as it had so much potential!
I’ve been planning on ordering one of those $4.99 ones to replace my stand-in structure in New Poland. A little paint and weathering and it should look fine!
P. T. Barnum said it best “A sucker is born every day”. If you get suckered into buying the $60.00 version vs the $4.99 one, your the sucker and shame on you.
I’m going to be the voice of dissent and guess that the cost in time, effort, and parts to bring the cheaper version up to acceptable level of detail is going to be fairly close to the cost of the expensive version.
It would be interesting to buy both versions and see if there really is any difference. I think this proves mold making isn’t really as expensive as some manufacturers claim.
Did you notice the British pedestrian overpass kit by Heljan to the upper right of your item that looks more like a cement filling plant than a pedestrian bridge…[:-^](proof read!)
While neither model appeals to me, that $55 model looks exponentially better than the $5 model. Whether you can tell the difference and want to pay that much more for that much more, is up to the individual purchaser.
The IHC built up items I’ve seen have all looked abysmal. Of course, for $5 and some work, it would probably be worth it as opposed to the admittedly overpriced Faller kit, but right out of the box I can’t imagine the two being comparable.
Both models are original Faller kits. The IHC version is the original 1960s kit, the Faller version has been upgraded over the years. Faller used to and may still manufacture “generic” versions of their models for other manufacturers, just as Heljan does.
Really, I just don’t see how. Time, yes it would take time…but that’s part of the hobby’s fun, isn’t it?
But the cost? A lot of modelers already have paints of various colors in their stock. Those colors are easy to recreate. To purchase similar colors, what are we talking…$3.00 to $5.00 per jar? Those window openings can be easily cut out with a dremmel or exacto knife and then the edges filed to the window frame contours. Clear plastic can be glued from the inside for the glazing. Let’s say we decide to include a few items from Details Associates. I’m thinking $20 max investment for a typical modeler on this forum to sweeten up the IHC version.
For me, since I have plenty of styrene pieces, clear plexiglass, small detail items in my hobby box, and lots of paint jars that I’ve purchased over the years, it would be more along the lines of under $10.
From the pictures it appears that the Faller building is much better.
Office building siding looks better.
Two round tanks on left versus one.
Bridge walkway at the top versus none.
Better railing detail.
Better/more tank support detail.
Stair railing versus none.
Better window and door detail
Whether the Faller is worth the extra is up to you. Faller tends to be pricey and for that reason I never bought any, but the IHC looks like it needs a lot of work / detail parts to just to get to the same place.
Well…it’s two models of the same (or very similar) building complex, not the same kit offered under two different brand names. IHC and BLI both make New York Central Hudsons for example, saying that the BLI one is rip-off because it costs more misses the point that the BLI one is much better made and a much better model of the real thing.
Yes, there are a number of typos or examples of poor proofing in this sale catalog. The Alexander “electric meter box” casting on page 78 is illustrated with a picture of a lamp shade, and the 120 ton Brownhoist crane from Tichy on page 25 is, as pictured, to me a plain gondola.
I also noticed the Faller version was also significantly better detailed than the IHC version.
The IHC version to me looks like Bachmann “Plasticville” level of detailing. Now that said, what your paying for with the Faller version is esentially a nice looking prepainted RTR out of the box building that can be placed immediatly on the layout, just glue and go.
Now if your not above a little bashing, for the price of the IHC version, you could buy 3 or 4 of them, and still have a significant amount of change left over for aftermarket detail parts, and one could take the extra building parts and add them to the initial kit, add those aftermarket details and add some painting or weathering and end up with a unique to your layout structure.
So I guess it depends on what your level of engagement really is. Do you want a RTR or are you willing to bash a little, you have more time invested but the money saved can buy other goodies, at least thats the way I see it.
Though identical, yes the Faller structure is much nicer overall. Sort of lke making a comparison between the Pontiac Firebird (nice, but plain) and Pontiac Trans Am (firebird with all of the extras).
I like the challenge of taking a “plain” kit like this and with the use of a few tools and spending just a few dollars in basic details, sprucing it up to a level that would make even seasoned modelers say “Wow, nice!” [;)].
The low value of the dollar vs. the Euro has raised the prices of all European imports lately. Take a look at Preiser figures. They’re through the roof. I’m glad Woodland Scenics seems to be making better figures these days. Their quality has improved a lot, and their prices have stayed in the reasonable range.
I’ve still got quite a few of those Crown cars. They used an odd-sized centering pin for the horn-hook couplers, and then sealed on the cover by melting the tip of the pin over the hole in the cover plate. The wheel flanges were way oversized, and the axles had thin cylindrical ends rather than conical ones. I’ve had to ream out the trucks to replace them. Other than that, though, they’re still serviceable cheap rolling stock. And on my teenage-boy-with-an-allowance budget back then, I was very happy with those cars.
