Obviously engine manufacturers look to the prototype to determine which road names to model but when it comes down to a decision of modeling one road name over another, how do they choose that? It would seem to me that they would choose which road names are going to sell the most.
I want to purchase an SD38-2 from Kato in Southern Pacific.
SP had several of these engines but Kato does not offer this model in SP. They do offer it in Duluth Missabe & Iron Range, Elgin Joliet & Eastern, and US Steel (plus UP and CNW). In my opinion, these road names are pretty obscure compared to Southern Pacific - why does Kato choose these obscure names over SP?
I’m not confident in my own custom painting skills but maybe this is a great time to jump in and try custom painting a model.
Kato is a Japanese company and if you don’t understand the Japanese business mindset you won’t ever understand Kato. Basically it comes down to I am running this company therefore I know everything there is to know about it and if I think 500 units of certain roadname is what I foresee there will be 500 made. Now if the public wants 10,000 they are wrong because I run the company and know everything about this business. That goes for the roadnames also.
I believe the SP only had six units of this type, and Kato might have overlooked them… I believe they were used at Colton yard.
Email Kato and let them know we want some, and who knows, the second run might get done in SP.
I read somewhere that Santa Fe has more models decorated for it that they never owned, than any other railroad simply because the Santa Fe Warbonnet paint scheme is so popular among modelers. As for your question about the SP locomotives, do as bangert1 suggested and send Kato an e-mail expressing your desires. If they get enough requests for SP, they’ll probably do a little more research in the future about which roads actually used a particular locomotive.
Interesting observations about “the Japanese business mindset.” I see I have been mistaken all these years in thinking that they were simply good at offering Americans what they wanted.
Back when the American public demanded gas-efficient automobiles, I could have sworn it was Japanese manufacturers that stepped in to provide the cars Detroit refused to make. I must have been mistaken. I guess all those Toyotas and Hondas were just a Japanese business mistake.
I also am convinced the Japanese are way smarter than ndbprr’s opinnion and am sure they use marketing information to determine what models to make. It certainly is reasonable that they may have overlooked the SP units, or possibly there are subtile differances in the SP units that caused them not to bring out this model (I know nothing about SP). If there isn’t, letting them know of the oversite might produce the desired results.
I feel your pain. I have no idea why they made them for the Missabe, the Joe and US Steel (all owned by USS), but they left out the fourth USS railroad, the Bessemer and Lake Erie. I’ll have to buy a Missabe unit and paint it or something.
‘Just in Time’ production originated in Japan, and today many campanies all over the world are emulating this model, especially in the model railroad industry. Product lines shift in accordance with (supposed) changing market demand, and this amounts to shorter production runs of a particular style or model. You just might eventually see an SD38 in SP colours, but in a future production run. I wanted an Atlas S-2 in CP Rail Action Red. The loco made its debut in 1986-87, and (several production runs later) a CP Rail version was released in 2004. It’s no good to me now because I’ve painted a few Atlas Alco switchers in CP Rail colours and I’m quite happy with the results.
According to my August 1990 Southern Pacific roster, it did only have 6, SP 2971-2976, they were built in May 1973. They had two headlights in the nose, not in the SP configuration but in the standard headlights-in-nose configuration. It is suspected that since SP bought these intending them for only yard work they did not specified the 5 lights.
I think maybe the manufacturers find out what road I would like a unit in and make sure not to include it in the line. Sounds like maybe Kato has an interest in USS. I certainly think I would include SP before DM&IR or EJ&E.
Actually many of the “Japanese” manufacturing techniques were invented by an American. Its just that after WW2 the Japanese listened to him and the Americans didn’t. A prophet is without honor in his own land.
Manufacturers should realize that SP sells! Especially the Bloody nose, red & grey, roman lettering scheme. I’m a SP fan and usually there available in the Tiger stripe ,Black widow , SP in the Rio Grande- speed lettering or SP/SF Kodachrome scheme. My luck, I seem to have a harder time finding the Red& Grey. (examples: recent Athearn SD-45T2 roman lettering- sold quick, Life Like GP-30, RS-11, PA’s, E9’s- I have purchased these, but rarely available now). Common Guys! Support the Red& Grey Scheme! [^]
well first off they will offer the models in what road of who has the most of them SD38-2 example, obviously UP, they have SP’s and CN&W’s old ones sence UP bought those roads. plus SP only had like 5 or 6 SP kinda obscured to me
I think it varies. Santa Fe and Pennsylvania seem to be the two used the most whether it’s prototypically correct or not. After that , it seems to depend on the manufacturer. Some will only do paint jobs for those roads that had that type. Others will do what they like, or what they think will sell. Didn’t someone have a GG1 painted for SP?
If you’re willing to repaint them, you can usually find the roadnames that didn’t sell at full price on sale.