Maybe Walthers should consider putting a couple train enthusiests on the design board and eliminate a couple of the “money orientated” guys in the N scale line. It helps when it’s not just a job, but a passion. I just know that a much better model could have been built for the same price. Once you loose the respect of your patrons, it’s very costly and difficult to get them back.
Could be. Creative talent don’t come cheap!
john
Lee,
Picky! picky! picky! now come on that would look perfectly fine running around the Christmas tree and you know it.
Oh come on. I think they did a good job. It’s not often you can see right through those things. By the way,where do you put the batteries?
$25 for THAT?! I see a $3 price tag, but if I got it I see a 25 cent M2000 in the body shell with the fuse sticking out the end, maybe a match…come on guys, we all know that’s all it’s worth. course, those pizza cutter wheels could serve well at the local pizzerias.
For $25 I can get 3 Atlas cars at MBK (minus the shipping that is); bit light but just cash the remaining $4 (either way the shipping will be the same) into pennies at the bank and weight the cars up. Wow this makes me more entrenched in the Atlas/Kato/Micro-trains lines (and Micro-trains even has the same pizza-cutters)
Running around the tree heck, you could chop the sucker down with those flanges!
John
It’s a long and sordid story, and complicated. It has never been satisfactorily settled, nor amicably, in the numerous threads where we debated who models and who merely plays, and other such silliness, and it would be best left in the past. Nuff said. [X-)]
-Crandell
Walthers and everybody else will keep selling crap at high prices as long as there are idiots out here that are willing to buy it. Many people still regard model trains as children’s toys.
Honestly, I don´t understand the fuss being made about that caboose. For a mere 25 bucks, you get a wonderful car, made in the best way of 1960´s engineering, with a tremendous touch of nostalgia. There is only one flaw to it - to be a true replica, they should change the couplers to the original Rapido-type version. [swg]
When I first saw the picture, I thought it was Z scale, but even that can be done much better. Maybe not so good a choice of Walthers to market a car like that in the year 2010.
As mentioned earlier in this thread, it would be better if Walthers hired some real designers instead of letting the accountants do the drawings…
Maybe that vagabond called Brakie shouldn’t post? [:O]
I have no idea what Walthers is thinking asking $25.00 for a outdated tooled train set caboose that’s been around for decades…
Maybe we could turn it into a reality TV show… get some schmucks off the street, give 'em each some styrene, a set of trucks and a rattle-can of paint and let 'em compete to see who will become America’s next RailStar !!! (The loser each week gets eliminated-- I’m thinking tied to the track on the DC Metro… except,of course, that nobody would notice…)
And for judges, we could dig up (literally) Raymond Loewy, George Pullman, and Fred Harvey. (George would probably be the snarky one, Raymond the one on pills, and Harvey just sits there grinning and giving everybody a thumbs-up)
For the host-- how about that Matt Brown guy, from “Extreme Trains” ??? (“Wow! Would you look at that awesome diesel? Its simply INCREDIBLE! It’s so –smack!– thanks, I’m all better now…”
The winner would be given $100 bucks and their own (defunct) Model Railroad Manufacturing facility. The runners up would each receive an MTH locomotive (eventually).
Waddaya think? Would this be a winner or what !?!?!?! [:D]
John
I want to thank you guys for your support on this one. When they first announced this release back in March, I had hoped that the price was an indication of a much improved model. I think a lot of people thought that, based on what the competition was doing. But the pictures coming down the pike just prove to me that Walther’s has no interest in N scale, and can’t justify to itself investing in quality the way that Atlas, Kato, and Micro Trains have. (Micro Trains is something of a Johnny Come Lately, but their new heavyweight cars are phenomenal.) Even Athearn, that old HO warhorse, is doing N scale with skill and quality now.
For us Northeast modelers, though, the bad news is that Walther’s has a death grip on this style of caboose, making it unlikely that any of the good manufacturers will take it on. Hopefully this slap dash attempt will nudge someone else off the line to get serious with it.
And John, I think Walther’s already uses a reality show to run it’s N scale division… The Biggest Loser…
Lee
…on the other hand, it is very prototypical. Looks like everything else that Conrail operates.[(-D]
There really was no production involved in that thing, other than perhaps whatever engineering it took to swap the Rapido couplers for the knuckles. That’s Life Like’s ‘toy’ line N scale caboose that’s been around forever, long before Walthers was involved. FOr years, prior to the HO Proto 2000 version, the same caboose in HO, complete with oversize rivets and molded on grabs, was a staple of Reading modelers, who painted their own because it was offered in darn near every road name BUT Reading. And it’s a Reading standard caboose!
What’s crazy is the decision to run more of them AND put a price tag on it like it’s a premium quality model. When I was a kid and had an N scale layout I think those were 99 cents. Maybe $1.99.
–Randy
The model was actually introduced in the mid 1980’s, around the same time as the P2K version in HO, which is brilliantly done. These came out around the time that Life Like shifted it’s production to Kader, and they came out with the BL-2 in HO and N. At the time it was a bonanza, because before that, you could get any kind of N scale caboose you wanted as long as it was a Santa Fe type with the offset cupola. That or an SP style bay window. There were articles published in the N scale press about cutting up the ubiquitous Santa Fe model and re-arranging the bits and pieces to get close to a NE car, but other than brass, there were really no options.
At the time it was comparable to what else was out there in terms of level of detail design. The handrails were actually pretty nicely rendered, if a tiny bit thick. I’ve got a dozen or more of them, and they are the backbone of my caboose fleet. Over time I have made modifications, including adding window glass, lowering the bolsters, and body mounting MT couplers. With a little effort, they can be made quite presentable.
Unfortunately, when Walther’s took over Life Like, it gutted it’s N scale program, discontinued many of its really good, affordable locomotive offerings, and left important tooling like this caboose on the shelf. (It’s been around 10 years since it’s been offered). The real disappointment, as we have all noted, is the failure to put any effort at all into improving the model for the current market place, but still jacking up the price to "keep
This just in from Walther’s via Facebook:
Thank you all for your comments and concerns, we are always looking for ways to improve our product offering. Your feedback is important in that effort - we rely on you to help us to deliver the products model railroaders want and need.
We would like to point out that we have made some exciting improvements to this model. The caboose features … See Moremetal wheels and the trucks have been re-tooled to accept, and now feature, Accumate® knuckle couplers. We’ve also made improvements to the jewel case including a better PVC tray, which will make transporting these cabooses much easier.
Thank you again for your feedback. Our business will always remain focused on making sure each and every one of you continue to enjoy the hobby! We will do our best to integrate your comments into future releases. We truly value your opinions and your business.
[sigh]Great, replacement trucks that I can buy for $2.50, and a new improved jewel box. What the heck!?!
My guess is there won’t be any future releases, because this one is such a turd, no one will buy them. Then they can say “Well, no one buys N scale” and continue to have us ride in the back of the bus.
I give up.
Lee
… So we’re having this entire thread sliced up and made into decals which we’re going to affix to the sides of each new caboose we sell !!! [:P]
[:D]
John
Seems like a lot of folks are having fun picking apart this product. If you want Walthers to “get it” just don’t buy it. Retailers and manufacturers get the message loud and clear when their inventory is collecting dust.
I suspect that’s what’s going to happen… Then the brain trust at Walther’s will say “See! I told you no one buys N scale!”
They need to know that we’re not buying it because it’s badly done and over priced, not because there’s no N scale market. That’s THEIR problem… not ours.
Lee