[bow] I would gladly assemble! Is it possible to find these today??
I sure wish that were true. In big time commercial construction (chemical and power plants, refineries, etc), I haven’t seen any improvements in delivery or quality when Buy American (govt funded) is enforced. There are a few really good companies/suppliers, and a whole host of others that can’t be bothered to read the contract they signed. Even occurs down at the individual worker level. Our current contract requires workers pass regular drug and alcohol testing. Every worker is told before they report on their 1st day that they will be tested. Over 15% screen positive anyway. I’ve learned that in the end a contract is only as valid as the goodwill of the parties behind it; doesn’t matter how many signatures are on it.
The evidence is mostly hear-say, but from what Walters and some of the small manufacturers I know have said, the same problems are prevalent in the mr manufacturing business. Most manufacturers cannot produce all the parts they need for their products. In the case of locomotives, motors, gears, shafts, wheels, flywheels, electronics boards, light bulbs, and some cast details are all usually out-sourced. Packaging and transportation are always out-sourced. And this assumes the manufacturer has their own casting ability - many do not. The locomotive manufacturer is making a batch run of 3K-5K of a given model (much smaller if not HO or N). Chances of his suppliers all delivering the out-sourced parts when needed are slim to none. It’s almost a guarantee that at least one supplier will fail to deliver at all, and the scramble is on to replace the n
If somebody thinks this is a problem in the world of plastic, try waiting out delivery of brass. A great example is a particular division superintendent’s car by The Coach Yard I have been waiting for. It was announced in 2005 (or it may have been 2004), so I made my reservation in 2005. Still waiting…
Of course it is known that an importer will wait for a certain amount of pre-orders/reservations before they order a production run.
Then couple all that rigmarol with a triple layer outsource and a company that may be having issues with a set of outsourced outsources and then watch the feathers fly.
In an interesting sidelight—picture this: prototype is made, marketing claims 10,000 preorders before protoype is even QC’ed or tested, sales never even heard of the dang thing and management hasn’t a clue about what anyone is saying.I worked in a company that had this thing happen.[xx(] Or better yet plays monkeyshines with everyone by redefining whatever phrases so to confuse the potential customer even more. Does this sound like a company that one would invest in? And all of this from people who are more “qualified” to work in this field—[|(]
Smitty:
This is quite true. I’ve been waiting for Sunset to release my pre-ordered brass Z-6 4-6-6-4 for close to 2 years now. But believe me, as a model railroader who runs 95% brass on my layout, I know how long these waits can be, especially if you’re looking at what might be generally termed a ‘niche’ item by the industry, especially these days with brass constituting a VERY small minority of the market.
Oddly enough, Sunset advertised an SP Mogul 2-6-0 some time after announcing the Z-6, and it’s out on the market right now. But every time I check with Sunset about the 4-6-6-4, they tell me it’s “On Order.” We may be in the same boat–the mfgr. waiting to see if enough CONFIRMED orders come in to cover the expense of production.
But it’s been proven, at least to me, by responses over the past several years, that the SP “Daylight” train is NOT a ‘niche’ train, in fact from what I’ve read, there are a great many HO modelers who are really clamoring for it, both out here in the West and all over. One of the two railroads I model is the Southern Pacific (the other is Rio Grande) and I’d give my eyeteeth for something ‘authentic’ to put behind my several Balboa brass GS-4’s. Right now, they’re hauling Athearns in SP livery, and though they’re attractive, they just AIN’T the “Daylight”, LOL!
My worry is that Genesis, MTH and
Fred,
You are exactly right. Buying American is no assurance of quality, unfortunately. For example, my RR club had 300 covered hoppers (in kit form) run for us by Accurail (made in USA) and custom painted by a certain unnamed manufacturer that used to offer (and may still offer) custom paint projects like this (all done in the USA).
In the first car kit we sold, the buyer (a club member) found that he was missing the end sheets. So when we started digging around to replace them, we found a couple other missing pieces in those boxes, too. Therefore, we had to go through all 300 car kits, and sure enough we were missing some 50+ end sheets. When we contacted the custom paint manufacturer, they told us that they had recently fired one of their box packers because he was working while high on drugs (this manfacturer did replace all the missing parts, BTW).
And don’t even get me started on things like the Big Dig in Boston. A college buddy of mine was civil engineer on that project, and some of the stories he told me about All-American quality made me twitch.
Paul A. Cutler III
Weather Or No Go New Haven
That had ME wondering as well—now mind, quality means work—and there is where the problem starts–
This whole thing is silly when you think about it. There used to be this idea called “quality”. It no longer exists because we believe in the make money as fast as possible route—and if it means cut those corners then do so-------[:-^]
But the problem is is that quality is not anymore a reality anywhere. What with the triple layer outsourcing it has become even more awkward to get some kind of control on. When a Chinese company goes to yet another country to get another outsourcing firm to do their job what do you think will happen? We may have reached a point where the product is now secondary to the money being made. If it is even secondary—but this is a whole new can of worms to open up----[:-^]
Maybe they have them already and it’s playing like an old-west shoot-out? So that when one manufactuer gets tired of waitng on the others and releases their daylights, the others come in all at once with thiers. Granted it would flood the market, kind of like Athearn and PCM’s Big boys.
I’ve been waiting at least that long for about a dozen of Coach Yard’s SP heavyweights. But there is hope yet. Here is the latest news, as of June 4?, per Coach Yard’s website:
Great News - The Coach Yard has received the stimulus package from Korea !
- Sam Model Tech is in the final stages of the Southern Pacific Heavyweight car project and is getting ready to ship them to us. - We have been notified the shipping date is June 15, 2009.
- The staff is busy preparing the Pro-Forma Invoices to our Stores and Dealers.
Mark
Can we see the light at the end of the tunnel?
(Taken in gold mine at Sutter Creek, CA.)
Mark
Mark- What loke were you in at the time you took pic?[swg]
I took the picture from a low-set, four-wheel mine vehicle designed to carry people. There was talk about re-opening the mine if investors could be found to take advantage of the rising value of gold… That would bring the end of tours.
The mine isn’t all that old. It is below 19th century mines which couldn’t go this deep because there was a strata of very, very, hard rock that was considered to costly to penetrate.
Mark