I’m more of the point of view that societies should go for accurate or not bother with realistic paint and lettering.  

 

On the topic of relying on societies, I am with others who do.  I don’t have the breadth of knowledge to chase every prototype, but when I see an offering by a society I am more willing to ante up.  In the hobby shop I’m often scuppered by foobie paint schemes (to the point of walking out empty handed), so any help is appreciated. 

 

In fact, it occurs to me in this era of advance orders and limited production runs that the best way to gather crowds around specific models is for societies (or others with credibility for seriousness and accuracy) to do the research, get the community interested and on board, and then bring that to the manufacturer.   Societies wanting to make $$ should try that out – it is more likely I’ll purchase a model for a road I know little about where the research is already done and presented with the model.  Otherwise I stick to the little I know, and broaden my purchases very slowly.

 

But I’ve no problem if a society fundraiser does a foobie so long as they put a great big “2014 fund raiser” on the side – that tells me enough.   (sort of like NMRA national meet cars)   And frankly if they stuck to Athearn blue box, I’d feel the same.   To me I think the issue partly arises from the fact that Accurail car bodies look like the real thing, so make the potential for mistakes real.   

 

Rob Kirkham