--- In STMFC@..., <branchline@...> wrote:

I would be curious to hear from Mr. Storzek
regarding the deviations we observed.

Tom,

I think he did already... In his earlier message Dennis said:

"Don't put too much stock in that illustration; it's a "generisised"
copy of Hundman's C&NW drawing (used with permission, of course)...

Thanks Bill,

As Bill well knows, it is an unfortunate fact of life that advertising
materials need to be sent out months before any product is ready,
sometimes before major design decisions have been finalized. What
typically happens is someone pops their head into my office and says,
"do we have something to illustrate an ad for the new model? By the
way, the deadline was yesterday, but they'll get it in if they get it
by tomorrow." This sets off a panic search to 1) find a prototype
photo, and 2) obtain permission to use it. Very often, the best photos
are from books and other sources that are not usable, and what is
usable isn't what we'd want to use. The next best thing is to use a
drawing of the model, but hey, I'm the designer, not the graphic
artist. I scroll through my CAD files, and find that not a single one
shows the complete car body, much less trucks, couplers, and brake
rigging installed. When this happens , it's time to call around and
see who has something that is usable, RIGHT NOW.

I normally try to remove anything that might indicate the prototype is
something other than what we're really building. That's the reason
that the end reinforcing straps and heavy center posts disappeared
from Bob's drawing. If I would have caught the lap seam, that would
have gone too.

The article on the C&NW cars in MM was quite the spread.
Unfortunately, further research into who actually had similar cars
showed those cars to be unique to the C&NW, while the AAR Recommended
Practice car was purchase by several roads, so as appealing as the
C&NW cars were, the decision was made to do the more typical car. It
would appear from comments here that Sunshine made exactly the same
decision; unusual for a resin kit producer.

Anyway, one would do well too keep in mind that finished product
doesn't always match the early advertising materials, and if the ads
don't obviously show the actual model, there is always the chance that
there is a surprise lurking out there. It's happened before.

Dennis