Guys;

I wouldn't buy a pre-weathered model to save my life. I view weathering as
one of the fun things I get to do.



However, what sells is another thing. I would never have guessed that RTR
cars would have taken over, either, as I like to also build stuff.



That is why I am not a business tycoon, but I can see trends coming, and
those Dragon Armor models sell like hotcakes, regardless of what the "real"
armor modelers might say. Several hobby shop owners I know have dumped their
entire kit stocks to clear their shelves for them, and they sell >10 times as
many.



We can view anything as a lemon or lemonade. I hope that any new trend
results in me getting something I want, namely another accurate freight car.
Here's to new ways of selling the hobby!



Elden Gatwood



________________________________

From: STMFC@... [mailto:STMFC@...] On Behalf Of
timboconnor@...
Sent: Wednesday, May 09, 2007 4:02 PM
To: STMFC@...
Subject: [STMFC] Re: Preweathered Model Comment



Paul

Yes, I know, but that's the problem with sweeping generalizations
ain't it?

Also, weathering is both an art and a skill, and it CAN be taught. I
noticed that the weathering on Athearn's new pre-weathered cars
is an order of magnitude better than the old Ertl stuff. And I see that
on Ebay, outstanding weathering often commands a $100 premium.
So somewhere between Athearn's price and that $100, I guess that
there is a middle ground where a factory could "mass produce" very
good weathering at $1 for an hour of labor.

Whether such a trend is bad for the hobby, I don't know or care. But
based on my own experience I would not expect even great factory
weathering to ever become wildly popular with the mass market.
We who weather are at best a majority of a small minority...

Tim O'Connor