Anyone know of any flat kit that can be used to model the PE Arrowhead tank
cars?

See http://jpg.lapl.org/pics27/00048072.jpg

for a good photo of these cars.

eric

Eric Bracher wrote:

Anyone know of any flat kit that can be used to model the PE Arrowhead tank
cars?

See http://jpg.lapl.org/pics27/00048072.jpg

for a good photo of these cars.

Eric, it's a Harriman flat car (Class F-50-3), and if only we DID have a kit. To my knowledge, there's never been one in any scale, though I think there may have been brass.

Tony Thompson Editor, Signature Press, Berkeley, CA
2906 Forest Ave., Berkeley, CA 94705 www.signaturepress.com
(510) 540-6538; fax, (510) 540-1937; e-mail, thompson@...
Publishers of books on railroad history

In a message dated 12/21/06 9:27:16 PM, thompson@... writes:

Eric, it's a Harriman flat car (Class F-50-3), and if only we DID
have a kit. To my knowledge, there's never been one in any scale,
though I think there may have been brass.

Thanks Tony. Now if we can persuade someone to do a kit of this flat.
Westerfield/Sunshine?

eric

In a message dated 12/27/06 9:53:03 PM, thompson@... writes:

Both said that flat cars don't sell
worth a darn.

How about if they did them as tank cars? A lot of PE fans out there.

eric

eric bracher wrote:

Thanks Tony. Now if we can persuade someone to do a kit of this flat. Westerfield/Sunshine?

Eric, as I know from talking to both Lofton and Westerfield, the level of interest is miniscule. Both said that flat cars don't sell worth a darn.

Tony Thompson Editor, Signature Press, Berkeley, CA
2906 Forest Ave., Berkeley, CA 94705 www.signaturepress.com
(510) 540-6538; fax, (510) 540-1937; e-mail, thompson@...
Publishers of books on railroad history

On Dec 27, 2006, at 10:29 PM, eabracher@... wrote:

In a message dated 12/27/06 9:53:03 PM, thompson@... writes:

Both said that flat cars don't sell
worth a darn.

How about if they did them as tank cars? A lot of PE fans out there.

Yeah, right, Eric. Get real. There must be at least twenty or twenty-five guys who would actually buy and build a resin kit for those PE water bottle cars, which ran only on the PE, and only on a small part of the PE system. Let's be generous and say maybe fifty. No one in their right mind would spend the hours and hours of time required to make masters and mold parts for a market that small unless they were strongly motivated to get one or more models for themselves. Even for the most popular freight cars that ran everywhere in interchange, the market for resin kits is modest at best. At least you're not suggesting that someone spend $50,000+ on tooling to do injection molded models of the PE cars, though I've heard proposals that were equally far-fetched. In their sometimes out-of-control enthusiasm, modelers tend to forget that the people who make model railroad products are trying to earn at least a modest living at it.

Richard Hendrickson

Richard Hendrickson wrote:

Yeah, right, Eric. Get real. There must be at least twenty or twenty-five guys who would actually buy and build a resin kit for those PE water bottle cars, which ran only on the PE, and only on a
small part of the PE system. Let's be generous and say maybe fifty . . .

Everything Richard says is exactly true. But it misses the point for much model railroad manufacturing--and sales. How many guys "buy it cuz they love it" or "just gotta have one of those" regardless of location, era, prototype operation, etc. etc.? Yeah, I know, they're all bozos, but the point is, there's more than one way to make a living with model railroad products. At least if someone did the car Eric advocates, it would have a prototype. We've all seen "bozo products" that didn't even have prototypes.

Tony Thompson Editor, Signature Press, Berkeley, CA
2906 Forest Ave., Berkeley, CA 94705 www.signaturepress.com
(510) 540-6538; fax, (510) 540-1937; e-mail, thompson@...
Publishers of books on railroad history

I guess I'm one of the oddballs. I have built every resin flat I can find.

CJ Riley


--- Anthony Thompson <thompson@...> wrote:

eric bracher wrote:

Thanks Tony. Now if we can persuade someone to do a kit of this
flat. Westerfield/Sunshine?

Eric, as I know from talking to both Lofton and Westerfield, the
level of interest is miniscule. Both said that flat cars don't sell
worth a darn.

Tony Thompson Editor, Signature Press, Berkeley, CA
2906 Forest Ave., Berkeley, CA 94705 www.signaturepress.com
(510) 540-6538; fax, (510) 540-1937; e-mail, thompson@...
Publishers of books on railroad history

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