Does F&C still have monthly specials on polybagged kits?

Ed

Yes they do.  Just send a LSSAE to them and they will send a flyer with a coupon for their box kits and a list of bagged kit specials.
Joe Horter
Charleston, WV

Or call direct at (570) 224-4989 , they are great to deal with.
They will give you the Poly Bag price and specials by Phone, if you ask, and they can take credit cards by Phone too.
I was told last time I called, prices were going up on Aug 1st. (Thats why I had Jeff Schultz get the pictures at the NTS, and post them of the new PRR X26c Kit, so I could get a order in before Aug 1st.)

Ron Smith
Carman UPRR

Joe,

Actually, if you send F&C a pile of #10 SSAEs, they will keep sending out their lists as long as the envelopes last. Bagged kits are always available at reduced prices, and they always seem to be running their two-for-the-price-of-one specials on most boxed kits. Their lists are not complete catalogs, but usually limited to what is new and available in bags. They recommend the current Walthers catalog to see their whole line, and will extend their special prices to anything listed in Walthers. You can order by mail, phone, or buy direct at Timonium and some other large shows.

Kind regards,


Garth G. Groff

Josef Horter wrote:

Thanks Garth.  I just started receiving their flyers when I ordered some decals and a couple kits recently.
Joe

Thanks to all who answered.

It looks like their prices went up in the last year. $32 is a little
expensive for a car originally done by West Shore or Yankee Clipper 15-
20 years ago.

Ed

On Jul 23, 2008, at 9:26 AM, ed_mines wrote:

Thanks to all who answered.

It looks like their prices went up in the last year. $32 is a little
expensive for a car originally done by West Shore or Yankee Clipper 15-
20 years ago.

Ed

Ed,

I don't know... original early Sunshine kits fetch closer to $75-100 and most of the F&C kits are "improved" over the originals. In addition, as folks have been saying in this thread, nobody should actually PAY $32 for an F&C kit. More like $16.

Regards
Bruce

Bruce F. Smith
Auburn, AL
http://www.vetmed.auburn.edu/index.pl/bruce_f._smith2

"Some days you are the bug, some days you are the windshield."
__
/ \
__<+--+>________________&#92;__/___ ________________________________
|- ______/ O O &#92;_______ -| | __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ |
| / 4999 PENNSYLVANIA 4999 &#92; | ||__||__||__||__||__||__||__||__||
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I agree with Bruce.



Many of the new F&C kits are posted retail of $39.99, but are sold at 2 for 1
most of the time, plus the bagged kits are even less. Compare this to high
30's for Sunshine, $42 for some of the Speedwitch, and one can see where the
trend is going. Yes, $32 for one of the earlier kits like the PRR GR gon,
would be a lot; however, given the high quality of the newer F&C releases,
like the X26C (which is REALLY nice), which I did get on a 2 for 1, I view
them as one of the most cost-effective resin kit alternatives.



Elden Gatwood



________________________________

From: STMFC@... [mailto:STMFC@...] On Behalf Of
ed_mines
Sent: Wednesday, July 23, 2008 10:26 AM
To: STMFC@...
Subject: [STMFC] Re: F&C



Thanks to all who answered.

It looks like their prices went up in the last year. $32 is a little
expensive for a car originally done by West Shore or Yankee Clipper 15-
20 years ago.

Ed

All,
 
I have posted a PDF of a flyer from F&C enclosed with and order I received last May.  I have been getting flyers via my SASEs and noticed that the bagged kit list does not change much at all from flyer to flyer. From my midwestern standpoint their line is more limited than other resin manufacturers and I can't see myself ordering too much more from them, but I did get a great deal on their bagged kits:  5 for $71 which included a buy one boxed kit get one free.
 
The bagged kits come with everything but the box, including instructions (such as they are.)
 
BTW-I remember someone on the list saying that the C&O auto car model that F&C offers is the wrong height.  I have checked the archive and have not found the post.  Does someone else remember this?
 
Regards,
 
Mike Aufderheide

--- In STMFC@..., Bruce Smith <smithbf@...> wrote:

I don't know... original early Sunshine kits fetch closer to $75-100
and most of the F&C kits are "improved" over the originals. In
addition, as folks have been saying in this thread, nobody should
actually PAY $32 for an F&C kit. More like $16.

Bruce- I bought many of those kits when issued from Yankee Clipper,
West Shore......The few F&C kits I bought of the same cars were of
lesser quality, especially the instructions.

The Sunshine kits are collectables of discontinued items. Sunshine
appears to keep their original prices of older kits until the kit is
discontinued.

There isn't much comparason between the 2 manufacturers as far as I'm
concerned.

Ed

Maybe I'm just not following this... but what difference does the source/age of the masters make?

F&C's current prices should be almost entirely related to their variable costs, i.e. labor and materials...
Which are priced in today's very weak US dollars...

IMHO... even $32 for a hand-cast low production steam-era car is a -much- better bargain than
$32 for an injected styrene RTR generic model built by the thousands offshore.

--------------------
Richard Brennan - San Leandro CA
--------------------

Ed;



The F&C X26C is a better kit than the Sunshine X26C. Sure, we all love
Sunshine kits, but some of them have problems, too. I just finished the
Sunshine, and am finishing my F&C X26C. The Sunshine kit has a few problems,
the F&C kit has none. I can go into more detail if you are interested, but
blanket statements are not valid.



Elden Gatwood



________________________________

From: STMFC@... [mailto:STMFC@...] On Behalf Of
ed_mines
Sent: Wednesday, July 23, 2008 11:55 AM
To: STMFC@...
Subject: [STMFC] Re: F&C



--- In STMFC@... <mailto:STMFC%40yahoogroups.com> , Bruce Smith
<smithbf@...> wrote:

I don't know... original early Sunshine kits fetch closer to $75-100
and most of the F&C kits are "improved" over the originals. In
addition, as folks have been saying in this thread, nobody should
actually PAY $32 for an F&C kit. More like $16.

Bruce- I bought many of those kits when issued from Yankee Clipper,
West Shore......The few F&C kits I bought of the same cars were of
lesser quality, especially the instructions.

The Sunshine kits are collectables of discontinued items. Sunshine
appears to keep their original prices of older kits until the kit is
discontinued.

There isn't much comparason between the 2 manufacturers as far as I'm
concerned.

Ed

ed_mines wrote:

$32 is a little expensive for a car originally done by West Shore or Yankee Clipper 15-20 years ago.

I may be remembering this wrong, but shouldn't this read "done FOR West Shore," etc.? The sellers of the kits may have been pickier than Steve was at that stage as to acceptable moldings, so an apparent better quality could have merely been quality control.

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

Richard,

If you can get your hands on a resin kit from 20 years ago and compare
it to the quality and detail of current state-of-the-art Speedwitch
kits, there is a world of difference. The new stuff is enormously
better. This is not to say I won't (hopefully) eventually build all
the stuff I've been buying for the past 20 years. It just means I'll
probably mangle some of the earlier kits in an attempt to improve them.

Time stopped in November 1941
Walter M. Clark
Pullman, Washington, USA

--- In STMFC@..., Richard Brennan <brennan8@...> wrote:

Maybe I'm just not following this... but what difference does the
source/age of the masters make?

F&C's current prices should be almost entirely related to their
variable costs, i.e. labor and materials...
Which are priced in today's very weak US dollars...

IMHO... even $32 for a hand-cast low production steam-era car is a
-much- better bargain than
$32 for an injected styrene RTR generic model built by the thousands

offshore.

--------------------
Richard Brennan - San Leandro CA
--------------------

At 07:43 AM 7/23/2008, Bruce Smith wrote:

On Jul 23, 2008, at 9:26 AM, ed_mines wrote:

Thanks to all who answered.

It looks like their prices went up in the last year. $32 is a little
expensive for a car originally done by West Shore or Yankee Clipper
15-20 years ago.

Ed

Ed,

I don't know... original early Sunshine kits fetch closer to $75-100
and most of the F&C kits are "improved" over the originals. In
addition, as folks have been saying in this thread, nobody should
actually PAY $32 for an F&C kit. More like $16.

Regards
Bruce