Re: Is our hobby getting more expensive or what?


<pawlowsk002@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:1136297762.690812.228800@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

<snip>

> At the risk of injecting actual analysis into a speculative discussion,
> and displacing all the fun out onto the ground, I went back to my
> 2002 MR (which I was reading on the john, BTW) and compared a
> few prices in the Standard Hobby Supply ad with their current
> offerings.

While the thought is nice, it's far better to actually deal with MSRP,
and not sale prices from a mail order distributer, for a true barometer of
costs. After all, the prices that Standard Hobby sets are their own...maybe
they wanted a bigger piece of the pie and cut their discount? One just
doesn't know. That's why one should only compare MSRP when doing these
things...

<snip>

> What we need, I think, is another Irv Athearn.

Oh, man, I hope not. (sarcasm) Yeah, let's re-invent HO "toy
trains".(/sarcasm)

> Do you know
> why the wee fragile detail parts were left for the modeler to
> install on his virtually RTR diesels?

"Wee fragile detail parts"? On an old Athearn model? You must be
joking.

> I would venture that with
> the fiddliness of these parts and their risk of breakage
> (and subsequent need for inspection and possible replacement
> of defective goods)

Oh, yeah, those wire handrails and stanchions were *real* breakable...

> the cost of assembling them might add
> $10 to the locomotive at retail - and remember, the F7 was
> about $22 in the year 1995.

Um, all those "detail" parts on an old Athearn F7 were applied... The
horns, the Blomberg hanger, and the brake cylinders. There was very little
else.

> Have you ever noticed the total
> lack of screws in the old Athearn drives? It made them
> cheap to assemble and kept the price low. Let's hear it for
> designing down to a price!

Great. "Let's hear it for mediocrity!"

Paul A. Cutler III
*************
Weather Or No Go New Haven
*************




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