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Post by fr8kar on Sept 15, 2013 7:19:07 GMT -8
During my time in this hobby I've seen all kinds of new products and innovations brought forth, some of which took hold and some that didn't. I don't know how many of you remember the ad for Olfactory Airs, the realistic scents you could enhance your layout with, but I always got a chuckle out of that one. I'm sure there are many other ideas like that one that didn't make quite the splash that was expected.
Of the ideas, innovations and products that did make it big, for me command control is a huge one. Sound is another, and now we have both together. Admittedly, I don't care for sound-equipped models, but the fact that it is widely available and consumers consider it effective means I can hardly ignore it. Oddly enough, it was a tour of Soundtraxx over a decade ago that sold me on the idea of command control and ironically made my decision against HO scale sound (loved it in the big stuff, though).
Another one I can think of is the tiered branding approach. Just like Toyota gave us Lexus and Nissan gave us Infiniti, Life-Like gave us Proto2000 and Bachmann gave us Spectrum and we were brought into the era of factory applied detail parts at a premium price. What started out as clunky hot-melted blobs of plastic, rubber band powered fans and opening cab doors as convincing as the opening doors on 1960s Corgi cars, became a refined and exacting pursuit, which has become a "new normal" for the hobby. Most of the manufacturers that were big players in the 80s and 90s have embraced this tiered branding concept and have taken it from the realm of just high-end products like locomotives and have expanded it to include rolling stock and even scenery items. Now we have manufacturers that produce only these high end products, like Rapido, Spring Mills Depot and BLMA. And not just kits, but RTR.
Ready-to-run to me meant toy train set junk, because that's what it was compared to what you got if you just "shook the box" of an Athearn or Roundhouse kit back in the dark ages of my youth. Eventually RTR took over and now kits are the realm of the truly obsessed do-it-yourselfer or crazed craftsman modeler. Front Range, Accurail, Intermountain were the slightly more advanced kits that yielded a nice model, which in most cases was more detailed or modern than the blue box stuff. One of those companies is gone now, but the other two followed the trend and got into the RTR game with varying success.
The hyper-detail obsession now includes things like after-market accessories such as couplers, draft gear, and even wayside signals. I still geek out over my BLMA signals every time I look at them. I just placed an order with Moloco for almost a hundred bucks worth of draft gear. Draft gear! I love Moloco products and it seems perfectly reasonable to make this purchase, but the 1980's me wonders if I am insane! I guess that old me is still reeling from seeing the new me assemble half a thousand Sergent couplers...
So anyway I've rambled and wandered down memory lane enough and I'm sure you get the idea. Where does it go from here? What is the next big idea, innovation or product? Which one might flop? What do you want to see?
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Post by Deleted on Sept 15, 2013 11:06:10 GMT -8
During my time in this hobby I've seen all kinds of new products and innovations brought forth, some of which took hold and some that didn't. I don't know how many of you remember the ad for Olfactory Airs, the realistic scents you could enhance your layout with, but I always got a chuckle out of that one. I'm sure there are many other ideas like that one that didn't make quite the splash that was expected. Of the ideas, innovations and products that did make it big, for me command control is a huge one. Sound is another, and now we have both together. Admittedly, I don't care for sound-equipped models, but the fact that it is widely available and consumers consider it effective means I can hardly ignore it. Oddly enough, it was a tour of Soundtraxx over a decade ago that sold me on the idea of command control and ironically made my decision against HO scale sound (loved it in the big stuff, though). Another one I can think of is the tiered branding approach. Just like Toyota gave us Lexus and Nissan gave us Infiniti, Life-Like gave us Proto2000 and Bachmann gave us Spectrum and we were brought into the era of factory applied detail parts at a premium price. What started out as clunky hot-melted blobs of plastic, rubber band powered fans and opening cab doors as convincing as the opening doors on 1960s Corgi cars, became a refined and exacting pursuit, which has become a "new normal" for the hobby. Most of the manufacturers that were big players in the 80s and 90s have embraced this tiered branding concept and have taken it from the realm of just high-end products like locomotives and have expanded it to include rolling stock and even scenery items. Now we have manufacturers that produce only these high end products, like Rapido, Spring Mills Depot and BLMA. And not just kits, but RTR. Ready-to-run to me meant toy train set junk, because that's what it was compared to what you got if you just "shook the box" of an Athearn or Roundhouse kit back in the dark ages of my youth. Eventually RTR took over and now kits are the realm of the truly obsessed do-it-yourselfer or crazed craftsman modeler. Front Range, Accurail, Intermountain were the slightly more advanced kits that yielded a nice model, which in most cases was more detailed or modern than the blue box stuff. One of those companies is gone now, but the other two followed the trend and got into the RTR game with varying success. The hyper-detail obsession now includes things like after-market accessories such as couplers, draft gear, and even wayside signals. I still geek out over my BLMA signals every time I look at them. I just placed an order with Moloco for almost a hundred bucks worth of draft gear. Draft gear! I love Moloco products and it seems perfectly reasonable to make this purchase, but the 1980's me wonders if I am insane! I guess that old me is still reeling from seeing the new me assemble half a thousand Sergent couplers... So anyway I've rambled and wandered down memory lane enough and I'm sure you get the idea. Where does it go from here? What is the next big idea, innovation or product? Which one might flop? What do you want to see? Affordability. Innovations come at a price and price has become the 800 pound gorilla in the room. The new Kato with the coreless motor is very intriguing, but Kato is also priced higher than offerings from the Athearn's, etc. It shouldn't be overlooked, but Atlas has taken a very conservative approach to its new offerings. Mainly, NO MAJOR new tooling. Bowser deliberately pushed the ALCO C636 back at least a year. I know it was reported that it was Bowser's decision and not production problems in China, but the reason? Only Athearn continues to release newly tooled products at a blistering rate. Walthers is nearly in the same conservative boat with Atlas, except Walthers has dribbled out a few new models, while dusting off the old chestnuts for another run, aka Santa Fe Super Chief, Great Northern Empire Builder and various Proto 2000 models, which for some were given a half a face lift. New ground for the hobby would be to be able to get even every day supplies everyday. When you walk into the hobby shop and you can't get your brand of glue, because its sold out everywhere. That's not a good thing. Testor's saw it in their best interest to pull the plug on tried and true Floquil and Pollyscale. Scalecoat has dropped more colors lately than added. Newcomer Tru-Color has some good colors and some not so good. Microscale has told us to treat new decal releases like we do rolling stock. Microscale prints one run and you better buy today, for tomorrow the decal set may be sold out and not coming back. The biggest advancement for this hobby may be in the way of sound and electronics. If the Kato core less motor design found on the P42 is practical and economical, others may follow suit. The space under the hood could lead to larger speakers with better bass response. The one difference between standing track side by the prototype versus the layout is you feel the prototype roll buy and the sound doesn't stop with the locomotive. In model railroading, you hear what sounds like an EMD, ALCO, etc., but you don't feel the model traveling past your vantage point. |
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Post by Brakie on Sept 15, 2013 12:31:19 GMT -8
Ready-to-run to me meant toy train set junk, because that's what it was compared to what you got if you just "shook the box" of an Athearn or Roundhouse kit back in the dark ages of my youth.
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I would hardly call Athearn Lionel(HO)Cox and Atlas RTR cars train set junk since those line of cars was made by Athearn until Atlas started importing their own line of cars.Lionel and Cox exited the HO market.
There's been a lot of improved products and along with those came the "wonder gimmicks" that died a quick death.
One of the better early products was the X2F coupler that ended the hodgepodge coupler frenzy and the X2F work quite well when properly mounted.Next up was the KD line of coupler that became the de facto standard coupler..
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Post by gasmith on Sept 16, 2013 12:23:41 GMT -8
That "train set junk" (much of it bought in post-Christmas sales at the likes of Two Guys and E.J. Korvette) was what got a lot of people started in the hobby, myself included. With the exception of Bachmann, the manufacturers seem to have written off the "entry level" market and are pricing the mainstream out of reach of much of the market.
The next big thing I see coming is not good. I predict that within the next few years we will see the market exit of at least one maker of detail parts. It's a logical progression. RTR only/factory painted/limited run >>> no undecs >>> no need for paint (The market exit of Floquil/Poly Scale) >>> no need for decals (Microscale going limited run) >>> no need for detail parts (The market exit of ___________ ) >>> Modeling being supplanted by collecting.
The new business model for the scale model railroading seems to be the one that Lionel has followed for years.
If I had to do it all over again, I'm not sure that I could afford to do it all over again.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 16, 2013 12:42:52 GMT -8
That "train set junk" (much of it bought in post-Christmas sales at the likes of Two Guys and E.J. Korvette) was what got a lot of people started in the hobby, myself included. With the exception of Bachmann, the manufacturers seem to have written off the "entry level" market and are pricing the mainstream out of reach of much of the market. The next big thing I see coming is not good. I predict that within the next few years we will see the market exit of at least one maker of detail parts. It's a logical progression. RTR only/factory painted/limited run >>> no undecs >>> no need for paint (The market exit of Floquil/Poly Scale) >>> no need for decals (Microscale going limited run) >>> no need for detail parts (The market exit of ___________ ) >>> Modeling being supplanted by collecting. The new business model for the scale model railroading seems to be the one that Lionel has followed for years. If I had to do it all over again, I'm not sure that I could afford to do it all over again. Amen brother. |
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Post by calzephyr on Sept 17, 2013 14:46:57 GMT -8
That "train set junk" (much of it bought in post-Christmas sales at the likes of Two Guys and E.J. Korvette) was what got a lot of people started in the hobby, myself included. With the exception of Bachmann, the manufacturers seem to have written off the "entry level" market and are pricing the mainstream out of reach of much of the market. The next big thing I see coming is not good. I predict that within the next few years we will see the market exit of at least one maker of detail parts. It's a logical progression. RTR only/factory painted/limited run >>> no undecs >>> no need for paint (The market exit of Floquil/Poly Scale) >>> no need for decals (Microscale going limited run) >>> no need for detail parts (The market exit of ___________ ) >>> Modeling being supplanted by collecting. The new business model for the scale model railroading seems to be the one that Lionel has followed for years. If I had to do it all over again, I'm not sure that I could afford to do it all over again. You are probably correct about the after market parts going out of style. Overland stopped selling their parts supply several years ago now due to what was probably slow sales due to most models being detailed much better in the past few years. I purchased a lot of those parts and now I am glad I did. I even purchased some extra drive systems from Overland for the gears and parts. The new 3D printers will allow us to make parts in the future when the price is right to purchase the printers. The next big change in magazines is already taking place with the MRH going on line. I noticed MR is now offering some video and on line options along with a few other web sites that will start up and either make it or fail. The forums like this one really help keep us informed and that will probably continue to expand. Thanks to Donnell, we can all still meet and get and offer information about the hobby at this great forum. Larry |
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