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Post by bar on Jul 14, 2018 9:58:47 GMT -8
Newly-divorced celebrity modeler Pelle Soeborg selling an Exact Rail Trinity boxcar, now at $172 with six days left on that auction site. Did I mention he is a celebrity?
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Post by 12bridge on Jul 14, 2018 10:42:47 GMT -8
Paying for the "name". Same thing always happens with "known" layouts or modelers. People pay stupid money.
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Post by grahamline on Jul 14, 2018 11:10:49 GMT -8
Unfortunately, the market for David P. Morgan cocktail napkins has crashed.
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Post by peoriaman on Jul 14, 2018 11:44:44 GMT -8
Newly-divorced celebrity modeler Pelle Soeborg selling an Exact Rail Trinity boxcar, now at $172 with six days left on that auction site. Did I mention he is a celebrity? I must have missed that one. Been too busy.... Cranking out Utah Belt clones, assembly-line style. |
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Post by Great-Northern-Willmar Div on Jul 14, 2018 11:57:22 GMT -8
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Post by talltim on Jul 14, 2018 12:03:39 GMT -8
That link doesn’t work for (maybr because I’m in the U.K.)
Can see some Utah Belt stock
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Post by Great-Northern-Willmar Div on Jul 14, 2018 12:09:31 GMT -8
That link doesn’t work for (maybr because I’m in the U.K.) Can see some Utah Belt stock The Kato SD45 sold for a mere $2,000. |
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Post by The Ferro Kid on Jul 14, 2018 13:51:54 GMT -8
How can something like that possibly retain value? Who will care what Utah Belt was two or three decades from now? There were some locos saved from the John Allen fire decades ago. Do they still go for a premium? Also, seems there could be some authentication issues.
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Post by Paul Cutler III on Jul 14, 2018 13:53:49 GMT -8
So what? The Mustang driven in Bullit by Steve McQueen is reportedly worth $4 million. Mark McGwire's 70th home run baseball sold for $3 million at auction in 1999. People want to own things that were owned or touched by famous people. Why give a hoot if Pelle Soeborg or Eric Brooman (or Tony Koester or Allen McClelland or whoever) sells something at a premium? Good for them.
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Post by bar on Jul 14, 2018 14:42:48 GMT -8
The celebrity modeler in question was doing this long before his wife kicked him out and he had little space. It's been his M.O. for years... sell cars and locos as fast as he turned them out. It's called profiteering.
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Post by ncrc5315 on Jul 14, 2018 17:52:10 GMT -8
So what? The Mustang driven in Bullit by Steve McQueen is reportedly worth $4 million. Mark McGwire's 70th home run baseball sold for $3 million at auction in 1999. People want to own things that were owned or touched by famous people. Why give a hoot if Pelle Soeborg or Eric Brooman (or Tony Koester or Allen McClelland or whoever) sells something at a premium? Good for them. I agree, its their money, why should anyone else care how they spend it. |
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Post by SOMECALLMETIM on Jul 14, 2018 20:51:15 GMT -8
Who cares other than you that he is divorced? Get over it as a lot of people get divorced. Stop trying to be the morality police. Good for him that he’s selling his stuff. Who cares?! The celebrity modeler in question was doing this long before his wife kicked him out and he had little space. It's been his M.O. for years... sell cars and locos as fast as he turned them out. It's called profiteering. |
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Post by bdhicks on Jul 14, 2018 22:08:38 GMT -8
I certainly don't mind. It's when people overpay for auctions of things I actually want that I mind.
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Post by lvrr325 on Jul 14, 2018 22:37:15 GMT -8
I can't even get 10% over cost for new stuff. I need to become famous or something.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jul 15, 2018 4:24:00 GMT -8
Eric has been selling off his older stuff for years. He probably gets enough return on these models to finance new acquisitions by far! The Utah Belt is one layout that I really cherish over the years of development in the hobby. It really achieved the look of a finished layout and realistic scenes; especially when photographed from a specific angle.
Pelle filled a void (apparently) in recent years; and is an accomplished modeler. I take no issue when either sell off their collections and gain profit, however. But, the demand has been created by people on eBay. The one thing that I note is both modelers have shared their methods in hobby magazines for years, and Pelle has published a couple of how-to books. So, it's not like the mello-mike dude...who was taking blue box cars and "weathering" them...selling them on eBay for big bucks...while advertising on the forums.
The only time I have gotten "stupid" money is a few years back before Walthers re-ran their Portland Cement Complex. I sold two on eBay (auctions) for $570 plus, each. I saw where they were in great demand...and put them on there for their MSRP as the starting bid. It happened because of pure demand. This aided in purchase of new stuff for the layout. But, it was a rare moment in time for me.
Now, would I pay $2000 for a Utah Belt SD40? Nope. I'd rather spend that kind of money on new coal hoppers. To each their own, however.
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Post by riogrande on Jul 15, 2018 5:45:51 GMT -8
I wonder what happened to Mellow Mike? Who can fault him? He was good at weathering effectively, found a niche to make some money, and made it work for him. He could take low detail cars and weather them to disguise the molded on details very well.
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Post by kentuckysouthernrwy on Jul 15, 2018 6:56:11 GMT -8
The celebrity modeler in question was doing this long before his wife kicked him out and he had little space. It's been his M.O. for years... sell cars and locos as fast as he turned them out. It's called profiteering. Is that somehow a bad thing? Free enterprise, a building block of our economy. It happens on many levels. Take the Bullit mustang idea, Ford has “profiteered” from taking a few run of the mill 5.0 mustangs, paint them green, put on a few distinctive gee-gaws and hang the “Bullit” name on it and sell a limited number at inflated prices. Chrysler uses to name Magnum on it’s V-8 engines and makes you thing they are like the big block brutes from the 60s....they are, in name. |
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jul 15, 2018 7:04:20 GMT -8
I wonder what happened to Mellow Mike? Who can fault him? He was good at weathering effectively, found a niche to make some money, and made it work for him. He could take low detail cars and weather them to disguise the molded on details very well. He did excellent work. I guess I should qualify the fact that I do not take issue with him, either. Just a different mode of existence. Experienced modelers knew better than to over-pay for a weathered MDC or Blue Box car; novices did not. There are people on the internet that are in the hobby purely for making a living for themselves. I could say the same for model railroad companies...they exist to make models to make money, too. And, we all benefit in that regard. |
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Post by theengineshed on Jul 15, 2018 7:10:03 GMT -8
I wonder what happened to Mellow Mike? Who can fault him? He was good at weathering effectively, found a niche to make some money, and made it work for him. He could take low detail cars and weather them to disguise the molded on details very well. One difference between Pelle Soeborg and Mellow Mike, Pelle at least shared his techniques, granted they were in publications. Mike didn't share techniques, he used forums where people shared, to flog his "masterpieces" for profit.... |
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Post by Paul Cutler III on Jul 15, 2018 7:49:52 GMT -8
bar,
Since when is "profiteering" a bad thing? Honestly, this sounds like jealousy.
BTW, the definition of profiteering is "The act or activity of making an unreasonable profit on the sale of essential goods especially during times of emergency." (m-w.com) How does this mesh with what Pelle is doing? He's not selling essential goods, they're just model trains; no one needs them. He's not doing this during a time of emergency; no hurricane or zombie attacks are imminent. Now maybe you could charge him with making an unreasonable profit, but he's selling on eBay where the buyers set the price. How is that his doing?
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Post by Great-Northern-Willmar Div on Jul 15, 2018 8:25:25 GMT -8
This hobby has always had some modelers/authors that some hold in extremely high regards. Call it hero worship or admiration but owning a piece from this famous person or layout is memorabilia, no different than a ball signed by a famous athlete.
The Kato SD45 done by Eric Brooman for his Utah Belt had a starting price on e-Bay of $45. It was bid up to $2000. Plus the person that put in the $2000 bid had a second back up bid just in case.
If you are not one that is wowed by some other modeler, then these prices seem utterly stupid. But it is the buyers money and why should one that has done numerous books or articles and does have some talent not sell some of their stuff which is usually started at some bargain price.
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Post by grahamline on Jul 15, 2018 8:42:43 GMT -8
Mellow Mike was a nice guy in person, but he didn't project well in his internet dealings. No idea what he is up to now.
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Post by valenciajim on Jul 15, 2018 11:57:09 GMT -8
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Post by riogrande on Jul 15, 2018 12:43:25 GMT -8
Looks like Mikes photos in the link lead towards extreme weathering. Very realistic but not appealing to my late 1970s tastes, which are light to moderate.
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Post by Chad on Jul 15, 2018 16:48:01 GMT -8
$217.50 now. I can see $400.00.
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Post by stottman on Jul 15, 2018 21:37:30 GMT -8
Mellow Mike was a nice guy in person, but he didn't project well in his internet dealings. No idea what he is up to now. Wasn't he the the guy that always used the d**k excuse "You have to be an artist" vs just being nice and saying "I used artist oils for the fade, and rust. Some other stuff as well. Just have to practice allot". |
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Post by gevohogger on Jul 16, 2018 4:57:20 GMT -8
$217.50 now. I can see $400.00. Link to auction? |
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Post by Great-Northern-Willmar Div on Jul 16, 2018 5:51:06 GMT -8
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Post by grahamline on Jul 16, 2018 7:12:39 GMT -8
Mellow Mike was a nice guy in person, but he didn't project well in his internet dealings. No idea what he is up to now. Wasn't he the the guy that always used the d**k excuse "You have to be an artist" vs just being nice and saying "I used artist oils for the fade, and rust. Some other stuff as well. Just have to practice allot". That might have been him. Could have been a response to people who wanted two minutes of instructions and instant results. My own efforts at weathering got better after a dozen or so failures. I can drink a lot of Red Bull, but I won't become as fast a driver as Daniel Ricciardo. |
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djh4d
Full Member
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Post by djh4d on Jul 16, 2018 7:35:15 GMT -8
Looking at his auctions, I would say there are people that have more money than brains. But, I don't fault Pelle for that. While his rolling stock looks nice, I don't see where it would command the prices they're getting. I guess people knowing your name is worth something.
-Dave
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