Robert Thon(Robert’s Lines) sent me this Great Trains brochure, since I am interested in their product they used to make back in the 80’s . They are 1/32nd scale, some are shorter to fit the smaller layouts back then. The F-7 is right on for scale though. All engines used NWSL motor blocks. I would like to get a few more passenger cars if anyone has any for sale. Also a F-7B unit.
don’t think you can post a pdf…
until you figure it out, can you email me a copy please?
thanks, [email protected]
I’ll try these photos that I put in my folder in the Freight Shed. Maybe someone can make this work, I never can.
http://www.largescalecentral.com/filesharing/file/view/12607/great-trains-brochure-jpg
http://www.largescalecentral.com/filesharing/file/view/12608/great-trains-brochure-1-jpg
http://www.largescalecentral.com/filesharing/file/view/12609/great-trains-brochure-2-jpg
http://www.largescalecentral.com/filesharing/file/view/12610/great-trains-brochure-3-jpg
http://www.largescalecentral.com/filesharing/file/view/12611/great-trains-brochure-4-jpg
http://www.largescalecentral.com/filesharing/file/view/12612/great-trains-brochure-5-jpg
http://www.largescalecentral.com/filesharing/file/view/12613/great-trains-brochure-6-jpg
There you go, all you need is the complete path… you can’t put the file in a post like a picture, but once you have the real path/URL you can get it. So you can upload the file, you just cannot “display” it.
Thanks Jerry for sending it to me! Interesting stuff, too bad no longer available.
Has anyone got a set of the superliners, all 5 cars? Jerry, do you know what happened to the molds? Were they molded in china or the us?
A loss to the 1:32 community for sure.
greg
Should that be “…China or the USofA”…US in caps would be showing pride in your country, don’t you think ?
too lazy for caps today FRED… (https://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-tongue-out.gif)
Someone said a guy in California had them, don’t recall who. No plans to cast anything he said.
See this is what I don’t understand. The molds don’t earn any money unused.
David Maynard said:
See this is what I don’t understand. The molds don’t earn any money unused.
No, but it takes money to make money and if the market for them no longer exists by scale, do you want to gamble your money to see if enough people will order to break even?
Plus you’ll need to line up all the running gear and pay for that in advance.
How soon can you poney up the dough?
Be neat if MTH would pick them up, fit in with their stuff nice. Sort of like Aristo got the old Delton line.
Yeah, except they only thing they might be interested in would be the superliners and the modern locos right? From what I saw of the FPH (??) units they were a little “light” on detail, perhaps not up to MTH standard?
They already have the F units, and they have streamliners, although I don’t know if MTH has the full length ones.
Just hate to see an alternative “go away”
Greg
John Caughey said:
David Maynard said:
See this is what I don’t understand. The molds don’t earn any money unused.
No, but it takes money to make money and if the market for them no longer exists by scale, do you want to gamble your money to see if enough people will order to break even?
Plus you’ll need to line up all the running gear and pay for that in advance.
How soon can you poney up the dough?
Yea, you are right. But there has to be a way to do a short run without gambling too much money.
No, short runs are not profitable… honestly there does NOT have to be a way… (https://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-tongue-out.gif)
Molds are there, that is true, but what condition? How much to set up and make a short run? Yes, clearly the cost to make the molds is done, so you think a reasonable run could be done for a price, but not a short run… the NRE to set things up is the issue.
Greg
If short runs aren’t profitable, then why do manufacturers do them? For example, the LGB golden spike set is only going to be 299 pieces.
I realize the set up and tear down costs for manufacturing has to be spread out over the number of units produced. As do all the other costs such as advertising, warehousing, R&D and such. But if there is a market, if there is a big enough market, with deep enough pockets to afford the final price, then a limited run should be possible. I know those are pretty big ifs.
So in answer to your question, companies will do a special run for advertising, or just company pride. (Although do you think you will find the LGB set at a discount???) NOT ALWAYS AT A PROFIT.
Yes, if there is a market, something will sell. Yes there are too many IFs in your statement. Clearly most companies are in it for profit, and don’t usually turn up their nose at an opportunity.
So, again, I would submit using older molds, that might not be up to today’s standards (have you looked closely at the detail level on these?? I suggest you do), and having MTH as a competitor, does it make sense? Would it be profitable?
Greg
Greg is right, the Great Trains cars are pretty simple with no detail hardly at all. But never have seen one of the ‘super’ ones so maybe they were better. MTH does seem to be doing well these days, sold out two runs or so of 4014. If you ever want any MTH you should order it as soon as it is announced or you will miss the boat. Mostly pre-orders these days.
I haven’t seen any of the Great Trains stuff in person, so I wasn’t aware they were lacking in detail. But obviously there is still some interest in them, or else we wouldn’t even be having this conversation.
MTH tends to be above my price point, but they do have some really nice stuff. When they make it.
David Maynard said:
I haven’t seen any of the Great Trains stuff in person, so I wasn’t aware they were lacking in detail. But obviously there is still some interest in them, or else we wouldn’t even be having this conversation.
MTH tends to be above my price point, but they do have some really nice stuff. When they make it.
Ghetto pics my F40 is about 1:26 rubber rule to blend in with what I have