*this is a fun thread * but but i'm venting a lil How come I can never find any N scale Cotton Belt items? How come companies use half the materials of a HO scale version but charge you double the price? How come MT makes the best products? How come i pay almost the same amt for other companies rolling stock and have to pay 5 more dollars to convert the couplers? How come Kato made a Dash 9 and a SD80/90 but they forgot an SD45T-2 and a SD70? How come companies cant stock their products anymore? How come they never have their products ready when they first announce them? How come Dash 8s are ready now but they were supposed to have been out in December? How come I remember spending $9.99 for a complete trainset from Bachman in 85? How come I can barely find anything for N scale under $10.00? How come I spent a lot of money on this stuff? How come i'm still mad because it doesnt look like you guys? How come we N scalers are treated like step childern to HOers? How come the HO scale walthers book is almost 3 times the size of ours? How come I can't paint my engines good? How come I thought a blind person would laugh at the way it looked after my first attempt? How come my father told me he could throw paint on it and it would turn out better? How come he's probably right? How come I asked him to do it for me? How come he said sure, but you will pay me How come I thought about giving up on N scale? How come I decided to stay because I have too much stuff already? How come I'm tired of venting now? How come I hope you guys will get a laugh and continue this topic? How come?????
Hey mjc205, -- How come I can never find any N scale Cotton Belt items? Well you know this is a real conspiracy!! "They" are waiting until you switch to modeling the Katy or the Rock and then "they" will release all that Cotton Belt stuff . By the way, after you switch roads, the items for your new road will mysteriously disappear . Where is Agent Moulder when you need him . --How come we N scalers are treated like step childern to HOers? Model what YOU like. Forget about the others! It's supposed to be fun for you!! They were probably abused by the O and G crowd . --How come I can't paint my engines good? Airbrush and practice, practice, practice. Go to a train show and buy some junk boxcars. Practice and get good with them. Then jump to $80 undec Kato, Atlas, etc. (If you can find 'em ). It'll all shake out OK!! Later, "Look Ahead, Look South" - Southern Railway [ 22 May 2002, 23:31: Message edited by: Chris McDaniel ]
You know this has a LOT of truth to it.. I changed from Cotton Belt to SP in general, AS SOON as I started to buy stuff with in a 8 month time span.. Atlas came out with the B36 and the Dash 8 MDC had a very breif run on CB Boxcars and Intermountain has those 3 Bay ACF Hoppers in CB.. gggrrr but i still was able to get it.. LOL
EXACTLY!!!!!!!! Both are my favorite 2 engines, and the SD70 runs in so many roadnames. I think most of us see eye to eye on this post. [ 23 May 2002, 00:51: Message edited by: seant_311 ]
Cotton Belt? You should try finding BN hoppers by Intermountain, or even better yet, Concor autoracks in BN... OR try finding a Kato SD40-2 early in BN at a hobby shop, or even on ebay without paying an arm, and 2 legs??? Walthers c-stone kits are a prime example. MT bulk packs are worth their weight in gold for that reason! Good thing a 10-pr pack costs only about 35$! Yeah! Atlas or Kato needs to make an SD70MAC. BN has hundreds of these! Just to model about 1% of their roster, pre-1996, I'd need about 4. AT least! MT periodically has cars for under 10 bucks, but they are most likely out of your era of modelling. I like that, as it keeps me from buying every one that comes out, only the roofwalk-delete cars are added. If I added up all I have invested in locos and cars, I'd prolly have a coronary!!! If Walthers listed EVERY thing avail in N, it still wouldn't fill the HO size book.... Trust me, practice makes perfect. My fist try was laced with plenty of apprehension, and it took guts to take a shell and paint it. It took a whole lot more cajones to strip and repaint a Kato shell..... But that's another story. I am still learning, but I started with a 6-dollar Atlas RS-11 shell. It was painted BN, with BNSF 'patches'. Turned out nice, but the latest customs I have done are getting better. My latest one is a custom BN SD80MAC. Whiteface and white stripe down the long hood. One will be a 20th anniv. scheme, like BN 2075, a GP38 (?) with all the predecessor roads logos on the long hood. I got pics from the BN Photo Archive I also am planning and awaiting decals for a BN 70MAC green/cream style 80MAC. I have too may to paint,a nd the last one will prolly be finished in '03......... I loved your rant, and it is SO true. It rings in all our ears as true as it did for you. We all feel your pain.
Isn't it a relief to have a rant now and then I have to agree with the "missing" tunnel motor, and the SD70 - but they are sure to make an appearance soon! There is immense pressure building for these to be made. Not so sure about the '70MAC's though, as they would need a longer chassis than the standard '70. I also agree with the painting - practice, practice, practice makes perfect - well, maybe
How come a company called "Micro" makes oversized flanges? How come a HO track plan converted to N never really shrinks in size? How come Nscale can fit large indusries yet we are stuck with small mom and pop ones? How come Nscale is the second leading scale yet Walthers produces more stuff for Oscale lately? How come we can't get a decent switcher other than Lifelike but we have U50's,DD40 obscure juicejacks etc. How come we are the scale that could most use large turnouts yet a number 8 is the largest we can get? How come everything is limited run except track? How come track can be made all the time yet nothing else? How soon will track become limited runs? How come we can't get a decent F7 anywhere? How come most of my hobby shops only stock O and HO scale?(For the answer see the track question) How come a JCPenny catalog is $5 and about 1000 pages and a Walthers catalog is about 300 pages and $20 dollars? How come the NMRA will not come out with a updated coupler standard? How come I can't order anything any more with out checking the out of stock list at Walthers? How come no one carries product on hand anymore? How come I have to preorder a year in advance and it still doesn't ship on time? How come we can't get Athearn or Accurail to make Nscale products? How come Atlas forgot about ALCO?
How come I just got two Dash 8's in the Cotton Belt Bloody nose scheme and I don't even model any prototype road in particular. I take these and paint out the Logos and put my private decal over them. Because I reserved them last October. [ 26 May 2002, 02:38: Message edited by: leghome ]
great points all!! Randy - I am agreement with most of your list but would add How come the NMRA is supposed to promote compatibility of brands , but cannot do so between track manufacturers and wheel/track compatibility? How come HO scalers can walk into any hobby store at any time and get any product they want in any price range they want and N gets the shaft on availability? How come Atlas continues to produce un-numbered units that don't sell well, hard to decal the numberboards and tough to find the right font/color/size decals to number yourself when they could make a better selling third road number?? [ 26 May 2002, 19:35: Message edited by: ajb ]
