the manufacturer game [was HO Intermountain CPR FP7 and F7B]
- From: "jshorvath10583" <jshorvath10583@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: cpsig@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 25 Jul 2006 16:24:12 -0000
"Paul Smith" <pbsmith@...> wrote:
I heard a RUMOUR that Broadway Limited might be doing a CP Canadian
set with the proper CP cars.
I've followed the Intermountain FP-7A thread with some arms-
length interest. These particular diesels appeared after my era of
interest so they never were on my radar for potential acquisition.
However the comments about fidelity to prototype, etc. resonated as
I've been part of similar discussions many times on other forums.
I believe Jeff Pinchbeck noted what I feel is the heart of this
issue. Each "manufacturer" (many are really more importers than true
brick-and-mortar manufacturers these days, aren't they?) has a very
definite personality as defined by their individual choice of
prototype fidelity versus cost for the HEART of the market they're
looking to sell to. I've learned in recent years that I need to
educate myself as to the personality of each manufacturer so that I
have realistic expectations of their products. For example, I know
Athearn's Genesis line of EMD F units uses the Highliner body which
is very amenable to prototype matching re fans, etc. because of its
modular construction. While I've not seen the Intermountain FP-7A I
assume it's of a more conventional shell design in that it's more or
less one piece which de facto means one size must fit all to a
signficant extent and those looking to better match a given
prototype are going to have to do some work.
Knowing up front that I will want to do some tweaking of a model to
better match the prototype probably my biggest single wish in this
RTR age is that a) undecorated units were also available (not always
the case) and b) undecorated units can be reasonably disassembled
for detailing and painting. With regard to the latter comment,
consider the Walthers passenger cars. While readily available in
undecorated form they are assembled in such a fashion so as to make
disassembly without physically damaging the model very difficult in
most cases. This means there was absolutely no logical thought given
during product design as to how the modeler would ultimately
decorate the undecorated model. I would rather Walthers would leave
all the pieces in a box for me rather than do me the 'favor' of
bulletproof assembly.
With all this having been said, my take on Broadway Limited from
seeing what has been said about them on other forums (I own none of
their models, motive power or rolling stock) is that they are
perhaps somewhat more responsive than others to modeler input for
production of specific prototypes. Also, and their California Zephyr
is a case in point, they seem much less concerned about modeling
things that only have wide appeal. Most of the CZ cars were unique
to that train and I've seen no indication that they are going to
slap other roadnames on these cars just so they can sell more
product. On the other hand, Walthers as an example tends to produce
models that not only have several legitimate road names but they
have no qualms about also decorating them for roads that never owned
a particular car. This difference in manufacturer personality is, no
doubt, reflected in the difference in unit cost between BLI's CZ
cars and the typical Walthers car. Bottom line is that I don't see
it as impossible that BLI would do the Canadian if interest were
shown in such a project, i.e. people need to email BLI requesting
this train be done. I would think the fact the Canadian's cars could
be sold with more than one legitimate paint scheme and thus be of
interest to modeling eras spanning half a century would be a plus
for such a project.
JSH
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