Alex Binkley wrote:
> Actually Ed, Bill Wade's long to do list includes the GP38 and 40 family. As
> his list is big enough to keep a small army busy, you might inquire where it
> is at prioritywise.
The GP40 is third on the list with our NZ builder; there are two S steam
projects ahead of it. The plan is to produce individual EMD components
in pewter, urethane and brass that would be useful for many different
locos starting with the GP40 and SD40. If sales are good for the first
offerings, then others will follow. The NZ guys are also working right
now on another S freight car and the add-on autoracks for our F89 flat.
While I still think this method of diesel development has merit, I am
concerned about the lack of folks in S willing to build kits of this
nature.
Our 'to do' list does keep our army of two very busy. If you take the
time to look back over the years, you will see we have released many new
kits and parts in S scale each and every year. Including in the last
couple of years are four standard gauge freight cars, an Sn3 2-6-2, an
Sn3 tank car, Sn3 Sn42 & Sn2 Logging Speeders, four bridges, and a large
handful of structures. While some projects have not come to pass as
quickly as I had hoped, they do get done.
And keeping the nearly 100 S kits and several hundred S details
available for you takes a lot of time also. Most of what we offer, we
design, produce, and pack in house.
But all has not been gone well. We have decided not to produce the GE
C44-9 - it was pulled from the web site some time ago. Sorry, Greg, but
this looked more and more like a great way to lose money. And sadly,
the guys who promised to make patterns for some of the freight car
projects are not following though for us, so the 'to do' list is longer
than what I prefer. I apologize for these delays.
As for Ed D's question about what it takes to get something made... in
our case, we get excited about doing new S products when we see our
existing S products selling well. [Hint - call in your order today!
Operators are standing by!! ;-)]
Seriously, guaranteed orders will help pull any project off, but as for
quantity, it all depends... if it is a brass project, 50-150 confirmed
orders will make it happen. A laser-cut wood kit, 10 or more. A
urethane project, 30+. An injected styrene project, many, many
hundreds. Many times the project price cannot be accurately determined
until the project is started so it is hard to get folks excited about
ordering something that does not have a firm price.
And even with guaranteed support, a successful project depends upon
having all the data - drawings and photos. This often can be a real
challenge.
And also needed is the right manufacturer with available time needed to
pull it off. In our case, we have a couple of laser cutters that run
14+ hours per day, seven days a week to keep up the demand on our
existing lines. Manufacturing an S kit will take about 25% more laser
time than the same kit in HO scale so laser scheduling is a factor.
And since I do all the new kit design work between feeding the lasers, I
am busy that same amount of time designing and test building new kits,
writing instructions, spinning the metal details, etc. My decision on
new projects has to be based upon what will quickly bring in the most
money to keep the business strong while keeping the customer base as
happy as possible. Generally speaking, it takes the same amount of
development time to create a kit in either HO, S or O scales. On the
AVERAGE, our limited edition kits sell about 400 in HO -vs- 120 in O
-vs- 35 in S. Take a guess where the most development work goes.
Getting money, data, and mfg'ing time together at the same time is like
herding cats!
All for now
Bill
--
============== Scale Model Railroad Products ================
Manufacturer - Retailer - Importer
Bill & Diane Wade Phone: 304-637-4510 FAX: 304-637-4506
B.T.S. P O Box 856, Elkins, WV 26241
http://www.btsrr.com
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