Two weeks ago at one of the layouts in the Houston area (where we have annual home layout tours during the months of October, November, and a week in December), I was talking to someone about modeling in S scale. I could not for the life of me convince this guy that you can model in S "scale". He was convinced that since I mentioned the word "S", I am doing toy trains!
As Dick mentioned, we have got to get rid of the "claws" and "AF" in the ads! We need to show more "scale" layouts. My model railroad web site is quite popular, and I'm keeping all my N-scale articles that I have on that web site so as to draw that crowd so that they may see what's possible in S. My wife is getting into G, which I hope to document on the web site as well in the near future, and maybe start drawing that crowd. I try to write my web site articles such that the actually implementation is in S, but you can follow the article to build a similar item in other scales. While at the large trains show here in Houston last month, I had conversations with several modelers who were convinced that everything had to be scratchbuilt in S... while they were looking at all the R-T-R equipment we had running right in front of them! We have some serious biases and preconceived notions that we have to aggressively market "against". I was convinced scale modeling was possible in S because of the Houston S Gaugers layout set up at local shows (I got back into the hobby in 1999). Seeing them every year made me realize that, were I to ever leave N-scale, I would seriously consider S. Then, two and half years ago, I made that switch. I absolutely love the full page ad in RMC, but the "AF-compatible", etc. text is not necessary there. People aren't going to leave N or HO to switch to toy-train modeling; they want to do scale modeling, only in a larger scale. Just some random thoughts, - Peter. > Meanwhile, as we contemplate our navels, folks steadily drift away from HO > and end up elsewhere outside of the S camp. Is there a way to capture some > of this stream and steer it into the S world? As long as they are departing > HO anyway, why not promote S as the logical place to arrive? > > Just some thoughts.....no panacea to be sure. Might not even be astute, but > at least it is worth discussing. > > Cheers....Ed L. > -- Peter Vanvliet ([email protected], or [email protected]) Houston, Texas "It is easy to give up; anyone can do that..." http://pmrr.org/ (my model railroad) http://fourthray.com/ (my company) http://houstonsgaugers.org/ (model railroad club) -- ------------------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/S-Scale/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/S-Scale/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: [email protected] [email protected] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [email protected] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
