Jace, Thanks, do you have any plans or pictures for the northeastern feed mills? Ed
From: JGG KahnSr <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Sent: Sunday, August 28, 2011 10:29 AM Subject: RE: {S-Scale List} RE: Structure Kits I take your point, Ed, which is why I didn't suggest any of the Walthers Cornerstone line (I own a good eight or ten in O scale, a few duplicates to use as the basis for kitbashing, and I envy the vast number of offerings in HO), as most of them require dies and injection-molding, which is justified only when the manufacturer can sell thousands or even tens of thousands to earn back the cost of the dies. Whenever the question of potential new projects comes up, I try to be realistic and not blurt out my fantasies; I try to put myself in the position of someone who has to invest scarce resources (time, money, energy) in what has to be a sound business proposition. I try to think not just what I would buy, or what I would pay--those are not necessarily representative of the market--but what might make most sense to anyone risking an investment. Incidentally, the Walthers feedmill WOULD make a wonderful kit for a laser-cutter, as the prototype (if such exists) is wood. And northeastern feed mills are something I'd really like to see; I still own several HO kits for them (Model Hobbies, DynaModel, and a couple more) which I intend to scale up from the plans and instructions for O scale (and perhaps S scale). If you insist on a very specific suggestion: the Beemer and Green produce complex of LeRoy NY, drawings by Harold Russell in MRR way back in the sixties; I've seen models published in the journals in several scales. I'd be prepared to go over $100 for a decent kit of that in S scale. And I do urge that any structure kits be based on real prototypes; if anyone has followed the freelance structures published over the past several years in the NMRA magazine, none of them looks quite right to me. Buyers/builders can always alter a prototype to suit themselves, but it is hard to take a generic structure and give it a real identity. Although now I can think of one exception: years ago (I think in RMC) Eric Brunger conceived the Eight-Ball Locomotive Works, a small industry. I'd buy a kit for that happily (could scratchbuild it, as Dave Branum suggests, but sometimes I am just too lazy). Jace Kahn General Manager Ceres & Canisteo RR Co./Champlain County Traction Co. > You all see to be missing the point of this request, I am not asking the > group what would be good for the s-scale hobby but rather what building you > personally would like to have available. The suggestion of something like the > Cornestone Line is probably true as far as needs in S-scale are concerned, > but you have to remember kits like that require much greater numbers to > produce and the S-scale group just doesn't buy in such quantities. With the > new laser cutters, wood kits can be produced in numbers as small as just a > few. > Ed Sauers > > From: Thomas Baker <[email protected]> > Structure kits, a good idea but what kind of structure kits? I like the > Alpine Models grain and feed mill. Alpine also makes a neat grain elevator in > HO that could be done in S. In the Midwest grain elevators abounded, and few > were identical. For a modeler to have more than one grain elevator on a > layout would not be out of place. Many small towns had more than one. > Stewartville, Minnesota, comes immediately to mind, but it was far from being > an exception. A furniture factory would be neat. Sudyam once produced such a > structure in O, and it looked good. I suppose the possibilities are infinite, > and others might disagree completely with my ideas for a product. > Always small industries justifying a siding and setouts; we tend to do pretty > well in most scales on railroad-specific structures (e.g., stations and > locomotive facilities), but what > usually seem in short supply are structures near the tracks. The > fruit-packing plant not long ago--ideal in being low-relief--was an excellent > choice (I bought one) and the > Alpine re-issue of the Suydam HO Purina Chows mill (I shall be buying one as > soon as I have time to negotiate their checkout system) is another. > > The LVM line (developed by Frank Titman, as I understand it?) has a number of > just such structures (I own three or four of them, too, and shall probably > get a few more). > What most of us don't need are large industries, although that is no > reflection on Bill Wade's lumber mill or mine kits, as they are designed to > be the centerpiece (and rationale) > for a specialized operation. Otherwise, most of us (I think) just don't have > the room. > > Jace Kahn [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------------------ Yahoo! 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