From: Alan Lambert Jim, I apoligise for being the way I was. I was looking for the input you gave me.Case closed
________________________________ From: SMMW <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Sent: Friday, January 27, 2012 2:34 PM Subject: {S-Scale List} Re: SR gon in S scale? Alan, As I stated near the top of my email last night, there is nothing wrong with modeling any S scale flavor that floats your boat, including hi-rail. My point was that I am not worried about losing sales because I don’t offer the hi-rail option. In my experience, the “average” hi-railer is not a kit builder. Sure he/she may build a kit structure or add/remove some details from a RTR item. That’s not what I’m talking about; I’m referring to scratchbuilding or building a highly-detailed kit that requires drilling holes, bending wire, adding details, painting and decaling. I’m continually amazed at how many “modelers” are terrified of painting and decaling, yet these are key ingredients to completing a plausible model. I’ve been in the S market long enough to know this is an accurate assessment and is shared by MANY of my scale customers and dealers. I can’t please everyone and have no intention in trying. If someone wants to buy one of my kits and completely gut the underframe to make it AF compatible, including couplers, that’s his/her choice. If I offered that, I’d have to create 2 sets of patterns and try to recoup design time, pattern cost and production time spread over a divided market. It’s hard enough justify production expense, et al for just 1 kit option. And, by the way, my S scale sales are doing quite well, so I have no clue where you get the idea otherwise. S scale gross sales are 2nd behind my industrial work and a very important part of my livelihood. Unless S scale completely shuts down overnight, I plan to keep producing S items for many years to come. I have a very diverse and devoted group of scale customers, many of whom are personal friends. Aside from the friendship aspect, eliminating S scale from my business plan would be a very bad decision. I consider this topic closed. Jim King Smoky Mountain Model Works, Inc. Ph. (828) 777-5619 <www.smokymountainmodelworks.com>
