Guys: At the risk of growing the thread, my random, non-critical thoughts on others' thoughts:
The elephant in the room that seems to be so often overlooked, is that we are very small numerically speaking, with widely varying architectural needs and wants While a lot of guys on this list complain about how little is available in structure kits, I marvel at how much there actually is. If you were to add up all the S scale offerings, past and present from various structure manufacturers, I'm sure it would number into the hundreds. Personally, I enjoy scratch building specific (to my needs) structures, but I do buy the odd kit if I think I can make it fit the scene I want to create. When considering a kit, I prefer simple, typical structures. The B.T.S. rural church has found a home on my layout. It has been upgraded with a stone foundation, slate roofing and a metal steeple roof. I also have the Dallas Divide section house, upgraded to residential use with a new stryrene porch, additional gables, gingerbread trim and new shingles. Sometimes it's easier to add details to a simple structure than it is to "calm down" an overly ornate one. I love the look of Bar Mills structures but but too many on my layout would make it look like a theme park. I have purchased their "One Kit" because it's a clever concept I can probably use in the future without have to scare up a lot of scratch building materials Selfishly, I don't worry about any kit maker getting out of S scale. What would panic me would be the loss of S scale parts from companies such as Grandt Line or Rusty Stumps. That said, I do hope Altoona gets the 5 or 6 orders it needs for that great looking Pennsy tower. That's one structure I wouldn't want to build from scratch and as Pieter R. has pointed out, its parts could be morphed into other signature structures. If it gets off the ground I'll bet who ever buys one, will later be able to sell it three times over to the foot-draggers. Back to the typical, I will be ordering Altoona's branch line water tank. It's close enough to what I need. Typical sells, At least to me. As for those who can't find a structure kit specific to their needs, try scratch building. The fact that you're willing to tackle a kit at least means you have no" tool allergies" My two cents Cheers' Jim Martin. ________________________________ From: Carey Probst <[email protected]> I do understand the frustration and wish I had an answer but as had been discussed on this list many times in the past, we are a bunch of old farts and I'm guessing that a large number of us have to be very selective in what we buy because we are on fixed incomes. ------------------------ On 3/10/2012 5:52 PM, Edward Sauers wrote: My guess is > that Altoona is receiving so few request for S-Scale kits that he has > now started to require a 6 kit pre-order as a requirement to build a > model in our scale. If we want new > structures available, we as a group, need to step up and show some > support for their efforts. --------------------------------- >> *From:* Carey Probst <[email protected]>> > So are we supposed to buy something that in no way fits our plans? --------------------------------------------- > On 3/10/2012 11:45 AM, Edward Sauers wrote: > > Group. > > AS USUAL...very poor support of new product.....
