For more perspective, there is a sub-niche within the kit building niche – it’s made up of ‘resonators’ to use the term coined by the late Bill Welch to describe those who build resin kits. Within that sub-niche
is a micro-niche of ‘extreme modelers’, to use another Bill Welch term, that take resin kit building as close to prototype as possible in their chosen scale. Resin kits have followed the market trend of becoming more detailed and more expensive. I bought my
first Sunshine kits in 2009 for between $28 to $44 each, depending upon car type, with reefers at the upper end of the spectrum. Now resin kits start at $60 and a vinegar car kit is currently being offered for $120, which approaches the entry level for brass.
The median resin kit is $75 today, and that’s just the beginning, because for most kits, you have to buy trucks, wheel sets, couplers, and additional detail parts, depending upon how far you want to go with super-detailing. Then there’s the paint, clear coats,
decal setting solutions, thinner, etc., all of which can add another $30 or more to the cost of the kit.
So yes, model railroading is moving away from kits, except for the diehard and well-heeled few. A parallel effect is that detail parts makers have disappeared, and more are fading away as proprietors age and
retire or pass away. Scratchbuilding is moribund, except for a few contesters. The future on model railroading is plastic RTR cars, like it or not. That doesn’t bode well for prototype modelers who eschew buying a generic car offered in fifty road names.
Nelson Moyer
From: CBQ@groups.io <CBQ@groups.io> On Behalf Of
William Hirt
Sent: Wednesday, July 24, 2024 10:53 AM
To: CBQ@groups.io
Subject: Re: [CBQ] C&S Hoppers
Just a quick point. An Athearn blue box kit in 1972 cost $1.98. That same kit would cost nearly $15 today based on inflation. Accurail kits have better molding, detailing, painting and lettering and cost $21.98 retail.
And hobby manufacturers will pretty much tell you no one wants to buy kits anymore. They were surprised as anyone when the transition to ready-to-run started in the early 2000s. People are willing to pay for the convenience for a well detailed car they do
not have to put together.
I have taken boxes of Branchline, Intermountain, Proto 2000 and Red Caboose kits to swap meets trying to sell them for $8-10 each. I almost always bring them all back home with me. The kit market in model railroading is now a niche market and the manufacturers
have seen and read where the marketplace is going.
Just some perspective.
As for the cars the Amarillo Museum are offering, I already have nearly 40 Accurail, Bowser, End Cab Models and Stewart variations of the car and do not need anymore especially since I model the K Line.
Bill Hirt
On 7/23/2024 2:40 PM, Jeff Kraus via groups.io wrote:
Model railroading is becoming a rich man’s hobby.
On Tuesday, July 23, 2024, 1:10 PM, Scott Frietsch
<eaglecrestservices@gmail.com> wrote:
After reading all the other emails about the time frame people are modeling I believe quite a few of us model the 60s and early 70s. I believe the main problem is that these cars are $40 AAR 70 ton triple hoppers. This car has been done
pretty well in the past which I suspect many of us have a sizable fleet of. Now these are the nicest version ever done of this model of car but it is going to make the rest of our fleets look bad. If you only had a couple I could see spending that kind of
money but I know I own roughly 60 Accurail or Stewart cars so at $40 each it isn’t worth it when I could pick up another of those at a train show for $10 and renumber or repaint it. I am guessing in my personal opinion this model is going to be a loss for
everyone involved and will always have lack luster sales. My thoughts might be wrong to some but here I am.
Scott Frietsch