JDFX wrote:
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I do fear two things though..
1.) The level of Quality Control maintains the same as it is today.
2.) These two companies (Walthers and Horizon) decide to increase prices to the point where I cannot afford the hobby.
I know the second one has been answered with "Items will only fetch what the market will bear" however, there is this craze now of "Pre-Ordering" before manufacturing.
As for the Q.C., Horizon's history in RC and Display Models has been up and down. Some years, they were on the ball, others, well, people would equate it to junk.
I would hate to see Athearn or MDC go to a low level of Q.C. in 10 years.
Guess we'll wait and see,
Well, there's good news as far as your last comment concerns MDC: It can't get much worse. I have been purchasing MDC products for no less than 15 years, and some of those items were well used before I got them. Still others sat on shelves for years (my Ortners come to mind - they had been out of production for a few years before I bought the last 20 PF&S had) prior to me buying them. There is a clear decline in the quality of printing, the quality of the castings ejected from the molds, and the fit of the parts. There is an increase of incorrect or missing parts (screws the wrong size, tank car manways missing, brake fittings missing, etc.) and parts often come out warped or broken (I have a ton of their tank cars, which are probably more sensitive to defects than any other type of car). In my limited experience, the kits I bought ten-fifteen years ago didn't have these problems at all or were very infrequent. My last dozen tank cars included 3 that can't be assembled due to improper fit and missing parts. Three out of four ain't great.
So, I'd think it would be a pretty serious lapse on the Geddes team to allow qc to remain the same with the MDC line but by the same token, I'd be impressed to see the Athearn line carry on at the level they currently deliver. Have a look at the current SD70MAC photos or any of the Genny Fs if you need proof.
As to your comment on Horizon's history with quality control, they are doing at least one thing right: Geddes is in charge of both Athearn and MDC. It was on his watch all the post-Mr. Athearn good has been done. I expect he'll keep a close watch on things to come.
As far as the pre-ordering business is concerned, it affects me already. I've tried to buy a pair of Atlas (and they are the biggest proponents of this practice) B40-8Ws in Santa Fe through the local sources and even had an order placed with Hobby Circle (apparently it's a good thing they were already sold out and didn't take my money) at the beginning of delivery of the second run, only to have missed out on both runs. So, I end up with the scraps usually. Which means I end up doing my shopping on ebay for most of the newer items I can't get at the LHS. Ebay is where you'll find the truest example of what the market will bear. The MSRP marked on many of the models I buy is far more than I pay for them, unless it's a particular OOP model that I doubt I'll find again (but that's only freight cars). So, while I still have maybe 300 to 400 bucks to spend per year on my hobby, I can still participate. One thing's for sure, anyway: it's quality, not quantity, that counts for me now more than ever.
In the end, I share your fears. I'm more of a half-empty, pragmatic kind of guy than most people I know. But, unlike the Horizon-Athearn deal, this one seems pretty hard to screw up.
Here's to hoping for the best (as I raise my half empty glass)