Wdobner wrote:CIOR wrote:BACHMANN. I don't recommend even wasting your funds on this stuff. Like the basic Life-Like stuff, this is more aligned with Christmas gift trainsets of the 70's and 80's.
Yeah, but if you're out to model electric operations (not that there's many doing that) theres not much other choice these days. It's either the few Atlas boondoggle AEM7s and ALP44s remaining on Hobby Shop shelves, some hugely overpriced resin kits from a specialty manufacturer,
Yet another ignorant person.......sorry about this, Otto, but.....
I'm sorry to say that the high prices are YOUR fault, not IHP's. If there were more people willing to buy the models, IHP could make more at a lower price. The whiners like you do not like to hear this, I know. You think you know the industry and the market better than someone who actually works in it, produces products for it, and has done so for twelve years.
Let me set the record straight for the folks here: There are comparatively few people who like to model electric and subway operations. That's why there aren't many models for those people. That's why the likes of Bachmann and Athearn will not produce these kinds of models. That's why the likes of IHP, MTS, Images Replicas and Q-Car have stepped in and produced them on their own. FOR YOU! But, production costs for these models are so high and the market so small that....well, it's simple Macroeconomics 101. Small Market + Small production quantity = Higher Prices. Only a business that didn't want to stay in business would think you could then get away with charging $20 for something you paid $18 for just because they thought they would sell more. Our prices are higher and we are still in business- all four of us- because we KNOW the marketplace and what it takes to survive as a business.
IHP produces a large variety of commuter and transit products in small quantities. Look at our website and see what we have done and have planned for you. IHP targets the transit modelers specifically. Most of our models have never been produced commercially before and most are not likely to be. IHP products are not half-assed blobs- they are handmade, limited-run, accurate, detailed, painstakingly-researched, well proportioned reproductions of actual vehicles for the discriminating modeler and collector. If you cannot afford the necessarily high prices, don't blame IHP. You wanted electric commuter and transit models; we're making what you asked for; you are just unwilling to pay the admission fee to have the models you asked for. IHP is simply responding to the market that is out there. Your personal budget is not our problem, so stop bitching at IHP because you can't afford the product. It's YOUR fault you're unhappy with IHP.
By the way, Silverliner III kits are on their way now, so SEPTA modelers now have another choice in HO scale, and these are licensed by SEPTA and ONLY from IHP.
Mike Bartel
IHP
http://ihphobby.tripod.com