I Guess I'll Complain Too

[Dough]

Ok, I just recently considered getting back into model railroading. I got bogged down in scenery before, and finally just got bored and quit. This time I think that I would like to concentrate on just rolling stock and maybe a few engines. However, I’m about to jump on the bandwagon of people who are complaining about the rising prices. Especially the RTR.

I keep stumbling on aggregate hopper prototypes and I’d really like to customize some of the cars to match what I have been photographing. I was really happy to find out that Walthers made just about every one of them. The CSX, C&O, and Blue Circle are almost exact matches.

http://www.walthers.com/exec/search?quick=aggregate

However to do the 4 cars it will cost me $52. And I’m still going to have to do some work. Now am I just being cheap here or is this really as expensive as it seems? I seem to remember never paying more than $10 per car and usually less.

[Anonymous]

Dough:

4 runable cars for 50 bucks strikes me as something of a deal. What do you pay for a shirt, pair of jeans, box of popcorn at a movie, a car wash? Im sure you get the point. Sure the hobby is expensive HOWEVER if you scratch build or kit build as I do you are looking at considerably MORE for a runable prototypical, or nearly so, car.

On the otherhand, when I consider the cost per hour involved to construct a car and the enjoyment I get from the experience I think our hobby is a bargain.

Randy

[Anonymous]

$52..00 seems reasonable as long as you don't have to upgrade the wheel sets or couplers.

Shop for the discount.

[willy6]

dough has good point i really never thought about. if you go out and buy an unpainted kit of rolling stock,add the cost of paint,decals,trucks,couplers,wheels and in some cases detail parts and YOUR TIME to build it what is the bottom line cost. it's got me thinking that a $19.99 RTR might be cheaper in the long run.

[Anonymous]

Hmmm well using the prices here let's see.


Athearn Blue box kit averages about 7 dollars.

Kadee Trucks are about 6 per set

Kadee Couplers run about 3 per pack so 1.50 per pair.

7+6+3= 16 dollars for a basic model and that doesn't count detail parts to superdetail it or paint for weathering. So 52 dollars sounds like the better deal to me for 4 cars.

Hmmm. Now that I think abou tit maybe RTR cars actually are worth a bit more than the price for the level of detail some of the better kits give. I just recently paid 8 dollars for a P2K Southern 2 bay hopper kit that had everything needed for a Proto Car except weathering. The LHS cut me a deal and sold it to me for half the regular cost he had it marked at of 15 dollars.

Maybe I will look into more RTR stuff in the future to actually SAVE some money on things.

[Anonymous]

ITS A TOTAL FREAKING RIP OFF!!!!!!!!!!!

It wasn;t three years ago, I could come out of the hobby shop with a stack of 8 Walthers Kits for about $45.00 Bucks. Now if I can find two of the new RTR Box cars for that I am lucky. Since I am sick of high prices I have decided to not pay more than the price listed, in the 1995 Walthers Catalog, which is About the last year before prices started to skyrocket. (Thank you Bachmann and your 2-8-0) I make exceptions for Brachline Trains, and old Craftsman kits, because craftsman kits are really getting rare now and the old rule of Supply and Demand is taking effect, and with all the detail you get for the price, Branchline Trains are really a nice bargain. About half of Proto-2000. And P2K is on my "s**t List" to for abandoning their fine line of kits for Ready to Run.

[Dough]

Maybe it is a good deal for what I'm getting, however I'm still going to have to weather, and buy decals, to get it where I want it. I'm thinking that it if I had the option, I'd rather spend the $16 and get a perfect car than $15 for one that still needs work.

I thought that this was a hobby, why would I factor labor into is...[;)] [?]

And I guess it depends on how much you can salvage, these might work because they are so close to begin with, however, I'm trying to do another caboose project where I'd end up destroying the original paint job in the process of modifing it.

I still think that I'd rather get the eight kits for $45, that's how much I remember them being too Greyhound. That's why I am asking.

[brothaslide]

If you have the dough (no pun intended) then you can afford what you want, but. . .

If you have no dough, Dough, then you are like me - COMPLIANING ABOUT THE HIGH PRICES!!!!!!!!!!

If you want to help me support my hobby habbit, please go to my company website and throw some business my way: www.twinimaging.com

[Anonymous]

If you want to save money, try buying used. You might not be guaranteed to get exactly what you're looking for right away, but you will save money. Model train shows and ebay are good places to find used trains at reasonable prices.

[Jetrock]

There are ways to pay less for your loco items--eBay, train shows, the usually-present discount tables at the hobby shop. As a few other threads on here have indicated, hobby stuff prices have kept pace with inflation--they cost more because, well, everything costs more. The one-dollar boxcar kit went the same way as the five-cent Coke.

Adding the cost of your labor to a hobby/pastime is silly--when you go to a movie, do you demand that the theater pay you for the two hours of your own time it took to watch the movie?

Model railroading has **never** been a really cheap hobby. If you want a specific prototype in a specfific way, you're probably going to have to pay at least a little premium for it. There are ways to go cheaper--usually involving taking advantage of deals and doing a little work yourself--and being willing to make use of items that are close but not quite exact.

Personally, I don't consider $16-20 for a piece of rolling stock to be too outrageous, but then for my prototype if I want motive power correct for my line I can look forward to paying $200-400, USED, for a Suydam brass engine, which I'd still have to paint, superdetail, decal and probably repower. So forgive me if I'm a bit less than sympathetic.

[Anonymous]

JetRock,

I am sorry you mentioned Movies. Ill just mention that My and Spouse have not gone to movies for years. 8 dollars ticket, 5 dollars popcorn 3 dollars coke (each) and 3 hours of unruly children and loud adults picking each line apart is too much money. That adds up to 32 dollars and dinner runs about 30 more.

I so rather spend the 62 dollars in a yard sale or my hobby shop. A movie is a memory and will be released on satellite soon anyways.

I find an occasional good price here and there and buy. But overall I think things have indeed gotten expensive within the last few years.

I recall muscle cars were not considered much of worth until suddenly 7 years ago they too started to skyrocket in price. I wonder if there is a direct corelation between middle age crisis for days gone by? And manufacteror's prices certianly have gone up.

Shop for the discount, and plan ahead with funds ready to grab an item that becomes availible.

Good Luck

Lee

[Jetrock]

Highiron: You make a good point about movies. Personally I only go to movies in winter so I can sneak in any sodas and snacks I want in a heavy coat--at a matinee. But even then I'd spend about as much as the cost for a shake-the-box boxcar kit that would give me as much enjoyment.

[AggroJones]

$52 for 4 cars. They'd have be spectacular and the only thing you should need to do is weathering. If I pay more than $13 for a piece of rolling stock, I would have to really, really want it. And under certain circumstances, it should have metal wheels and some type of knuckle couplers, if not Kadee.

[ClinchValleySD40]

Cost of everything is going up, why should model railroad be any different. I get sticker shock every time I go to the grocery store.
Shop for bargains. Search the internet, you'll be surprised how much less stuff costs versus local hobby shops. And that is why we see shops closing everyday, they just cannot compete in the price wars.

[Anonymous]

Another factor that is coming to play is I know full well, that the manufacturors are charging as high of prices a they can get away with and have people still pay it. I recently did my own study and determined that I could manufacture my own caboose kit similar in substantial quality to one of the latest offerings by Walthers, and sell it for $12-$15.00

Freight cars would be about $5-$7

And this is with a rather generous, (I would feel guilty about it) profit margin.

While the Dollar Car is no longer a certainty, if one were wanting to scratch build, $3.00 cars are still feasable.

James.

[dave9999]

Dont forget your LHS mark-up. They have to make a living, but mine is always willing to work with me.
Maybe because I do alot of business with them.When I find something I want, say in the Walthers
book or online, they say " I can get you that a little cheaper". So ask. You never know till you try. Most
will give up a little profit for your return business. Dave

[Hawks05]

i have to shop around since i'm in high school and have a limited budget. right now i'm shopping on ebay to buy stuff. i can't affored to go out and get brand new stuff unless its at a discount on ebay or a show. the locomotive i got tonight was about $50 cheaper on ebay than it is brand new from a dealer. the loco i got is brand new to. for me paying like $13-$15 for a new RTR boxcar is out of my league. i found a pair of hoppers for $8 that i plan on bidding on. i need to shop around for deals. i don't plan to upgrade anything just yet as i have a lot of work to do ahead of me before i'll even think about weathering stuff or adding more details to stuff. i still need to put money into the benchwork and stuff needed to lay track like turnouts and what not. although i'll be getting left turnouts for $10 a piece from a friend i'll need to buy rights.

shop around and if you find a great price jump on the offer.

[Dough]

Thanks for the thoughts guys. I am probably not going to be playing with scenery for a good while. Personally I like modeling the cars and locos more than trees. My current plan is to at most make a good sized yard, and a little main line. So I guess that I can justify spending a little extra to get them right. Something tells me that you are way out of my league jetrock so I'll just keep to the cheap stuff.[;)]

Along the lines of ebay, I have been watching, but for rolling stock I get killed on the shipping! Buy the time I pay $5 for an $8 car, I'm up to new prices. Another thing is that I really like my local hobby shop. He has always cut me outragous deals over the years, and is always willing to add anything I need to his orders and saves me any shipping costs. I always end up fealing guilty when I buy from other places. I guess that I can give him some buisness and quit complaining.

Oh and one good thing about Walthers. In June of 2001 I saw these two shinny cars go by. I looked at the build plate and sure enough they were dated 6-01. Ever since I've been trying to figure out how to model these:

http://www.walthers.com/exec/page/WNP04/81%27_flat

I thought that $13 was a lot, but boy was I happy to see that someone is finally making these![:D]

[eastcoast]

ANY HOBBY WILL COST MONEY.
I will not be one who complains about having a hobby.
I do realize that costs are going up ,and so are every other
material things rising in cost. The times are changing, these
manufacturers are paying more for the raw materials and have to
stay in business , so costs are passed along. GET OVER IT.
Do you like the hobby??? I LOVE IT. I save money to get items, maybe
a little longer, but inflation is a world-wide problem. There are FAR too
many other worries out there to complain about cost of a hobby. I do
remember when a kit cost a mere $4.00 and that seemed pricey as well.
I also remember when a car was alot cheaper to buy, now they average
$ 11,000.00 and up. So,put in perspective, this is a hobby, HAVE FUN.
STOP WORRYING ABOUT THE COST.
Ken_ecr