General Discussion (Model Railroader)

I have always wondered why some enterprising importer does not try to develop a line of brass engines made in Viet Nam.  Income levels there would seem to make the products affordable and there is a tradition of fine Vietnamese work in metal that suggests the craftsmanship is there, too.  

Dave Nelson

Lateral-G wrote:

I was into model rr'ing in the late 70's and 80's and as a kid always drooled over the PFM (Pacific Fast Mail) ads on the back of Model Railroader magazine. Of course I could never afford those pieces of art at the time. After a stint with N-scale in the mid-90's I'm back into trains (but this time HOn3). I can't seem to find all that much on brass locos. Especially the once from Japan. What happened to PFM, Nakamura, Hallmark, United, Key, Overland, et. al.?   -G-

VAPEURCHAPELON wrote:

The best known Japanese builder - Tenshodo - is still existing and still produces unbelievable pieces of rolling stock after Japanese prototypes - but for unbelievable prices, of course.

Thanks for the info guys. Really appreciate it.

I've searched Caboose Hobbies, ebay and some other places on the web. Unfortunately since I model narrow gauge not a lot is available. Still looking for that reliabel, well running geared shay or climax....

 -G-

Lateral-G wrote:

Thanks for the info guys. Really appreciate it. I've searched Caboose Hobbies, ebay and some other places on the web. Unfortunately since I model narrow gauge not a lot is available. Still looking for that reliabel, well running geared shay or climax....  -G-

The HOn3 scale models are hard to find since most of the production runs were much smaller than the models we are collecting.

I did find a Heisler but no shays are showing up that are low priced.  The two truck Shay listed below is new and not low priced. 

Steam 72988 HOn3 WSM WSL&Co Heisler 2-Truck #3, no original foam, some wear, not lettered or numbered Cons. OP OB G $295

Steam 55820 HOn3 16872-1 PSC Shay 2 Truck 42t,coal, crankcase eng FP OB N $836

Lateral-G wrote:

Thanks for the info guys. Really appreciate it. I've searched Caboose Hobbies, ebay and some other places on the web. Unfortunately since I model narrow gauge not a lot is available. Still looking for that reliabel, well running geared shay or climax....  -G-

Which scale? Regardless of the price, I did find at least 10 shays and 3 climaxes on ebay, mostly PFM - and therefore produced in Japan.

dknelson wrote:

I have always wondered why some enterprising importer does not try to develop a line of brass engines made in Viet Nam.  Income levels there would seem to make the products affordable and there is a tradition of fine Vietnamese work in metal that suggests the craftsmanship is there, too.   Dave Nelson

Without prior knowledge of building brass locomotive and cars, even the most skilled craftsmen would not be able to build a car or locomotive that was usable on our railroads.

You may or may not of heard of NWSL's Far East Disaster series of locomotives and cars that were not well built or would not run that were the first Korean models that were imported here in the US. The most famous of these was the B&O painted and lettered caboose that was of no known prototype and totally out of scale.  Of course each model was signed by the builder, his (her) thumbprint was on each model that was dipped into the paint.

Regards

Rick 

dti406 wrote:

Without prior knowledge of building brass locomotive and cars, even the most skilled craftsmen would not be able to build a car or locomotive that was usable on our railroads. You may or may not of heard of NWSL's Far East Disaster series of locomotives and cars that were not well built or would not run that were the first Korean models that were imported here in the US. The most famous of these was the B&O painted and lettered caboose that was of no known prototype and totally out of scale.  Of course each model was signed by the builder, his (her) thumbprint was on each model that was dipped into the paint.   Regards Rick

Yes I am aware of this, there are several models of questionable quality (but with some skills it's possible to make contest-winning pieces out of these).

But the Koreans learned to offer very fine quality - and they learned it quickly! Why shouldn't this be possible in Vietnam?

dinwitty wrote:

I think this is a sign that the current hobby manufacturers need to dig in and make some more variety of steamers and models using the cast plastic. The brass engines are hand made.

dw:

The trouble with that is that plastic molding and die casting are best suited to high-volume production, being fast processes with expensive tooling, so you're stuck with the prototypes that a lot of people are going to want. They don't necessarily have to be common prototypes, but they have to be popular.  Basically, if it's featured in Brian Hollingsworth's big books, it might be a good choice for a plastic model.

Imported brass is made by slower processes that use fairly simple and generic tools, so it's possible to make small runs of very specialized models.