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I grew up experiencing shops filled with kits. In the day everything was produced constantly except for some really exclusive limited run items that cost alot to make. The kits would fill the shelf and part of the fun is going thu them looking for the one gem to take home. I had once an oppertunity to model Athearn's 40' Billboard reefers and we would take them home to build. Unfortunately they are out of production and with my skills much improved over what they were in the beginning I would just like to build these kits again. I am reluctant to ba***he manufactors but I have understood that there is money to be made in business if you can get the volume of orders to pay for the costs of the production run before moving on to the next item... What I have a problem with is the availibility of the items to the modeler who may not have the funds to take advantage right away of a item that is sold out before it hits the store. I would like to see Hobby kit or RTR makers maintain the inventory for those who may have missed the first round for at least 3 years. Take Walther's Troop Train set as a example... I dont have the means to model this set at the time. But I do feel the urge to go outside the budget knowing they may stop production and will have to pay inflated prices at a later date for these items. This is not what the Hobby is about. You can add "Finding out of production" items to the list of required skills in the hobby. However, inventories are low and prices creep up and people who are not able to take advantage of these so called limited run, hurry order now (2 years before actual item hits stores) or announcements promising precision and customer satisfaction while the item in question is still a draftman's dream. All these things will drive people out of the hobby eventaully. Those that remain have the means and the ability to enjoy the trains while others are left to browse shiny catalogs wondering of desired item will be made again someday. I apolgize if this rant offended some folks but I feel strongly that the hobby needs consistent and complete inventory of everything from the .50 cent paint brush up to the 10,000 dollar Trix mega big exensive mortage breaking boy. In order to have a strong base and good customer support, hobby shops should be able to fill orders based on what people want than to be "soliticated" for special order items costing alot of money and certain to be delayed in production. In a hobby shop kits and supplies as well as associated detail parts and raw materials make the bulk of the money spent not the mega expensive big boy that will never be made again (At least until another manufacter released thier own big boy) The cyclic swing from frenzied ordering before the production is closed to the low of slack water low tide of waiting for the next big items while scraping empty hobby shops is NOT what a modeler wants to do. Lee
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