Why do manufacturers paint kits?

[SpaceMouse]

Model Railroaders, for the most part I think, want their models to look good. To make a kit look good, you pretty much have to paint the plastic or it will still look like plastic. That means that all the painted on lettering either has to be stripped off or covered.

It just makes total sense to me to have the lettering in the form of decals. Then you cain paint the model, put the lettering on, weather it, and even vary the road name and numbers. Now MDC is just making RTR. That means taking it apart before you strip it.

I know you are going to say buy undecorated. Try to find one.

[Anonymous]

I agree [#ditto]
I mean
You can't get a decent model anymore
Its much more realistic to paint it yourself
Alex

[tstage]

Chip,

Accurail makes some semi-undecorated kits, with just the -what do they call it? - specs stenciled on the outside. I like the detailing of the Accurails. And the paint they use is more flat vs. the "glossy" look of a MDC Roundhouse kit. The downside is that you are limited to only hopper and boxcars. The resin kits are your other option but they will run you upwards of $30+ and are more delcate than other cars.

Tom

[loathar]

I think they do it because a lot of us stink at doing it ourselves.(I'm including myself in that group) My rolling stock would look like crap if I had to paint and letter all of them.

[Anonymous]

I assume they are making what people are buying.

Bob Boudreau

[IRONROOSTER]

They do it because that's what sells. But many offer undecorated and some offer unpainted. In the "good ole" days when craftsman kits were wood with metal castings, many kits had decals included with the kits. You assembled and painted it, then decaled it. As plastic came to dominate this changed to prepainted. I haven't bought any MDC in a while, but I thought they painted their cars. If it's too shiny a little Dullcoat might help.
Enjoy
Paul

[SpaceMouse]

QUOTE: Originally posted by IRONROOSTER

They do it because that's what sells.

Enjoy
Paul

Do they paint it because that's what people want, or do people buy it because that's what is offered.

I submit that it is cheaper to assembly line paint than to provide decals. A smart manufacturer creates the market for what they want to sell.

[dgwinup]

I think they do it because it's cheaper to manufacture and because people will buy it, often because it's all that is offered.

It would be nice to be able to get undecorated kits, but decals probably wouldn't be included because of cost. Also, the decal manufacturers love to sell their decal sets, too.

I'm not one who wants to paint all my rolling stock. I like to put it on the rails and get it going. I'm careful in my purchases, but don't really care which railroad the car is decorated for, as long as it fits my transitional-era layout theme. I love seeing the work of other people who detail and paint their equipment for private or fictional railroads, but I don't want to have to do that myself.

The manufacturers could produce undecorated equipment for those that prefer them, but probably don't because of low sales volume.

Darrell, quiet...for now

[Texas Zepher]

QUOTE: Originally posted by FundyNorthern

I assume they are making what people are buying.

Yup, I agree. I find tons of undecorated stuff in the "bargan bins" or doing for dirt cheap on e-bay.

Personally I had a ton of Atlas O-Scale undec cars. When I raized the O-scale layout, I carried them around to swap meets for a couple years. I think I sold 1 ore car. Last summer just for grins I painted up a bunch of them (any color Krylon I happen to have on the shelf), threw on decals (once again anything I happen to have in my decal drawer), and added window "glass" to the caboose. So these were totally non-prototypical things, just painted instead of undecorated. I marked them 4x the price I had been asking for the undecs. They got more attention at the last swap meet than anything else I had there. So now I'm going to paint up all the rest.

[DrummingTrainfan]

QUOTE: Originally posted by loathar

I think they do it because a lot of us stink at doing it ourselves.(I'm including myself in that group) My rolling stock would look like crap if I had to paint and letter all of them.

[#ditto] Although I would still like some undecs...it's just that all undec isn't reasonable.

[Anonymous]

Interesting question - over here we have the opposite problem. With a very few exceptions all British OO scale kits are delivered unpainted (and often without decals). Couplers and wheels often need to be sourced though some manufacturers do supply them (Parkside Dundas for one). The snag with this is that often the required decals are tricky to find (only available direct from manufacturer in some cases) and the same can go for paint colours.

[jsoderq]

After 9 years of molding, painting and printing for two large American manufacturers I can tell you - contrary to what you may think undecorated stuff just does not sell. First, people want it at a substantial lower price, assuming (mistakenly) it costs a lot to paint and print. When you are doing production runs, the per unit cost is very low. All the parts and packing are exactly the same which is why they are not substantially lower in price.
If the decal- it -yourself crowd were a real market Herald King and Champ and others would not have gone out of business. Except for Microscale, what is left of the decal market is custom printers working out of a garage or basement. True, still a real business, but not enough to make a living.
Most of the market is people who don't have the skills or the time or the inclination to go to all that trouble when there is so much now available in the market. In the old days, you had the big 9 and short line guys had to do it yourself - no longer true with the vast array of stuff now being made.

[GN-Rick]

I am in the do-it-myself crowd. With a few newer exceptions,
Iam generally not satisfied with factory paint. So I have been
and probably always will be a good decal customer. Motive
power and cabooses, particularly-there is no such thing as
RTR-or even unmodified kits-accurate for the GN-except
brass. I own a substantial amount of GN brass-steam and
cabooses (I love swap meets) but new stuff is out of reach.
Therefore, I prefer undecs that I can detail and modify to
suit my prototype. New cars-like the Genesis PC&F boxes
and the 60' auto parts cars are that exception. I own 4 of
the GN 200130 series cars and they are great. Same with
the CB&Q 9800 series 60 footers, just beautiful.
I realise that I am probably in the minority today but that is
the part of the hobby I enjoy most-crafting accurate models
of my chosen prototype.
This is my[2c] and will now climb off my[soapbox].

[orsonroy]

I spend so much time detailing, assembling kits, and REdetailing stuff that decorated models don't bother me at all any more. A little 90% alcohol and presto...factory paint is gone. And if I need an undec boxcar KIT (like a few Roundhouse 36-footers for conversions), I'll spend the time rooting them out.

There's too much other stuff out there to worry about these days to stress over toy trains!

[Anonymous]

There are some manufacturers ( unfortunately not many) who give us a small break on the price of undecorated cars and locomotives, but taht comes back when the close outs come for the never was never will be "model" paint schemes. When we get upgraded couplers and metal wheel sets instead of horn hooks and plastic wheels, we are busy belly acheing still.
I thank those people who buy the shiny plastic toy looking kits and RTR, they are making it possible for me to strip, paint and letter more economical motive power and rolling stock.
Yes I would love less expensive undecorated kits to put a little me into my modelling, but I love the more realistic better quality items I have to take lettering off before I work them over. We have come a long way in this hobby and in this country since the days of Henry Ford when you could have any color you want as long as its "black".
What great opportunities we have today, to start with something rather than have to scratch build it all (but scratch building your own is still an option for those who aren't happy with the market places offering)
Enjoy having fun playing with trains.
Will (following Darrell's lead - "being quiet ...for now")

[IRONROOSTER]

QUOTE: Originally posted by SpaceMouse

QUOTE: Originally posted by IRONROOSTER

They do it because that's what sells.

Enjoy
Paul

Do they paint it because that's what people want, or do people buy it because that's what is offered.

I think it is what most people want, but that's just my opinion. For me personally, I like having most of them prepainted as it saves me time. But I also like being able to get an occasional painted but unlettered one.
Enjoy
Paul

[Anonymous]

My question for Chip and others is : How many of you have painted AND decaled a boxcar??? It takes time and patience to do it right. Most modelers don't want to spend their time doing this. You can take a high quality factory painted and decaled car and knock the finish down with dullcoat (or your pereferred matting agent), weather it and have a good looking car.

Or on the undecorated route you can wa***he car, get out the air brush, maybe prime the car, clean the air brush, strain and mix paint, spray the car, (maybe twice). Clean the airbrush. Gloss coat for decals. Clean the airbrush. Cut out the decals very close to the lettering, soak em' apply em. re-apply after noticing they are crooked, mess with em' to get them to snug up over rivets etc., respray the car with dullcoat, clean the airbrush and then finally weather it. I'm not knocking this method as I have done it myself. There is a lot of satisfaction from a job well done and you can make stuff that is unique and accurate. However, if you have even a medium sized layout, the job of making enough cars to run could take years just by itself without doing anything else on the layout.

Another way to look at it is that most guys will not do anything to a car. Would it look better for them to have undecorated cars running around or factory painted cars where the color is a bit plastic looking???

On the other side of things: I agree with Orson an others. If you are going to repaint and detail anyway, it is just one more step to remove (or simple paint over factory paint).

My 2 cents,

[Anonymous]

In my case I bought a Walthers tank car kit. The tank halves are split vertically and when put together there was an awefull seam. As this kit was pre-painted and stenciled I have two options, (1) to sand the seam and try to match the blue paint of the car or (2) sand and repaint the whole tank and try to find appropriate decals or (3) leave the seam and try to hide it with weathering. It's still sitting on my workbench after over a year because I'm still not sure which way to go.

My point, if they are going to pre-paint cars they ought to make sure the parts fit well enough to not have to sand off half the paint.

Bob DeWoody