Walthers buys Life-Like

Well it is starting. Bowser just sent an email to their dealers stating that they will no longer be carrying Life Like products. Canceled all orders for new releases.

Good analysis,

I'm wondering if you have any thoughts on product. Specifically, I've always liked the look of the P2K line, but find them a bit fragile for frequent handling and mechanically they're the worst of the lot in my humble opinion. Split gears, groggy slow ramping motors, etc... Far poorer than Kato, Atlas, or Athearn/Genesis.

Walthers trainline models aren't much to look at, but generally the few I own run pretty smoothly. The press seems to indicate it will mostly be run as an independent subsidiary, but do you suppose the quality will improve? I only ever bought the P1K line (not too detailed, but easily handled and solid performers), or P2K's when they were heavily discounted because I may have wanted the specific model of locomotive, but didn't feel like the price reflected the quality/value of the locomotive.

Thoughts?

Alan

snipped-for-privacy@prodigy.net wrote:

RTR is a convenience for some, especially beginning modelers.Calling them BS sort of begs the question: when is buying a model rail road product which is even partially assembled not "laziness?" I notice that Athearn blue box kits come pre-painted and decaled. Is that laziness, or should I start with flat styrene and cut, carve, etc. to get the thing I want?

This hobby, like most, is about choices. Some really want to scratch build everything and have the skills and experience to do that. Other want to do scenery, lay track, design layouts, etc., and could care less about actually building rolling stock, so they by some pre-built. Other want to do operations, and if someone delivered a layout to their specifications with rolling stock and loco's all in place, they'd be happy as clams (whatever that means).

in article R2ZCe.17873$ snipped-for-privacy@tornado.rdc-kc.rr.com, Mark Mathu at snipped-for-privacy@mathu.com wrote on 7/18/05 6:53 PM:

On Tue, 19 Jul 2005 15:50:48 UTC, "Edward A. Oates" wrote: 2000

I think you nailed it. Different courses for horses.

My preference is for design, trackwork and operation. I have no problem building kits but would rather not do it. Except for my last two module sets my track has all been handlaid with hand built turnouts. The first module set was handlaid with Railway Engineering turnouts and the second set was done with flextrack and Micro Engineering turnouts. I am going back to handlaid track with hand built turnouts (Okay I am going to cheat and use Fast Track jigs) because I enjoy it.

That has been the general trend in the hobby over the past twenty years, and I can't see why things won't continue in the future -- especially because this seems to be Walthers' flagship line to compete against Horizon Hobby's Athearn/Genesis locomotives. So improvements by one manufacturer will most likely be reflected by the other to stay in the market.

Absolutely!

Rick's comment is the equivalent of saying: "Buying pre-fab turnouts is just an excuse for laziness," or "not operating with prototypical paperwork is just an excuse for laziness," or "not finishing your layout room is just an excuse for laziness."

This hobby is varied enough that everyone can concentrate on the parts of the hobby they enjoy -- and gloss over the parts they don't enjoy. Rick's comment is an embarrassment to those who truly love this hobby and all the variety it can offer.

It's the 60' auto parts boxcar that I care about!

That's a good question, and I'm not sure there's a way to know. I CAN see Trainline/P1K either merging, or being made compatible. If Walthers does "merge" lines, I would expect the Life-Like design to be dominant.

On the other hand, I also think Walthers is more responsive to quality problems.

Time will tell.

Peter King in NY

Almost forgot about that one!

Fathered by Bondo Billy, and one of the first limited-run plastic models. I missed buying a NYC version when they debuted. When I inquired further, I was astounded to hear that it probably wouldn't be run again in that road.

Peter King in NY

Oh? When are they going to refund my money or give me credit for that piece of crap turntable I bought from them about five years ago?

-- Cheers Roger T.

Home of the Great Eastern Railway

Their 40' Airslide hoppers can form the basis of a good model, with some extra work. I feel they are superior to the Walther's model of the same car.

"Rick Jones" wrote in message news: snipped-for-privacy@corp.supernews.com...> So we all go back to this hobby's roots - scratchbuilding what we

Rick, While I like to scratchbuild or put together craftsman type kits I don't see a thing wrong with RTR models especially with some of the outstanding models that are available. Not everyone in this world is a craftsman or wants to be a craftsman, nor should they. If we were all expert wood workers and carpenters who would make our bread. It quite obvious that RTR is very popular and I think always has been. The market for RTR has always been there. It finally being catered too after all these years. A number of my friends had layouts or I should say their fathers did. Most were 4x8's populated with RTR and simple kit stuff. As far as I can remember my dad was the only person I knew that had some Bowsers with extra detail. Everyone else had RTR Warbonnet F's or AHM stuff or Lionel or American Flyer. Most structures were the same simple ones everyone else had. Scenery and structures were rather sparse anyway. I'll bet a great number of those old kit locomotives, craftsman type car models and such were bought but never built or only half way put together and then abandoned to dusty oblivion. The ones that escaped house cleaning seem to emerge on Ebay with regularity and I would not be surprised if many of those will remain unbuilt. If more models were scratchbuilt or kit built in the old days its probably because of no choice rather than that people were less lazy back then. Probably the relative number of scratchbuilders was small then too but they were extensively featured in the magazines ( mostly because there wasn't anything else to feature) so it just seemed like everyone did it. Bruce

Perhaps my words were rather strong. I have a few P2K RTR tank cars and stock cars myself, and I have purchased a fair number of built-up craftsman models at swaps or auctions over the years. I prefer the really nice, though hard to find these days, craft kits like Silver Streak and Central Valley, et all used to make but I buy other things too, especially if the prototype was metal which a wood kits rarely simulates well. My response was a quick reaction to the whining that was expressed over the Walthers/Life-Like merger. It followed on to all of the whining that was posted over the Horizon mergers and the prognostications about how the hobby was "going to be ruined" and prices were going to skyrocket. Add in the annoying whining that goes on here nearly every month when MR comes out and it gets *so-o-o-o-o* *o-o-o-o-ld* very fast. The eternal flame wars between certain parties degrade the experience of RMR even further. So take my previous comment with a few grains of salt and lots of Cajun seasoning. ;-{)