Joe
New Member
Posts: 31
|
Post by Joe on Nov 28, 2018 10:43:19 GMT -5
Just to be clear and with this will not engage in a flame war..., I've never said "As Joe from MTL once admitted to me that they had to sacrifice functionally for aesthetics" with regards to how switches work.
Joe
|
|
Joe
New Member
Posts: 31
|
Post by Joe on Sept 26, 2018 10:14:43 GMT -5
I was told that the locomotive was probably shaken hard during shipment (really???) and that the drive shaft & contact points were no longer aligned & I should stop the loco on end to reposition. I don’t think so! I could also remove the shell & see what may be hung up. No! Like you I think I’m out big bucks. I don't see how you are out big bucks? I'm not sure where you are getting that advice, the customer service reps here only relay information I give them when someone calls in and I don't recall giving that advice...possibly your dealer? All you have to do is email me, or send your loco back to MTL and I'll fix it. Anyone who has been on this forum over the years knows that I take our products seriously and have on more than one occasion made the situation more than right. All it takes is asking. I stock all the components to repair or replace any part of the product, no waiting for care packages from China. I'm more than happy to turn the frown into a smile Joe MTL
|
|
Joe
New Member
Posts: 31
|
Post by Joe on Sept 25, 2018 9:50:35 GMT -5
Regarding our products, I would hope if you have problems you'll contact us so we have an opportunity to take a look at the engine in question and the rest of the run. Given production runs are in the thousands, there will be bad apples and we have always stood by our products. Anyone in the hobby for any amount of time knows we are as helpful as possible and want to make good your purchase. It's always best to deal with us directly, your dealer is not really in a position to fix anything and regardless of their return policy, give us the chance to make it right.
Joe
|
|
Joe
New Member
Posts: 31
|
Post by Joe on Sept 25, 2018 9:40:21 GMT -5
Okay, my problem is just the opposite. Apply power, the lights come on but the loco just sits there. Goose it a bit and it takes off like gang busters, then stops dead again. This happens over & over. I’ve cleaned the track & my other AZLs & MTLs run just fine. Considering the long wait, what a disappointment! Deb If you are having problems with your engine, please send it back here, no matter where you bought it and we will be happy to take a look and fix it for you. Joe MTL
|
|
Joe
New Member
Posts: 31
|
Post by Joe on Sept 5, 2017 9:21:37 GMT -5
Those molds were destroyed before I got to MTL...16 years ago. I was able to pull aside some back stock for reference. I was hoping we could fix the mold but it was crunched pretty badly and some of the inserts were missing. I'd like to do a drop bottom GS gon to replace it someday.
Joe
|
|
Joe
New Member
Posts: 31
|
Post by Joe on Aug 31, 2017 16:35:53 GMT -5
I've always felt you both could do a better job in matching one-anothers paint. This is a small enough community for you to, at least, communicate with each other. I hate it when the paint on each vendor's passenger car's is not even close to the other. How about it? Seconded! I know you're both competitors but there could probably be a little more cooperation for the good of the Z community. Maybe some collaboration on a special product or something. Kinda like AZL and Marklin did on the first injection E8-9's. Or Rokuhan making European loco's for Noch. In those situations I think the same factory did the work for both parties...correct me if I am wrong. Unless AZL is willing to send us tooling to run... LOL
|
|
Joe
New Member
Posts: 31
|
Post by Joe on Aug 31, 2017 16:34:47 GMT -5
I've always felt you both could do a better job in matching one-anothers paint. This is a small enough community for you to, at least, communicate with each other. I hate it when the paint on each vendor's passenger car's is not even close to the other. How about it? I doubt that will work to be honest. getting colors correct offshore is difficult...we've always had problems. You have to also consider the color of the substrate (plastic) type of paint...enamels, lacquers, acrylic urethane and water based have tint limitations. Enamels are brighter than lacquers...the coordination would eat up your budget. We have standards, and we all have color chips, short of sending 5 gallon buckets of paint to china and back, I would not want to be responsible for that project. When we see cars out there that our cars might run with, we get samples and color match if the color is correct in the first place. The wild card.
|
|
Joe
New Member
Posts: 31
|
Post by Joe on Aug 30, 2017 15:34:36 GMT -5
hopefully these will be available in Un-dec? Working on my Z Del Monte and it would be a shame to strip a nice paint job...unless its PRR, then it's ok Joe Joe, I too have an interest in the Del Monte (yet another train of my youth). But I don't understand why you would need an un-decorated. AZL will most certainly do the aluminum and red cars, and if we ask real nice they just might do #2982 for us. However what we still need are the Harriman commute coaches. Know anyone who could do those? Mark Mainly to match our paint...reds, mask lines, lettering...sometimes they don't quite match up. Even in real life sometimes. I am bashing an Automat and a wide window coach and can use the AZL Mail Baggage. I don't think the Del Monte had any cars we can use out of the box, in any scale at the moment...so I would be painting, masking and decaling these to match. I would love to do the Harrimans...sigh... Joe
|
|
Joe
New Member
Posts: 31
|
Post by Joe on Aug 30, 2017 9:37:13 GMT -5
hopefully these will be available in Un-dec? Working on my Z Del Monte and it would be a shame to strip a nice paint job...unless its PRR, then it's ok Joe
|
|
Joe
New Member
Posts: 31
|
Post by Joe on Aug 30, 2017 9:33:14 GMT -5
Rob K posts them over a the Hot Russian Brides web site. Joe
|
|
Joe
New Member
Posts: 31
|
Post by Joe on Aug 30, 2017 9:29:56 GMT -5
And while you have the silver paint out, do a FURX silver/green leaser. :-D But really some Maxi-I's or Twinstack cars would be epic. Both span almost 30 years of prototype use. Also could use Maxi-III, Maxi-IV, Thrall 5-unit articulateds, etc. (and I won't even mention spine cars) Intermodal is somewhat of an untapped market in Z. Speaking of...I do like the fact that you're doing the five unit sets now for the Husky Stack cars, (as "stand-in Maxi-III's") but please do one in traditional TTX versus the newer logo you've already done. I put your request in...thank you!
|
|
Joe
New Member
Posts: 31
|
Post by Joe on Aug 30, 2017 9:15:48 GMT -5
Realistically a 5 unit without containers could be north of $150 and with them more... Or not. One of the problems with articulated cars and why you don't see a lot of them is the cost to the consumer. Still, a good car to make. Another issue Rob brought up was the cost of tooling or as we like to refer to it ROI...how many units and how long is it going to take you to break even. Also, you may have fewer parts, but printing and masking is going to drive the final price. Parts are cheap...painting them not so much. Joe Hmmm... According to Rob, "They [undecs] cost us the same to produce as decorated locomotives. I know everyone will say this doesn't make sense, but it is true: the cost of painting the locomotive on an assembly line is just a few cents. Once we deal with another product number and packaging, the cost of an undec is the same as fully painted. We cannot save you any money by supplying it undecorated."** Yes, he is talking about a loco, but it seems that a loco-esque-priced freight car would be no different. Now, I personally think that the above is absurd. At very least you're not factoring in research and design costs in that evaluation of decoration costs per unit. But anyway. I also find it equally absurd that MTL is coming here trying to argue why AZL stuff should be more expensive. MTL is absolutely working under different rules given domestic production costs, so your ROI, cost of tooling, and cost per part (oh yeah, and cost of decoration apparently) are all going to be different. ** Referenced quote located here.
Anyway, you guys go do your price fixing in private and quit hijacking my thread!
|
|
Joe
New Member
Posts: 31
|
Post by Joe on Aug 29, 2017 15:38:17 GMT -5
Realistically a 5 unit without containers could be north of $150 and with them more... Or not. One of the problems with articulated cars and why you don't see a lot of them is the cost to the consumer. Still, a good car to make. Another issue Rob brought up was the cost of tooling or as we like to refer to it ROI...how many units and how long is it going to take you to break even. Also, you may have fewer parts, but printing and masking is going to drive the final price. Parts are cheap...painting them not so much. Joe
|
|
Joe
New Member
Posts: 31
|
Post by Joe on Aug 28, 2017 11:17:46 GMT -5
j
|
|
Joe
New Member
Posts: 31
|
Post by Joe on Aug 22, 2017 17:02:17 GMT -5
I'm not sure when the exact change in policy happened...probably crept in over time. Body mounts on shorter cars is not a problem, but on the longer cars, running on 195mm or less they can be problematic. Generally though you can mix or match and you shouldn't see any problems with operations and the like. Markm is right, most of the body mounts were on the NN3 narrow gauge.
Joe
|
|