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Post by dazed on May 3, 2017 8:15:38 GMT -5
Well, while we have the mic... Hey Joe, please do more weathered/graf boxcars and flats. (and please stop with the stupid grab bags with a bad mix of eras that makes them pretty useless) Know that the paint on many freight cars fades significantly in the first 6 months of service. So even "new" paint schemes have a small window of viability. Why not make weathered the norm? They sell out every time while your others sit on the shelves. You have mastered the art of doing it on a mass produced model...please convince whomever that you need to do more. The less garish the better in my opinion...yes there is a lot of that (garish) and I know it sells well, but a nice balance should be possible. I do like those HS cars (3-pk) you did in N....it will be a crime if you don't eventually do that set in Z. Speaking of, why don't you ask your friends at AZL to send a batch of cars your way every month for you to weather? They need to get in the new millennium and start worrying about quality and features we want (like weathering/graf) instead of quantity. But hey, if you guys want to keep a tooling scoreboard going, let's see some touchdowns on the board instead of soccer scores.
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Post by mgatdog on May 3, 2017 8:53:40 GMT -5
Yeah Joe we also need some weathered B&O and C&O Chessie System coal cars in 10 or 12 packs instead 1 or 2 at a time offered. 3/5's of my Z Collection is MTL.
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Post by mgatdog on May 3, 2017 9:01:40 GMT -5
Also wished you could have built the switcher that guys had in the works. Before you ditched it and focused only on the N scale switcher. That would been a big seller in z for you guys. Bob
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Joe
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Post by Joe on May 3, 2017 9:11:25 GMT -5
I had trouble with the registration, hence the weird name. I'll fix it.
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Joe
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Post by Joe on May 3, 2017 9:16:09 GMT -5
ajmeljamie .... many of us use our real names, especially if "representing" a manufacturer... Who are you? Greg Inigo Montoya LOL I am not here representing a manufacturer...just a modeler pushing back on "alternative" facts where they pop up...sort of a literary super hero of sorts.
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Post by Greg Elmassian on May 3, 2017 9:38:44 GMT -5
Well, whoever you are, don't be afraid to use your real name, it gives credibility.
And to the point of the thread, with the few suppliers we have, constructive criticism is good, but instead of just venting, it behooves us that really like the hobby to find a way for both sides to succeed, we have to provide a market where a company has a chance to succeed, and conversely the manufacturer needs to "listen", it's a two way street.
Just complaining gets nowhere, and then some executive in a company will say "oh it's too much trouble", and then products become unavailable at any price. No one wins.
Greg
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Post by Commodore on May 3, 2017 9:49:43 GMT -5
Hi Joe:
I'm a huge fan of the AZL E-8/9 locos
I just had to count: I have one-hundred and seven of your passenger cars.
Match some of the AZL E-8's with more of your smooth side passenger cars ...and MTL and AZL both will both "sell out."
I'm confident if you will just do NYC passenger cars, everything will be OK.
Really!
Rory
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Post by mgatdog on May 3, 2017 9:52:06 GMT -5
I heard a nasty rumor from a friend of mine in Oregon that MTL is winding down it's production of Z scale engines and cars. As I understand it, they have decided to shelve Z scale and concentrate entirely on N scale production. While I find this most unfortunate, it's not at all surprising if true. The new ownership of MTL has not been interested in doing much of anything to boost MTL's market share in Z scale and with the current staff loath to bring forth any new products, they are shooting themselves in the foot. It seems that the manufacturers of Z scale are growing less and less all the time and not just in cars and engines, but in accessories and detail parts as well. How many more are going to throw in the towel? Not true and it's irresponsible to be spreading rumors that are unfounded. It's also irresponsible to speak for our staff and ownership based on rumor without actually asking us. Joe Ok conversion guy ,your identity is secret
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Post by mgatdog on May 3, 2017 9:54:10 GMT -5
ajmeljamie .... many of us use our real names, especially if "representing" a manufacturer... Who are you? Greg Inigo Montoya LOL I am not here representing a manufacturer...just a modeler pushing back on "alternative" facts where they pop up...sort of a literary super hero of sorts. Another rumor starter Lol
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Post by dave on May 3, 2017 9:55:24 GMT -5
If MTL or AZL would do corrugated passenger cars (think California Zephyr), I think they would sell very well. Kato has done 4 or 5 runs of them in N-scale. Of course, we need the CB&Q F3s to pull them.
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Post by Commodore on May 3, 2017 9:56:50 GMT -5
I edited my post while counting cars...I suspect ajmeljamie really is Joe with MTL
...and Inigo Montoya is the made up name.
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Joe
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Post by Joe on May 3, 2017 10:49:56 GMT -5
I edited my post while counting cars...I suspect ajmeljamie really is Joe with MTL ...and Inigo Montoya is the made up name. Clever boy
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Post by Commodore on May 3, 2017 12:24:17 GMT -5
I edited my post while counting cars...I suspect ajmeljamie really is Joe with MTL ...and Inigo Montoya is the made up name. Clever boy Hey Joe: You don't happen to have any Great Northern Empire Builder dome cars in that belly of yours, Do you? I need two more, you know the two-tone green kind. Thanks again Rory
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Joe
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Post by Joe on May 3, 2017 12:36:26 GMT -5
HE Said She Said What is this High School? I don't know about you but if this is true i don't want to be putting money down on a MTL Pre order for a item that may never get produced, but at the same time I don't want to miss out on a item because of some stupid roomer SO I'm calling you out Boxcarwilly Since you claim to have the connections, i'm electing you to get to the bottom of this and find out if MTL is really "winding down it's production of Z scale engines and cars" or if its just a roomer. You started this roomer/post now finish it. We want to know the Truth !!!!! The Facts and who or where they came from!!! Who is this Friend from Oregon? and who dose this "friend" know at MTL??? Lets have some Names!!! I'm sure MTL would like to know who this person is as well. After all If the "roomer" is true we will need to thank them and you for the heads up. If its not we will all know who to just ignore from now on. David David, as I said none of those allegations are true. After 2008 the Z market bottomed out and never came back even with the introduction of new cars and releases of loco's. We have a different business/funding model than AZL and service more than one scale. Too keep the doors open, to pay living wages with full benefits to 70+ full time employees forces you to go where the market is. AZL is basically two guys with very profitable day jobs making huge investments in their hobby and we all benefit from that. You can't expect our two business to work the same or have the same output. I think if both AZL and we offered up actual production numbers I think you'd be floored by the number...no where near what folks in the scale think. Still we believe in Z and are actively working to continue with new products. We have one car ready to announce soon and several others in the works and have been addressing the sky rocketing costs to do business off shore to get some of our other products back on line. But if you have two companies,one making pennies and the other making dollars and you are well situated in both areas of expertise, it's difficult to move resources away and make dollars chase pennies. The Z scale market has always been tiny even compared to N scale and the difference is even greater now. I can count with ten fingers the number of high rollers in the scale who have fled for larger scales and their influence and pocketbooks really made a difference. Ask some of the dealers or go on the Facebook Zscale for sale page and you can see folks offering up those large AZL sets and our stuff for less than the sticker value...Times and interest change. We've also lost hobby shops as a resource and the number of legitimate on line dealers is limited as well. I understand and have had to deal with all the rumor mongering that is attached to MTL and it's such a waste of space and time and effort. Most of it comes from misplaced rage because we aren't the company they think we should be and some of it legitimate concerns looking from the outside. They are offended by the fantasy cars or they loose sleep because we marked a PS1 boxcar in an ACF car and that extra panel on the side is just too much for them to deal with. We have our issues, we don't always get things right but in shear volume of production each year our numbers probably surprise you. We are constantly judged differently than others and that's frustrating. When we did our two bay hoppers we were accused of trying to put Full Throttle out of business and I can remember loosing friends over that. When in actuality, it didn't, he kept releasing cars. I don't remember that same outrage when AZL introduced their GP9's or F3/7's...not at all. If it were the other way around we would have been skinned on all the forums. They produced engines they needed for their product line, they are improvements and that's all that matters. I think what most folks refuse to accept is Z scale manufacturing isn't a race or contest. I don't see AZL or Uncle Will or who ever as competition. The market is too small and there's too many holes to act like this is a competition or one is better than the other. Everyone has their strengths and weaknesses and i refuse to engage in talking down another manufacturers product or be involved in ad hominem attacks to make a sale. I will, though, defend my company from lies or manufactured issues in an effort to support someones desire to make us look bad in public or put one company over another. Just sayin. Inigo Montoya aka I. M. Shady esq.
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Post by Commodore on May 3, 2017 12:40:37 GMT -5
I agree, I've always hated roomers.
Thanks for posting!
And thank you for changing your avatar...
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