Well said Rob . Sometimes I ask myself '' how did we get here from there ? '' on this whole mess . In the beginning the idea of models of the quality being put forth was a breath of fresh air . I had zero interest in the prototypes proposed ( '' the SD project '' ) and signed on with the hopes that some early first / second generation engines would get produced down the road . I had many phone conversations with Erik that always included his latest news on what he was up to and all seemed good . When the goal posts kept getting moved on various levels of detail I started telling him he needed to get something delivered and prove his detractors wrong . Somehow that morphed into other engines seeming to get moved ahead of the original project and then along come the freight cars . All through this I'd ask when models would be delivered and it was always '' by the fall '' or '' by the next March meet '' and as the years rolled on it started to have a bad look to it . I never really could figure out how one guy was going to have all the body shells built / painted in Korea and then install hundreds of chassis with drives and all the electrics and get them delivered on time . Some lack of understanding about how to run a business or maybe just enthusiasm bordering on delusion got him scattered in too many directions and problems with builders in Korea ( or lack thereof ) landed him in a bad spot . I cut him a lot of slack and still as mad as I am don't think any of this was intentional , but he is responsible for the situation . If he owned up to the mess , offered the original deposit holders their money back with an offer to start over I'd give him a lot of credit . Unfortunately , that doesn't appear to be the case and with all the years that have gone by he is facing a very tough situation ; if by miracle he had a builder who could spit these things out and he had ten guys helping him put them together try imagine the cost today over the $2800 we signed on to !!?? Look at the price of brass HO engines that are being delivered today and I shudder to think of where this would go . Jack Vansworth couldn't make a go of upscaling his HO Alco RS-2/3/ RSD's to O at even 4K with nowhere near the level of detail or running capabilities Erik was putting forth . Any way you look at it I can't see this ending well .
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