Jay C posted:So, Scott should sell these for less than what they cost him? Yeah, that's a great business model (no pun intended). Costs are rising for many reasons and you can place the blame wherever you want. Scott isn't making a fortune here folks.
Jay
Jay,
I am not criticizing Scott Mann: I love the guy and what he has done for the O scale community. I own more than a dozen of Sunset engines, in brass an plastic and a few cars, too. I have other engines reserved with Sunset. Sunset is the main reason why I am an O scale collector.
I know that the tooling to produce such an engine in plastic injected fashion is way too expensive for what he can expect to sell. The solution would be to manufacture the shell in brass or 3D print it. For low quantities, 3D printing may be the way to go. Chassis can be made of stamped steel like what has been used for all the other Sunset diesels. Trucks can be cast from lost wax, as usual.
Liking the ML-4000, I am simply worried that this project will be aborted because of the upfront price of the model. I agree with you that Scott should not lose money on anything he does and I wish him as much financial success as possible. I have in the past and will support him in his endeavors, but I am afraid that at $1200 a pop, Sunset will not find too many enthusiasts and this project will die. It is just regrettable.
Yves
