BRIANEL: I agree 100%.
No...
Jim Berger posted:Strummer posted:Jim Berger posted:No.....what a bad idea.....
Really? To each his own, but c'mon...
I'm guessing you must not have been in this hobby back when almost everything came as a kit.
Of course, I'm talking "scale" models, not toy trains...
Mark in Oregon
Yes..... "really"....you would have to be 95 years old when everything was in kit form....
Actually, "no".
First off, I said "almost". Please read my post before you insult...
I started in the hobby in the late '60s, and built most of my stuff from kits. As I've mentioned here before, just look at the Walther's "Craft Train" catalogs from that era, and well into the '70's:
...pages and pages of parts, etc. Of course, you had to be willing to work with your hands...and not just opening a box and putting "it" on the track.
Mark in Oregon
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Well, this idiot owns several vehicles with clutch pedals, avoids "Model T" transmissions, and restored plumbing in his previous house before selling it, so has replaced a flapper valve. But does not have machining and soldering skills he needs to build the prototype locomotives and rail cars he wants. I am not scared of kits, of what l want.
Probably not for me, mostly due to time, and they probably would not do a locomotive I would be interested in.
Charlie
IF I HAD a larger 3D printer where I could print entire shells then probably YES.
I dont have that so NO.
Nope.
Steve
NO!
Yes, if it would come without a command system so we could choose what WE want to put in it.
@mwb posted:Most have never seen or heard of a clutch pedal,
Sadly, it's far worse - this is a nation that will pay a plumber $160+ to put a flapper bulb into a toilet tank.
I haven't driven an automatic in 30 years. My '39 Chevy 3/4 ton didn't even have synchromesh with the factory 4 speed gearbox. I loved the sound of the helical cut gears winding down on a successful double clutch to engine brake the truck. Sadly I had to let that project go nearly 4 years ago, but the 6 speed manual in my every day truck is fun to drive too.
I love building kits and have the tools but currently don't have the facilities to properly build them. Next place of residence will have a proper workbench. I cut my teeth on a Bowser K4 with the super detail kit and and Alco models P70R kit at 16. I still have them both. The last one I completed was a Walther's O streamlined car kit, but that was at least 10 years ago.
I believe there are plenty of kits in the secondary market just begging for a good home, so I don't really see a need for current manufacturers to offer them. Even if they did, like the manual clutch only a very small market segment is interested. A dedicated market segment no doubt, but still very small.
Yes, especially if it was something I really wanted like a Beyer Garratt.
The responses I'm reading here parallel my observations as a parts fabricator: not many customers for train kits, most folks just want replacement parts. I have drafted, 3D printed and assembled several of my own locomotive kits. I printed 5 Whitcomb 65 ton locomotive kits earlier this year but haven't found many buyers. I'm leaning more towards a "Build-to-Order" model where I only make parts when I have a buyer lined up.
My issue with most kits is painting them / the kits not including the trucks.
I thought all the locomotives we bought WERE kits …….seems we gotta take them apart and fix them as soon as we get them anyways,…..🤪
Pat
Maybe if they came with options. Otherwise I can't really see the benefit. Having disassembled many over the years for repairs, I can say without a doubt that building a kit would not be a fun endeavor. Now if they came with options, such as, different control systems, different sound options, two or three rail, etc. and I could build it the way I really want it, then I might consider it.
I am a conventional operator. If I could get a Premier loco and buy a plain e-unit with a decent horn board, manual couplers, minimal lighting, no smoke and the price was right, then yes.
In general, my vote would be 'No'.
If you're simply talking about putting Lionel/MTH/Menards/etc current product into kit form, forget it. China's dictatorial modus operandi does not allow for the selling of product in kit form. They jealously guard the right to complete and final assembly. Sometimes obtaining extra parts, only, for repair is such an excruciating negotiation with China sources that it is far simpler for the marketer/seller to simply cannibalize final assemblies to generate a parts inventory...of sorts.
Returning to the OP's question, though... There are some locomotive models that I'd love to have for display, but have absolutely no interest in roaming the layout for various reasons. I suppose an offering in kit form of one of those shelf queens would be tempting just because building a model is very much part of the hobby's fun for this old phart. But all of the unused parts...motor, gears, electronics, smoke generator/puffer, bell-swinger, coal pile sagger, etc., etc. would be put right onto the secondary market. No use for it, no patience for it, no interest in it. (Lighting might be the exception...it'd really be a plus for a display.)
Never gonna happen, though...
Or, will it?
Nah.
KD
We had kit suppliers in 2-rail. Guess what happened to them?
edit: just noted that bit about manual transmissions. Sure, I drove a 1939 stake bed Ford and a 1946 Autocar.
My 1965 Mustang convertibles are halfway converted to auto - I live in Freeway land, with its attendant stop and go traffic. No way will I put up with a clutch. Anybody need a good four-speed?
I'll gladly take a 700K or Build-A-Loco!
NO! But thanks for asking.
No.
The Lionel 700K (as I recall) was a screw-together kit. Something along that line would work for solder-challenged people like myself. But when you add drilling, tapping, filing, filling, sanding, etc. it starts to get outside the capabilities of the R-T-R crowd (and me, though that's slowly changing). Painting and applying decals isn't a big issue except in complicated paint schemes.
I've assembled several Intermountain Kits and a couple of Athearn/All Nation kits in my earlier days back in the hobby. The Intermountain kits were actually the easiest for me as all of the parts ("thousands of them") were actually just a carry-over from the model car days of my sordid youth. Drilling small holes was a challenge (until I got micro drills and a pin vise). Paint was rattle can until I got a good airbrush, compressor and spray booth.
In the end, a more detailed result requires tools, additional skills, additional parts and additional time. I think kit forms of certain items could be viable, but to date the only ones I've seen that are up to the mass produced models were the Intermountain car kits and the Red Caboose GP9's (Intermountain made those too).
Yes ... for sure.
I enjoy doing it. R/C vehicles, etc
No interest. There are too many other hands-on things I'd rather do on my layout that I can't find time for. No upside to assembling a loco - who would be responsible for issues with electronics? IIRC, the cost of assembling an item in China was about the same or possibly even cheaper than packaging it as a kit, which is why we have so many pre-built buildings.
I might be interested in aftermarket diesel and passenger car shells that I could put on top of an existing chassis (Or something like the old Red Caboose shells for their early Geeps), but otherwise not.
MTH’s 70 foot streamlined dining car bothers me. Real dining cars had smaller windows for the cooking area and small service doors where the crews could load up supplies.
No
yes!
Dale
Yes depending on what the kits would sell for.
And depending what engines are offered.
No, at 76 my eye hand coordination ain’t what it used to be.
Steam locomotives would be a definite "no" ,at least until I acquired the necessary skills to put one together. On the other hand if a diesel was offered as a kit sort of like the old Athearn blue boxes, then a yes would be in order.
NO
I guess I'd like to qualify my answer: yes, IF the kits were priced less than the finished loco. That way any value you added on your own would be reflected as a reduction to the kit price compared to a finished, ready-to-run engine.
Dale
Certainly interesting and supported opinions..many "yes" positions with caveats...IF l could get my desired prototypes for my desired road, assembled, repairable, affordable, and off the shelf, maybe with certain "bells and whistles" as modular options, and "deletes" why bother, if l don't want the challenge? But with fewer interested today, that choice is not expected, nor in kit form. Uh, if parts for imports are unattainable, how is 3rd Rail providing service? Like antique car guys... keeping parts cars (models)?
