March Meet analysis

We have heard this story before.  It is usually very high end stuff.  Anybody can promise you anything, and take your deposit.  In the end, if they become insolvent, or lose interest, your only remedy is legal, and that usually costs more than you stand to lose.

My impression is that at least Key always delivers.  I have no idea about the other high end importers.

Nick, Great to see you again at the show. Albeit very briefly at Bill's table for the new Modern Era O Scale kits.  I too purchased a couple and have already started on the assembly. 

Hello all ....another great March Meet is in the books ....Saturday morning lots of the public filled the aisles ....lots and lots of O scale found new homes ....making many buyers and vendors very happy......many empty of near empty tables at show close ...I of course collect vintage to no pulse on new items ... happily found many new toys for the collection. I hosted an open house so folks could visit Raymondale and Donaldson ( both still very much a work in progress)  in there new time zone.   The March Meet is thee mecca for O scale ... fortunate to have it in my back yard .  A few photos from the meet  and few of the new toys.

Cheers Carey 

Carey Williams posted:

Cheers Carey 

Nice find, it is a Vane Jones ICC WB&A articulator kit, reasonably well assembled; those windows are/were a real bear to cut out from the PrestoPlast (all 70 of them!). I have one assembled and one and a half unassembled. The prototype were never painted in an orange scheme, they were delivered from J. G. Brill in forest green and remained that way until being scrapped. A poor photo of mine from the 2005 East Penn meet showing the unbuilt sides:

Another view:

These kits date from around 1948 or so. Mine has a Wagner truck with "48" stamped on it; somewhere I acquired another Wagner truck with '47" stamped on it. I once asked Rich what the numbers referred to, he told me but I never wrote down the answer and now do not remember anymore.

Hey,  Eddie..the March Meet is specifically for O scale (two rail), but, as noted in some postings, some, a little, old, (and not so old)  three rail sneaks in.  It is now in Lombard, west Chicago, in March (surprise! ).  It was yesterday and Saturday.  It is advertised in O scale magazines, and you can Google "March Meet". All kinds of interesting, sometimes, ancient models of prototypes you won't find in an orange box show up.  This was an excellent show, one of the best lately, although l did not find specific items sought. If you have found, in your years in hunting trains, old O scale you'd like to trade for green paper, it is the best of too few places to spread it on a table.  While some in the three rail world can get annoyed at the same few roadnames/prototypes repeated ad infinitum, some in two (and three) rail need barf bags to attend "train" shows where nothing is found but HO and orange boxes. 

Hello Dave...thank you for your kind words ...here is a kit with easy to follow directions ....dated 1947 ....do you have a ICC catalog that you could share via posting some photos please ?

Best of my knowledge the "March Meet" has been just called the March Meet...for some 30 + -  years ......it's like referring to the TCA Eastern division show YORK .... 

here is the show link ...of you are into O scale .....this is thee place to go in MARCH ...to attend the March Meet...   the show dwarfs all other O Scale shows ... 

http://www.marchmeet.net/

cheers Carey 

bob2 posted:

We have heard this story before.  It is usually very high end stuff.  Anybody can promise you anything, and take your deposit.  In the end, if they become insolvent, or lose interest, your only remedy is legal, and that usually costs more than you stand to lose.

My impression is that at least Key always delivers.  I have no idea about the other high end importers.

 

Surprised there have been no comments on Lee Marsh being there with a pilot sample for his daylight GS 4 ,this model was only announced less than 2 years ago, just saying.

Carey Williams posted:

Hello Dave...thank you for your kind words ...here is a kit with easy to follow directions ....dated 1947 ....do you have a ICC catalog that you could share via posting some photos please ?

That "47" on the Wagner truck falls in line with that 1947 date. Unfortunately, I do not have an ICC catalog and do not remember ever seeing one either. I believe that ICC also produced at least two other models; an Interstate combine and an Interstate sleeper or coach. Somewhere I have the combine powered with a huge vertically mounted wound-field motor; typical for the time. The Hyattsville, MD address probably referred to a hobby shop run by Don Wertz.

What makes Lee Marsh stand out with his Southern Pacific Daylight project is that he invested his own money.  And the pilot model was produced within a year.  The model is very well executed as one can see on Lee Marsh's website.  At least if putting a deposit down with him, you know that the model has progressed with a delivery date soon to follow.  This is not just another Southern Pacific Daylight.  Erik of Midwestern Model Works also had a premier model of the SD40-2 with detail never done before.  Even the battery is in the battery box.  Erik fired his old builder because of delays and started his own company in Korea.  He now has some of the top builders working for him and I understand that the SD45 coming will be better than originally planned.  His goal is to keep a time schedule so that models will not be delayed months or years on end.  Another dealer that was at the show announced that he would have the locomotive at the show.  He told others that it was to arrive Friday or Saturday which is why he did not have the locomotive.  It is interesting that the tender was shipped without the locomotive.  You would think that they would be shipped together.  The tender was very well done.

George diSanti

North Carolina where the Tarheels rule!

Thanks all for sharing the posts.

probably way above my pay grade so I won't even ask.....

Looks very nice from here though.

Engineer-Joe posted:

probably way above my pay grade so I won't even ask.....

Looks very nice from here though.

Better than "nice"! I met Lee some 3 years ago, and when I discovered he wants to produce the various versions of SP GS class locomotives, I told him I would assist him in any and every way I could. Having spent over 40 years on the crew of AFT/SP 4449, I pretty much know every square inch of the real locomotive. I must admit that I was truly blown away by Lee's pilot model and his attention to detail. Upon swinging open the smokebox front, he even has modeled ALL the internal components inside, that nobody ever sees anyway, except of course, those of us that work on her! Turning the tender and engine up-side-down, reveals EVERYTHING,,,,,,,just like the real locomotive

I emailed Lee asking if he would build me a WP GS-64... No reply... Will ask again after seeing the pilot model...

I heard the Kohs tender was pretty much the real thing shrunk down to O Scale.  The locomotive did not make it.  I assume that was not the model our OP was lamenting?

SANTIAGOP23 posted:

I emailed Lee asking if he would build me a WP GS-64... No reply... Will ask again after seeing the pilot model...

He is probably traveling, i.e. returning home to the UK after the March Meet.

Speaking as a fellow Brit and satisfied client of Lee Marsh I have to say that he and Erik represent a renaissance of brass in the US. Very high standards of accuracy; great customer service; and above all else reliability. Lee has an incredible track record in the UK bringing in projects at a steady rate each year, always  in multiple versions for different periods and liveries. Reliability is crucial and Midwestern's decision to emulate Lee  and go with his own builder surely is the way ahead. Of course all difficulties are not resolved but it is a better approach. Kohs certainly builds fine models and George has a number of rolling stock projects that interest me. But the proof is in the reliability of delivery. Harking back to the first post if the business model requires hefty deposits from the customer then delivery times have to be met. I am just not wealthy enough to have funds tied up with importers for an indefinite period. I wish all of these importers well. George has some super offerings coming up. His publicity material is always top notch and the models I have had from him are excellent. Let's all hope for more goodies from all three gentlemen.

Sadly, the tender is a story repeated for decades with this importer. Since we are being clandestine to keep the thread open, I waited almost 7 years for my articulated model and the stories and excuses were as good as the model turned out to be. But, I swore off that importer or any who requires large deposits and interim payments. 

I like how Lee Marsh and Key Import does it. Small deposit up front and balance due upon completion. I got tired of my money financing a project.

BH

Hot Water posted:

SANTIAGOP23 posted:

I emailed Lee asking if he would build me a WP GS-64... No reply... Will ask again after seeing the pilot model...

He is probably traveling, i.e. returning home to the UK after the March Meet.

Lee just replied to my second email. Sadly, no plans for gs6 as they are very different. I appreciate the reply though. Great to see someone move that fast with a high end steam project. 

George diSanti posted:

What makes Lee Marsh stand out with his Southern Pacific Daylight project is that he invested his own money.  And the pilot model was produced within a year.  The model is very well executed as one can see on Lee Marsh's website.  At least if putting a deposit down with him, you know that the model has progressed with a delivery date soon to follow.  This is not just another Southern Pacific Daylight.  Erik of Midwestern Model Works also had a premier model of the SD40-2 with detail never done before.  Even the battery is in the battery box.  Erik fired his old builder because of delays and started his own company in Korea.  He now has some of the top builders working for him and I understand that the SD45 coming will be better than originally planned.  His goal is to keep a time schedule so that models will not be delayed months or years on end.  Another dealer that was at the show announced that he would have the locomotive at the show.  He told others that it was to arrive Friday or Saturday which is why he did not have the locomotive.  It is interesting that the tender was shipped without the locomotive.  You would think that they would be shipped together.  The tender was very well done.

George diSanti

North Carolina where the Tarheels rule!

For years I've carped against manufacturers who offer rare or uncommon versions instead of the locomotives and cars that move the freight. 

Wouldn't you know that Erik offers the most accurate and beautiful SDs ever created for the roads that ran them.

Thankfully for this steam era modeler's wallet he didn't offer the SD45 demo with the L shaped cab window nor the Reading dual control  which were the two shelf queens I wanted.