BOWSER KITS - Printable Version +- (https://bigbluetrains.com) +-- Forum: The Depot (https://bigbluetrains.com/forumdisplay.php?fid=3) +--- Forum: Upper Berth (https://bigbluetrains.com/forumdisplay.php?fid=7) +--- Thread: BOWSER KITS (/showthread.php?tid=977) |
BOWSER KITS - csiguy68 - 03-19-2009 went to a train show this past weekend and got some rather bad news. myself and the two other guys i was with talked to several dealers who stated they talked to BOWSER within the past few days ,and informed them that they will very soon no longer be making car kits. they will strictly be manufacturing READY TO RUN. these guys appeared to know what they were talking about, and if it is in fact true, i think its rather sad. bowser makes great kits . im curious if anyone else heard this. todd Re: BOWSER KITS - eightyeightfan1 - 03-19-2009 Seems believable. Lots of manufacturers are moving away from the kits, and going to Ready-To-Roll (Run). Even Athearn's cheap Blue Box kits(the five minute, put together ones) are getting harder and harder to find. The trend today is put it straight from the box, to the track, get it rolling. Re: BOWSER KITS - tomustang - 03-19-2009 Man I hope not, I heard about the locos but not the kit cars Re: BOWSER KITS - nachoman - 03-19-2009 I don't like ready-to-run I don't want to ever like ready-to-run. Even though I like the details on ready-to-run, I got a lot of satisfaction out of putting together a "shake-the-box" type kit. I could put them together when I was stuck in a hotel on a business trip, or when I was watching teevee. Athearn says they will continue their kits. But I don't know how long that will last. Re: BOWSER KITS - Russ Bellinis - 03-20-2009 Athearn is continuing to make the kits, but my local hobby shop doesn't carry as many as they once did because most people want to take it home and put it on the track. Sad to hear that Bowser is dropping kits, but it is really not a big surprise. Re: BOWSER KITS - csiguy68 - 03-20-2009 you guys are right , the athearn blue box kits are hard to find too. i get more satisfaction myself putting kits together. but seems they are getting harder to find, especially the undecorated kits. about two weeks ago i was at my local hobby shop and noticed the bowser kits were around $12.00. i thought this was a mistake, because about this time last year they were about $9.00 per kit. when i asked the owner about this, he stated it was'nt a mistake , the kits just went up in price. todd Re: BOWSER KITS - tomustang - 03-20-2009 I am semi-glad my LHS has fixed prices on everything they buy. They still have the good old walthers boxes still around $7 Re: BOWSER KITS - Charlie B - 03-20-2009 I'm 9 months away from retirement. I'll have time, and Money won't be a problem, but If it comes time to lay out $30.00 for a ready to roll car it frankly is not going to happen for me. I have 65 kits still in the box and over 500 cars already so I really don't need anything else. I just got some nice cars today, they were ready to roll and the most expensive one was $7.00, (Walther's specials). Charlie Re: BOWSER KITS - Brakie - 03-21-2009 Charlie B Wrote:I'm 9 months away from retirement. I'll have time, and Money won't be a problem, but If it comes time to lay out $30.00 for a ready to roll car it frankly is not going to happen for me. Charlie,That's how I stand in HO..I don't really need any more even after I sold 2/3s of my HO I have more then enough to meet my club needs... I am only buying enough N Scale to use at home and the N Scale club. Re: BOWSER KITS - csiguy68 - 03-21-2009 since im still kinda new to the hobby, there still are a few car kits id like to get. but there is no way im going to pay $2o.00-$30.00 for a ready to run car, no matter how nice it is. for a while i have looking for coil car kits and just one walthers hot metal car kit. i couldnt find them anywhere, even on ebay. oddly enough, last weekend at the first train show that i went to in ten years, i found both kits, at a very good price. i just cant see the fun in the ready to run stuff. todd Re: BOWSER KITS - Bob C - 03-21-2009 From Al Buchan of the PRRTHS in the Products section of "The Keystone Modeler" just out... Bowser During the past weeks there has been lots of speculation about the fate of the Bowser steam locomotive kits, offered by people who have recently visited there shop. However, Rich Orr posted that at 517pm EST March 2, 2009, that Bowser had sent out an email announcing the retirement of all steam locomotives, turntables, Standard gauge and O gauge parts. Steam loco parts will be available until the current stock is gone. They will continue the HO and N scale lines along with Cary, CalScale and Selby. Also during this time there had been many comments, both pro and con, about these old standby PRR steam locomotives. It’s a classic case that was described, I believe, by management consultant Peter Drucker who stated that if you don’t make your own products obsolete someone will come along and make them obsolete for you. Bowser was not open to taking suggestions and they have been made obsolete by BLI, PCM and Walthers, to name the leaders of the pack. They seemingly refused to upgrade, perhaps they were just tired and wanted to get out of the business anyway. I personally reached out to them at least twice offering the Society’s assistance to make their PRR freight car offerings better and never received a response. Another fallen flag. To clear up a misconception that has arisen – during the discussions about the demise of the Bowser line of kits, they will not be continued by Eddystone Locomotives. The Bowser components will be used to make future custom built locos. Eddystone stated if Bowser could not make a go of it anymore, how could we? As he says, another fallen flag. Bob C. Re: BOWSER KITS - Russ Bellinis - 03-23-2009 This is a bit off topic, but Intermountain continues to offer all of the freight cars they make and diesel locomotive shells as undecorated kits. They don't bother with decorated kits because they think that most modelers who would go to the trouble of building an Intermountain kit, would also paint and decal them. Having built some of their kits, I can say that they provide a lot of hobby fun with a challenge. They are NOT "shake the box" kits! Re: BOWSER KITS - Sumpter250 - 03-23-2009 I have built Intermountain kits in both HO, and N, they are great kits, and I'm happy to hear they are still available in undec. No paint to have to strip off!! That was the part of kitbuilding I didn't enjoy! |