Posted By Pete Thornton on 01/20/2009 8:53 AM
Aster are reproducing the Australian AD 60 Beyer Garrett type 4-8-4 +4-8-4 with a very limited run of only 30 world wide
Their website says 70 units - but they were all reserved as of June 08. Why don't they wait and see how many get 'reserved' before they decide how many to make? Carrolwood started with 50 FWRR locos and eventually got orders for 175. Strange way to do business - there's clearly a demand for the locos. It doesn't do Aster any good to keep them scarce.
I do tend to agree with you, but then it ain't MY money invested in the manufacture of the engine. There is something to be said for the "collectability" of the model and the smaller the run of units the more the value of each unit.
The PBS TV station here in Iowa, during one of their annual begging seasons, had a guest star that brought 10 CD's of her music that she said she would autograph for the first 10 people that pledged a certain amount of money to the stations. Unautographed CDs were being given in response to lessor pledges. Her autographs for this purpose on this CD would be limited to just 10 which would make them rare and I wanted one so I bit and pledged the higher amount. Apparenly, the response was overwhelming and she promised to autograph more. Oops, that reduces the value of the autograph as it is no longer as rare.
In addition, if Aster were expecting to sell 1000's of units, then the manufacturing scheme would be different... namely, continuous runs of components, but since this market is limited... not everyone wants a live steam locomotive, no matter what the price... the manufacturing setup is to do batches of components. The size of the batches has to be determined somehow and somebody has to put up the cash to do so. That person has to decide how much cash to put up and that determines the size of the batch.
The value of a "one-off" engine would be much higher than one of a thousand, but somewhere inbetween is a break point as to number of units and return on investment and the number that can actually be sold and how brave the investor(s) is/are.
Being as I am a live steam enthusiast, I think the number could have been a bit higher, but, then, like I said earlier, it ain't MY money on the line. If somebody said to put my money where my mouth is, my mouth would clamp shut quite quickly.
On the other hand, I have given serious thought to sponsoring a run of a 1:32 scale model of the "General" (4-4-0 of American Civil War fame)... not so serious as to start making enquiries to Aster, but serious "thought" none-the-less. What would it cost to batch produce, say, 100 of them? How large should the batch be to cover the necessary spare parts for those that are actually built and sold? What price would have to be charged to recoup the expense (at enough profit to make mine "free"
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)? How much trouble would I be willing to put up with if there are problems? What kind of problems should I expect? What kind of long term expenses are there in investing in this sort of thing? (Aster pretty much guarantees to have spare parts for any unit you have!!!... but for how long?) Could I put up with the on-line complaints (on MLS and elsewhere) that some part or other does not meet the expectation of some idiot that purchased one and used it as a football or because some compromise had to be made in the design? I think I could afford to sponsor ONE run of units, but ONE single stupid mistake in manufacturing anywhere along the line would totally bankrupt me and ruin what little reputation I have as a "semi-nice guy"... I'd just be some idiot, or a fast talking scam artist, that tried to foist off on the unsuspecting Live Steam cadre a folly of stupidity.
" src="http://us.i1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/i/mesg/tsmileys2/04.gif" width="18" /> that's some loco.
