Because I don't know- costing

Labor rates in China are sky rocketing!

I am waiting for 3 D printing to be able to make good dies for Die Casting.

Then the $100,000 would be $10,000 or less.

A design could be scaled up from HO to O or G by Computer and Then make the dies.

Larger models need larger dies and more materials, but design & machining costs would drop.

A O model could sell for 3 or 4 times the price of HO, even with low production numbers.

 

Selling 3-4 times more than HO is a losing proposition.

 

Currently:

 

Athearn HO SD70ACe, DCC, Sound: $299.98 MSRP

 

Lionel standard O scale SD70ACe, Legacy: $494.99 MSRP

 

The O version is only about 40% higher than the HO version

 

Rusty

McQ, how detailed are those RC car bodies? Are they scale? Sound boards? Cruise control? Smoke units? Don't they just get crashed anyhow? Other than the similarity in dumb questions asked of the hobbyist, its almost a bit silly to compare the two for cost. I think the price difference of digital and/or radio controls, or electrical/mechanical similarities like servos would be the only serious grounds for any gripes.

In many industries, actual cost is a well-kept secret....so this question won't get an

answer, but I'd like to know just how many model railroaders there are, how many are

in what gauges and are there that many multiple times more in HO "scale" than in

three rail O gauge?   Kalmbach once sent out a survey that I responded to...asking

 what scale I was in, did I spend more than fifty cents annually on the train hobby,

etc.  I once worked for a federal agency that collected this kind of information, by law,

but the interest was not in hobbies...they were interested in industries with a much

bigger impact on the economy.

This thread was/is a fact finding mission.  I'm not necessarily complaining about the prices, I have a couple shelves full of these units and am glad to have them.  I am just wondering what truly makes up the price point.  One mentioned molds costing $100000.  This seems excessive honestly.  Give me $100000 and I will make you a set of molds using a block of iron and a rat tail file.  Might take a few months though. Might even take a few tries.  For 100g's I can spend some time on it.

Regarding the rc comparison, I completely understand the differences in the hardware between hobbies.  Yes the detail may not be there, but I was looking at the bigger picture.   While they may not have the detail, they have engineering involved to make an efficient airfoil/airframe, or a 1/24 scale transmission that will hold up to 65+mph repeatedly. Want a mind warp?  Check out vstank 1/24 scale armor.  Very nicely detailed, fully functional, sound, lighting, and you have the option of IR battle capability or airsoft(you can shoot your pop cans for fun).  Price point around $150 retail.  It can't be that common, most have never heard of it.

What I think would be great is manufacturers to offer their engines in kit form.  I don't mean undecorated, I mean painted shell,  but you add the details.  You assemble the chassis and drivetrain.  I love that sort of kit! 

Again, I love these trains.  I just picked up a few MTH es44ac's in Rock Island and smile every time I look at the boxes.

I don't know about today, but about two decades ago we had a 2- rail magazine with a circulation of maybe 3000, and I believe OGR had maybe 23,000.  You can extrapolate.

 

For instance, what is the circulation of MRR, or the biggest- selling RC airplane magazine?  Then you have to make educated guesses.

 

Some of us do not spend much - I have over 130 locomotives, and I see no need for more - although three are sort of on the workbench.  Even if I was buying, I would not even start to consider an ES144AC.  I wouldn't know one if I fell over it.

 

When all you can sell is 300, even the initial planning becomes a huge part of the cost.  Ask Sunset how much research went into that Mollie - even though a lot of it was free, I bet the preliminary studies cost $200/model. Sell 3000, and the costs drop to $20/model!

I'd guess the major difference is tooling costs for trains, whether plastic or diecast.  R/C planes basically are balsa or foam combined with some sort of film coating.  The only real costs are labor and design.  The materials have negligible costs compared with the hundreds of thousands for tooling a locomotive.  A few pieces are plastic and these are relatively tiny compared with a boxcar.  The electronics in the airplane, and electric motor are mass produced items for 2.4 GHz radios and electric motors are used in all sorts of products.  So those factors account for the difference between a $250 ready to fly airplane and a $450 diesel locomotive.  You can actually get a pretty nice micro-flyer foam airplane with transmitter and receiver for under $100.  Very little weight, labor or tooling.

Ok, so it's mostly the tooling costs for the different shells.  I would have to imagine that the drive mechanisms, trucks and even in some cases side frames could get reused.  Also the boards inside as well just using different sound profiles.  Of course there is always development, example proto 3,  if a manufacturer chooses to do so.

What peaked my interest is a project at work.  We (IT) are working with one of our manufacturing business units that has facilities both here in US and in China.  What it has exposed me to is the product costing (actually costs us almost the same to mfg in China as US)  After seeing this, it naturally had me asking questions.