Originally Posted by Joe Barker:
I wish that Kadee would make an O gauge coupler that could be easily attached to an O gauge 3-rail truck (not body mounted).
Joe
That would be in nice, at least something that is more operationally friendly
Originally Posted by Matt Kirsch:
You know what the real crime is? Most of the costs are in designing and assembling these things. Materials make up very little of the production cost.
If anything HO and smaller gauges should be MORE expensive, due to the extra work and finer motor skills required to assemble them.
At the very least they should cost nearly the same for the same level of detail.
Unfortunately, we have been conditioned to judge the value of things based purely on size (i.e. bigger = more expensive), and the O gauge manufacturers are taking full advantage!
For cripes' sake, working on an O locomotive is like wrenching on a small block Chevy engine compared to an N...
Matt, you need to remember economy of scale. In most parts of the country, HO and N outsell O hand over fist. R&D is spread out over a larger group in HO and N than in O.
My friend, a hobby shop owner, always tells me it's the HO and N that keep him in business and allow him to sell O
I still like my N gauge. I have this weird theory that HO is just big enough for delicate, highly detailed rolling stock and locos that, ultimately, I will destroy. N is small enough that the detail level is good, but somewhat limited. Everything looks good from a distance, and there's much less to break. Part of it is that you can get the whole loco in the pam of your hand without worrying about what to grab onto. Shell removal has proven to be more of an art than a science, but DCC installation is pretty straightforward (I only buy plug-n-play). I just started to get into DCC with my N scale stuff, and I've been impressed. The best part is if I totally pooch something, I'm not out more than $75-100 max (rarely do you smoke the loco and the DCC board at the same time). DCC boards are 25-35 bucks a pop.
Still love O - love the sound, the size, the power, the detail. Easy to work on. It's just the space that kills me.
I argue that N and HO end not being much cheaper at all - my tendency is to run consist of up to three locos, and I end up running longer trains because... well... I can. A good n scale box car is probably $12 -15 if not more. At 3:1, your not saving much...
