I have been on this list before, but re-joined a couple of months ago. I think that is usually long enough to get the flavour of things, but in this case, I really hope it isn't.
Why, you may ask? Well, I suspect you won't, because it should be fairly obvious looking at some recent themes. Guys, S scale is a small interest (even smaller over here in the UK!) and we cannot afford to fall out with each other over how MTH might do something (not have already done) or hi-rail versus scale versus finescale and drive manufacturers away. The simplest message to them is, "If you make sure that you have scale and proportion right, then the scale/finescale S modellers will also buy your models, so you will increase your sales." Nothing else will ultimately matter to a manufacturer engaged in mass-production. If they fit larger flanges, and either smaller wheels or jack the body up, I can deal with that. Likewise, if the pilot and couplers are truck-mounted rather than body-mounted, it is not a problem as I can deal with that, too. Just so long as the rest of it is right, I am happy, and will buy if it suits my era/locale: I am a modeller, and prepared to make and amend things. For those catering for the even smaller sub-group of (fine)scale modellers, different objectives apply, but we don't want to upset them, either: they may increase their sales of high-quality craftsman kits by advertising to the AF end of the market, too. The S Scale Model Railway Society in the UK states in its constitution that it exists to promote railway modelling to 1:64 scale. To be a member of it, you don't have to model in S scale, or indeed do any modelling, just have an interest in the scale. Can we not do the same, and if we disagree, do so gently without falling out? For pity's sake, at the end of the day, for most of us it is a hobby, and is supposed to be fun... Simon Dunkley.
