At 12:07 PM 3/16/03 -0500, you wrote:
>One more observation, Aster productions sell out in a relative short
>time, with one exception, the C&S mogul, This was narrow gauge & gas fired.
Jeff,
That wasn't always the case, and IMHO gauge and fuel rarely have
anything to do with it. The Schools for instance took forever to sell
because early in their history Aster grossly overestimated the potential
market for such a model. It took years, and becomming known as a
bulletproof runner, for it to finally sell out. In the US, when Ga1 was
still just a curiosity, if you were far enought ahead of the curve you
could get a steal of a deal from hobby shops anxious to unload them. To a
somewhat lesser extent I think the Pannier was another example. They sold
OK, but didn't go all that quickly, until they became known as good
reliable runners. But those were international market items. The C&S
Mogul by all indications should have sold out in a flash - good looking,
well built, well detailed, and a natural for the US Ga1 market. It had
everything going for it, but you know how people will talk, and what they
were saying was It won't run - it's my $3.5K bookend. A few had success,
but most didn't.
What this says to me is that first consideration for almost everyone
is consistant running and size, gauge, scale, fuel, and to some extent even
appearance aren't as important as whether it runs well.
Regards,
Harry
