Model Railroading > New model manufacturer, new PS 4740 covered hopper

http://www.tangentscalemodels.com/

They look very nice....

-R

Rick Selby
Redmond, WA
Pacific Northwest RPM

Nice! I guess they're injection molded styrene?

From the pictures, they are nice-looking cars, but I wonder about their viability at a $43/car price point, considering that this looks to me like the same prototype that Athearn has offered for decades for a lot less. Even if the Athearn car is not so refined, is this new product really worth 2-1/2 times (or so) its price?

Maybe this manufacturer will come along with some other cars that haven't been produced commercially that will strike my fancy -- like 1980s/1990s-vintage Canadian plug-door newsprint boxcars (ONT, CP), a ready-to-run sulphuric-acid tank car (yes, I know those have been produced as $50 kits), a four-bay Center-Flow type grain car (e.g. ADM), a carbon-black hopper, or a rib-side plastic-pellets hopper. But I can't imagine buying any of these grain cars when I've already got dozens of similar-looking Athearn cars. If too many others share my opinion, this one could be a tough sell no matter how good it is.

wlankenau Wrote:
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> Nice! I guess they're injection molded styrene?


Yes.

-R

Rick Selby
Redmond, WA
Pacific Northwest RPM

Oooh, I didn't pay any attention to the price . . . a wee bit steep for building a unit train, but the price you mention is in the same ballpark as the Kadee cars. I guess the market will decide.

>Tangent Scale Models is pleased to announce the debut of our company
and the first release in our HO scale product line:

The Pullman-Standard PS-2CD 4740 Covered Hopper.

Who is Tangent? Tangent Scale Models is a new model train vendor
offering high-quality, well-researched, and dimensionally-accurate
scale replicas. Our motto is "Unparalleled scale replicas for
discriminating railroad modelers", and our products live up to that
description. Our initial offering of covered hoppers is available
ready-to-run in 6 paint schemes and undecorated kits. We also offer
supplementary modeling materials: decals and prototype photos.

Our website has just opened for business, located at:

www.tangentscalemodels.com

At our site you can see high resolution product images and learn
about prototype PS-2CD 4740 Covered Hoppers. Finally, our models are
available NOW for purchase directly from Tangent Scale Models.

In terms of quality, our goal is to let our products speak for
themselves.

Thank you,

David Lehlbach
Tangent Scale Models<

These are beautiful models from a new company, that is going public today at the NMRA Train Show. If you are going to the show check them out across from the Model Railroader booth.

Dave Hussey

People will pay for quality. If these are as sweet as they
look and the mfg has done their homework on the details,
they will sell at $43 a pop.

wlankenau Wrote:
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> Oooh, I didn't pay any attention to the price . .
> . a wee bit steep for building a unit train, but
> the price you mention is in the same ballpark as
> the Kadee cars. I guess the market will decide.

The first listing on their "buy direct" page made me wonder if this was O-Scale brass, until I noted that it was for a 12-car set. Yes, this would be a pricey way to start a unit train; on the other hand, it makes Intermountain's cars look like bargains at $30 per!

BN "original 1970" - 12 road numbers - save more than $45!!
Price $469.99

Theses are beautiful models of a prototype long sought after. The crudeness of the Athearn car has kept most of us detail- oriented modelers away. They will sell and they will sell a lot. The price is no problem for me. I am getting what I pay for. There are a lot of guys in our Southern California circle that have upgraded the old Athearn car, but still wanted a lot more of them. This car fills the bill. I think it is a bargain knowing what tooling and production costs are.

Keith Turley

Hello,

Hate to say it but I like the looks of them. Guess I will need a few more hours of overtime:)


Regards, Dave Dane

cabinman Wrote:
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> Theses are beautiful models of a prototype long
> sought after. The crudeness of the Athearn car has
> kept most of us detail- oriented modelers away.
> They will sell and they will sell a lot. The
> price is no problem for me. I am getting what I
> pay for. There are a lot of guys in our Southern
> California circle that have upgraded the old
> Athearn car, but still wanted a lot more of them.
> This car fills the bill. I think it is a bargain

Very well then. If the market exists as you describe, then this offering should do very well! And that will be a good thing for me if its success keeps the company in business and leads to production of models, such as the ones I described in my initial postings, that match my "wish list," because I don't dispute the apparent quality of the work.

WOW! "Eat your heart out" model railroaders. The bar has been raised... again!

MARK

not sure on buying a unit train of these since that extra dough adds up BUT I will most definitely pick up a few of these BEAUTIFUL RTR guys even at regular MSRP. Welcome toi the hobby TANGENT!

They look very nice except for one small detail. The steps on the corner ladders should have a drop. The photos of the model cars show the steps as straight and the prototyp photos clearly show a drop. This would be a minor fix if one was assembling a kit.

> Even if the Athearn car is
> not so refined, is this new product really worth
> 2-1/2 times (or so) its price?


Easily. The kit is significantly less $$ for those folks who remember how to glue stuff together! The die work comes from that magic place in Oregon and all but the final assembly for the RTR's is USA. Other notes on the site point that they intend to do other versions including the step variations and the very similar Evans cars.

It's nice that they came to the hobby with something to buy right away, instead of a bunch of vaporware promises of some other recent startups. That said, there sure have been a lot of new startups in the past few years like Broadway, Precision Craft, River Point Station (lot's of vaporware, but the Ford pickup seems to be getting close), BLMA, Rail Yard Models, and so on.

Ted Curphey
Ontario, OR

Thankfully they come equipped with Kadee couplers, not those crappy plastic clones that most of the other manufacturers insist on installing, forcing many of us to replace them because we want a quality, reliable coupler, not a cheap imitation. With that simple decision they have convinced me they are indeed quality minded and a cut above the rest of the manufacturers.

swsf Wrote:
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> Thankfully they come equipped with Kadee couplers,
> not those crappy plastic clones that most of the
> other manufacturers insist on installing, forcing
> many of us to replace them because we want a
> quality, reliable coupler, not a cheap imitation.
> With that simple decision they have convinced me
> they are indeed quality minded and a cut above the
> rest of the manufacturers.


Well I guess Bachmann then can adopt Kadees and that would change the quality of their products.

airbrake Wrote:
>
> Well I guess Bachmann then can adopt Kadees and
> that would change the quality of their products.

It would certainly be a start in the right direction!

Just ordered a BN and a IC , I don't have a problem with paying the high price for something that is done right..........Joe