German vs Chinese?

I know where you're coming from but I feel perhaps conrad might be aiming at a different kind of market,a more durable item,

WSI and YCC are obviously aiming for the "set and disply in a glass case" punter where Conrad and NZG are aiming for a model that will be handled alot more

and this may not be true but I heard Liebherr had no input to the 1750's,conrad made them on their own back,hense cc8800 crawler pads,so with no Liebherr input,there was no one else pushing the detail envelope,

but it very easy to get annoyed or just get down right cunfused as to the pricing,its a bit odd lol,

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Why is "phonetically" spelt with a "ph"?

... It's better to be silent and thought a fool, then to speak up and remove all doubt

The complex of Newgrange was originally built between c. 3100 and 2900 BC,[2] meaning that it's aproximately 5,000 years old. According to Carbon-14 dates,[3] it is more than 500 years older than the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt, and predates Stonehenge by about 1,000 years.

I'm with you on that, DeWoc19, what I know for sure is that the production costs in Germany are much higher than the ones in Japan, not an excuse, but a day to day reality !!! That being said, I'm still convinced that the toy builders should take the pulse of us, collectors, to target more precisely the market, and present the samples they wish to make so everyone can have there input about details to add or not !!! Don't get me wrong, adding hydro lines, fire suppression systems and a lot of others small details like these don't cost that much !!! Sometimes we, the collectors, are making these small changes that enhance so much the model at a ridiculous cost for us !!!

As we all know, some models come out and share a lot of differences between the 1/1 and the model. And there is plenty of models made like this and I'm sure all of us on this forum has such questionning going through their minds !!! Just think of the earlier handrails Norscot were making, by constantly giving bad input on a forum like this, they eventually corrected their aim and today they take more care about these details... Proof is made here that sure someone is reading these pages !!!

Now this is not to crucify the model makers, but common Mr Conrad, NZG, new players on the market are taking their places under the sun, First Gear, Sword, TWH to name a few are getting in second gear, and maybe someday someone's gonna miss the boat !!! I'm not against noone here, I like all the models I buy for different reasons, and I'm not against a bit of plastic on parts that could be easier to be done in places where they would not be broken easily, but we must keep in mind that we are collecting DIECAST MODELS, and we should find plenty of it on them !!!!

Pat from Québec, Canada

Has anybody bought their sets of tracks listed in the DHS parts section? They look like nice tracks that have pins or rivets instead of the cheap snap together stuff.

I DON'T MIND GIVING THE "COMMIES" SOME OF MY MONEY TO BE ABLE TO GAZE UPON THESE METAL MASTERPIECES EVERYDAY. TM

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Tom
It's pretty sad when the only modeling tool you own is a box cutter.

If the only tool you have is a hammer, you start to see every problem as a nail. Abraham Maslow

Im with the others ..

German skilled labour over chinese ..rather cheap..exceptionally cheap for the skills the labour force has ..

Ive seen it time and time again ..what a Chinese craftperson does for the wage's they are paid is phenominal....

To find a person with that much skill and experience ,be it Europe or North America ..will come at a hefty price

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Q-Ball a wolf in Jesus skin ---the sorcerer of reasonable commentary





I smile & wave

Sometimes I think life is just a rodeo,
The trick is to ride and make it to the bell.

US is already 2nd nature to the Chinese, they are way ahead of us technologically and economically! very soon they will be ahead of us with military as well..... China is going to be the next Germany from the 30s and 40s.... America is a huge sell out country and we will never be ontop of China again, at least not for a very long time!!

o yes i better give a few examples, stef haylin 115 plus a 10 euro postage from holland to ireland
excellent value a retailer for the collector, even the one homer posted last week a spanish one with van 170 great value , i have been paying 17 to 20 a touch from germany and it is not even costing that much now i am expecting certain people to jump to the defence but im sure these people are heavily involved in these little companys.

Some interesting points of view here! I do not think conrad models are any more overpriced than any of the other manufacturers. At least you can pick up a conrad model without worrying about bits falling off it, they are very solid and heavy with plenty metal used in them. Afterall, we are collecting diecast models, hence the name of this forum, DHS Diecast Discussion Forum. A lot of the chinese models i have recieved lately are pure scrap, i might aswell have bought a kit and assembled it myself there was so many pieces broken off them!

Now i do agree they have great detail, but they are well able to charge for it too.. The standard ltm1050 from wsi is a good price, i dont think anyone can argue with that, but look at the michielsens version, a different paint job and it is 50% more expensive than the original. Who cares if its a linited run, painting it a different color in the factory and putting some decals on it shouldn't cost half as much again on top of the price of the original model. The mark up sellers have on these models is killing the hobby for a lot of people, as gus said we got a quote of 60 euro a piece to make the aylward with a 2+4 nooteboom, that just goes to show how much profit commisioners are making, at 150 euro they would be making back 150% profit, now that is just scandalous. And a lot of the wsi models with 2+4 nooteboom nowadays are being sold for 179 euro which works out at 200% profit! It is pure greed on behalf of the people commissioning them.

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Noel.

I agree with hummer13 in that since about 1980 our government and industrial leadership have been more interested in helping U. S. businesses increase their profits by any means possible, particulary by outsourcing our manufacturing industries to evade regualtion and reduce costs. At the same time I disagree with his premise that the country has not sold out. We all make decisions on what we buy, and as we embrace the goods produced in China because of their lower relative cost, we are contributing to the problem. I have bought TWH products because of the detail at a rcomparatively lower price and will probably continue to buy some in the future, so I am also guilty.

This is not to say that we shouldn't buy foreign goods, but the situation with Communist China is a bit different from a few perspectives. Firstly, China has a centrally controlled economy (one of the tenets of a communist system) that can manipulate things to their advantage. Secondly, they are a police state that can control their people and workers. Finally, they are the beneficiaries of U. S. and other companies' desires to find a place that can produce things for less money and hassle. We are not being innundated with Chinese developed and manufactured goods, but instead we are being flooded with U. S. (and European) developed products made in China.

If we are really sreious about solving this, we should all think very hard each time we are considering buying a die-cast model made in China and occasionally exercise some restraint. Is the immediate gratification of recieivng a highly detailed model worth the downsteam impacts on our economy and lives? Believe me, if things continue to progress as they have been, the economic hiccup in which we now find ourselves will seem like good times.