Having read your Blog, your comments accurately reflect the poor quality of the media.

Tim

There has to be realisation to that the small teams (and they are just that) are under increasing pressure re deadlines etc, I certainly dont envy them.

With the pick up on a certain loco tho, I sussed it in about 30 seconds, as one of the FIRST things I ever do, is clean the wheels.

You cannot accurately test a new loco without first cleaning all the manufacturing residue, or whatever off of the wheels.

Only then will you get a good account of its performance, and of course how many wheels it picks up on

Good on you Graham for highlighting this topic. Not easy at all for the teams these days but at the same time they need to get right if they are going to be critical of a product do the research and make sure the information is factual as you said a manufacturers rep is on the line.

So many people post without thinking I'm guilty of that from time to time. Sometimes I wonder why be so critical is it for your 5 minutes of fame on the forum, to show everyone you have a keen eye for detail while sitting in your arm chair?

I find RMWeb one of the worst offenders for manufacturer bashing compared to other forums but again it can be argued "I have the right to say what I want as long as I think its right" One the other hand manufacturers need to be told when they get it wrong and address the real genuine issues.

Manufacturers have come such a long way in the last 20 years, most of the models I see and use are brilliant, I just don't seem to get the problems others report. Manufacturers sometimes need to compromise just to get it to run or it may just be too costly to tool up to get the 1 detail spot on.

I think people like to also blame the manufacturer when they poorly handle the model or break something. Easy its a Q.A. issue.....not me.

In general I think the manufacturers are doing a great job, trying to give us what we want and producing excellent quality models.

Martin

As regards the extra details, I'd prefer it if they were sold as "extras" rather than included with the loco. That way the models themselves would be more affordable to people who wanted to buy them but didn't necessarily want (or could afford) the details. This would of course include the younger enthusiasts.

Possibly one small advantage of modelling from the other side of the world is that I don't have ready access to the real thing (Other than grainy and Amatuer videos on you tube) so I can't make comparrisons against models. I could go online and research an engine to the nth degree but I'm too lazy! . For me the best comparison is hold one of my more recent locos up against one from 10, 20 or even 30 years ago and see just how far the manufacturers have come over that period. I get very frustrasted with the press pickking on what really minor imperfections in a model and failing to appreciate the efforts of the manufacturer has gone to give us a more realistic looking model than was available 10 years ago. As one manufacturer put it some years ago, where do they draw the line as far as what detail to include on a model? Personally I applaud the efforts that manufacturers are going to to give us what we want but then again, I am on the other side of the world!!!

Your blog entry strikes me as being somewhat more a passive-aggressive rant than a question, as your title would suggest. Yes people moan and often they're wrong, yes manufacturers sometimes get it wrong, yes detail is better now than it was previously. I don't see what point you're making. I know it's infuriating, I got told off for speaking out against it in the thread for the Beattie Well Tank, but it seems like it's something we're going to have to live with. Given that our hobby is stereotypically overrun by grumbling old grumpy gits in loveless marriages perhaps we should've come to expect it by now?

The only thing I feel I can respond to is perhaps your mention of people who complain that models are getting too fragile to handle. I also find this to be the case, mainly from my experience of North American models. Yes I know, the US scene is terribly, terribly boring, but I went through a phase of liking it, and found like most other dabblers that it's mostly due to the materials used, rather than a lack of care. Handrails, "grab irons", and most other thin railings etc. are made from this semi-flexible material that likes to snap, sometimes just because of temperature changes, or because it's been bent one too many times.

Since the UK scene has largely followed the US, Germany and Japan, a lot of these technologies have been adopted but not improved. This is a major frustration for those of us who have been happy to see US manufacturing standards come to the UK, only to find that parts of their £100 model are breaking because lessons haven't been learned.

Best,

Scott.