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This forum is for collectors of emergency vehicle models to discuss any aspect of the industry. Feel free to post comments on current releases, future models, items for sale/trade, or items wanted.

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Be careful what you wish for...

There seems to be a lot of doom and gloom on this Board! My five cents is that Code 3 is still doing a great job and the marketing change is a good one. The old scenario was a build up to a big announcement every three months, we speculated frenziedly on this board, then we see the line up. Great!. Then, here in the UK, the wait started. I have ordered the items and after three weeks the first turns up. After six weeks the second turned up. Two and half months later three turn up once leaving two "late" and just about released by the next announcement! That is no way to manage your inventory.
The simple test is this: imagine the hobby with no Code 3. Suppose they either had never existed, or had stuck with producing "toys" like the early pieces. There is no real competition out there - Corgi with their stick on pump panels, Del Prado recycling past releases from other companies with no concern for accuracy, scale or even a sensible line up. Who else is there? Franklin Mint with their piano hinges on the doors of their E-one? I am going to keep buying Code 3 because I want them to survive - we are all in trouble if they don't!

Re: Be careful what you wish for...

This is perhaps venturing off on a tangent from the intent of Alan's original post, but when I read the complaints about accuracy in Code 3's models (and many of the complaints are justified, if only because expectations have been set so high - along with prices), I have to think of how good collectors of American fire apparatus have it compared with collectors of American police vehicles. Yes, there have been far more police diecasts produced than fire trucks, but look at the quality comparison. Road Chumps' (a bow to Rich at ROADBLOCKERS for that appellation) cars, which kicked off the police car diecast frenzy of the '90s and really introduced the idea of making multiple versions of a single model, were abysmal in quality. Even later improvements like thin antennas and high-quality paint finishes didn't change things like poor excuses for spotlights (mounted through the windshield!), inaccurate wheels, incorrect colors, poor lightbars, gaps in opening features, etc. These really were toys marketed to police collectors, their popularity and collectability being based on the many different markings. Gearbox, which inherited RC's collector base, has its own problems with realism in its FCV. The Impala and Expedition were much better but still suffer from toy-like opening parts, with huge, visible hinges on the Expedition's rear hatch. Until Fleer's short-lived (because Fleer itself was short-lived) 2005 Ford and IXO's Crown Vic (which has only appeared in one police version), there wasn't a realistic Crown Vic available in 1:43rd. Most manufacturers don't even bother to produce a separate "steel" wheel casting for the departments that don't use wheel covers on their Fords - they just paint the wheel covers black (even Busch does that in HO scale, despite the well-deserved reputation that they and other German HO companies have for detail). Corgi made one of the best police molds ever (the '74 Monaco), but stopped after 4 "real" versions and the silly "Lionelville" car. White Rose/Fleer was the only other company making realistic, vintage US police cars - while they were sticklers for accuracy in colors and markings, their original manufacturer had "issues" (culminating in the '69 Fury mold) - only after they switched did they produce their best models, the '72 and '73 Plymouths, the '41 Ford and the 2005 FCV. The small scales are all over the map. A company has yet to make a police car in true 1:64th scale, although Matchbox Collectibles came close with their Impala, as did SpecCast with their Ford (though the lightbars were more like 1:72nd). Most companies' idea of making vintage police cars are to take existing models of hardtops or muscle cars and add police decals and lights. Racing Champions series was like that - as for scale, they were made to fit a standard box. Johnny Lightning's likewise were in various scales and had inaccurate wheels and lights, though they later improved somewhat. Code 3's NYPD set and LAPD command post are outstanding models, but Code 3 apparently abandoned its ballyhooed "commitment" to police collectors (the late, lamented Orlando said in Baltimore a couple of years ago that Code 3 would do about 4 police releases a year). And yet...I look at manufacturers who produce non-US police car models, like Vanguards, Minichamps, Schuco and even Hongwell, and wonder why the same can't be done for US cars???? I think the popularity of the Code 3 ALF Century shows how much collectors want vintage fire apparatus, to the point where they'll buy them even if they have a major error (though I'm sure a lot of collectors wouldn't notice things like the errors Rich and many others have pointed out). I collect fire trucks, but only vintage or some modern ones that I really like. I'm sometimes amused by the amount of navel-gazing and hand-wringing on all sides of the fire apparatus hobby. Fire truck collectors who desire accuracy should be thankful they aren't in the same boat as police collectors. And repaints? I'll take a load of police repaints, just give me an accurate base model!!

Re: A request - Please break your long messages into shorter paragraphs.

Nothing against either of you or your posts, but I found them very difficult to read against the board background.

If you were to break them down into shorter paragraphs they would be much easier to read.

Thanks.

Re: Be careful what you wish for...

Copy and paste them to notepad or word, then enlarge the font, you will have no trouble then.

Re: Re: Be careful what you wish for...

Thanks for the hint, I'll keep that in mind. My eyesight is pretty good but the small print on the ALf wallpaper and sentence after sentence where the subject matter changes makes it difficult to read.

Re: Be careful what you wish for...

Ed, I'm with you on that one. I wrote it and I cant read it without my glasses. We have asked the owner of this board tons of times to delete the background, but he works for an ALF dealer, so we have ALF background. I would rather have him complaining to Code 3 about the poor ALF they produced than have the ALF logo on the background. How about it Jeff??

Re: Be careful what you wish for...

I wish for a diamond plate squad 61 at a reasonable price. And that the new diamond plate ladder is from CFD!! Dream big!

Re: Be careful what you wish for...

One thing Rich and I agree on big time - the new ALF mold is a horror show and it is hard to believe the company that made the superpumper or FDNY ladder 10 made this one too!

Re: Be careful what you wish for...

I don't know what is going on over in Woodland Hills, but it appears, as you you all are saying, Code 3 is going to continue to market garbage as long as there are people willing to pay for it. The Chi-town releases appear to be half-hearted attempts at marketing a what could have been a remarkable piece. Never mind the flaw in the cab design, each successive ALF since the Bakersfield pice is seriously lacking the detail we've all grown accustom to.

What I don't understand is why are they beating this mold to death already? At least the Macks CF's had the body engineered to create some variation. Whay wasn't this done with the ALF? And where is the Pierce Quantum tool. I figured that would have at least showed up the first couple of months this year.

Let's hope there's at least some inprovement for the rest of the year...

Re: Be careful what you wish for...

Fire model producers in 1/64th scale will continue to give the customer what they feel they can sell until its too late for them.

This is the same faulty excuse that the Federal government incurs when they waste our tax dollars for all that Pork, while gas prices rise to over $3 a gallon, we waste young people and fortune overseas for nothing, our southern borders remain unsecure, illegal aliens overwelm our medical system, and our leaders out CIA Agents for their own political gains.

As that ex-Russian comedian used to say, "VAT A COUNTRY".

Re: Be careful what you wish for...

Rich, what are you referring to about the next 9-14 months??? What's going on there? Can you elaborate?

Rich is the King

It's all Rick @ Roadblockers fault!! LOL Rich got me into Cop Car collecting with his excellent FHP decals (with both door flag emblems in correct position), real aluminum road wheels, great lightbars, and interior accessories. He was about the first Garage Store to offer Police detail parts that were accurate, and at a very reasonable cost. He also offered quick shipping, and a freindly attitude.

But he's not the Grandfather of Aftermarket Detail. He's the King. Thanks Rich.

Chuck

Re: Be careful what you wish for...

Not for nutin' folks, but First Gear comes along and produces a Mack Granite dump truck, with opening doors, tilting cab nose, tilting dump bed, posable front axel, detailed engine and plow set-up etc for under $40. I'm waiting for First Gear to tool an International Ambulance or fire truck in 1/64!

Re: Be careful what you wish for...

First Gear has the potential to be a major contender in the 1/64 emergency vehicle market.... IF that want to be. We can only hope they decide to give it a go.

Re: Be careful what you wish for...

Rich is absolutely correct about his workmanship on custom police cars - I have been awestruck at the things he can do to make a cheap, half-accurate piece look like a handbuilt replica. His Nevada HP car based on the execrable Dimension 4 '78 Plymouth remains one of my all-time favorite customs!

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