Holy Cow......

[stang_crazy]

So i recently purchaced a lot of 5 athearn genesis sd70/75 frames with trucks, motors, & circuit boards.

My hopes were to get complete shells, walkways ect and have them all back together again.

Well not only is there nothing on ebay but i contacted athearn and priced out every thing id need for the walkways up and holyyyyyyy crap.

Anyways i called athearn today & talked to rick in parts to make sure what i was reading was right & it was.

for me to purchace all this (undecorated even)

G63801- sd70m body
G63804- sd70m cab
G63810- sd70m window set
G63811- sd70mcab doors
G63812- sd70mcab interior
G63815- sd70m walkway set (4 step)
G63824- sd70 snow plow set
G63826- sd70 dynamic grille
G63850- sd70 "Q" fans black
G63852- sd70 handrail set black
G63860- sd70 side frame set
G63871- sd70m-sd75m instruction booklet

Came to a total of $85.78 plus s/h which is $5.50 LOL I about fell out of my chair. Even Rick at athearn said i may as well just buy a complete undecorated unit, heck even painted versions go for that price or less on the bay.

Just trying to figure out why the cost is so much the body alone was $25.00.

Well i guess ill be salvageing the motors, drive shafts, and circuit boards and the rest will get sold off for parts or something, unless anyone has any leads on SD70/75 complete bodys????

 

[IronBeltKen]

...

Just trying to figure out why the cost is so much the body alone was $25.00.
...

Part of it is that the hi-tech machinery used to make those shells and detail parts is a lot more expensive now than what they used back in the 'blue box' days. And they make fewer pieces per run, so they can't spread the cost as much.

Also, component parts purchased separately always add up to more than what you'd pay for a fully assembled model. The assembled units are mass-produced [with cheap Chinese labor] and are easier for Athearn and their distributors to sell, whereas most of the spare parts will fit forever in boxes on a warehouse shelf - Athearn has to pay for storing that stuff.

At least the parts are available - other mfgrs don't even bother stocking spare parts, they just cannibalize unsold assembled ones.

 

[stang_crazy]

Yeah i can see your points there. Exactly im gonna part 2 out for sure. The other 2 might just go on the shelf and ill just keep watching shows, and ebay and slowly grab the main parts

 

[tankist]

i see nothing strange here.
my guess you never tried to repair crushed motorcycles before. if one to buy complete kit of parts to assemble motorcycle himself ,the cost would be somwhere around 20 times had he purchased one assembled at factory. can you imagine? 20!

and you think model train is bad.
keep monitoring ebay,
good luck

 

[stang_crazy]

Nope don't do motorcycles but I do actual cars

 

[Sirfoldalot]

So i recently purchaced a lot of 5 athearn genesis sd70/75 frames with trucks, motors, & circuit boards.

Don'r understand the question?
Why you do it this way?

 

[stang_crazy]

Don'r understand the question?
Why you do it this way?

Here i fixed it for ya although what ya have quoted isnt quite a question

"So i recently purchased (5) athearn genesis sd70/75 frames with trucks, motors, & circuit boards."

 

[stang_crazy]

To everyone else that replied i figured it would cost a little bit of money, but never thought it be up in that range is all.

 

[Sirfoldalot]

Surprising isn't it. I made sort of the same mistake. I wanted to remake my old Athearn GP7 into a unit without the D/B and Winter hatch. I now have more $ invested in parts than it would have cost me to purchase a used P2K GP7.