Forum etiquette

[friscomike]

Howdy folks,

FRISCO.org has been around since 1994 and survived largely because of the congenial atmosphere created by its members. The forum has grown from a small group of 25 Frisco Folks to well over 1000. With that growth comes a few growing pains, hence this message.

We have a free and uncensored forum. It is self policed, and you may notice that generally, we don't curse, show prejudice, or assassinate a person's character here. Indeed, our goal is for adolescents and teens to be able to participate as well as adults without fear of unsavory conduct.

In keeping with the traditions we've established, let's continue to be objective but courteous in our debates and refrain from maligning manufacturers for trivial omissions in products. As one who has had to scratchbuild most of my Frisco equipment in the past, I am delighted to see so much Frisco equipment being produced today. I for one hope that manufacturers will want to visit FRISCO.org to get diagrams, specifications, constructive feedback, and helpful points of view that will help them make more money from selling Frisco related products.

In the coming weeks, lets discuss what it would take to become the GO TO RESOURCE for Frisco prototype information and guidance for manufacturers, modelers, and railfans. I'll start a thread in the appropriate forum, please reply to it.

I am disappointed that more manufacturers aren’t active on the forum and hope we can figure out what to do to make FRISCO.org the best place for them to advertise their Frisco related wares and improve their business. Let’s also keep the discussions on the positive side and define tangible activities we can do to achieve this goal.

Thanks again to the hundreds of forum members for the support and time spent sharing history, thoughts, ideas, perspectives, and experiences about the Frisco.

With best regards,
Mike Corley

[Rick McClellan]

Mike,

Well said.

In my dealings with manufacturers I have found that they want to be as accurate as possible for the least cost. Translated this means that if we can provide a railroad paint diagram of the subject matter, the project becomes easier and less costly. Railroad paint diagrams can be scanned into a graphics program used to produce today's amazingly sharp paint jobs we see.

Paint diagrams are a little hard to come by these days and, often, they do not cover all the equipment we need. The second best thing we can provide is a good quality color slide, preferably perpendicular shots of all four sides of the subject. These can be scanned and used to produce a paint diagram as mentioned above but there is more work involved to get a good diagram. This is how most new model car paint schemes are done.

The final thing we can provide is additional information such as car series numbers, renumbers, shop dates, etc allowing the mfr to build multiple numbers of a car or engine. In addition, supplying car side information that may not show up on a photo very well is also very helpful.

I suggest that we start a library of these items in a separate tab under the prototype Frisco. That way, mfrs could view anytime they want after joining the group. Not sure if you knew it or not but a lot of great cars came out AFTER the Morning Sun books came out. Many Kadee, Intermountain, etc cars were not only based on the photos in Morning Sun books, many carry the exact same road number ! Pretty cool, huh?

That's all I can think of for now.

Ship IT on the Frisco !!!!!!!!!

Rick

[FriscoFriend]

Mike:

I concur with Rick's post. When we were working with Brian Marsh of Overland Models on the current International Wide Vision Caboose project, we suggested he look in this forum for possible paint schemes which may resulted in at least one more offering.

As I volunteered to do, I am trying to do the best that I can to post new product introductions as soon as I find out about them and in the process ask for updates, pictures, etc. from modelers on the forum. The recent thread about the HO FM H10-44 model is a good example of the kind of feedback that helps everyone. With the dwindling amount of local hobby shops and the increase in online sales, I feel this approach becomes more and more pertinent. Fellow modelers like Rick and Ken Wulfert (Meteor9100) to name a couple, post invaluable information that we can reference about detailing models that become available. This is the kind of information that elevates this site into a resource forum vs. a "nit-picking" site that laments why manufacturers can't ever get it right.

Bottom line, I feel we are on the right track and will only become better. The recent addition of the DCC Forum is a great example.

Bob Hoover
FriscoFriend

[NeoshoDoug]

Mike,
I concur wholeheartedly with your sentiments. I live in Neosho, Missouri, a small community (pop~10,000) in deep southeast MO,astraddle the old Springfield main line into OK and TX. Also, I am new to the Frisco, having been an SP and NWP modeler for 40 years in California. Unfortunately, very little SP equipment is readily convertible to Frisco. Being new to the Frisco, I have little to offer in the way of prototype info and much to learn. This forum is far and away the best location to do that. Lets keep it polite, informative and friendly. After all, this is a HOBBY, not life and death. It is for the enjoyment of all of us, no matter what our interests or inclinations. For what its worth, I have a Frisco SD-7 with dynamic brakes. I used Oddball decals for the GP-7, with the Railroad Roaman "Frisco" because it seemed to fit the long hood better. AND, I liked it more. It's numbered 640, after the nuclear submarine I was on (the old Benjamin Franklin, scrapped now). A second one will be numbered 639. Idid all this because the SD-7's, lettered SP Black Widow scheme, are simply too good a runners to be left off the railroad. After all, its my model railroad.
Carry on! Neosho Doug|-|

[meteor910]

Well said fellas!

Ken

[John Markl]

Mike:

This is the kind of information that elevates this site into a resource forum vs. a "nit-picking" site that laments why manufacturers can't ever get it right.

Bob Hoover
FriscoFriend

No kidding. Several groups I participate in are that way. Every new release is picked to shreds the minute it hits the hobby shop shelf, or box on the front porch.

I was on one group that spent days bickering over whether an Atlas RS1 had the correct brake wheel for the paint scheme it was delivered in.

The irony was, that it was a somewhat obscure road to boot, with precious little offered commercially.

And they wonder why their group doesn't grow. I unsubscribed from that one........