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 Posted - July 28 2009 : 9:17:47 PM
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I normally do a lot of my structure kit buying at a local hobby shop that specializes in Marklin and European model railroading. Therefore, there's a lot of Faller, Heljan, Kibri, and Vollmer buildings on my U.S. layout. (IMHO - these are really well made kits).
A few months back, I was looking high and low for a TYCOKIT No.7771 Repair Shop. Couldn't find a Tyco 1976 version of the kit anywhere. Then, one afternoon, looking through the Marklin dealer's shelves of New/Old Stock, found it as POLA Repair Workshop #11623. Right Next to the Pola kit, it was offered also as AHM Workshed Minkit #5807.
So - is it safe to say that Pola made the kit under their name in one market, then made it also for AHM under AHM's brand name in another market for a period of time before making it for TYCO under Tyco's brand name afterward to take advantage of distribution channels?
Since Pola is basically out of the HO scale structure market now - and most of its kits are marketed by IHC (whenever IHC infrequently decides to make a run of the kits) - does Pola still own the molds or did IHC buy the molds and were too lazy to change the name on the molds from Pola to IHC? Or did Pola just license the molds for IHC to use and Pola gets a royalty off IHC sales?
I like caffeine and a chainsaw ...
Edited by - HOScale Model Railroader on July 28 2009 9:18:54 PM
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 Posted - July 28 2009 : 11:52:45 PM
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The short answer is yes: the vast majority of Tyco's building kits were developed by Pola. The lighted buildings have their foundations from Aurora's Model Motoring line.
As for the Pola kits, yes they were also available from AHM, though generally not at the same time as Tyco. Licensing is probably the reason but the particulars of the deals are unknown. In some cases AHM had them first, in others Tyco had first crack. And then IHC ended up with most of them.
Cross-pollenation and subletting of tooling in model railroading is almost as old as the hobby itself... at least within HO. Consider Lionel's items made by Athearn; Cox doing the same; Varney going to Life-like, who also sold the same cars sold by AHM and Bachmann, which also did extra duty when Lionel returned in the 70's. Even a handful of Tyco cars have been known to be sold by Bachmann. Atlas got their start in engines by reselling Roco engines, then Kato. Of course Tyco's 630 was originally developed by Rivarrossi. Tyco later spins Mantua off, who uses Tyco tooling at first before buying the old Linderg molds...
Talk about a tangled family tree! Never mind that Bachmann, AHM, Tyco, and Atlas were all headquartered a relative stone's throw from each other. I'm sure there was no small amount of "borrowing" and "inspiration" from one company's line to another over the years...
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Posted - July 29 2009 : 12:37:12 AM
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This is what has always got me chuckling - you think there are a huge number of kits, when in fact, you have a somewhat smaller collection of kits. It's just, over the years, the same kits just appear in different vendors' boxes. You have a person wrinkling their nose up at a AHM Repair Shop and walk past it, but melts at the sight of the Tyco Repair Shop and pays twice the amount for it. And the only difference is the box. :^)
Okay, okay. I have noticed a difference in plastics. AHM is a little more brittle and detailed parts are prone to break easily and Tyco kits seem to be more forgiving. Pola may have used the same molds, but there is a difference in plastics used in those molds. Having worked in the manufacturing sector, I know it's the specifications of the customer - cheaper raw material plastic, more profit.
(And then there's me - casting my own reproduction parts to complete AHM, Tyco, and Pola kits using KastEZ Polyurethane Casting Resin. Heh heh!)
I'd love to see the mold injection system used to create these kits. I'm used to seeing the Wax Mold Injectors (like you see at zoos, where you stick 1.50 in the machine, watch the mold clamp together and 1 minute later out drops your hollow wax figurine of an elephant or tiger). I guess it would be the same.
I like caffeine and a chainsaw ...
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