Bachmann Online Forum

Discussion Boards => Plasticville U.S.A. => Topic started by: RoccoP on November 01, 2009, 12:23:58 AM

Title: When is Bachmann going to remake some of the missing older Plasticville
Post by: RoccoP on November 01, 2009, 12:23:58 AM
I keep looking for Bachmann to announce some of the older Plasticville items from the 50's that they have not remade in quite a while such as the Hardware store.  I would think they would still have most of that tooling but maybe it has degraded. 

Bach Man can you share with us if there is a possibility that we can get these older items back in the line again?

Doing a quick scan I see we are missing:
Hardware & Pharmacy Store
Corner Store
Add a floor
Bungalow
5 and 10 cent store
Gas Station
Multiple Churches
Super Market
New England Ranch
Post Office
TV Station
Colonial Home

I am sure there are some I left off the list but I would like to see many of these return to the line.  So the big question Mr. Bach Man is....

Does the tooling still exist and if so when can we get some of these back with some exciting colors.

--Rocco--


Title: Re: When is Bachmann going to remake some of the missing older Plasticville
Post by: the Bach-man on November 01, 2009, 09:55:49 PM
Dear Rocco,
I'll forward your list. All tooling is now overseas, and I don't know which ones are available, or are even in existence.
Thanks!
the Bach-man
Title: Re: When is Bachmann going to remake some of the missing older Plasticville
Post by: RoccoP on November 21, 2009, 08:45:50 PM
Thanks Bach Man.  I am anxious to hear the answer.

--Rocco--
Title: Re: When is Bachmann going to remake some of the missing older Plasticville
Post by: phillyreading on March 25, 2010, 06:21:43 PM
I like the add a floor for the apartment building. I have found that there is at least two color variations of the original one, and both have the same color window balconies.

Lee F.
Title: Re: When is Bachmann going to remake some of the missing older Plasticville
Post by: AGHRMatt on March 30, 2010, 06:15:05 PM
I've been trying to hunt down the #1623 O scale cattle pen. Unfortunately, they're all in the secondary market and are overpriced. Plasticville structures were always a great starting point for bashing into more complex structures, but when you pay top dollar for an out-of-production item, it adds up.

Matt Jackson
Title: Re: When is Bachmann going to remake some of the missing older Plasticville
Post by: Johnson Bar Jeff on April 01, 2010, 12:39:42 PM
Quote from: AGHRMatt on March 30, 2010, 06:15:05 PM
I've been trying to hunt down the #1623 O scale cattle pen. Unfortunately, they're all in the secondary market and are overpriced. Plasticville structures were always a great starting point for bashing into more complex structures, but when you pay top dollar for an out-of-production item, it adds up.

Matt Jackson

Not to mention, many of the structures actually look like buildings that were actually built in the U.S. in the post-WW II period--or I think so, anyway.
Title: Re: When is Bachmann going to remake some of the missing older Plasticville
Post by: lvrr325 on July 02, 2010, 09:21:59 AM
Some of the ones on that list have been run not too long ago, or are common enough to be cheap used.

The SuperMarket and others that share the same side and rear walls, that front makes a nice bash onto a DPM Robert's Dry Goods, for a city building with a 50s era front tacked on it. 
Title: Re: When is Bachmann going to remake some of the missing older Plasticville
Post by: RoccoP on July 23, 2010, 11:50:34 PM
I was hoping by now we might have heard a little more about the status of some of these older items.  Yes some of them have been out of circulation longer than others, but I do not see any of these available in stores today. 

I would like to see at least all of the items that have not been produced in the last 10 to 20 years brought back and it also would be nice if some new structures could be added.

In addition many of the currently produced items are very bland in color.  I miss some of the old colors that stood out more.

--Rocco--
Title: Re: When is Bachmann going to remake some of the missing older Plasticville
Post by: Johnson Bar Jeff on November 02, 2010, 11:25:15 AM
Quote from: RoccoP on July 23, 2010, 11:50:34 PM
In addition many of the currently produced items are very bland in color.  I miss some of the old colors that stood out more.

I recently snapped up a couple of HO Cape Cod houses with white windows and doors on eBay. One of my many projects--if I ever get around to it  ::) --will be to paint the walls red and the roofs gray. Where I grew up, an awful lot of houses that look very much like the Plasticville Cape Cods were built in the postwar period. Generally they were built in brick, with slate roofs (hence my color choices) and white trim.

Anybody got a spare "round tuit" I can borrow?
Title: Re: When is Bachmann going to remake some of the missing older Plasticville
Post by: simkon on November 05, 2010, 01:30:00 AM
Quote from: Johnson Bar Jeff on November 02, 2010, 11:25:15 AM
Anybod got a spare "round tuit" I can borrow?
I do, at the county fair I got a wooden coin that has in quotes "1 round tuit."
Title: Re: When is Bachmann going to remake some of the missing older Plasticville
Post by: Johnson Bar Jeff on November 05, 2010, 01:48:11 PM
Quote from: simkon on November 05, 2010, 01:30:00 AM
Quote from: Johnson Bar Jeff on November 02, 2010, 11:25:15 AM
Anybod got a spare "round tuit" I can borrow?
I do, at the county fair I got a wooden coin that has in quotes "1 round tuit."

;D
Title: Re: When is Bachmann going to remake some of the missing older Plasticville
Post by: J3a-614 on December 03, 2010, 07:36:46 PM
"Anybody got a spare "round tuit" I can borrow?

"I do, at the county fair I got a wooden coin that has in quotes "1 round tuit."

Man, I could use a bucket of those!  :-)
Title: Re: When is Bachmann going to remake some of the missing older Plasticville
Post by: Jhanecker2 on December 12, 2010, 05:33:37 PM
I got a ceramic disk  Labeled  "Tuit" some years back about the size of a Old silver Dollars . One of these days I will find it again .  J2
Title: Re: When is Bachmann going to remake some of the missing older Plasticville
Post by: arkady on December 27, 2010, 02:15:55 PM
Quote from: RoccoP on November 01, 2009, 12:23:58 AM
I keep looking for Bachmann to announce some of the older Plasticville items from the 50's that they have not remade in quite a while such as the Hardware store.  I would think they would still have most of that tooling but maybe it has degraded. 

Bach Man can you share with us if there is a possibility that we can get these older items back in the line again?

To that list I'd like to add the O scale switch tower.  It seems that Bachmann still offers the HO version, but not the O switch tower.  This was a popular item during the postwar era, and those of us who collect and/or run vintage Lionel would like to put then on our layouts.
Title: Re: When is Bachmann going to remake some of the missing older Plasticville
Post by: RoccoP on January 15, 2011, 11:28:33 PM
Speaking of the switch tower, American Flyer had Bachmann make them for them pre-assembled and painted.  Since Bachmann owns the tooling and they are doing prebuilts, why not re-issue it, pre-assemble it and paint it in those colors.  This would then be a highly desireable piece, both to Plasticville and American Flyer collectors.

It's been a while since my starting this thread.  I would hope in the 2011 catalog we will finally see some of these older items back in the Plasticville line.

Hey Bachmann, any update you can share since it's been quite a while since your last comment to me on this topic?

--Rocco--
Title: Re: When is Bachmann going to remake some of the missing older Plasticville
Post by: gmhtrains on July 31, 2011, 04:23:26 PM
It was Halloween, 2009, when Rocco asked about the availability of older Plasticville dies. Bach-Man replied the next day that he would look into this. Rocco asked for an update in January, 2011, and this topic has been dormant ever since.

Perhaps the questions should be related to the factory conditions in China. Does the factory have the manpower to to search among thousands and thousands of dormant dies to find the Plasticville tooling? If everyone is needed on the production line, do the occasional American visitors have the time to take inventory of long stored tooling? Are the dies that have not been run since being sent to China sufficiently labeled so as to be identifiable? Most American forget that Bachmann's British and German lines also contribute to the inventory of stored dies. Even if the Plasticville dies are found and are useable, is the production schedule filled months or years in advance, allowing little chance for low priority items to squeeze in?

The popular Revell HO building dies of the 1960's have changed hands several times. Would selling the tooling to a small U.S. manufacturer be the best chance for some of the older Plasticville dies to be rerun? Has Bachmann ever sold any of its out-of-production tooling to any other company? What U.S. injection molder would even consider buying 40-year-old tooling for which the demand is unknown?

Gil Hulin






Title: Re: When is Bachmann going to remake some of the missing older Plasticville
Post by: railtwister on September 02, 2011, 08:12:08 AM
To add even another question to Gil's list, would the Chinese government allow the tooling to be sold and/or leave the country? I recall reading at some time that Chinese government regulations forbade any tooling from ever leaving the country, in order to prevent a foreign company from resourcing their products outside of China in case less expensive labor markets were to become available somewhere else.

Bill in FL
Title: Re: When is Bachmann going to remake some of the missing older Plasticville
Post by: the Bach-man on September 02, 2011, 11:24:20 PM
Dear Gil.
All existing tools are in China. In some cases all the tools for a given building are not accessible which makes that particular building impossible to re-run.
I really doubt that the tools would ever be sold.
Sorry I don't have more specific information.
Have fun!
the Bach-man
Title: Re: When is Bachmann going to remake some of the missing older Plasticville
Post by: RoccoP on September 11, 2011, 08:46:40 PM
Bachmann,

Gil had some great questions.  It has been almost 2 years since I asked about some of the older items.  I had hoped that we would get some answers.  I love the plasticville my family purchased when I was growing up.  Every Christmas we would unpack the buildings and set up our American Flyer train layout and put together the buildings.  I hoped that many of the older items would return. 

It seems with the number of people replying to this thread that others have a similar interest in the return of some of the older items.  Is Bachmann actively looking at this or is this a lost cause?

I am still holding out hope for some of the older items to return.

--Rocco--
Title: Re: When is Bachmann going to remake some of the missing older Plasticville
Post by: ACY on September 11, 2011, 08:54:28 PM
Quote from: RoccoP on September 11, 2011, 08:46:40 PM
It seems with the number of people replying to this thread that others have a similar interest in the return of some of the older items.  Is Bachmann actively looking at this or is this a lost cause?
It is a lost cause because Bachmann can't make what they don't have access to, unfortunately.
Title: Re: When is Bachmann going to remake some of the missing older Plasticville
Post by: RoccoP on January 23, 2012, 10:12:23 PM
I guess I don't understand why Bachmann could not get to their own tooling.  I think this is a lost opportunity.  There are a significant number of people who grew up with Plasticville that would want these old items brought back.  I would even like to see some new tooling that snaps together like the classic Plasticville.  It is a shame that such a great brand does not even have a chance to reach its full potential.

Rocco
Title: Re: When is Bachmann going to remake some of the missing older Plasticville
Post by: RoccoP on August 29, 2012, 09:33:50 PM
Bachmann,

In October 2009 I gave a list of older Plasticville buildings not made in years and you said you would look into it.  Later you responded to Gil that all tooling is in China and some tooling may be unavailable to complete certain buildings.  I was hoping for something more specific unless you are saying my entire list is missing pieces of tooling which seems highly unlikely.

Can we get a detailed reponce as to the list saying:

A) No Interest in reissuing
B) Tooling under investigation
C) Under possible consideration to reissue
D) Tooling available

I just feel that this topic has been ignored yet it is one of the largest threads under Plasticville so there is obvious interest in a relevant reply.

Thanks for your patients in reading all of this and good luck getting the answers we have all been waiting for.

--Rocco--
Title: Re: When is Bachmann going to remake some of the missing older Plasticville
Post by: the Bach-man on August 29, 2012, 10:42:31 PM
Dear Rocco,
There are no buildings we are disinterested in. In fact, we just reintroduced two HO buildings. When Mr. Riley travels to Hong Kong he is always on the lookout for possibilities, so things are always under investigation.
When tools come to light we will consider them seriously.
That's the best I can tell you from here.
Have fun!
the Bach-man
Title: Re: When is Bachmann going to remake some of the missing older Plasticville
Post by: RoccoP on September 09, 2012, 07:41:13 PM
Thanks for getting back to me Bach-man.  I hope when Mr. Riley next sets out he takes a list of the O-S buildings that have been missing for decades with him so he can come back with some good news for all of us.

--Rocco--
Title: Re: When is Bachmann going to remake some of the missing older Plasticville
Post by: RoccoP on March 02, 2013, 09:55:49 PM
I just saw the 2013 Catalog.  Unfortunately no new Plasticville in O/S scale.  Any chance if they do not have the old tooling they would be willing to recreate it?  I would suggest the Signal tower be redone as it was issued to AC Gilbert as a painted piece.  With all the new "S" Gauge
from Lionel and MTH if you remade it in the Original colors it might be a big seller.

--Rocco--