I see a couple of replies posted since i have been agonizing over my reply .
John Gaunt I think has made it fairly clear that the Links club is quite happy being their own master .After all ,If they don't get a magazine what real benefit is there to belong .
Models , Garlic Pete has made it clear that there is a link with the Model collectors magazine so collectors see an ACMOC models AD there for all to purchase .
It has been made clear that while ACMOC can make models pre 1960 ,they are limited to 2500 .To make any more they must do as all other model makes do ,and pay Caterpillar for the Rights .
To get serious as model makes is going to take big money ..Then the club has to compete with the companies that they get to build the models .
Now I have seen where Pete has said the BoDs have been working on new ideas .
Well hey ,Run them past us members ,After all ,we are the ones any new products at aimed at .

Ianoz

You are clearly over reacting and only partially interpreting what is going on here. At hand is considerably more than BB spending. Nobody is threatening anybody, just explaining a normal series of events that can occur if there is no change in direction or communication so quit salivating and looking for trouble to run off to your splinter group/s.

What is going on here is quite normal in a struggling business environment. As issues are being explained, thanks to Garlic Pete, focus will shift to where the real problems are and normal procedures will prevail, some good and some bad.

The message is change needs to occur, and I believe it will but business as usual with no open communication either by the assigned task spokesmen or overall spokesmen is no longer acceptable.

"Old wrote:

Ianoz

You are clearly over reacting and only partially interpreting what is going on here. At hand is considerably more than BB spending. Nobody is threatening anybody,

The message is change needs to occur, and I believe it will but business as usual with no open communication either by the assigned task spokesmen or overall spokesmen is no longer acceptable.

.
You are the one Talking, business as usual is no longer acceptable ,and Votes of no confidence
The only way to change ,is by getting your name on the Ballot paper .Unless you are one of the 7 or 9 or whatever number the board end up ,you can't make a difference.You have my Vote .
Garlic Pete,has My Vote .
Just because i have a guy i regard as a friend in Byron ,does not mean you need to dislike me because of my friendship with him .
Well , You say things have to change .How about giving us your suggestions for turning the club around ?.

"Mike wrote:

Keep swinging that baseball bat... . Regards Mike

Mike. I’d like to add a little explanation to the three proposals I made previously as I was in a hurry to get out of the house.

1. Offering a no cost no frills membership to the old Ch 2 members for the number of years they've been banished doesn’t cost Acmoc a dime. What this Club did to the Brits was beyond petty. If you were able to poll the members of the Link Club the way you polled this BB, you may find there’s more Brits rebuilding old Cats than the 80 or so who responded here. Unfortunately I agree with Tony; I don’t think many will return. However, it doesn’t hurt to try to make amends and if we can provide them with something of value, they may just decide to give Chapter 2 another shot.

2. We need to take a serious look at how the Link Club publishes their magazine. At 300 members, they have to be working smarter to be able to provide a magazine to such a small group of members. This Club spends the majority of its dues on publishing its magazine and needs all the help it can get to reduce the cost thereof. If we were on good terms with Ch 2, I’d suggest a reverse merger of our publishing functions into theirs. These days that would likely elicit the words "bugger off" but there’s no way to know if they would be willing to part with any sage advice unless we ask. As for your friends now living in Eastern Montana, they've probably learned that ridding the state of gophers often takes precedence over all else.

3. Publishing a magazine in pdf format could reduce this Club’s expenditures substantially. From what is said on this BB, there are many members who will still need a paper magazine but there’s no reason to incur the expense of paper for those who don’t. Ch 2 has proven they can economically publish a magazine for a small group. There’s much to be learned from them.

4. Have you ever watched these videos.

The first time I saw them I wondered why Acmoc wasn’t working on something like this. They can be uploaded to You Tube and access can be restricted to registered users of the BB or to dues paying members or to ... ; the possibilities are endless. I’m not a fan of advertising on the BB but we all watch YT videos and we’re all used to the advertising that precedes them. That form of advertising could be used to generate income for Acmoc without altering the format of the BB. Making videos is easier said than done but a production model could be worked out and followed to make it easier to produce a quality video; asking Sasquatch for some help would be a good start. If you look back over the past year, how many projects would be made easier if there was a video covering that topic. Driving out a master pin; rebuilding a pony motor carburetor; troubleshooting a magneto; rebuilding a transfer pump; shimming a front idler; removing a clutch, a steering clutch, a brake band; the list goes on and on. All subjects that capture a prospective member’s attention and provide value in return for his/her membership dollar. They would also take the load off the tech staff who are often asked about the same common problems ad nauseam. Their knowledge imparted would last indefinitely and educate future generations in ways long forgotten. I wouldn’t expect the current management to do much with an idea like this; they won’t even index the info or archive the attachments provided by the experts. Luckily this isn’t an idea that will get much traction without the support of the technical staff. It is my hope that if asked for their input, they’ll withhold support until this Club is reorganized.

a lot of good ideas how about this one just put it on a CD you can bring it up on your puter and print any thing you need or put in the cd player and watch it on the tv i have a lot of ol stuff on willy,s and motorcycles that i have done its not that hard and you can print just what you need or thew whole thing i have watched my e bay stuff close and that,s why i asked about sending in the tech and parts from 1 person at a time that has good real cat stuff not copys i have taken a few of mine down and had them done and they came out great i see stuff the same day i have got mine they were listed in the wrong place i got a set of 22 books that looked like they had never been opened still had the tractor co name and tractors ser no in it and the sales mans name and the buyers name cost me 20.00 dollars and one ragged shitty book went for 180.00 dollars why cats we as a club do that we have enough trch and service that we could make some thing like that work i just hate to see so much over head and no way to make it up its just like a lot of stuff falls on deft ears the big trouble is our BOD are far flung and not close to one another skype helps that i think we should also on big things in the club should have seconds to have like a round table with different members picked every time to just interject their ideas not to make any one mad just a extra set of eyes and ears i hope that the BOD take this in the way i have meant for it to be i have a bad another habit of being real course that's from working way away from people to many years because if I talked like we did on the jobs I ran and work on you all would blush and hide from the way it sounds or i would be banned in 10 seconds big strip mines large earth fill dams TBMs tunnel boring machines rock crushing plants hot plants coal mines highways where most of this stuff was built was in no mans land and the men were rough the work was extremely rough & dangerous we lost people on every job we just had ade stations and it was a chopper ride out some times it was 1 some times it was 3 hrs to a fixed wing strip so some of us have a hard time dealing with just a few people telling you what you have to do when you just get the mins in the mag it would be nice to see picks and bios in each mag of the folks that run this shebang that would go a long way to making you more in tough with the members and not just a figure head like on the hood of a old buick crap run off at the mouth to much you get used to getting up at a certain time my mouther could tell you I was awake to see my dad off to work at 3 am every day I am one of those that run on less so fellows try and think about some stuff their has been a lot of good in put and a lot of toes stepped on we all read that because it comes quick BUT OM HAS A LOT RIGHT A LOT OF THE TIME THE BOD ARE OUT OF TOUCH WITH THE MEMBERS AND THAT MAKES FOR A LOT OF HATE AND DESCENDENT

"ianoz" wrote:

Models , Garlic Pete has made it clear that there is a link with the Model collectors magazine so collectors see an ACMOC models AD there for all to purchase .
It has been made clear that while ACMOC can make models pre 1960 ,they are limited to 2500 .To make any more they must do as all other model makes do ,and pay Caterpillar for the Rights .
To get serious as model makes is going to take big money ..Then the club has to compete with the companies that they get to build the models .

Personally i think better choices of models have to be made that would then see all 2500 of each run sell out, thats where we have to get to with the models IMO. There is a market out there beyond what certain ACMOC members only want made. I mean, how would ACMOC like to have the same success CCM has had for example with some of there models of Caterpillar classics, most notable would be their D9H model and it was not a good model in the sense of the issues they had with assembly and manufacture of it, then it was 2 years late and yet because it was a D9H at a reasonable price point it sold out and now commands up to twice it,s original price if you can find one, i am sure ACMOC would love to have that sort of problem!

It is clear the huge stock still on the shelf are holding back any future progress, it,s a juggling act no doubt to get 2500 models to a price point that makes them attractive but get the right choice of model at the right time and market to a broader audience and i believe they will sell, the wrong choice and we know where that gets us.

Gavin ,with over 300 Million People in the US you would think selling 2500 models no matter how bad the choice was would not be a problem .
I am sure the model committee and the club Directors are equally shocked that the models are still sitting on the shelf .
I am sure they have tried Every thing in their power to get these models moving out the doors .
.
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My opinion{And it is just that an opinion not an attack on the club }
At a build limit of 2500 they are aimed at the collectors market , not at the toy market .
Any Collector ,collects things which they believe will be worth more in the future .
The collectors are voting with their credit cards and their future bank balances .
A model , no matter how good it is ,with made in China on it ,is not going to command the same interest or value in the future .
I looked on the 3000toys site .there was the ACMOC R2 For $189 and a John Deere Linderman crawler for$48.90..Bit of a price difference between the 2 models .Both are 1 in 16 scale .

As I said ,just my view ,and not an attack on the club or its directors .

Ianoz,
In your last couple of posts you are making some good points and suggestions. If you look back over my posts I feel I have done the same.
But what I am after is a bigger challenge, trying to get open dialogue going with the club administration, primarily the board of directors and their club functions so that there is an exchange of information and disclosure of what they are doing. This in my opinion is the only way exchange will occur that is amiable to both members and administration and things will get done. You can see how well that is working.

It's quite apparent that they are unwilling to do this and continue to cling to their "back room" fortress where they are free to do as they please with our money.

So, it appears we are at a standoff between members, at least on the BB and this administration. So I will ask you the question. What do you feel should be done about it? Would appreciate any response that others might wish to contribute as well.

I am also very concerned that there are international candidates, BOD renewals and new candidates that will be "sworn" into the same mode as we are in now. Even one vote will get them elected and only one has taken a stand towards open dialog communications and quite frankly there is high risk of that voice being stifled to.

"ianoz" wrote:

Gavin ,with over 300 Million People in the US you would think selling 2500 models no matter how bad the choice was would not be a problem .
I am sure the model committee and the club Directors are equally shocked that the models are still sitting on the shelf .
I am sure they have tried Every thing in their power to get these models moving out the doors .
.
.
My opinion{And it is just that an opinion not an attack on the club }
At a build limit of 2500 they are aimed at the collectors market , not at the toy market .
Any Collector ,collects things which they believe will be worth more in the future .
The collectors are voting with their credit cards and their future bank balances .
A model , no matter how good it is ,with made in China on it ,is not going to command the same interest or value in the future .
I looked on the 3000toys site .there was the ACMOC R2 For $189 and a John Deere Linderman crawler for$48.90..Bit of a price difference between the 2 models .Both are 1 in 16 scale .

As I said ,just my view ,and not an attack on the club or its directors .

AND the John Deere Lindeman has metal tracks and great detail also;;;that is SpecCast, who did the D2 which retailed for LESS than $100.....they also took measurements of a CAT 15 but the BOD has not decided to produce it yet. As a model dealer my most common wants from CAT customers are 15's, 20's; other older and less detailed models that could be made cheaper than the newer and big bladed models we HAVE made.....??????