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How much brand recongition does FDNY have? Alot! This is probably one main reasons why code3 produce so many of their truck. If other fire department realized this and were willing to allow their trucks to made into models. FDNY also has some interesting speciality trucks as well.
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HAHA i remember playing with my code 3 boston trucks while i was watching it, i asked a couple people, they said ratings were to low, kinda like bravest and 911 rescue. Im thinking about buying them tho
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If the make them,I'll buy them.
Too bad the took it off the air but maybe not that many people love a show about a bunch of firefighters.
And to all FDNY haters,I know they are not FDNY
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what about worcester FD they had six fireman killed only a couple years ago..they havent done anything with their FD i would like to see some of them
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Boise,Idaho and Eugene Oregon. I like those suggestions. Boise runs Pierce. Now Ada County Fire/Rescue a different story. Also add Meridian Idaho.
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This is the problem with this board. There's absolutely no cohesion, everyone is off in 100 different directions. It's all "I WANT, I WANT, I WANT!" All without any sort of realistic expectation.
You ever see that commercial where all the people run down on the tennis court and try to play tennis at the same time? That's what this board is. Commercial Cabs, Classics, KMEs, Spartans, ALFs, Stuphens, HMEs, Macks, FMCs, Hendricksons, Duplex, Ward, Pierce, Simon, Hovercraft, Helicopters, Water Tenders, Brush Pumpers, Crash Trucks, Snorkels, Floodlight Units, Squirts, Ambulances, Ladders, Mid Mounts, Rear Mounts, Mini-Pumpers, Squads, Deluges, Foam Tenders, Brontos, BC Buggies, Jet Skis, Helicopter Tenders, FDNY, LACoFD, LAFD, Chicago, Seattle, Fort Worth, Duluth, Atlanta, Miami, Jacksonville, Newark, Nashville, Dallas, Houston, Phoenix, Tucson, Las Vegas, Henderson, Clark County, Bakersfield, Ventura County, Portland, Newark, Denver, Boise, Fort Lauderdale, Boston, Pittsburgh, Hoffman Estates, Mattoon, Wendell City, Mad River Township, Clearwater, Tampa, Kern County.. I could go on.
Now pretend you're John Dunkel and you're faced with all this on a daily basis? Every one of those have ACTUALLY been asked for here. 90% of that list will never be done, eliminate most of it simply because there isn't an existing mold for it, and Code 3 is likely never going to make a mold for it. We're never going to see a Sterling Cab, older Internationals, one-offs, jet skis, hovercraft, Bell 47s. Not going to happen. A new mold is going to be a very widely used cab from a major manufacturer, and if you look at some of the companies they've dealt with in the past, it's easier to go with something new from one of them, than a whole new manufacturer. Spartan? I'd be really surprised if we ever really se a Spartan. Or a Bronto, or a KME, Rumors are rumors, and after a couple years, if they haven't materialized, then they probably never will.
And what people never take into account, is the cost effectiveness and re-use of the mold. Code 3 needs to get multiple uses out of a mold. Some one-off cab is never going to see the light of day. If it did, the cost to research it, produce the mold, and get it to market, will result in a $200 pumper, and no one will buy that. Remember the SPS? Let's face it, the more uses a mold will get, the more likely Code 3 will produce it.
Then take into account the department itself. We've seen from the past couple of years that the small no-name departments that run plain red fire engines don't sell. A FD from Idaho, that most of us couldn't find with a map and a magnifying glass, is going to sit on the shelf and collect dust. Seattle said no, as have others. But that doesn't stop people here from insisting on Seattle and that they will say yes if you ask again. No matter what is fact, it doesn't matter to anyone here. If science proves the earth is round, there will still be people on this board that are positive that it's flat.
And lets face it, you have to be connected to get anything done with Code 3. I've submitted and submitted, but I don't live on the East Coast and I never seem to get a special audience with the Grand Pooh-Bah. All these people running around acting like 10 year olds and not listening to reason is not going to get anyone the golden key to the R&D room. After dozens and dozens of photos have been posted in the "How to suggest a new product" thread, how many of you have gotten a reply from JD or anyone at Code 3 asking for further information and photos of that piece of apparatus? I'm not really going to go very far out on a limb here and guess ZERO. Face it, that whole topic was simply a bone thrown the masses to make it seem like Code 3 and John Dunkel really care about the people on this board and the collecting community, but in reality, if you aren't a East Coast Buff with some connections to the right people, our suggestions are finding thier way to the circular file rather quickly.
100 different voices saying 100 different things is nothing more than noise. 100 voices speaking in unison, actually say something.
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Hey, I never said don't let your voice be heard, but let's try to keep it realistic. I know a bit of how the diecast industry works, I know how business works, and I know what a company like Code 3 wants to do. Make money. Face it, all these ideas from out in left field do NOTHING but make us look like a bunch of raving lunatics. Few things I've seen here are good ideas, and they're buried amongst the stuff is so unrealistic that no one is going to take seriously. And when those aren't taken seriously, then the people who sugest them aren't taken seriously, and JD continues to get his entire release line from a couple of buffs on the East Coast who speak for the entire community.
Listen, Code 3 is going to do rigs from major U.S. manufactuers that are widely used. Start there, what are some of the widely used rigs? ALF, Pierce, E-One, Seagrave. Those are the molds Code 3 curently has, so suggest rigs that use those molds. If Code 3 can get more use out of each mold, then the per-unit price continues to go down, and they make more money.
If you're thinking of new molds, remember, Code 3 needs to get legs out of thier releases. Face it, we all don't like repaints, but that's how they make thier product cost effective. When you're thinking of what you want Code 3 to do, you have to think what are 4 or 5 other rigs that Code 3 can make with that particular cab design. IThink how many ALF Eagles we've seen, Pierce Dashes, Quantums, etc. If it's a one-and-done, it's either going to be a loss to the company, or a high retail price to the consumer. Which do you think it's going to be? I don't know many companies that purposely produce product at a loss.
Second, you can suggest any department you want, and hope that some day Code 3 wil listen to you and you'll see it on the front page the first Friday of the month, but to do so, a cell phone picture of a rig at a parade isn't going to cut it. You need measurements, walk-arounds, detailed photos, color-correct images, specifications, department history, contacts within the department, etc. It's not as easy as it seems.
And when you suggest departments that you want to see done, stop and think if 1,499 other people would buy it. 4 people here saying "i'll buy it" doesn't mean it's going to sell. I know there are a dozen or so rigs that I would buy right now that would be a very hard sell to anyone else. Look at what sells, and what doesn't sell. Think Lafayette, Tarrytown, Ventura County, Glendale Lime, what do all those have in common? Think Bedford Park, Annadale, Witchita, Hamilton, what do all those have in common?
The problem here is that everyone is all over the place and more than half the stuff is flat-out unrealistic. Post all you want, but don't think that the rural FD from North Dakota, with the plain markings and a mold that Code 3 doesn't produce, is going to see the light of day any time soon. You have to start thinking in terms of what will make Code 3 the most money, sell the most product and be the most cost effective in the long run.
And I'll hang a bunch of this on John Dunkel as well. If Code 3's release schedule wasn't a top shelf secret and he would simply tell us what the new molds are, and are likely to be, then we can begin to narrow down our selctions of apparatus that we think they should do. No sense in sending in 100 different Spartan photos when they have no plans of doing a Spartan. We'll be lucky to see any new molds any time soon, maybe the 900, and that's probably about it. Even if we do, it's probably going to be one a year to 18 months, and they likely have the first few, if not the first 5-6 releases already planned out.
Point is, people are all over the map on this board, I want this, I want that, I want I want I want I want, without taking a realistic look at what they're asking for. I have no problem with anyone asking for anything, but when we're seeing dozens different trucks, all with molds that Code 3 doesn't produce, instead of rigs with molds that Code 3 currently produces, or molds that code 3 should produce and a compelling reason why they should, there's no reason for JD to even give any of it a second thought.
If we all pushed for similar things. For instance, a new round of ambulances based on the Ford F-350 cab and a Horton or similar box, and kept it to that, that would be a compelling reason for JD to listen. Not 24 different ambulances spread out across Ford, Dodge Sprinters, International, Freightliner, Chevy, et al. So what does JD choose from? Where is the unified voice that gets him to stop, listen and think "We should do another run of ambulances with X cab"?
And just look at how disorganized this board is. We have 2 topics of "JD Listen, these are the major departments we want" When JD himself started the topic of "New Product Suggestions", people couldn't follow the directions and just replied to the original post instead of starting a new topic in the R&D section, titled with the rig, ONE photo, a description of the appratus and why Code 3 should make it. I doubt JD really even looks at most of it, simply becuase he can't find any of it. He has other things to do than go through 200 different posts with 100 different rigs in each. If there's any chance to grab his attention, it's going to have to be in an organized and cohesive fashion.
But, that's just my opinion...
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Amen rescue42,The few that post over and over here on the forums think that they should be listened as if they are the mojority rule.Over and over they want apparatus made that currently no molds exist for.Repeat topics etc.....Keep it real and maybe JD will listen..
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Rescue42 never said he doesn't want people to use "JD"'s forum to post ideas. He simply wants people to think about what they're doing, and follow the rules that "JD" laid out. VERY few have done that.
He has a point....some of what has been posted is simply never going to happen due to it being a one-off mold that probably nobody outside of the person who posted it and his friends will buy. Not the kind of audience that is going to get Code 3 to spend upward of $100,000 on research, tooling/molds, and then the costs of production itself.
It does not matter (to a certain extent) what town it comes from. It needs to be something that they can get some mileage out of. Only a select few "one-off" molds will ever pay for themselves, and I haven't seen any of them on here yet. Not even the so-called "holy grail", the Super Pumper. You don't think they lost money on that?
Rescue42 does have a legitimate point, in that the western half of the country has been somewhat neglected lately. It's not bias because he lives there....it's the truth!
We all want Code 3 to make "this" or "that" or "do this town" or whatever.....but let's be SENSIBLE about it. Find rigs that match (or are close to) existing tooling, or find enough examples of a potential new model to make the possibility of looking into creating a new mold reasonable. It's really not all that hard.
As for Seattle, they are one of a handful of towns that Code 3 HAS tried to approach in the past, and been turned down. Perhaps there has been a changing of the guard there since then. Maybe a new mayor or fire chief who might give a different answer. But, they're not going to go make a Seattle rig if they can't find enough others like them to make the venture profitable.
I would be all for some west coast, some New Orleans, some Fort Wayne, some Jacksonville, some Houston, etc,.....a nice variety of locations from all parts of the country....and all have rigs that could be
gasp!
repainted to make reasonable facsimiles of models from various other places as well. Not a mold that will be retired after one use and leave half the run gathering dust in a warehouse somewhere, and the company taking a big financial loss in the process.
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Looking at my collection of Code3s, half the rigs have are the standard Red Fire truck. One example is Santa Claus Indiana; a red truck with a white stripe, a gold maltese cross on the door, just like 50% of fire departments across the US. The small town issue, another example is Forest City, Iowa; it had Code3 make a truck. Or Mason Ohio. Or how about the Patroit or Code 3 Chief/ Collectors series?
Yes the R/D is factor, but what sells is even bigger. The recent release of Code3 truck are just the same truck with different colors.
I think we are sounding board for Code3 to see what truck manufacturers they need to approach for licensing agreements and then specific fire department.There are no firm commitments. We are just cheap marketing at this point. A good business/manufacturer is going to redesign its product every 3 to 8 years or it will need to close its doors. I believe that Code3 recently when the IAFC conference saw the new trucks by the manufacturers. I believe is was reported in e-mail newsletter that Code3 and Pierce has agreement; possible for the new series of trucks.
It sound like collectors want to see more West Coast Departments. It sounds like collectors lend toward Pierce which is common in West coast fire departments. These departments are not as public oriented in their views.Some department do not share their deliveries on the manufacturers website. The West coast departments do not have strong traditions as the mid-west and particular the east coast, mainly FDNY.
I know I am from the Seattle AREA, but I have suggested other towns,cities and departments around Seattle and across the US.
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Valid arguement, but a lot of companies are going to lean manufacturing where the supply is limit therefore driving cost per unit up. Plus several years ago collectors want to see the value of their collection go up, as a result Code3 cut down the runs. When I started collecting Code3 were 5000 unit, then 3000 units, and now average run is 1500 units.
We wish would all could collective come with what type truck; ie ladders, pumper and manufacturers and locals we want to see. Right now it sound the JD needs to look at more west coast departments. I think JD proably runs through all the posting. It is his job. I run through the posting and mark them if something I want see made.
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Found the Engine number,it is Engine 37 and Ladder 26.
So JD if you see this,please considder them.
If you need pics,they are stationed on Huntington Avenue.
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HAAH i was just in boston and i followed them on a call!
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You saw them for real,I envy you.
Did you made pictures by any chance?
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Not of them but lets see i got,
Boston FD: Ladder 17, Engine 7,Engine 4, district 3, tower ladder 3,District 4,Engine 7 again,Engine 10,Engine 2,Rescue 1!!,ladder 19,TCU car and a newer ladder couldnt get the number
Boston EMS, P1, A1,A8, Supevisors cars like 5 of them,
Boston Medflight Ambulance,EasCare ambulances, Fallon ambulances
Boston pd, new paddy wagon, older paddy wagon, a bunch of patrol cars, and 1 patrol car with lights built into the roof. Somthing wierd whelen made.
I wait for every summer so i can come down from NY and visit boston. I also got film of Braintree fire, quincy, Hanover, Kingston and Plymouth.
My camera is real old so i can hook up to a computer though so i cant upload anything. Got to try to find a way to get it on the computer!
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