More model ideas

[NXEA!]

1 minute ago, stewartingram said:

317s? Hated the things when I was commuting. Uncomfortable, noisy, draughty & cold. When I walked to the suburban platforms at KGX after a night shift, finding the first train out was an all stations stopper to HDN my heart sank. Thank goodness they have gone.

The opposite for me, particularly loved the 317/1’s with the original-styled fronts and the Intercity 70-style seating, and I always used to make a beeline for the area under the pantograph to enjoy the scream of the motors. I used to make a point of going for them if it coincided with my travels when they had booked work to/from Norwich on the 17.02 down and 19.30 Up. The 19.30 Up was fast from Colchester and booked to get to Liverpool Street in around 45 minutes, it was always very lively! 
 

All gone, although knowing how long things stick around at Booths I reckon 317501 might still be intact as it only went in June.

[nickb4141]

How about some TT:120 items? Having been sceptical of the scale at first, one look of Hornby’s Class 50 and HST was enough to get me hooked. 
 

To start the ball rolling, how about the Deltic and your excellent Mk2B and Mk2C coaches? The Deltic would complement Hornby’s A3 & A4 for a transitional layout and the Mk2B/C coaches would complement their Eastern region Blue & Grey HST sets (and Mk2F coaches,) for the BR Blue period.
 

I think if you guys came onboard, the scale would start to grow significantly, so how about it guys? 

Edited August 31 by nickb4141
Edit

[Islesy]

50 minutes ago, nickb4141 said:

so how about it guys?

Erm, that would be a 'no' from us... 😆

[Pendle Forest]

A superb class 42 or 43 warship would be nice.  They are well before the era I model in but I've always loved them since I got an old N gauge Minitrix one years ago as a kid for a table top Christmas layout.  There's something about the chunky styling that really appeals to me and I'd run them under the 'heritage diesels... my layout my rules' rule 

[nickb4141]

34 minutes ago, Islesy said:

Erm, that would be a 'no' from us... 😆

….care to expand on your comment? 

[Wickham Green too]

Most people would prefer you not to distract them from mainstream ! ✋

[Tim Dubya]

2 hours ago, Islesy said:

Erm, that would be a 'no' from us... 😆

 

Why would that be?

[Combe Martin]

How about TT would be a whole new tooling stream and setup and they've got enough on their plate with 4mm stuff without having the distraction of another scale !

[nightstar.train]

Accurascale seem to work on making and shifting huge runs of models. I guesstimate that each run of the 37s has been well over 10,000 units, deltics, 31s and 66s similar. I seriously doubt that they could shift anywhere near that volume in TT120. I doubt that TT120 is bigger than N gauge yet (in British outline). It would be a huge investment (brand new tooling is in the £100,000s range) for very uncertain return, and when there are much more certain prospects in OO, why would they?

[gwrrob]

44 minutes ago, Tim Dubya said:

 

Why would that be?

Leave it to the toy company to concentrate on.

[Accurascale Fran]

1 hour ago, Tim Dubya said:

 

Why would that be?

Hi @Tim Dubya,

 

It’s nothing personal with TT, but I do think people underestimate just how expensive it is to produce models in any scale. We would need to source a large seven figure sum to take a run at a range in TT the same way we have done in OO. We would also have to recruit more staff to oversee it. Then is there any guarantee we would get that money back? It’s a hell of a risk for a big company, let alone a small and young one like us!
 

We’re still a young company that’s growing, and we have to be careful how we grow. We need to focus on the OO market and our foray into O for now and keep fighting to get our foothold in those markets.

 

Cheers!

 

Fran

[Tim Dubya]

46 minutes ago, Accurascale Fran said:

Hi @Tim Dubya,

 

It’s nothing personal with TT, but I do think people underestimate just how expensive it is to produce models in any scale. We would need to source a large seven figure sum to take a run at a range in TT the same way we have done in OO. We would also have to recruit more staff to oversee it. Then is there any guarantee we would get that money back? It’s a hell of a risk for a big company, let alone a small and young one like us!
 

We’re still a young company that’s growing, and we have to be careful how we grow. We need to focus on the OO market and our foray into O for now and keep fighting to get our foothold in those markets.

 

Cheers!

 

Fran

 

Thank you.

 

 

[DMB5050]

Hi Fran, I must admit, I didn’t realise making tools for a TT version would cost a million pounds! Wow! 😳 I guess, like most of your average RM Web punters, we all like to think that when the design and research work is shared, it lowers the cost of producing something in a different scale. I guess this doesn’t bode well for N gauge either then? 
 

I wonder if producing Mk2B/C coaches might be more of a viable venture ( similar in the way that Revolution are testing the waters with their TT wagons?)  Mk2B/C coaches are great in that they’ve operated pretty much all over the country, so if you’re modelling the D&E era, you don’t need much excuse to buy some. I’d probably be in a market for between 20-30, which I’m not saying in the sense ‘well I want 30, so it must be worth doing’ , but more as an illustration that you’re more likely to hit the volume targets required for something that is going to be purchased multiple times by the same customer? In that sense, even if you did a TSO and a BSK to test the water, it would probably be a much safer bet than a Class 55, which is a bit more region specific (and although undoubtedly popular with some,) is probably a bit more of a niche product.

 

Damon
 

 

[DMB5050]

1 hour ago, gwrrob said:

Leave it to the toy company to concentrate on.

…..Spoken like a true Hornby hater 

[nickb4141]

58 minutes ago, DMB5050 said:

…..Spoken like a true Hornby 

Edited August 31 by nickb4141
Retracting

[Tim Dubya]

1 minute ago, nickb4141 said:

Or someone who’s a bit ignorant!

 

Far from it, I think you'll find.

[nickb4141]

Just now, Tim Dubya said:

 

Far from it, I think you'll find.

Well to insinuate that the TT120 Class 50 and HST are ‘toys’ shows very little knowledge of the actual products. If you don’t like a company, that’s your prerogative, but making flippant comments like ‘leave it to the toy company’ is insulting, not only to Hornby, but also the modellers, myself included, who have decided to give the new scale a go. 

[Accurascale Fran]

28 minutes ago, DMB5050 said:

Hi Fran, I must admit, I didn’t realise making tools for a TT version would cost a million pounds! Wow! 😳 I guess, like most of your average RM Web punters, we all like to think that when the design and research work is shared, it lowers the cost of producing something in a different scale. I guess this doesn’t bode well for N gauge either then? 
 

I wonder if producing Mk2B/C coaches might be more of a viable venture ( similar in the way that Revolution are testing the waters with their TT wagons?)  Mk2B/C coaches are great in that they’ve operated pretty much all over the country, so if you’re modelling the D&E era, you don’t need much excuse to buy some. I’d probably be in a market for between 20-30, which I’m not saying in the sense ‘well I want 30, so it must be worth doing’ , but more as an illustration that you’re more likely to hit the volume targets required for something that is going to be purchased multiple times by the same customer? In that sense, even if you did a TSO and a BSK to test the water, it would probably be a much safer bet than a Class 55, which is a bit more region specific (and although undoubtedly popular with some,) is probably a bit more of a niche product.

 

Damon
 

 

Hi Damon,

 

One model wouldn’t cost a million pounds, but if we go into a new scale it would be to build a range of products, not just one and leave it at that (though you won’t have much change out of a million pounds delivering a couple of locomotives to market). We just don’t see the point in doing something half baked, either commit to the scale or not. Hornby have done so to their great credit. We have committed to OO and O. 
 

Maybe when the economy shows signs of improvement we can look at developing a range in a new scale (we have previously investigated N) but for now we will be sticking to OO and O.

 

Cheers!

 

Fran

[nickb4141]

Fair enough Fran. At least you’ve explained your position and I respect your honesty.

I do buy your 00 products as well, so I’m still committed to the Accurascale brand 😉

[gwrrob]

43 minutes ago, DMB5050 said:

…..Spoken like a true Hornby hater 

Hardly although I haven’t bought anything of theirs for a while and they cancelled my bogie bolster orders.

[gwrrob]

16 minutes ago, nickb4141 said:

 but also the modellers, myself included, who have decided to give the new scale a go. 

No offence was intended in this regard.

[Roy L S]

18 minutes ago, Accurascale Fran said:

Hi Damon,

 

One model wouldn’t cost a million pounds, but if we go into a new scale it would be to build a range of products, not just one and leave it at that (though you won’t have much change out of a million pounds delivering a couple of locomotives to market). We just don’t see the point in doing something half baked, either commit to the scale or not. Hornby have done so to their great credit. We have committed to OO and O. 
 

Maybe when the economy shows signs of improvement we can look at developing a range in a new scale (we have previously investigated N) but for now we will be sticking to OO and O.

 

Cheers!

 

Fran

Hi Fran

 

Interesting to note that it having previously been said that you (Accurascale) would be open to considering some N products and actually canvassing views on what they might be, your comment above now suggests that this is no longer currently the case? If that is true for a long established and well served scale like British N, which is second only to the OO market in terms of size the UK (at 1/4 to 1/5 of it) where financing a range wouldn't be needed to make one or two well chosen products a success, then how might TT120 be a better prospect? Logically there is already some low hanging fruit for N in the shape of the Class 37 and possibly Class 55, already made by you in OO, neither of which are currently available sound ready/fitted in British N.

 

Obviously the above is very easy for me to say when it isn't my money on the line, but is the N market really not viable even for such a widely popular product (1960 to present day) as a shiny new Class 37?

 

Regards

 

Roy

Edited August 31 by Roy L S
spelling

[Tim Dubya]

16 minutes ago, Accurascale Fran said:

Maybe when the economy shows signs of improvement we can look at developing a range in a new scale (we have previously investigated N) but for now we will be sticking to OO and O.

 

Catch 22 for me.  If there was a big enough range in TT I'd feel more comfortable selling my 4mm stuff to invest in the gauge but there isn't, so here I am. 

 

Just need that lottery win and I can commission some stuff 😜

[nickb4141]

4 hours ago, gwrrob said:

No offence was intended in this regard.

Fair enough 🙂

Edited August 31 by nickb4141
Grammar

[Dunsignalling]

1 hour ago, nickb4141 said:

Well to insinuate that the TT120 Class 50 and HST are ‘toys’ shows very little knowledge of the actual products. If you don’t like a company, that’s your prerogative, but making flippant comments like ‘leave it to the toy company’ is insulting, not only to Hornby, but also the modellers, myself included, who have decided to give the new scale a go. 

 

Hornby has (or rather the former regime at Margate had) its own reasons for adopting a scale completely new to UK outline model railways. Some of those reasons are the new brands like Accurascale that have been abstracting chunks of turnover from the OO market over which Hornby formerly held sway.

 

Thus, "supporting" TT:120 could, to some degree, be equated with supporting Hornby. 

Modellers who have taken up TT:120 naturally desire the support of another participant committed to "conventional" production rather than the 3D printed and Laser cut offerings from most entrants that can be "shot" up or down for multiple scales, with little in the way of specifically TT investment. 

 

However, it's unlikely that Hornby shares that yearning....

 

Accurascale et al got into producing r-t-r OO because they saw the gaps that Hornby were leaving open for them, both in coverage, and the relationship between quality and price. There has proved to be enough room for all in OO. However, Hornby's past competitive tactics in that scale must be a disincentive to anyone else entering TT:120, a still quite new, and very much smaller sector where duplication might be disastrous.

 

John

Edited August 31 by Dunsignalling