N gauge Streamlined Great Western Railcar (Kickstarter)

[TomJ]

I think you are right there Kahedron. Dare I also suggest that this project is about a year or two too early. In a while when the shops are full of DJM boxes all receiving rave reviews and all delivered in a reasonable timescale I suspect people would be more willing to put their cash up front. Also unlike an announcement which gives you 12-18months + to save up here the money was needed at the time of announcement.

[Karhedron]

Hello,

 

We are down to the last day for the Kickstarter for the N Gauge GWR Streamlined Railcar. We still have a way to go to reach the target and fund this project so if you have not already done so, please pledge now to try and get this iconic train into production

 

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/800415755/n-gauge-streamlined-great-western-railway-railcar

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

Out of curiosity about how the process works.

 

Does this thread now warrant closing with a final statement, and perhaps a change of title to show that 'it was tried but insufficient support was obtained'. Would help avoid any confusion if a similar subject were proposed for funding by this method at some more propitious time.

[Karhedron]

This particular attempt is finished alas. I may try again in a couple of years time when Dave has some models out and people are satisfied with his quality. Also if any of the current Kick-starters get off the ground, it might give people a bit more confidence about the platform as a whole as a way of funding model railway development.

 

Dave started this thread so I cannot modify it but I think this is sufficient to put the topic to bed.

 

Thanks to everyone on here who supported the project, sorry we did not reach our target.

[Dr Al]

This particular attempt is finished alas. I may try again in a couple of years time

 

Are Dapol not already tooling this model in OO (from their Facebook page)? If so, is there not a high likelihood of it getting shrunk to N too?

 

Cheers,

Alan

[Revolution Ben]

Hi Matthew

 

I'm sorry your project didn't reach its target, but I still think you did a great job getting this up and running and I do think that even unsuccessful projects will play a part in raising awareness and preparing the fairly conservative British market to consider new approaches.

 

At some point I am convinced that a Kickstarter project will fly, and it will have a significant impact when it does.

 

Mike Hale and I are now getting close to launching our own Pendolino in N kickstarter project, and from what you have said, and what we have seen, we will try to learn from your experience.

 

cheers

 

Ben A.

[Karhedron]

Are Dapol not already tooling this model in OO (from their Facebook page)? If so, is there not a high likelihood of it getting shrunk to N too?

I was hoping so but one of the reasons I started the Kickstarter was that they said they had no plans to produce an N gauge version.

 

Still, we can but hope they change their minds.

[Gremlin]

Sorry to hear the project didn't go ahead.  On our second attempt using Kickstarter, we are not that much better off.  It seems that, unlike IT gadgets, photography, "magic devices" and spoof/comedy projects that all attract significant and, in some cases, eye-watering funding, model rail projects seem to attract only those who are particularly interested in a specific model and, even if they would buy it in the shop, they often won't support it "up front" to get it made.

 

I wish I had a magic solution, I guess that the best we can do is persevere in the hope that the "magic model" that is unmade but universally sought after will make itself known to us

[sp1]

Sadly, doesn't this now mean that an N gauge railcar is even less likely to be produced in future: after all, you have surely now convinced manufacturers that such a model wouldn't sell?

 

I notice that even with the Pendolino project that Jason has said that Rapido might produce one if the project falls through, but, only if the numbers are close to those required for the kickstarter project (he obviously realises that the extra few would sell once they are definitely available).

[Revolution Mike]

I don't think that it is any surprise some of the choices that the public or manufacturers are making.  From the public point of view it needs to be something that is really appealing for them to be prepared to pay up front.  For the manufacturer many of the projects are looking at ordering in volumes that are marginal to make the projects worthwhile.

 

So: pick your prototypes well (preferably something that either a lot of people will want or that a reasonable number of people will want multiples of); and publicise it well in advance and keep the momentum and interest going once the Kickstarter period is open.

 

Cheers, Mike

[Revolution Ben]

Sorry to hear the project didn't go ahead.  On our second attempt using Kickstarter, we are not that much better off.  It seems that, unlike IT gadgets, photography, "magic devices" and spoof/comedy projects that all attract significant and, in some cases, eye-watering funding, model rail projects seem to attract only those who are particularly interested in a specific model and, even if they would buy it in the shop, they often won't support it "up front" to get it made.

 

I wish I had a magic solution, I guess that the best we can do is persevere in the hope that the "magic model" that is unmade but universally sought after will make itself known to us

 

Hi all,

 

Some very good points here.  For the Pendolino Kickstarter we are trying to learn from Matthew's experience.

 

Fundamentally, however, it does seem that the British model railway market is ultra conservative.  Ideas such as pre-orders, limited production runs, crowd sourcing etc are still apparently something that happens "elsewhere" as far as the modeller here is concerned.

 

I do hope we can interest enough people in a Kickstarter type campaign sooner rather than later - hopefully the Pendolino, but if not then at least something - as it offers such exciting possibilities for the production of niche items for which, as far as the major manufacturers are concerned, there just isn't a business case.

 

What we are doing is now focussing all our efforts on making sure as many people as possible outside the online community get to hear about the deadline of January 18th to pledge for the Pendolino.   If we fail, we fail, but I would hate to fail and then here of dozens of people (or that elusive trillionaire) who would have pledged but didn't know about it.

 

We are hoping to have some editorial in the next issues of the mags (ie Jan issues out late December.)

 

cheers

 

Ben A.

[Robert Shrives]

Given the history of railways the local fund rasing for many minor lines was a form of crowd funding so you would have thought it has a future - ok some lines never made it but many did and made the business better for all !

 

Sound fitted pendo sounds fun !  The pairs of intermediate cars suggested also allows a delivery train to be modelled when the 9 to 11 project was on.  

 

looking forward to getting a couple so please sign up !!

Robert