hiffano

The biggest issue i found, was finding a company who would even talk to you. Hornby and Bachmann will probably ignore you Dapol and Rapido were too busy Heljan want to charge a sum equivalent to a small countries annual budget only two companies had time/willingness to quote for me. Then there are people, I can't begin to tell you how much abuse I received. Never really understood why, and I hope MIke and Ben didn't receive as much. Also EVERYONE knows better than you, everyone..... you can have all your costings, prices, model lineups. but no, someone will know better.... :-)

Surely someone will buy your kidney?

Not at all, as i said, after Digesting it properly I was fine, I do understand your concerns. Stick around, you could be useful :-)

Chris, you are the little voice on my Shoulder, that nagging doubt. and I suspect you will keep me on my toes. sometimes i think we all need that :-) I'm not going to go through all the further points right now, otherwise we will be too and frowing all night. re the finish and articulation on the coaches. The coach quote came late in the day after some advice to look at producing these. I've barely had time to consider this product, hence why I have not listed a spec or cost. rather i have let people know that there is work in progress to produce these. a number of your other points are valid to a greater or lesser degree, as you have said, you don't know me, and just because some things haven't been explicitly stated, does not mean they are not done or understood. the difference between the King and these, is the king has reached a go live, and has a CAM that can be used from another project (the OO version for hattons), so can move quicker. no Guarantees that it will happen of course, but i'm having a shirtbutton one.

Hi Chris, thank you for the comments. I did read them first off in a negative light, but re reading, i'm not so grumpy now, always pays to have a ponder. so, I do have some drawings that have been provided to the factory via an "established" UK designer/producer of British outline models. as things are still at the "dirty end" I've not named them, but will do in due course. the drawings at this stage are not owned by us, hence why the factory have seen them, and you haven't. it's not a ner ner ner i can see them and you can't thing, purely down to copyright issues, and they are drawings that a model can be developed from, in conjunction with 3D scans. The drawings as it stands would not show you a great deal about the model. 6 months, wow, it really IS that long. I've spent a good 5 months of that waiting for information, approval and agreements for various things. I'm surprised, and a little frustrated at how slowly things can move, indeed one thing that needed bottoming out in a January meeting was delayed until July, so on that i'm going to take a leap of faith. I have never provided a timescale as I am aware how awkward that can be, just look at Dapols 142! and the Farish Class 40. And they are financed by established big players. So, financial aspects and wishful thinking.... you betcha i'm wishful thiking, but if no one ever dd that, would anyone ever make anything?, I don't have the cash to throw at the model, that's why It will be crowd funded. Step one once the niggly stuff is sorted is to get an expression of interest from as many people as possible IF enough people show interest, we take a deposit, and start on the model development. IF we don't get enough interest, then much like the Revolution class twenty something (ok complete mindblank moment here) then it won't happen. how many to make. well this is where the expressions of interest come in, and here I have worked backwards. I have looked at some comparable models when looking at the N2 in N gauge, gone for a competitive price, and worked backward to establish a minimum run needed to cover costs, and vat, packaging, postage and so on. as part of the process, if for instance the expression of interest came up short, we could conceivably give people the opportunity to pay more and go ahead, or call it a day and move on. It's worth noting that the Pendolino did NOT meet the minimum expressions of interest, but Rapido bumped up the number themselves. regarding not knowing me, fair enough, I personally don't know Ben or Mike, but they are proposing models I want, and I will take a gamble on that. and if you are ever in Manchester, happy to meet for a pint. I hope once the full details are out, then people will consider that with the N2 and Quadarts. Why this model? well, why not. It was conceived as an N Gauge only model, but if we do a 3d scan, why not bring up to date the offering for OO. Without going out there and asking every N gauge and OO modeler, or doing "representative" sample's of the market, you can never be 100%, but then neither are Dapol, Farish or Revoution for that matter, and i'm sure any number of OO models have tanked over the years. questions re teak finish and articulation, may be a bit ahead of me right now, i'll get that inf in due course. At the end of he day Chris, we can all sit back and wait ten years for an established company to finally produce a model we want, or we can make some inquiries, work out the money and see how many people want to jump on board. You may be right and it will come to nothing, but at least i'll have a go. I'm not even hugely bothered about profit, it will be about saying "i made that" (ok i project managed that with some very experienced help... but that's not so catchy) thanks

The pricing has been done and the OO's will be offered out, if they don't meet targets for interest they can be dropped. The Hornby model to my knowledge is still the old Airfix tooling. I'm sure some have been detailed by their owners, but not everyone is capable of that. We will soon find out what is and isn't viable. I like your thinking though guys. The Quadarts "should"certainly be the biggest sellers, they however also have the highest cost to cover for the tooling.

shakedown following a refurb. simples

Hey Buddy, long time since i saw you post, thanks for that, I probably meant earlier (brain not working), but thats grand, works for me, ta muchly

Brilliant, quick question for GWR buffs. I'm modeling circa 1936 (just started) which is GREAT WESTERN on tenders, which of the two GWR liveries on offer is the most likely to overlap with this (i lost my quick reference sheet of liveries!) Also, rather impressive timescales if they can be kept too!

ok all, it's taken some time getting new pricing, the £, Brexit, Chinese new year etc. We now have tooling and manufacturing costs for an N gauge N2.... and now we also have costs for an OO gauge N2, and Quadarts in both scales. Once i have digested the figures, messed my head up working out VAT, claiming back VAT, net present value on tooling costs and other financial type stuff. I will finally be able to start taking expressions of interest.

So, today, some pretty cool Line drawings of the N2 have been sent to the manufacturers for a more definitive Tooling and production Quote. I'm hoping to be able to do the same with the Quadarts once I can obtain the drawings. There is a meeting towards the end of this month to ratify the agreement to access the Locomotive for scans, and get some technical overview to make sure the detail is as good as it can be. I know I know, people want to officially note interest, order, give money etc, but until I am 100% it is nailed on, that is on hold!. We are 99% of the way there though.

I'd definitely want one in Great Western Livery Dave... but i'd really like a J94 first ;-)

Hi Everyone. Just a wee update. I'd been awaiting a reply from the owners of the N2 locomotive regarding access for a 3D scan. The organisation has a meeting coming up, after which hopefully we will have the go ahead. This would be the point at which we can go all out to start raising awareness, and taking expressions of interest, and deposits. We could have pushed ahead using images and drawings, but we want the best for you guys, and a scan will improve the accuracy of the model. We are that little bit closer to being able to do this. on the downside. I am sure you are aware that several of the big model manufacturers are pushing up prices as much as 20%. At this time, we have not had anything to suggest we would have to increase our proposed price, as our quotes were in GBP and not Dollars. Sadly however, we cannot dictate the movement of the pound sterling in the international marketplace and it may at some point have an effect on us. rest assured we will update you the minute anything changes, and will do our best to minimise any impact. Many thanks

Hey all, sorry it's been quiet, i've been rather patiently awaiting some quite importantinformation which is relevant to the project, but has so far not been forthcoming. Rest assured I have now set a deadline and will update accordingly.

hey Guys, thanks for the thoughts, much appreciated :-)