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Revolution Trains - OO - TEA Tanker


Gerald Henriksen
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It is looking very promising that we will be able to produce the 4mm TEAs.  We aren't quite at the level of interest that we had in the 2mm version yet, but we are approaching the tipping point for making it worthwhile to produce them.

 

Cheers, Mike

Would that be due to the number that each person is expressing an interest in being the larger scale so cant fit as many on their layout?

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Would that be due to the number that each person is expressing an interest in being the larger scale so cant fit as many on their layout?

Hi Ian

 

I think that it is a combination of that, perhaps the greater price and possibly that Ben and I don't have as much knowledge about the 4mm market (and the best places to pitch things to - there isn't really a 4mm equivalent of the NGS for example).

 

Cheers, Mike

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Hi Ian,

 

I think Mike is right, plus I think that while the OO market is of a significantly greater size, I suspect there are within that a significantly higher proportion of rule 1 modellers too, who perhaps aren't as wired-in to what's happening in the model railway world.

 

My neighbour, for example, has some OO models (BR Blue era, mainly DMUs) and we will occasionally chat about something new he has acquired, but when I have asked he has no idea about any of the model railway forums and rarely buys magazines.  As far as I know he does not attend shows either.  He just buys stuff that he likes when he sees it in our nearest retailer (Trains 4 U in Peterborough.)

 

cheers

 

Ben A.

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Hi Ian

 

I think that it is a combination of that, perhaps the greater price and possibly that Ben and I don't have as much knowledge about the 4mm market (and the best places to pitch things to - there isn't really a 4mm equivalent of the NGS for example).

 

Cheers, Mike

For people who "don't have as much knowledge about the 4mm market" you seem to have a better grasp of it than some other manufacturers. The pictures of trains and the PDF of train make ups are lethal marketing. With each month which passes, I seem to find myself topping up my piggy bank and expression of interest with another half dozen TEAs. I suspected that these would not sell well because of Bachmann's TEAs but I'm happy to be wrong.

 

My only fear now is that ordering will be cut off before I've finished realising how many I want.

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It is looking very promising that we will be able to produce the 4mm TEAs.  We aren't quite at the level of interest that we had in the 2mm version yet, but we are approaching the tipping point for making it worthwhile to produce them.

 

Cheers, Mike

 

That is brilliant news! I put myself down for the Greenenergy (I think for two lots) and either the EWS or Red ones. I cannot remember now, but I shall buy what I said I would.

 

The N gauge ones look brilliant and the digital design of these looks promising too.

 

Perhaps once you have learned the OO market, seeing as it significantly bigger than N gauge....there might be a chance of 'super-sizing' the log wagon ;)

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  • 3 weeks later...
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Knowing that there is a countdown for ordering the 2mm version coming soon, how is the 4mm expression of interest coming along?

 

In the words of a typical child in the back seat of a car

 

"Are we there yet?"

 

Here's hoping

Mick

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Hi Mick

 

The deadlines for expressions of interest in the 4mm one closes tomorrow at midnight too, so over the next few days as well as putting in the production order for TEAs from Rapido we will be assessing whether to produce the TEA in 4mm, as well as the 320/321 and 21/29 in N.

 

At the moment the TEA in 4mm is looking pretty good, but it's not quite there yet. If it does make it we will then get cracking on taking orders. Given the research is already done - and they even did us a roughly mocked up CAD - it shouldn't take too long.

 

cheers

 

Ben A.

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Hello Srhaggis,

 

Once we know whether or not we are going ahead we will open up the page for orders. To encourage those who've expressed an interest to put cash in (this is, after all, crowd-funding and tooling will need to be paid for) we will probably offer a discount for those who commit before a certain date.

 

cheers

 

Ben A.

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Hi Mick

 

The deadlines for expressions of interest in the 4mm one closes tomorrow at midnight too, so over the next few days as well as putting in the production order for TEAs from Rapido we will be assessing whether to produce the TEA in 4mm, as well as the 320/321 and 21/29 in N.

 

At the moment the TEA in 4mm is looking pretty good, but it's not quite there yet. If it does make it we will then get cracking on taking orders. Given the research is already done - and they even did us a roughly mocked up CAD - it shouldn't take too long.

 

cheers

 

Ben A.

What? This is the first I've heard about a deadline for the 4mm version! I have been struggling with the expression of interest form and cannot for the life of me recover it to edit. I was intending in the fullness of time to build up funds to at least double my current expression of interest in a dozen.

 

I have only the rest of today to arrange a mortgage - and on a Sunday too.

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What? This is the first I've heard about a deadline for the 4mm version! I have been struggling with the expression of interest form and cannot for the life of me recover it to edit. I was intending in the fullness of time to build up funds to at least double my current expression of interest in a dozen.

 

I have only the rest of today to arrange a mortgage - and on a Sunday too.

Hi, the deadline is to note your interest in the 4mm model which I also hope goes ahead, you don't need to make a payment yet so still time to save up.

 

Mark

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Oh yes, perhaps I over reacted somewhat but if, for some reason, I hadn't read the postings today, that would have been a dozen or so fewer expressions of interest. Hardly critical but it might have made a difference in a marginal case.

 

Even more alarming, I checked my e-mail after I read the post and found one sent yesterday. It mentioned deadlines for N stuff but no mention of the 00 TEAs.

 

Have I missed something? Surely the e-mail should have mentioned a deadline if there is one.

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Hi ND,

 

Yes, we must've forgotten the expressions of interest deadline for the TEA.  Apologies.

 

Having said that, since we don't want any money now I can't really see why anyone would be waiting to pledge.  The project was announced at Warley and still hasn't quite reached the numbers.  At some point we were always going to have to make a decision.  I can't really see any reason for not pledging straight away TBH.

 

Maybe there just isn't the demand.  Maybe the train-load lengths possible in N make these wagons a better bet in the smaller scale.

 

cheers

 

Ben A.

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Hi ND,

 

Yes, we must've forgotten the expressions of interest deadline for the TEA.  Apologies.

 

Having said that, since we don't want any money now I can't really see why anyone would be waiting to pledge.  The project was announced at Warley and still hasn't quite reached the numbers.  At some point we were always going to have to make a decision.  I can't really see any reason for not pledging straight away TBH.

 

Maybe there just isn't the demand.  Maybe the train-load lengths possible in N make these wagons a better bet in the smaller scale.

 

cheers

 

Ben A.

The reason for waiting to pledge is to ensure that I have the money when it's needed.

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Have any of the retailers got behind it and expressed interest in bulk? I would think getting the larger volume retailers to commit a big order might be an achievable way forward?

Otherwise is it sadly looking like modern wagons which a niche customer would like to see run need to hold out for limited commissions and high prices like the Biomass wagons? I personally would be okay with a high price, knowing I am getting the models I want to run.

Hopefully in the last hours, enough interest shall be achieved for this fantastic project to continue.

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Remember that in N you have a direct route to a lot if not the majority of N Gauge modelers with the NGS Journal, to the best of my limited knowledge you do not have 1 direct route to a substantial number of the OO market (correct me if I am wrong). Good luck

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I might be totally wrong (there's nothing new in that) but there could be all sorts of reasons why the declarations of interest in these are not as high as has been hoped - which seems to be the case.

 

There could be others like me who have slowly added to their list of wants with no sense of urgency.

 

There could be people who, unaware of any deadline, thought they would wait to see how the N scale version turned out before declaring an interest. That's a perfectly reasonable thing to do.

 

There could be people who have just not bothered declaring an interest, thinking that there was plenty of time. After all, there is plenty else to claim our hard-earned in the meantime.

 

159220 makes a very good point, although you may have approached some big retailers already for all we know.

 

Let me add this. I have been well aware of the deadline approaching for the N gauge items but quite unaware of any deadline for 00. Would it be reasonable or practical to extend the deadline for the 00 TEAs by two or three months, during which you announce the deadline and belt out reminders as you have for N?

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Honestly I go away for a weekend on a rail tour and to a model show and Ben strikes fear into panicked 4mm modellers that they have missed the deadline! :nono:

 

Seriously, we can't stress enough that there is no benefit at all in leaving expressions of interest to the last minute or dragging things out for months. In fact there is a distinct disadvantage of doing so - we do this in our spare time (we both have pretty demanding "real" jobs!) and Ben and I only have capacity to do a limited amount of projects so anything that delays us from starting work on a project properly (that we think will go ahead or should go ahead) will "waste" a slot in our time. Furthermore we don't want you wondering for months will it / won't it go ahead - we want to get decisions made and things in design and tooling (the N gauge reminders are about us closing the order book expressions of interest were very clear very quickly on the 2mm version).

 

The good news is that the numbers are not bad (certainly not so bad that we are considering dropping it - so please no negative thoughts here!), but not *so* good that it is overwhelmingly obvious we should say go ahead.  There is another crucial point that particularly affects the 4mm model which is the more confident we are that there will be significantly more interest the cheaper we can offer it for.

 

So please let me stress again - we are asking for expressions of interest only at the moment, not money! Obviously we don't want people to go crazy and express interest in 100 if they are only going to buy 1 - please try to be realistic, but just be aware that we don't open sales until after we have given the go ahead and that you will have a period of likely 6-9 months to place your order between us saying yes it is going ahead and closing the order books.

 

Just a side note on retail - I'll be honest and say that it is very difficult for us to offer the margins necessary for retailers without significantly increasing prices on what is likely to already be an expensive wagon (though not biomass wagon prices!).

 

Cheers, Mike

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  • 1 month later...
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Hello all,

 

Further to Mike's note above, here are some of the CAD images showing work done so far.  Considering how recently these were approved for development Rapido have made striking progress, though we do not anticipate too much further work as much of the research has already been done for the N gauge version.

 

Taking into account variations in brake gear and other detail differences in all we are producing 5 different varieties.

 

The first comprises the VTG red and grey versions.

 

post-420-0-04490100-1457692168_thumb.jpg

 

Differences between the red and grey VTG wagons, and those in blue livery, are around the arrangement of the manlids and vents.  On the model these are separate fittings to allow such variations to be depicted.  I have removed the black outlines from the CAD here for clarity.  The catwalks will be photo-etched.

 

post-420-0-97984600-1457692168_thumb.jpg

post-420-0-55862500-1457692169_thumb.jpg

 

Although I am no 4mm modeller I am aware that there are a significant number of customers who will want to run these models on correct scale track, so the bogies have been designed to allow for 18.83 wheelsets to be fitted.  The couplers have NEM mountings to allow for straightforward conversion to Kadee should the modeller require.

 

post-420-0-60276900-1457692170.jpg

 

There are variations in brake gear, yaw dampers, and ladders.  This is the EWS/Freightliner version, which has the bifurcated discharge chutes, yaw dampers on the bogies and longer brake gear frame.

 

post-420-0-57842600-1457692963_thumb.jpg

 

This CAD is for the latest Greenergy type, which has the anti-climb guards on the ladders.  

 

post-420-0-63390200-1457692171_thumb.jpg

 

There are some refinements to the detailing - such as separate fillets for the lifting lugs - that will be achievable in the 4mm model that were not in the N gauge version due to tooling limitations.

 

We will be opening the order book on our website very soon, so please keep an eye on it if you're interested, or sign up without obligation for free email reminders.

 

The guide price of the wagons is around £40 (but the plummeting value of sterling is not helping!) though there will be an early-bird discount for those who are prepared to order within a limited period as we want to reward those who show faith in us.

 

We are working with Rapido on these models and following their standard procedure of only producing models that are pre-ordered.  The final deadline for ordering at the standard price will when we are ready to submit the production order, which will not be for some months yet, depending on the factory.

 

cheers

 

Ben A.

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