Neils WRX Posted May 4, 2017 Share Posted May 4, 2017 Ever been disappointed when a parcel arrives and you open it? Purchased a Piko "Classic" HO model of a Czech CD Posta Wagon to be a tail load on my local passenger train. I open the box to find a completely "flat" sided wagon, with the details just printed on. It's like going back 60+ years to tinplate models. Ironically the wagon has a lovely detailed under frame it's just the body shell is complete rubbish. The price for this junk is the same as you'd pay for a properly detailed wagon from Roco, just a warning to anyone buying new Piko models. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neils WRX Posted May 4, 2017 Author Share Posted May 4, 2017 The Piko model is catalogue number 54966 priced at 32 Euro's I paid 29 from Lippe. Piko have confirmed this is their model and if you look very closely at the picture on there own website you can see the sides are printed. If the model had only cost 10 euro I would not mind, but it didn't. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Horsetan Posted May 4, 2017 Share Posted May 4, 2017 (edited) Definitely caveat emptor, I'd say. Reminds me of the Peco "Wonderful Wagons" with their printed card sides. Edited May 4, 2017 by Horsetan Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neils WRX Posted May 4, 2017 Author Share Posted May 4, 2017 Definitely caveat emptor, I'd say. Reminds me of the Peco "Wonderful Wagons" with their printed card sides. Very much so, I will be a lot more careful with a Piko in the future!! Been having email dialogue with them and they claim it was a special for the Czech Importers, who asked for it to be produced like this..... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Horsetan Posted May 4, 2017 Share Posted May 4, 2017 Very much so, I will be a lot more careful with a Piko in the future!! Been having email dialogue with them and they claim it was a special for the Czech Importers, who asked for it to be produced like this..... On the other hand, I wonder if it would be practical to make your own strapping, etc. out of plastic strip and L-angle, and then gluing that onto the sides? After all, it's already printed! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold PaulRhB Posted May 4, 2017 RMweb Gold Share Posted May 4, 2017 Sounds like a sort of retro HO facsimile of the O gauge tinplate stuff produced in the Czech Republic. It's a lot for a plain printed body but I guess the special edition bumped up the price! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Claude_Dreyfus Posted May 4, 2017 RMweb Premium Share Posted May 4, 2017 Sounds like a sort of retro HO facsimile of the O gauge tinplate stuff produced in the Czech Republic. It's a lot for a plain printed body but I guess the special edition bumped up the price! That sounds very plausible. Even the basic 'hobby' range has moulded detail on the vehicle body, and as the Classic range is the top level (I have a few Classic items and they are excellent), I suspect you have been rather unlucky here. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neils WRX Posted May 4, 2017 Author Share Posted May 4, 2017 I agree I put this post as a warning to others that PIKO think this is acceptable, in my book it's in excusable. This ranks alongside Lima painting class 33's in Irish colours and passing it off as a genuine article....... 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bernard Lamb Posted May 5, 2017 Share Posted May 5, 2017 I agree I put this post as a warning to others that PIKO think this is acceptable, in my book it's in excusable. This ranks alongside Lima painting class 33's in Irish colours and passing it off as a genuine article....... I think you should move your comments to the thread on trolls. Piko offer various ranges at various price points. You have here a very special model for what I would take to be a very limited market. You should have done your home work before you paid your money. A quick question on here would have got you some unbiased comments. I have no connection with Piko other than as a happy customer since around 1972 but feel you are out of order in warning against them in general. Bernard Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neils WRX Posted May 5, 2017 Author Share Posted May 5, 2017 All I am highlighting this was advertised in their "Classic Range" it should have been in their "Hobby Range". I am warning others to be careful as I would never have expected this from Piko either. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sharris Posted May 5, 2017 Share Posted May 5, 2017 I tried googling "Piko classic" to see what the rest of the range was like - I mostly got pictures of ladies in dresses. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium jjb1970 Posted May 5, 2017 RMweb Premium Share Posted May 5, 2017 I've got several Piko Expert locomotives (their middle tier between Hobby and Classic) and am very impressed with them. They have found a very good niche which offers very good, detailed models at a lower cost than most of their competitors. I think Piko Expert is pretty much what Hornby tried to do with design clever. Their Br103 is a superb model that holds its own against the Roco and Marklin/Trix alternatives. That said, if I bought a model with all printed detail I wouldn't be very happy either. Especially when marketed under their high end Classic brand and priced accordingly. Not a good advert for Piko. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold PaulRhB Posted May 5, 2017 RMweb Gold Share Posted May 5, 2017 I think you should move your comments to the thread on trolls. Piko offer various ranges at various price points. You have here a very special model for what I would take to be a very limited market. You should have done your home work before you paid your money. A quick question on here would have got you some unbiased comments. I have no connection with Piko other than as a happy customer since around 1972 but feel you are out of order in warning against them in general. Bernard I don't think he's used particularly trolling language to be fair, he's annoyed he didn't spot it and disappointed but not exactly ranting. The classic range is marketed as a level above so this is a very strange vehicle to sit in that. I suspect it does purely from a marketing price point to satisfy those paying the higher price as a special edition that they aren't buying a toy. It's a sensible warning to check that some special editions have crossed ranges. You expect certain simplifications in printing and detail in the Railroad range over standard Hornby so you'd be surprised to find them boosted to the main range purely because of livery. Put it down to lost in translation but it doesn't need calling trolling to me Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium jjb1970 Posted May 5, 2017 RMweb Premium Share Posted May 5, 2017 I think the OP raised a valid point. OK, caveat emptor holds true but even buyers of low end Hobby/Railroad style models should be able to reasonably expect more than printed details, never mind a model sold as a premium item. Even 30 or 40 years ago few would have accepted printed details in UK OO which was notoriously basic compared to the much higher standards of European HO models. This seems a bit short sighted of Piko, to risk damaging their reputation with such a release. And I say that as somebody with a very high opinion of the Piko models I own. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stefan88 Posted May 26, 2017 Share Posted May 26, 2017 A bit late but my 2p's worth. This is the standard Gbs type wagon they do in several liveries. I was fortunate enough to see an Austrian one in the flesh in a model shop to put me off for life without having to waste any money. The price is ridiculous - especially considering the Roco equivalent is in the region of 20-25 EUR and has 3D detail on the sides. But this is a legacy of when Piko cranked up their prices to Märklin levels despite the models being quite old. The classic example to me is their nice model of the Austrian Blauer Blitz DMU - a 20+ year old model they were trying to peddle for 490 EUR! I picked up a new one on sale at Scograil for £120 last year - how or why it was that cheap I don't know! Their pricing has been somewhat lowered now this year by transferring some things in to the classic range (such as said DMU) but some of their prices are still a little exorbitant, i.e. 20+ year old tanker wagons for 50+ EUR. Their new locomotives like the Austrian class 1010 and 1110 on the other hand are very competitively priced, and surpass the existing Roco models in several details and sound quality on the sound versions. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stefan88 Posted May 26, 2017 Share Posted May 26, 2017 Incidentally going back to the original topic - there is bound to be a Roco version of the Czech postal wagon, be it Roco or a Czech repaint (there are a few small outfits that do/did that kind of thing). I've seen Slovak versions (ZSR) as a regular off the shelf Roco model. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neils WRX Posted May 26, 2017 Author Share Posted May 26, 2017 Incidentally going back to the original topic - there is bound to be a Roco version of the Czech postal wagon, be it Roco or a Czech repaint (there are a few small outfits that do/did that kind of thing). I've seen Slovak versions (ZSR) as a regular off the shelf Roco model. I have actually ordered a couple of Gbs type vans in different colours from es-pecky including a Posta one Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium jjb1970 Posted May 26, 2017 RMweb Premium Share Posted May 26, 2017 The Piko line to go for seems to be Expert. The Expert models seem to be excellent and hit a really nice sweet spot in terms of detail-finish-performance-price. The Classic range despite it's place at their premium line seems to be older tooling and not as good as Expert. The Hobby line offers some nice models which are better than their budget price point and market positioning might suggest. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium jjb1970 Posted June 12, 2017 RMweb Premium Share Posted June 12, 2017 (edited) This weekend EBay gave me a £15 voucher, and I saw a German shop offering the Piko Br103 for £125 + £8.70 postage to the UK. I already have a Piko Br103, the version with skirts and diamond pantographs, but for £118 it is such a nice model that I bought another one also with skirts and diamond pantographs to put in my display case while the other one is a working model on my layout. OK I know to talk about a discounted price plus a free £15 off voucher is not representative but at that price to call it a bargain is an understatement. Piko captured the iconic shape of the Br103 beautifully and the model is finished to a very high standard and with some lovely details. Excellent pantographs too. This one will go into a display case but my current one is wonderfully smooth and quiet. The only criticism I have is the basic pilot detail but that is not such a big deal and easy enough to address if you want to. Another very minor criticism is that the nose grab handle is moulded rather than a separate part but it is not a big deal and the negatives are far outweighed by the positives. Overall I'd rate it as a genuinely excellent model of the Br103 regardless of price, the bargain price is just icing on the cake. One think about the Piko model is they have taken a different approach to the skirts which swivel, the advantage is that it avoids a big cut out for the coupler pocket, the negative is that on set track bends you do notice the skirt swivelling. I guess it is swings and roundabouts but in spite of initial scepticism I think it is an idea that works pretty well. http://www.piko-shop.de/index.php?vw_type=artikel&vw_id=19333 Edited June 12, 2017 by jjb1970 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neils WRX Posted June 19, 2017 Author Share Posted June 19, 2017 Solved the problem and purchased a Postal Van made by ES-pecky, which doesn't have printed sides... 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium jjb1970 Posted June 21, 2017 RMweb Premium Share Posted June 21, 2017 That looks much more like it, hopefully we won't see Piko trying to pass off printed tat as premium price models again. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Neil Posted July 3, 2017 RMweb Premium Share Posted July 3, 2017 Could I be cheeky/nosey and ask if there was much of a price difference between the printed Piko and the fully textured ES-pecky models? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold 2mmMark Posted July 3, 2017 RMweb Gold Share Posted July 3, 2017 Could I be cheeky/nosey and ask if there was much of a price difference between the printed Piko and the fully textured ES-pecky models? I think you simply write a blank Czech... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neils WRX Posted July 3, 2017 Author Share Posted July 3, 2017 Could I be cheeky/nosey and ask if there was much of a price difference between the printed Piko and the fully textured ES-pecky models? No problem the ES Pecky one was very similar priced to the Piko one. The issue is the postage cost from Czech Republic which seems to always be a bit more than from Germany, so I ordered a number of wagons and a kit to make the postage cost a bit more reasonable value. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Neil Posted July 4, 2017 RMweb Premium Share Posted July 4, 2017 Many thanks for that; I'd expected it would be similar as the price you gave for the Piko printed wagon would seem to be on a par with a full spec wagon. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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