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Darstaed & Ellis Clark Trains Finescale O Gauge "Black 5"


Ellis Clark Trains
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Hats aside, Darstaed suffered really severe quality control (lack thereof) problems with some of their earlier coarse-scale loco mechanisms, a high proportion of which were truly awful, so it is to be hoped that they will get on top of those things this time.

 

The recent coaches seem to bode well.

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14 hours ago, Nearholmer said:

Hats aside, Darstaed suffered really severe quality control (lack thereof) problems with some of their earlier coarse-scale loco mechanisms, a high proportion of which were truly awful, so it is to be hoped that they will get on top of those things this time.

 

The recent coaches seem to bode well.

Hi there,

 

Rest assured, things have really improved since then, with a different production method for the finescale line of items.

 

Also, no problems here, as we're using an ABC gearbox and Maxon motor with ball bearing racers.

 

All the best,

Ellis.

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Surprised there are not any finance schemes for expensive trains  like there are on guitars etc .I can buy a guitar today on 0 % credit for a year them sell off other guitars to pay for it .If I miss the pay back then its 29 %  over three years say .Thats how how I bought a  Gibson and my last amp .Other deals are standard  HP types at lower than credit card rates  .Of course the great and good  and the self styled rich  on here will howl with anquish  at this but  it sells a huge amount of guitars and keeps the market moving .Maybe the train market is too small or fragmented .I would have thought the big boys would have come up with it  by now .

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On 06/09/2019 at 11:26, friscopete said:

Surprised there are not any finance schemes for expensive trains  like there are on guitars etc .I can buy a guitar today on 0 % credit for a year them sell off other guitars to pay for it .If I miss the pay back then its 29 %  over three years say .Thats how how I bought a  Gibson and my last amp .Other deals are standard  HP types at lower than credit card rates  .Of course the great and good  and the self styled rich  on here will howl with anquish  at this but  it sells a huge amount of guitars and keeps the market moving .Maybe the train market is too small or fragmented .I would have thought the big boys would have come up with it  by now .

Hi Pete,

 

It is an excellent idea, and would be something I would love to adopt in the future.

 

In all honesty, currently we don't have the bank account to offer this facility, as we have to pay upfront for the projects along with the batches as they arrive in the UK, alongside import and VAT.

 

One of the reasons for announcing this project early on was to enable people to save up for it.

 

Having said that, it is a goal of mine to offer this service at some stage in the future, as I agree with what you're saying.

 

We also offer a part exchange service, which many people take us up on.

 

All the best,

Ellis.

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Personally I think the loco is an absolute bargain if ECT and Darstaed can deliver it for the price they have promoted.

Dr Google informs me that the current average weekly wage in the UK is about 540 pounds. 

I don't live in the UK so don't know what that would be after tax - maybe around 320 pounds?

If I gave you 320 pounds per week and you were an expert model maker, and you had nothing else to do with your time, how many weeks do you think it would take to build a Black 5 to the level of detail ECT and Darstaed are promoting? 

All the bits that you could most likely not manufacture yourself (wheels, motor, gearbox, sound decoder, speaker, smoke unit etc) if purchased as one offs would probably cost at least one third to half the price ECT are promoting.

For those people in the fortunate position of earning money the picture is far more in favour of purchasing the locomotive. 

Lets say you earn 320 pounds per week after tax.  You could pay 4 weeks after tax income to ECT for the top of the line model and it would cost you 1280 pounds in simple terms.

But if you took the time off work and built it yourself, and it took you 6 weeks to produce something of similar quality and with sound and smoke, then you would lose 1920 pounds in income and would still have to front up the cost of items you can't manufacture yourself.

I know that some of the costs with O gauge can make you draw breath, but when you think about the alternative to try and achieve the same end yourself from scratch or even by building kits (neither of which will achieve the same level of quality as current RTR) the O gauge RTR items are bargains whoever produces them.

Best regards to all,

Trevor

 

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6 hours ago, SirBud said:

Personally I think the loco is an absolute bargain 


i think given Darstaed’s quality level in the o gauge finescale side of their market (they have been low to mid quality level up till now) prices are pushing the limit and a touch too high for what’s on offer. I will still buy one. The marketing blurb promises a lot - if they can pull it off then maybe the prices will be ok. But I personally wouldn’t call them a bargain. I love their optimism and confidence though and will support them for it. 

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16 hours ago, Ellis Clark Trains said:

Afternoon all,

May I present to you the first completed CAD drawings of the forthcoming Black 5.

What do we think? All comments welcomed.

All the best,
Ellis.

 

Black_5_Drawing_1.jpg

Black 5 Drawing 2.jpg

Black 5 Drawing 3.jpg

Black 5 Drawing 4.jpg

 

I know nothing about Black Fives, and my O gauge interests are in the diesel era, but this looks hugely impressive.

 

Paul

 

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On 01/11/2019 at 16:46, Ellis Clark Trains said:

Afternoon all,

May I present to you the first completed CAD drawings of the forthcoming Black 5.

What do we think? All comments welcomed.

All the best,
Ellis.

 

Black_5_Drawing_1.jpg

Black 5 Drawing 2.jpg

Black 5 Drawing 3.jpg

Black 5 Drawing 4.jpg

Ellis,

 

As I don't model 7mm (budget and space constraints) it may be none of my business but your images sent me scuttling to find photos of the 1,435mm gauge ones. I accept that minor tweaks may be made between CAD and tooling and you are inviting suggestions for improvement. FWIW the dome looks as if it could be a bit bigger and more rounded. The one on the CAD looks a bit flat and square, as if it had been hit with a hammer or filed flat.

 

Wishing you every success with this.

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There has already been at least one. Tower/Sancheng.

 

Yet some locos, of which there were nearly as many as the black fives, never get done. WD 2-8-0 anyone???

 

Oh well....I believe there are also 18 preserved....someone must love them.

 

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