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Bachmann 2020 Range


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6 hours ago, ThaneofFife said:

Be good to see the blue/grey and inter-city executive Mk2f coaches rerun with fresh numbers (with a price freeze?) but fully expect to see RRPs rise to at least £82,95 a pop.

>> Easy enough to change the No's on existing examples and avoid any future price increases if re-run....

 

also hope to see the blue grey BSO corrected in a fresh batch with the Inter-City lettering placed in the right place on the one side at the passenger end......

>> Ditto above.....

 

Maybe they will finish the blue grey Mk1 inter-city sleeper family with a Composite SLC on commonwealth bogies.  

>> Agree that's really a no-brainer but will it happen ?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited by tractor_37260
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Just received my latest copy of the "Bachmann Times" in which there is an announcement regarding the Bachmann New Product Showcase which has traditionally been a trade-only event.

 

In 2020  Bachmann are giving us the opportunity to attend these events  starting with the Midlands event  which is to be held on Wednesday 5th February not far from the Barwell HQ. No details of any other of these events is given.

 

You, of course, have to be a member of the Bachmann Collectors Club to attend these events. 

 

Keith

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On 14/12/2019 at 13:36, tetsudofan said:

In 2020  Bachmann are giving us the opportunity to attend these events  starting with the Midlands event  which is to be held on Wednesday 5th February not far from the Barwell HQ. No details of any other of these events is given.

The trade open day is on Tuesday 4th February, so I would assume this will be when Bachmann make their announcements public.

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I can certainly see more liveries appearing on the 158 - Perhaps Central Trains, Wessex & Northern for the 2000 - 2010 eras and ScotRail & TFW / Arriva Trains Wales for the present?  

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On 08/12/2019 at 15:27, The Johnster said:

I am not disputing what Mr Mdvie is saying, just pointing out that there is another side to the argument. The Chinese production model (of models) is very different to the way we used to make 'em here back in the day.  Triang, Hornby Dublo, and later Lima produced the same items continually over many years in mazak die casts or plastic moulds, as did Airfix and Mainline when they arrived on the scene.  They were cast or moulded in batches of course, because that's how you cast or mould things, but one batch followed another directly with only a brief period to clean the casting blocks or plastic moulds.  The models were alway in current production and always available in the shops, which stocked more for xmas and the post xmas period when additional track and rolling stock flew off the shelves.  You can't do this in the modern world at a competitive price, as the warehousing and shelf blocking costs are much too high.

 

They proved eventually to be higher than the cost of shipping batches of models from China, and while shipping costs and Chinese labour are getting more expensive, this is still true.  The big difference is so big I'm going to write it in upper case, COMPUTERS.  These enable production to be more precisely matched to demand and 'just in time' distribution methods employed, an efficient and cost effective method which ensures that there are no spare models to sit on shelves for decades like they did in some shops and probably warehouses back in the 60s and 70s.  It enables batch runs of production, which in turn enable the very large catalogues with ranges beyond the dreams (or the stock manager's nightmares) of 'traditional' production.  The Chinese are very good at this, but it is a high pressure environment where errors, not necessarily under the manufacturers' control, can have serious consequences.  It also accounts for the increasing problems we experience in obtaining spares; components are manufactured at the exact time and in the exact numbers required for a 'run', with none left over.

 

The Chinese do not make models in a factory like we used to.  They subcontract to a large number of 'cottage industry' suppliers of components, then collect the output from all over a very big country to an assembly plant, where it is all put together and packaged for shipping.  The firm here simply sends a CAD specification for each component and orders xxxx of to be delivered on a date, having done the R & D work.  Once the batch is complete and in the container, it's on to a different model.  

 

The up side of this is a very large range of highly detailed, competitively priced (yes, even now) models which run well and reliably.  The downside is that, whatever it says in the catalogue, you can never rely on them being in the shops or available to order for immediate dispatch (Hornby at least try to give you some idea if the thing is in stock or can be pre-ordered).  It's not just models; go to buy electrical goods, or furniture, or a tv from a large 'warehouse' and you can see the item on display and the nice salesman will demonstrate it's features, discuss finance and delivery options, and try to sell you a worthless extended warranty on commission.  Then he'll order it from a centralised distribution depot because, although you thought you were in a warehouse retail outlet and everything was stored out the back in a big shed, in fact you were in a big shop window, a display area.  

I thought Bachmann moved their production to a factory the own, thereby being able to control what models are made and when.

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41 minutes ago, Denbridge said:

I thought Bachmann moved their production to a factory the own, thereby being able to control what models are made and when.

Sort of.  Kader, the owner of Bachmann Europe, owns its own factory(ies), but Bachmann has to bid (or similar) for production slots alongside the other brands owned by Kader. I suspect if others are expected to given a better return, they will be prioritised.

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5 minutes ago, brushman47544 said:

Sort of.  Kader, the owner of Bachmann Europe, owns its own factory(ies), but Bachmann has to bid (or similar) for production slots alongside the other brands owned by Kader. I suspect if others are expected to given a better return, they will be prioritised.

And that, I strongly suspect, is the primary reason why Bachmann Europe's product development times are so long.

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1 hour ago, Denbridge said:

I thought Bachmann moved their production to a factory the own, thereby being able to control what models are made and when.

Kader own an assembly plant, which is not the same thing as a factory where raw materials come in one end and finished products come out t'other, and which also houses R&D and associated functions.  The parts that are assembled in Kader's Chinese plant are made in sub-contracted facilities, small workshops that are almost cottage industries all over that large country, in towns that tend to specialise in one sort of production.  A whole town will feature these little workshops turning out plastic mouldings for all sorts of customers, those making them perhaps having no idea of, or interest in, what they are for.  The customer is happy so long as the product meets CAD specs and is delivered on time in the correct quantity.

 

Kader have more direct control of their assembly and packing process, but as as been pointed out by Brushman and spamcan61, the bidding process is simply moved 'in house', and this is likely one of the reasons for Bachmann's notorious lead times.  They had some trouble with the closure of a third party assembly in China a while ago, which IIRC is what led to their acquiring their own facility.  It may be that in reality Baccy's lead times are not much different form those of other manufacturers; their policy is to announce models at an early stage of development, perhaps even before research of the actual prototype is undertaken, as opposed to Hornby's approach demonstrated earlier this year with announcements of new models which appeared rapidly afterwards or are to appear shortly; these must have been in development for some time before the announcement and in a fairly advanced stage of production.  We are not party to such information, nor should we be, and the manufacturers are entitled to a bit of secrecy; this is an essential part of competitive market-led enterprise capitalism!

 

Second guessing it makes for a lot of frothy fun on forums, though, and may be of interest, or an unwanted distraction, to their market researchers

Edited by The Johnster
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1 hour ago, CB Rail said:

Hi All,

What about the Ramsomes crane in a weathered yellow livery........

 

Please 'no' - a yellow one would be lovely, but let those who want it weathered do that themselves and make a much better (than factory) job and those that want it pristine have an option too!

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1 hour ago, The Johnster said:

 It may be that in reality Baccy's lead times are not much different form those of other manufacturers; their policy is to announce models at an early stage of development, perhaps even before research of the actual prototype is undertaken, as opposed to Hornby's approach demonstrated earlier this year with announcements of new models which appeared rapidly afterwards or are to appear shortly; these must have been in development for some time before the announcement and in a fairly advanced stage of production.  We are not party to such information, nor should we be, and the manufacturers are entitled to a bit of secrecy; this is an essential part of competitive market-led enterprise capitalism!

 

A reasonable hypothesis, however from the information in the Hornby "Large Prairie" thread it can be seen that Hornby started researching their model in April 2017 yet the production models are due to reach our shores next Spring, so that's  2 and a half years or so total, rather better than most/any Bachmann product developments.

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Certainly better than the 94xx, announced 2015 and deferred 3x to my knowledge.  Deferrals are indicators of unforeseen issues, in this case the Chinese factory closure which blue box can hardly be blamed for, and probable issues in developing the model for volume production.  A rep at the Bristol show in 2017 commented, when I asked about progress, that. ‘it’s not just a square box, you know’, which suggested to me that they’d been having some trouble with it.  He reckoned summer 2019. 

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On 30/12/2019 at 16:24, Opelsi said:

 

Please 'no' - a yellow one would be lovely, but let those who want it weathered do that themselves and make a much better (than factory) job and those that want it pristine have an option too!

 

Problem is that yellow seems to be the most difficult colour to replicate in model form, to give a realistic appearance.

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On 30/12/2019 at 08:54, brushman47544 said:

Sort of.  Kader, the owner of Bachmann Europe, owns its own factory(ies), but Bachmann has to bid (or similar) for production slots alongside the other brands owned by Kader. I suspect if others are expected to given a better return, they will be prioritised.

 

If one looks around RMweb, the somewhat long running saga of Bachmann / Kader has been covered in multiple threads.

 

The key point is that Kader itself got into financial trouble and has spent years turning itself around, and the upheaval from that is only finally in the last 12 months or so settling down.

 

But one of the results of that is apparently a (perhaps more realistic) setting of costs to make things to the subsidiaries around the world, including the various Bachmann companies.  This in turn changes the viability of certain projects, and may also have issues with the ability to get production slots if for example Bachmann US can offer up a model to be produced that offers more profit for Kader.

 

As for what gets made where, difficult to know.  It is possible Kader does it all in house (they are a very large company compared to many model train makers, and also diversified), or they may subcontract some stuff out.  In the case of model trains everything is primarily in one province of China, and more so 1 city in China with these subcontractors / cottage industries typically "just down the proverbial street".  It is this that makes shifting production from China so tricky, as you don't just move your factory but have to recreate the entire ecosystem.

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You can rest easy, now.

 

A little bird has told me that Bachmann will be bringing out an advent calendar this year. Extensive cevelopment & testing, with a planned release date of 1st December.

 

Which year? Oh, I couldn't possibly mention that!

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remind me.......the BR Mk1 inter-city sleeping cars never lived long enough to ever receive executive livery did they?

 

i think the class 85 will be released in an early weathered form this year following the release of 85040.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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1 minute ago, ThaneofFife said:

remind me.......the BR Mk1 inter-city sleeping cars never lived long enough to ever receive executive livery did they?

 

i think the class 85 will be released in an early weathered form this year following the release of 85040.

 

Mk3 sleepers were built blue grey, I think they too had already gone into storage by the time Exec livery came about, so no Mk1s got the livery.

 

Waits to be corrected........

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2 hours ago, woodenhead said:

Mk3 sleepers were built blue grey, I think they too had already gone into storage by the time Exec livery came about, so no Mk1s got the livery.

 

Waits to be corrected........

 

Mk3 Sleepers definitely carried Exec & Swallow livery as well as some regional privatisation versions. FGW FScR etc

 

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1 hour ago, tractor_37260 said:

 

Mk3 Sleepers definitely carried Exec & Swallow livery as well as some regional privatisation versions. FGW FScR etc

 

Mk3 sleepers did Blue Grey, Intercity, Swallow and some also carried DSB danish railways livery, I think one still does.

 

mk1’s were hastily withdrawn following the 1978 Taunton fire, plus asbestos as soon as mk3’s arrived.
 

I think a couple of mk1 sleepers were part of the royal train, but otherwise blue/grey (and maroon).  Preservation has been very bad for sleepers, most have been scrapped with a few remaining scrap condition examples. Probably the best condition one was the Lloyds bank rifle club sleeper which was still in use in September 2018, but was last seen on the back of a lorry when they got a new mk3 sleeper.

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4 hours ago, woodenhead said:

Mk3 sleepers were built blue grey, I think they too had already gone into storage by the time Exec livery came about, so no Mk1s got the livery.

 

Waits to be corrected........

 

1 hour ago, tractor_37260 said:

 

Mk3 Sleepers definitely carried Exec & Swallow livery as well as some regional privatisation versions. FGW FScR etc

 

The point I wasn't raising was that by the time the Exec livery arrived the Mk3 sleepers were beginning to be stored  as the services were withdrawn apart from Anglo Scottish and Penzance.

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53 minutes ago, Mad McCann said:

2020 is also the 60th anniversary of the Glasgow ‘Blue Trains’.

 

Just sayin’, like...

I wonder if that could mean a Class 303? As much as I like the Class 319's which I am hoping that Bachmann will consider this one. I would love a Strathclyde Class 303 EMU set.

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