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Hornby goes Steampunk in 2020


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Edwardian hits the nail on the head for me. Right down to the idea of a Crampton, or perhaps a mildly toyed with Kirtley 890 for something a bit more dainty and British.

 

Some of the works of Hayao Miyazaki take place in wonderfully steampunk settings. The airships found right across his works are creative masterpieces, the various military sea and air fleets and the protagonists home in Howls Moving Castle, the whole Welsh mining town vibe they achieved in Castle in the Sky (Laputa) with that gloriously over the top armoured train into the bargain...That is Steampunk. The various imagery Edwardian posted above too, where even though the first set appears as cluttered Americanised monstrosities, it all still appears with its own sense of elegance and purpose with typical over engineering rather than unnecessary clutter. Even that god awful Will Smith movie Wild Wild West is pretty much on the money for the genre too; and it truly pains me to say that!

 

Not this, that I can only best describe as a post apocalyptic scrapheap challenge entry.

 

Sorry, but I feel Hornby have actually trumped themselves here with the Rocket announcement, that is the true essence of steampunk in model railway form. Even the Hattons generic 4 and 6 wheelers fit the bill much more closely as far as I'm concerned, and they may well tempt me to have a stab at something more genre appropriate to wash the odd taste these leave me with. OK, its a bit of fun, I get that; and yes I do believe models such as these have a place somewhere; when branded correctly.

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I posted this in the main Hornby 2020 thread, I see that I should have posted it here, and that I'm late to the party with nothing new to say. Oh well:

 

I like the steampunk idea, but it does seem a little bit slapdash to me, especially the coaches, which are simply the 4-wheelers with bits stuck on.

 

I'm not an expert (oh dear me no) but it seems to me that steam trains, especially Victorian ones, are steampunk all by themselves. The Rocket and its coaches are steampunk, surely. The Triang Clerestories are steampunk. Single wheelers are steampunk. The GWR Broad Gauge.... All of the Industrial Revolution civil engineering.....

 

I have a suspicion that this could be handled more subtly, taking the aesthetics of Victorian railways and adding styling elements from American and Continental railways, making decoration a little more ornate, and adding a few mechanical elements that are pure fantasy. And when I say adding, I mean "blending in", not "sticking on". Streamlining by all means, but with elegant curves please.

 

And I think this could be done in a way that doesn't detract from the (hypothetical?) "appeal to a younger generation".

 

Perhaps, since I make replacement bodies for the 0-4-0 chassis, I ought to have a go myself instead of criticising.

 

Oh Lord, am I a curmudgeon?

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But Bassett Lowke sounds more old fashioned so as a branding name it makes sense. To be honest if these had looked polished and Art Deco / Victorian it would be a classy bit of marketing ;) 

I really hope Laurie isn’t too disheartened by our disappointment as he created the interest so deserves the plaudits and obviously there is interest in his vision too;) 

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Just now, Mr.Flibble said:

Steampunk'ers walking by and saying "kewl" is one thing. Getting out their wallets is another thing <_<

 

Most steampunks of my acquaintance are accomplished modellers, crafters and makers in their own right.  We take more pride in saying 'I made this' or 'I found this in a knick-knack shop' than merely 'I bought this'.  I agree, wallets may well stay firmly in pockets.  In any case I doubt steampunks are the market; more likely the marketing tool.    

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2 hours ago, Angliacan said:

Railway Modelling isn't all Rivet Counters or Box Collectors, it should be a broad hobby as the Cakebox have shown.

 

Agreed. But steampunk is a functional aesthetic that is only anaemically approximated by Hornby. A potentially good idea that's let down by the execution.

 

And that's not a reflection on Laurie, he was working within tight constraints, only that Hornby have only gone into this half-heartedly.

 

A toe in the water is all very well and good. But would it really take that much more investment to actually make it credible?

Edited by truffy
not just an aesthetic, but a functional aesthetic!
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26 minutes ago, PaulRhB said:

I really hope Laurie isn’t too disheartened by our disappointment as he created the interest so deserves the plaudits and obviously there is interest in his vision too;) 

 

Agreed, but unfortunately this is in the same league as pointing at Gigers Necronom IV and saying look at this picture of an Orc from Lord of the Rings. It just ain't cricket. The missus put it perfectly when told at an exhibition that one of Lauries creations was steampunk, her response was to snort tea out of her nose laughing. Sorry, but I tend to agree.

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8 minutes ago, truffy said:

 

Agreed. But steampunk is an aesthetic that is only anaemically approximated by Hornby. A potentially good idea that's let down by the execution.

 

And that's not a reflection on Laurie, he was working within tight constraints, only that Hornby have only gone into this half-heartedly.

 

A toe in the water is all very well and good. But would it really take that much more investment to actually make it credible?

 

I guess it's a relatively inexpensive 'toe in the water'. If it goes well, no doubt more investment will be forthcoming that will be able to realise more accurately (!) the vision of steampunk.

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The quote from BRM newsletter was the only justification/reasoning I could find for this Corp. decision.

 

 " More importantly, these products aren't aimed at railway modellers - they're not even being labelled as 'scale specific'. It's Hornby's way of targetting what it sees as an untapped market of potential model collectors " 

 

I think it's a waste of a premium brand name they could of used for future premium products. 

Should of put their money into a few items with Bassett-Lowke on the box and seen if enthusiast would bite (they already have a cheapo line.

 

Toyota-Lexus, Nissan-Infinity, Marklin -MHI Exklusiv/Sonderedition , etc.

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7 minutes ago, Mel_H said:

 

I guess it's a relatively inexpensive 'toe in the water'. If it goes well, no doubt more investment will be forthcoming that will be able to realise more accurately (!) the vision of steampunk.

 

If people like it - and this sort of layout certainly does seem to have wide appeal - then I don't suppose Hornby care whether it's "true" steampunk or not (even if it understandably annoys a group of people who wouldn't buy it anyway...)

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8 minutes ago, Mel_H said:

 

I guess it's a relatively inexpensive 'toe in the water'. If it goes well, no doubt more investment will be forthcoming that will be able to realise more accurately (!) the vision of steampunk.

 

But if it doesn't realise more accurately the vision of steampunk in the first place, and shows Hornby up as clueless bandwagon-jumpers, what's the chance of it being successful? Time will tell, I guess.

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To me personally these look like the things loving family members would buy the steam punk enthusiast in their life....rather like a certain clock that is still worth the manufacturer paying for regular adverts for....

 

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About 10 years ago there was much wailing and gnashing of teeth in the steampunk community when it suddenly went mainstream and you could pick up steampunk stuff at the mall. It went completely against the ethos, you see. Two years later it was mostly gone and now if you go looking for off the shelf steampunk you're on a hiding to nothing. Food for thought, if Hornby want to use it to ride out their financial problems.  The time for rtr steampunk toys has long since been and gone.

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I haven't read everyone's posts, but if they are really going after the steampunk crowd, where are the licensed Dr Who figures and a Tardis?

 

The "just stick gears on it" buildings look, frankly, stupid. Gears are fine in steampunk if they are meshed and appear to drive something.

 

Where are the fanciful lighter than air ships?

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6 minutes ago, James Harrison said:

About 10 years ago there was much wailing and gnashing of teeth in the steampunk community when it suddenly went mainstream and you could pick up steampunk stuff at the mall. It went completely against the ethos, you see. Two years later it was mostly gone and now if you go looking for off the shelf steampunk you're on a hiding to nothing. Food for thought, if Hornby want to use it to ride out their financial problems.  The time for rtr steampunk toys has long since been and gone.

 

Perhaps.

 

But steampunk (or steampunk-ish) layouts do seem to attract a lot of attention so maybe there's something in it.

 

And it doesn't look as if Hornby have risked a lot on this. They haven't even had to register a new trademark.,,

 

37 minutes ago, truffy said:

 

But if it doesn't realise more accurately the vision of steampunk in the first place, and shows Hornby up as clueless bandwagon-jumpers, what's the chance of it being successful? Time will tell, I guess.

 

I really don't think it works like that. If the people you annoy aren't your target market, you aren't doing yourself much harm. 

 

As an example, there are plenty of things that Hornby make that most people here wouldn't have any interest in - like the bizarre Railroad wagon on a tanker(ish) chassis.

 

But Hornby keep making them.

 

So either they really don't have any idea of how to run a company, or there is a market out there. Just not one that's well represented here.

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2 minutes ago, Ozexpatriate said:

I haven't read everyone's posts, but if they are really going after the steampunk crowd, where are the licensed Dr Who figures and a Tardis?

 

The "just stick gears on it" buildings look, frankly, stupid. Gears are fine in steampunk if they are meshed and appear to drive something.

 

Where are the fanciful lighter than air ships?

 

If you read a few posts back you'll see some explanation.

 

And as for the TARDIS (capitals, please!) it's in the Skaledale range...

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3 hours ago, Coryton said:

And as for the TARDIS (capitals, please!) it's in the Skaledale range...

I have the 00 Police Box. (By the way my spelling was intentional - the British style-guide is to lowercase acronyms pronounced as a word - like "Nato". The US style-guide is to capitalize "NATO".) Unless of course the US style-guide has been adopted in Britain now.

 

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4 hours ago, PaulRhB said:

Hi Laurie

I do hope it’s a success, as we’ve seen your layout is popular, but I do think they need to push more towards some of the more elegant designs and even mix it up with the Airfix range yo provide customisation. 
I just feel they needed to grab it by the horns and truly do something WOW rather than dipping in one toe ;) 

As you’ve shown we can all take standard models and customise them, which providing a basic shape and a set of parts that popped in pre made holes would allow truly unique creations and interaction and be really different. I just feel they’ve limited things by providing it ‘done’. 

Fingers crossed the popularity makes it a success that prompts some investment in special tools :) 

Hornby also want to give people the idea, and then see what they come up with. Over to you folks really......

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When it comes to steampunk, I prefer the more subtle look that Amazon have used with their fantasy/steampunk crossover 'Carnival Row'

 

In terms of Railway interest, the city streets are dominated by an overhead railway running steam driven railcars that look more plausible than Hornby's offering. Maybe a missed opportunity for a tie-in?

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Hmm...

 

Could be a new lease of life for my scrap box..

 

i’m thinking my old Hornby / Triang models of low value could be painted black with chalk / grey and glue on any left over parts from my toolbox, add a bit of rust and hey ho..

 

If you want extra gears, Hornby gave the secret away... Watch gears.... I can go hunt gears from broken watches off ebay.

 

Whilst i’m not likely to go steampunk (though I love a good Gin bar in Helsinki, called Steam, which is Jules Verne all over), I could be tempted to have a go, just for the quirkiness of it.

 

 

 

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