KR Models King in N gauge

[grahame]

1 hour ago, woodenhead said:

 

That leaves the Southern where there has been a complete lack of much beyond a MN, a Mogul and M7, a Q1 and a Terrier, rolling stockwise there are Bulleids and Maunsells as well as Mk1s, so perhaps a 4-6-0 or some more 0-6-0 engines from the Southern would be a popular choice.

 

Maybe. And there are a few SR locos often requested/wish listed, although I'd prefer to see a few RTR SR/BR MK1 coach based emus. And perhaps some Networkers and MK3 coach stuff. But of course they're not steamy.

 

 

 

 

[woodenhead]

2 minutes ago, grahame said:

 

Maybe. And there are a few SR locos often requested/wish listed, although I'd prefer to see a few RTR SR/BR MK1 coach based emus. And perhaps some Networkers and MK3 coach stuff. But of course they're not steamy.

 

That would be nice too, I think the 313/4 will spawn a 507/508 from Revolution, but a 2EPB or a 205 from Bachmann's stable would not go amiss.

 

That age old problem, so many trains to build so few buyers.

[AlfaZagato]

Top link power tends to sell well, if priced right.   The only reason I could see a King not selling is KR being known as a 'crowdfunded' make.

[woodenhead]

9 minutes ago, AlfaZagato said:

Top link power tends to sell well, if priced right.   The only reason I could see a King not selling is KR being known as a 'crowdfunded' make.

Unlikely they will change their financial model for a King, so we would need someone like Rails to make a sizeable committment to stock the locos in order to encourage it to market.

[AlfaZagato]

Agreed.   I'm honestly surprised Dapol didn't go King & Castle.   I don't think they've touched N GWR since DJ left, so maybe not that surprised.   

[woodenhead]

1 minute ago, AlfaZagato said:

Agreed.   I'm honestly surprised Dapol didn't go King & Castle.   I don't think they've touched N GWR since DJ left, so maybe not that surprised.   

Apart from the proposed West Country I don't think they have anything new on the horizon in steam apart from the rehashed M7 with it's extra heavy chassis and it's poor attempt at DCC compatibility (did they not see the Zimo nano decoders coming?).

 

Luckily Farish are upping the ante in terms of quality of their models but whether they will ever do a King I don't know.

[grahame]

52 minutes ago, AlfaZagato said:

The only reason I could see a King not selling is KR being known as a 'crowdfunded' make.

 

And that (1) it's GWR in an already crowded sector, (2) there was once RTR King that will impact sales, (3) the DJM legacy and (4), most importantly, there has been insufficient EOI/pre orders for one (like the Hattons Garrett).

 

[AlfaZagato]

1 hour ago, grahame said:

 

And that (1) it's GWR in an already crowded sector, (2) there was once RTR King that will impact sales, (3) the DJM legacy and (4), most importantly, there has been insufficient EOI/pre orders for one (like the Hattons Garrett).

 

1.  GWR was crowded.   Most recent release in N was the 56XX that I know of.  Last large loco released was the Farish Castle, and that's a few years out now.

2. I highly doubt the old Poole-era Grafar King will penalize sales of a modern King much.  I'd be curious to see how much the old Poole Castle hurt sales of the China Castle, for a comparison.

3.  Agreed, that's dirty laundry that'll linger for a while

4.  We weren't slapped in the face with news and media about the King (or the Garrett) like other, more successful recent releases have.  You could hardly turn a magazine page or weblink without hearing about the 56XX.  I can recall maybe 1 release about the King (or the Garrett since they've been announced.

[grahame]

57 minutes ago, AlfaZagato said:

1.  GWR was crowded.   Most recent release in N was the 56XX that I know of.  Last large loco released was the Farish Castle, and that's a few years out now.

2. I highly doubt the old Poole-era Grafar King will penalize sales of a modern King much.  I'd be curious to see how much the old Poole Castle hurt sales of the China Castle, for a comparison.

3.  Agreed, that's dirty laundry that'll linger for a while

4.  We weren't slapped in the face with news and media about the King (or the Garrett) like other, more successful recent releases have.  You could hardly turn a magazine page or weblink without hearing about the 56XX.  I can recall maybe 1 release about the King (or the Garrett since they've been announced.

 

1) It still is very crowded, especially compared to others like LNER, LMS and SR. And I think you might have missed some of the recent UM releases.

2) For those that are happy, either with their old Farish version or those who have detailed, improved and upgraded their old models, they may well be satisfied and will not want to upgrade with a new model. That means some potential demand is sated.

4) I think you might have missed the continual news of a potential RTR N gauge King from KR; the thread here (on RMweb), the publishing of CADs, discussion on other forums and social media, and mention in various commercial magazines as well as the NGS Journal (and BTW Hattons advertised their Garret in many magazines). But the fact remains that unless a suggested model gets sufficient support by way of EOI and/or orders these days, its very unlikely to be commercially viable. 

 

Edited March 31, 2022 by grahame

[dpgibbons]

Repeated promises of a product are bound to result in EOI fatigue and KR are still establishing a reputation, so I doubt they have tapped the full level of interest in an N Gauge King.

[woodenhead]

9 hours ago, dpgibbons said:

Repeated promises of a product are bound to result in EOI fatigue and KR are still establishing a reputation, so I doubt they have tapped the full level of interest in an N Gauge King.

To many N gauge modellers they will be less well known than Dave Jones, so people will be wary of them.  If the modellers are members of RMWeb they will be wary because of how the GT3 thread went (despite the model being on a second run now), the Fell thread and some of the early comments around the Consett wagons.  Perhaps now they are regularly appearing at big shows the general modelling public will get to know them better, but the recent shows looked more like a sales pitch for the Fell than other models as they are what stood out.

 

The EOI models seem to suffer in that they don't really make a push for them so it does feel a little like, if you want it then you need to register but we're not going to put any effort into drawing attention to any more people to raise interest to the required threshold.  This means the only way it will ever reach the threshold is either N gauge modellers encourage their fellow modellers to express interest (i.e do their marketing for them) or someone likes Rails pledge to stock them for retail sale.

[grahame]

45 minutes ago, woodenhead said:

 

The EOI models seem to suffer in that they don't really make a push for them so it does feel a little like, if you want it then you need to register but we're not going to put any effort into drawing attention to any more people to raise interest to the required threshold.  This means the only way it will ever reach the threshold is either N gauge modellers encourage their fellow modellers to express interest (i.e do their marketing for them) or someone likes Rails pledge to stock them for retail sale.

 

KR were at TINGS last year and Ally Pally this year with manned stands, and do engage with potential customers here on RMweb (not as much as some other manufacturers but more than Farish). And they have taken out adverts in the commercial press, their products and developments have been discussed on social media and other forums, and the projects have been mentioned in the NGS journal. So there has been quite a bit of marketing by them or for them.

 

Sure the N gauge community can help spread the word and help encourage EOIs, but it is already doing that. However, there seems to be an issue with a sector of the market, particularly those who'd like to see RTR steam models, in having resistance to registering EIOs and placing pre-orders on-line. This doesn't seem to be the case with more modern subjects as the relatively larger amount of Revolution products would testify. 

 

There's no point making continual 'pushes' and spending more on advertising if your potential customers don't respond.