Bachmann 2020 Announcements - Winter

[davidw]

59 minutes ago, Ron Ron Ron said:

Read what I said.
“There can't be any complaints about delays with this latest set of announcements”.

Everything that will be announced, is expected to be delivered within a few weeks or couple of months.

 

The backlog from previous years is another matter. That backlog is gradually being cleared.

A retooled V2, if it’s still in the backlog (I don’t remember if they’ve previously announced one?)  will now only appear, once they say it’s coming, via one of these quarterly sets of announcements.

 

 

.

 

There is a schedule for the V2, currently July/ August for the LNER and BR black versions and August/September for the BR Green. It's on the Bachmann website and Paul Uni's thread on Bachmann releases

[brushman47544]

Is see from Facebook that Hornby now has a “Christmas” announcement tomorrow (Monday) at 10.00. I wonder when it was planned? It’s getting a bit petty to deliberately announce around the same time.

Edited November 1, 2020 by brushman47544

[Oldddudders]

25 minutes ago, brushman47544 said:

Is see from Facebook that Hornby now has a “Christmas” announcement tomorrow (Monday) at 10.00. I wonder when it was planned? It’s getting a bit petty to deliberately announce around the same time.

But in a year when many are having to tighten their financial belt, making sure your product is on everyone's early-warning radar becomes even more important. And if any of these items are actually going to be for sale by Christmas, development will have started many, many months ago. It may be dog-eat-dog, but with independent commissions now making waves in the marketplace, survival is more of a real issue than ever before. 

[AY Mod]

38 minutes ago, brushman47544 said:

Is see from Facebook that Hornby now has a “Christmas” announcement tomorrow (Monday) at 10.00. I wonder when it was planned? It’s getting a bit petty to deliberately announce around the same time.

 

It's more to do with announcing their Christmas marketing than it being any product announcement.

[Zunnan]

That good ol' announcement of an announcement chestnut...

[truffy]

3 minutes ago, Zunnan said:

That good ol' announcement of an announcement chestnut...

Like China’s gift to the world, it keeps on giving!

[shunny]

5 minutes ago, Zunnan said:

That good ol' announcement of an announcement chestnut...

No more wish listing Hornby may announce a chestnut as part of their Xmas marketing campaign my moneys on a snowman

[Zunnan]

Just now, shunny said:

No more wish listing Hornby may announce a chestnut as part of their Xmas marketing campaign my moneys on a snowman

 

Now there is an idea, a DCC chestnut roaster with simulated fire flicker and accompanying Salvation Army band playing all your festive favourites!

[shunny]

2 minutes ago, Zunnan said:

 

Now there is an idea, a DCC chestnut roaster with simulated fire flicker and accompanying Salvation Army band playing all your festive favourites!

You know how it would end with us all complaining that our favourite song wasn't included and why didn't they do the roaster 563 version as it could done in more liveries..........

[The Stationmaster]

22 hours ago, tomparryharry said:

 

Any umber of things, actually.  Life-expired tooling, upgraded standard, better fidelity. In the time that something like e.g., the Manor has been out of production, a lot can happen. Factory changes, tools transferred, tools damaged, all sorts of things like that.  Plus... Bachmann couldn't really charge Top Dollar, for what is essentially, 15-20 year old model. 

 

It sounds harsh, and cynical, but life is like that.  

The $64,000 question is if there is one just how good will it be, what will the level of (accurate detail) be, and will it come with a choice of tenders (the latter being not only a minefield when it comes to the 78XX but the sort of minefield where the darned things kept on moving about).  So which tender would they do and would it too be new tooling and does it then restrict them to suitable liveries/engine running numbers for pairings with that type of tender (and indeed does it in turn restrict the modeller when it comes to renumbering?).

 

Next week we might know the answer - if there is indeed a 78XX zooming up over the horizon.

 

Oddly for a GW/WR loco the variety of detail differences on the engine part is relatively straightforward and mostly pretty easy to date within a few years for individual engines.  But the tenders moved around - of course  - so you get something like 7816 in its final years running with a tender with a Churchward underframe that also happened to be the Reading tender with G W R buffed up among the surrounding dirt.  And equally the preserved examples also still have the tender variety.  Only way to get it right with engines in traffic is accurately dated photos.  Or don't people care about getting the tenders right?

[Zunnan]

1 minute ago, shunny said:

You know how it would end with us all complaining that our favourite song wasn't included and why didn't they do the roaster 563 version as it could done in more liveries..........

 

Maybe one for a USB port or bluetooth so they can play your own material of choice...Affraid you may well be stuck with the nut roaster 5000 though, but its better than nothing at all! (depending on who is complaining)

[tomparryharry]

I'm chuckling when I see the words 'backlog'. What backlog?  If Bachmann can't-won't release it, you can't buy it! Is there a financial element between the principal manufacturer , and the purchaser?

 

Noticeable is the bringing forward   of the Bachmann announcement by 24 hours. Popcorn at the ready for 10am!

[JhornG201]

6 minutes ago, tomparryharry said:

I'm chuckling when I see the words 'backlog'. What backlog?  If Bachmann can't-won't release it, you can't buy it! Is there a financial element between the principal manufacturer , and the purchaser?

 

Noticeable is the bringing forward   of the Bachmann announcement by 24 hours. Popcorn at the ready for 10am!

 

Has the Bachmann announcement moved? The only announcement that I'm aware of tomorrow is Hornby's Christmas launch at 10am. 

[tomparryharry]

3 minutes ago, JhornG201 said:

 

Has the Bachmann announcement moved? The only announcement that I'm aware of tomorrow is Hornby's Christmas launch at 10am. 

My understanding was that it was to be Tuesday...

[The Stationmaster]

2 minutes ago, tomparryharry said:

My understanding was that it was to be Tuesday...

Would that be a Welsh calendar variant, were you allowing for clock differences being further west ?    At the head of this thread 'Ron Ron' said it would be Tuesday. 

Edited November 1, 2020 by The Stationmaster

[Crisis Rail]

On 30/10/2020 at 09:00, rob D2 said:

I don’t think the 37/47 will sell nearly as well, with Heljan 47 and accura 37 on the way - those “ limited edition “ models have hung around forever .

 

The only thing that’s been enhanced with these ( rather old tooling ) is the constantly spiralling price.

 

i used to be a massive fan, and my fleet is mainly Bachmann , but I think they’ve been left napping generally other than the DMUs 

 

As for the Accura 37 - looks promising if the QC holds up especially after the Hattons 66 disasters - the Helly 45 to rival the Modelzones should be a seller as there has been more than enough helpful "advice" from this forum.

 

 

[sulzer71]

On 30/10/2020 at 12:45, adb968008 said:

47541 in Scotrail/Intercity sold over £250 the other week

Maybe it's time for me to stick my 461 + 541 on eBay then seen as they just sit here in their boxes 

[Steamport Southport]

19 hours ago, brushman47544 said:

Gazumping suggests imminence, so perhaps the 43XX as that is nearer to release from Dapol than the relatively recently announced Manor.

 

However Dapol aren't doing a 43XX. They are making a 63XX. Not quite as pedantic as it seems, there are very noticeable differences if you are a GWR aficionado. 

 

That leaves over 200 locomotives which aren't being produced. Maybe they didn't do the earlier version for a reason. Possibly they thought there was already thousands of them still about from when Mainline, etc. made them for it not to be worth the effort.

 

 

Jason

[gwrrob]

10 minutes ago, Steamport Southport said:

 

However Dapol aren't doing a 43XX. They are making a 63XX. Not quite as pedantic as it seems, there are very noticeable differences if you are a GWR aficionado. 

 Possibly they thought there was already thousands of them still about from when Mainline, etc. made them for it not to be worth the effort.

 

 

I'm rather hoping they have the provision to do the 93xx as well.

[The Johnster]

Duly corrected; Dap are doing a 63xx.

 

On the same general theme, there is much hanging fruit, admittedly not particularly low but hanging nonetheless, amongst the large prairies; 3150, 81xx, and Collett 1938 31xx, Churchward 31xx as a variant of 5101/61xx.   There were 41 3150s and they were a long lived class, quite distinctive with the bigger boilers but could sit quite happliy on the manor/mogul/5101/61xx mechansism.  The same can be said for the Churchward  31xx re the mechanism, and it might be possible to produce it from an existing 5101/61xx tooling with a little modification.  Longevitiy is against it, though.  The 81xx has 5'3" wheels and thus a lower 'sit' for the boiler, and is a bit geographically restricted, as is the no.4 boilered version, the Collett 1938 31xx; there were only 5 of these, which also had 5'3" driving wheels and a lower 'sit' of the boiler than the 3150s.

 

All GW locos are the same, until you look closely...

[mdvle]

4 hours ago, brushman47544 said:

Is see from Facebook that Hornby now has a “Christmas” announcement tomorrow (Monday) at 10.00. I wonder when it was planned? It’s getting a bit petty to deliberately announce around the same time.

 

Perhaps (though I see Andy Y has indicated that Hornby isn't to be a product announcement), but if you have something new that will be in stock soon and with most of your consumers relying on very busy deliver services to get product for Christmas this year and early November announcement makes sense for anyone trying to shift stuff for under the Christmas Tree.

 

I also note that RMweb's sister site's event this coming weekend also indicates product announcements so early November this year likely replaces Warley.

[mdvle]

On 30/10/2020 at 20:12, YesTor said:

Exactly.  It's all about perception: 

 

Loco "A" with a run of 300 units, profit £10 per unit sold, flies off the shelves in 2 days flat = Perceived roaring success

 

Loco "B" with a run of 3000 units, profit of £30 per unit sold, takes 3 years to sell out, with perhaps the last handful 'reduced to clear' = creates image of 'hanging around on shelves' + reduced price = "Ooooh, it must be a failure..."

 

Neither of the above totally fictitious examples could be regarded as a 'failure', but it does show that things might not always be what they seem... 

 

Except you are conveniently ignoring half the equation.

 

Your loco B is also costing money that takes away from that potential £30 profit - the cost of making the items (generally paid in China before production starts), the cost of storing it in a warehouse for 3 years (physical building costs, insurance, security), and all the associated costs of those 3 years (money tied up that can't be used for new product and even potentially interest payments on the money that may have been borrowed to make it in the first place).

 

So instead of a £30 profit per unit you could actually end up losing money...

 

Or, you bring in your 3000 units expecting to have 2000 units for inventory for the next 3 years, and then a competitor announces a new tooled version of loco B and you see interest in those 2000 units on your warehouse shelves evaporate overnight...

 

Or, because that loco B is still on the shelf with livery X they don't do another run of loco B with the much wanted livery Y, instead waiting 3+ years for the existing inventory to clear out and annoying all the customers who want livery Y.

 

As the UK market becomes more competitive, with more product released each year, it becomes harder to risk the company on maintaining multi-year inventory.

[D9020 Nimbus]

The German market is even more competitive than the UK yet Märklin/Trix can manage to have a number of items available on an ongoing basis…

[Miss Prism]

5 hours ago, The Stationmaster said:

Or don't people care about getting the tenders right?

 

To be fair to Bachmann, their 2251 came with a wideplate Dean 3000g, a Collett 3000g, a 4000g ROD and their venerable Churchward 3500g. All 4 ticked the authenticity boxes (notwithstanding the rare-ish scalloped frame on the Churchward).

 

[YesTor]

  

On 31/10/2020 at 00:12, YesTor said:

 

Exactly.  It's all about perception: 

 

Loco "A" with a run of 300 units, profit £10 per unit sold, flies off the shelves in 2 days flat = Perceived roaring success

 

Loco "B" with a run of 3000 units, profit of £30 per unit sold, takes 3 years to sell out, with perhaps the last handful 'reduced to clear' = creates image of 'hanging around on shelves' + reduced price = "Ooooh, it must be a failure..."

 

Neither of the above totally fictitious examples could be regarded as a 'failure', but it does show that things might not always be what they seem... 

 

6 hours ago, mdvle said:

Except you are conveniently ignoring half the equation.

 

So instead of a £30 profit per unit you could actually end up losing money...

 

 

As the UK market becomes more competitive, with more product released each year, it becomes harder to risk the company on maintaining multi-year inventory.

 

Not really.  The clue was in my original post, ie. profit - which I've always understood to be the final figure remaining following the deduction of all costs.

 

I'd agree though with the latter point re UK markets etc.

 

Best

Al 

Edited November 1, 2020 by YesTor