Hornby to possibly re-release models under the Hornby-Dublo label.

[TravisM]

I was in a local model shop recently who I won’t name, but one of the staff was telling a customer that because Hornby was really pleased with the sales of their recently released diecast loco’s under the Hornby-Dublo label, they are planning to re-release more, including rolling stock.

 

Personally, I think it’s a load of tosh but with Hornby acquiring the remaining 51% of Oxford Diecast shares, I wonder if they were confusing this with Hornby-Dublo?

[brianusa]

'Hornby Dublo' would mean little to any potential train buyer now, unless he was well advanced in years!

      Brian.

[andyman7]

Business is business. If they find that the 'Dublo' exclusive releases sell well then they may well do this. They have clearly asserted their right to the trademark, so I guess it's up to them. I wouldn't ignore the buyers well advanced in years, they are the main buyers of most of the superdetail BR steam era models that make up a considerable part of the market!

[Fireline]

14 hours ago, jools1959 said:

...Personally, I think it’s a load of tosh but with Hornby acquiring the remaining 51% of Oxford Diecast shares, I wonder if they were confusing this with Hornby-Dublo?

Serves me right for not looking!

Edited August 3, 2021 by Fireline
I can't read.

[MikeParkin65]

I think a premium 'collectors range' that used common chassis from the main range could well be a canny business model

[adb968008]

rolling stock ?
 

A tin plate superdetailed detailed mk1 ? - hmm I could be persuaded.

Metal bodied diesels.. that would be an interesting sight to see.

[Pandora]

For the majority of Dublo releases, there is no shortage of S/H to choose from, and the S/H prices are not excessive. For me this rules out a duplicate of a Dublo original

Candidates which have a scarcity may be the two unique Wrenn releases,  the Royal Scot of the Air smoothed  Bulleid Pacific.

A trawl through the Binns Road archives may reveal drawings of preposed  models by Dublo which never made production, such as the V2 later manufactured by the Dublo collectors, such models may have  strong sales interest.   a final  example .   the  LMS Beyer-Garratt produced in small numbers for Dublo collectors

[MikeParkin65]

5 minutes ago, Pandora said:

For the majority of Dublo releases, there is no shortage of S/H to choose from, and the S/H prices are not excessive. For me this rules out a duplicate of a Dublo original

Candidates which have a scarcity may be the two unique Wrenn releases,  the Royal Scot of the Air smoothed  Bulleid Pacific.

A trawl through the Binns Road archives may reveal drawings of preposed  models by Dublo which never made production, such as the V2 later manufactured by the Dublo collectors, such models may have  strong sales interest.   a final  example .   the  LMS Beyer-Garratt produced in small numbers for Dublo collectors

I think the idea would be models to the new standard rather than recreating old HD releases - the new Duchess and the Merchant Navy for example. Castle or King next year?

[adb968008]

A metal bodied Castle, 8f would be nice.

 

regardless the latest price rise (just shy of £300 now), I suspect they will still dissapear.

Edited August 3, 2021 by adb968008

[Black 5 Bear]

18 minutes ago, adb968008 said:

A metal bodied Castle, 8f would be nice.

 

regardless the latest price rise (just shy of £300 now), I suspect they will still dissapear.

Only to appear on a famous auction site at double that amount !

A new HD version Stanier 8F, Black Five or a Rebuilt Merchant Navy with all (long overdue) new tooling would sell out very quickly.

Edited August 3, 2021 by Black 5 Bear
Typo

[RAF96]

On 03/08/2021 at 13:29, adb968008 said:

Metal bodied diesels.. that would be an interesting sight to see

 

Hornby produce some metal bodied diesel/electric locos in their Continental brands. Very nice they are too.

[maico]

Hornby already produce an extensive range of zinc-alloy diecast models. I have a B12 which has a metal boiler (excluding the black front section) , metal splashers and cab sides.

Others with metal boilers include D16, J15, T9, Schools class, Drummond 700, J36, and Adams Radial.

The MT-2 coming out this year also does.

The Dublos announced so far, including the spam can, are all larger so I would guess an A4 next year or Coronation...

 

 

Edited August 6, 2021 by maico

[adb968008]

12 hours ago, maico said:

Hornby already produce an extensive range of zinc-alloy diecast models. I have a B12 which has a metal boiler (excluding the black front section) , metal splashers and cab sides.

Others with metal boilers include D16, J15, T9, Schools class, Drummond 700, J36, and Adams Radial.

The MT-2 coming out this year also does.

The Dublos announced so far, including the spam can, are all larger so I would guess an A4 next year or Coronation...

 

 

a new metal A4 and Coronation have already been done..

 

A lot of it is about the box too..

[sandwich station]

19 minutes ago, adb968008 said:

a new metal A4 and Coronation have already been done..

 

 

I think he means Coronation the loco not the class.  

[Ruffnut Thorston]

Probably the Streamline Princess Coronation Class…rather than the already done Conventional, not Streamline, Princess Coronation Class?

 

 

Edited August 7, 2021 by Ruffnut Thorston
Typo

[adb968008]

4 minutes ago, Ruffnut Thorston said:

Probably the Streamline Princess Coronation Class…rather than the already done Conventional, not Streamline, Princess Coronation Class?

 

 

Hopefully if they do, it will be strong enough to pull the coaches.

[Black 5 Bear]

8 minutes ago, Ruffnut Thorston said:

Probably the Streamline Princess Coronation Class…rather than the already done Conventional, not Streamline, Princess Coronation Class?

 

 

But would Hornby produce a HD version Streamlined Princess Coronation Class as sales of the conventional model are often discounted, languishing on shelves in model shops?

 

Edited August 7, 2021 by Black 5 Bear

[sandwich station]

13 minutes ago, Black 5 Bear said:

But would Hornby produce a HD version Streamlined Princess Coronation Class as sales of the conventional model are often discounted?

 

I think a metal bodied one limited to 500 would sell.

[maico]

A slightly cheaper all metal Dublo Standard Class 4MT Tank Engine would be good. The 2-rail version in the red stripe box was the first loco I got as a kid.

[adb968008]

11 minutes ago, maico said:

A slightly cheaper all metal Dublo Standard Class 4MT Tank Engine would be good. The 2-rail version in the red stripe box was the first loco I got as a kid.

Its 2021…

Hornby doesnt have a Std 4MT tank, but…their Stanier tank would win it for me !

Edited August 7, 2021 by adb968008

[Bulleidboy100]

On 07/08/2021 at 12:40, sandwich station said:

 

I think a metal bodied one limited to 500 would sell.

 The new models that are currently in the pipeline are limited to 500 of each model. Most retailers have "sold-out" and even Hornby only have General Steam Navigation available to pre-order - Elders Fyffes in SR livery - sold out.

[Black 5 Bear]

2 hours ago, cbrooks122000 said:

Jenny Kirk was saying, when she could not get a Duchess of Atholl that perhaps Hornby should do a run of 750. Trouble is at the moment you do your preorder and hope that you get one. I suppose though if you don't you have saved yourself an awful lot of money.

The Hornby website has been updated yet again since early last week. Both HD Merchant Navies are back to being scheduled for Summer release.

I've had both Locos on Pre-Order since the day after they were announced, I'll think myself fortunate if I manage to secure just one.

No doubt eBay will have some advertised for ridiculous prices which is the norm these days.

[atom3624]

I saw Atholl advertised on Ebay for ~£1k !!

I do understand the market is what people are prepared to pay, but that is pretty blatant!!

 

Al.

[adb968008]

I think they have to be careful though, Dublo is a historic brand, appealing to collectors who recall their youth on metal bodied locos.

 

Sticking every new release in a dublo box risks devaluing the brand, I think the current 500 and sticking relatively close to Dublo is prudent… so no metal class 56, no metal B12, but a metal Scot, Castle, 8f etc, perhaps stretching the edges with an N7 etc.

 

Back in the 1990’s Bachmann introduced the wooden box limited editions of 500.. starting with 5552, then continued with 850, 6100 etc they had the same impact as Dublo has now. But they got excited by price and increased volumes to 1000, 2000.. it destroyed the value to collectors, resulting in inevitable discounting and eventually killed it off the facade..a wooden box edition now doesn't mean a lot, except extra storage space is required… the last ones.. 45552/47164 were heavily discounted on day one, and sets broken up/boxes sold off !!!

 

I think what Hornby are doing is exactly the right thing…

 

Sticking with the 500 means even a bum release is likely to sate the audience, and still sellout. instead of doing 1 release of 1000, instead  focus on doing more releases, such as the two Bulleids, (exactly as they have)… imho they have a winner here and a winning formula.

 

What happened to Golden Age models ?, perhaps some of their ready to run oo rolling stock could find its way into a Dublo box ?

Edited August 8, 2021 by adb968008

[adb968008]

34 minutes ago, cbrooks122000 said:

But do these limited editions fetch more money in the long term? Yes they do it the first few years, but after that the price settles down. I had a few limited editions from the 80s, when I sold them I didn't get that much for them. Probably in twenty years time if Hornby are still going they will have better models, so the limited editions will probably not be worth as much as you think. Now if Hornby go bust then it is a different story.

Its not about price, its about collectibility, i doubt its very much about usability either.

(please don’t tell me what I think btw, as it seems we actually agree).

 

As you say, price is a temporary thing.

Part of the reasons the Bachmann ones are worth nowt, is they got carried away, and the collectible value diminished..in short too many. To me the straw that broke the camels back was D172 Ixion at 2000 qty made, too many models and as a diesel, it didnt appeal to collectors either… the actual models themselves were no different to the blue boxed production ones, and subject to repetition with trivial changes to livery.

 

I recall the records on Bachmanns A4’s were the 60008 Dwight D Eisenhowers for the US market circa 1992-95 at £600 a piece, today, less than £100, collectors give up and moved on.

 

If the market for metal models matures, in a decade everything might be wholly metal and superdetailed and we‘ll look back on these as primitive, but as long as the markets not flooded, make 1 less than you can sell, this could be a little earner for Hornby until that time wholly metal models are mainstream once again, or its fizzled out.

 

As for future value, collectors of steam, I think, for this type of retro Dublo model are subject to attrition, just like we are seeing with Wrenn, the age group has passed, value declined.. thats why I see this Dublo range as a last hurrah… its a grand finale, hence not getting carried away in volume per sku, but focus on quality of skus, and take the longer game for as long as it lasts… because as soon as you make too many, and it doesn't sell out, imho it’ll be game over for the model and the brand.

 

Edited August 8, 2021 by adb968008