Ask Dave

[DJM Dave]

Hi Roger,

 

What 89 in OO?

Cheers

Dave

[Jon Fitness]

A bit like trying to invent the perfect mouse trap I know, but have you considered a good, competetively priced and reliable up to date universal solenoid point actuator? The ones available now have been around for ages and are positively archaic with either rubbish polarity switches or none at all. The old motor ones like tortoise/lemaco are big and noisy and the new generation of motor driven ones are nice and small but way over complicated and over priced.

I'd want a good overcentre spring, reliable polarity switch, easy to locate and set up and a powerful enough action for operating the likes of Marcway points. Is that a big ask? 

Jon Fitness

[DJM Dave]

A bit like trying to invent the perfect mouse trap I know, but have you considered a good, competetively priced and reliable up to date universal solenoid point actuator? The ones available now have been around for ages and are positively archaic with either rubbish polarity switches or none at all. The old motor ones like tortoise/lemaco are big and noisy and the new generation of motor driven ones are nice and small but way over complicated and over priced.

I'd want a good overcentre spring, reliable polarity switch, easy to locate and set up and a powerful enough action for operating the likes of Marcway points. Is that a big ask? 

Jon Fitness

Hi Jon,

 

Thanks for that, and although borderline 'wish list', I must admit it hadn't occurred to me. Good idea, thanks :-)

Cheers

Dave

[billbedford]

Mmm, coreless motors. Does this mean these locos will have portescap type drive trains, or will you be driving to a worm gear?

[DJM Dave]

Hi Bill,

 

I see it as possibly a stepping stone to developing better drive trains as standard, but this will take a few years and a lot of edumacation :-) on my behalf.

 

Cheers

Dave

[Purley Oaks]

Hi Dave

 

What are your views on factory-weathered models? I know that some people like them and others would prefer to do the weathering themselves, but they seem to command a slight premium at certain online shops.

 

Mal

[DJM Dave]

Hi Mal,

 

Factory weathered models are very much the 'Marmite' of model railways. You either love them or hate them.

 

Personally, if done properly, by someone who cares about the product, and not just given a passing dusting of a single colour I think they look great.

However, there becomes the rub. They have to be done properly, which is why all the masters for my models will be created by Mercig Studios exclusively and for no other manufacturer. The work produced is exemplary and I know through prior experience that my factory can easily replicate this finish for me.

 

However, due to the marmite factor, this is why I'll be producing clean, and weathered versions of my models.

Oh, and yes it's a premium price for weathered, but I don't think it's that onerous compared to the finish of the model.

 

Cheers

Dave

[bigherb]

I know 3d printing is still at early stages but do you see it being used more to cut costs for less obvious parts like cab interiors rather than making a moulding tool.

Edited June 15, 2014 by bigherb

[reevesthecat]

Hi Dave

Thanks for the opportunity to ask questions!

In the spirit of forward guidance that the Bank of England produces what do you think needs to change to make AC modelling more attractive to manufacturers? For example do we need to wait until a range of masts and wires are easily and readily available or after the current spread of electrification across the country is completed? Or do you think those models are viable now?

Thanks

Mark

[DJM Dave]

I know 3d printing is still at early stages but do you see it being used more to cut costs for less obvious parts like cab interiors rather than making a moulding tool.

Hi Bigherb,

 

I don't see 3D printing as being viable for massed produced items for a good few years yet.

Rest assured it will happen though.

 

The problem at the moment is cost and quality.

The costs of the machines ( yes these are getting more affordable)

Quality counts they say, and at the moment the rough finish just doesn't float my boat, plus it's poor ability to be painted. Now.......I know you can get smooth finishes but these do cost more.

 

A bit like original DVD players........hundreds to buy originally but now you can get them for almost buttons in supermarkets.

 

3D will, I'm sure, go the same way. The question then must be asked, will it take over from steel tools?

 

For 1 off models or parts, yes, and it's possible to argue it has already. For mass produced models of 300 units? No, and I doubt it ever will due to speed and accuracy of tooling compared to production times of a single 3 D item. Mind you I suppose it's all relative.

 

Cheers

Dave

[DJM Dave]

Hi Dave

Thanks for the opportunity to ask questions!

In the spirit of forward guidance that the Bank of England produces what do you think needs to change to make AC modelling more attractive to manufacturers? For example do we need to wait until a range of masts and wires are easily and readily available or after the current spread of electrification across the country is completed? Or do you think those models are viable now?

Thanks

Mark

Hi Mark,

 

The more I think about it the more I'm now convinced that AC modelling will never take off!

Controversial I know, but..........

 

Great overhead loco's and EMUs have been produced in both gauges, and let's face it, if this hasn't kick started that genre, then what will? I'm not sure having affordable overhead equipment available will to be honest.

 

If it was going to happen, it would have done so with the pendolino, 85, 92, 86, 87, 90, 91 and 350 being available, but is read the forums and there's not an outcry for more loco's or emus to make it justifiable in my eyes.

Can I honestly say I've seen more requests for, say an 84, compared to the P2 steam loco? No I can't, unfortunately.

 

I can't see it getting much better either as electrification progresses, we see lifeless ( in my opinion) electric boxes shuttling around.

Now the AC electrics of my youth have gone (81-87) ( yes I know the 86's cling on) where's the charisma? The wish to have 1 of each going to come from when all little jonny sees rumbling past is an EMU.

Our last charismatic AC train was the Pendolino and how many of those do you really need on a layout?

 

Ok, I'm rambling, but I hope you get my point, even if you think I'm wrong.

Perhaps 25 years ago the situation would have been different if the AC loco's were introduced?

 

Cheers

Dave

[phil gollin]

.

 

Some questions/assumptions, if possible ;

 

1:  I assume that you will be watching the sales of the Peco (and future Heljan) 009 r-t-r models with interest  -  would more r-t-r locos be of interest to you or are they another too expensive for the perceived market ?

 

2:  You, presumably, have an idea of the economics/profit levels of the very popular Dapol operating signals  -  would you be interested in such items as an operating level crossing or other operating items ????????

 

3:  It is often said that a high quality railway crane (whether medium or large) would be too expensive due to the cost involved in the crane jib girder work and exposed pulleys/gears, etc .......   Is that sort of model something that you can see being within your scope in a few years time ?

 

 

( Thanks for your helpfulness ).

 

. 

[DJM Dave]

Hi Phil,

 

Great questions and my answers would be yes to all 3.

 

In fact I was luck enough to be given drawings (GA and more detailed ones) of most if not all the rail mounted cranes and steam cranes and I shall look at them in all seriousness in a couple of years time to see if they are financially viable.

 

009 items? Yes, and I'd love to have done a Baldwin but might do some small working diesel shunters.

 

I've got some great ideas regarding working semaphore signals and could revisit this with some further innovations I think. It's just time and cash I'm afraid.

 

Cheers

Dave

[Gwiwer]

Good to see this topic thriving Dave; I sincerely hope it produces the sort of positive results it deserves to.

 

In terms of overhead electrics we had the Hornby (Tri-ang) offerings many years ago with a 77 and an 81 plus some clunky but reasonable overhead kit.  It wasn't popular then and while some genres seem to be eternally good for business I really cant' see that it would be a popular option now.

 

The old stuff from Margate withstood a few knocks and was designed so that a stray hand (or even an errant pet) would unclip rather than terminally destroy the overheads.  Ingenious and at the time it was about as good as RtR got.  But somehow it never sold well enough.

 

We can argue the same for just about any electric type from the everyday SR types which exist(ed) in large numbers to the unique and occasionally curious such as 89001.  I'm as unconvinced as your good self that having OHLE or third-rail components as readily available as signals will improve things.  I have a small collection already largely thanks to the gentlemen of Barwell and have my private wish-list for more SR types but don't expect to see them produced other than perhaps in kit form - which some already are.

 

Personally I would rather see quality over quantity what ever is offered.  In saying that I respect the fact that new entrants (especially the youngest ones) to our hobby may find the cost prohibitive.  There is a place for the basic train set and long may that continue to be the case.  It brought me into the hobby along with, I am sure, very many others.

[Downendian]

Dave

What's your view on the DMU market? There's still a few gaps in the RTR marketplace for first generation machines.

I think I saw you mention that a 117 had been scanned recently (not by DJM).

I agree with you that the demand for EMU would be very parochial, but DMUs ranged much farther afield.

Neil

[DJM Dave]

Dave

What's your view on the DMU market? There's still a few gaps in the RTR marketplace for first generation machines.

I think I saw you mention that a 117 had been scanned recently (not by DJM).

I agree with you that the demand for EMU would be very parochial, but DMUs ranged much farther afield.

Neil

Hi Neil,

 

I think there's still a market for 1 or 2 more DMU's, but I do wonder about any investment for more than that.

 

You and I know the difference between say a 101 and a 117. However little Jonny ( yes I use that a lot) won't know when he opens his present Christmas Day.

So that leaves manufacturers with the quandary of do they take the risk on the chance they will break even on tooling or not.

 

In my position I would have to seriously think ,but being risk adverse ;-) maybe not.

 

Cheers

Dave

[DJM Dave]

Hi.

 

This is interesting because I was reading an article just last week where they were debating exactly the same subject. The conclusion was that its just starting to become viable now. Where as a mold tool is good at producing a single component quickly and repeating it, a 3DP can produce lots of components at the same time, time wise it worked out about the same (depending upon quantity of course but then would you produce less than say 100 parts with a mold tool?). As you suggest, these machines are not cheap, especially machines capable of producing high quality, mold tool equivalent parts but then mold tools arent that cheap either. A 3DP also has the big advantage of being adaptable, you dont need to modify the tooling to produce different parts where with injection molding you need to produce another costly die.

 

If I was running a similar business its where my money would be going, now that WOULD be innovative...

Julia

I totally understand Julia,

 

I'm not sure we are at that tipping point yet though, and I'm still not sure it will happen within 10 years.

However I think I need to 'gen up' some Moreno the subject and maybe report back here later once I have.

Cheers

Dave

[phil gollin]

..............   009 items? Yes, and I'd love to have done a Baldwin but might do some small working diesel shunters.  .........

 

Cheers

Dave

 

 

Thanks for the reply.

 

Do you know something that we don't ?

 

With the 100th anniversary of WW1 coming up there is scope there for 009 locos and small diesels.

 

Good luck with whatever you decide.

 

.

[DJM Dave]

Hi Phil,

 

If I were to do these it would be subject to hard thinking regarding tooling costs, agains RRP against possible sales.

 

But I promise that it's being considered.

Cheers

Dave

[Roy L S]

Hi Dave

 

Another from me.

 

Speaking specifically about British N.

 

I can remember in Graham Farish Poole days when they were the principal manufacturer of the scale, typically just one or two locos would be released a year and a small amount of rolling stock.

 

Over recent years the volume of releases has grown significantly and currently I would think we have been seeing on average as many as eight to ten new locos alone from the two major manufacturers.

 

Accepting that the British N Market has undoubtedly grown, adding in the larger amount of new rolling stock we now see too, do you think the more recent level of new releases is sustainable on an ongoing basis, and what if anything is needed (be it new innovations, better quality or whatever) to grow the British N market further?

 

Roy

[DJM Dave]

Hi Roy,

 

One of the things I've always said, is that I would, if I could see a market for a better version of a competitors model, make one, hence the Western loco in N gauge.

 

Looking at both company's products I can say that this is still the case and I shall visit both stables in the next few years.

 

I'm not sure all these new releases as sustainable to be honest, as N gauge, although growing has a finite 'gene pool' of purchasers and as such it doesn't take any particular trick or insight to see that more models are being made than are selling.

 

The trick is in knowing what will sell, and having a factory that will work with you to ensure you do not overstock.

I'm not sure innovations will help matters improve, sales wise, but merely improve the 'lot' of those N gauge modellers out there in various ways.

 

I think a shrinkage of production of new models each year is inevitable if sustainability in the gauge is to continue.

Ironic that I'm adding 3 new loco's and saying this, but my business plan isn't to produce more that 3 or even 4 N gauge loco's per year at most.

 

Hope this helps?

Cheers

Dave

[AngryMeerkat]

Hi Dave,

 

Great idea for a thread, I'm sure all modellers appreciate your time and openness. I just hope you haven't made a rod for your own back by being so open!

 

How do you see the 'current era' models as a potential market? By current I mean 1980s onwards, where the loco's didn't change apart from the liveries. There are obviously only a limited number of classes that cover this era, and pretty much all have been made by the 4 stables in 00 gauge (I'll leave Lima out at this point). Do you see gaps in this era for you to step into, either with an updated model from the Lima catalogue or with a better/more detailed/somehow improved version of something currently available?

 

To further direct this question, is the current Network Rail and associated OTP an area you would look into? As well as the weird and wonderful RTC Derby creations? While a few loco's are available in NR colours, and a couple of MPVs have come about, I still feel there is some potential here for highly detailed models done in small batches. A proper NR class 31 for example, or the 150 DMU that runs about. Point carrying wagons, OHLE wagons and so on.

 

Thanks for your time Dave,

 

Mark

[Allegheny1600]

Hi Dave,

Once more, many thanks indeed for starting this thread and for your Glasnost!

Please forgive me if this is already covered in another topic but, small steam locos like the O2 and J94 - will they have tungsten boilers, cabs, foot plates, chassis etc in order to give plenty of adhesive capacity?

Cheers,

John E.

[DJM Dave]

Hi Dave,

Once more, many thanks indeed for starting this thread and for your Glasnost!

Please forgive me if this is already covered in another topic but, small steam locos like the O2 and J94 - will they have tungsten boilers, cabs, foot plates, chassis etc in order to give plenty of adhesive capacity?

Cheers,

John E.

Hi John,

 

Thanks for the kind words.

The O2 and J94 boilers are plastic but metal filled, and also have metal chassis areas. This may change somewhat depending on haulage, balance etc, and how testing proves out before going to second EP stage where the tooling is locked down for production, so we shall see some more.

 

However when Chris at Kernow received the O2, he did comment that is was surprisingly heavy ( it didn't have motor or pcb or filler weight added either) so it bodes well.

 

I will always try and steer clear from metal boilers as although it has advantages in adding weight, I feel that the look /sheen of a metal boiler is usually different from the painted cab etc and also detail that I can add to a plastic boiler will just look better.

 

This isn't to say I'll never use a metal boiler, but I'd rather try and design right and have my ideal set up first.

 

Cheers

Dave

[DJM Dave]

Hi Dave,

Great idea for a thread, I'm sure all modellers appreciate your time and openness. I just hope you haven't made a rod for your own back by being so open!

How do you see the 'current era' models as a potential market? By current I mean 1980s onwards, where the loco's didn't change apart from the liveries. There are obviously only a limited number of classes that cover this era, and pretty much all have been made by the 4 stables in 00 gauge (I'll leave Lima out at this point). Do you see gaps in this era for you to step into, either with an updated model from the Lima catalogue or with a better/more detailed/somehow improved version of something currently available?

To further direct this question, is the current Network Rail and associated OTP an area you would look into? As well as the weird and wonderful RTC Derby creations? While a few loco's are available in NR colours, and a couple of MPVs have come about, I still feel there is some potential here for highly detailed models done in small batches. A proper NR class 31 for example, or the 150 DMU that runs about. Point carrying wagons, OHLE wagons and so on.

Thanks for your time Dave,

Mark

Hi Mark,

 

Thanks for the posting.

 

If I can see room for improvement in any era models already produced, and if I can weigh it up against tooling cost and possible sales and realise a profit ( in my minds eye) then nothing is out of bounds.

 

I like your ideas buy the 31 , unless I do a class NR 31 and definately the NR 150 would be some thing I probably wouldn't consider as they are part of a market that, although would sell, most probably wouldn't sell enough to cover investment costs.

 

As for OTP, I do look at this and think of the possibilities, but please remember, if I produce anything in small batches then I either have to charge a way higher price to cover tooling ( and I mean waaaaaay higher price) for such small batches or the models have to be part of tooling for the 'bigger brother' such as the NR 31 could be part of the tooling for a 31 release etc.

 

Hope I've answered your questions.

Cheers

Dave