N Gauge Class 390 Pendolino (post Kickstarter) with Rapido

[johnshutts]

Hi Ben,

 

I haven't ordered the Business Is Great version but I'm interested to know if the livery error will be corrected.

 

Regards

 

John

[Revolution Ben]

Hi John,

 

Rapido were already on the case when I contacted them and I am waiting to hear back.

 

cheers

 

Ben A.

[Will J]

Ah, you can see what happened, the correct side has been 'mirrored' onto the opposite side which you would have thought might work, but doesn't.

 

Not trying to be a smart @rse pointing this out, more that it is exactly the sort of mistake I'd make!

 

Otherwise, beautiful.

[Revolution Ben]

 

Hello all,

 

Rapido have confirmed they will get this issue corrected.

 

Cheers

 

Ben A.

[jjb1970]

We must be one of the only countries on the planet where most people can't tell which way up our flag goes. Given that I can't get too cross about somebody in China making a mistake like the one identified. Not saying it is acceptable to make a mistake but I'd bet very few would realise it was incorrect.

[sjgardiner]

We must be one of the only countries on the planet where most people can't tell which way up our flag goes. Given that I can't get too cross about somebody in China making a mistake like the one identified. Not saying it is acceptable to make a mistake but I'd bet very few would realise it was incorrect.

 

To be fair, the mistake in this case could just as easily have been made wherever Ben & Co are in the UK, or in Markham Ontario or Connecticut (Rapidos offices) as well as China.  In theory, the factory does whatever the artwork from Rapido tells them to do.  I've seen it plenty of times where as Ben suggested, the artwork got transposed when approved and no one noticed.  That said, its much easier to deal with when its caught when it was vs. when they arrived in the UK.  Rapido and plenty of other manufacturers have had production runs have to be sent back, or sit in warehouses waiting on new shells to change out artwork and printing errors.  Fixing it at the factor is a lot easier than if it had shipped with the error.

 

Glad to see that it was caught though, as i know there are a lot of people in the UK waiting on this based on what I've seen watching this project go from Crowd Funding idea to reality with interest.

 

Stephen

[jjb1970]

To be fair, the mistake in this case could just as easily have been made wherever Ben & Co are in the UK, or in Markham Ontario or Connecticut (Rapidos offices) as well as China.  In theory, the factory does whatever the artwork from Rapido tells them to do.  I've seen it plenty of times where as Ben suggested, the artwork got transposed when approved and no one noticed.  That said, its much easier to deal with when its caught when it was vs. when they arrived in the UK.  Rapido and plenty of other manufacturers have had production runs have to be sent back, or sit in warehouses waiting on new shells to change out artwork and printing errors.  Fixing it at the factor is a lot easier than if it had shipped with the error.

 

Glad to see that it was caught though, as i know there are a lot of people in the UK waiting on this based on what I've seen watching this project go from Crowd Funding idea to reality with interest.

 

Stephen

 

That's a fair point, unfortunately it is too easy to slip into just blaming the factory.

[Revolution Ben]

That's a fair point, unfortunately it is too easy to slip into just blaming the factory.

 

To be fair, I am not sure this is about blame; more about learning from errors so they can be avoided in future.

 

I can understand how a designer the other side of the world, working quickly and perhaps not aware of the nuances of the union flag, might transpose artwork from one side to another.

 

You're right that the uncorrected model would still look, to most people, pretty good, but I am happy that thanks to those who spotted it - and to Rapido - we have been able to get it sorted in time.

 

cheers

 

Ben A.

[johnshutts]

Hi,

 

Great to see the production Pendolinos at Warley today. They look great and well worth the wait. That said, I can't wait to get my hands on a couple now...

 

John

[ash39]

Still haven't seen any photos of the final production models, and I'm not at Warley. If anyone has any photos they could post, I'd be grateful!

[ryan1]

Still haven't seen any photos of the final production models, and I'm not at Warley. If anyone has any photos they could post, I'd be grateful!

There's a few on Revolutions own site in the news section on 10/10/2017

[ash39]

There's a few photos on there of painted (but incomplete) bodyshells, and then some photos of full length sets taken from distance, but that's it. I still haven't seen a close up of a fully completed production driving car. Not long to wait now anyway, just thought I'd ask if anyone took any at the show.

 

Thanks

[cornish trains jez]

Hi Ben and Mike,

 

Great to talk to you both at Warley today. The Pendolinos are looking absolutely amazing and it was great to see one in action on your stand and on Kinlet Wharf.

 

Here’s a quick photo I took of the 9 car set today.

 

 

 

Best regards,

 

Jeremy

[ash39]

Post removed ! 

Edited November 26, 2017 by ash39

[TomE]

Having had a look at the production Pendolino at Warley today, I can safely say they are more than worth the wait. Astonishing models and I’m looking forward to getting mine early next year.

 

Tom.

[Revolution Ben]

 

Hello Ash,

 

Just quickly Jeremy has unwittingly posted a photo of the earlier model. I will post a better pic showing the revised models with the blackened light clusters as soon as I can, but right now we are still heading back. They are absolutely fine and you won't be disappointed.

 

Cheers

 

Ben A.

[ash39]

Hello Ash,

 

Just quickly Jeremy has unwittingly posted a photo of the earlier model. I will post a better pic showing the revised models with the blackened light clusters as soon as I can, but right now we are still heading back. They are absolutely fine and you won't be disappointed.

 

Cheers

 

Ben A.

 

Thanks Ben - I've removed my post as I don't want people to skim-read the thread and think that my comments were about the production version. I look forward to seeing it!

[alibuchan]

As the very happy recipient of a production pendolino to test run for the weekend on Kinlet Wharf, I thought I would do a bit of a review for it.

 

 

First up the box. Utilising the colours as the previously released TEA tank packaging, it looks very impressive. The 5 car set will be in 1 ‘book set’ pack that I quite similar to those that Kato use, whilst the 9 and 11 will be spread across 2 books, the first book will contain the same 5 cars in as the smaller set with the second box holding either 4 or 6 coaches depending on which version you ordered.

 

This is a pre production box the colours will be the same as each other on the final products.

 

 

The couplings are a very clever design. You do have to push the cars together quite firmly to couple them up, but this gives you the feeling that they won’t come apart easily, which after 2 days of exhibition running we didn’t have the set split once. I did feel a little apprehensive when trying to couple these up, but I think this was also down to the fact that it wasn’t mine and I didn’t want to cause any damage to the model. With a bit of practice, and from watching Gareth from Rapido doing it with relative ease, I think it will become easier over time.

 

This model has overtaken my CJM 92, as best running model on the layout. It ran faultlessly across our 23 year old track work along with home made point work. Which is much better than some models can achieve even after some adjustments.

 

The power that the 2 driving cars give is very well balanced. I had a go at a bit of a test, I spit the set in half and set them apart using the industry standard of an SPA wagon and turned the power on to 1/4 and ran down approximately 12 foot of the fiddle yard. At the end I put the SPA wagon back in between then and whilst slightly further apart no more than about 4-6mm. It runs very smoothly, and the slow speed control is great. It accelerates cleanly without any sign of a struggle which can’t be said can be said for other models.

 

With plenty of laps completed and many people commenting on how good it looked. I will advise everybody who has got one of these in order, please hold off on making any judgements based on looking at some pictures or videos. Wait until you have it in your hands and on your layout you won’t be disappointed!

 

 

 

All in all, I am really looking forward to getting hold of my 2 Pendolinos, the only bad news was that I had to give it up.

 

A huge congratulations to Ben and Mike for pushing this model from the Kickstarter campaign back in November 2014 through to the models about to leave the factory, and to the team at Rapido, Jason, Gareth and everyone else involved in producing this wonderful model.

Edited November 26, 2017 by alibuchan

[rapidotrains]

A huge congratulations to Ben and Mike for pushing this model from the Kickstarter campaign back in November 2014 through to the models about to leave the factory, and to the team at Rapido, Jason, Gareth and everyone else involved in producing this wonderful model.

 

 

Obviously this is Ben and Mike's baby so they deserve a huge amount of praise.

 

On the Rapido side, Gareth deserves 80% of the credit. Dan Garcia deserves 18% for the running quality and DCC programming side of things. And Bill and I each get 1% for working on them when in China.

 

But it's really been The Gareth Show for this model, and Rapido is very lucky to have him. 

 

We've made a handful of extra models because we knew this would be a "home run" model (sorry, I'm not from around here). If you still want to get a Pendo and you haven't reserved one, contact Ben and Mike (UK/Europe) or Rapido (rest of the world) via the Rapido web site.

 

-Jason

[gedlee]

Hi All

I second the congratulations to all concerned!! Can't wait to receive mine.

Is the expected delivery now early 2018?

Cheers,

Ged

[TomE]

Some time in January. Models are being shipped within the next few weeks was the info from Warley. 

 

Tom. 

[Revolution Ben]

Hello all,

 

It was great to see everyone at Warley this weekend.

 

Rapido brought three finished Pendolinos that had been airfreighted to them in Canada for the show. The remainder they said are leaving the factory in 7-10 days and shipping is likely to take 4-6 weeks.

 

Two of these models were loaned to Kinlet Wharf and Horseley Fields so they could get a run out over the course of the weekend. The third - in Alstom livery - ran on our stand. Thanks to the teams on both layouts and to Alistair for his comments above.

 

Kinlet Wharf:

 

 

Horseley Fields (apologies for the poor quality - snapped in passing and sadly I didn't have time to get any better shots as we were so busy on the stand!):

 

 

It's been a rewarding but tiring weekend but I will be posting a comprehensive Warley report on the Revolution website later, with updates in the various product threads here too.

 

Thanks again to everyone for their support. We are so close now but we should remember none of this could have been achieved without every single person who showed faith and - literally - bought into this dream. So the real credit is with the the entire crowd, and not with any individual.

 

Though I will say that Gareth at Rapido has done a sensational job in creating such a wonderful model.

 

As an aside Hiroshi Kato - the president of Kato models - visited the show and we had a long and very enjoyable chat. Given that Kato models are, to my mind, pretty much the gold standard of high-speed train models in N praise from Mr Kato for our Pendolino was high praise indeed!

 

Cheers

 

Ben A.

Edited November 27, 2017 by Ben A

[davepallant]

A huge congratulations to Ben and Mike for pushing this model from the Kickstarter campaign back in November 2014 through to the models about to leave the factory, and to the team at Rapido, Jason, Gareth and everyone else involved in producing this wonderful model.

Looked fantastic at Warley. Thanks to Ben and Mike and the Rapido team getting it to here.

 

As an aside do I remember Kinlet Wharf's last trip out at York a few years ago? Is it still taking bookings and/or under new management?

 

Ta

Dave

[alibuchan]

Kinlet Wharf is still operated by the Wyre Forest MRC.

 

We were planning to retire the layout at the end of the Warlay show as this was when we decided this the club was going to have our new layout ready to go. However this hasn’t happened so we are talking about keeping it out on the circuit until the new one is available.

 

Personally I don’t want to retire it yet as I have 2 Pendolinos and a couple of 321’s coming and I want to play with them!

 

Alistair

[bmthtrains - David]

Kinlet Wharf is still operated by the Wyre Forest MRC.

We were planning to retire the layout at the end of the Warlay show as this was when we decided this the club was going to have our new layout ready to go. However this hasn’t happened so we are talking about keeping it out on the circuit until the new one is available.

Personally I don’t want to retire it yet as I have 2 Pendolinos and a couple of 321’s coming and I want to play with them!

Alistair

Off-topic, but Alistair please make sure someone photographs the heck out of Kinlet Wharf before it is retired - it's such an iconic layout and deserves to be fully documented!

 

David