David Bigcheeseplant Posted March 1, 2015 Share Posted March 1, 2015 (edited) http://www.Bachmann.co.uk/image_box.php?image=images1/branchline/39-576.jpg&cat_no=39-576&info=0&width=650&height=230 An image of the new Bachmann Hawksworth autocoach, not a great photo but it looks good. Not too sure of the brass painted bell but some maroon paint will sort that. I am sure that plenty of extra underfloor rodding can be added by those who wish to do so. It has the normal back to back seating so those wishing to do the bus type seating will have to do some work, moulded handrails round the driver door may need to replaced, but hey ho it looks a great model. David Edited March 1, 2015 by David Bigcheeseplant 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
robday12 Posted March 1, 2015 Share Posted March 1, 2015 But have you seen the price that Bachmann are asking for it, £59.95! The LMS inspection saloon is priced at the same level,(I was intending to get one of these but not at that price, the comet kit in my "one day I'll get this built" list just jumped up the building order by quite a few places!) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold 57xx Posted March 1, 2015 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 1, 2015 Thankfully I was never in the market for one of these autotrailers, but that sort of pricing doesn't bode well for future releases. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Legend Posted March 1, 2015 RMweb Premium Share Posted March 1, 2015 Does the bell ring for that price? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
robday12 Posted March 1, 2015 Share Posted March 1, 2015 .... but that sort of pricing doesn't bode well for future releases. It may just be my cynical side coming through, but Bachmann may think that customers will not be buying multiples of the autocoach or the inspection saloon so they are charging the maximum they can get away with for a one off sale! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold gwrrob Posted March 1, 2015 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 1, 2015 The 70s released Airfix/Hornby autocoach retails at £25 and the Comet kit is upwards of £40 so you pays your money or go without.I've built several kits but they are time consuming and need a decent finish to compare with rtr models.I have no qualms paying the going rate nowadays for decent coaching stock but I'm more discerning in what I buy and probably buying less. 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
darren01 Posted March 1, 2015 Share Posted March 1, 2015 Bit pricey for an auto coach!, was looking at getting one,But now it can stay in the shop. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Bigcheeseplant Posted March 1, 2015 Author Share Posted March 1, 2015 Is it really that expensive as said above a Comet kit will cost you around £40 and you need to build and paint it. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Ian Hargrave Posted March 1, 2015 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 1, 2015 Look at it this way.The Inspection Saloon is an economic way of running a complete train on your layout and it is an exquisite model. The same will no doubt be said of the Autocoach when it finally arrives.At most,you only need a couple.One will no doubt suffice for most. So......Pannier & train for about £120? I bought the Inspection Saloon and rate it a good buy and have no complaints about the expense.Thus,I know where my money's going. 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
alfsboy Posted March 1, 2015 Share Posted March 1, 2015 (edited) Is it really that expensive as said above a Comet kit will cost you around £40 and you need to build and paint it. I have found by the time all the bits and pieces not in kits like wheels ,couplings paint ,decals etc are factored in ,the cost is dearer than the made up model .Sure there is an initial saving but its all soaked up in the parts you still have to get .Like motors ,gearxoxes wheels etc in loco kits .You still need the skill to make it and not everyone has it and probably half the moaners dont either .Chinese models are still cheap at almost at twice the price . Edited March 1, 2015 by alfsboy 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PenrithBeacon Posted March 1, 2015 Share Posted March 1, 2015 But have you seen the price that Bachmann are asking for it, £59.95! The LMS inspection saloon is priced at the same level,(I was intending to get one of these but not at that price, the comet kit in my "one day I'll get this built" list just jumped up the building order by quite a few places!)The Comet kit is £47.50; also you have to do assembly and painting etc. A snip at £59.95! Regards 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
irishmail Posted March 1, 2015 Share Posted March 1, 2015 Hatton's have it listed at £42.50, Pre-order price so could change. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
robday12 Posted March 1, 2015 Share Posted March 1, 2015 A snip at £59.95! Perhaps a new definition of the term "snip"! At that price I do not expect to see moulded on lamp irons! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
County of Yorkshire Posted March 1, 2015 Share Posted March 1, 2015 Although I'm not in the market for one of these (I model pre-nationalisation) it does look good. However, a good point has been raised: what are we going to be paying when someone, anyone gets around to brand new GWR corridor coaches - toplights, bow-enders, sunshine coaches, whatever - ? Fag-packet maths tells you that a nice five-coach rake is going to be getting on for £250 a throw on current pricing trends! Is this hobby going to be sustainable in the medium-long term? Yes, we'll all be more discerning in our purchases, but what's the endgame of that for the manufacturers? CoY 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Dunsignalling Posted March 1, 2015 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 1, 2015 (edited) It may just be my cynical side coming through, but Bachmann may think that customers will not be buying multiples of the autocoach or the inspection saloon so they are charging the maximum they can get away with for a one off sale! I suspect that they would see it from the opposite end, that they are expensive to develop relative to any reasonable expectation of sales. Few people are going to buy more than a couple, whether they are priced at £60 or £20. In both cases, all the tooling, with the exception of the bogies, is unique to a single model with no opportunity spread the cost by re-using it in the production of further coaches. Compare that to the Mk.1 and Bulleid ranges, where, apart from the main body and interior mouldings, everything else is common to almost all variants. John Edited March 1, 2015 by Dunsignalling 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dibber25 Posted March 1, 2015 Share Posted March 1, 2015 Although I'm not in the market for one of these (I model pre-nationalisation) it does look good. However, a good point has been raised: what are we going to be paying when someone, anyone gets around to brand new GWR corridor coaches - toplights, bow-enders, sunshine coaches, whatever - ? Fag-packet maths tells you that a nice five-coach rake is going to be getting on for £250 a throw on current pricing trends! Is this hobby going to be sustainable in the medium-long term? Yes, we'll all be more discerning in our purchases, but what's the endgame of that for the manufacturers? CoY It's in line with what overseas modellers are paying for coaches made in China. Rapido's Canadian passenger cars are reckoned to be the equivalent of around £70 in North America. By the time you pay UK duty, VAT and charges they can be upwards of £100 and the minimum for a realistic 'Canadian' (the trans-continental) would be about 9 cars. This debate is never-ending but if we want lots of separately-fitted detail (Rapido cars can have as many as 400 parts) its the labour cost that pushes the price up. We can have the models cheaper only if we are content with Hornby Railroad-style moulded details. CHRIS LEIGH Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Dunsignalling Posted March 1, 2015 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 1, 2015 Although I'm not in the market for one of these (I model pre-nationalisation) it does look good. However, a good point has been raised: what are we going to be paying when someone, anyone gets around to brand new GWR corridor coaches - toplights, bow-enders, sunshine coaches, whatever - ? Fag-packet maths tells you that a nice five-coach rake is going to be getting on for £250 a throw on current pricing trends! Is this hobby going to be sustainable in the medium-long term? Yes, we'll all be more discerning in our purchases, but what's the endgame of that for the manufacturers? CoY Your estimate is pretty much in line with my expectations. If the people who want such coaches stump up that sort of money, more will be introduced. If they don't, that'll be it. It can be argued that those who can afford a layout that requires several dozen coaches to look sensible (not to mention the premises to contain it) should have the wherewithal to stock it. We lesser mortals may have to adjust to buying what we are likely to use rather than filling the spare bedroom wardrobe with everything we fancy (guilty as charged, m'lud). How that shift may affect the hobby in general and the manufacturers in particular, will only gradually become clear. John 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Legend Posted March 1, 2015 RMweb Premium Share Posted March 1, 2015 It's in line with what overseas modellers are paying for coaches made in China. Rapido's Canadian passenger cars are reckoned to be the equivalent of around £70 in North America. By the time you pay UK duty, VAT and charges they can be upwards of £100 and the minimum for a realistic 'Canadian' (the trans-continental) would be about 9 cars. This debate is never-ending but if we want lots of separately-fitted detail (Rapido cars can have as many as 400 parts) its the labour cost that pushes the price up. We can have the models cheaper only if we are content with Hornby Railroad-style moulded details. CHRIS LEIGH Or get Oxfordrail to model them. What's needed is a bit of competition here. I appreciate that it would cost at least £59 to assemble and paint an auto coach if I bought a kit .However these are injection mouldings put together in bulk. There maybe separately fitted parts , and I'm sure there will be a degree of finesse but what we are suffering from is Kaders decision to get more profit from its UK subsidiary. If Oxfordrail can bring out 4 wheel trucks at £8.95 instead of Bachmanns £12.95, let's encourage them to get into more model railways. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold TheSignalEngineer Posted March 1, 2015 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 1, 2015 Now where did I put that flushglaze and the detailing parts? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
County of Yorkshire Posted March 1, 2015 Share Posted March 1, 2015 If the people who want such coaches stump up that sort of money, more will be introduced. If they don't, that'll be it. I agree, and thus it's galling that we didn't get any GWR coaches that weren't hobbled for the majority of GWR modellers (a la Hawksworths!) in the 'bountiful' period of low(er) cost, multiple-running-numbers that the Hornby Gresleys, Pullmans, Staniers and Maunsells benefited from! At a show recently, there were Hawksworths and Maunsells aplenty - albeit all-firsts and composites in the main - brand new, at £17-£22 a go. Silly-cheap prices for such quality items, but I couldn't take advantage, as I have my fill of each. My lament is that there aren't trestle tables full of bow-ended Colletts to Hornby's 2005 - 2011 specs, in multiple running numbers and liveries at the same price point! What I'm trying to say is, by time the coaching stock is released that both I and many modellers of Swindon want, you'll need a blank cheque to satisfy your needs! And if we don't buy to meet Margate's and Barwell's forecasted demand, then that'll be yer lot, as you have said. It's not fair! Though I know life aint... CoY Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
asmay2002 Posted March 1, 2015 Share Posted March 1, 2015 what we are suffering from is Kaders decision to get more profit from its UK subsidiary. They were making a loss. They either put the prices up or go out of business. . Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allegheny1600 Posted March 1, 2015 Share Posted March 1, 2015 If you REALLY think that around £60 is expensive, have a look at this please: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Hobbytrade-H0-63231-Arriva-DoSto-Wagen-DBpz-KK-1-87-Innenbeleuchtung-U58-/361219612225?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2047675.l2557&nma=true&si=KUKiH7TOeIEch3CYit83trOhD6k%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc A secondhand but as new model, would have been around £75 new! Clearly a rather rare piece admittedly. It has been said for some time now that coaches and some wagons cost nearly as much to tool as locos - add twenty odd pounds for a motor and gears, this would be cheap. I cannot understand why the typical British modeller has to moan about prices all the time. Sincerely, John E. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
robday12 Posted March 1, 2015 Share Posted March 1, 2015 I cannot understand why the typical British modeller has to moan about prices all the time. This particular British modeller is what is known as "SKINT", and when the price of a model coach is getting on for 10 times my hourly pay rate I think a little bit of moaning is not out of order. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sp1 Posted March 1, 2015 Share Posted March 1, 2015 Although £50-60 might sound a lot, if you look at the LMS inspection saloon it is stunning, and even as a GWR modeller I have been tempted (there is still one sitting on the shelf in one if my local model shops - and yes, I am lucky enough to have two very good shops nearby!). Coaches to this standard would be very welcome - I might not be buying a lot in one go (stagger the release .....?), but they would surely be better than decades old Hornby Models, ex Airfix Autocoaches etc - and you can only have so many Bachmann Colletts..... It's great that the Comet range is now in good hands, and I will be having a go at some, but at circa £50 each you still have to paint, line, and number them, on top of building time - I enjoy building things, so that's a bonus - but a professional paint job would be needed to get close to what Hornby & Bachmann are now capable of producing, and what would you be prepared to pay such as the likes of Goddard or Rice to produce for you, even if you are prepared to wait for the time that such expertise takes in the form of waiting lists? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ozexpatriate Posted March 1, 2015 Share Posted March 1, 2015 (edited) It's in line with what overseas modellers are paying for coaches made in China. Rapido's Canadian passenger cars are reckoned to be the equivalent of around £70 in North America.This BLI SP Parlor Observation car is $89.99 (pre-sales tax) or about £58. (It is lighted.) Other coaches for the same train are $79.99 (£52), though they are still lit. Hornby's new Pullman coaches are £49.99 and they are also lit. £59.99 seems slightly high for an unlit model, but it is not wildly out of line. EDIT: Plus, how many autocoaches will anyone buy? One, maybe two? You don't need a whole train of them. Edited March 1, 2015 by Ozexpatriate 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now