Hornby 2018 Announcements

[Oldddudders]

Rails have now revised the price of some of Hornby's more recent releases.  Some of 'The Last Day' series and Duchess of Atholl have already acquired the 'bargain' lozenge.  Not a huge discount on offer compared to some loco's, but obviously they need more of an incentive to shift the stock.  The higher price point would appear to be not working for them.

 

A number of threads have included reference to the significant number of releases by multiple manufacturers in recent months, some of them long-awaited. Real-world modellers with other bills to pay have had to prioritise their spending, and the biggest-ticket items may have suffered reduced sales, however glamorous or successful their rendition.

[Mallard60022]

Maybe its a tunnel with no light at the end of it.

 

New in 2018, 1st item in the new management strategy program:

 

R6666 Single Track Never Ending Tunnel*.

 

*Unfortunately a lighting kit is not available for this item.

Just R666 will do.......................................great thinking there adb.

[Mallard60022]

It’s possible they’ve found an old tooling somewhere in Kent and are reintroducing uk production!

More likely they have found an old tool in Kent; I know who that could be as well.

"Darn to Margate, de dum de diddle, de dum de diddle, de dum etc

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=chas+and+dave+down+to+margate+video&oq=Chas+and+dave%2C+Down+to+margate&aqs=chrome.3.69i57j0l5.9077j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

Oocha, oocha.

[Mallard60022]

Or the sleeve it came in

 

sleve.jpg

 

John

The 'Sleeve'

 

The Sleeve appears to the early humans in RM Web

As with many elements of the film, the iconic Sleeve, or Monolith as it is known in the film, has been subject to countless interpretations, including religious, alchemical,^[21] historical, and evolutionary. To some extent, the very way in which it appears and is presented allows the viewer to project onto it all manner of ideas relating to the film. The Monolith in the movie seems to represent and even trigger epic transitions in the history of human evolution, evolution of man from ape-like beings to civilised people, hence the odyssey of mankind.^[22][23]

Vincent LoBrutto's biography of Kubrick notes that for many, Clarke's novel is the key to understanding the monolith.^[24]:310Similarly, Geduld observes that "the monolith ...has a very simple explanation in Clarke's novel", though she later asserts that even the novel does not fully explain the ending.

Rolling Stone reviewer Bob McClay sees the film as a four-movement symphony, its story told with "deliberate realism".^[25]Carolyn Geduld believes that what "structurally unites all four episodes of the film" is the monolith, the film's largest and most unresolvable enigma.^[26] Each time the monolith is shown, man transcends to a different level of cognition, linking the primeval, futuristic and mystic segments of the film.^[27] McClay's Rolling Stone review notes a parallelism between the monolith's first appearance in which tool usage is imparted to the apes and the completion of "another evolution" in the fourth and final encounter with the monolith.^[28] In a similar vein, Tim Dirks ends his synopsis saying "The cyclical evolution from ape to man to spaceman to angel-starchild-superman is complete".^[29]

The monolith appears four times in 2001: A Space Odyssey on the African savanna, on the moon, in space orbiting Jupiter, and near Bowman's bed before his transformation. After the first encounter with the monolith, we see the leader of the apes have a quick flashback to the monolith after which he picks up a bone and uses it to smash other bones. Its usage as a weapon enables his tribe to defeat the other tribe of apes occupying the water hole who have not learned how to use bones as weapons. After this victory, the ape-leader throws his bone into the air, after which the scene shifts to an orbiting weapon four million years later, implying that the discovery of the bone as a weapon inaugurated human evolution, hence the much more advanced orbiting weapon 4 million years later.^[29]

The first and second encounters of humanity with the monolith have visual elements in common; both apes, and later astronauts, touch the monolith gingerly with their hands, and both sequences conclude with near-identical images of the sun appearing directly over the monolith (the first with a crescent moon adjacent to it in the sky, the second with a near-identical crescent Earth in the same position), both echoing the sun–earth–moon alignment seen at the very beginning of the film.^[30] The second encounter also suggests the triggering of the monolith's radio signal to Jupiter by the presence of humans,^[31] echoing the premise of Clarke's source story "The Sentinel".

In the most literal narrative sense, as found in the concurrently written novel, the Monolith is a tool, an artifact of an alien civilisation. It comes in many sizes and appears in many places, always in the purpose of advancing intelligent life. Arthur C. Clarke has referred to it as "the alien Swiss Army Knife";^[24] or as Heywood Floydspeculates in 2010, "an emissary for an intelligence beyond ours. A shape of some kind for something that has no shape."

The fact that the first tool used by the protohumans is a weapon to commit murder is only one of the challenging evolutionary and philosophic questions posed by the film. The tool's link to the present day is made by the famous graphic match from the bone/tool flying into the air, to a weapon orbiting the earth. At the time of the movie's making, the space race was in full swing, and the use of space and technology for war and destruction was seen as a great challenge of the future.^[32]

But the use of tools also allowed mankind to survive and flourish over the next 4 million years, at which point the monolith makes its second appearance, this time on the Moon. Upon excavation, after remaining buried beneath the lunar surface for 4 million years, the monolith is examined by humans for the first time, and it emits a powerful radio signal—the target of which becomes Discovery One's mission.

In reading Clarke, or Kubrick's comments, this is the most straightforward of the monolith's appearances. It is "calling home" to say, in effect, "they're here!" Some species visited long ago has not only evolved intelligence, but intelligence sufficient to achieve space travel. Humanity has left its cradle, and is ready for the next step. This is the point of connection with Clarke's earlier short story, "The Sentinel", originally cited as the basis for the entire film.

The third time we see a monolith marks the beginning of the film's most cryptic and psychedelic sequence, interpretations of the last two monolith appearances are as varied as the film's viewers. Is it a "star gate," some giant cosmic router or transporter? Are all of these visions happening inside Bowman's mind? And why does he wind up in some cosmic hotel suite at the end of it?^[27]

According to Michael Hollister in his book Hollyworld, the path beyond the infinite is introduced by the vertical alignment of planets and moons with a perpendicular monolith forming a cross, as if the astronaut is about to become a new saviour. Bowman lives out his years alone in a neoclassical room, brightly lit from underneath, that evokes the Age of Enlightenment, decorated with classical art.^[33]

As Bowman's life quickly passes in this neoclassical room, the monolith makes its final appearance: standing at the foot of his bed as he approaches death. He raises a finger toward the monolith, a gesture that alludes to the Michelangelo painting of The Creation of Adam, with the monolith representing God.^[34]

The monolith is the subject of the film's final line of dialogue (spoken at the end of the "Jupiter Mission" segment): "Its origin and purpose still a total mystery". Reviewers McClay and Roger Ebert have noted that the monolith is the main element of mystery in the film, Ebert writing of "The shock of the monolith's straight edges and square corners among the weathered rocks", and describing the apes warily circling it as prefiguring man reaching "for the stars".^[35] Patrick Webster suggests the final line relates to how the film should be approached as a whole, noting "The line appends not merely to the discovery of the monolith on the moon, but to our understanding of the film in the light of the ultimate questions it raises about the mystery of the universe."^[36]

Gerard Loughlin claimed in a 2003 book that the monolith is Kubrick's representation of the cinema screen itself: “it is a cinematic conceit, for turn the monolith on its side and one has the letterbox of the cinemascope screen, the blank rectangle on which the star-child appears, as does the entirety of Kubrick’s film."^[37] The internet-based film critic Rob Ager later produced a video essay also espousing this theory. The academic Dan Leberg complained that Ager had not credited Loughlin.^[38]

 ^{Hal. I. Cantdothat}

Edited December 29, 2017 by Mallard60022

[Mallard60022]

As for the Bachman announcement........https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wneOig8eJwM      

Y. Odel.

[Chamby]

So you’re saying that the blacked out Hornby catalogue is the latest iteration of 2001’s monolith?

 

An interesting concept.

[rovex]

So you’re saying that the blacked out Hornby catalogue is the latest iteration of 2001’s monolith?

 

An interesting concept.

 

Perhaps what it is indicating is a new item in the Skaledale range, a large black monolith (R2001), perhaps with some apes in the pack as well.....

[The Stationmaster]

Rails have now revised the price of some of Hornby's more recent releases.  Some of 'The Last Day' series and Duchess of Atholl have already acquired the 'bargain' lozenge.  Not a huge discount on offer compared to some loco's, but obviously they need more of an incentive to shift the stock.  The higher price point would appear to be not working for them.  

 

If you have a reputation for discounting and then you cease to discount as deeply you are likely to affect your customer base (i.e. you remove the incentive which brought some of your customers to your door/website).  I suspect that Hattons might have suffered similarly when they were prevented from deep discounting Hornby products - certainly their accounts (as available in the public domain) showed some interesting changes over several years.   The deep discounters had long pursued a particular business model and that had attracted customers who were probably more influenced by price than anything when it came to selecting a retailer from whom they would buy.

 

Plus of course as Dudders identifies above 'real world modellers with other bills to pay have to prioritise their spending' - thus such retailers, in particular, could well suffer a sort of double whammy of customers with less money to spend and, in effect. fewer items they can afford  to spend it on.

[coachmann]

Production of super detailed scale models has coincided with the rise in home computer ownership and it seems to me that social media and forums like this one are driving the market today and are creating impulse purchasing like never before. The frothing on here sometimes resembles an addiction when posts indicate people have got used to being regularly fed with new things to spend money on. But real world economics have shown the RTR manufacturers cannot do this at the present time. Perhaps this enforced moderation is a good thing to calm the market down a bit. Far better than a bubble that bursts and leaves the hobby minus one manufacturer.

[Mallard60022]

I've just seen the Dapol advert at the end of my BRM Magazine and I almost fainted until I looked again and realised the Maunsell Coaches are for 2mm/N. Interesting move?

If it is old news I apologise but I''ve not seen them in any ad before. Might they bother to scale up to 4mm? However, why should they bother doing that unless their range has different Diagrams to the Hornby products?

Phil

[rovex]

The frothing on here sometimes resembles an addiction when posts indicate people have got used to being regularly fed with new things to spend money on. 

 

Although I would usually agree with you, once you eliminate the jokey comments, complaints about Hornby's business model and other similar posts, the actual frothing/wish listing/studied speculation has been fairly limited. Not so much froth as mild fizz. 

 

I'm thinking of suggesting that the moderators rename this thread; "Not the Hornby 2018 announcements", might be more accurate.

[GordonC]

Although I would usually agree with you, once you eliminate the jokey comments, complaints about Hornby's business model and other similar posts, the actual frothing/wish listing/studied speculation has been fairly limited. Not so much froth as mild fizz. 

 

I'm thinking of suggesting that the moderators rename this thread; "Not the Hornby 2018 announcements", might be more accurate.

 

with the increase in the number of manufacturers and model commissioners, the annual Hornby announcement is probably less of a proportion of the announcements of new models during the year. There's already quite a backlog of models I'm looking forward to appearing over the coming months

[tomparryharry]

"Quote"....

 

 

"There is only something worse about being talked about, and that is not being talked about...."

 

Oscar Wilde, perhaps?

[Mallard60022]

I wish the characters that moan about waiting ages would remember that some of us are still waiting for the Wrenn Radial.

S. Keleton

[APOLLO]

So you’re saying that the blacked out Hornby catalogue is the latest iteration of 2001’s monolith?

 

An interesting concept.

 

Ohh my God --- It's full of Stars !!!!!!!!!!

 

 

Brit15

[Dick Turpin]

Oh my God --- It's full of Stars !!!!!!!!!!

 

It would be like Cinderella's fairy godmother waving her magic wand - the aborted 'design clever' cabside handrail disappears - poof - and they'd sell in their hundreds! 

[Steamport Southport]

I wish the characters that moan about waiting ages would remember that some of us are still waiting for the Wrenn Radial.

S. Keleton

 

I'm still waiting for the Lima V2 which was advertised and even had photographs in the magazines at the time. Then it disappeared without trace.

 

 

 

Jason

[dibber25]

It was one tiny duff handrail!

[NIK]

Hi,

 

Apologies if this has been suggested before: how about a Hornby/Oxford tie in with help from Faller for a variant of the Carflat which cars can drive onto and stop at the right place on the wagon.

 

Oxford probably have the CAD to make plastic moulds of their cars (the existing Faller steering mechanism struggles with die cast bodies). Hornby have hopefully gained experience in DCC decoders from their TTS range. Might there be room in the floor and underframe of the Carflat for tiny motors and magnets to work the Faller motor kill reed switches or could there be a couple of coils under the floor to communicate with electronics in the vehicles.

 

Regards

 

Nick

[Legend]

It was one tiny duff handrail!

Another step back 20 years . It should have been caught before signed off for production as something that would not be accepted by the modelling fraternity.

 

But there were other issues ,3 pole , 5 pole motors, never really sure what the spec was . Mix up in catalogue illustrations etc

 

Coupled with the failure to secure manufacturing capacity for the range it really was a bad period for Hornby , which until recently they looked to be emerging from.

 

I don’t think it’s a coincidence that following starvation of product from Hornby the big retailers decided to go into commissions and design models themselves to make sure they had something to sell.

Edited December 29, 2017 by Legend

[Dick Turpin]

It was one tiny duff handrail!

 

My @rse! It was the proverbial ha'porth o' tar!

[Dunsignalling]

"Quote"....

 

 

"There is only something worse about being talked about, and that is not being talked about...."

 

Oscar Wilde, perhaps?

Close and yes.

[Dunsignalling]

Rails have now revised the price of some of Hornby's more recent releases.  Some of 'The Last Day' series and Duchess of Atholl have already acquired the 'bargain' lozenge.  Not a huge discount on offer compared to some loco's, but obviously they need more of an incentive to shift the stock.  The higher price point would appear to be not working for them.  

A manifestation of a decreasing following for the pre-nationalisation period, perhaps?

[Steamport Southport]

A manifestation of a decreasing following for the pre-nationalisation period, perhaps?

 

Personally I thought they were a bit overpriced seeing as they released similar models for about £20 less, but without the "final day" tag. Now they seem to be levelling out to the same price as the others.

 

 

 

Jason

[stewartingram]

I wish the characters that moan about waiting ages would remember that some of us are still waiting for the Wrenn Radial.

S. Keleton

 

Or the Kitmaster A3

 

Stewart