What N gauge do you want to see from Accurascale?

[Steven B]

40 minutes ago, NBL said:

 

Looking at the lack of posts on the weekend on the main N-Gauge show of the year makes me think if the market is big enough for another manufacturer?

 

Perhaps it's more the case that you'll find more comments about TINGS on the N Gauge Forum.

 

 

[NBL]

17 minutes ago, woodenhead said:

@NBL Whilst the market is nothing like OO a lack of manufacturers does not help the situation.  The more that there are the more it encourages people to try the scale because it's not an all eggs in one basket situation.

 

Bachmann will do more N if there is actual competition, Dapol were that competition once and between them they covered a lot of models in quite a short space of time.  But once Dapol backed away so it appears did Bachmann, RevolutioN work to a different model so we would never expect a lot from them and not enough to worry Bachmann, the same would apply to Sonic.

 

Competition drives a market so having Bachmann Farish, Dapol, Sonic, RevolutioN, Rapido and Accurascale should ensure quality goes up, content increases and that will attract more people to the scale.

 

I don't expect output to ever match OO, but there is space to increase and a market to build.

 

And with regards to Accurascale, it's not like they didn't actually ask us a few months back.

I agree with what you are saying, I just wonder what a new entrant could bring?

 

Most of the main d&e locos are covered with recent models, BR coaching stock is mostly covered, same with wagons. 

 

Filling the gaps in the above, along with more units would be a good idea, would it be enough to sustain a new entrant?

 

Is there enough of a market to support duplication of existing well modelled prototypes?

 

I know practically nothing about steam era so won't comment on that. 

 

Just my thoughts.

[Steven B]

4 minutes ago, NBL said:

Most of the main d&e locos are covered with recent models, BR coaching stock is mostly covered, same with wagons. 

 

No RTR Class 45 or 46 (44 due from Rapido at some point, with others to hopefully follow). No early AC electrics or class 89 or 91. Plenty of early mainline diesels and shunters to have a go at too. 

 

There's no decent Mk2b,c,d or e or the later refurbished mk1 catering cars. No Mk4 carriages either. 

 

There are plenty of air braked wagons missing - more than have been done. BBA, HEA, VAA, VBA, VDA, OTA, FFA/FGA are missing from the BR owned fleet. Add in privately owned depressed centre PCA, SSA Scrap wagons, numerous designs of PGA and dozens of chemical tanks and there's plenty to go at.  

 

We've only seen one Mk1 based third rail EMU with no OHLE based units from the same era. We're also missing most 63' Mk1 based DMUs with only the promise of a class 120 from Revolution to look forward to. 

 

Add in breakdown cranes, engineers cranes, tampers and other on track plant and I'd suggest there are still plenty of holes to fill.

[Ed-farms]

I must admit my thoughts was Accurascale/Rails 89 Badger in N would be announced out of the blue at TING's but that was squashed when Rails didn't even make the list to attend. Maybe next year, but as Steven says there is plenty of gaps to fill. The main one is does what Accurscale make fill those gaps. Hopefully they will still churn out some good quality rolling stock as a starter

[woodenhead]

Accurascale have four decent Diesels that can downsize - definitely a gap in the Deltic department, the 37 is still old 6 pin tech - so two potential items though I would expect both could quickly be seized upon by Farish if Accurascale announced them in N.  The 50 from Dapol, not a bad model and it has Next18 and a speaker socket - mine doesnt run bad so I guess it has recently satisfied demand.  The 31 has had a makeover of late for sound but there isn't a Skinhead option, might that offer a route for Accurascale.

 

Wagons, plenty of space for more minerals of various sizes and a HAA would be popular as well, some bogie wagons for the more modern modeller as well.  Coaches - Mk2c definitely though I wonder how big the market would be for Mk1 suburbans given they already exist albeit an old tooling now - perhaps with lighting eh and if a 31 comes along definitely.

[Stefen1988]

I would say; start with Freight Wagons, then Coaches, then a Diesel. Best would be Prototypes you have in 00 to downsize them.

 

[Covkid]

2 hours ago, Stefen1988 said:

I would say; start with Freight Wagons, then Coaches, then a Diesel. Best would be Prototypes you have in 00 to downsize them.

 

Not my scale so only commenting as an "onlooker"

I imagine Accurascale could do so much worse that minutise the class 37 and maybe the 92, the new Mk2 range,  and as many wagons as they feel the need to, but certainly an "N" 37 hauling a lengthy train of HUOs or MDOs and a brakevan would be very nice.    

[ModRXsouth]

New N gauge Class 37 in grey Europhoenix and red DB Schenker liveries would certainly capture my wallet. Very frustrating seeing these for so long in OO gauge.

IEA bogie ballast wagons - in Network Rail yellow and ‘red snapper’ EWS. This would enhance the existing JNA Falcon and IOA high sided Merlin wagons.

 

How about white bogie tankers - TEA with BOC or TCA with ICI logos? Or the PDA bogie twin dip cement wagons, with some later recoded as JCA in Croxton & Garry livery carrying calcium carbonate between Aberdeen and Sittingbourne in Kent - a useful cross-country wagon!

On track machinery seems an unexplored area but understandably tampers, cranes, etc present tooling complications. So how about the relatively simple boxy shaped departmental unit: Network Rail’s 999800 or -801 single survey cars built by Plasser in 2004 to measure track geometry and ballast depth.

Edited October 5, 2023 by ModRXsouth
Addition.

[Stefen1988]

Do we already know what Accurascale want to bring in N?

Edited October 9, 2023 by Stefen1988

[woodenhead]

Well they'd better hurry up and say something.

 

I am about to sound and stay alive equip two 6 pin 37s, I've seen a neat way to do the stay alives in a class 50 and I don't need a Deltic in Cheshire in the late 1960s unless I suddenly get the urge to make a Leeds layout with an A1, A3 and A4 and some Gresleys (that's dangerous thinking!!!).

 

I would be up for some rather nice mineral wagons though for the other project....

[Padishar Creel]

Saturday I re-read the whole thread and watched the interview. And I too am now wondering what will be announced  now that autumn is here. 

 

I am very interested in one of their possibilites, just hope it is not suddenly on the market, as it has been expensive recently 😶

 

es grüßt

pc 

[47606odin]

Well, as I’m now entering the N gauge scale side of the hobby, and as such cancelled my OO 89, I’m happy for accurascale to redo modern class 37’s of the current scene. 
 

my current fleet of loco s is a Farish class 60, a Dapol and Farish 66 to compare, and a class 67. I would definitely be interested in current variations of 37’s from the main companies, DRS, WCR, LSL and appropriate mk1 and MK2 coaches in modern liveries as used in railtour sets so old BR liveries with modern logos and CDL lights perhaps as applicable.

 

So I shall hold back from purchasing these items in the hope that accurascale decide what they are going to do

[woodenhead]

I don't think we'd see the same broad scale of models within a class that we would in OO, the market would not be there in sufficient numbers.  Perhaps as a release of models over time, but not all at once like OO.

 

Shrinking down a class 66 would be a good starter I imagine, I forgot about that model from Hattons now being Accurascale, both N scale models are old in the tooth now and there are a lot of liveries.

 

I took a look inside one of my class 37s last week to look at space for sound and stay alives, it has a couple of spaces that would be usable without having to cut metal and once I've done that there would be no need for me to purchase an N scale Accurascale 37.  There is also the class 31, but again the Farish model is not bad, it's got most of what we need, a skinhead model is lacking but there were only 40 in total so not a big part of the class.

 

To me the clamour for really detailed models in N is a difficult one, the OO ones are already getting frail with all the extra bits, the Rapido 28 shows just how frail they get when you shrink a model further so I am not so sure how much further than the current level of fidelity you need to go in N, and is that enough to offer the level of return needed to duplicate models.  However, we do know what happens when one model company is dominant so having competition in N is really important for the scale, though with Bachmann Farish, Dapol, RevolutioN, Rapido, Peco, Sonic and Cavalex it's getting quite healthy.

[Steven B]

3 hours ago, 47606odin said:

So I shall hold back from purchasing these items in the hope that accurascale decide what they are going to do

 

Don't do that - you'll spend a long time not running trains! The chances of Accurascale going into competition with Bachmann/Farish's Mk1 range is probably tiny, although plugging some of the gaps would be nice. I think we're much likely to see them shrink the Mk2b, Mk2c. Loco-wise, I suspect the market is perhaps there for a Class 37 by virtue of the number of the class built.

 

Dapol announced a new tool class 66 back in March:

https://www.Dapol.co.uk/blogs/news/all-new-n-gauge-class-66

 

[woodenhead]

There’s not much wrong with this if you ask me.

 

 

 

It could do with a Next18 interface but I can still make it sing with a six pin socket and the lights will work

 

 

Edited October 12, 2023 by woodenhead

[D9020 Nimbus]

The main issue with the Farish 37 is the (IMHO) excessive gap between the body and the bogies. But I don't know whether this is just a necessary compromise to enable the loco to traverse radius 2 curves.

 

(I must admit that I don't understand the use of radius 2 as a standard. It makes sense in OO, where set track points are radius 2, but N gauge set track points are radius 1).

[Kris]

2 hours ago, D9020 Nimbus said:

The main issue with the Farish 37 is the (IMHO) excessive gap between the body and the bogies. But I don't know whether this is just a necessary compromise to enable the loco to traverse radius 2 curves.

 

(I must admit that I don't understand the use of radius 2 as a standard. It makes sense in OO, where set track points are radius 2, but N gauge set track points are radius 1).

The large gap is poor engineering. The body can be lowered and still let the 37 go around sharp corners. 

 

As to radius 2 being the minimum, radius 1 is a historic thing that should be phased out just like it almost has been in OO. Trying to get Peco to change their set track points to radius 2 however would be nigh on impossible. 

[frobisher]

9 minutes ago, Kris said:

As to radius 2 being the minimum, radius 1 is a historic thing that should be phased out just like it almost has been in OO. Trying to get Peco to change their set track points to radius 2 however would be nigh on impossible. 

 

The geometry wouldn't work then of course.  Peco's R1 is the equivalent of R2 in 00 though so relatively speaking not that bad, and equivalent to Minitrix's R2 - their tightest pointwork is their R1!

 

 

[Dr Al]

1 hour ago, Kris said:

The large gap is poor engineering. The body can be lowered and still let the 37 go around sharp corners. 

 

As to radius 2 being the minimum, radius 1 is a historic thing that should be phased out just like it almost has been in OO. Trying to get Peco to change their set track points to radius 2 however would be nigh on impossible. 

 

Agree totally with the first point - I've lowered the body also on all my Farish 37s. [note: there are some very poor standard fixes to this that *raise* the bogie frame sides instead - these are not a good solution!]

 

Second point is irrelevant - a correctly lowered body Farish class 37 can go round R1 curves also. So there's no reason any well designed 37 from......another manufacturer..... could not also be designed to go round R1.

 

While I avoid R1 and tight curves in general, R1 will not disappear any time soon in N as so many folks still use it, and Peco setrack points use it extensively. The only way it'll start to be phased out is if Peco remove it from their setrack system, and to do that would mean replacing basically the whole system as the basic left and right standard points (ST5, ST6) that are the basis of the system use it for their curved roads.

 

Cheers,

Alan

[CF MRC]

The obvious choice is a buckjumper. Why make life easy for yourselves? You are doing one in 4mm scale. 

 

Tim

Edited October 29, 2023 by CF MRC

[Robert Shrives]

15 minutes ago, CF MRC said:

The obvious choice is a buckjumper. Why make life easy for yourselves?

 

Tim

or an 01 shunter  for folk modelling Holyhead breakwater. 

[woodenhead]

I had a dream last night that Accurascale had an N gauge stand at Warley.

 

There was an EP of a Deltic, a painted 37, a 25/3, a class 50 and an interesting 0-4-4 tank engine.

 

Strangely the stand was a folding tin table in a mucky corner of the car park, I managed to knock all the items off the table onto the concrete and then discovered someone had stolen my coat as I sheepishly tried to walk away because of the damage I'd caused.

 

My takeaway from this, I must want Accurascale to do an N scale 25/3 and don't wear a big coat whist perusing a stand 🤣

[Solo]

3 hours ago, woodenhead said:

I had a dream last night that Accurascale had an N gauge stand at Warley.

 

There was an EP of a Deltic, a painted 37, a 25/3, a class 50 and an interesting 0-4-4 tank engine.

 

Strangely the stand was a folding tin table in a mucky corner of the car park, I managed to knock all the items off the table onto the concrete and then discovered someone had stolen my coat as I sheepishly tried to walk away because of the damage I'd caused.

 

My takeaway from this, I must want Accurascale to do an N scale 25/3 and don't wear a big coat whist perusing a stand 🤣

It's the 'mucky corner' that concerns me most about this dream...

[franciswilliamwebb]

21 hours ago, woodenhead said:

someone had stolen my coat

 

Was it a fleece?  It's normal to get fleeced when using the car parks at Warley 😉

[Roy L S]

Seeing the further OO announcement today on top of a number of others in recent months that seem to have gone down well with the modelling fraternity (including the rather lovely Ruston 88DS in O Gauge) has prompted me to return to this thread and ask as we approach Warley 2023 whether the Accurascale Team have had any further thoughts or reached any decisions about producing any N Gauge models.

 

There have been a range of suggestions made on this thread as to what they might want to consider producing, and I believe Accurascale have one or two N modellers in their ranks who are keen, but as yet there doesn't seem to have been much in the way of follow up. I appreciate this doesn't necessarily mean the matter of N products isn't being considered, but it would be interesting to have some kind of update and to understand whether it is the case, or whether like Heljan the Team feel they have enough on already without embarking on products for another scale.

 

Roy

Edited November 23, 2023 by Roy L S