Moderators Popular Post AY Mod Posted March 15 Moderators Popular Post Share Posted March 15 The coveted BRMA results are in! It’s been a busy year for everyone with some exceptional quality items which have attracted the recognition of the wider modelling population and they can be allowed a quick look to their laurels. Newer names within the hobby have scored particularly well with their innovation plus strong online information and engagement and the full tables show that mainstream media reports of a decline in the hobby are way off the mark with more producers and more products than ever. N gauge TT & 009 OO gauge O gauge Overall manufacturer of the year Innovation and retailer of the year Layout, Exhibition and Modeller of the year And finally, our occasional Lifetime Achievment award is given to everyone who has been part of Hattons over the years. Congratulations to all and thank you for what you have made available last year! In summary, here's how the overall results looked. 28 4 2 8 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold BMacdermott Posted March 15 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 15 An excellent set of results! A dead hobby? I don't think so!🙂 Brian 1 8 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Bucoops Posted March 15 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 15 (edited) Some very worthy winners, and special congrats to the Ladies at Great Eastern Models for making the shortlist again. Legends. Edited March 15 by Bucoops 5 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nova Scotian Posted March 15 Share Posted March 15 23 minutes ago, BMacdermott said: An excellent set of results! A dead hobby? I don't think so!🙂 Brian Maybe not, but probably some worried looking faces at Hornby this morning. 4 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold PaulRhB Posted March 15 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 15 Nice to see some of the more esoteric items do well in the top three and bubbling just under the ‘medals’ too. The Lionheart L&B and the EFE booster particularly. Just proves that a good model can win people over even with obscure prototypes or scale / gauge combos. 1 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold TheSignalEngineer Posted March 15 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 15 3 minutes ago, Nova Scotian said: Maybe not, but probably some worried looking faces at Hornby this morning. If I were at Hornby I would be more worried at who was taking an interest in the company's shares. Fortunately there's still life in the hobby, we haven't yet got to a category for Asset Stripper of the Year'. 2 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium spamcan61 Posted March 15 RMweb Premium Share Posted March 15 8 minutes ago, Nova Scotian said: Maybe not, but probably some worried looking faces at Hornby this morning. Maybe, I suspect under the previous regime this would be written off as "just a bunch of rivet counters" but maybe things are different now... or not <shrugs> . I would say it's the the profit and loss account that really matters, but clearly they're not doing well there either. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Vistisen Posted March 15 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 15 10 minutes ago, TheSignalEngineer said: If I were at Hornby I would be more worried at who was taking an interest in the company's shares. Fortunately there's still life in the hobby, we haven't yet got to a category for Asset Stripper of the Year'. Asset stripping? do you actually know what that means? I cannot think of anything Hornby has bought, only for it to be sold on to a new owner. That is the definition of asset stripping. If the owners of Hornby Airfix, Corgi, Scalextrics and so on, started selling chunks off to other companies then. The Hornby could be a victim of asset-stripping. But not guilty of it. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold PaulRhB Posted March 15 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 15 (edited) 55 minutes ago, TheSignalEngineer said: If I were at Hornby I would be more worried at who was taking an interest in the company's shares. Fortunately there's still life in the hobby, we haven't yet got to a category for Asset Stripper of the Year'. They got three bronzes but they’ve dropped off the totals list. TT 08, Ruston and TXS Bluetooth They got a gold for the A4 in TT too but bit of a closed list really! Edited March 15 by PaulRhB 1 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators AY Mod Posted March 15 Author Moderators Share Posted March 15 2 minutes ago, PaulRhB said: they’ve dropped off the totals list. Apologies for that, uploaded an incorrect file. Will replace when I'm back next week. 3 6 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold JohnR Posted March 15 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 15 I'm assuming that some people voted for categories in which they didnt model, as the vote totals are similar in each scale. Personally, I didnt vote in the N gauge, OO9 or O categories, as I couldnt give an opinion, as I dont model in those scales and havnt purchased anything. 3 10 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators AY Mod Posted March 15 Author Moderators Share Posted March 15 10 minutes ago, JohnR said: I'm assuming that some people voted for categories in which they didnt model, as the vote totals are similar in each scale. Personally, I didnt vote in the N gauge, OO9 or O categories, as I couldnt give an opinion, as I dont model in those scales and havnt purchased anything. I don't force participants to vote in all categories. In total there were over 7,000 participants. 4 6 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Steven B Posted March 15 RMweb Premium Share Posted March 15 Do you dare risk a "Best Value for Money" category next year? Could lead to some interesting results... Steven B 5 3 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold PaulRhB Posted March 15 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 15 1 hour ago, JohnR said: Personally, I didnt vote in the N gauge, OO9 or O categories, as I couldnt give an opinion, as I dont model in those scales and havnt purchased anything. I model in several scale gauge combos to a greater or lesser extent so some OO are bought to run on future projects, friends or my fathers layouts, (I only have narrow gauge layouts currently), and some other scales although I don’t model I have friends who do so have seen many of those up close and been able to examine. So I vote if I’ve had ‘hands on’ the models. 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium James Makin Posted March 15 RMweb Premium Share Posted March 15 I can't believe my name comes up on that list, that's crazy, thank you! If only you guys saw the amount of bodging that goes on with each of my messy creations 😂 Big congrats to Accurascale too - reminds me of watching Raye at the Brit Awards 🤣 Cheers James 15 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Damo666 Posted March 15 Share Posted March 15 Regardless of who I voted for, what’s fascinating for me in reading the results is the discovery of new layouts and suppliers. Work takes up too much of my time such that, when I visit RMWeb, I tend to dip in and out and don’t see a lot of the excellent work by others. I visit the familiar and then leave, no time for exploratory browsing. From the results, I will now explore Making Tracks 3 (What an incredible picture in the OP, I wondered if it was a photoshop station and model loco, only thing that gave the loco away was the glazing, otherwise I would have been convinced it was prototype). Also will look at some new (to me) suppliers, like Scale Model Scenery. 3 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Covkid Posted March 15 Share Posted March 15 Some very interesting results among the more predictable ones, from someone who doesn't really take "backslapping too seriously - at least up until now. Personally pleased that James Hilton is in the final three. His work really is beautiful - noting that he describes his work as art. It really is. Models - some very esoteric examples there. I mean, who could have predicted the "booster" ? Not a choice for me but it really is a beautiful creation. I am also trying to decide whether I really need to fund the Heljan 10800. I really really want one, but it is too early for my modelling period, and I am waiting for Bachmann 25s. Will be looking forward to the 2024 voting in 12 months time, and can imagine an even tougher battle between such beauties as the Rapido 44xx prairie, the Jones Goods and the Accurascale "buckjumper", although I am peronally hoping for the Bachmann "early" class 25 to be a stunner. 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Keith Addenbrooke Posted March 15 RMweb Premium Share Posted March 15 Congratulations to @Tony Wright and all those who made the shortlist for RMweb Modeller of the Year. I find it’s not just the quality of the modelling (which is inspirational across the board), but often the standard of the communication too that encourages me to raise my game when it comes to Modeller of the Year. “Thank you!” to all. I know Modeller of the Year is the category I spend longest thinking about when it comes to voting (and, like @PaulRhB and others have already noted, I also only vote where I feel I can make an informed choice). Thanks also to @AY Mod for organising the poll - always interesting to see the results, Keith. 3 3 2 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold TheSignalEngineer Posted March 15 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 15 5 hours ago, Vistisen said: Asset stripping? do you actually know what that means? I cannot think of anything Hornby has bought, only for it to be sold on to a new owner. That is the definition of asset stripping. If the owners of Hornby Airfix, Corgi, Scalextrics and so on, started selling chunks off to other companies then. The Hornby could be a victim of asset-stripping. But not guilty of it. I was referring to the danger to Hornby. I know exactly what asset stripping is, having been taken over by a large comglomorate which was in turn 'merged' with another one. They didn't know the product, didn't know the market and were only interested in getting their cut. They bought and sold companies or reorganised every few week it seemed. All turned nasty in the end as the share price crashed due to problems with deliveries on hi-tech projects. I understand they managed to find enough buyers for the various product divisions amongst competitors to pay off the debts and not go into liquidation. Fortunately I had left long before that happened. 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Covkid Posted March 15 Share Posted March 15 (edited) 18 hours ago, Keith Addenbrooke said: Congratulations to @Tony Wright and all those who made the shortlist for RMweb Modeller of the Year. I find it’s not just the quality of the modelling (which is inspirational across the board), but often the standard of the communication too that encourages me to raise my game when it comes to Modeller of the Year. “Thank you!” to all. I know Modeller of the Year is the category I spend longest thinking about when it comes to voting (and, like @PaulRhB and others have already noted, I also only vote where I feel I can make an informed choice). Thanks also to @AY Mod for organising the poll - always interesting to see the results, Keith. Good point Keith. In my eagerness to respond earlier, I should have mentioned "everyone" nominated and voted for, as well as Andy Y for organising the poll. Edited March 16 by Covkid 3 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
34theletterbetweenB&D Posted March 16 Share Posted March 16 On 15/03/2024 at 10:37, Nova Scotian said: ... probably some worried looking faces at Hornby this morning. Rather the reverse. Look how much product they have listed where they compete, and the proportion of the total vote obtained: and then consider how much more product they have before the customers. Just because it's not 'the very latest' doesn't mean everything to a large proportion of the customer base. (My own example, have just purchased a Hornby product that was introduced ten years ago, and 'squeezed out' at that time by higher priority items that required the budget I adhere to. And it's a corker! Which is how it was assessed at introduction.) 23 hours ago, Steven B said: ..."Best Value for Money" category... Just too many factors in purchaser opinion for this to be meaningful. Now, if we could get independently audited results of speed to - lets say - 95% sell out at full price from date of introduction to market; that would be more telling. No more honest vote than what we are prepared to dig out of our wallet... 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nova Scotian Posted March 16 Share Posted March 16 53 minutes ago, 34theletterbetweenB&D said: Rather the reverse. Look how much product they have listed where they compete, and the proportion of the total vote obtained: and then consider how much more product they have before the customers. Just because it's not 'the very latest' doesn't mean everything to a large proportion of the customer base. (My own example, have just purchased a Hornby product that was introduced ten years ago, and 'squeezed out' at that time by higher priority items that required the budget I adhere to. And it's a corker! Which is how it was assessed at introduction.) Just too many factors in purchaser opinion for this to be meaningful. Now, if we could get independently audited results of speed to - lets say - 95% sell out at full price from date of introduction to market; that would be more telling. No more honest vote than what we are prepared to dig out of our wallet... I wasn't saying their range are duds - but I would suggest they've had a couple of years where they themselves state they're playing "catch up". Eg. less announcements, producing things they previously committed to. However, when someone like accurascale is taking everyone on (diesels, kettles etc), and successfully - those will stay in the accurascale range for many years too. Same with rapido. Hornby should want something to perform well next year - if they want to remain committed to OO gauge. TT is theirs for now and maybe that's where their attention is going to fall. I don't own a true Accurascale product (I have two andrew barclays on order which doesn't really count), but I'm certainly going to want to given these results. Just have to convince myself on why I want a Manor that won't fit on my shunting layout! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
34theletterbetweenB&D Posted March 16 Share Posted March 16 11 minutes ago, Nova Scotian said: I wasn't saying their range are duds... And that certainly wasn't what I intended to suggest was your opinion. Hornby's actions in OO considered overall look commercially sound to me. And from among the other long term competitors, it was Bachmann/TMC that for my money had the standout 2023 steam loco introduction with the G5 0-4-4T. The correct layout to deliver a tractively competent small front coupled tank loco, that enabled them to do away with the traction tyre option on the earlier MR 1P 0-4-4T introduction. That's real progress, makes all previous 0-4-4T and 0-4-2T obsolete. (I don't see anything in the Accurascale Manor that brings any such advance over what Hornby demonstrated with their B12/3.) I will acquire an Accurascale J69, and will be interested to see if it beats the current 0-6-0T mechanism benchmark, which is that on the 1997 Bachmann 57xx, a truly excellent job thanks to its easily user adjustable sprung centre axle and pick up wiper arrangements, to ensure reliable current collection. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
montyburns56 Posted March 16 Share Posted March 16 So both Bachmann and Hornby were beaten into 3rd/4th place for 00 Manufacturer of the Year by two new(ish) upstarts. That's gotta sting. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold tomparryharry Posted March 17 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 17 Not my scale, but that A4 pacific in TT does look good. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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