N Gauge Class 390 Pendolino (post Kickstarter) with Rapido

[Paul B]

Have to confess I'm 'invested' as well as buying for my own needs. I may beg tempted to 'invest' a bit more if needed.

 

I certainly think, if the project goes ahead, they'll be a level of demand from those who can't pledge at the current time.

 

This is such a BIG opportunity for N gauge modellers.

[Thomas Wright]

I mainly model LNER and BR Eastern steam in N, but have pledged for an 11 with sound. Let's hope this goes ahead, can see a whole new layout coming along. 

[Revolution Ben]

Hi Thomas,

 

You make an interesting point about the "whole layout" idea. 

 

One of the reasons I wanted this model produced (apart from the fact that I want a couple for our club layout, and inevitable future WCML layouts) is that it "completes" a location: you can feasibly plan to model a large stretch of one of our most important railways as the two most important passenger trains - express and suburban - are now available. 

 

It *would* be nice if a 321 came along too, but if you stand by the WCML at, say, Catiron for long periods all you will see - apart from lots of freight - are Pendolinos, Voyagers, Super Voyagers and Desiros.  All of which (bar the Pendolino, at the moment) are available RTR.  So there is a strategic reason for a Pendo too!

 

cheers

 

Ben A.

[Revolution Ben]

Hello all,

 

In reply to a couple of PMs, emails and other requests about increasing pledges, or pledging for more than one unit, I have pasted this from our Newsletter #3:

 

Pledging for multiple sets
Kickstarter is not ideal for people wishing to pledge for multiple sets or for rewards of two different types. If you wish to order more than one set (and there is not a bundle set up on Kickstarter) then please add together the costs of the sets and add on P&P as follows:

• 2 sets P&P to the UK is £15 (not £20) or the EU £25
• 3 sets P&P to the UK is £20 or the EU £30
• 4 sets P&P to the UK is £25 or to the EU £35

 

If you want to change your pledge then when you log in to Kickstarter use the "amend pledge" button to do so, and this can be done at any time up to the deadline of January 18th.

We would also request that if you haven't already please register at our website www.ngaugependolino.com when you pledge - this will make it much simpler for us to contact you quickly once the pledging period is over to establish what, exactly, you do want and will take you barely 30 seconds.

cheers

Ben A.

Edited January 6, 2015 by Ben A

[Gordonotron]

First of I hope this goes well, I'm not an N gauge person so It's not really an appeal to me. but if I had the money I would still consider it to help out on a great idea.

As a thought for a few comments about not being able to pledge the full amount now, Could a "pre oder" option be included?

Similar to Rapido and the APT-E and using it as an example £50 now and settled by a certain date to ensure it can be done.

 

Worst case you get some people pull out of the preorder. I would expect these could be offered as very limited numbers for the after market.
Just a thought as it might help get a few more people in.

 

Regardless best of luck, I'm watching this one with major interest.

[acko22]

Ben,

 

I know I certainly would love to know and I am certain others may be interested, do we know how many pledges Rapido themselves have had?

[Karhedron]

First of I hope this goes well, I'm not an N gauge person so It's not really an appeal to me. but if I had the money I would still consider it to help out on a great idea.

As a thought for a few comments about not being able to pledge the full amount now, Could a "pre oder" option be included?

 

I don't think that Kickstarter allows this. The full pledge amount is collected if the project is successfully backed, it is just the way that kickstarter works.

 

If you want to help out, you could pledge for a couple of coaches to represent extra vehicles being delivered to strengthen the sets (or just to sell on eBay if that is your wish ). I think there is even just an option to pledge a couple of pounds to support the project on principle.

[Andy Y]

I think there is even just an option to pledge a couple of pounds to support the project on principle.

 

There is indeed and you'll get a download for Pendolino wallpaper for your device and a mention on the website that you're a backer. It doesn't have to be just £2; you can chuck a little bit more in and just be someone who helped try and make it happen. I've put a banner on every page of RMweb today also used our Facebook pages so if you're a Facebook user it may be worth sharing the following page to help spread the word a little more and make people aware of the deadline - https://www.facebook.com/Britishrailwaymodellingmagazine/posts/895696410463400

[Revolution Ben]

 

 

Hi Andy,

 

That's fantastic, many thanks for all the support. It's fair to say I think that our ability to connect with each other via RM Web has been a pivotal part of this project.

 

And Matthew above is right - with Kickstarter we can't have part-funded pledges, it's all-or-nothing. But there is sense in this - it means we only collect cash if we have the funding we need to get to the finish line.

 

Cheers

 

Ben A.

[Gordonotron]

While we can't have part funded pledges it does offer a custom amount option that might work for this.

 

Just a thought to help raise the funds.

[Revolution Mike]

I see what you mean about how you could use the pledge system like that, but I'm not sure that Kickstarter's rules would allow partial payments.  I guess it would depend on whether they consider it a financial incentive (banned).

 

From our point of view when starting the project what we didn't want to happen was to take money off people and for whatever reason (because prices had increased or because we hadn't received full payment from supporters) not be able to pay bills or complete the project.

 

Cheers, Mike

[61661]

IIRC the Heljan unnumbered 47s did very well - I recall one retailer selling out his allocation before they hit his store. I think there's a case for tactfully picked un-numbered models. The one that I'm amazed hasn't happened in 2mm or 4mm is a triple grey, un-numbered 60. It's a livery that's been carried by ever member of the class, with whole host of brandings for almost two decades. Unlike 47s and 37s, where there are various detail pit-falls across the class, I don't think there's anything on the 60s beyond the ariels above the horns. It's a sod to repaint too.

 

Anyway, just my 2p.

 

Pix

From my time in the retail side of the hobby, and experience of subsequent models (including the Heljan unnumbered 47s), unnumbered and undecorated models are, to put it politely, slow sellers compared to their fully decorated counterparts. British modellers, and this is probably truer now than it ever was, prefer their models to be fully decorated, numbered and finished. Bachmann, Hornby, Dapol and Heljan have all tried it at various times over the last 20 years; it's significant that none repeated the experiment. The grey 60 is a good suggestion though - it offers no end of possibilities.

[Great Western]

Well it's at £120,000 now, with 11 days to go. I reckon you guys might just get this thing done!

 

However, I've still haven't bit the bullet and pledged, why ? The prospect of having £380 taken in the next three weeks is putting me off. I really want an 11 car unit and wish this project the very very best.

 

Is there anyone willing to pledge for a few extra sets that a 'suitable person' could take a desposit for ? The balance being paid later on ?

 

Great Western

Edited January 7, 2015 by Great Western

[JSpencer]

Well it's at £120,000 now, with 11 days to go. I reckon you guys might just get this thing done!

However, I've still bit the bullet and pledged, why ? The prospect of having £380 taken in the next three weeks is putting me off. I really want an 11 car unit and wish this project the very very best.

Is there anyone willing to pledge for a few extra sets that a 'suitable person' could take a desposit for ? The balance being paid later on ?

Great Western

Should that read "I've still HAVE NOT bit the bullet...."?

[Phil Parker]

Well it's at £120,000 now, with 11 days to go. I reckon you guys might just get this thing done!

However, I've still bit the bullet and pledged, why ? The prospect of having £380 taken in the next three weeks is putting me off. I really want an 11 car unit and wish this project the very very best.

Is there anyone willing to pledge for a few extra sets that a 'suitable person' could take a desposit for ? The balance being paid later on ?

Great Western

 

Presumably if anyone would be up for that, they would expect a return on the investment. How much would you be willing to pay and what deposit would you put down? There might be several people interested

[Great Western]

I would pay the cost of the set as it is now, say a third of the cost now then the remainder a little later.

 

Great Western

[Thomas Wright]

Hi Thomas,

 

You make an interesting point about the "whole layout" idea. 

 

One of the reasons I wanted this model produced (apart from the fact that I want a couple for our club layout, and inevitable future WCML layouts) is that it "completes" a location: you can feasibly plan to model a large stretch of one of our most important railways as the two most important passenger trains - express and suburban - are now available. 

 

It *would* be nice if a 321 came along too, but if you stand by the WCML at, say, Catiron for long periods all you will see - apart from lots of freight - are Pendolinos, Voyagers, Super Voyagers and Desiros.  All of which (bar the Pendolino, at the moment) are available RTR.  So there is a strategic reason for a Pendo too!

 

cheers

 

Ben A.

 

I have to agree with all that Ben, I have something in my mind based on somewhere near Birmingham with a mixture of cross country, virgin and London Midland, alongside freight and a few steam specials. Some inspiration can definitely be taken from your area groups wonderful Horseley Fields.

[roundhouse]

I am Looking at pledging for more but on my iPad can't find a way to keep my 11 car with sound and select another 9 car etc.

 

As to what I do with any extra units will have to wait till they are released just incase I decide to build Something West Coast

Ian

Edited January 7, 2015 by roundhouse

[acko22]

Ian,

 

I think you keep the same pledge just put in the amount as extra so add the total costs and pledge that for your 11 car.

[Revolution Ben]

 

Ian: does post #405 above not help? I have to say both Mike and I feel that while Kickstarter has been amazing to get us this far, there are some shortcomings in the way the website actually works...

 

Thomas: Thanks for your kind words about Horseley Fields. When I got back into model trains about 15 yrs ago and started gong to shows I never thought I would ever be exhibiting a layout myself. Joining the Northants and Cambs area group of the NGS has really given my mdoelling a focus - especially as right now I have no layout of my own....!

 

Cheers

 

Ben A.

[thelochtatmonster]

Hi Ben / Mike.

 

Can you send me some more leaflets please. I'm off to Canterbury with Tat the weekend after next (which I believe to be the last two days of the pledging period - correct me if I'm wrong).

 

I think I may be able to persuade the owner to put a poster or two up on the ends of the layout. The plan is to sugest either the posters or as an alternative, I'll get the drill out and insert some Dapol catenary - It is WEST Highlands after all! I'm assuming the response will be something along the lines of inserting the catenary somewhere else......

 

I'll use the poster template from last time unless you have an alternative drawing attention to the deadline.

 

All the best, Andy.

[Revolution Ben]

 

 

Andy: I'll try to sort some new posters - if not use the older ones. I have now run out of leaflets - but I think both Ian (roundhouse) and Ali are going to be at Canterbury too and should have some.

 

Cheers

 

Ben A.

[njee20]

I would pay the cost of the set as it is now, say a third of the cost now then the remainder a little later.

Why would anyone do that? You basically want someone to loan you £300 on the vague promise that you'll pay them back "a little later", with absolutely no interest? If you said you were prepared to pay 20% extra or whatever you may be more in luck, but I'm afraid that's not an appealing proposition as it stands!

 

Why not just get a 0% credit card, rather than using other forum members?

[Karhedron]

That is actually a very good idea. You can get 0% credit cards for 24 months for fees of around 3%. I think that the models will be available within that timeframe and I am pretty sure will sell for more than a 3% premium on eBay.

 

And if you want to keep the model that works out at only slightly over £10 per month for the basic 9-car set. A guide to 0% credit cards here. http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/credit-cards/best-0-credit-cards

 

Disclaimer: I am a software engineer, NOT a financial adviser.

Edited January 8, 2015 by Karhedron

[roundhouse]

Andy: I'll try to sort some new posters - if not use the older ones. I have now run out of leaflets - but I think both Ian (roundhouse) and Ali are going to be at Canterbury too and should have some.

Cheers

Ben A.

Yes I have some leaflets to put on Banbury

 

Ian