scottrains29

30 minutes ago, KDG said:

You may be right. Not so good then. Why would they do that when they have the proper tooling?

I'm hoping it's just the image that's wrong.

The price is still a bit steep. A 3 pack is £72.99 for the old Hornby model vs £74.95 for the latest Accurascale version (less 10% if you buy 2+).

Nice to see the Mk2 RLO. It's a shame they haven't tooled the RLO with the windows removed, but at least they've chosen examples that can use their existing SO tooling (windows painted over).

Hopefully they'll get round to producing the NX Swoosh, Visit Scotland and First Group RLOs in the future.

Just need them to tool a mk2 RFB and BUO now.

6 minutes ago, KDG said:

Nice selection of intermodal wagons, boxes and tanks.

£25 for a coalfish is good value too, even better in the bundle of 3 wagons. Good timing for the  Accurascale version coming soon too.

Looks like Hornby are using their older, taller MHA bodies with the wider footsteps.

10 hours ago, luke_stevens said:

I found the following sentence a bit of a concern:

 

"I am really excited to give strategic input as the brilliant team focuses on digital transformation.."

 

Perhaps they are planning to finally give the Hornby Railmaster software the long overdue overhaul it is crying out for. It is currently so crude and buggy.

Maybe 2022 is the year we'll finally see the R8306 Railmaster Loco Detection System brought to market.

14 minutes ago, APOLLO said:

Be careful after tomorrows announcement !!!!

 

 

Brit15

Hattons' trunk service is your friend! Arrange to get it all delivered when you know they're out.

1 hour ago, Pmorgancym said:

Hornby's 153 should be In the railroad range 

I've always thought the same. Other than lights and much better (though still just one piece moulded) underframe, it isn't much of an improvement from the old 156 model. It even shares the same basic Limby drive bogie, rather than the low floor/hidden, flywheel'd motor mechanisms better dmu models have. The 156 should really be in the railroad range too.

Talking of the 156, hopefully Hornby improve the awful underframe, even to the 153 standard, and add lights. The model already has light lenses and so would be easy for Hornby to add a pcb at each end. I suspect we'll see a Spotrail 156 tomorrow to run with the Hornby Scotrail 153s.

Also some DMU TTS sound chips would be very popular. 

I'd like to see Hornby produce some more engineering stock in 2022.

I'd love to see them do an accurate, highly detailed Plasser 07-16 or 08-16 single car track tamper. I'm sure they'd be very popular as any layout from the 70s onwards could justify one (or two).

Does anyone know what ever happened to the R6463/4/5 ZCA Seahorse and R6469/70/1 ZCA Sea Urchin engineers wagons that Hornby announced back at the time they announced the similar OTA wagon some years ago? I wonder why these wagons got cancelled.

3 hours ago, Widnes Model Centre said:

 

 

I’m not sure what R7304 actually is. The trade price indicates that £21.99 is a correct price. Certainly available to preorder from various retailers for around £5-£8. Is that the biggest price reduction for a yet to be released item? 

 

 

It's been on the Hornby website all year until just a few days ago at £4.99. Surely they knew the trade price?

The R7304 Platform Island has now gone from £4.99 to £21.99 RRP.

Is this the biggest rise so far?

15 hours ago, mdvle said:

 

While I can understand the desire to stick with one manufacturer as you get into niche/specialist coaches there likely isn't a large enough market for 2 of them to be offered, thus meaning whoever risks being second to market won't make a profit.

 

Yes, but the mk2f RFB is hardly a niche coach though. Hornby went to the effort to tool up both the BSO mk2e and f, yet the BSO almost always worked (during Intercity and Virgin years) with an RFB at the opposite end. A full rake only has 3 coach types (BSO, TSO, RFB) so it seems very strange for Hornby to miss it out. They should've included it from the start, as Bachmann did.

The mk2 RFB would be very useful for Hornby as it would perfectly complement numerous existing Hornby coaches. It has carried so many liveries (Intercity, Virgin, Anglia, Network Rail, various Railtour and heritage operators and numerous versions of Caledonian Sleeper) I'm sure it'd be very popular.
 

The Bachmann mk2 is now an eye watering £70 (£95 DCC fitted) RRP whereas the Hornby model is far more affordable, being initially tooled for the railroad range.

I'm sure the market would easily support a second DBSO if Hornby choose to do it too.

I really really hope Hornby start producing the 'missing' coaches needed for us to complete rakes;

I'd like them to produce the mk2f RFB so that I can finally complete my Hornby Virgin/ Intercity xc rakes without having to mix coaches with Bachmann.

A mk2f RFB and also a mk2f RLO sleeper coach (using the FO tooling) would finally allow a realistic sleeper rake. Despite all the mk3 sleeper coaches Hornby have released over the years, they have so far not produced any sleeper mk2s yet.. A tooled up BUO would be nice too but I don't see that happening.

I'd like them to produce more Northern Belle coaches (eg mk3 sleeper, mk1 kitchen and mk1 BG) to go with the recent DRS Northern Belle mk2e set. They have all the tooling for these coaches.

Also they should finally ditch the Airfix mk2d coaches and use the more accurate mk2e tooling instead. As the Northern Belle mk2s are all FOs there is very little external difference between the mk2d and mk2e. I don't understand why Hornby thought it was smart to use the ancient Airfix tooling for the recent Northern Belle train pack but use the more accurate mk2e tooling for the coach pack released around the same time. 

More SRPS coaches to extend the recent SRPS Aberdonian Tornado pack. It would be useful for modelling diesel hauled railtours too.

Original Virgin mk3 TGS painted correctly in HST livery (silver Windows etc) to match the previous Virgin HST mk3's. The only original Virgin TGS coaches Hornby produced were incorrectly painted in loco hauled livery and don't match the Hornby HST coaches.

I'm sure there are many more examples of Hornby going one coach short of a rake, even though they often have the required tooling. It can be very frustrating and must surely lead to fewer sales. Just look at the latest XC SD mk3s in the bargain bin as it's near impossible to get the required power cars to complete a set.

I really hope Hornby bring out the much requested mk2f RFB coach.

I know Bachmann produce one but I'd prefer to keep all coaches in a rake from the same manufacturer. It's almost pointless Hornby producing the recent Virgin/Intercity mk2f BSO without the required RFB at the opposite end of the rake.

The RFB would be a perfect choice for Hornby as there are so many liveries to go through that would complement Hornby's existing range (various Intercity, Virgin, Anglia, various Caledonian Sleeper, Network Rail and numerous Railtour operators).

I think we'll see an updated class 43 HST released in various liveries. Hopefully they'll produce an original light-lens GNER example, and perhaps an ealy yellow cab roof Virgin one too.

I suspect we'll see Oxford rail HST mk3's (perhaps under Hornby branding) after they showed off the HST mk3 engineering samples at the last Warley show.

I think we'll also see an updated class 56. As with some Hornby HSTs, some 2021 class 56 models have now also been delayed into next year, perhaps due to an update. Hornby will be wanting to keep up with the competition (Cavalex 56, Bachmann 69) and it'd be easy for them to upgrade theirs (21 pin, flush fan grills, servo operated fans etc). The Hornby model already has a great cab interior and opening doors, a useful feature the competitors won't have.

I also suspect Hornby will slash the price of their latest MGR wagons and will release numerous types to almost flood the market (as they did with the class 66) in response to the forthcoming Accurascale and Cavalex MGRs.

1 hour ago, Adamphillip said:

yeah, I'm a bit perplexed by the show due to the "new" tooling HST but no mention of it elsewhere at the time of the shows release.

Give it a few more days. I suspect they'll mention it in their 2022 announcement along with some more liveries. 

As to who the competition is I'm going to go a bit left field and suggest it's Rails of Sheffield. After the terrier and L&MR wagon saga they'd now like to hit Hornby where it hurts by going after one of their core products!

Hopefully they are upgrading the 56 due to the upcoming competition (Cavalex and the Bachmann 69). Hornby have said they are upgrading their HST due to (as yet unannounced) competition so I wouldn't be surprised if they are looking at their other models too.

Adding servo operated roof fans, flush fan grills, improving lighting functions and using the 21 pin socket (as used on their sound fitted versions) would be easy improvements to start with.

Sawyers models have Bachmann MK2Fs for £52.45 DCC ready and £71.25 DCC fitted.

They also have Hornby Virgin MK2Fs for £27.99

https://sawyermodels.co.uk/?product_cat=advent-calendar

12 hours ago, adb968008 said:

Hornby still seem to have an obsession with kettles!

Throughout the show it's mentioned various times about the need for Hornby to turn a profit. Yet currently almost all the online box shifters have had the newly tooled sliding door mk3 XC coaches in their bargain bins for some time now. I bit and bought a full rake at less than £20 a coach. I strongly suspect they are not selling as it's near impossible to get the matching XC power cars. They sold out ages ago. Hornby really need to be improving the ratio of power cars to coaches to keep sales healthy. Had the power cars been available I would have happy paid more for the coaches.

At 4:43 Simon mentions "we've done the sliding doors and it needs to have all the bells and whistles". Is he referring to the opening cab doors or will the new model also have sliding guards doors too....

Whilst the competition is now including features such as illuminated cab detail, diesel smoke, servo operated pantographs and roof fans, full lighting suite, Hornby on the other hand have been progressively making their models worse over the last few years. For example removing rotating fans, no more opening cab doors, very poor cab interiors (eg class 67,87) and sticking with limited functionality 8 pin DCC sockets. It will be nice to see Hornby finally upping their game to compete with the competition.

7 hours ago, wombatofludham said:

Thing is if Hornby were so fixated on "defending "their" models" in the way they do certain steam outline stuff they would be piling in with a 37 and 47 at the very least

I've often thought Hornby should try and buy the Vitrains 37 and 47 tooling and finally dispose of the ancient Limby models.

Vitrains haven't produced these for a number of years now and they stand out in their range as their only British models. The Vitrains model is also the natural successor to the Lima model. The chassis can even be interchanged with little effort with Lima/Limby bodies.

When detailed and weathered the models aren't too bad. Priced competitively, it could provide some competition to the other manufacturers.

On 19/10/2021 at 13:23, Downer said:

DE modellers need units that haven’t been done before.

A TPEx class 185 would be perfect for Accurascale.

It would fit well within their range of mk5s, 37s, 92s etc. They cover a large area of England and Scotland. Although it's only had a few different liveries, I suspect we may see more liveries/ operators of the 185 in the future.

Looking forward to the Virgin class 90. Perfect timing now the Oxford Rail loco hauled Virgin mk3s have just arrived. 

19 hours ago, atom3624 said:

That's what I thought as well.

If it's the motor, let's hope any spares are not prohibitively expensive - would like to see 'alternative applications' ...

 

That reminds me I need to replace the motor in my Bachmann tilting voyagers. They are the slowest models I have.

2 hours ago, scouse889 said:

 

Yes, looking very good indeed. I'm liking the close coupling on these too, looks a vast improvement over the Mk3SDs.

Yes, it does look good. I wonder if they're magnetic.

Just a shame no rtr manufacturer has yet produced a flexible rubber/silicone gangway to fully eliminate the gap.

On 19/09/2021 at 14:27, ThaneofFife said:

maybe they will release  one in the 2022 program?

That would be good. The mk2f RFB could also be used to finally create an accurate Caledonian Sleeper rake. Tooling up the more common BUO would be also be nice.