New Accurascale Exclusives Announcement - RTC Mark 2B Twin Pack in 00/4mm

[Gary H]

I think AS have been completely stunned with the demand for these and the speed at which they were gone!

I've certainly not seen anything like it far as model railway items are concerned!!

[younGGuns7]

Kerching 👍🤗👏

[adb968008]

Ayesh, just got home and…

 

alas.

[Rich Papper]

Same here - just home, found out, missed out.

Gutted.

 

(but in fairness do have to work to afford this hobby!)

[RozM]

35 minutes ago, Gary H said:

I think AS have been completely stunned with the demand for these and the speed at which they were gone!

I've certainly not seen anything like it far as model railway items are concerned!!

Shows how highly regarded Accurascale are now. Good for them, totally deserved!

 

[owentherail]

Hopefully ADB977468 in reverse IC livery next 

[Phil Bullock]

Dear @Accurascale Fran

 

A limited edition sold out in 4 hours? Congratulations!!! Must be a record.

 

But please can you not do new model announcements on a Thursday as James and I are usually fishing in some remote Welsh valley without t’internet! 
 

Of course a prior announcement of a forthcoming announcement would solve this problem 😀

 

Luckily there’s nothing here for us …. This time … phew!

 

Heres to many more ….

[Shedmaster]

Blimey!

 

Could you imagine how quickly an Accurascale HST would sell!????

 

I reckon these Mk2’s would look like slow sellers in comparison!

 

Best Wishes to all at Accurascale towers on another truly scorching success…..nice one!
 

Kindest Regards,

 

Shed.

 

 

[E100]

4 hours ago, WILLIAM said:

I'm not sure I totally agree. With fast selling limited editions there is a risk of unintentionally alienating customers while elating others.

 

Not sure what the answer is however.

Yeah not a big fan personally of limited editions but I guess they have to draw the line somewhere. They are already using 6 factories! Also there’s no doubt in my mind that such a customer focused manufacturer will not be producing more RTC stuff.

[Jim76]

Very nice. Unfortunately I live in Melbourne, Australia and even though I always check my emails first thing in the morning they had already been released and sold out by the time I had woken up and had my breakfast! 😂. @Accurascale Fran and @McCfor future releases it maybe worth considering how to cater for your loyal antipodean customers?!

Edited May 12, 2022 by Jim76

[dj_crisp]

8 hours ago, Jim76 said:

Very nice. Unfortunately I live in Melbourne, Australia and even though I always check my emails first thing in the morning they had already been released and sold out by the time I had woken up and had my breakfast! 😂. @Accurascale Fran and @McCfor future releases it maybe worth considering how to cater for your loyal antipodean customers?!

 

Like a collectors club..... I'm not a fan of these though as it changes the product from being a great base for a realistic model to... well just a shiny collectors item where you can't damage the box. 

 

Seeing as most of the 37s have sold out then these are technically limited editions but without the collectors badge. I much prefer the pre order approach taken for other models as effectively you're supporting the project to get it off the ground.

 

I'm not sure if a limited order window without fixed numbers is commercially viable but would perhaps allow more people to have access? 

 

I had opportunity to order this one as I saw the tweet but decided I'd probably never use them and Id probably end up buying to sell on which is not what this hobby is about for me.  As it happens my only pre-order Accurascale item currently are Mk2b in nice NSE liveries which I'm rather looking forward to weathering and bashing about.

 

[Accurascale Fran]

Hi everyone,

 

Well, we still can't believe they went so quickly and there is certainly a lesson in it for us going forwards that we will take on board. As @McC, the last thing we want to do is upset people, and make sure you sign up to the cancellation notification on the website. We will certainly take on board timing and size of future exclusive runs based on this experience.

 

What I will say is that 87% of the run were bought by existing customers, so I think almost all even beat speculators to the punch! 

 

Cheers!

 

Fran 

[Bucoops]

I think there was 150 left when I looked, I was tempted as they look great, but I've pushed rule one too far already so let them go, Buying to resell didn't cross my mind (kind of wish it had lol).

 

I'm also not a huge fan of certificated limited editions - it feels like the implication is to stuff and mount rather than use them for their intended purpose. I have two limited edition Lima models somewhere that I foolishly bought as an investment. Going by ebay they are worth about half what I paid 20+ years later :D

 

I know a lot of model railway kit is bought to just display which is the buyers prerogative of course but it's not for me.

[adb968008]

51 minutes ago, Accurascale Fran said:

Hi everyone,

 

and make sure you sign up to the cancellation notification on the website. We will certainly take on board timing and size of future exclusive runs based on this experience.

Beware the trap of sizing limited editions. Ebay is littered with limited editions that became a little less exciting as production sizes increase..

 

For instance this one is quite appropriate to the rtc set, and yet has been hanging around a while…

https://www.Bachmann-collectorsclub.co.uk/product/category/144/br-mk1-bg-full-brake-'laboratory-23'-br-rtc-(revised)/39-176k

I never understood why Bachmanns Regional Railways coaches were limited edition, weathered ones aside, though they too didnt set the world on fire, despite the interest and the alternative being Hornby /Lima from 1990’s.., which at the time you couldnt sell enough of. 
The recent DRS mk2fs havent either, though thats because it lacks a dbso..which would change things in a flash….

 

fwiw I also think Hornbys blown its Dublo range now by going to big too quick, and that purple Bulleid may face yet reality check if it misses the window.

 

fickle bunch we are, i suspect yesterday was a bit of panic buying..

 

Us Brits are getting used to fear of shortages that leads to surges that create a self fulfilling shortage at the moment… but it wears off.

 

I reckon yesterday it was called right, and there will always be winners and losers. I just wonder why everyone at work, wasnt working - I was, for once.

Edited May 13, 2022 by adb968008

[aeroplane]

In the future maybe sent an email / social media message that says "limited edition coach for sale 7 days from now". Excitement will build as to what it is and everyone can plan accordingly.

 

Also you could say "half go on sale Wednesday 9am and the other half goes on sale Saturday 5pm". Then everyone has a chance of getting one.

[Chris56057]

It's a limited run and therefore clearly only a select number are going to be able to purchase it in that time frame, that's just the way it is. In regards to the comment about stuffing and mounting the models because of their limited edition nature - I'm already researching on how I'm going to weather these - in my opinion there to be used and run - not put in a display cabinet! 

Edited May 13, 2022 by Chris56057

[ERIC ALLTORQUE]

48 minutes ago, adb968008 said:

I just wonder why everyone at work, wasnt working - I was, for once.

Fran and McC are rubbing off on you,they must have been in overdrive,its good when your job is also your passion which it clearly is for the lads.Just wait until the Deltic arrives,

nothing has been so anticipated since King Herod acted up,anysign of a star and Accurascale towers will be surrounded.

[guarded]

I managed to grab a set.Are all the RTC coaches covered now by the various manufacturers?

 

[Graham108]

3 hours ago, adb968008 said:

For instance this one is quite appropriate to the rtc set, and yet has been hanging around a while…

https://www.Bachmann-collectorsclub.co.uk/product/category/144/br-mk1-bg-full-brake-'laboratory-23'-br-rtc-(revised)/39-176k

Makes 60 notes for a 'modern' one seem more of a bargain!

[Steven B]

4 hours ago, guarded said:

.Are all the RTC coaches covered now by the various manufacturers?

 

 

The Mk2c Test Car 6 and Mk2f based HSTRC are just two examples that haven't been done. Then there's the likes of Mk1 based Prometheus and Mentor that underwent considerable modification.

 

Several test vehicles appeared in the early blue/red livery and then the later I/C type red/light grey livery, most of which haven't been produced in either livery. Post privatisation there's been Serco red/grey, Railtrack green/blue Network Rail yellow.

 

There's still plenty to go at. See http://www.traintesting.com/ for some inspiration!

 

Steven B.

Edited May 13, 2022 by Steven B

[adb968008]

10 minutes ago, Graham108 said:

Makes 60 notes for a 'modern' one seem more of a bargain!

The WCRC Bachmann mk2’s make for a nice comparison against Accurascales…

 

https://accurascale.co.uk/collections/mark-2-coaches/products/tso-5487

(actual-pics here)…

https://www.hattons.co.uk/directory/versiondetails/article?id=1159
£59.95

 

vs

https://www.Bachmann.co.uk/product/category/154/br-mk2-tso-tourist-second-open-wcrc-maroon/39-354
£64.95

 

 

[adb968008]

17 minutes ago, Steven B said:

 

The Mk2c Test Car 6 and Mk2f based HSTRC are just two examples that haven't been done. Then there's the likes of Mk1 based Prometheus and Mentor that underwent considerable modification.

Mentor would be great, but technically a nightmare… its got more outfits than Imelda Marcos.

[eric709]

2 hours ago, ERIC ALLTORQUE said:

Fran and McC are rubbing off on you,they must have been in overdrive,its good when your job is also your passion which it clearly is for the lads.Just wait until the Deltic arrives,

nothing has been so anticipated since King Herod acted up,anysign of a star and Accurascale towers will be surrounded.

I hope @Accurascale Fran isn’t rubbing off on anyone 😜😂

[adb968008]

3 hours ago, aeroplane said:

In the future maybe sent an email / social media message that says "limited edition coach for sale 7 days from now". Excitement will build as to what it is and everyone can plan accordingly.

 

Also you could say "half go on sale Wednesday 9am and the other half goes on sale Saturday 5pm". Then everyone has a chance of getting one.

just ensure that autoscaling is turned on, at the server beforehand….

 

There will be a lot of wildlife circling that watering hole before the water bursts out the spring.

 

 

 

 

[Michael Hodgson]

I think the mistake here was to make it such a tightly limited edition as many more would clearly have sold in this particular instance, though that's the benefit of hindsight.  Hopefully still very profitable, as sales were so successful from a business point of view.

 

Having said that, if you are going to limit any runs like this, oddball liveries like the purple Deltic and RTC seem to be logical candidates.  It seems that I'm not the only one who happens to have a soft spot for that particular colour scheme - personally I wouldn't have been interested had they been in the other set of RTC colours, just as I didn't go for the purple Deltic.

 

I'm not a collector as such and attach no significance to a piece of paper saying Number n of 400 models.  Even so, I can't help wondering whether they would have sold as fast had it not been a limited edition.  I don't think there's any way of predicting that either.

 

Certainly some issues there for Acccurascale to ponder on for future projects. Whilst we might be pleased that the speculators lost out to the modellers this time, is speculation generally helpful (as it can be in financial markets) by enabling manufacturers to sell their runs more promptly?   As Fran says, there are lessons to be learned, though I'm no clearer as to what they should do next time!