Three Rapido announcements coming Monday

[lock4244]

I just hope that Jeff at Prairie Shadows pursues an N scale SW1200RS.

[CBQ Fan]

When it comes to N scale, I am very open with my lack of knowledge of the market.

-Jason

I am surprised by how many HO dominant companies struggle with marketing to N scale. I shouldn't be but I am.

[tehachapifan]

Thanks for answering my questions Jason. I can't wait to the mode in my hand.

....and completely disassemble it.

[peteski]

....and completely disassemble it.

LOL!  Of course! You know me well!

[rapidotrains]

I am surprised by how many HO dominant companies struggle with marketing to N scale. I shouldn't be but I am.

I think HO and N modellers are, to a limited extent, like "two solitudes" within a hobby.

While we are ostensibly modelling the same prototypes, the way we model is often very different.

Obviously, N scale modellers often have a lot more layout to fill - you have the room to run 50-car trains. So N scalers as a whole have no choice but to be more budget conscious than HO modellers. If you are running longer trains, you are buying a lot more equipment.

Rapido has built its HO reputation by being insane on prototypical accuracy and detail on oddball models, which results in smaller production runs and higher prices than many of our competitors. The serious modellers in HO who are our customers are a small minority, but there are a lot more HO modellers than N modellers. Trying to sell our N scale models on their crazy detail (and resulting high price!) is trying to reach a small minority within a smaller community. You guys appreciate it here on The Railwire, but the average Joe who can't tell the difference between an FL9 and an F7 just looks at our model and says "this is twice the price of that model over there. Why would I buy it?"

I am curious to see how the Turbo sells. We could tool one version of PDC (Power Dome Car) and one version of IC (Intermediate Car) and just say "it's close enough - be happy with it." The price would have been much lower and I bet we would sell three times as many trains.

But I'm not happy with a stand-in. The Canadian Turbo and the American Turbo are very different, and we will only produce a Turbo if we can do it correctly.

We'll see if the message gets through and people order enough trains. If not, then I guess we'll treat it as a learning experience.

-Jason

[nickelplate759]

Well, I ordered one!  To be honest, if you had taken the "close-enough" path I still would have ordered one - after all I bought TWO of the Bachmann version and it's not nearly close enough.  That said, I only bought the second one to get parts to try and fix up the first one...

Your stated price seems pretty reasonable to me - I hope enough folks agree so that I get the opportunity to pay it!

[Point353]

I am curious to see how the Turbo sells. We could tool one version of PDC (Power Dome Car) and one version of IC (Intermediate Car) and just say "it's close enough - be happy with it." The price would have been much lower and I bet we would sell three times as many trains.

But I'm not happy with a stand-in. The Canadian Turbo and the American Turbo are very different, and we will only produce a Turbo if we can do it correctly.

Where does the 4-car set that Amtrak bought from CN in 1973 fit in?
Do you plan to offer both the Canadian Turbo and the American Turbo in the late Amtrak paint scheme?

[Joetrain59]

Waiting for BLW to post the Turbo. Will order!
 Joe D

[peteski]

Waiting for BLW to post the Turbo. Will order!
 Joe D

You mean Hogtrainz? 

[unittrain]

Hey Jason any chance of seeing the Cylindrical hoppers in N?

[Scottl]

Doesn't NARC and IM already do the variants of the cylindrical hopper in n already?  Not wanting to discourage further n cars, but that one seems mostly covered.

[CBQ Fan]

I think HO and N modellers are, to a limited extent, like "two solitudes" within a hobby.

While we are ostensibly modelling the same prototypes, the way we model is often very different.

Obviously, N scale modellers often have a lot more layout to fill - you have the room to run 50-car trains. So N scalers as a whole have no choice but to be more budget conscious than HO modellers. If you are running longer trains, you are buying a lot more equipment.

Rapido has built its HO reputation by being insane on prototypical accuracy and detail on oddball models, which results in smaller production runs and higher prices than many of our competitors. The serious modellers in HO who are our customers are a small minority, but there are a lot more HO modellers than N modellers. Trying to sell our N scale models on their crazy detail (and resulting high price!) is trying to reach a small minority within a smaller community. You guys appreciate it here on The Railwire, but the average Joe who can't tell the difference between an FL9 and an F7 just looks at our model and says "this is twice the price of that model over there. Why would I buy it?"

I am curious to see how the Turbo sells. We could tool one version of PDC (Power Dome Car) and one version of IC (Intermediate Car) and just say "it's close enough - be happy with it." The price would have been much lower and I bet we would sell three times as many trains.

But I'm not happy with a stand-in. The Canadian Turbo and the American Turbo are very different, and we will only produce a Turbo if we can do it correctly.

We'll see if the message gets through and people order enough trains. If not, then I guess we'll treat it as a learning experience.

-Jason

Jason,

I think there is a lot of truth in your insight on the two different scales.  I appreciate your honesty about still learning the landscape of Nscale.  So many other companies continue to force the HO perspective down Nscalers throats and then complain when sales don't meet their expectations. It makes me think of clothing, if you specialize in men's clothing you can't simply start pumping out women's clothing with the same marketing plan.  At the end of the day the same outcome just very different paths to get the product into the consumers hands.

[rapidotrains]

Where does the 4-car set that Amtrak bought from CN in 1973 fit in?
Do you plan to offer both the Canadian Turbo and the American Turbo in the late Amtrak paint scheme?

Unfortunately, no.

The ex-CN set (56/57) was an oddball. The PDCs were Canadian but they were modified to be more like the US ones. 

It was not worth tooling a completely new set of PDCs just for that set.

Similarly, we did not tool IC-34, in HO or N. That is identical to IC-30 and IC-35 but it is missing one window for extra luggage space.

So we're very close, but we are limited by economics...

-Jason

[Missaberoad]

Doesn't NARC and IM already do the variants of the cylindrical hopper in n already?  Not wanting to discourage further n cars, but that one seems mostly covered.

Kind of like saying doesn't Micro-trains already make a boxcar....  the  basic shape is similar from a distance, but dimensions and details are different...

The IMRC and NARC cars are based off 4550cuft models, particularly the ones made for the various government grain commissions (with some clones being bought by CP and CN) IMRC makes a half correct and NARC has announced a potash variation, but both of those are still later (post 1972) versions.

The 3800 cuft hopper and its variations is the earlier version and was the mainstay of CP, CN and NAHX potash trains for years. Not to mention Cement, sand, and other service...

IMRC has painted some 4550 foobies in 38xx schemes but it is very much a different car and I know personally if they were made I would want trains of them...

[Scottl]

As usual, I clearly don't know much about these things.  That all makes sense, I was thinking mostly about the grain hoppers and the variants but everything before 1970 is off my radar