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Exactly. I think a dome care, and others, issued singly as tooling funds permit might be attractive to a lot of N scalers. Most folks can't drop $1500 on a train but they can buy one awesome passenger car. Heck, it's how I added Rapido and Centralia cars -- one at a time.
JasonOk, here is an idea. Wooden passenger cars circa 1900. Full size 72-80 ft cars. Will they be an instant hit like the Osgood Bradleys? Probably not. But you could pull an MT and release a new one every couple of months for almost forever with all the different styles. And then the different roadnames on those styles.
I am a bit scared though after the wood refers with what I think were too groovy . hmmm the " Young Rascals " comes to mind .
Thanks for the feedback, guys.I'd like to expand our N scale line and our latest hire, Mike Loyst, is an N scaler so that helps. Something about N scalers and the name Mike...At our next product meeting we will figure out the best option for our next N scale project. Maybe some modern freight.-Jason
Our challenge, and I don't mind saying this, is that N scale is dominated by two major manufacturers: Micro-Trains and Kato. We would never be able to match the output or the pricing of those two companies. We just don't have the resources. We're a relatively small player, even in HO. Well, we're not that small any more. We're probably in the lower end of the top 10 in terms of annual sales. But we're still a young company (13 years) so we don't have deep pockets like some of our competitors that have been around for 50 years or more.We've been asked to do The Canadian in N scale. That would cost us well over $250,000 to tool and the set would retail for not much less than the HO set - probably $1000-$1200. Taking into account wholesale discounts and product costs, we would need to sell at least 1000 trains to make it worthwhile. And the set would take up basically all our tooling budget for a year.In the meantime, between spending the tooling money and bringing it out (which would take about two years), Kato can come out with a "close enough" Canadian using existing tooling for $700 retail. And then we lose half of our orders and we get kneecapped on the project. When you have a lot of manufacturers splitting the market like you do in HO, it actually makes it easier to survive. No one manufacturer has dominance in any given part of the market, except maybe Bachmann in the entry level category. But in N scale it's the two big guys with the lion's share and then everyone else is fighting over the remaining bit of pie. So it's certainly a challenge for us, both in choosing what to bring out and then doing it in a way that both appeals to N scalers and makes us money.Hopefully the 8600s in N scale do almost as well as the Osgood Bradleys. -Jason
I'm not sure you have the right picture of MTL and Kato dominating N scale. (Atlas anyone?) But I get what you're saying about the Canadian name train example. Yes, Kato could do it at the best pricepoint for the majority of N scalers. As an outsider, I feel like you're pushing your HO mentality of the "best detail everywhere" onto the N scale market and that is pushing your higher prices, more complicated models, and therefore, perceived lack of competitiveness.If all that underbody detail is a company mantra, I get it. But that means that the N scale market might not be your forte. If you dumbed down a passenger car to MTL's level, I bet you could do it cheaper and do more roadname variety in a shorter timeframe. I mean the N scale heavyweight roofs are simple two part molds. They don't even put a side slide in for the clerestory. You're trying to compete in a spec Miata class with Jaguar. And wondering why your only winning a $100 purse...In my humble opinion, anyway.
We need to focus in N on models, like the Turbo, that have no competition. And that is I think where our N scale product line is heading. That means moving away from smooth-side passenger cars and focusing on more unique models.-Jason
MT is an important player in the N-scale, but that doesn't mean that there is no room for other players like Rapido. But it requires a different business model. My view is that Rapido is a manufacture of high quality models which are faithful representations of the real thing. And I can tell you I'm prepared to pay for it. I rather pay more for one good quality model than for two less good models. For me, those HO PRR FA2 and FB2 look absolutely stunning and I would buy them if they were available in N scale despite the fact that we already have a nice set.
Were we to bring out a model at MTL or Kato level, there is nothing to distinguish our models from theirs. Basically, what's the point?We need to focus in N on models, like the Turbo, that have no competition. And that is I think where our N scale product line is heading. That means moving away from smooth-side passenger cars and focusing on more unique models.
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Topic: Rapido N Turbo Train schemes and prices (Read 9639 times)
