The rumor is that Bachmann will “make” some of the Aristo rolling stock/motive power.
Nothing firm yet, but clearly beyond the eggliner and PCC cars.
Greg
Greg I’m sure they will make whatever of ACs best 1/29 sellers were. I would love to see an upgraded 0-4-0 switcher and reissue of the Centercab drive blocks in any form.
@Joe - Other than as mentioned by others, the less than optimum quality of the motive power, I own and enjoy a fair amount of Aristo rolling stock. Nothing wrong with it, especially as I can repair most issues with either a bit of styrene or someone else’s trucks/couplers/wheel sets. The basic rolling stock is fairly bullet proof. It is not necessarily the product I have a beef with, it’s the people who misled the public.
@Greg - No doubt Navin had his tongue tied to one degree or another, however as I said in another post, he had options other than the one he chose. That said, I have no faith in what he says. I can’t see his nose to tell if he is lying. Your mileage may vary.
I am happy for all those folks that are heavily invested in the Revolution products that they are coming back, and with all compatibility in tact. My club is pleased as we are invested. I on the other hand have no interest.
As for Kader bringing back the Aristo product under another (possibly Bachmann) name is likely, although time will tell what they will do. They have quite possibly hundreds of thousands of dollars invested in the molds, they will use them. Altering the molds to change the name embedded in them is not that big a deal. The Egg Liner and the PCC were testing the waters to see if folks were in the ‘spending’ mind set. Depending on how those went, more will likely follow.
As for us narrow gauge folks, I don’t have any real hope of new product from any of the manufacturers. The marked is way too soft, and until the economy improves markedly, I don’t see many folks spending upwards of 500 or more for new stuff. And depending on the investment costs to make the run that number could easily double or triple if the run is shorter.
I think that Kader would be most wise to improve the drive lines of the errant locomotives and sell updated drives, especially for the steam profile locos. Those seem to have the most issues, and folks I know that have them would likely purchase an updated reliable drive.
My opinion, FWIW.
Bob C.
I agree Bob, it would seem that the investment to upgrade/improve the drivetrains of their existing products would be cost effective.
It is sad that the big push from Bachmann into 1:20.3 seems to have fizzled, but we really don’t have a good “calibration” on what and how Kader is thinking. If they think they can make money, they can instruct Bachmann to sell it.
Greg
I see it as simple economics. All hobbies are ‘disposable income’ driven. And as the economy has tightened for many, that income has dwindled or gone away completely. Possibly add an ‘event’ in their life and nothing left for hobby. I can’t speak for others, but I don’t spend what I used to, other costs of life have increased taking some of that disposable income away. Kader will definitely look at that, and I am sure it will be a driving force in decisions made. That was the point I was making on the ‘test run’ of 1/29 in the Bachmann name. Kader will invest the minimum possible to gain the greatest return. Only time will tell where the hobby as a whole is headed.
Personally I believe there will be a slide back to the days of small ‘garage vendors’ selling parts and pieces. The hobbyist will be headed back to kits/kitbash/scratch build. As the price of smaller laser cutters continues to get more affordable, so will the garage kit sellers. I am hoping that a move in that direction will breath some new life into the print mags and bring readers back.
Opinions vary…
Just checked my join date and found I gave myself a Christmas present and became an LSC member on December 25, 2000… (http://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-cool.gif)(http://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-cool.gif)(http://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-cool.gif)
The following is purely my owners opinion but part of the 1:20 fizzle had to do with Bmann, aside from the geared locos, made one after another oddball rod locomotive instead of what everyone was screaming for, namely the K and the C, until the economy was in decline and thee market was too soft to afford them, the high redonculous price on the Forney didn’t help either.
Vic, I only partially agree. Owning several of the 1:20 Bachmann offerings I am a very happy camper. Who else (other than Accucraft) has offered a geared loco? I agree that the K and the C may have been a little late in the economic game, but have you ever developed a product from thought to delivery? It is one thing to bash something together in the basement, but entirely another to bring a product to market. Overall I think Bachmann has with each 1:20 geared loco brought to market a loco that the competition did not have in the price range Bachmann offered them. I can afford Bachmann, I cannot afford Accucraft.
Bachmann, like Aristo and USAT have their issues with each loco they have brought to market. They, unlike Aristo, has tried with each subsequent release to upgrade their offering and ‘fix’ the ills. That is not to say some new ones didn’t appear. Not sure what you mean by ‘oddball rod locomotive’, unless you are referring to the Lynn. Even there it is a good loco for a short line running tight curvature. I sorta view the Lynn in the same light I view the Aristo Rogers…small, light and for short trains.
As far as ‘1:20 fizzle’ I think we are a small portion of an already minority market. The smaller scales far outweigh large scale in the big picture and in today’s market I am happy for any vendor that continues to support us. As I said above, I believe it will be some time before any major investment in large scale will be made by any of the vendors. I am hopeful that the current folks that make critical parts (trucks, couplers, wheel sets and detail parts) will continue.
My opinion … FWIW
Oddballs, the Indy which was tiny tiny tiny for 1/20 and really just a rework of the earlier 2-4-2. The Mexican prototype 30" gauge Connie, the never actually built in reality Mallet. And remember the almost put into production Vulcan?
They have Thier hits like the American and the Mogul, the Forney, C and K, the Lyn, and the Annie. Of course it’s debatable whether if they did the C years ago but had all the Connie’s mechanical problems if it would be as liked as the current model.
I think that Bachmann tried to push the narrow gauge community into 1/20 but after so many years of people used to 1/22 and having already well established layouts the actual market was far smaller than expected. The sour economy didn’t help when alot of people had to pull up their layouts and the used market got (still is) flooded with lots of cheap 1/22 narrow gauge stuff.