Friday 16 August 2019

Peco bug boxes

The big news for 009-ers in the last week or so is the announcement of two Festiniog items - or groups of items to be more accurate. The second wasn't a surprise to me as I'd caught a glimpse of the CAD in process under the hand of Peco designer David Malton. The above FR bug boxes (although purists will call them  'Birminghams'; bug boxes being a post preservation term) are now at the test print stage and should be out soon.

If that wasn't enough, the announcement last week of  a tie up between Peco and Kato on an England 0-4-0 RTR model to be followed by a Farlie did come as a surprise.
These two announcements show some joined up thinking and mean that it will be possible to build an FR layout straight off the shelf. Whether you think that this is a good thing or not is another question. No prices are available yet, but looking at past practice I think we could assume that the Birminghams will be around £25-30 apiece, the Englands around £150 and the Farlie £200+ so not a cheap game by any means. However that is the way that it is now leaning, and looking at the way the Baldwin has been received and how it has sold, I think they will be exceptionally popular. How many ACTUAL Festiniog layouts will spring from this is another question, as most will run in 'freelance' guises. Interesting times.

4 comments:

  1. Therein lies the rub. A well known prototype like this is immensly popular, but will stick out like a sore thumb on 90% of freelance layouts.

    My excuse is that what I have in mind is a pastiche of a 1960's style rabbit warren layout that would have used the original GEM kits...welll you ahve to ahve some fun.

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    1. I think we are entering (or have entered) a phase of RTR 009 buyers not really caring what it is - they will buy it because it looks nice and runs well. The idea that it should fit together visually or historically is neither here nor there.

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  2. Life is getting expensive. And the coaches would be so easy to scratch build for next to nothing. Never mind, instant gratification I guess.

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  3. Expensive yes, but speaking as one who has tried to scratch build this stuff it's not easy by any means and I doubt that 99% of 009 modellers could do it to this standard. Especially in what equates to 3-4 hours work taken at minimum wage levels. That is probably the pivotal thing here time /money.

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