Overland Models

[Darkelf]

For those that may have an interest, received this from Overland this morning:

N Scale Production of all kinds

We had great hopes that we would be able to break back into the N scale market with a wide variety of finely detailed N scale locomotives, however, the numbers just do not work.  Based on pre-order reservations and the necessary production size we have decided to cancel all N scale productions.


Discuss...
--Greg

[Dave Schneider]

I have no idea what they were even offering, which might be part of the problem. If it was an H10-44 or H12-44 I will never forgive myself!! Other than that, no worries.

Best wishes, Dave

[Philip H]

Like Dave, I haven't seen anything new in N Scale brass offered from Overland (or anyone else) in years.  My guess, they weren't advertising widely, which in turn meant they didn't have any real shot at getting preorders.  How sad.

[wcfn100]

Based on pre-order reservations and the necessary production size we have decided to cancel all N scale productions.

Must have been Pennsy stuff.


Jason

[Bob Bufkin]

I didn't even know they were still in business.  And, if they want to sell anything, it better be different and unique.  With all the great looking locmotives and cars coming out in both HO and N who wants to pay the normal brass prices.

[peteski]

I have also not heard anything about Overland's possible offerings.  Sounds to me like their market research wasn't very good (or designed to fail).
Con-Cor at least makes serious effort to market their offerings (like the Blue Comet) before deciding that the reservations weren't numerous enough to justify production.

[ljudice]

Thought they had announced the NS Heritage Fleet in N at some point, although who would really care except for a few high rolling collectors.

My 2-3 Overland diesels over the years were flat out the worst performers I owned.  FVM certainly beats them on details,  and I'd take almost anything from Atlas/Kato/FVM over them any day.

[peteski]

Thought they had announced the NS Heritage Fleet in N at some point, although who would really care except for a few high rolling collectors.

My 2-3 Overland diesels over the years were flat out the worst performers I owned.  FVM certainly beats them on details,  and I'd take almost anything from Atlas/Kato/FVM over them any day.

I was thinking of them making some more obscure prototype models (which will probably never be made in injection-molded plastic). Especially some MOW equipment, Schnabel cars, oddball locomotives,  or something of that nature.  After all, that is what brass models are perfect for.

[Dave Schneider]

The only brass I own is a couple of Overland Milwaukee rib side cabooses. They were nice in the day, but were a mix of phases and not correct for any of them. The new FVM models are better at 1/5th the price. Their Jordon spreader looked nice, but I never pulled the trigger on one. Love to see one of those in plastic, with different cabs and plows.

Best wishes, Dave

[ljudice]

I was thinking of them making some more obscure prototype models (which will probably never be made in injection-molded plastic). Especially some MOW equipment, Schnabel cars, oddball locomotives,  or something of that nature.  After all, that is what brass models are perfect for.

That's a great idea - and one that had been suggested to them...  But they were very focused on the locomotive market.

In their defense, you can still find NEW DEALER copies of their caboose models on Ebay and elsewhere.

Look, I can understand the need to pay more for unusual, complex models.  But $700 for an SD70ACE is absurd.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

And I've NEVER seen a brass diesel model that looks as good as injection molded plastic.

I had a very prophetic day once when Atlas's B40s came out. I was working at kleins, and we had an overland one.

I compared the two side by side, and the brass one looked like a caricature. The dimensions were ok, but the grills, doors, and most other details just looked really, really bad in comparison.

That was the moment I realized brass diesels were dead.

[C855B]

I do believe this "news" is not news. Overland backed out of N scale a few years ago. Their last cataloged offering, IIRC, was a NRE Genset with road-specific detailing... for $800. They let that moulder in the pre-order system for a couple of years. It was eventually mentioned on their news blog that they did not have enough pre-orders to justify production, and unless market conditions changed sharply they planned no further development of N models. Or something to that effect.

But $700 for an SD70ACE is absurd.

And therein lies the problem. Overland has consistently been fairly proud of their product, and evidently there is a strata of HO'ers who drink their Kool-Aid. But, realistically, just insert all the truisms about brass models in our era of high-quality injection-molded, and you can see where the problem lies. Even if the focus was on limited-demand and unusual models, the development costs alone would still outstrip the per-unit value, and the end result would be a model of lesser-quality detail than mass-produced plastic at a price no reasonable person would pay. It's a no-win and I don't blame them one iota for exiting our market niche.

All of which explains why our community is on pins and needles waiting for the next leap in RP tech.

[wcfn100]

I think there was a thread on TB talking about these big plans.

IIRC, these weren't going to be brass.

Jason

[C855B]

Really? Then that is... or was... news, at least to me. That would have been quite a departure from their usual.

[kalbert]

Overland who?

Overland... Now there's a name I've not heard in a long long time...