Rapido Newsletter-But is it in N scale?

[nscaler711]

Issues with "The Canadian" turned me off.  I would love to have that train on my layout, but given that price point and all the issues discussed on The Railwire -  no way.

Sad!  It looks so nice, but trains should roll without the consumer having to rework anything for that price.

eja

This but with the Horizon Coaches was my issue. All 7 cars I purchased wheels were out of gauge, the brake detail would fall of and derail the cars, they couldn't handle any turnback curves such as crossovers with out lifting up and derailing or ripping other cars off the rails. Not to mention the manual says to replace the 1015s with 1016s for sharper curves but did not supply them with a $60 coach that lights up. (Bachmanns light up too without a fancy reed switch and can handle #4 crossovers. ) I can add lights to Kato's and still be about half the cost, and they can navigate harsher curves while being close coupled while being backed up a 10% grade!
OK I'm exaggerating a little on that last bit...
Also yes, yes I did compare them with Bachmann. considering they roll just as well. 

[High Hood]

So are they just going to trash all their existing tooling? Their Autoflood III is a beautiful car, and it is critically important for modern coal train modelers. Losing it and the new centerbeams would be devastating.

[ljudice]

My impression of Rapido is an asylum run by the patients - none of whom are N-scalers....

The HO projects were passion, N was work and who wants to do work in an asylum?

Even the super-nice Centerbeams were flawed -  wrong wheels and truck/detail clearance that looked like an oversight. And of course the dumbest product numbering scheme I've ever seem which I am sure has cost sales of extra roadnumbers... 

Of course they are so inconsistent in messaging that I wouldn't be surprised if they reverse themselves a few more times.

[ljudice]

So are they just going to trash all their existing tooling? Their Autoflood III is a beautiful car, and it is critically important for modern coal train modelers. Losing it and the new centerbeams would be devastating.

They should sell tooling to Scaletrains...

[High Hood]

They should sell tooling to Scaletrains...

For the most part it seems like Scaletrains is printing money with their N Scale releases and acquisitions.

[learmoia]

They only thing they have in the Pipeline that I'm interested in is the Rohr Turbine..

I don't believe I have any other Rapido N scale equipment, but my purchasing interests are pretty specific and haven't meshed with Rapido's production interest so far.

Meanwhile.. I think I have samples of almost everything Scale Trains has produced Conrail related, and just pre-ordered 4 SD40-2s

[thomasjmdavis]

I can add lights to Kato's and still be about half the cost, and they can navigate harsher curves while being close coupled while being backed up a 10% grade!
OK I'm exaggerating a little on that last bit...

If you have trouble backing your Kato passenger cars  up a 10% grade, just add more helper units to the motive power.

[packers#1]

So are they just going to trash all their existing tooling? Their Autoflood III is a beautiful car, and it is critically important for modern coal train modelers. Losing it and the new centerbeams would be devastating.

They’ll probably sell it to Atlas or Scaletrains in a few years like everyone else seems to do 

[learmoia]

They’ll probably sell it to Atlas or Scaletrains in a few years like everyone else seems to do 

If Rapido can't sell an overdetailed>overpriced model in N scale , how is me (Atlas or Scale Trains) buying the tooling assets going to make the models sell better?

For the most part it seems like Scaletrains is printing money with their N Scale releases and acquisitions.

So is Atlas with the Walthers purchase.

I wish someone would pickup the Intermountain N scale Freight Car line..

[samusi01]

For the most part it seems like Scaletrains is printing money with their N Scale releases and acquisitions.

Eventually ST will figure out that if they increase the rate of N releases and capitalize on the tooling they have and haven't touched (ER's modern bulkhead flat, FVM GP60s, etc.), they can increase the rate at which they print money...

[Dwight in Toronto]

They did an excellent job on the Turbo Train.  Just needs a keep-alive added to be perfect.

Fifty years ago, as a 16 year old N scaler (near the dawn of 1:160), I had the Bachman Turbo Train.  I spent unfathomable hours trying to make it run better, to no avail, but I was forever enamoured with the white CN livery (I still have that set).

I received Rapido’s Turbo Train offering in 2018, full dcc/sound, but was so troubled by derailments that I ended up returning it for a full refund.  That layout has since been dismantled, and getting rid of the Turbo became one of my biggest regrets.

I’ve been looking for a replacement ever since.  Just ended up making my first ever eBay purchase from a UK vendor who had the five-car CN set.  Three big downsides - it is the lowly DC version, the price is pretty much what I had paid for the DCC/sound model five years ago, and the shipping & duty is stupid expensive.  But beggars can’t be, well, you know.

Putting LokSound micros or nanos in the two power units, along with the necessary led additions, would make for a challenging project.  I just don’t know what I could do for the sound file.  Rapido headquarters are a 15 minute drive away, so MAYBE a hat-in-hand visit might meet with some sympathetic cooperation, but who knows.  Time will tell.

[lock4244]

If Rapido can't sell an overdetailed>overpriced model in N scale , how is me (Atlas or Scale Trains) buying the tooling assets going to make the models sell better?

Probably magic or some sort of wizard?

[Lemosteam]

So every HO scale announcement of transition era rolling stock on FB gets hammered with "please make this in N scale".  How can they miss that? And they never respond. 

From a PRR perspective, there is an inside man there feeding them PRR designs, from the H21, X23 (multiple versions), R7, GLa, F30.  All of these were (selfishly) hammered with N Scale requests from the N Scale community.  I have repeatedly mentioned this to the inside man as well.  Then again this same person abandoned all of his own N scale product in a similar fashion.

There is money to be had, but they simply ignore it.

I think it all stemmed from the sales of the Turbo Train, where they thought "This will be the perfect trainset that EVERYONE in N Scale will buy." Except that its a smaller model railroad era between transition and modern.

I also think they spend all of their earnings restoring other pet bus projects.

Dunno', but I've lost all interest in their product, period, and this ill-advised anti-N Scale and insulting newsletter just sealed the deal. C-Ya.

Did somebody just run off in a fit of rage, in a closed door office, write this and ship it to publishing?  It reads like a bad email the you meant not to send, but you accidentially hit the send button anyway, because of blind rage.  This really is pathetic, crybaby blather at best.

SMH

[peteski]

They did an excellent job on the Turbo Train.  Just needs a keep-alive added to be perfect.

I received Rapido’s Turbo Train offering in 2018, full dcc/sound, but was so troubled by derailments that I ended up returning it for a full refund.  That layout has since been dismantled, and getting rid of the Turbo became one of my biggest regrets.

Interesting.  I run both of my Turbo Train sets on friend's layout (with perfectly laid PECO C55 track) and on NTRAK layouts (which can have pretty bad C80 track) and I don't recall either derailments or power dropouts (no added keep-alive caps). 

[Point353]

Fifty years ago, as a 16 year old N scaler (near the dawn of 1:160), I had the Bachman Turbo Train.  I spent unfathomable hours trying to make it run better, to no avail, but I was forever enamoured with the white CN livery (I still have that set).

Mine ran fine after applying some Labelle #106 grease to the connecting pins on top of each the two-wheel trucks and to the areas where the four-wheel truck in the rear/dummy power dome car pivots in the frame.
(I still have a PC and a CN set.)