N Pre-orders Re-visited

[towl1996]

One item I never thought would sell out so soon. Bluford corn fields. 

On 3/17, I was in Colonial Photo and Hobby in Orlando, Fl and they had a couple of the cornfields on the shelf.

[Rich_S]

This is the biggest thing I got from the Rapido News letter;

Rapido Mike's health has taken a turn for the worse lately. Please keep him in your prayers. His spirits have been pretty low.

Puddy, you are in my thoughts and prays.

[BruceStikkers]

I hate pre-ordering, but do it on "must have" items that I think the company will run out of.  I have noticed Walthers often has them after they come out and are gone from the manufacturer. I have done that many times so I can see what the actual item looks like and see how it is received before I buy. I don't like pre-orders from internet sellers who offer it for items such as individual cars I may only want one of in a run. The freight can easily be a third of the cost of the car. I don't blame the dealers but it really increases the cost on some of these and it is often difficult or not allowed to  add items to that order. My local dealer offers discounts on the items and no special freight because it comes with their regular big orders. We will have to live with it but I will never like it. I did plan on buying one of the baggage cars and have not ordered it yet, so I better get with it so Jason can proceed with production. I appreciate Jason being honest with us and trying to help us get the models we want in a manner that keeps his company in business.

Bruce Stikkers
St. Joseph, IL

[OldEastRR]

... on baggage car sales and tell people they are weaker then needed for production. (and yes, we're a bit surprised, it was the number one requested car by those who have contacted us, over a dining car, observation can or sleeper....)

When were people requesting this car? Was that before the WoT, MTL, and more KATO versions appeared?

[craigolio1]

Not sure when they were requested but my guess is the people who were requesting them are modelling Canadian passenger trains. The models from those other manufacturers, while very nice, are not correct for the cars CN used, passed on to VIA, and which then filtered out to numerous other operations. I'm a big fan of passenger trains and have grown fat suckling at the Rapido N scale teet. Haha. I used foobie stand-ins and built kits from brass sides, etc. Now I have accurate E sleepers, coaches and Daynighters. Stand-ins for the baggage car are no longer "acceptable" due to my having grown used to feasting on accurate Canadian models.  I've tossed aside my kits.  I've grown an elitist attitude about my passenger trains now. Kato VIA baggage cars are very nice but just will not do! Haha.

I've preordered  a VIA model for my Canadian, and was going to wait to get a deal on some random one I can strip for my Whistler Northwind, but in light of the news that it's not doing so well I'm going to pre order an undec as well. It'll cost me an extra $15 but if that goes towards Rapido producing future N scale models I'll pay it.

Craig

[Puddington]

When were people requesting this car? Was that before the WoT, MTL, and more KATO versions appeared?

There has been a consistent trend of requests for the past 24 months; the WOT cars had already been delivered and the new ones announced - it didn't seem to impact the requests.... I log all requests for product; have since I got to Rapido so I know the numbers and they were consistent and reasonably strong.

Don't know why the orders are low; suspect the state of US distributors and their current practices on carrying short term inventory has something to do with it but can't prove that.... orders will pick up..... always do......

[gdmichaels]

I think the big problem is that Paypal payment have to be redeemed within a short period of time of being sent. Most companies do not charge the credit card on pre-orders - they just keep your credit card info until the item arrives. (In some instances the wait time is so long that the credit card expires!) Then they charge the credit card when the item actually ships.  I don't think you can do that with Paypal.

Agreed with Pete.  This is not going to change.  We consumers have put a lot of pressure on the vendors to give us more detail and better quality construction and to keep prices low.  The pre-order system allows the manufacturers to do exactly that.  If a model won't sell then they won't make it.  If they made it on spec, and it didn't sell, the cost would be folded into other models that did sell.  Do you want to pay twice as much for the cars you actually do buy?  I didn't think so.

[Upstate Gator]

@Puddington Regarding the Rapido baggage cars, for me it's a price point and timing issue. I've not yet taken the plunge to passenger cars with an MSRP over $50. (The WoT cars can also be a stretch pricewise.) Coupled with not knowing exactly what funds I'll have on hand when my card is billed,plus a bunch of non-hobby related expenses, make it difficult to commit.

I hope to purchase one or two of the 1954 scheme CN cars.The Erie car is also close (http://rr-fallenflags.org/el/pax/erie-ba216abd.jpg) to the prototype, so that one is in the running for me as we. If we're in danger of not getting them released, I'll reexamine my willingness to reserve a couple with one of my preferred vendors.

Unfortunately, I totally missed out on the GTW lightweight coaches. I wasn't interested in them until well after they had been released.
Ben

[Steve Rodgers]

One item I never thought would sell out so soon. Bluford corn fields. 

We have more corn coming in towards the end of March-early April.
Steve