A plea from Jas___ Rapido

[nscalbitz]

hi,
As it hasn't been posted yet, a snippet from Rapidos' latest email, including two butts:

"But our N scale VIA F40 orders are only 15% of our HO scale orders of the same engines. Similarly, our N scale LRC coach orders were only about 15% of our HO orders. Nobody has ever made these before, and every year we would receive many requests for them to be made in N scale...

But in general we don't get why the F40 and LRC numbers are so much lower than HO compared to the Dash 8. We don't believe that "N scalers don't model passenger trains." We sold twice as many New Haven 8600s as LRC coaches...

Any constructive suggestions to help us better plan our N scale releases would be very much appreciated. Please reply to this email and the customer service team will forward all of these suggestions to the project management team. We promise to read and digest all of them. We want to make the N scale models that you want to buy."


regards
d   
[Just an interested bystander...]

[CBQ Fan]

I responded via email.

[ski]

Has there been any news about the N scale Horizon and Comet cars? I have not seen any updates other than Rapido’s video about the HO scale ones. I preordered enough N scale Horizon cars to make me end up in divorce court...

I wonder if they would do better on the F40s if they also did Amtrak and some US commuter versions....

A rerun of some of the previous coaches like the dayniters, coaches etc from the Panorama Line would do well I would think.

[peteski]

@rapidotrains

I suspect that if these F40s were done as Amtrak, they would sell much better. I suspect (purely my speculation) that there are much fewer modelers that model Canadian prototype than American prototype.

As for the 8600 cars, I bought 3 in MBTA livery (because that is something I'm interested in).
Few years back I bought 4 Osgood Bradley cars in B&M livery (again those fit my interests).
I'm also proud owner of 2 sound-equipped Turbo Trains (because those are just so cool, and Amtrak).
Then there is this sound-equipped New Heaven FP9A loco, because it is a unique loco and I got it for a bargain price.
I boycotted the meat reefers (large board gaps). Well, I bought one to examine it in-person (and confirmed that those gaps are really bad). Otherwise I would have bought about half a dozen.

LRC are not something I'm interested in, but I'm planning on buying several several Comet cars (MBTA), and Horizon (Amtrak). I don't like making reservations, and the price (even at a discounted price) is also becoming prohibitive.  Buying just a single, or couple of cars is pointless, and buying a train's worth gets mighty pricey.

So it is not like I don't buy Rapido models, but . . .

[greenwizard88]

I responded to their email, and said about the same thing (and a whole lot more). If I have to choose, I'm picking a Broadway Limited being pulled by a T1, over a 5-car Via Rail being pulled by an F40.

[Steveruger45]

Yes.  Make some US stuff.

[CBQ Fan]

FA units anyone?

[nscalbitz]

In addition, they said "The revised texture on our F40PH-2D radiator grilles. This is a huge improvement.

In the meantime, we're going to do more PR for the Original F40 and Rebuilt F40 models, and we'd really appreciate it if you could spread the word and encourage your friends to pre-order their models. The tooling revisions should be done next month, including fixing the radiator grilles to give them a finer appearance. We'll share photos of the new samples when we get them. We'd like to start production in July, so we need to bulk up the orders between now and then.

I know our N scale customers are always eager for more news, so I promise we'll have more N scale news in future newsletters. We have not given up on N scale."

And "Rapido-TCS Sound Decoders – Coming Soon!

Earlier I mentioned Rapido-TCS decoders in the HO scale M420. I'd like to tell you more about this new collaboration.

We feel it is best to have more than one decoder supplier, and we've been very impressed with the folks at Train Control Systems. Our main concern with having two suppliers is that we want our locomotives to work well together. So we have been working with TCS to create a custom Rapido-TCS decoder that is fully compatible with our ESU LokSound-equipped locomotives."

>>Has there been any news about the N scale Horizon and Comet cars?
Not that I saw.
A new HO run is being made.

And tour:
"So we are planning the Amazing M420 Tour. We'll be taking the HO scale M420 models, along with the F59PH, the N scale Canadian, and other new products to hobby shops and large clubs in eastern Canada, with possible side trips to western Canadian and northeastern American locations. Provided that travel restrictions will have eased by then, the tour is planned for late May and June of this year. More information to come in a future Rapido News.

We want you to see the M420 in person and hear the rich sounds from our new Rapido-TCS decoders. We promise you will be blown away.

If you want your club or hobby shop to be included in the tour, please let us know. We are looking to reach groups of 20 or more people at each stop."

Given their PR reaching so many, consideration that product delays happen, promoting well what they can make, giving detailed explanations about what they can't, and limited resources in such a small business, I'd say they're doing the hobby pretty well.
I'm pretty sure Jason doesn't want the responsibility of becoming another 'Atl**'.  Even working in/ around coronavirus limitations, all in all they couldn't be better.
regards
dave

[peteski]

So now they will have multiple brands of sound decoders?    TCS?   

I don't know . . . to me seems like sticking with a single brand of sound decoders would be better than using multiple brands (and each has a totally different way of programming).   Not a wise decision (from this modeler's perspective).

[learmoia]

I agree with more US stuff...  Canadian stuff specially passenger is pretty niche in the US.  The only Market I could see for the F40s and LRCs is people who model the GTW from Detroit to Chicago (or remembers those trains..)  the Toronto - Chicago trains must have had an agreement because o recall Amtrak F40 with Via LRCs.  And Via F40s with Amfleet cars.

I'd get the RTL though.. Rode that from Grand Central to Rochester, NY when I was 5ish

~Ian

[John]

The F40's might also look good in CSX -- especially with the earlier passenger car ..

[muktown128]

The F40's don't fit my era, but I agree with @peteski, regarding the F40's and Canadian passenger cars. I did buy 1 or 2 Rapido smoothside passenger cars and thought they were very well done with lots of fine detail.  I'd buy more if they fit in with my interests (PRR).

I'd really like them to succeed, since they are willing to do some unique items with a high level of detail (except for the wood reefers - sorry).  FA units would be a good item for them to tackle.  I'd be willing to buy some if they were offered in PRR.

[Steveruger45]

I want Rapido to really succeed too.  I’m impressed with what I see and read and I’m always checking what they have but nothing fits with my mid 90’s era Texas and Southwest location.

[C855B]

Here here. Jason & Co. are refreshing in every aspect. I didn't need a Turbotrain, but, dammit, the United Aircraft version was just close enough to my modeling era and region I was going to find an excuse to have one. I was running it last night as a matter of fact, enjoying how nice it looked and how smoothly it ran.

That said, F40's, Canadian prototypes, and so on aren't in my wheelhouse. I do think there have been some missed opportunities in US/CDN crossover models. Jason loves Alcos. I love Alcos. The FA/FBs have been mentioned, I would be good for a couple or more in UP trim. If Rapido had done, say, the RS-18 and used the base for a RS-27/RS-36, I wouldn't have needed three Briggs Models kits (sorry, Chris!) where it's going to be hard for me to carve-out the time and skill set to complete, in light of the millions of other things going on with my MRR. FWIW.

[gelboy45]

I agree that the FAs and FBs would be good and the hopefully the RDCs too, especially Boston & Maine and New Haven- and C&EI for me!).

Gerry