Cost of N Gauge Models in Context

[Chris Morris]

Maybe it's just Farish that have gone over high on prices.
Chinese made Farish BR van rrp- £19 to £21
British made Peco BR van RRP - £7.21
Yes the Farish vans are better detailed but when my train of mixed vans goes past I can't tell which ones are Peco and which ones are Farish. Unless you are in the habit of staring carefully at every wagon I can't see the point of the Farish one. I now buy Peco in preference to Farish where Peco have the right vehicle.

Likewise Farish MK2 rrp - £45.95
Dapol MK3 rrp - £25.95

I find the Dapol MK3 is a fine model and just wish they made mk1s! The pricing is similar across all coaches. In some cases the Farish are better models  ( such as Collets Vs Hawksworth) but that's one huge price difference on an eight coach train.

Maybe I'm in the minority but I find the current Dapol and Peco products perfectly acceptable and, due to price, much prefer them to Farish.

[Doltic]

I find the Dapol MK3 is a fine model and just wish they made mk1s! The pricing is similar across all coaches. In some cases the Farish are better models  ( such as Collets Vs Hawksworth) but that's one huge price difference on an eight coach train.

Maybe I'm in the minority but I find the current Dapol and Peco products perfectly acceptable and, due to price, much prefer them to Farish.

I agree with this statement. At the current prices for Farish MK1/2s I can't afford a full rake so I went with Dapol Mk3s and used Farish MK1/3 stuff. The dapol ones are really nice, same as the peco wagons. For me, and my viewing distance, it's enough.

the 4-car Kato Amtrak Superliner set I have is at around 80 as well - which means roughly 20 per carriage, which seems reasonable, given the Kato quality.

[PLD]

Maybe it's just Farish that have gone over high on prices.
Chinese made Farish BR van rrp- £19 to £21
British made Peco BR van RRP - £7.21

Approaching 40 year old tooling, 1980s tooling costs long written off over many thousands of units.
Common 10ft chassis used across the range which is nearly right for a few but the wrong length for most.
Few types churned out in multiple liveries of which maybe 1 in 10 is accurate for that wagon.
(so cost split over many more units).

vs

Modern tooling paid for at 2000s prices.
Bespoke chassis for each model in 9, 10, & 12 ft wheelbases and at least 3 variants of brake gear.
Many more variations designed, mostly accurate combinations of features provided for each livery (so few produced of each type to spread the tooling costs).

Or to put it another way;
Affordability vs Accuracy

Ain't it nice to have a choice! 

I'll support anyone makng the choice that suits then best. I will argue strongly with anyone who claims theirs is the only correct choice and others who think differently should be denied a choice...

[Chris Morris]

For me the loco is the star and the wagons merely the chorus line. I want a loco to be as near to 100% correct as possible; there's no way I would buy an early Farish loco because they just don't look the part. As far as the string of vans behind the loco are concerned - I need them to be correct livery, weathered and be a few slightly  different shapes and sizes. I'm never going to look at the brake gear detail or measure each on to check it is the correct length because that is not important to me; they are just the chorus line.

As an illustration, I have three wonderful Revolution tank wagons, they really are great models with fantastic detail. I have run them at every exhibition I have been to since I got them and nobody has made any comment about them. I've not even seen any reaction to suggest anyone has noticed them.  They do deserve to be noticed but the folk in the chorus line hardly ever get much recognition.

I'm happy for others to want perfect detail in all their rolling stock. I want to have the best possible stock but the price difference isn't worth it for my eyes.

[Rabbitaway]

There is a point about Peco wagons now being very dated but agreed they are great value for money. I have used their kits with Robbie's rolling stock transfers to make some great wagons

As for Dapol it is not only their coaches that are really good value but also their newer bogie wagons

The Farish rolling stock is just simply very poor value, it may have a little more finesse but not at close to double the money compared to Dapol.

I have not bought a single Farish item over the past few years at release, only bought when they are dumping the unsold stock at a significant discount via the box shifters retailers.

[PLD]

[Not singling you out - just that its the latest of a number of similar comments...]

The Farish rolling stock is just simply very poor value

in your opinion, or by your judgement, which you are entitled to and is no doubt shared by many others. I support your right to express that opinion, so long as you acknowledge is not universal and others opinions do vary...

[Bealman]

Seems to me that, 11 pages later, things have become convoluted and often out of context! 

[emjaybee]

Seems to me that, 11 pages later, things have become convoluted and often out of context! 

Is that not the nature of discussion?

[Bealman]

Indeed it is.... I'm just paraphrasing the title: "in" context. 

[emjaybee]

Indeed it is.... I'm just paraphrasing the title: "in" context. 

"There ya go again with them negative waves."

[Newportnobby]

 

[joe cassidy]

In France, when comparing different products, the concept of "value" is not used, rather the less subjective concept of price/quality ratio.

Best regards,


Joe

[njee20]

But surely quality is subjective? So that's no different. Indeed value is just a proxy for exactly that. Two things can be of equal value at different prices.

[Paddy]

Hi Folks,

An interesting article covering Cost, Price and Value...

https://keydifferences.com/difference-between-price-cost-and-value.html

Ultimately this will always comes down to a personal judgement IMHO.

Kind regards

Paddy

[Doltic]

[Not singling you out - just that its the latest of a number of similar comments...]

The Farish rolling stock is just simply very poor value

in your opinion, or by your judgement, which you are entitled to and is no doubt shared by many others. I support your right to express that opinion, so long as you acknowledge is not universal and others opinions do vary...

I think that with some things, the discussion of value simply goes out of the window and that is the case with a lot of N-gauge things. If you, say, want a Class 37 (or in my case a deltic) you're stuck with buying from Farish. Same with coaches. If you need an MK2 in your rake you can't just substitute them with Mk3s

However, compared, to say, german outline in N, the british stuff is laughingly cheap. Carriages are rarely under 50€ and the prices for the locomotives are insane, while you can get a big steamer for a little over a hundred here still.