Quote from: njee20 on March 20, 2017, 09:55:25 AM
I agree that Dapol's production runs often seem a little curious, thinking about products that command an incredible premium when they crop up on the second hand market:

- Intercity Swallow 86s
- FGW mk3 buffets
- Grand Central mk3s

Others go for much more than they could be bought new
- FEA spine wagons (despite being wrong!), both GBRF and Freightliner
- some of the Dogfish(?) wagons

You'd think many of those would be quick wins, particularly the wagons and coaches, they could do a batch for a  quick injection of cash.

I wouldn't base business decisions on second hand prices.  Would give an idea of what a few desperate persons are willing to pay but no clue to the depth of the market.
Not much point to making a re-run of a thousand only to sell a couple of dozen.

Maybe a strategy used by game console makers could be used to maximise profits.  A new loco is released in limited numbers at say £350 then slowly reduced to £120 over 12 months with restricted release rate.

CFJ

For those of you who were convinced that Dapol pulled its statement because of public backlash or some sinister motivation, it seems, as escafeld suggested, the statement disappeared because the website crashed and was restored from an earlier version without it. It has been replaced now, with a note to that effect:
"My Apologies, our web server was down over the weekend and the post was lost."
http://dapol.co.uk/index.php?route=blog/post&post_id=43

I would urge those of you who are foaming at the mouth with anger to take a deep breath, take the statement for what it was -an honest explanation for why a proposed product line has been dropped-, and move forward. There isn't much to be done about it now and there isn't much sense in blaming a company for putting its long-term survival and well-being before the fulfillment of every proposed product.

QuoteMaybe a strategy used by game console makers could be used to maximise profits.  A new loco is released in limited numbers at say £350 then slowly reduced to £120 over 12 months with restricted release rate.

That might work for consoles but invariably crowdfunding has to offer incentives to early adopters for the risk and the long wait.

Quote from: Elvinley on March 21, 2017, 12:33:24 AM

Quote from: leachsprite4 on March 20, 2017, 10:46:41 PM
Thinking about easy wins, I am surprised no plain black br Manor or hall with small tender in plain green with gwr roundel.
Graham

They did a plain Manor, and there was the old Ixion one too.

I recall the ixion plain black Manor but not the dapol version? I appreciate they did Ditcheat in lined black but the lining wasn't quite right.
Graham

I'm just glad the class 33 made it into production !

Quote from: Elvinley on March 21, 2017, 12:34:25 AM

Quote from: longbow on March 20, 2017, 11:14:54 PM
Or indeed a Hall in lined BR black.

They did produce one a fair while ago, but it needed work as it was the grey wheeled era.

Yes, the wheels were grey, the route allocation disc was blue instead of red, the boiler lining continued over the firebox (which was incorrect for BR liveries) and the particular loco they produced lacked fire-iron tunnels.

The first batch of Halls were a bit of a mess really. Beautiful models and mechanically decent but IIRC, all 4 variants had livery errors. The GWR models had BR-style cab lining, the BR models had GWR-style firebox lining and the unlined GWR variant was a livery only carried by the oil-burning "Garth Hall".

I have fixed a few of the errors on mine and it looks a lot better. At some point I will get around to fabricating some fire-iron tunnels.

Quote from: Karhedron on March 21, 2017, 09:10:50 AM

Quote from: Elvinley on March 21, 2017, 12:34:25 AM

Quote from: longbow on March 20, 2017, 11:14:54 PM
Or indeed a Hall in lined BR black.

They did produce one a fair while ago, but it needed work as it was the grey wheeled era.

Yes, the wheels were grey, the route allocation disc was blue instead of red, the boiler lining continued over the firebox (which was incorrect for BR liveries) and the particular loco they produced lacked fire-iron tunnels.

The first batch of Halls were a bit of a mess really. Beautiful models and mechanically decent but IIRC, all 4 variants had livery errors. The GWR models had BR-style cab lining, the BR models had GWR-style firebox lining and the unlined GWR variant was a livery only carried by the oil-burning "Garth Hall".

I have fixed a few of the errors on mine and it looks a lot better. At some point I will get around to fabricating some fire-iron tunnels.

Yes it wasn't the best looking loco straight out of the box. I painted my wheels and weathered mine.

I recall seeing the pics of it on your layout, does it run alright, then?

Quote from: Bealman on March 21, 2017, 09:39:19 AM
I recall seeing the pics of it on your layout, does it run alright, then?

I have 3 halls, and all are good runners.

Cheers,
Alan

If I were to suggest one thing that Dapol could do to build my brand loyalty, it would be a ready supply of spare parts, and a quick and efficient repair service (for non-warranty repairs), rather than new products.

Cheers Jon 

Quote from: leachsprite4 on March 21, 2017, 06:33:28 AM

Quote from: Elvinley on March 21, 2017, 12:33:24 AM

Quote from: leachsprite4 on March 20, 2017, 10:46:41 PM
Thinking about easy wins, I am surprised no plain black br Manor or hall with small tender in plain green with gwr roundel.
Graham

They did a plain Manor, and there was the old Ixion one too.

I recall the ixion plain black Manor but not the dapol version? I appreciate they did Ditcheat in lined black but the lining wasn't quite right.
Graham

Sorry, you are right. There is an online shop selling a black Manor with a picture of an unlined Grange.

Quote from: Bealman on March 21, 2017, 09:39:19 AM
I recall seeing the pics of it on your layout, does it run alright, then?

Yes like Al, I found they tend to be good runners. I had some issues with hot motors and noisy running but things settled down.

Just been informed by Hattons that the Dapol J72 production has been cancelled. 

But now it is apparently definitely cancelled....

Yes, that's right, but I haven't heard anything recently about Garish J72 progress!! Anyone have any further information?