[Bob Hughes]

My local retailer (Haslington Models) is taking provisional orders for a Heljan Falcon in OO scale. Quoted below is the message he has received from Heljan...

QUOTE Dear HELJAN retailer

As we approach 2007 we are pleased to announce our NEW PRODUCT programme with some exciting new releases to look forward to!

Please find our new product news for 2007/8 attached. With regard to the Brush 'FALCON' project please note that the special order form should be returned no later than 28th February 2007!

We look forward to receiving your order(s).

Best regards,

HELJAN A/S
Kim Nannestad

 

[Gary]

This suggests that Heljan want to establish likely demand and that a final production decision has yet to be made. Common sense really.

Why don't Hornby or Bachmann apply this same principle to a Midland Blue Pullman and other new models?

It means that they could announce plans for all sorts of locos considered weak commercially and subsequently suspend the production if the orders do not come flooding in.

Happy modelling
Gary

PS On the other hand it could be that Falcon really is a "one off" never to be repeated production model and its a "now and with only one production run" order request.

 

[7113]

QUOTE (Gary @ 4 Jan 2007, 15:22) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>This suggests that Heljan want to establish likely demand and that a final production decision has yet to be made. Common sense really.

Why don't Hornby or Bachmann apply this same principle to a Midland Blue Pullman and other new models?

It means that they could announce plans for all sorts of locos considered weak commercially and subsequently suspend the production if the orders do not come flooding in.

Happy modelling
Gary

PS On the other hand it could be that Falcon really is a "one off" never to be repeated production model and its a "now and with only one production run" order request.

Gulp (takes deep breath) Gary, in connection with some of the above I actually agree with you. However the choice of Falcon (named after Brush's forerunners Falcon Engineering) is, in my opinion, a rather dangerous venture commercially in that it spent most of it's life either in workshops or working the western region main lines.

The Blue Pullmans make more sense as they operated on two regions and two eras and accordingly there is a lot more mileage to be obtained from any tools that are produced.

How about GT3?

Regards

John

 

[manlie]

Contacted my Local Model Shop today, Medellers Mecca. They are taking orders over the phone. Did not say if Heljan will be making them but they have been asked by Heljan to see what the respose to the model is.... I have ask for one if Heljan are going to make them. May be a good idea if pepole do want one to get in touch with there shop to see what can be done...

 

[Bilbo]

So how many would they need to sell at say £100 a go to cover the costs of producing the necessary mould and eventually the model. I have heard some quite high initial costs for this and my fear is that if a proportion of us do tell our model shop we are interested then we are a very small representation of our hobby on this forum and RMweb for example.
They would be taking a very high risk if they go ahead , but if it was successful then we could perhaps look forward to other rarer models.

On the other hand as it is likely to be a limited edition they could charge a lot more for it, would we be prepared to pay?

 

[spongebob]

From what I hear they will be limited runs with a retail of £110 each. This may come as a shock but the new hornby 56 will cost the same. I don't know too much about the real thing but I presume they'll be altering the now discontinued class 47 tooling to suit. Think of it as a good opportunity to get a one off ready to run loco and it could be the start of other pioneers of the diesel age becoming available in a similar way.
I'm not sure if they have been wise with their timescale to register interest though, plus if it has to be submitted on paper does it have to be done via model shops? It all seems typically vague but I'm sure I could find space for a couple of oddball loco's in my collection.

 

[DriverSam]

I have to admire Hejan for sticking their neck out like this. Although Personally I wouldn't be interested in a model of 'Falcon'. Maybe they could widen their scope a bit more and take advanced orders for a BR AC electric loco - classes 81,82,83,84,85 or 89. I would be interested then and probably so would a few more people too.
Having said that I hope Heljan are successful with their 'Falcon' because it could open the doors for other one-off and unclassified locos being made into models. However they should be carefull not to repeat the serious flaws that occured on their class 33,47 and 52 locos otherwise this brave move could turn into disaster.