[Adrian Swain]

Hi Folks Rapido entering the UK RTR market would certainly be good news if they could maintain the standard set by the Stirling Single
but sadly their next product commissioned by Rails does not get anywhere near the same level in spite of the Super-elevated price.

Serious livery errors combined with numerous detail errors and omissions certainly do not justify the £125 being asked. GA drawings
and the full size preserved example together with many photographs and published documentation give all the necessary information to
make the model as accurate as they claim. Unfortunately they seem to have received some advice without checking if they asked the right
question and without closely examining the drawings in conjunction with what can be observed on the prototype.

Magazine reviews are falling over themselves to award top marks, it would seem, without making any attempt to check the facts that are
available on the internet and on the LNER Encyclopedia Forum. It is a very pretty model but then so is Hornby's Thomas the tank engine !!

 

[Adrian Swain]

Hi Folks, Allegheny1000 is absolutely correct about magazine reviews, many are seriously misleading and must be skating on thin ice, like
the manufacturers, when it comes to trading standards requirements regarding making true statements about the quality of a product.
Perhaps it is time to stop using the term "review" and call the comments " Additional views and prototype information " and certainly drop
the "Score sheet" which has become meaningless in many cases as of late.

...I was very surprised at how many mistakes have been made on the DC, especially in view of the existence of so much information
being freely available. It only took me two or three emails to the right person to obtain a GA and a series of "Up-skirt" and "on top"
pictures which were all that was needed to check on suspected errors. I did not even have to go to York to do my research, my suspicions
having been aroused when I realised that the massive leaf spring that sits across the chassis, to measure the drawbar pull, was not shown
on the model. That led to other suspicions and on and on. Cost me nothing to find all that out apart from some time on my laptop, Any
competent reviewer could have done much the same but that is clearly not their brief.

….I would like to thank my source of information for his help although he will for the moment remain anonymous. He gained some
benefit as I was able to point out some of the pitfalls into which he will not now fall when he rebuilds and repaints his model.

 

[Adrian Swain]

Hi folks Those wishing to know more will have to ask !!

 

[Adrian Swain]

Hi Folks SirWilliam is right, it is very perceptive and I have not complained about late delivery, cancellation or the wrong prototype and
have waited until the whole batch is now sold so that Rapido should have no trouble paying their staff. Indeed at £125 per model I guess
the staff deserve quite a bonus. I have not bought a model so have not had to seek warranty work or refunds and therefore have no anxiety
about the model.

I am just simply pointing out to those who have been given rather exaggerated expectations of this model that unfortunately those
expectations have not been fulfilled. They may be quite happy with their purchase but perhaps they will make a more considered
judgement of the next model by Rapido as to whether they consider it justifies the price. Hornby have just released a Maunsell dining car,
indeed two completely different bodies and with a discounted price of under £40 it is less than one third the Rapido model. Having also done
a similar level of research into this I am satisfied it is of equal, indeed greater accuracy than the Dynamometer car. The liveries are correct
for both versions, unlike the LNER coach, since fortunately they accepted advice about the running number of one version. There will be
further variants to follow in due course in both cases and one might hope some corrections will be made to the Rapido model.

 

[Adrian Swain]

Hi Folks In reply to Richard Johnson I would point out that I have on many occasions contacted manufacturers including Rapido or have been approached for assistance but in the
case of all but Hornby, none of the big RTR manufacturers have taken heed of my points. Either they have simply ignored my comments or basically implied the model was correct
and I was wrong. This is a very different attitude to the smaller specialist businesses who are almost invariably very willing to accept help.

One point I would like to make is that the proliferation of new RTR manufacturers may well seem like a good thing to many but it is having a very adverse effect on the existing
companies whose continued existence is clearly on a knife edge. Hornby have seen sales volumes drop by over 50% in the last 5 years and this slide is yet to be halted.
Bachmann UK are having very extended lead times for new models and not announcing much other than livery variants. The commissioned models like Rapido's Stirling and
Dynamometer car etc etc are exclusive to one outlet and for local model shops to survive, so must the likes of Hornby and Bachmann. Currently it seems like half the new products
coming on stream are exclusive to a few large outlets and they are mostly "Once it's gone it's gone"

Of course the current "Big boys" are under delivering, the market for OO is shrinking and the smaller cake is being eaten by an ever increasing number of hungry competitors.
This makes it difficult for the "big boys" to invest in new models which is why they are underachieving. Something dramatic will have to happen soon which may change the market
in a direction most modellers will not expect or appreciate. For example, most modellers would not know whether the Hornby 14xx is better or worse than the Hattons version but
Hornby must have suffered loss of sales as a result and the same applies to the Dean Goods, the Mk 3 coaches, the Adams Radial the class 71 electric etc, etc. Loss of volume
means loss of profit which means less to invest and smaller runs with higher prices.

 

[Adrian Swain]

Hi Folks I think the following statement from Rail's own advertising blurb gives a fair summation of what purchasers should have expected of this model :-

"Rapido Trains is famous for producing models that capture famous or unusual vehicles right down to the tiniest detail, and the LNER dynamometer car will be no exception.
Based on detailed research of the prototype, archive photographs and official drawings, the ‘Rails Limited’ model will feature exceptional interior and underframe detail, including
depictions of the recording equipment and the additional speed recording wheel between the bogies "

Mike Trice has started a comprehensive upgrade of the model starting with a very detailed description of how to dismantle it in the first instance. One comic on the same forum
topic has suggested he is planning to modify it to "Danny the Dynamometer car" to fit in with Annie and Clarabel for the Thomas the Tank Engine series. Sadly the reverse would
appear to be rather more in Mike's mind. He appears to be converting it from a "Thomas" series model into an accurate replica as promised by Rails. He has a long list of omissions
and errors and I wish him the best of luck in his endeavours. Lining the 1938 version after a major repaint may be the most challenging part of the work I imagine.

 

[Adrian Swain]

Hi Folks Just shows where you can get with misleading advertising, magazine reviewers who do no checks on accuracy, and hoards of
modellers who are happy with whatever they receive. Not for the first time has a seriously inaccurate product won "Model of the Year" and
it is not helped by having an unauthentic museum restoration, although the incorrect detailing is entirely down to Rails/Rapido, since the NRM
exhibit is constructionally original in most respects. Whilst the award is often fully justified it is no guarantee of the quality of the winning item.

 

[Adrian Swain]

Hi Folks Quote from Sir Willam :- " I suppose it makes a change from targeting Oxford Rail! " Or Dapol or Heljan or Accurascale or
Kernow or Hattons or Minerva or Bachmann or Hornby or anyone else that produces sub-standard RTR models without good reason.