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Re: O14 mainstream - was: Lionheart 7mm rtr L&B Locos announced

 

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I forgot to list existing O14 modellers in my list of market failure groups, broadly speaking they are happy with the status quo.

Personally, I feel RTR 7mm narrow gauge will never cover all prototypes the way it is getting close to in OO, there would always be things to build.? Even though I'm campaigning for off the shelf track I personally would still want to hand build front of house track as hand-built track looks finer and can be made to match the prototype of choice.? I'd use plenty of off the shelf track in fiddle yards, the point is that it would bring others to the scale and make things viable.

Making the scale viable would be very useful.? Availability of O14 wheelsets particularly being a frustration.? Hopefully it would also bring further kit manufacturer to the market.? The thing I would find most motivation sapping is the idea that I can buy a model off the shelf of a prototype I like in the scale I like at a reasonable price... but have to find a way of adapting it to the correct gauge.? Particularly as the justification for using the wrong gauge in the first place is so poor.??Some might but I'm never going to build a kit of something that is available off the shelf, even if it is the wrong gauge.

Paul Martin has supported O14 incredibly for a number of years and I've very grateful for that.? I'm interested in learning more about the off the shelf track he is producing.? As welcome is it is I fear it will be a 3D printed project for a niche market rather than a headline grabbing offering which would change RTR manufacturers decision making .? I'd love to find out more though, where did you hear about it?

I know tooling track would be eye wateringly expensive, although i wouldn't want to guess a price.? Peco has launched ranges of OO9 set track to compliment OO9 streamline.? This duplication is surely indicative that costs aren't completely prohibitive if someone is willing to take the risk, and importantly co-ordinate interested parties.? Track would never be viable if Lionheart, etc won't produce locos to run on in.

Regards,
Rich

Sent from

From: [email protected] <[email protected]> on behalf of Kelvin White <kelvin.torteval@...>
Sent: 01 October 2021 12:55
To: [email protected] <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: [o14] O14 mainstream - was: Lionheart 7mm rtr L&B Locos announced
?
Richard
I don’t think O14 will hit mainstream until ready to use turnouts are available.
My interests are 021 which is even more niche than 014.
But if O14 became more mainstream, would you still want to model in it??
O14 has its attractions because it’s needs a bit of work and skill to achieve!

best regards
Stay safe
Stay sane

Kelvin



On 1 Oct 2021, at 12:13, Richard Speight <richard.speight@...> wrote:

?
I'm incredibly excited about this announcement but feel it could be a missed opportunity.? It's really positive that it's been promised as adaptable to O14.??Whatever adaptable to O14 means it isn't going to be without compromises (probably wheels inset from outside frames), and probably require some skill and risk damaging an expensive model.

I dabble in O14, but my kit building isn't up to the standard of RTR products.? I know O14 is a "modelling" scale and I enjoy modelling but would love the support of RTR to open opportunities. i.e. wheel sets, track for fiddle yards, etc.

As I understand from subtle remarks from manufacturers this is not the only 7mm narrow gauge RTR announcement in the pipeline.??Every OO9 announcement so far has been a 2-foot gauge prototype (OK some Baldwins were re-gauged).? 2-foot has the iconic prototypes which RTR manufacturers will produce.? I know some people will object as they're happy with their kits, however that doesn't change the fact it looks like 7mm narrow gauge RTR will happen, but probably for O-16.5.? I think we all agree they won't look quite right on O-16.5.

O14 is currently a niche, even when compared to O-16.5, let alone OO9 and heaven forbit OO.? However, those markets are congested.? No one knows the potential of 7mm narrow gauge supported by RTR but given success of 7mm standard gauge and OO9 it looks promising. Does it have to be O-16.5 or could it be O14 from the start?? With off the shelf track and a couple of RTR locos in O-14 its popularity would quickly overtake O-16.5, which could still exist for those who want to adapt OO chassis or model railways around 2 foot 4 inches.

I believe Lionheart could be persuaded to produce a bespoke O14 chassis if they believed there would be sufficient sales.? The problem is lack of track and here there is a complete market failure.? The majority of existing 7mm Narrow Gauge Association members are by definition happy with O-16.5 and some will like the idea of it being served by RTR.? Peco are likely to be excited by RTR O-16.5 to increase sales of existing products in this range.? The opportunity is new entrants untied to a gauge, but these people are unlikely to be able to co-ordinate a move to O14.? So I fear nobody will act.

Can anything be done to encourage the production of O14 track and encourage the likes of Lionheart to produce a bespoke O14 chassis before we have range of 2-foot prototypes RTR but on O-16.5, recreating the legacy issues which sees the perpetuation of OO.

These aren't hollow words, I would happily help crowd fund such a project.? Does anyone have contacts within Peco that would be willing help put together a proposal?? I really feel there is an opportunity here but it is a short window that won't stay open for long.

Thoughts?
Rich

Sent from
From: [email protected] <[email protected]> on behalf of David Hughes <formerchurchwarden@...>
Sent: 01 October 2021 09:23
To: [email protected] <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: [o14] Lionheart 7mm rtr L&B Locos announced
?
Many years ago I bought a Wrightlines 'Pug' replacement chassis. Converting that to O14 involved removing a slice from the end of the stub axles. I still have nightmares about how badly I did it ...?Let's just say I bought Kay's RTR version of the chassis rather than fix the horrible wounds I'd inflicted on the kit, which kit is still somewhere down in the 'stash'.
I'll persist with my Link/Gibson kit for a little while longer, though the Lionheart is very tempting.
David H

From: [email protected] <[email protected]> on behalf of Martyn de Young <martyn@...>
Sent: 30 September 2021 18:16
To: [email protected] <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: [o14] Lionheart 7mm rtr L&B Locos announced
?
David, they are stub axles <snip>
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