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Blame it on Brexit


mick
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We've had the suspension of the Prototype HST from Rapido due to the devaluation of Sterling and now once again Brexit is being blamed in part for the suspension of a host of other models, this time from Dapol.

Dapol have issued a short statement, a section of which reads:

"The effects of the decision to leave the EU last June continue, particularly on the devaluation of Sterling and the increase in the general feeling of uncertainty as the actual leave date looms...."

I'm getting a bit tired of hearing that the blame for everything recently can be laid at the Brexit door. As for "...as the actual leave date looms", I'm really not sure when that is. As far as I am aware the decision for the UK to leave the EU has to begin by the triggering of Article 50 which has yet to happen, though it's believed to be imminent. It could then be two years or more before the UK and the EU go their own ways.

There has been an enormous number of new models coming onto the market lately; it's becoming saturated with them, and prices have been steadily rising for a few years, certainly from a time before the word 'Brexit' had any meaning. I think we've reached the tipping point and the inflated prices are affecting the number of sales that manufacturer's can expect.

I wrote to Bachmann 9 months or so ago explaining the reasons why I would not be renewing my Club membership and added that I considered the recent price rises of certain models to be excessive. My point was that I could afford to pay those prices but was not happy to do so. Suddenly, £60 or more for a coach seemed somewhat alarming and it had nothing to do with Brexit.

 

 

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The chickens are coming home to roost l'm afraid. The indecent rush to transfer everything to China to benifit from cheap labour has backfired. The Chinese can now pick and choose what they want to produce and charge more for it as the have all but destroyed the compertion. When the pound rose l did not see prices going down , did you?

Perhaps someone will be brave enough to bring production home again.

Still whilst some people are stupid enough to pay 60quid for a carridge cutting back on the amount of differant models produced is saving them from themselves isn't it.

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Brexit in this case is only a minor but contributary part of the price increases, a much higher effect has been the Chinese government's decision to raise their minimum wage by 20 per year for five years. Since the majority of workers in China are on their minium wage it makes a significant difference.

It's also a consequence of both Bachmann and Hornby using the same factory in China to produce their models. That factory owned by Bachmanns parent company has 100% of the commercial market and can charge what it likes, until or if  Hornby can manage to extract their moulds from them and move them elsewhere which would also cause disruption to the market..

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I was thinking, always bad l know but as  basicaly most models are just pre asembaled kits why not sell them as such?

Now my knowledge on how they are prooduced is limited l would assume that its production is labour intensive so why not do it yourself!

We have all taken apart something in our time so its not that hard. Coaches and wagons are easy, locos perhaps more fiddly. Stock could come pre painted and transfer printed and just snap fit together. Lets face it you have to do the detailing bit yourself anyway. Perhaps chassis could come part built and you just bolt the motor on it etc.

Have to go as l'm waking up now. 

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Sadly many people wil not build kits let alone scratchbuild, hence the popularity of Bachmann and Hornby ready to plonk buildings, which I find very expensive. IF they could sell them as kits they would, Dapol I think had a go at carriage kits but how successful it was I don't know.

Edited by TheQ
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I think the 'future' of modelling will be with developments in 3D printing. It's gone past the idea of 'rapid prototyping' now, as the prints can be very fine indeed... My own printer i'm building is technically capable of printing to 0.2 of a millimeter. Once i've got it up and running, I'll put some items up that i print etc, and a thread for it as well. :)

Brexit is being used as an excuse to raise prices in general, without good grounds to do so. This decision from Dapol, really highlights the problems for anyone in a product based environment, where it's simply unknown what is going to happen, following the enactment of Article 50. Companies won't take big risks, as that would upset shareholders, since we don't know what will be our 'place' once this 

I don't generally comment on political issues, but I cannot understand why anyone, looking at the FACTS (not the crap spouted by mainstream media) could decide we are better off out than in. For me, the uncertainty alone, in what is going to happen, was enough to prevent me voting out. It's been proven, factually, that the exit campaign was filled with lies, misinterpreted data, propaganda and a fair smattering of outright racism...

I'm sure that many exiters don't realise that we will still be bound to EU rules, if we want to trade with them... so why are we expecting this massive amount of autonomy on leaving? Any products we buy from Europe will conform to EU Rules, anything we want to sell to Europe will have to conform, otherwise, it won't be able to be sold. but anyway, I digress.... don't want to throw the thread too far from the tracks.

 

 

 

 

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