Accurascale

[Warbonnet]

Hi everyone,

As mentioned elsewhere, Irish Railway Models are venturing into the UK market in 2018 under our new brand, Accurascale. This will see us do British outline models in OO scale across a variety of eras and subjects. 

During our last customer survey it was indicated that a huge percentage of Irish railway modellers also model UK outline so Accurascale is sure to be of interest to you. Don't worry though, we will still be bringing out lots of Irish outline models in the coming years, including three, or maybe even four new models in 2018 alone for the Irish market. Accurascale models will be realises which have no impact on the amount of Irish models we will be doing with IRM.

Anyway, our first release will be in February 2018 and is currently in the tooling room. We have just put our Facebook page live, so if you could give it a like we would really appreciate it too! https://www.facebook.com/AccurascaleUK/

We're also sure you've seen the video of us talking to Andy York of British Railway Modelling magazine and of course, RMWeb. But for those of you who haven't, here it is below. 

Cheers!

 

[Georgeconna]

Cannie Wait! I start my Kit I have and that will ensure it pops out of a mold somewhere!

 

 

 

[Garfield]

41 minutes ago, Georgeconna said:

Cannie Wait! I start my Kit I have and that will ensure it pops out of a mold somewhere!

 

 

 

Jaysus, George... my eyes!

A man could do with getting advance warning so he can avert his gaze!  

[jhb171achill]

Awaiting with interest!

(Or are they getting ready for Brexit!!!?)

[Georgeconna]

Beauty is the Eye of the Beholder.

This model was at the engineering exhibition in Ally Pally a few years back. Stunning

GT3 5 1/2 inch gauge model.

[Weshty]

Why is there a great big wine rack at the front of that loco?? 

[Warbonnet]

1 hour ago, Georgeconna said:

Beauty is the Eye of the Beholder.

This model was at the engineering exhibition in Ally Pally a few years back. Stunning

GT3 5 1/2 inch gauge model.

I'm a big fan of GT3 too George but it looks like the rest of the gang wont go for it!

Would love to see your kit when it's finished!

[Georgeconna]

1 hour ago, Warbonnet said:

I'm a big fan of GT3 too George but it looks like the rest of the gang wont go for it!

Would love to see your kit when it's finished!

 

Yes Must kick into that one asap. Any Black 5's around gratefully accepted as I need one for a Chassis.

[Noel]

It looks like a giant storage heater on rails  

[Warbonnet]

Hi everyone,

We have put together a short, basic survey which should soak up any forum froth and give you a chance to lobby your case on what you would like from Accurascale. So if you're into British outline, give it a go! 

Complete our survey and you will be in with a chance of winning one of our first models as a prize! https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/accurscale-survey

Thanks,

Fran

[Glenderg]

On 12/6/2017 at 10:53 AM, Weshty said:

Why is there a great big wine rack at the front of that loco?? 

artillery round storage racks , I was going for. Turns out I've much schooling to do...:p

[RedRich]

How's the survey going lads. It must be a completely different survey to the one on here a while back relating to Irish models numbers wise, and choices of models due to the sheer number of prototypes to choose from. I have an interest in BR myself having lived in London during the late 80's, especially Hoover's in NSE and  EMU's. Looking forward to seeing which models get produced and making a purchase to support Accurascale.

Rich,

[jhb171achill]

On 06/12/2017 at 10:53 AM, Weshty said:

Why is there a great big wine rack at the front of that loco?? 

It's actually a radio. You can get Radio Eireann on it.

 

On 06/12/2017 at 2:00 PM, Noel said:

It looks like a giant storage heater on rails  

It is. But it's got a radio built into it too.......

[Warbonnet]

14 hours ago, RedRich said:

How's the survey going lads. It must be a completely different survey to the one on here a while back relating to Irish models numbers wise, and choices of models due to the sheer number of prototypes to choose from. I have an interest in BR myself having lived in London during the late 80's, especially Hoover's in NSE and  EMU's. Looking forward to seeing which models get produced and making a purchase to support Accurascale.

Rich,

Almost 500 replies since Friday evening Rich, which demonstrates the size of the market compared to home! Some great suggestions, some crazy ones and the odd one that would leave you scratching your head. Overall it's always a worthwhile exercise to do and will be a great help to us! 

[Broithe]

I haven't filled it in, as I don't really care about stuff here on the Big Island, but I have taken the liberty of sending the link to others that do, both as purchasers and retailers.

[NIRCLASS80]

18 hours ago, RedRich said:

How's the survey going lads. It must be a completely different survey to the one on here a while back relating to Irish models numbers wise, and choices of models due to the sheer number of prototypes to choose from. I have an interest in BR myself having lived in London during the late 80's, especially Hoover's in NSE and  EMU's. Looking forward to seeing which models get produced and making a purchase to support Accurascale.

Rich,

An accurate Class 50 would declare me bankrupt!!!

[jhb171achill]

I'm not into British stuff either, but if I was, I suspect either the LMS or GWR would be good companies to concentrate initially on, or 1970s BR. Most pre-group modellers seem to prefer LMS / GWR, judging by display layouts and Hornby catalogues, while after BR, well, there's really SO much you wouldn't know where to start. Perhaps a locomotive of the most common types (classes 47 or 31?) which spanned a greater period and covered a greater geographical spread would be the way to go. In terms of carriages, clearly a Mk 1 or Mk 2 would be the most versatile.

With a market as big as that in Britain, and the overall very high standards, and greater interest than here in extreme accuracy, there is clearly a great place for this venture. But there is competition, I would think?

I could say "pick something too obscure and nobody will buy it".  However, a market is a market, and even a somewhat obscure thing by British standards would surely outsell a sought-after Irish one, as the Irish market is so very smaller. Thus, if you can make a go of bubbles and ballasts, and people like Leslie can sell H vans and beet trucks, it would seem that whatever way you do your costings and business case, you shouldn't need to be confined to the examples mentioned above. However, they might be good safe starters.

I know I bang on about this, but unless you are modelling recent times post-"supertrain" in Ireland, the great, glaring gap in the market is six wheeled carriages, still in excursion use as late as 1963. I believe the very last ones were only officially retired in Cork in 1964. Prior to that, they were almost as much a feature of any passenger train, mixed in with bogies, for the preceding seventy years. the same applied in Britain, and the same gap exists there. You can get kits of very nice GWR long wheelbase four wheelers, but not 6 wheelers. Thus, a kit of a common type over there, or a RTR model, could have a side issue of selling the chassis separately to assist Irish modellers too. Both in Britain and Ireland, 30ft (120mm in scale) was a standard length for most companies. I accept that the ubiquitous MGWR variety, while essential on an Irish line in the 1950s and before, is too small to be commercial here. But with Britain having 13 times the population we have, and many modellers here doing British prototypes too, and proportionately a greater interest over there anyway, you could be looking at a potential market for anything of some 20 times that for bubbles, for example. Thus, something six-wheeled could possibly be viable.

For modern image, you'll hardly go wrong with a very high-spec Mk. 3 open standard. (Or, as they call them, BSK, GHT, JYT, JHB, HGE types whatever all that stuff means....!)

(Do you know what absolutely MADDENS me..... seeing a classification of an Irish coach at Whitehead, Cultra or Downpatrick described in origin or condition as "BR or before", or called a TSO, BST or some such drivel. They were NEVER PART OF BR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Arrrrghghhgghghghhhhhh)

[WRENNEIRE]

Found this on the E.M. Gauge Society newsletter

 

http://www.emgs.org/accurascale-announce-intent-to-produce-uk-models/

[Irishswissernie]

Its great what you have done for Irish modelling; now we need someone to champion the cause of models for the North of England and Scotland railways. The GWR , Southern and the English constituents of the LMS are well covered.

NER J27,s NBR J36 and J37 all lasted until the last years of steam NER G 5 0-4-4ts migrated to London and Scotland and a replica full size job is under construction. Andrew Barclay industrial 0-4-0st served all over the UK.

What we don't need is more obscure LBSC tanks and SE&CR 0-6-0's that mainly didn't leave their tiny (by NER & NBR size) pre-grouping company rails. If we have to have another SE&CR loco why not one of the Great North of Scotland 4-4-0's that they purchased (D40) when the GNS couldn't afford to pay for the whole batch.

Rant over !!!!!!

Ernie

[Georgeconna]

ah now Ernie.

 Loads to do yet for the SR. I love a Z or a W class Tank in all fairness. The Q and U are yet to be done.

Of course Everyone should have a P in there collection, Lovely little Loco.

We will have to wait n see!

cheers

George

 

 

 

 

 

[Noel]

31 minutes ago, Georgeconna said:

ah now Ernie.

 Loads to do yet for the SR. I love a Z or a W class Tank in all fairness. The Q and U are yet to be done.

Of course Everyone should have a P in there collection, Lovely little Loco.

We will have to wait n see!

cheers

George

Or perhaps one of the earliest British built diesel locomotives

[Garfield]

1 hour ago, Noel said:

Or perhaps one of the earliest British built diesel locomotives

Hmm.

 

[Warbonnet]

I'm sure you all know the info in this blog as you all know us so well at this stage, but we've just published our first Accurascale blog outlining who we are and all that jazz . It might be of interest! 

https://accurascale.co.uk/who-are-accurascale/

 

Cheers!

 

Fran

[Tarabuses]

I see that you have teamed up with Rails and NRM to produce a special pack.

[BosKonay]

Hi Tony,

Yes indeed, we've been commissioned by a joint venture of Rails and the NRM to do a custom run

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/131562-rails-nrm-locomotion-accurascale-hop24-huo-hopper-pack/

[Warbonnet]

Patrick and I have just returned from the Glasgow show. We were delighted to do a special commission with the National Railway Museum with their Locomotion Models arm and in conjunction with Rails Limited.

They’ve opted to do a special three pack edition of the first three of the HOP24/HUO wagons of the variant we are producing. These were built in Shildon, where the NRM now has a museum. They will come in a specially decorated box which Patrick has done an amazing design job on and is available for £69.95 on the Locomotion and Rails websites. 

We met with the NRM and Rails on Tuesday in York and they were highly impressed with our HUO hopper as well as the IRM output that they were keen to work with us. We’re genuinely humbled as they insist on ‘Museum Quality’ models as seen by the other models they have commissioned over the years.

If you are at Model Rail Scotland today you can see the samples of the hopper in the cabinet of Rails, Locomotion and there is also one on the Scalefour Society stand which has been converted to P4 finescale standards. All it took to convert the wagon was a simple drop in fit of the wheel sets. 😊

We will have a sample of the HOP24/HUO with us at the IRM launch on the 3rd in anyone wants to have a look!

 

[Mike 84C]

Hats off to you guys; your standing in the model world is increasing by leaps and bounds. You deserve your success.  

[Warbonnet]

Another milestone has been reached by Accurascale in our first British outline project as we received our first decorated samples of our forthcoming HOP 24.

The decorated samples shown in accompanying photographs are from pack B, which features the branding, “Load only to Stella North or South Dunston or Blyth Power Stations”. They also display the individual running numbers, lettering and detailing characteristics which will feature across each of the 15-wagon release that will make up the first Accurascale release in pre-TOPS ‘HOP24’ guise.

The wagons are finished in BR freight grey and are ready to weather, featuring details such as authentic tatty black lettering panels, a distinctive feature of these wagons. All wagons offered in the Accurascale range are based on comprehensive photographs of the individual prototypes.

Refinement of the tooling has also been completed, with the brake gear modified and the NEM pocket moved to correct height. With these revisions complete the model will now progress to production in the coming weeks, with a delivery date of Q2 2018 for this first production run.

Over 25% of the first HOP24 production run have been sold already, with the rake deal of 15 individually numbered wagons for £275 proving very popular. These are made up of five packs of three wagons and they are only available to purchase directly from our website.

 

[Noel]

With IRM's track record we expected nothing less than the sublimely accurate and detailed product shown above. Congrats on getting the first UK product off the ground. The high standards you have achieved to date have pushed expectations to a new level. The team of four should be rightly proud of their achievements to date.

Edited March 27, 2018 by Noel
tpyo lexdysia

[popeye]

Good luck with these, they look great, very well done.

[RedRich]

It's a really fantastic model men it's going to be a huge success.

Rich,