Lead Adventure Forum
Miniatures Adventure => VSF Adventures => Topic started by: Cat on January 22, 2020, 03:10:51 PM
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Hornby is rolling out an HO/OO Steampunk model railway range for 2020. The rolling stock looks good. The buildings, well let's just say they glued some gears on it and called it Steampunk...
https://www.hornby.com/uk-en/bassett-lowke-steampunk
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Weird. And probably sadly misjudged, unfortunately like a lot of Hornby releases, which is probably why their struggles as a business go ever on... It appears to be in HO/OO scale - those are 1/72 Airfix astronauts in the diorama pictured, unless my eyes deceive me? And yet the (rather nice) Steampunk figures offered as part of the range are stated to be ‘10cm’, i.e. 100mm. So way out of scale with the rolling stock. What’s that all about? And yes, the buildings appear to be regular (and quite modern looking) buildings, just with a few cogs stuck on the roof. How shoddy. How bizarre... ::)
Unless I’ve got completely the wrong end of the stick... :?
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There was already a thread on this a few weeks ago?
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Not impressed :?
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Saw the promo trailer somewhere and was thinking who buys this? Not sure which genre they are trying to replicate but it's certainly not steampunk as they seem to think steampunk, just our standard kits with some added cogs.
To be honest think a proper range of steampunk trains, buildings and miniatures would be interesting but just not the badly painted, weird designed vehicles and building mixed with some astronauts and somehow also a mention of dinosaurs... very strange especially for such an iconic brand.
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The proud names of Hornby and Bassett-Lowke mixed up in this tosh. Still, it involves "eco-warriors" so that’s an important box ticked.
Doug
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Weird. And probably sadly misjudged, unfortunately like a lot of Hornby releases, which is probably why their struggles as a business go ever on... It appears to be in HO/OO scale - those are 1/72 Airfix astronauts in the diorama pictured, unless my eyes deceive me? And yet the (rather nice) Steampunk figures offered as part of the range are stated to be ‘10cm’, i.e. 100mm. So way out of scale with the rolling stock. What’s that all about? And yes, the buildings appear to be regular (and quite modern looking) buildings, just with a few cogs stuck on the roof. How shoddy. How bizarre... ::)
Unless I’ve got completely the wrong end of the stick... :?
I noticed that.
I also think there are some Black Pyramid Gaming steam robot "Iron Men" kicking about in that diorama, so they are also including 1/56 or 28mm into the mix and hoping nobody picks up.
I mean, to be fair, it looks a lot like the sort of layouts I made when I was about six, what with all the random scales and odds and ends thrown in for good measure. So maybe there is a nostalgia market there... lol
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:o That is truly awful. What were they thinking?
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Haha, the character pack with Gandalf in it takes the cake though. lol
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Lol, buy them keep them MIB for 100 years. They'll be worth a fortune. Why? Because they are so bad no-one will buy them, Hornby will go bust and the remaining stock will end up in the landfill. Atari ET game anyone?
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In all seriousness this could have been an opportunity, but by what I see I call it a missed chance. It looks like another case of do it right or leave it. I can see no heartblood in there. They might have asked the wrong advisors or none at all. Just by having a glimpse of a certain vogue in mind is not what it needs to place a product.
It is a sad fact that the model railway industy is about to die someday. Either make it a toy again or create appealing models, but that I don´t see here... :'( :'(
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That is so poor I actually went looking at Railway Modelling and Steampunk forums to see what they thought of it. Much the same as us with slightly ruder words.
Hornby are going to lose money on this.
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Wow, I thought you lot were kidding about "Gears glued on regular buildings", when the scenery is literally exactly that.
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Odd direction for Hornby to go and especially in such a half hearted way...pretty sad!
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Haha, the character pack with Gandalf in it takes the cake though. lol
That is "Steam Wizard" he and the other characters are actual, or based on, characters from the Steampunk CosPlay community.
The 28mm figures look like they would work well with the RAFM Abney Park/Airship Pirates models.
I imagine that set will be the best selling of all the pieces in this collection.
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* Checks Calendar, confirms it isn't April yet ...
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There you go chaps, convert your buildings to a steampunk setting by adding cogs to the roof ad adding a pipe or two. Genius.
No rivets though. That's Victorian territory.
Atari ET game anyone?
I remember that disaster. I bought it! lol
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The original inspiration, apparently:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-england-london-51932009/the-steampunk-model-railway-enthusiast-having-designs-used-by-hornby (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-england-london-51932009/the-steampunk-model-railway-enthusiast-having-designs-used-by-hornby)
Doug
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Funny I'd just seen this today. I couldn't make up my mind if he was incredibly brave or a complete idiot. Then I remembered the product and I suddenly had my answer.
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Funny I'd just seen this today. I couldn't make up my mind if he was incredibly brave or a complete idiot. Then I remembered the product and I suddenly had my answer.
To be fair, I sort of see his point. But I was more amused by the Space Marines on the top of his display, and the idea of some Astartes shoveling coal into some contraption of the Imperium to make it run. lol
Each to their own I reckon.
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I quite like the cased display he has done there. Modelling is not the highest display railway standard but the ideas are good, a better modeller would be able to do something spectacular with that.
The Steampunk genre does lend itself to railways in a way that most sci-fi does not. I think you could get away with something styled like a Buck Rogers or Flash Gordon "pulp sci fi" railway layout as the tech on display would still be recognisable but not later.
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The Steampunk genre does lend itself to railways
It certainly does...
(http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-3MyjOpKk0Qk/Uzf2Y7XmGXI/AAAAAAAAHC4/qNAArpdq-lE/s1600/Bricklane+006.JPG)
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They should've got you to do it Michi 8)
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They are probably trying to cross-sell to the same customer base that bought Harry Potter themed trains.
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That is "Steam Wizard" he and the other characters are actual, or based on, characters from the Steampunk CosPlay community.
They are indeed - I know a number of them well - Merlin is a sweetie... They all hail from the Kent Steampunk community
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The paintjobs on the actual engines are a bit...well, shit.
they're cheaper than what i remember horny being so there's that i suppose, but still, A bit shoddy for the price.
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Sorry to be to this so late, but does anyone recognize the origin of the ship?
Doug
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Sorry to be to this so late, but does anyone recognize the origin of the ship?
Doug
If you mean the grey ship, the closest I can get you is, maybe, the Airfix 1/600 HMS Hood?
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Nice work Michi!
Beast I’d guess the ship is based on the Airfix Tirpitz/Bismarck...