Dear Rapido Customer,

Here's a quick update on old projects, new projects and a new face! In this issue of Rapido News: 

Now that we have two factories, we can finally make all of these amazing models that we've been promising for so long! With that in mind, we're announcing the "Final, Final" order deadline for the HO scale Amtrak NPCU "Cabbage" and Rebuilt F40PH locomotive with ditch lights. Note this date in your calendar: September 15th. Delivery is early 2018.

Next month we will be filming a sequel video to our hugely popular Amtrak F40 video, with its "Monster F40 Madness" commercial and cruel treatment of Rapido Dan. The new video will show all of the neat features of our latest leafy vegetable. Please click here to subscribe to our YouTube channel so you don't miss it.

These models are not just our old Amtrak F40 with a new nose. They feature completely new bodies with numerous spotting differences from the original F40 release. For instance, did you know that the Phase 1 F40s had their fuel tanks enlarged for long-distance services? They did, and ours did too. You can read all about the spotting differences between the various F40 phases in our Amtrak F40 Master Class.

Both of these models feature:

• First time produced in HO scale
• New body tooling for each model
• Operating ditch lights and strobe lights
• Operating number boards and step lights
• Silky-smooth operation
• Hefty pulling power
• Sound-equipped models feature accurate Rapido sounds
• Full multi-colored cab interior
• Full underframe detail
• See-through radiator grilles with visible shutters
• MU (Multiple Unit) and HEP (Head End Power) cables

MSRP is still only $299.95 (DC/DCC/Sound) and $199.95 (DC/Silent). You can order from any good hobby store or directly from Rapido.  

 

Please click here for more information about the NPCU Cabbage. And click here for more information about the Rebuilt F40. Remember the order deadline - September 15th! I'll send out another reminder once the video is online.

We are just a few weeks away from Rapido's big day. If you are a hobby shop owner, you and your staff are invited to Rapido's Galactic Headquarters for our Dealer Open House, featuring our new product launch and a barbecue.

For the rest of you, please keep an eye on your email and our Facebook page as we'll be releasing the details of two - actually, make that THREE - new projects in HO and N scales. I can't reveal much about them, but this is what I can confirm:

• HO scale model is a locomotive (or two)
• N scale model #1 is a terribly-kept secret
• N scale model #2 is a long-sought-after piece of rolling stock

Click here to visit our Facebook page. If you are reading this on a web site and you are not a newsletter subscriber, click here to sign up.

If you will be joining us for the Dealer Open House, please send a message to [email protected] to let us know ASAP.

Our new Rebuilt GMD-1 locomotives are HERE! They just arrived a couple of days ago and are now being shipped to stores. These puppies look and sound GORGEOUS.

Click here or on the image below to see our GMD-1 locomotives in action on Bob Fallowfield's incredible Canadian Pacific layout. Yes, the CN pups invaded a CP layout.

And I've got even better news for you - we have about two dozen extra rebuilt GMD-1 locomotives in stock in the 1400-1423 and 1430-44 series. If you don't have any on order - get them while you can. Full information on the Rebuilt GMD-1 can be found here.

June 26th is also our final order deadline for the HO scale New Look Bus. This is the most detailed small-scale bus model ever produced anywhere. Click here to visit our New Look Bus web site for full information. You can also click here or on the image below to see the product features up close and personal.

I'd like to send a special shout out to fellow bus enthusiast Chris Schmidt who noticed in the video that a detail had mysteriously moved about 1/8" up the side of the bus when we last did tooling revisions. This was a mistake at the mould workshop and we did not notice it when the last samples came in! Chris saved our behinds. We're fixing it now. So thanks again, Chris!

It's fun to look back on the history of this project through our YouTube videos. You can see how the model developed first as a "wouldn't it be neat?" idea and then how it led to us buying a real bus and driving it across the country. Click on the images below to watch the videos.

Inspiration and Restoration



Revolution and Application

In our last newsletter I mentioned the trouble we've had with the tooling for our HO scale Mid-Train Dome. At that point we weren't sure if we could remake the tooling in a cost-effective manner.

I am very pleased to announce that we have come to an agreement with one of our mould vendors and we have now RESTARTED the tooling on our dome car! That means that our very patient customers will finally be able to get their hands on this long-awaited model. We expect the tooling to completely finished by October.

The new order deadline is October 31st, 2017.

The HO scale Mid-Train Dome features:

• Rapido's amazing stainless steel finish
• Full underbody with air, steam and electrical lines
• Fully detailed and decorated interiors
• Window blinds at different heights for each car
• Operating diaphragms with etched-metal end gates
• Track-powered interior lighting including dome lights
• 22" Minimum radius (can be modified for 18" minimum)
• Numerous American and Canadian paint schemes
• Several car numbers per paint scheme
• Also available in unlettered stainless steel finish for your custom road

Those of you who already own our Mid-Train Dome will appreciate that we're making several improvements with the new tooling:

• Redesign of underbody support to avoid sagging beneath the dome
• Trucks attached with screws instead of clips
• Centre sill redesigned for more consistent ride height

The first run of Mid-Train Domes includes:

• Amtrak Phase I    
• Baltimore & Ohio    
• Canadian National (Noodle)
• Canadian National (Green/Modern)
• Canadian Pacific    
• CP Rail    
• Delaware & Hudson    
• Illinois Central
• Missouri Pacific (Eagle)
• Norfolk & Western
• Seaboard Coast Line
• VIA Rail Canada (original)
• Wabash
• Stainless Steel Finish, Unlettered

The Mid-Train Dome MSRP is $109.

If you placed an order for these cars with us in the past, we still have your order. We will contact you for updated credit card information when the models arrive. If you reserved with a dealer, please contact your dealer to make sure your order is still in his or her system.

Full information, including product and car numbers - can be found here. You can order the Mid-Train Dome from your local dealer or directly from us.

Please mark the order deadline in your calendar - October 31st, 2017. Better yet, just order now!

While the Mid-Train Dome managed to be resurrected from beyond the grave, unfortunately we can't say the same for the HO scale F9B and Steam Generator Car.

Looking at our sales figures, they aren't that bad. But the tooling needs to be redone, and it does not make economic sense to invest such a large amount in tooling for old projects that only have the potential for one more production run.

I apologize on behalf of everyone here at Rapido. We've been putting off cancelling these projects because we really wanted to make them (especially as I need more Steam Gennies!). We're just as disappointed as you are.

We've learned our lesson. It was the discovery of these problems in 2015 that made us change the way we make our moulds. We now work directly with several different tooling workshops. We no longer work through a middle agent. This way we can ensure that the quality of our moulds meets our expectations.

Our mechanic, Chris Fox, has been very busy working on the real RDC #6133 all through the winter. Last month he and I went to Moncton to arrange the delivery of several dozen parts for 6133 from the scrapper. And it was a depressing sight...

You can read all about the RDC trip - including more depressing photos from the scrapper's yard - by clicking here.

We've also filmed a video showing the fundraising model of 6133 on the gorgeous model railroad of Linwood Barclay. Yes, the world-famous, best-selling author Linwood Barclay. We think this video could really push his book sales into the stratosphere. Click here or on the picture below to watch it.

Please order your model of 6133 by clicking here. All of the proceeds from sales of 6133 models go to the restoration of the real RDC 6133.

So have you ever wanted to own a passenger car? We just replaced a bunch of windows and BANG! - some vandals threw a rock through one of them. And then they gouged the side of the car with rocks, including right through the Edmundston name. This is apparently par for the course in Orangeville, where the car is located.

If these vandals ever get inside our sleeper, they can destroy a year of painstaking restoration work in one hour. What is wrong with these people?

We've hired George Johnstone, a very talented and handy guy who lives in the area, to lead on the restoration of Edmundston. All going well, the first run will be in September. Click here to read Jordan's latest update on the restoration efforts. More updates will be added almost every week. Another update is going up today or tomorrow.

It is with great pleasure that I am able to introduce you to Rapido's latest full-time employee, Gareth Bayer.

Gareth is well known to diesel and electric era modellers in the United Kingdom. He is regarded as one of that country's experts on modern freight equipment. He writes tonnes of articles for the railway press, he has created scale drawings of countless models for publication, and he was even the editor of Rail Express / Rail Express Modeller magazine. This guy knows his stuff.

Gareth's not just into British trains. On nice days after work Gareth often heads to the bridge over CN's York Sub beside our office and photographs mainline freight. He doesn't just photograph the power; he photographs many of the freight cars too! He is the real deal. He has photographed trains all over the world and his photos have appeared extensively online and in print. Click here to visit Gareth's Flickr Photostream, with over 6000 train photos!

Here's one he took the other day:

Gareth is one of our lead project managers, responsible for all of our modern British models and a lot of our North American models as well. He has very quickly become an indispensable member of our team. Welcome aboard, Gareth!

Do you love the sound in your Rapido models as much as we do? Now you can order custom ESU Loksound decoders with Rapido's exclusive sounds on them. We have a wide variety of locomotive types available and it's growing all the time. Right now the decoders are just HO, but we will soon be expanding to N scale.

Click here to find out more. You can order from your dealer or direct from us.

I've just had a rummage and discovered that 570 readers of Rapido News live in the United Kingdom. Wow! I had no idea!

Now, since your entire country is about the size of southern Ontario, the city of Birmingham is within commuting distance of EVERYWHERE. Even Wick. I know - I've done it. It took four days, but I did it.

I hope you will be able to join Gareth and me on July 16th at the Transport Museum, Wythall (just south of Brummyland) where we will launch our first British bus model. Full information can be found here.

I really, really, really hope some of you 570 loyal British readers will join us! Should I start begging? I have no shame, you know. We forgot to ask people to RSVP so we have absolutely no idea how many people will be coming.

And I thought this would be a short newsletter. I will next be in touch on June 26th when we launch our amazing new models. Please remember to follow our Facebook page as that is where we will be announcing stuff first!

(And guess what - even more new product announcements are coming in July! These are good times to be a model railroader...)

Until next time,

Jason

Jason Shron
President
Rapido Trains Inc.