Build a Routemaster magazine series

[Waldgrun]

Just found this,
http://www.cupofcoffee.co.uk/2018/01/18/build-the-routemaster-just-maybe-take-out-a-huge-loan-first/

Today it’s a magazine which is being advertised on TV and it’s called “Build the Routemaster”. The first copy is £1.99. Here’s what you’re going to end up building…

Strangely the TV advert doesn’t properly tell you how long it’ll take to build. Sure, it’s on the screen for about 1 second in the top right corner but you’ll probably not notice it. Don’t worry though, I’ve done the maths. Also, as you’re probably worried about missing a copy and not having all the relevant bits, you can order a subscription. Yay.

Wait a minute though, because if we have a look in the small, small print on their site it clearly states how much things are REALLY going to cost.


Yes, the first issue is £1.99, then the next is £4.99. You’d think that’d be it wouldn’t you? Oh no baby. This is going to go up and up. After issue one and two, issue three and EVERY issue after that is £8.99.

Your bus is going to cost you A HUGE AMOUNT OF MONEY too. £1.99 for the first issue, £4.99 for the second. That’s £6.98. Then you’ve got 128 remaining issues at £8.99. That’s £1,150.72. Add it to the £6.98 for the first couple of issues and you’re going to be paying a grand total of…

I don't think many will be completed!

 

[gazthomas]

Over £1k for a model bus is very enterprising!

 

[EM2]

There is a full-size Dennis Trident, with an MoT, on eBay for £3000...

 

[gazthomas]

There is a full-size Dennis Trident, with an MoT, on eBay for £3000...

The model despite its extortionate price is easier to park

 

[Busaholic]

I've got a RM model of that size, didn't have to build it myself and it cost the person who bought it me about twelve years ago about a grand less than this rip-off. I've seen this in my local paper shop: I'll have a word with the owner to see whether he realises what people will be letting themselves in for.

 

[PeterC]

You wouldn't even get anything worth having with the first issue. SWMBO usually buys the first issue of these magazines in the knitting and stitching field as the extra large pack of stuff in issue 1 is usually worth more than the introductory price. The publisher's profit starts with issue 3.

 

[Darandio]

I've seen this in my local paper shop: I'll have a word with the owner to see whether he realises what people will be letting themselves in for.

I assume you are going to do it weekly then? There are similar ones starting nearly every week.

 

[Typhoon]

Just found this,
http://www.cupofcoffee.co.uk/2018/01/18/build-the-routemaster-just-maybe-take-out-a-huge-loan-first/

I don't think many will be completed!

Think of the rarity value! A completed one might even be unique.

Save it for ten to twenty years. Wait for an antiques programme to hit town (think SELNEC orange), you might even get as much as a ton for it (provided you haven't lost any of the bits).

Oh!!

 

[Islineclear3_1]

Does it come in green?

 

[A0wen]

Does it come in green?

You'll probably find that's next year's offer....

 

[Buggleskelly]

A tempting offer but it takes so long to get all the bits together, so I went out and purchased the slightly smaller 1:24 Revell kit which will take less time and at only a fraction of the price. I certainly learned my lesson after collecting the Flying Scotsman, HMS Victory and the Titanic (all of which I gave up on) while they were available.

 

[carlberry]

There have been stories about this type of product being discontinued part way through the run because the number of purchasers reduces too much.

 

[Typhoon]

There have been stories about this type of product being discontinued part way through the run because the number of purchasers reduces too much.

I would be concerned about that.

I know nothing of the law but I wonder whether having a subscription with the publisher (which you maintained) was a form of contract? On the website it does give subscribers the right to cancel, but does not mention the publisher. All I can find is 'There are currently 130 issues planned in the collection'. The use of 'planned' is interesting.

Some of their other models do seem to have run their course. For instance, there are 130 published parts of 'The Mallard', almost all are now available for the knock-down price of £4 a time. So a steam locomotive with a few bits missing will set you back a tad over £500!

 

[Busaholic]

I assume you are going to do it weekly then? There are similar ones starting nearly every week.

No, I've done it the once. He said he was well aware of how much it would cost to purchase all issues and, what's more, the total cost was mentioned somewhere on the packaging of the first issue: I did notice the huge number of issue 1 he had in stock which, given he runs a shop in the far west of Cornwall, is rather strange. He admitted that I was his only customer who regularly bought bus magazines, and I'd made it clear that I wouldn't be purchasing, but apparently his wholesalers at WHS dictate what he receives! He did vouchsave that he had a customer buying some partwork on a Mercedes for the last year, so there's obviously one born every minute.

 

[NorthernSpirit]

Save it for ten to twenty years. Wait for an antiques programme to hit town (think SELNEC orange), you might even get as much as a ton for it (provided you haven't lost any of the bits).

...or the bell breaks. I still reckon that there'll only be a handful of completed sets as everyone else doing one would have filed for bankrupcy or have given in.

 

[DunsBus]

I definitely won't be buying it. As the saying goes, fools and their money are easily parted. Even more so if the magazine stops being published part-way through the run and you end up with an incomplete model!

 

[Andyh82]

I definitely won't be buying it. As the saying goes, fools and their money are easily parted. Even more so if the magazine stops being published part-way through the run and you end up with an incomplete model!

You would hope if that as going to happen, they’d contact all subscribers and offer them all remaining parts for a sum of money. Assuming all the parts have already been made up front.

I also wonder what 130magazines are going to contain, I expect the topics will get more and more obscure.

I think it is definitely priced too high, if it was 4.99 and slightly few editions you’d be talking £600 which would put it more in a price range that some people might have a go, rather than in the ridiculously too expensive price bracket that 8.99 puts it.

 

[NorthernSpirit]

I also wonder what 130 magazines are going to contain, I expect the topics will get more and more obscure.

Personally I think magazine 130 will be filled a single page on how to build your incomplete bus along with 20 pages worth of trivia about LWT's On The Buses just to fill the mag up a bit and probably contains some glue.

Then after two and a bit years with bits of bus cluttering up your shed / attic / man cave you can then set about two and a half years on building the thing, along with finding out that you've mistakenly binned the roof or a wheel and have to somehow source spares which are none existant as the firm behind it has gone into administration and your left with an incomplete heap of junk that is cluttering up your shed / attic / man cave.

If it was an Airfix model then fair enough but it isn't.

 

[delt1c]

Worked out of Dalston on the route 11 and i cant remember RM857 ever being allocated to Dalston, our favorites were RM166 RM 763 and RM822

 

[Busaholic]

Worked out of Dalston on the route 11 and i cant remember RM857 ever being allocated to Dalston, our favorites were RM166 RM 763 and RM822

I'm guessing you worked out of Dalston in the 1970s, then. 857 was there, but only between March and June 1966!

 

[Teflon Lettuce]

I might be wrong, but I have a vague notion that RM857 was the basis of the sunstar 1:24 model... if I'm right this means that you have the option of spending over 1k and 2 yrs to build your own model of the bus... or 100 quid for a professionally built ready made model... sounds like someone has employed Baldrick in their planning department!

 

[BestWestern]

Presumably this will be some variant of an existing model/kit? I thought all these mags do that, they surely don't commission a brand new kit of hundreds of bits just for something that will hardly sell? I find the TV ad rather curious; it starts with the opening line "Remember the Routemaster bus?", which considering every enthusiast on the planet can identify one at 100 paces, seems to suggest that they're pitching it at people who aren't massively interested in buses. Bit ambitious expecting someone to commit to it on such a whim I'd have thought!

You wouldn't even get anything worth having with the first issue. SWMBO usually buys the first issue of these magazines in the knitting and stitching field as the extra large pack of stuff in issue 1 is usually worth more than the introductory price. The publisher's profit starts with issue 3.

A prime example of course being that 'Build a model railway' effort or whatever it was called a few years back, which rather foolishly included a Mk1 coach with one of the first issues, for about a fiver. That particular one flew off the shelves (I bought six I think, others bought dozens of them!), but oddly enough nobody seemed to be interested in buying the following issue!

 

[delt1c]

I'm guessing you worked out of Dalston in the 1970s, then. 857 was there, but only between March and June 1966!

Worked at Dalston from 1978 till closure. Always remember the metal rings on the walls from when it housed horses

 

[83G/84D]

I wonder how much a real Routemaster cost to build?

 

[delt1c]

I wonder how much a real Routemaster cost to build?

To much

 

[BestWestern]

To much

A damn sight less than the the current version.

The proper RMs gave immense value for money to London, many times over. Their successors have done quite the opposite.

 

[Mikey C]

Presumably this will be some variant of an existing model/kit? I thought all these mags do that, they surely don't commission a brand new kit of hundreds of bits just for something that will hardly sell? I find the TV ad rather curious; it starts with the opening line "Remember the Routemaster bus?", which considering every enthusiast on the planet can identify one at 100 paces, seems to suggest that they're pitching it at people who aren't massively interested in buses. Bit ambitious expecting someone to commit to it on such a whim I'd have thought!

Especially as they are still in service in London on the 15H!

 

[Deerfold]

There is a full-size Dennis Trident, with an MoT, on eBay for £3000...

Although as soon as you buy it, it won't have an MoT.

 

[Mitch in Notts]

I work in a Newsagents and this product was 'tested' in the East Midlands 18months ago. We actually took a regular order for it. It was cancelled after about 6 parts, as expected with a test, with a full refund for all purchasers. There was obviously enough demand for the test product that it has been launched nationally now. I have NEVER known a 'build a model' partwork be terminated early but it does happen with other titles in the partwork series. We actively discourage orders for these titles as they aren't worth the hassle!

 

[Busaholic]

'You and Yours' Radio 4 programme mentioned this today: the conclusion was that, as it was not illegal because the true cost was shown, it was doubtful whether many would continue after a few weeks. Apparently the most expensive of these partworks (so far!) cost over £2000 in total. The presenter made the wry point that the actual Lancaster bomber went from prototype to production in nine months, whereas the model version took over two years to complete.