"Crowdfunding" for railway models

[plarailfan]

I came into Plarail by chance, after discovering the curves are a bit tighter radius than OO gauge. This meant I could finally have a continuous run / roundy type layout, rather than "end to end" model.
Not being a "rivet counter" I bought a Tomy Eurostar and Virgin train, so I could have some British outline stock, but now I would very much like, a class 60 locomotive !
I started this crowdfunding project to pay for the initial design work and the unpainted 3D printed body, will be available for anyone to buy seperately once the crowdfunded design work is complete. https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/design-cost-of-a-plarail-compatible-class-60-train/x/9529593
In my view, crowdfunding is a brilliant idea in principle - there's been an N gauge, Great Western railcar, which sadly, didn't raise enough funds and there's currently a Pendolino fund running, again, in N gauge.
What do others think about crowdfunded schemes ? are they good or bad ? discuss !

 

[TheEdge]

NSFW at all, lots of swears. That pretty much sums up my opinion of all crowdfunding ever.

Can't be bothered to save and invest and risk your own money and can't be bothered to get investment properly? Take gullible people's money!

You asked!

 

[hairyhandedfool]

Well, you see, you could put a pile of cash into a kickstarter project, say £350 for a 9 car sound fitted twin motor N gauge Pendolino (for which pledging ends on 18th Jan btw)....Or you could wait for years until the manufacturers finally wake up to the fact that many people would actually like to buy something that doesn't run on diesel or water and coal, and then shell out something like £500 (at current value) for the very same......Or you could spend your own time and money making a model Pendolino which looks somewhat like the real thing, if you happen to put it behind a model building (or your sofa), stand 20 feet away and squint quite a lot....

If Kickstarter is what it takes to make companies realise that certain models will sell, then it has to be a good thing. Whether I give £300 to a Kickstarter project or £300 to an RTR or kit manufacturer, or even if I spend £300 on scratch-building materials, at the end of the day, I'm giving someone £300, does it really make a difference who gets it? Surely the main thing is that I am happy with what I have.

 

[Bertie the bus]

You see the bits in bold - Short Summary, What we need and what you get, etc? These are headings followed by instructions to you regarding the details you should be providing.

You don't appear to have read the instructions and have just left them there. It isn't suprising your enterprise hasn't raised any money,

 

[plarailfan]

You see the bits in bold - Short Summary, What we need and what you get, etc? These are headings followed by instructions to you regarding the details you should be providing.

You don't appear to have read the instructions and have just left them there. It isn't suprising your enterprise hasn't raised any money,

Many thanks - on closer inspection, it turns out my brief description hadn't saved and had reverted back to the default screen !