New year, new model buses?

It's the beginning of a new year and a good time to look at what may be in store for 1/76 scale model bus collectors such as myself in the near future. Apart from the noble exception of Oxford Diecast, 2016 was a disappointing year for diecasts, with Northcord and Britbus virtually invisible, Corgi suffering financial problems and the near-loss of EFE. I bought no more than two or three new diecast releases during the entire year and the majority of my new additions were resin kits from the growing band of cottage industry producers who have a very different business model but seem far more willing to invest in new products. So far it looks like 2017 won't be much better, with Brexit having had an adverse effect on production costs in China, but I'm still hoping I might be proved wrong and something exciting will unexpectedly appear.

Oxford Diecast

Oxford once again live up to their reputation as the market leader in 1/76 scale, having already announced no fewer than three new coach castings for release in the first half of this year (Bristol MW, Beadle integral and Irizar i6). The decision to open their own factory in China instead of relying on third-party manufacturing companies like the other model producers really seems to be paying off as they can keep costs low and don't have to compete for factory space. Their fortunes seem very different from the rest and the complete release programme across all scales and sectors is expected to include around 400 models, an average of more than one for every day of the year!

One of three new castings already announced by Oxford and a slightly less mainstream choice

Corgi

Corgi's parent company Hornby have been suffering severe and well-publicised financial issues for some time and this was reflected in the reduced and rather disappointing range released in 2016. Things look set to be even worse this year as the release programme is pared back to the bone instead of investing in new products to reinvigorate the brand. It was rumoured that there would be no buses at all in the first six months as these were not included in an initial announcement, but the full release schedule has now been made available and shows just two for this period, the lowest number ever. Again both are modern Wrightbus products, yet another Borismaster and a Gemini double-decker, and none of the older castings get a look-in. The liveries (Ride with Pride and a Brighton & Hove advertising scheme respectively) are attractive and will probably sell well, but both are one-offs that were worn by single vehicles for short periods so they're hardly representative of the real-life scene and I'm sure Corgi could have made better choices with much wider appeal.

The full extent of Corgi's Jan-Jun bus range. Better than nothing I suppose.

EFE

For a short time not so long ago it seemed probable that we would enter 2017 without the pioneer of this market sector following the collapse of parent company Gilbow Holdings, which would have been a major blow. Fortunately Bachmann stepped in to rescue EFE and hopefully new models will start to become available again very soon. In the short term Bachmann have reduced the EFE release schedule to just one model per month (which is still much better than Corgi) but intend to increase this to two a month in due course. That is nowhere near as prolific as previously but they have at least stopped the controversial practice of overprinting old stock and will be producing the new liveries that had been announced but not released by Gilbow. The 'new' casting unveiled at the Warley model railway show turned out to be a disappointment though: a lightly reworked version of the old DMS that was overpriced at £44.99, and one hopes this will not be the standard retail price for all new EFE models.

EFE's 'new' casting is just a DMS with a new top deck floor and isn't even very authentic

Britbus and Northcord

Very little has been heard from these manufacturers in recent years but they are still officially active and may yet surprise us with new releases for this year. There has been nothing new from Northcord for over three years now, although Britbus did manage four fairly low-key releases during 2016 after a long absence, so it remains to be seen what 2017 will bring. The lack of Northcord models is particularly frustrating as they have the best range of contemporary buses that appeal to modern-image railway modellers and fleet operators, although the most recent examples were priced at a hefty £64.99, which put them out of reach of many, and such prices seem unsustainable.

Other manufacturers

The diecast highlight of 2016 came from an unexpected source when Atlas Editions released a model of Eddie Stobart's Van Hool Astrobel coach in their World of Stobart collection, the first-ever diecast model of a modern double-deck coach. This is keenly sought after and examples are currently going for silly money on eBay, so hopefully 2017 will see them become more widely available at a reasonable price. Atlas continue to dispatch new models to subscribers to their Classic Coaches series too, usually without much prior indication of what they will be, and rumours are that these may include at least one new casting made exclusively for Atlas.

Perhaps the best diecast of 2016 and it didn't even come from one of the usual players

Forward Models didn't release anything new in 2016 but do have plans for new tooling this year, and there have been no further UK examples of the expensive limited-run resin models made by manufacturers such as TTC and Jotus. B-T Models have reduced the quantity of their releases but continue to turn out regular new liveries on their plastic Duple Dominant, Bristol MW and LD, and a nice touch from this company is that all recent models have been released in two or three versions featuring different liveries, destinations and identities.

In contrast to the UK, the model bus market in Hong Kong still seems to be buoyant and has received far more new models in both resin and metal from many different companies, including numerous new castings of comtemporary vehicles. This situation looks set to continue in 2017 and it seems Hong Kong may be the best place to obtain new and exciting models.

Kits

While the diecast market is in the doldrums, this seems to be providing more opportunities for the cottage industry manufacturers of resin kits, and 2017 looks set to continue last year's bumper crop of interesting new products. A new entrant to this market, Saltire Models appeared on the scene in 2016 and are on course to deliver their first kit imminently, while most of the existing manufacturers have already announced a number of new products scheduled for this year, covering all eras from pre-war to the present day. As resin casting technology continues to improve, standards of new kits are getting better all the time and the price gap between kits and diecasts is narrowing, but they remain short-run products that are only available directly from the manufacturers and sell out quickly, so if you want one your best bet is to pre-order it before release.

The first kit from Saltire Models, this Enviro200 MMC is sure to be popular

So that's my summary of where I think the UK model bus market is heading this year and sadly I fear the glory days are long gone and the industry is stagnating, so the current pattern of lacklustre releases in small numbers will continue and new castings from the main players are unlikely to appear in the near future. Corgi in particular seem to be heading downhill rapidly and their recent releases have been so uninspiring to me that by the time the next batch are announced it will be over five whole years since I last bought a new Corgi model. EFE are at least still in existence and occasionally producing models of interest, something that seemed doubtful at one point last year; the one new model released so far has been disappointing but it is too early to say what Bachmann's long-term plans for the range are. Once again I predict that the majority of my purchases in 2017 will be kits rather than diecasts, such is the state of the market nowadays and my lack of interest in the types of buses the diecast manufacturers seem inclined to produce.