Zero. None. Nada. Zilch.
That's right, of the 111 new models announced yesterday, precisely none of them are in the OOC range! Corgi seem to be concentrating their efforts on cars and aircraft (Vanguards and the Aviation Archive both gain new castings) along with a new range of military vehicles but, even based on their underwhelming recent form, to completely overlook bus collectors and not provide a single new model is a surprise. It's especially disappointing as this year sees the 25th birthday of the Original Omnibus Company, the very first release having been unveiled at a special event at Gaydon in June 1994, yet Corgi appear to be doing nothing whatsoever to mark this significant milestone.
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| A new bus casting from Corgi! It's nothing to get excited about though. |
The Hornby group is still mired in significant financial problems and the majority of investment seems to have gone into the railway side of the business, so the continued lack of new model bus tooling is not really surprising. However, this time round Corgi haven't even bothered to give us any fresh liveries on their huge range of existing castings. They often cite the cost of licensing liveries as the main barrier to producing new models, yet at the same time have inexplicably shown no interest in producing the plain unliveried buses that so many collectors and fleet operators constantly ask for and wouldn't require any expensive licensing.
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| These new buses are best described as novelty items |
Three buses do appear in other ranges outside of OOC, but none are of any interest to serious collectors. There is actually a new bus casting, but it's a stylised open-topper of indeterminate scale in the new 'Chunkies' series aimed at young children, which is unashamedly a toy and a rather hideous one that bears no resemblance whatsoever to any real bus. The venerable 1/64 scale toy Routemaster that dates back to the 1970s makes yet another appearance, this time in an entirely fictional livery promoting the Edinburgh Festival, and the third is a re-release of the Harry Potter Knight Bus from 2007. Even though it has been eight years since the last film appeared, Corgi seem to be milking the Potter franchise recently for some reason.
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| Why the continued fascination with Harry Potter? |
These toys appeal only to kids, tourists and Potterites, and the only OOC product to feature in the new catalogue is the two-piece set in special Royal Regiment of Fusiliers liveries that has already been announced last year and is due for release in February. Apart from that one set, consisting of yet more variations of the Wright Gemini and Borismaster that have been done to death over the last few years, 1/76 scale buses don't get a look in. That's a far cry from how things used to be back in the early 2000s, when there were enough annual OOC releases to justify a separate brochure dedicated entirely to that range.
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| The only OOC models in the new catalogue are ones we knew about last year |
So where does all this leave the Original Omnibus Company? Unless something drastic is done in the second half of the year, OOC appears to be going the same way as the once-promising Trackside range and sliding inexorably into oblivion. There have been numerous delays and cancellations and release numbers have steadily dwindled over recent times to nothing at all in what should be a celebratory 25th year. I genuinely fear Corgi have totally lost interest in the model bus side of the hobby, and the loss of the extensive and once-popular OOC range from the market would be a major blow to collectors.
What's your opinion on this year's (lack of) new releases though? Let me know your thoughts in the comments...
This latest Corgi catalogue appears to cover the whole of 2019 rather than just the first six months, so at the very least it will be at least a year before any further OOC models are announced.
ReplyDeleteThere are only three new aircraft toolings and the new Vanguard Jaguar/Daimler XJS appears to be a rework of the earlier Jaguar XJ6 model.
The new military models associated with this D-Day anniversary are an odd mix, three are 1/50 scale but the rest are described as fit the box & probably theses are aimed more at the souvenir market rather than collectors.
The new Chunkies toy range has been the main focus of this catalogue along with the aircraft, I doubt the OOC will make a return any time soon to be honest and it wouldn't surprise me if the Vanguards were the next to get the chop.
With the close links now between Hornby & Oxford Diecast it would make more sense to transfer the OOC range over to Oxford, they would probably gain a higher profile among the already extensive 1/76 road vehicle range and possibly Oxford could produce them at a more competitive price.
Sadly the future of massed produced diecast bus models isn't looking great, all four original players have either dropped the these types of models or creased trading in the last six years. EFE & Northcord are still around but only a shadow of what they were.
I agree that some rationalisation would be sensible. Integrating OOC into Oxford's 1/76 range and letting Oxford concentrate on that market while transferring Oxford's 1/43 cars into the Vanguards range seems the most sensible course of action to me. Maybe that will happen but not for a while yet as I believe Oxford still have the option of bailing out and selling their interest in Hornby if it all goes wrong so I guess they don't want to tie the two companies too closely together.
DeleteThe Corgi range for 2019 is pretty woeful across the board (again) and one gets the impression that this is a dying brand. Contrast this with Hornby Railways who have just announced their best range in years and it is clear where the investment is going.
ReplyDeleteAs the poster above notes, diecast collecting is not in a good place at the moment and it is difficult to see a way forward. Recent partworks have not been successful, handbuilts are becoming prohibitively expensive and ebay is awash with Corgi, EFE etc. from the 1990s/2000s that is not selling.
The only area which seems to be in reasonably good health is 1/76 scale cars, vans and trucks from the likes of Oxford and Pocketbond, which of course are bought by railway modellers. Where do the 1/43 and 1/50 scales go from here? Answers on a postcard please!
I agree 100%. I have to wonder if the problem is a vicious cycle though: collectors are losing interest because there aren't any exciting new models and because of that the manufacturers aren't willing to produce new models. The model bus market in Hong Kong still seems to be thriving by comparison though.
DeleteThanks for sharing.
ReplyDelete