Jon - it looks grand although those yellow ends look a little plasticy? She does sit well on the lowered bogies though, and I've a soft spot for these GW 150 finished engines, I had the Lima Sir Daniel Gooch as a kid - one of my favourite models!

Goodevening - I know what you mean James -

I was going photo it alongside my Hornby 50007 but difference in the yellow ends is huuge - So bad that I daren't take a photo. I think Other manufacturers shades of yellow can be much worse than vitrains - sometimes being nearer to orange. I don't think my dodgy photography does the yellow any favours, but its definately yellow paint they are using and not yellow plastic Vitrains use white plastic that might have something to do with it. I have a Bachmann 37 and the noses are moulded in black plastic - the yellow paint on them is so thick (in order to cover the black) all the detail is flooded and looks blobby, like it was moulded in the wine gums factory . I suppose at least with vitrains locos everything looks a bit crisper as they aren't needing such a heavy application of paint. If only they did a 50 !

Nice work Jon, Im working on Vis' 47828 and 805.. they are nice models once theyve been detailed up. Your Chassis mod sounds interesting, I might have to give it a try as another downside is the ride height of the 47

NL

Goodevening

Nick - if you unlclip a bogie you'll see two little raised 'arcs' in the chassis casting - those are the bits to remove and then the loco drops by just the right amount. Some people achieve the same thing by bending the pins that stick out of the sides of bogie tower, but im not sure I like that idea. Once you have a nice lowered vitrains 47 you'll never go Bach(mann)

Pete - thanks - I'm not sure it'll look good weathered as the factory paint finish is quite 'matt' - any weathering on to matt paintwork always looks a bit too much like dust to me. I think a dose of gloss varnish would be needed first as the weathering is just as much about the mix of textures between the paintwork and the dirt. If anything I'll at least paint the bogies and underframe black to get rid of the bare plastic.

Mike , your friends very lucky - the Series 1 boat tail version is much more valuable than my series 2 Kammtail , although I prefer the look of the series 2. Yes mine has the terrifying cruise control - In the cars manual its called the Hand throttle - and is indeed linked directly to the throttle but with no return spring! Its supposed to be for cold starting (according to the manual) and confusingly has the recognised choke symbol on the lever - although its not actually connected to the chokes. Next to it is another lever that is connected to the chokes on the carbs - and that's got a completely different symbol on it - and the manual doesn't say what thats for at all! - and before you ask - no , the levers haven't been swapped round The car will start from cold without using either of them... My favorite 'features' include the handbrake warning lamp - that also doubles as the brake fluid warning lamp, just to put you at ease every time you park - and the gearstick thats perfectly positioned to hit the column stalks and turns on the headlights when you put it into 5th - I love my car!