I rarely post on here, as time & life doesn't allow any modelling time, but I keep buying stuff in the hope that one day things will change.
It was a bit of a stretch buying a 15XX as my layout will be set in the Taunton - Newton Abbott kind of area, but I caved in, even though some of the comments on here filled me with dread.
Anyway, Hattons supplied me with a DC lined 1505 & I'm very pleased with it. If there are any glue marks, one really has to go looking for them & the paint finish is fine all over. There is one very small section of black paint that is missing from the end of the smoke box hand rail where it nears one of the pannier tanks. Other defects if one is being really picky are that one of the whistles has a slight lean as does one of the brass coloured oil pots on the front of the cylinders, but I'm sure both can be tweaked with a pair of tweezers if they bother me in the future. Nothing appears to be bent, such as the fitting on the front of the smokebox & everything was in place, with nothing rattling around in the box.
The loco also appears to run fine, nice & smooth & if one really stares at it closely, then yes possibly it might have a hint of an off centre wheel, but you really really have to go looking for this possible issue.
So, in short, there are some good locos out there.
For what it's worth, the loco came via Royal Mail.
Cheers, Mike C