lbscfan

As Stephen has noted, Rapido have now confirmed that No 110 will be going ahead. As a result of everyone's activity, a lot of further orders came in over the weekend, and we ended up well over the 100 mark. We are very grateful to everyone who has supported this project and to those of you who placed orders, and who encouraged others to do so. Within the Brighton Circle itself, we had several multiple orders plus orders from those who only model in 7mm who were keen to see the project succeed. We are also grateful to the many members of the Circle Facebook group who were also supportive. We did know the outcome yesterday but we felt this was for Rapido to announce rather than us, so I hope you understand that we waited for that to happen. A lot of work is now going into the artwork for the different liveries. Keep an eye out for updates from Rapido as the project develops. Nicholas Pryor,

The answer to the enquiry from Olive Green 1923 is that we are achingly close but not yet quite close enough. Another 8-10 orders or so will get us across the finishing line. So if anyone has been wondering about ordering this model, and has not done anything about it, please consider getting your order in before Monday. The model won't appear without enough support to make the project viable. We are very grateful to all those who have ordered already. Please help us get over the line. Nicholas Pryor, Secretary , Brighton Circle

And orders are flowing in from current Circle members. I know of four already in the first half hour since the announcement. We send our greetings to Olddudders - you would always be welcome back. The Circle is a broad church of lifelong LBSCR lovers, and you are allowed to be a member and live in France. Others do. Email me at secretary@lbscr.org if you are tempted Nicholas

The Brighton Circle is delighted to have played a part in this very last minute and very short notice addition to the Rapido range of E1 tanks. We are enormously grateful to Andy and the team at Rapido for their very rapid and positive response to what was my wholly opportunistic approach to them as recently as the Tonbridge Show less than two weeks ago. That led to a flurry of emails and a further meeting at the Glasgow show last Sunday at which Rapido made the proposal that you now see. We agreed the identity of the model and the artwork for the lining and numbering yesterday. Andy’s announcement was agreed late last night. Here the proposed model now is, four days later. This must set some kind of record, and you will excuse us if we are a little breathless with excitement that it actually might now happen.. We were aware from comment on this forum and also from within the Circle itself and our associated and ever swelling Facebook group (now six times our size and still growing!) that there was considerable regret that the Marsh black livery was not represented in Rapido’s range. The order deadline for this model is fast approaching. Rapido’s suggestion that we look for a prototype that conformed with one of their existing tooling suites and which survived through to grouping in this livery led to the happy result that the best choice was No 110, the sole survivor of this class. We had already been able to assist Rapido in the early stages of the design of this project , and we have provided the artwork for the lining and numbering that you see on the render. Rapido have asked us to assist with the liveries for the range and we are giving them colour samples and lining and lettering artwork for all the LBSC engines and advising on the livery of the other versions. Stroudley liveries and his colour choices are complex and not easy to render in model form, and the goods green livery will be a modelling first. We will give it our best shot and we very much hope the end product will be one you all approve of. Please though be aware that the production of this additional livery is entirely dependent on the response from those of you who have said you would like to see one. The Circle’s resources would not stretch such that we could offer to commission this model and bear the commercial risk. I doubt many railway societies could. By using an existing tooling suite and applying a different livery, the project is viable with as few as 100 models produced, but it will only happen if those orders are there in time for the order deadline in April. The Stroudley version of the E1 is the prettiest of all of them and looks splendid in almost any livery. You will have seen the video of the EP running on Rapido’s test track, and many of you will have seen the EP at recent shows. It will a stunning model. So please do get your orders in if you want to see it. We shall be encouraging our members and Facebook members to place orders. And, yes, in case you wanted to ask, the live link now works and I have ordered mine. And you will have noted Andy’s broad and well informed hint as to the future. He is right – this really is going to turn out to be a great time to be a Brighton modeller, as you will see from announcements yet to come. And we have already started work on gathering material for Rapido’s next project. Best wishes Nicholas Pryor, Brighton Circle Secretary