Matabiau

37-2023K Conflat Wagon BR Bauxite (Early) with ‘PATONS’ BD Container Mine arrived a week ago. Just waiting for Bachmann to make the N gauge and 009 gauge models available via the collectors' club website.

Sounds like an opportunity for Oxford Rail.

My DCC ready version arrived with the smokebox door open and the PCB loose in the box, no tool either. packaging rethink needed by the sound of things.

Problem fixed, thank you Tom.

My surprise is not having to pay VAT and customs charges in France, that has been the case since Brexit when purchasing from most UK retailers. The surprise here is that Hattons changed their procedure without any warning to their customers, and moreover charging EU customers full UK price including VAT before refunding the UK VAT. Thus occuring additional currency exchange charges both for paying the VAT and then for having it refunded. Until they resolve this particular issue and come into line with other UK retailers I will have to shop elsewhere.

That sounds like desperate measures! A future full of high speed pacers.

Thanks for the link. I don't know what they are doing! My delivery address is in France so should fall under the DDP according to their website. Either way it is frustrating (to say the least) that we should have to pay conversion charges twice for the VAT and then again for the refund.

They do look good, especially the red/brown single unit. Unfortunately the Locomotion Models website has a bug in it which swaps the billing and delivery addresses when you get to the payment section, I only spotted it because the UK delivery charge of £7.50 shot up to £20 (European charge) between pages, despite entering a delivery address of Bristol! In my case it was an easy spot, anyone with separate billing and delivery addresses both within the UK may not realise before it is too late as the delivery charge will remain the same! I have contacted Locomotion Models but am awaiting a response.

Until today Hattons have been able to pay VAT in the EU for all EU customers hence making them an attractive choice over other shops that simply (and understandably) charge you for all items without VAT and leave it to sort out tax and customs charges yourself. Unfortunately I have just learnt that is no longer the case for all orders over 150 Euros. While VAT law is beyond the control of Hattons they have come up with a bizarre and expensive (for the customer) system of charging you full price including UK VAT and then refunding the UK VAT in a separate transaction. Doubtless logical for customers paying from UK bank accounts in GBP but for anyone paying from a Euro bank account not only do we have to pay currency exchange charges for the initial VAT paid we also have to pay currency exchange charges on the VAT refund. Double bank charges for nothing. I hope this situation is resolved soon or else I will have to shop elsewhere.

The OO9 RNAD wagon is included in the price of OO9 membership. If you have OO or N membership you will receive the Conflat A wagon in a relevant scale. When you renew your membership you can alwys change scale, the wagon you receive and the catalogue are the only differences between scales. For overseas memebers Bachmann now recommend renewing with a single scale membership with the option of buying wagons of the other scales via the website.

Any news of the Collectors' Club day ou this year?

The model is actually quite robust. The only problems I have seen relate to glued parts that come unglued so can easily be stuck back on. The advice to follow is not to touch the detailing on the underside, that could be snapped if mishandled. By holding the body this should avoid such damage.

I had a panic initially upon applying the juice to the rails, the car didn't appear to light up! It appears that the lighting is prototypically dim (I feel an affinity to it already), and in the daylight here you can't see anything! Once I had closed all of the shutters the effect was much more visible.

The wedge end slides easily between the car body and the chasis at the centre. Instructions say to always hold the body and not the chasis to avoid breaking the detailed pipework. You slide the tool to one end releasing the body along its length and into one corner. There a gentle twisting action should releas the corner. Repeat for all four corners and presto, you have liberated the body. There are no wires within the car as the roof connection is via two metal springs in the toilet cisterne. Good luck putting the body back on again without losing a ducket or two.

The tool has two ends, one pointy for cleaning between your teeth and the other wedge shaped for persuading reluctant coach bodies off their chassis.