JSpencer

I have found that sometimes the fine electronics in models can make the customs guys go "that is not a model, that is some super secret military hardware..." (or something).

Thanks, its Peco. I used the lowest settings but do get the odd issue (like the APT-E and GWR rail car have plastic parts that rub against it). It is set for Bachmann EMU collector shoes distance.

They are Evemodel P8711. A German/Uk brand made in China. You get 60 seated figures. I used most of them in my OO-9 coaches. Several figures come with top hats that I will add Hornby L&M coaches. I think they could be tidied up to be better still. But good enough for the insides of coaches.

I have added figures to my pair. Now I have to say, I had expected the bodies to be a cow to remove with lots of fine detail flying off.... But NAH it was really easy to unclip them and lift them off (unlike Bachmann in my experience) even for my soft fingernails. I have used HO figures, especially for the TSO where legs need to get under the tables. They do look better with them and I may add more figures when I get them to fill them out a bit more (again thanks to the easy body removal).

I find something almost nostalgic about the TT range now it has the HST out, a HST train set, a BR blue 08 and soon(ish) a class 37 then 31.... It's starting to look like the Hornby trains I had as a kid in the 70s/80s. IF I was coming back to the hobby after a break, this would certainly make a good starting point for me. As it is I have this lot in modern day standards RTR in OO gauge. In the 1990s, I had planned an SECR layout to TT (100th with 14.2mm track) but even that has all now appeared in OO RTR. Perhaps here may be a problem, the range looks a lot like 70s/80s range to my eyes, and kids today would doubtless want things that are more recent.

How about the ultimate in fake hood. A fake bible by Mr Fake himself looking to pay off his 170m$ debt : https://godblesstheusabible.com/ Online reviews make the class 47 Heljan comments look tame!

Not only may it be a bad bargain but.... ...The sale will NOT support Dapol (who paid to develop the model in the first place) nor your UK based Model shop - many of whom would welcome the sale AND provide you with support with your hobby.

Do we know if any of the Non-sound chips ever came out?

In this case, they are not much cheaper than buying the UK. Nah! not worth the risk even if they claim free returns!

It is not just Dapol. There are lots of things being sold by the bay + amazon + just about any platform that allows people to sell things on it all coming from China. Before buying anything now, I always check the seller's credentials. IF it is China, I don't buy it ! Right now you can buy 100s of cr***py figures, trees, lights, etc whose quality is - at best - dubious.

Ah but eventually they could be measuring up a 50 or 37 saying "this thing does not match the plans..." 😅

Hmmm... my lady smelling exactly like a steam loco. What could be more romantic?

At first I thought this was a bit weird but indeed, the lighting is there but can only be accessed via a DCC chip. I agree the older models had switches for it: LIGHTING: Directional lighting, switchable on/off at either end on DCC or Analogue control Cab lighting, assigned to two DCC functions for separate switching of each Separately switched Engine Room lighting

I am looking at re-using an older sound chip (currently in a Hornby HST). I noted that the 8pin to 21pin adaptors I have still retain DC lighting buttons on all options even if DCC lighting is limited while the 8pin to plux 22 seems not to.

Ah you missed the joke on Facebook this morning! At first they said they were doing a 31!

I am looking at the plux22 spec and plux22 to 8 pin adapter by ESU which uses 12 pins on the plux side. Now in the past with a 8 to 21 pin adapter. Even if you could not control all the lighting functions when they were controlled via several auxiliary functions, you could at least switch them on/off manually via the various switches as the remaining pins were covered like the blanking plate. However with the plux22 8pin adaptor, there would 10 pins not engaged to any blanking plate. So my hunch here is that all the interior lights on the higher functions will be dead due to possibly the broken circuit. My initial thoughts were reuse an older chip via the adaptor but I suspect I will loose a lot of the lighting under DC doing so.

My guess is that they probably won't. Although you might be able to swap the bodies over between the older and newer toolings. EDIT: checking the HST DVT against my 2016 40th anniv HST, there are some tooling changes present. The 2016 HST set has opening cab doors. The HST DVT does not.

Kernow have a few Intercity exec 43 DVT (43013) going for £50 right now. I just got one to cover the class 89, but I'll also use her as the opposite end of the train for this loco too. (I know in preservation the HST set was a far more recent livery, but I don't do trains beyond year 2000).

That's handy, I have a Hornby TGS in IC livery that has buffers (ex Lima tooling). 😄

I have been looking around online and found photos in a Facebook class 89 group of her in the original IC livery pulling IC 125 (HST) coaches directly with no converted BG in between. They are definately HST mk3s as it is a TGS with Intercity 125 marked on the side. Sadly we cannot see the other end so I do not know if that was a HST power car converted for use as a DVT or something else. I'm hoping at least it is a HST power car converted for DVT use. Because the photos posted earlier in the thread showing the HST DVT with Mk3s and a BG, is exactly the one done by Hornby R40162 (43013) which are going for under £50 at Kernow right now. And I feel that using Mk3s and a HST DVT without the BG makes a much neater train.

Lovely pics and I will be able to simulate that train. Probably not with the correct vehicle numbers, but at least the mix of Mk3s, BG, HST DVT etc It seems that it is 89, BG, 2 or 4 Blue Mk3, 2 IC Mk3, then blue, IC, Blue, IC, HST DVT

I finally said "stuff it" and ordered the WD Open wagon as well. (And while I was there, I saw an open Cammell Laird too. They were a ship builder of RN warships, so made sense to include it). Here it is on the dock side with the WD van behind it (and a LBSC wagon to the left waiting for completion on the last pic).

After one evening of running them, I find these less fragile than the Deltic and Cement wagons. No bits have fallen off and they seem just as solid as the simpler Bachmann ones.

I tested the lighting on these yesterday evening. They stayed on for almost 5 minutes after cutting the power. Ah, I wish I had ordered more of these NSE ones, they are really well above the Bachmann types.

One power bank provides a lot of juice so I'm not sure why you would need a second. If it is about charging time, having 2 won't alter that. A few laps out of the loco is normally suffice to charge it up. However I do get why someone would want to fit an alternative (they might want smaller or have their own preference).