Chris Wood

Sorry to hear of Les's passing, he was one of the good ones! RIP Les.

Here's the model in natural light. Unfortunately I would say there is a colour variation between the rear bunker/steps and the rest of the loco (boiler and cab front). Excellent model though.

Under the fluorescent lighting the colour variation is noticeable. I will check this in natural light to see if its any different.

Just received my olive green version (182) and it does appear to have some colour variation as suggested previously, which is a little disappointing. Having said that I do feel, barring some frustrating quality control issues, we are now experiencing a golden age of ready to run OO/4MM products. Long may it continue (or at least until my money runs out).

I recently picked up a secondhand P class for a reasonable price from a reputable dealer. Unfortunately when I tested the model it ran quite badly with a definite sticking point. At this point I probably should have packed it away and returned it to the dealer. However I knew I had no chance of getting a replacement, being both 2nd hand and the only one in the shop. I could have requested a refund but I chose to investigate further. Initially I thought the crank pins were catching the steps as they seemed to be very close. I tried to tighten the crank pins inwards to give further clearance but this did not improve the running. I eventually decided the issue was the wheel quartering as the coupling rods did seem tight in places. I persevered with this idea until I eventually succeeded. Now the loco runs exceptionally well. The pickups on the center wheel do look a little soft and not always in contact with the wheel, but while it is running so well I am reluctant to mess with it. In my opinion the model, although not without floors, is an exceptionally fine example of modern RTR steam loco's and the main manufacturers would do well in using this as a benchmark. However, as with many RTR steam loco's quality control can be a little wayward (not sure how you'd get around this for the money).

Big thank you to Les and his wife for giving a first class service. The shop is closed due to the current pandemic/shielding but they couldn't do enough to help when I emailed them. We need to support model shops like Haslington models, especially them. Fingers crossed they are able to open up soon. I will definitely be paying them a visit.

Model Railways Direct have a small sale on currently with one or two really good offers. Definitely worth a look.

Having had an email on Friday from Rails explaining that although I'd ordered my model (R3819) sometime ago, they were now unable to fulfil my order due to their allocation being cut, which was unfortunate as I'd been looking forward to this for sometime. I subsequently went about contacting many official Hornby stockists, most of which are sold out, as you'd expect. However I did manage to source several (one for me and one for my father). I have since this success been offered several more models, both from Hornby official stockists. It is worth checking with stockists if you want one of these models......there's one or two still available.