Greenbat

Gardens look great. Are you still bashing up a pantograph car?

Did they send you folders too? How many and did you try returning them? I'm genuinely curious to work it out accurately, might even go for it myself.

First issue is 50p, second is £3.99. If you subscribe you get one free issue, thereafter its £7.99/issue for 127 issues, making £1019.22. In addition, I notice they automatically send you binders for the "magazine" bit, first is free if you subscribe but rest cost £6.99 "as they become available". You have to return them, within 14 days and at your own cost, if you don't want them. This will cost you £2.80/folder, using 2nd class royal fail. However, the form says you must return your despatch in its original packing. So if they are packed in with your model bits, you're buggered. No idea how many there will be, lets assume there's 8 to buy (so about 15 issues per binder, allowing for one free one). They'll cost you £55.92, or £22.40 to return, not allowing for additional packaging. However, I suspect there might be many more-the promo pic for the free gift folder shows 5 dividers. So if thats 5 issues/folder, you could end up with 26 of the damn things! In return, you get the kit, with wheels, but no motor. I think you get the lining and decals too, going off the hachette A3 thread on here? But presumably have to buy your own paint. You also get your free gifts. If you get them all, there's a folder (£6.99), a coaster set (round £12?), a magnifying/holder thingy (about £10 on ebay), an A3 sized poster (£5 for similar on ebay), and a modellers tookit, which I'm going to guess at £30 worth. So that totals around £64 of free stuff if my price guessing is right. In contrast, you can get a super-duper detailed A4 kit from DJH for £645, plus £168 for wheels, totalling £813. Not sure what a lining/decal pack will be, but DJH do one for another LNER loco for about £40. Or if you prefer a fairer comparison, a main range DJH kit of an A3, A2, Britannia, Clan, Jubilee etc is £540, wheels and transfers the same price, making £748 So: Bare minimum for the hachette (assuming you return folders, I've correctly guessed the number and you deduct the value of all the gifts) is £977.62. The Piercy/DJH A4 kit totals £853, plus P&P, or a similar sized and detailed loco for £748+p&p. Your extra £200 odd quid gets you 130 lots of what look like quite detailed instructions, and the usual reheated "look at the trains" type articles in a large pamphlet. That works out around £1.60 an issue for said paperwork. Yes, I have nothing better to do than work out the costs of something I'll probably not bother with anyway. I'll leave you to draw your own conclusions, both about the kit and how exciting my life must be.

I'd suggest looking at Hattons for these, £111 inc postage!

I assume you're basing this on 167? As soon as I saw that first pic of the Brill trolley, I actually thought of Oporto 273. This did run (briefly!) at blackpool, so would be prototypical-ish. Good luck anyway.

The jubilees look nice (well, right. Jubilees are pretty hideous really). To be really accurate, 762 should have a million redundant wires and pipes, be held together with cable ties and have a dead seagull in some inaccessible place underneath it. Can anyone spot the Crich volunteer?