Rhydgaled

Eh? What etched plates? The current artwork on Hornby's site shows the power cars included would be 43187 and 43188, neither of which are named. That said, as I've posted before, since it is a limited edition I think it would make more sense to do 43041 (the only named one in the new GWR livery) instead; or if they are doing 43188/187 s a limited edition to do them with the Welshman branding.

Most of my rolling stock is currently stuffed in a fairly deep plastic box. Where possible the models are in their original boxes, but sadly I haven't kept the boxes for alot of my older stock so I'm a bit worried the paintwork will get scratched putting the models on top of each other. If they were all in neat indidvidual boxes they would stack more efficiently. I also have recently started building Ratio rolling stock kits, which have a few parts which seem a bit fragile (the wagon I built today especially). Currently, those are in a seperate small box and wrapped in bubble wrap, but that's no good as a long-term solution. So, I've been thinking for some time about building new boxes similar to the Hornby boxes, a cardboard sleve of some kind with expanded polystyrene padding within. We've had some new computers arrive at work recently and some of the cardboard boxes they came out of looked like they could be a good size for two or three coaches (not exactly the individual boxes I had in mind, but any protection for my unboxed stock would be good), so I nabbed them. The problem is what to line them with (presumably, PC boxes are not made of acid-free cardboard, and cardboard alone probably doesn't provide the necessary cusioning anyway). I seem to recall reading a number of horror stories about various materials (including some plastics) damaging the plastic and/or paint of railway models somewhere on this forum, but I've lost the topic it was in. That's why I thought I'd better ask what to line my boxes with to keep my models safe (I'm assuming the various card, expanded polystyrene and other plastics (my latest Hornby item has clear plastic rather than expanded polystyrene) are all safe for models to be in contact with?) I did find a PDF online about packing museum peices, which stated that "Plastazote, Ethafoam or Jiffy foam" are 'inert' (which it also said expanded polystyrene is), but it doesn't specifically say whether they are ok for storing plastic items. Is that safe to be in contact with models? That other topic I lost had some nasty supprises regarding plastics not getting on with each other.

I don't think it was ever the intention to paint more than two full sets in the new GWR green livery, as they were all expected to be leaving the franchise. Now that some short sets are to be kept, more IC125s will presumably appear in green but it remains to be seen whether they are repainted before getting the new doors. The new GWR green livery doesn't have a yellow stripe for first class, the livery differences between first and standard are less obvious than that, from a distance it looks like a one-class-only train. I too would like to see the Railroad power cars return; the Lima model with a good-quality motor etc. would be great. If they were cheap enough I might even be tempted to buy them in the VT livery for repainting (although I've never done a repaint of a ready-painted model, and not sure what the best thing to start with is). Teal Green? Are you just describing the colour because I seem to recall when the new GWR green livery was revealed a press release was put out saying the colour was specially mixed for GWR and is called 'GWR Green'.

Sure, I wouldn't be expecting lots of seperately-fitted detail on a £45 Railroad model, but my gut feeling is the 3D-effect lettering shouldn't be too hard to do (the old tender-drive 4472 in the train sets used to have it after all, as did the Pannier in the GWR mixed traffic set I think; and Smokey Joe (even cheaper than the 14xx?) is in lined (not unlined) black livery). I can understand leaving off the coach-end data panels (as Hornby did with train set Mrk4 coaches), to save printing ink as they are small details not always noticed, but the flat lettering looks obviously wrong. All that said, I must admit that I haven't got a clue how Hornby print the lettering and numbers onto a model, so the process might be more costly than I'm thinking. Does anyone happen to know a good webpage that shows how they do it and possibly explains why the 3D-effect lettering would be costly?

How do Hornby decide what models they are going to issue with an individually numbered 'limted edition' certificate? It seems to me that 'run of the mill' fleet liveries (such as dynamic lines, particularly unnamed locos) would be 'unlimited' and special one-off celebrity locos (like 43002 in current BR livery with nameplates) might be 'limited edition'. With the GWR power cars, a fleet of short-sets now looks like being retained, which makes the Hornby model of 43187 and 43188 (assuming they will lose the Welsh branding once withdrawn from Paddington services) look more-suited to an 'unlimited' release to me, unless Hornby are planning to do other power cars in GWR green as an 'unlimited' release once the new power-door rakes start to appear (assuming they will be in green). Alternatively, they could do the locos with the Welsh branding, assuming that is going to be short-lived on the real thing it would make sense as a 'limited edition' release from Hornby. Now that even 'unlimited' release models seem to be limited to a small batch and can sell out quickly, releasing the other coaches in later years so that customers don't need to buy the lot at once sounds sensible to me (though perhaps it would make more sense to do 1 TSO and 1 TFO per year, rather than 2 differently numbered TSOs this year and no TFOs). As to model formations, my current dream is for 3x 2+5 sets (two to be formed TGS+TSO+TSO+RF?+TFO and the other formed of the coaches necessary to make the other two sets up to a full 2+7 and 2+8 rake). If I was forming a 2+4 set, it would probably be TGS+TSO+TSO+RF?. Hornby definately need to improve the images they use to advertise models; the GWR coaches just seem to be a sketch, not even a Photoshop photo of one of their existing mrk3 models. As for the power cars, my photos of the full-size train appear to show that the power cars don't have that matte stripe.

<Cautiously raises hand>. I do have one modern 'super detail' model (a 2016 range item), which has only been out of the box a few times so far and I don't think I've damaged it yet, but because I'm concerned that I might break off some of the finer details and leave it looking worse than the cheaper stuff; and because I don't think I'd really notice the details much anyway* I don't feel like paying more for a higher-standard model. If my Lima / older Hornby/Bachmann models look ok to me why shell out alot more for the latest Hornby/Bachmann versions? The one thing I do notice is the livery application; the new £600 Mallard and Flying Scotsmand trainset, the Railroad models of those locos and, it seems, the new Railroad GWR 14xx have 2-dimesional company lettering (and numbers in the case of the LNER locos). This makes them look wrong to me; they need the 3D-effect with the shadowing; a shame as a 14xx would otherwise be something I'm interested in buying (probably not at £100 for the Hattons super-detail one though). I only bought the 2016 super-detail model because I'm not aware of an older, cheaper, tooling of the same item. * hell, if you removed the numbers I'm not sure I could tell a GWR 61xx from a 55xx unless you parked them next to each other (I know that the 61xx is larger, 10+ years ago when I bought mine I didn't even know the GWR had more than one design of 2-6-2 tank engine with angled tanks), and if you took the names off a Hall and a Manor I probably wouldn't be able to tell them apart either; a King I know has a funny bogie, but until I read that in a book I hadn't noticed that either.

That seems to be the only livery the 153 is available in this year, down from two (Regional Railways and ATW) last year. Are they running out of liveries to release it in? But not to Railroad prices it seems (the 90 is listed at £25 more than the Railroad class 55). I see that, despite the huge price tag, the train set Flying Scotsman and Mallard have been downgraded to the poor Railroad paint job (my tender-drive 4472 from a British-made Hornby train set is probably the same tooling as the Railroad model I'm guessing, but is much better looking than the current Railroad/train-set offering thanks to the paint job on mine). Sadly it seems they have done the same poor livery job with the Railroad 14xx otherwise I might have been interested in buying one of those. Aren't there only 5 major liveries for the Castle and Grange (I think Kings were the only ex-GWR locos given BR blue)? Unless you count the fictional red Harry Potter train set version for the Castle (which may have been the previous tooling?)

I just remembered that I had forgotten to thank you for the suggestion of putting it on a scanner, so thanks for that. Scanning did seem to produce a much more usable image, but I still haven't got round to drawing round it in AutoCAD. I did have a go a while ago, but my zero prior experience with the SPLINE tool proved insufficient to accurately match the shape.

The new GWR livery on 43005, 43187 and 43188 (not seen the other one) does look black to me from a distance on an overcast day. That's the test train livery, not Azuma livery which is the Virgin East Coast one. I was going to ask the same thing about that 2-car set. As 'Ron Ron Ron' has already posted, the driving vehicles on the real thing do not have motors in them. I don't know where Hornby are going to put the motor in the model, but if they are putting it in the intermediate coaches to be like the real thing then the limited edition test-train 2-car set will contain two non-motorised coaches at over £100 each! The real 800002 has three coaches in the standard grey base livery between the two driving vehicles that are included in the limited edition set. I suppose if you aren't picky about the vehicle numbers, if Hornby produce a pair of driving vehicles in plain grey livery and release the intermediate coaches for that seperately then the same three grey coaches could be used with the test train limited edition driving vehicles. I'm actually mostly happy with the standard of my Hornby IC225, except the headlight clusters on the 91 and DVT which are dreadful and not even up to the standard of the Lima class 43 (IC125 power cars) which I believe Hornby used in the Railroad range with no changes other than a new motor (I don't have a Hornby one to compare to my Lima set). If Hornby would re-release the Lima IC125 (coaches and power cars) in the Railroad range with coaches around £20 each and power cars about £40-45 for the pair (one motorised + one dummy, without DCC chip, working directional lights optional (would pay a bit more, perhaps £50-55 for that)) in liveries I'm after I would certainly be interested. The super detail power cars are far more expensive than I'm willing to pay given that I'm happy with the detail of the Lima model (it looks like an IC125 to me, so why pay more? except perhaps to get a more-reliable modern mechinisim). The class 800 doesn't belong in the era I hope to model, but if it did I might be interested in a Railroad version (provided the livery was well-done, the livery on the Railroad Flying Scotsman isn't up to the standard of mine (from the train set with three teak coaches, even though I only want the loco)) but not something at £75 per coach. In terms of the real thing, while we cannot pass judgement on the seating yet, we know some things about what they will be like inside. The GWR ones on Devon/Cornwall services will have an underfloor diesel engine running under some of the coaches for several hours and the majority of the fleet will be 5-car, suggesting that many services might well be full and standing inside. That remains to be seen. The diagrams the DfT published show pairs largely only being used for high peak services in and out of Paddington. For the rest of the day, the 5-car units were used alone. GWR may well do things differently though. There are three aspects of IEP which I consider to be 'wrong, just wrong'. First, the fact GWR have ordered a similar train (with underfloor engines) despite the fact their MD was quoted in Modern Railways magazine several years earlier as having said class 222s were rejected for the Paddington-Devon/Cornwall services in favour of retaining IC125s because passengers (or, he may have said, stakeholders) did not like the underfloor engines and cramped interiors of those trains. Second: The ECML is getting a new 9-car unit to replace each of their existing 9-coach IC225/IC125 sets, plus a number of 5-car sets as an addition to the fleet. The GWML, on the other hand has 5-car units to replace 8-coach trains, not only as additional fleet. According to Wikipedia, there are only going to be 35 9-car sets for GWR, leaving 19 of the 54 8-coach trains to be replaced by shorter new units. The third, is that single diesel engine on the so-called 'electric' class 801 sets. Operationally, they are an EMU, without the flexibility for diversionary routes offered by the 'bi-modes', but from a technical/engineering/maintainance perspective the class 801s must have all the complexity of a bi-mode for zero (or very little) gain. Only one diesel engine on the 9-car class 801s then; they're going to move REALLY SLOWLY if they have to use the diesel. Wait, are you saying the Agility IEP units will now have the software set to allow full power from the engines, like the Eversholt units? I've not read through 86 pages either, but if it is that long perhaps DfT tried to cover themselves against variation orders; only the delayed electrification has forced variations (I wonder if Hitachi/Agility foresaw that, but IEP already stood for Inordinately Expense Procurement before the variation).

I thought this 'perspective' trick with GIMP might solve a problem I'm having (trying to get accurate measurements of small, curved, components (a ruler is no good, because they are curved)). My Dad suggested taking a photograph of them on graph paper next to a ruler (to give scale) and drawing round them in AutoCAD (which we have at work). I knew I'd never be able to get the camera looking exactly straight down, which is what led me to find this topic. I've attached a couple of sample images to this post. When I tried out GIMP's perspective function, it seemed to have done the trick at first (the horrizontals of the graph paper were horrizontal and the verticals vertical) but I couldn't get AutoCAD to align the image properly, or so I thought. Eventually I noticed that the grid-squares of the graph paper were no longer square on the GIMP 'perspective corrected' image, thus dashing my hopes of getting accurate measurements. Any suggestions of where I can go from here to get accurate AutoCAD drawings of these things? Just in case it isn't obvious, the things in the images are the headlight/grill peices from a Hornby class 91 and DVT, but I have other small things I'd like to measure up too (I used the IC225 shots here as they are the only model railway related things I'm interested in measuring at the moment).

The livery does look rather incorrect, with the off-white areas on the real thing being distinctly grey on the new image posted above (on the loco and DVT as well as the coaches).

Hornby are doing a class 71 in the 2016 range, so they obviously aren't ignoring locos with pantographs completely. I hope they will improve the 91 and Mrk4 DVT in 2017.

Surely it would make more sense to modify the Hornby TSO/FO into Mk3a and bring the Lima toolings back as IC125 Mk3s, as there isn't a Hornby tooling for the TGS.

I agree. In fact, I don't think the 91 is even up to the same standard as Lima's class 43 (IC125 powercar), which I assume wasn't changed at all (aside from the mechinism) for its release in Hornby's Railroad range (I've not seen the Railroad one in the flesh, but recently aquired a Lima set). Even if Hornby charged Railroad prices for their 91 (which they should) I'd want to see them retool the light clusters so they aren't just stickers. As for the current standard VTEC livery, I like the look of the coaches (except the buffet, and only on photos, seen in the flesh it is just untidy because you can see the joins between the stickers) but the locos and DVTs are a mess. Perhaps they know they're overpricing the IC225 and have decided they won't sell many. Anyway, the current VTEC livery is stickers. I think they intend to do a full refurbishment of the sets (at least the ones that aren't being replaced by units) and perhaps they'll get a different (painted) livery following refurbishment. I will confess to crying (mostly in anger) when I heard that DaFT had approved the IC225 replacement order. Electric stock generally seems to have a 40yr life (30yr for diesel) so the IC225s by rights should be with us until 2030. Thus, in my view replacing the IC225s with 801s in 2019 is a criminal waste, particularly as the country is in debt and the new trains are much more expensive. By the way the 800/801 are supposed to be capable of 140mph (as, I hasten to add, are the class 91s (I keep forgetting to check the data panels on the mark 4 stock to ensure they are still 140mph rated, but the locos defininately say they are 140mph capable)). Of course the health and saftey pepole have ruled (rightly, probably) that neither IC225 nor class 800/801, nor 390* can run above 125mph without in-cab signalling. * Pendolinos have a 140mph top speed I believe, not 155 (that was only APT-P I believe). I don't care about their top speed though, they are just a terrible design (tiny windows etc.), couldn't Virgin have ordered a 9-car electric version of the Voyager (larger windows) instead?

Nothing to stop them releasing another set (or individual locos/DVTs/coaches) in future with different running numbers is there? Personally, I don't like the standard version of the Virgin East Coast livery on the locos, the 91s and 43s have worn far better schemes.

Royalty meaning copywrite licences? If so, I can understand it being an issue with modern rolling stock designs like the Pendolino and class 68, and with modern-era TOC liveries, but a GWR King?

I disagree. I am in the 13% who voted no to the question "Would you be interested in adding a Class 91 to your layout?" but that was for two reasons: I already have the old Hornby one with the naff sticker-headlights, and would rather pay a small amount to upgrade my existing model if Hornby would retool the headlight panels and sell them as spares, and If I ever get round to building a layout I doubt I will be modeling a line with OHLE So, my 91 isn't really for my layout, but it is something I really like and will probably have it on static display on a shelf most of the time (I'd still stick it on the layout and have it run magically without OHLE from time to time though). As a fan of the 91, it pains me to see the naff sticker-headlights on photos of other's layouts, as well as on my own model. And, as I said before, if a new model is priced right and looks right I would be tempted to buy 91110 in its East Coast Battle Of Britain Memorial Flight livery; it wouldn't be for my layout but just because the real thing is such a good-looking loco, and a properly done model should look great too.

I am largely happy with my 91, from my first train set, apart from the headlights (just sticky labels). It looks dreadful, not sure it's even fit for the railroad range, the class 43s in the sets with 7-window (short) mark 3 coaches seem to be better looking going by the pictures on Ebay. The plastic pantograph on my train set one leaves a little to be desired as well, and things like new motors and all-wheel pickups would be good. But apart from that I like the model (I'm generally happy with railroad level of detail*, I've no desire to pay extra for fine details that are liable to break off). Perhaps they should just retool the light peice, fit a better pantograph and modern motor and release it in the railroad range. Hornby produced two versions of GNER livery, both with gold lettering (don't think they ever did the silver version). The one with orange/red doors is also a lighter shade of blue (on the model anyway) if the ones I've seen on display somewhere (I think NRM York) are anything to go by. I disagree, a class 91 in Swallow livery is a stunner in my book (the real thing that is, Hornby's being badly let down by those headlight stickers), up there with the IC125 and some of my favoriate steam locos. The the earlier, darker, version of GNER and East Coast's 91110 livery come pretty close to Swallow too. Same for my original 91, plus a new, retooled, headlight strips for the 91 (front and rear) and DVT. The naff current one for the DVT is available as spares (L6845), anyone know what the corrosponding part numbers are for the 91 headlight strips? Would be very temped to buy a model of East Coast's 91110 if released at a reasonable price with decent headlight strips. * Since writing the above, I have noticed photos of Railroad models and realised they aren't quite what I thought (I don't actually have any 'Railroad' branded models, but have some older stock (eg. Flying Scotsman train set) which I assumed were the same (possibly aside from invisible changes like motors and DCC readiness) as the more-recent Railroad releases). For example I've noticed that, unlike the train-set one I have, the lettering and loco number '4472' on the Railroad model doesn't have the shadow (3D-effect). I don't like the look of that.

I know they only did it in Virgin livery, but have they discontinued spares for them as well as the model itself? Or is there some critical component (other than the body which of course would come from the old Lima model the owner wants to re-power) which is not produced as spares?

Hornby didn't do the version of Merlin livery with INTERCITY on the coaches though, as far as I know. The Hornby ones I've seen all have 'Great Western' at both ends of the coaches. I know this topic's a year old, but there seems to be an ommision from the list of possibilities, which I thought should be addressed for furture reference: The option is there of using the new Hornby super-detail chassis, but what about the Railroad one? Doesn't that have a new chassis and motor but uses the old Lima body? If so, would it be possible to source the Railroad chassis, motor (and bogies, if they are different) as spares and use an old Lima body on the new chassis? Assuming the Railroad body is exactly the same as the Lima one, that sounds alot easier than most of the other options and probably alot cheaper than the new super-detail Hornby model.

I agree, the livery used on the Y Gerallt Gymro when it was 57s and Mk2s with just the buffet being a mrk3 (with the doors painted in Arriva Turquoise) was even better looking than the one used today on the mrk3 set with the light-blue doors. Those mrk2s look great, and I'm rather partial to the ATW DVT as well. You seem to have done a good job of the mrk3s too, just a shame the real thing (and therefore your model) uses the lighter shade of blue on the doors. Of course you will need a second buffet car, one with the better-looking darker door colour, to go with the mrk2s. ATW had six mrk2s in the livery (I've seen one or two pictures of all six in use in one train, on rugby specials) and a load more which weren't.

RBE, it took me a while to spot the difference between your 47s! I think I perfer the first version, without the extra white band at the top. INTERCITY Swallow was one of my favorite liveries. Unfortunatly the nationalised East Coast franchise has not brought it back, and it wouldn't work with contrasting door colours. So, I've come up with a livery similar to Swallow that replaces the East Coast logos and stripe on their INTERCITY 225's new silver scheme with other vynals. In my opinion it looks a lot smarter than East Coast's livery, even though I didn't quite match the door colour to the upper bodyside sucessfully in my Photoshops. Also, please imagine the EAST COAST and INTERCITY text to be in the exact font the real Swallow livery (and Great Western Merlin) used. Original Image released under a Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial Licence by Carl Spencer. Original Image thanks to ECML180 (posted here).

Looks like there's still quite an area of yellow on the front ends, I'm wondering perhaps it would be allowed. I think that design looks good on the 37s, not so sure about the 66 though. Oh, and thanks for posting the original for the FGW 125mph Electrostar image.

Can you provide a link to the original image please? I'm interested to see what the image is based on, maybe a Hull Trains 180 or one of the new Turbostars. If that wasn't a Hull Trains 180 I'm amazed the dynamic lines are possible to Photoshop into existance, and would like to congratulate you on achiveing it. My own attempts with designing a First Great Western version of Alphaline livery have turned out rather poorly because of my inability to do such lines but I'll present the several designs I have done. Base image is the same as before. I started simple, with a very basic pair of blue-white-pink bands: The next version, 'Subtle Lines' is a single, taller, blue-white-pink band with blur: I was lazy and only did rest of the liveries on the front coach, so 'Subtle Lines' is left on the other coach The next two were done using some of the more interesting Photoshop brushes: The next one I call 'Misty Hills Lines', it's hard to see but the hills should be made of a pink-white-blue band Finally, two versions of a concept I call 'Town & Country Lines' (based on a mix of First Capitol Connect and my 'Misty Hills' concept): I would be interestered to hear if anyone would have liked any of these Alphaline livery concepts had they been done well, and if so which they would like the best.

I've always thought Alphaline was a great brand name, and since Alphaline services always been 158s the Class 158 'Express Sprinter' could well be Class 158 'Alphaline'. Anyway, what if some of today's operators refurbished some of their units with more comfortable seats and more legroom and garanteed the presence of a buffet trolley (at least between advertised stops on the route) and brought back the Alphaline brand for these trains? First of, Arriva Trains Wales' version of Alphaline livery: Or maybe this one? Now, what if Stena Line sponsered an increased service to Fishguard Harbour (connecting with their fast ferry). Also has FGW branding to allow the unit to run through Fishguard Harbour - Portsmouth Harbour services. The rear coach carries DB Wales' Alphaline livery, as shown on this image: Original (public domain) image by Peter Skuce. First Great Western versions of Alphaline livery might come in the future. To round off today's batch of Photoshops, DB are thinking of running ICE trains through the channel tunnel, why can't we have earlier ICE trains rather than ICE3s, the earlier ones look much better, even with yellow ends: Original image by S. Terfloth Creative Commons licence.