orcadian

My Aug/Sept 'Hornby Collector' (yes, I'll apologize now!) arrived yesterday. Pages 12 & 13 carry an article on the Hornby models of some preserved Kings, Castles and a Star. Their latest King is R3102, 6023 King Ed II, released in 2012. There is no mention in the mag of any imminent planned release of another King. However, the larger-than-life front cover picture is of the blue 6023 with a very visible 32A shedplate . Do I correctly recall a fairly recent release of an Eastern Region loco with an 81A plate - if so, it seems that finely detailed models can produce their own sets of problems on the production line! Someone should have gone to S------vers! ​ . I suppose we'll just have to wait and see! Long live the King! Richard

A big vote of thanks to Kerry, who was working today (Invicta are normally closed on Sundays) and gave up a 'family day' to get on with the processing of these models! And despite the pressure of the task, at lunchtime, she was still willing to have a friendly chat to me on the phone (but she was taking money off me at the time! ) I don't have a local model shop accessible to me, so it's mail order all the time, but Invicta is certainly on my list of good mail order model shops! A happy customer! Richard

Hi, 'Chard! From what I recall from previous transactions with Invicta, I doubt you have used any account yet to do this! As far as I remember, they take contact details (phone) when you pre-order and then ring the customer when the models are in stock (or very imminent!) Others may confirm this or tell us that the system has changed and I'm out of date, or just wrong! Richard

Thanks, Tigger! Wow! What a fantastic model - at first glance, I thought you'd used photos of a full-size one, but no, this paintwork is better! Second thought was 'So that's what 7mm, 0 Gauge models are like now, is it?' Finally, I realised this is Bachmann's 00 gauge model, straight from the box (except for coupling change). Now I can see why the prices have become what they are today, and now I know why I'm willing to pay them! OK, today's (and tomorrow's) prices for RTR mean that as a pensioner, I will need to be selective, and consider what will be of use on my railway, rather than what do I 'need' (technically, nothing, but want is a different matter!), but self-discipline and getting one's priorities right never really do any harm! Richard.

The appetizers look good for starters! Richard

My set arrived from Hornby yesterday (R4534B). On very close examination, looking obliquely along all 4 coach sides, I can find some light finger-marks (or very,very slight paint ripples) near the ends. This might suggest that the models were handled just a bit too soon after the end of the spraying session. The marks/ripples are not significant; at a first glance at right angles to the coaches, they don't show up. So I'll keep it, and give it some very gentle rubbing down, in preparation either to varnish the set (in true S. Reg style!) or weather it. I'll decide which route to follow some time later. I know some would say that any less-than-perfect models should be returned to Hornby, but this, to my eyes, seems to be a slight imperfection from a new production line on which the workers are still honing their skills. I know that I've put far worse finger prints, and made far larger ripples when I've tried using spray cans on some model vans and road vehicles! As we know that SK (and possible other Hornby staff) visit this Forum, and that Hornby are getting some models returned to them, I'm not going to make a big deal out of it! Richard.

Hi! Using our good friend 'Google' ( and ignoring 'Wiki..), they were completed during the period 3/1960 to 4/1961. The site I used was 'Alextrack'. Richard

Give Bachmann time, surely? Electronic news travels almost instantaneously - hard copy in print depends on publication schedules, deadlines, distribution and shelf-time in the shops (or postal time to subscribers)! We're privileged here - we were told first, thanks to both Bachmann and Andy! As Bachmann have acknowledged to nature of the problem and are checking all of their stock and working on them as necessary, I'm sure they'll want to make it known that they are, to say the least, doing their very best for their customers, present and potential alike. Richard

I seem to recall Hattons explaining that they may decide to use courier rather than Royal Mail if the package becomes ready to go after the last expected Royal Mail collection from them that day and they are still expecting the couriers to collect. In other words, they seem to try to despatch items as soon as possible once they are ready, rather than keep the customer waiting for the next day's RM collection.. It makes no difference to me here in deepest Norfolk - our local RM Delivery Office team are all brilliant, and the Yodel chap who serves my address is intelligent, helpful and caring, so I'm doubly lucky! Especially so as my nearest model shop is over 20 miles away in a town I visit never more than once a year! Richard

Grahame, Thanks for posting this as an item in its own right - I'm an NGS Member but hadn't seen anything about this in the threads/areas of RM Web which I regularly read. Good luck with this and I hope you enjoy a successful reign, with good support from the membership! However good a long-serving editor has been, there does come a point at which new blood can only bring advantages. (A different) Richard!

I've been looking carefully at three good full-colour 'picture books', all published by Ian Allan, viz.- Derek Huntriss 'Green Diesel Days', Molyneaux & Robertson 'Diesels in Wessex' and Michael Welch 'Diesels on the Southern'. It is very clear to me from the several photos of Green 33s, including some less than a month in service, that the colour seems to vary considerably, depending on the strength of the sunlight, the angle at which the sunlight strikes the loco, and the camera angle! Yes, it's somewhere between white and pale cream, not grey! In some photos showing more than one loco, these variations of light and angles produce different colours on each loco, and most certainly the colour appears to change on different parts of the loco, even on a fresh, clean machine. In the Huntriss book (which unfortunately lacks page numbers!!!!), D6502 is shown at Folkestone on 5th June 1960, very clean, at the head of a rake of similarly-clean crimson & cream Mk 1s. The colour on the loco looks slightly paler than the coach cream to me at the far end of the loco, whilst the nearer endcathching the sunlight looks whiter! Probably the 'whitest' picture I've found is the title page of the Welch book, D6511 almost brand new at Gravesend, but even this doesn't seem as white (to my eyes) as an equally fresh 'Hymek' in the same book, at Weymouth on 22nd July 1962. One near-certainty from the photos is that the window surround looks to be the same colour as the waistband stripe in my opinion. I recall the keenest aircraft plastic modellers I have known have quite often found that the 'genuine, authentic' colour as applied to a:1 scale sheet of metal doesn't look so 'exactly' right on an 1:72, or 1:48 plastic surface. So if Model Rail (or Heljan) have access to the 'official' colour specified by BR, or colour swatches/flakes from Eastleigh (BRCW no longer being accessible!), then just go for it! It won't stop the 'discussions', but as I've said, my picture books don't do that either! By the way, Chris, I'm willing to lend you any or all of those titles if you don''t have them or would like to see them - give me a PM! Sorry, but that's not a general invitation! Richard Edited to include the reference to the D6502 photo.

I know that, and they're my favourites too! I've got a collection of them even though I'm trying to model Kent Coast east of Faversham in the late 1950s and early 1960s. But isn't there an area within RM Web for prototype discussion? A place for everything, and everything in its place! (And BR only sent the 50s to the Western Region because they knew they'd be turned into good locos there!) Long live Swindon, Laira, Newton Abbot and all the other great sheds whose plates started with an 8!) Richard

Whilst I'm fascinated by all these insights into the good and bad of the original Warship 'successors' (pun definitely intended!), I keep having my hopes and expectations raised by seeing new posts in this thread about the forthcoming Kernow D600's, one of which I'm waiting for! I suppose this just reflects some people's experiences of the real things, though! Richard

High speed Kernow (and couriers!) I ordered a Thumper by phone at 0950 on Monday 25th November 2013 - yesterday. At 0930 today Tuesday 26th November, there was a UK Mail (not Royal Mail) gentleman on my doorstep in North Norfolk with a bag in his hand from Kernow! And at 0940 today, of course I phoned Kernow to congratulate and thank them (after I'd recovered from my surprise ) Probably the fastest moving Thumper to come from Cornwall to Norfolk! Very well done to all concerned!

I think I'll have to organize an 'intermediate' or a 'heavy' overhaul for my Bac-Far ones then, and let them build up more mileage! I've already sold on the Poole-built ones with 'pizza cutter' wheels and planned to upgrade to the hopefully nicer Dapol ones. The British-outline N gauge sector, in the steam, transition and more recent eras would seem to be a good area for Dapol to focus on, with only Bac-Far as a principal rival in RTR locos and coaches, whilst the 00 scene has at least three big players, although it has been more than hinted at that the British RTR N market can only support relatively limited runs of new products compared with 00. Richard Richard