bacon butty

Ah yes see what you mean - thanks for the reply. I'm sure that someone from Bachmann will enlighten us shortly. Stuart

The exclusive model is the SECR H class with number 263 - this is different to the standard issue which was number 308. This is the loco that Hornby took to Warley. If you join the club and get the model for 99.99 it's good value in my view. Stuart

It is mentioned at the bottom of the page with all the icons on - it is for re-runs with no change from previous runs. It's not really clear though. Hope this helps. Stuart

Hi Alan Like quite a few people on here I have the Rails of Sheffield Dynamometer Car on pre order. As Rapido are doing a very detailed interior that will be begging for a team of 1930's/40's technicians to be installed and there are some very good photos of the crew do you think there may be some scope in this? Hope so as I would be one of the first on the list! Thanks. Stuart

Looking at the Peckett and making more etc. I do wonder if profit margin may come into it - the loco is relatively low cost compared to some loco's to buy and the first releases especially Dodo and H&P had quite complex liveries to apply. The black livery this year will be easier to apply and less scrap will be produced when making these. It would be interesting to know how much longer it takes to make the H&P compared to this years black one and how much extra the cost of the printing plates are. As far as I can remember non of the RTR manufacturers charge more for different liveries no matter how complicated. As an example of this the class 50 diesel in BR blue is about £50 more to purchase than the Peckett was in H&P blue - I can guess which was hardy to manufacter. This applies to the Bachmann "C" class in SECR livery where people have wanted the original made again since it first sold out really quickly - if they made another batch tomorrow they would quickly sell out I'm sure. Interestingly a manufacturer will charge £10 more for weathering a loco. Stuart

The samples look great - good to see progress being made. One question is the model using the same coreless motor set-up as on the class 71? Stuart

They look great Andy - the Modelu Figures are fantastic aren't they. I have a number of them and couldn't praise Alan enough regarding quality and service. As far as eyes go my personal choice is to not even try - leave just flesh colour. To try to paint them can make the subject look frog eyed. An eye in 1/76 scale is less than half a mm long - if you look on a monitor at a general photo of a person and reduce to be about 20mm in height you cannot see the eyes at all. Not sure about the shunter - my guess would be how you've painted them as hi-vis etc. was not around back then. Stuart

This is a most interesting thread - I do get what everyone is saying but the harsh realities of the manufacturing process involved with producing RTR models is that I cannot see any mass production moving back to the UK. To make it economically possible you need to run machines at least 5 days a week 24 hours a day. The labour rates for anything to do with plastic moulding is sky high - 1 good toolmaker will cost you £35,000 a year, a mould technician will cost you about the same. If you are running 24 hours a day you need 3 of each... The number of models produced would need to be massive, my belief is that Dapol are making more items like the wagons or other low labour items. Sadly we do have a massive skills shortage in the UK for plastic moulding these days - I spent 16 years in a mould shop working in a factory that employed over 500 people as a trade moulder that also did tampo printing etc. the factory went bust 14 years ago. The toolroom had nearly 20 guys at its prime and we had a get together over Christmas - we have all moved on to other industries and the key thing is that all of us to a man said as much as we found the job interesting we would never go back to it as it was so tough to do and other industries paid more for less stress! Stuart

Large logo 47712 Lady Diana Spencer would have been good - 20 years this year since she past so I think it would possibly sell well. Used to see the 47 7's go through Lancaster quite often in the 1980's going to Crewe to be worked on. Stuart

Thanks Andy - it looks really tidy. I will look forward to reading the article - making sure that I pick up the correct magazine... Many thanks for the updates today (on a Sunday as well) regarding the Bachmann range - your hard work is much appreciated! Stuart

Doh! - it's with all of todays excitement! Sorry Andy - and thanks for the correction Tony! Stuart

Hi Andy, Have you managed to find time to complete this project - if you have what months Model Rail is the article going in? Thanks Stuart

Hi Dan, Many thanks for your help with this - it's really appreciated. Stuart

Hi All, Can anyone direct me to who has a decoder in stock for these - the Hornby X9659. I've had it on order for some time now and the delivery date that I have has slipped back... Many thanks in advance for anyone who can guide me in the right direction. Stuart

As I've checked on the Hornby website just now the MSC and Dodo are available to order now in time for Christmas - ignore the initial out of stock on Dodo, just search for R3427 and it's there in stock... unless there is a problem with the website!!! Hope someone gets what they want - in time for the man in the big red suit on Christmas day! Stuart