RMweb Gold Phil Bullock Posted May 14, 2014 RMweb Gold Share Posted May 14, 2014 Sounds a nice rake Gary Will be interesting to see how Bachmann deal with items in short supply this year when they announce next years range Phil Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
wrinklieninja Posted May 14, 2014 Share Posted May 14, 2014 Just received an e-mail from Hattons - "Unfortunately due to a shortage of supply of the Bachmann 38-501 Covhop in soda ash light grey, we have had to reduce the quantity of this item on your pre-order to 4. We apologise..." (I had ordered 8.) Mind you, the next e-mail from Hattons, 2 hours later, informed me I am being billed for 8! I shall wait and see how many arrive! Was poised to strike as soon as they came in to stock and there they were....gone! I'm intrigued to know how short 'shortage of supply' actually was as none of the places I normally order fromm seem to have any at all. However, I did stray onto TMCs website who appear to have 109 in stock which could account for a few!! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arthur Posted May 14, 2014 Share Posted May 14, 2014 Just received an e-mail from Hattons - "Unfortunately due to a shortage of supply of the Bachmann 38-501 Covhop in soda ash light grey, we have had to reduce the quantity of this item on your pre-order to 4. We apologise..." (I had ordered 8.) ! Had the same email, though subsequent emails suggest I'm just being charged for 4. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
APOLLO Posted May 14, 2014 Share Posted May 14, 2014 Thanks for the heads up. Just looked at my email, I had pre ordered 4 grey uns and they are on there way - yippee !!! Probably won't pre order anything else though. I pre ordered these around Christmas, when I got 8 bauxite ones. This pre order limited stock malarkey, along with rising prices is killing the hobby for me as far as new purchases go. Hats off to Hattons though for keeping the old price. Brit15 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Clive Mortimore Posted May 14, 2014 RMweb Premium Share Posted May 14, 2014 Probably won't pre order anything else though. I pre ordered these around Christmas, when I got 8 bauxite ones. This pre order limited stock malarkey, along with rising prices is killing the hobby for me as far as new purchases go. HI Apollo I agree about this pre order limited stock rubbish is not great for the likes of me, who has a limited budget and who likes to see what he is buying before handing over my saved up cash. I pre-ordered a loco, only to receive a not so good looking model and a bill when I didn't really have any spare dosh. The hobby will slowly be in the hands of those with more money than I will ever have buying everything that comes on the market so they have one and not miss out in case they want one later on and the ebay speculators. :no: Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Straits Settlements Posted May 14, 2014 Share Posted May 14, 2014 Thanks for the heads up. Just looked at my email, I had pre ordered 4 grey uns and they are on there way - yippee !!! Probably won't pre order anything else though. I pre ordered these around Christmas, when I got 8 bauxite ones. This pre order limited stock malarkey, along with rising prices is killing the hobby for me as far as new purchases go. Hats off to Hattons though for keeping the old price. Brit15 Hmmm! Pre-ordered 4 from Hattons last Autumn; but no email at all from them, one way or the other. Looks like I may get none. Is the same going to happen with the Stanier portholes when they finally arrive? Pity; I rather dismissed an email from Rails the other day announcing they had stock of the grey ones, based on hanging on for my Hattons pre-orders. Perhaps I should change my regular supplier. John D Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
micklner Posted May 14, 2014 Share Posted May 14, 2014 Hmmm! Pre-ordered 4 from Hattons last Autumn; but no email at all from them, one way or the other. Looks like I may get none. Is the same going to happen with the Stanier portholes when they finally arrive? Pity; I rather dismissed an email from Rails the other day announcing they had stock of the grey ones, based on hanging on for my Hattons pre-orders. Perhaps I should change my regular supplier. John D If you have used e hattons then you should have an account. The account will list all of you orders. Good luck !! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leander Posted May 14, 2014 Share Posted May 14, 2014 Pity; I rather dismissed an email from Rails the other day announcing they had stock of the grey ones, based on hanging on for my Hattons pre-orders. Perhaps I should change my regular supplier. John D Called into Rails this afternoon and was told that they'd ordered 144 grey Covhops from Bachmann and received 72. The next batch won't be available until the year end apparently. It looks as though Bachmann are going the same way as Hornby in restricting the sizes of the batches they have produced. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
locoholic Posted May 15, 2014 Share Posted May 15, 2014 It's quite interesting to see market forces coming into play with the grey Covhops. Free-market capitalism uses the scarcity of a commodity to dictate its price, and various outlets appear to have decided that the grey Covhops are scarce enough to warrent only discounting them 10% or 5% off the RRP, which is why those outlets have more left in stock. Are they cynically exploiting the anxiety of modellers over a "must have" item, or simply making hay while the sun shines in an otherwise difficult trading environment? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Enterprisingwestern Posted May 15, 2014 RMweb Gold Share Posted May 15, 2014 It's called the law of supply and demand. Personally, as long as Bachmann are still in business next year, I'm not overly fussed how things pan out. Mike. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Delamar Posted May 15, 2014 Share Posted May 15, 2014 I only wanted a couple and they are on their way from my small local model shop based on Smithdown Road Liverpool. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rembrow Posted May 15, 2014 Share Posted May 15, 2014 Straits Settlements, don't give up hope. Today Hattons are showing the Grey Covhops as a New Arrival, so must have had a further batch. I called them up on screen and they are showing more than 10 in stock, so suggest you phone Hattons to check your pre-order while they have stock. If that fails, I bought one from Scograil at Ipswich this morning, who do 10% discount and mail order and have some in stock. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
davefrk Posted May 15, 2014 Author Share Posted May 15, 2014 Hi, any news on the new Covhops or am I just cloth eared, short sighted, dreaming or given up... Dave Franks. Well, it was way back then that I asked that question and guess what's just arrived.... Yes, my grey Covhops. Now after giving them a good look over, it occurs to me that, as the box label says, they are in the lighter grey finish as in the sixties, is this correct for for them as built? I don't think so. I would have thought they would be the same colour as mineral wagons from the fifties until they were repainted in the lighter grey of the mid sixties. I haven't seen any colour pictures of them as built. Opinions? The model is rather nice, some comprimises for moulding and strength, to be accepted but the buffers are a bit strange - the four rib spindle buffers are correct but the buffer base on the buffer beam is the larger rectangle of the later Oleo pneumatic buffers, okay I would say this but it would have been just as easy for Bachmann to get it right. I suppose we modellers could always replace the buffers with the correct looking ones and mask off the black panels and do a quick spray job with the freight stock grey for the fifties, afterall that's modelling but should we have to???? Dave Franks. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jwealleans Posted May 15, 2014 Share Posted May 15, 2014 Wasn't the lighter grey used first, Dave, then a darker shade? I'm sure that's how my Railmatch jars look. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
davefrk Posted May 15, 2014 Author Share Posted May 15, 2014 Hi Jonathan, the Bachmann Covhops look a creamy grey to me which iirc was more a mid sixties repaint. It's difficult to judge from the colour photos so far on this thread. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Porcy Mane Posted May 15, 2014 Share Posted May 15, 2014 From the good old days, when BR was in its infancy and they did "nice" things like produce postcards of their latest rolling stock. 1952. Mr Bartlett has a copy of the BR original the postcard was based on at: http://paulbartlett.zenfolio.com/brcovhop/ha225db4#ha225db4 It's good to compare with the postcard and he has also this early jobby; http://paulbartlett.zenfolio.com/brcovhop/h1639b7ed#h1639b7ed I looks as if BR had run out of dark battleship grey by then as they look quite light to my eyes. And note the double brakes on the second pic as mentioned previously. What would they have carried through Wharfedale Dave? If you talking Limestone based product even the Bauxite covhops weathered to a light grey quite quickly. Porcy As an aside, I've just rang Hattons and ordered 8 greys at the original price. The telephonist said they had shed loads in stock now. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
steveb860 Posted May 15, 2014 Share Posted May 15, 2014 Locoholic, your post #214 is very blinkered and cynical. Try putting yourself in the shoes of a retailer at the moment. They have a business to run, the costs of which is ever increasing. They are in a business to sell models, and they need to sell a lot of models to stay in business. I don't know if you have had your head buried deep in the sand at the moment, but the output of models from China from all the manufactures is very small and way behind schedule. The result, retailers don't have the stock on the shelves to sell, and they are struggling to stay afloat. They also don't have the buying power of say Hatton's and Rails, so discounting to match would be like cutting their own throat. So instead of moaning about them, why don't you support these retailers and help them survive by buying their stock, which is in fact discounted from RRP as you say. Once these business's are gone, the discount that you see from Hatton's will probably cease to be. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Market65 Posted May 15, 2014 RMweb Gold Share Posted May 15, 2014 Just to let everyone know that the Covhops are out there. I was in the Train Shop, Scarborough, earlier today, and inspite of making a purchase of one of them, they still have a couple left. All the best, Market65. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Straits Settlements Posted May 15, 2014 Share Posted May 15, 2014 Straits Settlements, don't give up hope. Today Hattons are showing the Grey Covhops as a New Arrival, so must have had a further batch. I called them up on screen and they are showing more than 10 in stock, so suggest you phone Hattons to check your pre-order while they have stock. If that fails, I bought one from Scograil at Ipswich this morning, who do 10% discount and mail order and have some in stock. I panicked! Email from Hattons this afternoon informs me that my 4 have been despatched. No need to change my regular supplier. In reply to an earlier response to a message of mine on this subject, I used to support my local model shop, Mid-Sussex Models in Burgess Hill, until they gave up several years ago; leaving me little option but to go to Hattons, where they have never failed to fulfil my orders. There is another small retailer in a town 10 miles away, but prices are full retail; and then there are petrol, time and parking to consider. They haven't arrived yet, so can't comment on the colour, but I too thought that the paler, perhaps creamish grey came in later; Bachmann's TOPS marked unfitted wagons being that colour, I think. I intend to use my Covhops with my 8F/9F to represent the Northwich-Corkickle (Whitehaven) soda-ash workings. Published photos from the sixties appear to show bauxite:grey in the ratio 2:1; so I already have eight bauxites. Of course,I panicked and jumped the gun there as well. The bauxites are TOPS, too late for steam, with the 'wrong' brakes, and probably the wrong shade of bauxite. Never mind; a bird in the hand...; and, together with some Cambridge Custom transfers, they'll all be weathered in the fullness of time, and I've no doubt they'll look the part. Super models, and unbelievable a few years ago that we'd be able to buy them RTR. John D Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
26power Posted May 15, 2014 Share Posted May 15, 2014 Coverage in the new Rail Express: http://eshot.mortons.co.uk/q/1mddYZyEGm3sgYPJ8Ch0/wv Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
hmrspaul Posted May 16, 2014 Share Posted May 16, 2014 BR grey was sometimes dark battleship grey very early on (pre Covhops) but mainly very light with a little blue. How often do I have to say that BR Painting mixtures had ranges of contents, they were supposed to aim for quite a dark grey but I don't think there is much evidence this happened. Look at the b/w on my site of new wagons and see how light some are, and how varied. However, the finish of a covhop differs to a mineral wagon. A mineral wagon only has a freight stock red undercoat and a freight stock grey whereas a covhop was grey/red/grey. It is why some had some very strange patterns as they aged. The piped and vac braked versions were the reverse of this painting arrangement. Paul Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
cctransuk Posted May 17, 2014 Share Posted May 17, 2014 BR grey was sometimes dark battleship grey very early on (pre Covhops) but mainly very light with a little blue. A quick respray with VW EISGRAUEN (Code LA6E, Ref. No. KJ94)* and application of my transfers for a Delabole slate powder wagon has, IMHO, produced a much nearer rendition of the original livery of the non-fitted COVHOPs. Regards, John Isherwood. *Any good auto-factors, possibly including Halfords, should be able to mix an aerosol of this colour. For BR bauxite, I use ALFA-ROMEO BRUNO (Code A(?)R834, Ref. No. DE37). Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Delamar Posted May 19, 2014 Share Posted May 19, 2014 I think thats the easiest modern rtr wagon ive converted to EM, straightforward swap with a set of Romfords and away. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
D1047 Posted May 19, 2014 Share Posted May 19, 2014 I think thats the easiest modern rtr wagon ive converted to EM, straightforward swap with a set of Romfords and away. I agree, even better the flanges are the finest yet so opened out the original wheels and away to go. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium dmsmith Posted May 20, 2014 RMweb Premium Share Posted May 20, 2014 Whilst reading Trevor Mann's article on Covhops in the June edition of Rail Express Modeller, I was intrigued to notice the photograph of B886007 in unfitted grey livery with British Industrial Sand markings taken in 1980. This is one of the first batch of 10 wagons built to lot 2375 in 1952. The wagon has a tie bar between the w irons. Interestingly, there is a works photograph of exactly the same wagon on Paul Bartlett's excellent site, which shows that when built, it didn't have the tie bar. I haven't seen any other photographs of Covhops with tie bars. Was this one unique? David Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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