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Model Railway Partwork - Your Model Railway Village


John M Upton

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I reckon they might get burnt, unless the value of the coach and mag is less than about £2.00. A lot of people will do what some of us have done: buy the first issues and get a few cheap coaches, and leave the rest. I bought four this afternoon, seeing as the coach appears to be an FK. The mags and cardboard will meet the garden incinerator later.

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Also,  I laid the track mate out, it appears to be over 3feet wide and 3 1/2 long, and as this is only 1/4. If they are all this size, the finished layout looks to be around 6 1/2 feet by 7 feet.  

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They had a stock in Smiths of Colchester this morning, although they were certainly selling fast. They carry no branding and the accompanying piece of track just shows it to be of Chinese manufacture.

   I agree that the most obvious change required is to paint that pre-coloured plastic grey roof, but, apart from that and the part-solid underframe detail, they look good. And for just under four quid a piece who could complain?

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P.S. If someone says the coach is an SK, more might be in order. :good:

 

Edit: It doesn't have arm rests....

It's got 8 seating bays and toilets at one end so is an SK or TSO/SO depending on interior.

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I grabbed a couple of these today, not a bad model, just needs new undercarriage details and would be fine for a home layout, and would probably pass the 4 foot rule without that much effort. If anyone has children interested in model railways they should certainly grab a couple for the kids layout!

 

Chris

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They seemed to be flying out of the door in Stevenage when I was in there, I had three of them, looked to be only just over one box left but they may have others in the stockroom!! As everyone else says looks like good value!

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Aside from the actual coach,

 

Just opened the magazine, first line, a caption to a pic,

 

"The train is pulling its carriage into the station! The maroon livery was found on the majority of carriages on the network in the 1960's".

 

Not the most informative or captions,

Seriously, does anyone give a monkey's about the magazine?

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Just noticed a little bit of small print, - on its side I may add,

 

"Not all items shown are included in the collection, some appear in the magazine as projects" a little bit sneaky I feel that is.

So you think it would be better not to mention it and mislead people, or what?

 

Let's be straight about this 'magazine' - it is clearly a part work style exercise which is hardly aimed at committed railway modellers and is targetted at the 'maybe I might like model trains' style of market.  The brighter adults might quickly realise there's a better way to go about such things and move on, some others and children might face gradual disappointment, and some may just grow into the hobby and seek to move forward.  

 

If just a small percentage of those who get into it actually join the hobby than quite likely that could be new entrants who weren't tempted in by any other route so we should hardly complain about that.

 

If any folk round here are looking to it to become some sort of perpetual source of cheap kits, bits, and rolling stock etc I think they can forget it. 'Come on' offers are exactly that and all Hachette are interested in is clearing their initial stock and possibly establlshing a small but committed long term customer base for this publication - on which they will be looking to make a profit.

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Hi All,

 

Just picked up five in Falmouth, good value I think. Bit of a mystery as to the parentage though, here are a few pics that might help 

 

post-7006-0-53175200-1377704119_thumb.jpg

close coupling mech.

 

post-7006-0-15589700-1377704138_thumb.jpg

 

post-7006-0-94976500-1377704180_thumb.jpg

The wheels seem to be a decent quality with blackened metal rims.

 

post-7006-0-47009800-1377704221_thumb.jpg

Definitely an SK

 

post-7006-0-12826200-1377704268_thumb.jpg

Solid u/f trussing.

 

The body and roof seem to be pre-coloured plastic. For £3.99 this has got to be a bargain, with a bit of effort I think I could turn this into a decent model. It also gives a good base for putting on brass sides for EMU's etc.

 

Cheers for now, Ian.

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Seriously, does anyone give a monkey's about the magazine?

 

Depends whether your aim is to objectively discuss the magazine which comes with a free coach, or to gloat about how many issues one bought because it has a free coach on it.

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So you think it would be better not to mention it and mislead people, or what?


My point was that, the writing was tucked away, on it's side and only noticed after studying the 6 seperate sheets of paper that come with it, now givn that the model is illustrated on all of them, but only on one does it mention that not every part comes with the part work, IMO, that's not representing the full picture.
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The shortcomings regarding the solid frames and roof are not really an issue, a quick pass with a spray gun/aerosol will remedy the roof, and the under frames are seldom seen on normal viewing and again can be changed if it is required.

I guess Hatchette must feel all their birthdays have come at once the way the first issue is flying.

My feeling is swaying towards someone like Bachmann using old tooling to manufacture these for the publisher on a short run. Certainly flooding the market with a large amount of cheap MK1's would not be a Hornby ploy because it is obviously going to impact on their new Railroad version. I don't know how many have been purchased yet but it could be several hundred, each of which is potential lost revenue for Hornby.

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On the website it says

 

"The electrics and engine will be made available via a reader offer."

 

Could be a bit annoying if your expecting it, But then again it would be a high risk for pinching in shops and I doubt that too meany people will get into model railways from the magazine - will probably not have that meany sales after issue #2 where it goes up to £5.99 then £8.99 from issue #3. Magazine series is best just for the £3.99 coach, Bet they will all sell out!

 

Also, anyone know what channel the ads are on?

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[quote name="7013" post="1141880" timestamp="1377707199"

My feeling is swaying towards someone like Bachmann using old tooling to manufacture these for the publisher on a short run.

 

But surely Bachmann don't have any "old tooling" for their excellent Mark 1s? When they introduced them, they were state of the art, and are still the best of their kind.

 

John

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I don't mean current tooling, but I wondered if they had any of the old tooling for replica, mainline, etc. or anyone else who was producing MK1s a little while ago I.e. prior to current tooling.

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Popped into Smiths at Folkestone this afternoon and found the packs on display by the front door. Decided to buy 4 sets to create a rake of coaches to be kept on the layout for incline testing/loco running in purposes - or later using them as a basis for improving my modelling/painting skills.

 

Suddenly thought that these packs would make great presents for my brother's grandsons - and provide a project for them when they next visit their grandparents. They would get a coach each to paint as they like and then run "their" coaches on my brother's layout (which he built specially for them!!).

 

Headed back to town and got the last two sets on display. Happy bunny,

 

Keith

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Hi just looking at them is anyone else thinking a quick repaint (maybe) and some transfers and you have a few nice WCRC SK's of which they have about 6 in the Harry Potter rake, or even use the replica seating and there you have a set of TSO's for about 7 quid each (excluding paints +transfers).

Regards,

Wild Boar Fell 

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My thoughts on the background of this coach.

 

A couple of years ago, some cheap G gauge stock appeared made by a company called Newqida. One product they produced was a 4 wheel tanker.  Aside from the decoration, the wagons were the same as the LGB offering but at less than half the price.  They were lighter in weight and had a more plasticky look about them. 

 

This coach is similar to the Bachmann coach yet different and more basic.  Could it be that a Bachmann coach has been acquired by a company and then copied?   Are there any rules stating that a company cannot copy and replicate another coach?  If not, they may have looked at mass producing an SK from a Bachmann example.  To make things easier (and cheaper) they will have simplified the roof by using plastic piping on the roof, simplified the underframe, but have kept the coupling mechanism.

 

EDIT: Bought three today from Abingdon - resisted buying all 5!  

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Got the only one in Ripons Smiths, and two from the independent newsagent in Boroughbridge who had stacks of them. Wonder if the coach has anything to do with the new Hornby ones, with solid frames it speaks "design clever" and then Margate decided on something better? The wagon illustrated in the magazine in contrast to the NEMs on the coach seems to have the Mainline/early Bachmann Branchline style tension lock couplings.

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Thanks fellow RMwebbers for bringing my attention to these coaches and I have bought me some of these :locomotive: .  I was planning to get the Hornby Railroad Mark 1's in Maroon to make a cheap and cheerful WCRC rake and now I have saved a packet with these!  Unfortunately from the pictures, magazine and website I cannot see a brake coach of any kind

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It will be interesting to see what the alleged offer for the Bachmann Jinty turns out to be, if the series gets far enough!

 

I've acquired one of the coaches, under frame might need attention but for four quid not bad, close coupling and flush(ish) glazing. If nothing else it's a very cheap guinea pig for paint and transfer practice.

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