GWR Toplights Poll

[Coach bogie]

19 hours ago, Edwardian said:

 

Let's put it this way, the Hornby corridor Colletts and the Dapol corridor toplights really need each other !

With an occasional Siphon G for good measure.

 

Mike Wiltshire

[melmerby]

Has this been posted:

https://www.warwickshirerailways.com/gwr/gwrrj2157.htm

 

A Birmingham division 70' set on 9' American bogies.

Edited February 8, 2022 by melmerby

[6892 Oakhill Grange]

A few years ago, when the assembled mass of GWR fans wanted 70 footers, suburbans and toplights, I thought the above coaches would be perfect.  Dapol seems to have found something with an even smaller geographic appeal.

 

 I look forward to unboxing my set of 6.

 

Oakhill

[Neal Ball]

1 hour ago, 6892 Oakhill Grange said:

A few years ago, when the assembled mass of GWR fans wanted 70 footers, suburbans and toplights, I thought the above coaches would be perfect.  Dapol seems to have found something with an even smaller geographic appeal.

 

 I look forward to unboxing my set of 6.

 

Oakhill

Strangely of course by stretching a point the mainline and city carriages are perfect for Henley on Thames

[GWR8700]

Whichever corridor toplights they choose to make, I hope they aren't the same prototypes available from Slater's in 4mm.

[Forward!]

4 hours ago, GWR8700 said:

Whichever corridor toplights they choose to make, I hope they aren't the same prototypes available from Slater's in 4mm.

 

What's worse is if the Dapol announcement dissuades Slaters from re-introducing the Toplights to their range. I can't afford to keep buying rakes of RTR carriages at £60 quid a pop!!!

[Siberian Snooper]

I would be surprised if the kits, should they be released again, are much less than that.

 

 

[Coach bogie]

3 hours ago, Forward! said:

 

What's worse is if the Dapol announcement dissuades Slaters from re-introducing the Toplights to their range. I can't afford to keep buying rakes of RTR carriages at £60 quid a pop!!!

If the Slaters kits come back they are likely to be a similar price. Just look at prices of what is currently available. Brass top lights kis are just short of £100. With increase in material costs the lost wax brass parts in the Slaters kits have had a huge increase in material costs. Mike Wiltshire

 

[The Fatadder]

47 minutes ago, Coach bogie said:

If the Slaters kits come back they are likely to be a similar price. Just look at prices of what is currently available. Brass top lights kis are just short of £100. With increase in material costs the lost wax brass parts in the Slaters kits have had a huge increase in material costs. Mike Wiltshire

This was the logic behind drawing up as many of the standard parts as possible to 3d print rather than buying in order to mitigate the price.  For a Comet kit I think I have now got the cost down to about £35 a coach of purchased parts plus a pound or two of resin, If I am successful in drawing up the common bogie side frames that will be another 4.50 a coach saved (as I will continue to use an etched sub frame).  However Comet are very much at the bottom end of the price scale,  a flush sided Toplight (which is probably next on my hit list) is £40 for the sides/ends/floor from Worsley, plus £3.5 for an MJT roof and £9 for the bogies (in other words pretty much at the discounted Dapol price already).  I would then use my own bits for the interior and the details (although would still need the grab handles / door handles from the trade)

 

I have nearly finished this C28 now (a hybrid using Slaters parts for the sides / end / roof and corridor partition all purchased from Coopercraft at RailWells a few years back, along with a Comet underframe, 247 Developments bogies and my own castings / interior.  I much prefer this route than the full Slaters build I used previously for the Composite (I much prefer my coaches built from the roof down!)

 

 

 

Edited February 9, 2022 by The Fatadder

[Penrhos1920]

9 hours ago, GWR8700 said:

Whichever corridor toplights they choose to make, I hope they aren't the same prototypes available from Slater's in 4mm.

 

I think that the Dapol corridor toplights will be the later all steel coaches as these remained mostly unchanged in later life compared to the wood panelled coaches. 

[St Enodoc]

6 hours ago, Siberian Snooper said:

I would be surprised if the kits, should they be released again, are much less than that.

 

 

 

3 hours ago, Coach bogie said:

If the Slaters kits come back they are likely to be a similar price. Just look at prices of what is currently available. Brass top lights kis are just short of £100. With increase in material costs the lost wax brass parts in the Slaters kits have had a huge increase in material costs. Mike Wiltshire

 

The last ones I bought new, over 10 years ago, were about GBP 45 each as I recall.

[rovex]

I would expect Dapol to do an all third, composite and brake third (because that's what we always get).

 

Personally I'd like the panelled ones as this would really make them stand out against the Colletts and Hawksworths.

 

I also predict no effort to panel/plate over the sides. We'll buy them anyway.

[chris45lsw]

An E95 brake compo would be nice/useful as well.

 

Chris KT

[Coach bogie]

11 minutes ago, chris45lsw said:

An E95 brake compo would be nice/useful as well.

 

Chris KT

I agree Chris. Some of these were outshopped as F20 single ended slips.

 

Mike Wiltshire

[Clearwater]

41 minutes ago, rovex said:

I would expect Dapol to do an all third, composite and brake third (because that's what we always get).

 

Personally I'd like the panelled ones as this would really make them stand out against the Colletts and Hawksworths.

 

I also predict no effort to panel/plate over the sides. We'll buy them anyway.

 

I’d wonder if Dapol could cheat a little and mimic panelling through a good paint job like the Hornby clerestories.
 

Someone cleverer might think of a new hybrid technique.  For example, could you injection mould flat sides for a steel bodied diagram, but then clamp the side into a 3D printer and overlay the beading onto that side?

[Miss Prism]

A mixture, say one panelled and two flush-sided, would be more in the spirit of GWR authenticity.

[RJS1977]

Maybe they could do one panelled on one side but not the other!

[The Johnster]

1 hour ago, Clearwater said:

 

I’d wonder if Dapol could cheat a little and mimic panelling through a good paint job like the Hornby clerestories

I hope not! 

[Neal Ball]

7 hours ago, Clearwater said:

 

I’d wonder if Dapol could cheat a little and mimic panelling through a good paint job like the Hornby clerestories.
 

Someone cleverer might think of a new hybrid technique.  For example, could you injection mould flat sides for a steel bodied diagram, but then clamp the side into a 3D printer and overlay the beading onto that side?

I hope they do neither

 

7 hours ago, Miss Prism said:

A mixture, say one panelled and two flush-sided, would be more in the spirit of GWR authenticity.

Variety would be good.

 

7 hours ago, RJS1977 said:

Maybe they could do one panelled on one side but not the other!

Err no thank you!

[Coach bogie]

5 hours ago, The Johnster said:

I hope not! 

Why not? The GWR did!

 

The steel top lights, as well as later stock including the artics, carried mimic panel paint jobs, until the late 1920's.

 

see the steel sided C32 at the SVR

 

http://www.gw-svr-a.org.uk/3930.html

 

Personally I was hoping Hornby would release the Collett's with the pseudo panelling the real thing was first painted with, when built. I would buy a full set again as fully lined, without raised panels to follow is beyond my painting skills.

 

Mike Wiltshire

Edited February 10, 2022 by Coach bogie

[RJS1977]

2 hours ago, Neal Ball said:

 

Err no thank you!

 

Why not? You can only see one side at once, and if your fiddle yard reverses whole trains, or you have a reversing loop on your layout, the return train appears to have different coaches to the one that went out... ;-)

 

As far as I can see the main downside is that from the manufacturer's perspective they would sell fewer because people wanting a panelled and an unpanelled version might then only buy one!

[Miss Prism]

9 hours ago, RJS1977 said:

Maybe they could do one panelled on one side but not the other!

 

And what would you suggest for the ends?

 

[St Enodoc]

36 minutes ago, RJS1977 said:

 

Why not? You can only see one side at once, and if your fiddle yard reverses whole trains, or you have a reversing loop on your layout, the return train appears to have different coaches to the one that went out... ;-)

 

As far as I can see the main downside is that from the manufacturer's perspective they would sell fewer because people wanting a panelled and an unpanelled version might then only buy one!

I've done that in the past - different colours too, and diesel locos with different numbers on each side.

[Neal Ball]

1 hour ago, RJS1977 said:

 

Why not? You can only see one side at once, and if your fiddle yard reverses whole trains, or you have a reversing loop on your layout, the return train appears to have different coaches to the one that went out... ;-)

 

As far as I can see the main downside is that from the manufacturer's perspective they would sell fewer because people wanting a panelled and an unpanelled version might then only buy one!

 

Simply because my fiddle yard cant reverse a whole train and I dont have a loop. Any more space taken up by such thing would go into making the station area bigger and it's quite big already.

 

I will stick with a conventional carriage thank you!

 

Plus as @Miss Prism says what would happen on the ends of the carriage....

 

Edited February 10, 2022 by Neal Ball

[Siberian Snooper]

I have a number of Slaters clerestory coaches that are lake livery on one side and chocolate and cream on the other side and a couple that are in one or the other, ends are black in all cases.