Class 37, by Accurascale

[adb968008]

On 18/05/2022 at 21:45, Accurascale Fran said:

Hi John,

 

The position of where the bracket is on the model is correct, it is the light that is larger. So, if you were to replace the light itself, it would still be in the correct position. 
 

Cheers!

 

Fran

Ive played around with the image, and tbh moving the light down over covering the bracket, or moving the light and bracket down, dont overall compensate the size of the light, and having tried several ways with the doing a headlight light myself (including using Zirconia and my daughters “invisible earrings”), I do get why its a pain.

 

moving on, I cast my eye over the front end and its absolutely 100%, theres nothing else to say, its spot on, I mean its seriously spot on.

 

On the side of Shapfell I noticed the “F” of the Rfd Diamonds is lighter on the light grey, but darker on the dark grey, is this on your list to blend in or maybe put a dark grey “F” before over painting a red one ontop ?

 

Very impressed with the roof latches and rails this detail area seems to be exceptionally well captured..

 

And also the roof fan grill, which is modelled as above, two piece with the grill slightly raised above its fitting.

I cant wait to see roof close ups, but they do look exciting.

 

Edited July 30, 2023 by adb968008

[adb968008]

A little one, On 37027, should the white stripe go over the bodyside kick plate under the door too ?

(flickr/url not mine)

 

I see images on both sides that seem to be a continuous white stripe end to end.

 

Edited May 18, 2022 by adb968008

[Roy Langridge]

5 hours ago, adb968008 said:

On the side of Shapfell I noticed the “F” of the Rfd Diamonds is lighter on the light grey, but darker on the dark grey, is this on your list to blend in or maybe put a dark grey “F” before over painting a red one ontop ?

 

That was already on the list of things Fran said needed to be sorted. 
 

Roy

[Enterprisingwestern]

11 hours ago, Accurascale Fran said:

Sure!

 

043 real and model. The slight overscale nature of the lamp will make it appear to be in different positions than they were.

 

 

Regarding the facing of the light, this has been noted and as we say on any PP sample, they’re samples and not assembled as well as final models shall be. So that will be sorted 😊

 

Cheers!

 

Fran

 

Aaaargh, non see through horn grilles, a bit of a less enthusiastic painter required!!

 

Mike.

[E100]

52 minutes ago, Enterprisingwestern said:

 

Aaaargh, non see through horn grilles, a bit of a less enthusiastic painter required!!

 

Mike.

If that's the compromise then black paint as part of weathering will be an option here.

[McC]

7 hours ago, adb968008 said:

A little one, On 37027, should the white stripe go over the bodyside kick plate under the door too ?

(flickr/url not mine)

 

I see images on both sides that seem to be a continuous white stripe end to end.

 

Regarding  37027, the stripe is slightly too high and the factory accidentally installed the kickplates over the white stripe rather than installing them before the stripe was printed. We're on it!

 

As we always say, this is why we share close up, detailed, high resolution photography of all our models. We absolutely adore constructive criticism!

Edited May 19, 2022 by McC

[Enterprisingwestern]

56 minutes ago, E100 said:

If that's the compromise then black paint as part of weathering will be an option here.

 

I reckon they are etched and have just been overpainted a tad, nothing insurmountable, and there are always aftermarket options if the worst comes to the worst.

The non yellow panel variants wouldn't have them painted anyway.

 

Mike.

[McC]

30 minutes ago, Enterprisingwestern said:

 

I reckon they are etched and have just been overpainted a tad, nothing insurmountable, and there are always aftermarket options if the worst comes to the worst.

The non yellow panel variants wouldn't have them painted anyway.

 

Mike.

they are indeed etched parts. On the list….

[curlypaws]

Well, I'm looking forward to my three Accurascale Class 37s immensely - and even more so every time I see the photos. My only worry is how my existing Class 37s are going to look alongside these beauties!

[Matt]

3 hours ago, curlypaws said:

Well, I'm looking forward to my three Accurascale Class 37s immensely - and even more so every time I see the photos. My only worry is how my existing Class 37s are going to look alongside these beauties!

Couldn’t agree more - at last census the 37 count stood at (appropriately enough) 37 but I do find they have a habit of breeding and wouldn’t be surprised if there were a few more now….

[Roy Langridge]

1 hour ago, Enterprisingwestern said:

 

I reckon they are etched and have just been overpainted a tad, nothing insurmountable, and there are always aftermarket options if the worst comes to the worst.

The non yellow panel variants wouldn't have them painted anyway.

 

Mike.

 

I am not certain that on locos where the horn grills were not painted yellow they were left unpainted. Whilst yes some photos show them as maybe having just tarnished/dirty, there are certainly pictures where they look to have been painted green.

 

As for D6702, that certainly had unpainted grills once upon a time. What happened later is unclear from photos, some of which look to show them painted green.

 

Roy

[97406]

24 minutes ago, Roy Langridge said:

 

I am not certain that on locos where the horn grills were not painted yellow they were left unpainted. Whilst yes some photos show them as maybe having just tarnished/dirty, there are certainly pictures where they look to have been painted green.

 

As for D6702, that certainly had unpainted grills once upon a time. What happened later is unclear from photos, some of which look to show them painted green.

 

Roy

40s certainly had brass horn grilles when new.

[Roy Langridge]

21 minutes ago, 97406 said:

40s certainly had brass horn grilles when new.

 

I think the split box 37s did too, but after that I am not sure they retained them as unpainted until gaining full yellow ends.

Roy

[97406]

1 hour ago, Roy Langridge said:

 

I think the split box 37s did too, but after that I am not sure they retained them as unpainted until gaining full yellow ends.

Roy

 

I think so too. They had basically the same cab and I have used various manufacturers’ Class 37 cabs in class 40s, including the one in my profile pic - Bachmann cabs on a Lima 40. I could also fit a mahoosive speaker in it if I add sound to it!

[adb968008]

Plenty of steam locos were rolling about with unpainted brass fittings, including the whistle, in the 1960’s, so an unpainted horn grill would fit the existing environment.

Presumably added after first painting of the body, like the worksplates.

I doubt the painters would care at the first repaint, as they’d be covered in bug squat, dirt, and faded out.

Edited May 19, 2022 by adb968008

[aeroplane]

Horn grilles look so good when this colour I think

 

[97406]

21 hours ago, adb968008 said:

Easy tiger, been there tried it at least 3 different ways (using bearing cups and 2mm plastic rod with 0.45mm LEDs (which were too large !).. its really not easy, I went down to 0.32mm (1/3rd of a mm !)  and thats on a model where you could remove the nose… working with an object less than 0.5mm, into an object 2mm by 1.5mm isnt the easiest, even tweasers wont help.

 

Indeed spent some time on this, yes doable, but expect a fair bit of attrition in that activity. Even a few pro’s have stepped back from doing that.

 

For that reason I’d prefer it lower, even if its bigger, (size wont matter when its on) but fixing the position is just one vowel different to the word bigger..

i’m not going to labour the point, if it is what it is, but it will be the first time ive dinged an accurascale product on a detail point.

 

 

Dependent on the design you may be able to push it out from behind with a drift, file the hole slightly and stick it back in. Use diluted acrylic yellow paint to fill the gap. As the headlight is slightly oversize for practical reasons, perhaps the exact centre of the assembly should be the reference point, so the whole assembly is centred correctly, as opposed to the mounting bolt, if that makes sense.

 

Just a thought that occurred today.

Edited May 19, 2022 by 97406

[97406]

1 hour ago, aeroplane said:

Horn grilles look so good when this colour I think

 

 

 

Bling! They also look good on a full yellow end. D200 had thin green surrounds around them when it was originally repainted back into GFYE in the early 80s.

Edited May 19, 2022 by 97406

[Rick_Skateboard]

On 18/05/2022 at 18:47, Accurascale Fran said:

Sure!

 

043 real and model. The slight overscale nature of the lamp will make it appear to be in different positions than they were.

 

 

Regarding the facing of the light, this has been noted and as we say on any PP sample, they’re samples and not assembled as well as final models shall be. So that will be sorted 😊

 

Cheers!

 

Fran

 

Some of my thoughts on the decorated samples.  Obviously these are the best rtr model of a class 37 we've ever had, and the fact that peope are nitpicking over little issues shows how good they are overall.  The nose and windscreen are the 'face' of the loco and it's so important to get that right.  The windscreens look excellent, infinitely better than the Bachmann ones, and I'm looking forward to not having to go down the Extreme Etchings/Laserglaze route again; excellent results but a lot of work! 

 

I do agree with people who are saying the headlight is too high.  I understand that it's overscale and that throws the proportions out, but I think it would have been better to get the actual lamp in the right place even if that meant the bracket went too low down on the nose door.  The lamp is the bit that the eye is drawn to, especially when it's lit, and it should be below the centre line of the marker lights.  I'm guessing it's too late to change this now?

 

The bracket should be yellow, not black, which would also help to hide it being overscale.  Easy enough for the modeller to change if they have to, but yellow is always a pain to paint, especially over black.

 

I'm not convinced by the horn grilles.  I can see what Accurascale have tried to do here, but I think the gap between the last luvre and the rounded side is far too big and looks a bit odd.  Perhaps that gap is slightly bigger on the real thing, but I don't think it scales down well.

 

 

Finally, I think the handrails on the corners of the nose are too long/go too far up.  There should be a bigger gap between the top of the handrail and the bottom of the headcode box.

 

As I said, I'm being picky and overall these look excellent.  I've got two on order and will certainly buy more as different versions are released.  Apologies if I'm just repeating what others have already said.

 

To prove I'm not scared of doing some actual modelling occasionally here's a picture of one of my heavily detailed Bachmann 37s, and now as I'm looking at it I can see a load of things I'm still not happy with!  I am really looking forward to the Accurascale ones!

 

 

Cheers

 

Rick

[McC]

Thanks so

much for the feedback Rick!

[Alcanman]

9 hours ago, Rick_Skateboard said:

 

Some of my thoughts on the decorated samples.  Obviously these are the best rtr model of a class 37 we've ever had, and the fact that peope are nitpicking over little issues shows how good they are overall.  The nose and windscreen are the 'face' of the loco and it's so important to get that right.  The windscreens look excellent, infinitely better than the Bachmann ones, and I'm looking forward to not having to go down the Extreme Etchings/Laserglaze route again; excellent results but a lot of work! 

 

I do agree with people who are saying the headlight is too high.  I understand that it's overscale and that throws the proportions out, but I think it would have been better to get the actual lamp in the right place even if that meant the bracket went too low down on the nose door.  The lamp is the bit that the eye is drawn to, especially when it's lit, and it should be below the centre line of the marker lights.  I'm guessing it's too late to change this now?

 

The bracket should be yellow, not black, which would also help to hide it being overscale.  Easy enough for the modeller to change if they have to, but yellow is always a pain to paint, especially over black.

 

I'm not convinced by the horn grilles.  I can see what Accurascale have tried to do here, but I think the gap between the last luvre and the rounded side is far too big and looks a bit odd.  Perhaps that gap is slightly bigger on the real thing, but I don't think it scales down well.

 

 

Finally, I think the handrails on the corners of the nose are too long/go too far up.  There should be a bigger gap between the top of the handrail and the bottom of the headcode box.

 

As I said, I'm being picky and overall these look excellent.  I've got two on order and will certainly buy more as different versions are released.  Apologies if I'm just repeating what others have already said.

 

To prove I'm not scared of doing some actual modelling occasionally here's a picture of one of my heavily detailed Bachmann 37s, and now as I'm looking at it I can see a load of things I'm still not happy with!  I am really looking forward to the Accurascale ones!

 

 

Cheers

 

Rick

Interesting observations and I love your Bachmann 37017, although it was a tad grubbier when I saw it at Inverness.

[ERIC ALLTORQUE]

9 hours ago, Rick_Skateboard said:

 

Some of my thoughts on the decorated samples.  Obviously these are the best rtr model of a class 37 we've ever had, and the fact that peope are nitpicking over little issues shows how good they are overall.  The nose and windscreen are the 'face' of the loco and it's so important to get that right.  The windscreens look excellent, infinitely better than the Bachmann ones, and I'm looking forward to not having to go down the Extreme Etchings/Laserglaze route again; excellent results but a lot of work! 

 

I do agree with people who are saying the headlight is too high.  I understand that it's overscale and that throws the proportions out, but I think it would have been better to get the actual lamp in the right place even if that meant the bracket went too low down on the nose door.  The lamp is the bit that the eye is drawn to, especially when it's lit, and it should be below the centre line of the marker lights.  I'm guessing it's too late to change this now?

 

The bracket should be yellow, not black, which would also help to hide it being overscale.  Easy enough for the modeller to change if they have to, but yellow is always a pain to paint, especially over black.

 

I'm not convinced by the horn grilles.  I can see what Accurascale have tried to do here, but I think the gap between the last luvre and the rounded side is far too big and looks a bit odd.  Perhaps that gap is slightly bigger on the real thing, but I don't think it scales down well.

 

 

Finally, I think the handrails on the corners of the nose are too long/go too far up.  There should be a bigger gap between the top of the handrail and the bottom of the headcode box.

 

As I said, I'm being picky and overall these look excellent.  I've got two on order and will certainly buy more as different versions are released.  Apologies if I'm just repeating what others have already said.

 

To prove I'm not scared of doing some actual modelling occasionally here's a picture of one of my heavily detailed Bachmann 37s, and now as I'm looking at it I can see a load of things I'm still not happy with!  I am really looking forward to the Accurascale ones!

 

 

Cheers

 

Rick

Thats top draw modelling Rick,stunning,a look at the sample model at this hight and range would be interesting for the headlight high issue as the face on picture is from higher up camera view,thanks for sharing this.

[No Decorum]

10 hours ago, Rick_Skateboard said:

 

Some of my thoughts on the decorated samples.  Obviously these are the best rtr model of a class 37 we've ever had, and the fact that peope are nitpicking over little issues shows how good they are overall.  The nose and windscreen are the 'face' of the loco and it's so important to get that right.  The windscreens look excellent, infinitely better than the Bachmann ones, and I'm looking forward to not having to go down the Extreme Etchings/Laserglaze route again; excellent results but a lot of work! 

 

I do agree with people who are saying the headlight is too high.  I understand that it's overscale and that throws the proportions out, but I think it would have been better to get the actual lamp in the right place even if that meant the bracket went too low down on the nose door.  The lamp is the bit that the eye is drawn to, especially when it's lit, and it should be below the centre line of the marker lights.  I'm guessing it's too late to change this now?

 

The bracket should be yellow, not black, which would also help to hide it being overscale.  Easy enough for the modeller to change if they have to, but yellow is always a pain to paint, especially over black.

 

I'm not convinced by the horn grilles.  I can see what Accurascale have tried to do here, but I think the gap between the last luvre and the rounded side is far too big and looks a bit odd.  Perhaps that gap is slightly bigger on the real thing, but I don't think it scales down well.

 

 

Finally, I think the handrails on the corners of the nose are too long/go too far up.  There should be a bigger gap between the top of the handrail and the bottom of the headcode box.

 

As I said, I'm being picky and overall these look excellent.  I've got two on order and will certainly buy more as different versions are released.  Apologies if I'm just repeating what others have already said.

 

To prove I'm not scared of doing some actual modelling occasionally here's a picture of one of my heavily detailed Bachmann 37s, and now as I'm looking at it I can see a load of things I'm still not happy with!  I am really looking forward to the Accurascale ones!

 

 

Cheers

 

Rick

All well-made points. Looking at the left-hand loco in the image linked below, there are far more “uprights” than the seven in the model. At this scale, I don’t think it would be practical to try to reproduce the exact number of them. There is also a noticeably wider gap on each side than between the uprights. However, it isn’t as pronounced on the model. If possible, making the uprights a little farther apart would improve matters.

https://www.armstrongpowerhouse.com/class_37_locomotive_pack_vol_2

You include a picture of a horn grill. Is that of a full-size one?

Drat! The image is in the sixth row, fourth column.

Edited May 27, 2022 by No Decorum
To locate relevant picture.

[Pillar]

Shawplan make very nice EE horn grilles under their Extreme Etchings range. The fact that the Accurascale ones appaear to be brass etches over pre-formed holes should make these a straight swap - definately easier than fitting them to a Bachmann model which needs the molded grilles to be pared away first and holes drilled in their place.

 

Maybe there is some scope for improvement to the Accurascale grilles, but knowing how fragile the Shawplan ones are there may be a limit for an RTR model.

[Accurascale Fran]

Hi everyone,

 

Thanks for the feedback over the past few days. We have gone back to the factory and have come up with a solution to make the headlamp smaller and therefore we can move it to the correct position. They are going to pull out all the stops to ensure any delay is kept to an absolute minimum but we will have a full and in-depth 37 update in the next few weeks, so keep an eye out for that.

 

We agree the horn grilles are a little weak point and these was fed back to the factory when we got the initial samples so is an area that is being improved.

 

Regarding the the handrails. We have consulted scans and survey material this morning, and we are convinced that they are correct, with the angle of the photograph causing the perception that they are not in the right place. 

 

Hope this helps.

 

Cheers!

 

Fran