Titfield Thunderbolt 70th Anniversary Range

[BR60103]

Andy:

Can I order this in Canada?  I would prefer not to deal with Customs myself.

Will any go to Markham?

 

[Helmdon]

14 hours ago, Helmdon said:

Yes - I model 1950s Northants so it’s wrong on every level, but I love the film…

actually I can pass it off as a promotional tour of the Woodford Halse-Culworth-Helmdon area in support of the film I suppose!

[deepfat]

Thanks for all the effort you have put into this project you lovely crazy fools. I have pre-ordered the thunderbolt to go with my APT-E and I wished I lived nearer you guys so I could apply to do your design work. 

[mdvle]

23 hours ago, BR60103 said:

Andy:

Can I order this in Canada?  I would prefer not to deal with Customs myself.

Will any go to Markham?

 

 

You can order any Rapido UK product prior to its order deadline from Rapido in Markham (this was noted in the November Rapido UK livestream), you just need to contact Rapido Canada (or potentially wait until late January, their last newsletter indicated they are getting a new website in January and that may allow for website ordering UK items - perhaps an email and check the best way to order).

 

You do need to first find the product code/SKU to provide Markham to ensure you are getting what you want - this can easily be found on the Rapido UK website by selecting the product item you want and it will be after the description.

Edited December 17, 2021 by mdvle

[rapidoandy]

A few images of the latest CAD word on the Bedford OB…

 

Merry Christmas!!

[atom3624]

This series of models was not on my radar, but the film, with Syd James et al., was such a fundamental part of 'favourite childhood movies' that it looks like more overtime might be required - these models look great!

Al.

[boxbrownie]

HoHoHo…..Merry Christmas 

 

Have all sets on pre-order but……probably too late or too difficult but, any chance at all the passenger sliding door might be made to slide, would be great for “bus stop” poses with passenger queues?

[PhilJ W]

47 minutes ago, boxbrownie said:

HoHoHo…..Merry Christmas 

 

Have all sets on pre-order but……probably too late or too difficult but, any chance at all the passenger sliding door might be made to slide, would be great for “bus stop” poses with passenger queues?

Like the idea but could it be made robust enough?  Mind you TINY HK have done something similar on their Mercedes Sprinter vans in the same scale so it might be possible.

[rapidoandy]

It was something we looked at - however it requires some over-scale changes that we felt compromised the model to far. I would have loved to have done it if we could!

[rapidoandy]

Hopefully everyone enjoyed their Christmas dinner. Personally I always like to keep a present for after my lunch….

 

So to that end here are some of the latest WIP shots of the W&U coach CAD.

 

[NXEA!]

Merry Christmas Andy and the others at Rapido. I will be in the market for the Bedford OB, and I’ve seen up-thread it was mentioned (but not by you) that the GER carriage will be released in prototypical versions too, is this confirmed? Understand if you’re unable to say at this stage. Would love a BR version coach, the CAD looks fantastic. 

[Butler Henderson]

Could the door be provided loose for the purcahser to fit as they desire.

[mdvle]

4 hours ago, Butler Henderson said:

Could the door be provided loose for the purcahser to fit as they desire.

 

At a guess, that would annoy 95% of the potential purchasers and some of those people wouldn't order the bus as a result.

 

Generally speaking buyers of models don't like having to fit parts.

[PaulRhB]

6 hours ago, mdvle said:

 

At a guess, that would annoy 95% of the potential purchasers and some of those people wouldn't order the bus as a result.

 

Generally speaking buyers of models don't like having to fit parts.

Er have you bought a Bachmann or Hornby loco in the last twenty years? Separate pipes and brake rigging to fit yourself are included on virtually every loco   

It doesn’t seem to stop 95% buying them. 

[Skinnylinny]

2 hours ago, PaulRhB said:

Er have you bought a Bachmann or Hornby loco in the last twenty years? Separate pipes and brake rigging to fit yourself are included on virtually every loco   

It doesn’t seem to stop 95% buying them. 

Yes, but equally, without brake rigging or brake pipes, a loco doesn't have a huge great hole in the side! I imagine also that the buses may be more popular amongst die-cast vehicle collectors, for whom the collectability is a factor - if you start gluing bits onto a new model, it's no longer "factory fresh"...

[Butler Henderson]

Okay an alternative not to upset collectors might be that the door could be removed by being arranged to be knocked out from the inside - presumably their would be a couple or so of fitting holes which the modeller would need to fill in and the corresponding pronges removed from the back of the door.

[PhilJ W]

11 hours ago, mdvle said:

 

At a guess, that would annoy 95% of the potential purchasers and some of those people wouldn't order the bus as a result.

 

Generally speaking buyers of models don't like having to fit parts.

 

4 hours ago, PaulRhB said:

Er have you bought a Bachmann or Hornby loco in the last twenty years? Separate pipes and brake rigging to fit yourself are included on virtually every loco   

It doesn’t seem to stop 95% buying them. 

Many diecasts, buses and trucks in particular come with separate items such as mirrors and sometimes windscreen wipers. Like pipes and brake rigging on model locomotives these items are fragile and more likely to be damaged in transit. At least one manufacturer is now fitting mirrors made from a soft rubbery plastic for that reason.

[PhilJ W]

As a matter of interest, I notice that the Bedford OB is only fitted with a single offside rear view mirror. Is there going to be an option of a nearside mirror and/or larger more modern mirrors? And are they going to be a separate item to be fitted by the buyer?

[mdvle]

14 hours ago, PaulRhB said:

Er have you bought a Bachmann or Hornby loco in the last twenty years? Separate pipes and brake rigging to fit yourself are included on virtually every loco   

It doesn’t seem to stop 95% buying them. 

 

And how many people actually fit those items vs leaving them in the bag they come in?

 

There is a difference between a missing door that would be obvious and some small detail parts that most never look at.

[Mark Saunders]

It’s an age thing when you have to buy yourself a train set!

[Steamport Southport]

1 hour ago, Mark Saunders said:

It’s an age thing when you have to buy yourself a train set!

 

Done that before today when there was something I wanted in it and they are on offer.

 

The last one was the Bachmann Shakespeare Express. There was an unwanted bus in that as well....

 

 

 

[PaulRhB]

7 hours ago, mdvle said:

 

And how many people actually fit those items vs leaving them in the bag they come in?

 

The brake rigging possibly but the pipes are usually present on models I see. 

Anyway it was that you speculated it was 95% when my experience says the visible bits like pipes get fitted  

 

 

7 hours ago, mdvle said:

There is a difference between a missing door that would be obvious and some small detail parts that most never look at.

Well a door missing or just arriving in one of two positions possible? I’ve made posable doors and changeable signs by mounting a steel strip from a Pepsi can on the back and a magnet concealed inside the body or building. As the metal is around 0.02mm thick it doesn’t make the part stand proud. 
Possibly making, painting and then assembling it separately just pushes the costs over what’s practical. My usual approach with Oxford Diecast vans is to chop the door out of one and make a hole in the other to mount the door open but that may be a tad too expensive to hack one of these up!  

 

[Dunsignalling]

4 hours ago, PaulRhB said:

The brake rigging possibly but the pipes are usually present on models I see. 

Anyway it was that you speculated it was 95% when my experience says the visible bits like pipes get fitted  

 

 

Well a door missing or just arriving in one of two positions possible? I’ve made posable doors and changeable signs by mounting a steel strip from a Pepsi can on the back and a magnet concealed inside the body or building. As the metal is around 0.02mm thick it doesn’t make the part stand proud. 
Possibly making, painting and then assembling it separately just pushes the costs over what’s practical. My usual approach with Oxford Diecast vans is to chop the door out of one and make a hole in the other to mount the door open but that may be a tad too expensive to hack one of these up!  

 

Nice job, Paul.

 

I'm old enough to remember riding in Bedford OBs when they were in their last knocks as "one model fleets" with impecunious rural operators; any firm of substance having moved on to SBs for most of their work.  The last such business locally had three (maybe four), and one even had a set of wooden slatted seats that I presume to have been salvaged from one or more OWBs. That was retained for school and market day runs and I don't ever remember riding in it on an excursion. They did have some standards to maintain!

 

The doors were very much a "movable feast", and in one or two cases tended to open when going up hill and close going downhill unless the driver had applied his loop of sash cord to keep it shut!  In high summer, the opposite strategy was employed to create a little extra air flow. Opening the roof lights sometimes meant the driver going aloft to get them to shut properly again! 

 

As for the model, there have been plenty of (lesser) diecast OBs produced with the doors shut, so why not have it modelled open on this one?

 

John

Edited December 27, 2021 by Dunsignalling

[wainwright1]

6 hours ago, Dunsignalling said:

Nice job, Paul.

 

I'm old enough to remember riding in Bedford OBs when they were in their last knocks as "one model fleets" with impecunious rural operators; any firm of substance having moved on to SBs for most of their work.  The last such business locally had three (maybe four), and one even had a set of wooden slatted seats that I presume to have been salvaged from one or more OWBs. That was retained for school and market day runs and I don't ever remember riding in it on an excursion. They did have some standards to maintain!

 

The doors were very much a "movable feast", and in one or two cases tended to open when going up hill and close going downhill unless the driver had applied his loop of sash cord to keep it shut!  In high summer, the opposite strategy was employed to create a little extra air flow. Opening the roof lights sometimes meant the driver going aloft to get them to shut properly again! 

 

As for the model, there have been plenty of (lesser) diecast OBs produced with the doors shut, so why not have it modelled open on this one?

 

John

Corgi Original Omnibus did some of their 4Q4 single deck buses with the sliding door in the closed position and at least a couple in the open position.  I think that some of the East Lanc's forward entrance half cab double decker's, which they did in several versions, may have also had slid-able doors.

 

The roof sections on the OB could also be made slid-able.

 

All the best

Ray

 

 

[Dublodad]

Britbus made a Dennis Loline III in Aldershot & District livery with a working sliding door. I can't find mine at the present though!!