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Bachmann Class 30/31


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21 hours ago, Chamby said:


Hornby R30120.  Available now, new stock at Rails and presumably other retailers.  Easy enough to add a small yellow panel…

I'm sure that it's a class 30 as there's no grille in the bodyside door which was put in at the time of conversion to a 31 with the EE engine. Also it's a toffee apple with the white window surround which will need to be  painted to include the yellow panel, although I have seen a pic of D5515 with SYP and white window surrounds. Happy to be corrected on any of these points, but the have certainly put me off buying one!

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3 hours ago, jjb1970 said:

On the model, the obvious answer ro all the stuff about duplication would be:

 

-if you want a tip top 31 and want the Bachmann model then buy the Bachmann model;

-if you want a tip top 31 and want the Accurascale model then buy the Accurascale model;

-if you want a tip top 31 and you are not wedded to either manufacturer then take a look at the models being made by both, price and other factors which may matter to you and then decide which one to buy; and

-if you're not interested in the 31 and are not intending to buy one then why does it matter and why would it vex you?

 

I don't see why the decision making process of model suppliers in deciding which subjects to model is our business. If anything it gives us as consumers more choice and keeps producers on their toes if they know their release has to stand on its feet against a rival release.

 

It could be worse, we could be collectors!

 

Mike.

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On 11/02/2024 at 06:58, Ray M said:

Are AS or Bachmann doing a skinhead

in Green SYP ?

 

57 minutes ago, atherton said:

I'm sure that it's a class 30 as there's no grille in the bodyside door which was put in at the time of conversion to a 31 with the EE engine. Also it's a toffee apple with the white window surround which will need to be  painted to include the yellow panel, although I have seen a pic of D5515 with SYP and white window surrounds. Happy to be corrected on any of these points, but the have certainly put me off buying one!


@atherton you don’t need correcting, but I would point out that the OP only asked after a ‘skinhead’ and wasn’t specific about which variant!
 

On a separate point, I find it interesting that the manufacturers are currently competing directly against each other with the first generation diesels.  Does this reflect the fact that those of us who are arriving at retirement age will mostly recall BR in its early post-steam, blue era - and are therefore looking to this epoch when embarking upon a retirement project?
 

Perhaps then, the hobby’s mainstream is finally moving up an epoch from late BR steam, at least in terms of where manufacturers perceive that the big money is being spent.

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“I don’t need any more 31s!” say he. Then an AS IC Mainline one gets snapped up and I’m eyeing up the Bachy sector-liveried one! 

 

Confessions of a locoholic, part 134.

Edited by 97406
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17 hours ago, jjb1970 said:

On the model, the obvious answer ro all the stuff about duplication would be:

 

-if you want a tip top 31 and want the Bachmann model then buy the Bachmann model;

-if you want a tip top 31 and want the Accurascale model then buy the Accurascale model;

-if you want a tip top 31 and you are not wedded to either manufacturer then take a look at the models being made by both, price and other factors which may matter to you and then decide which one to buy; and

-if you're not interested in the 31 and are not intending to buy one then why does it matter and why would it vex you?

 

I don't see why the decision making process of model suppliers in deciding which subjects to model is our business. If anything it gives us as consumers more choice and keeps producers on their toes if they know their release has to stand on its feet against a rival release.

 

Or...

if you want full comparison over which class 31 is your preference ask Hornby to do 31407 in Mainline Blue... 

Edited by The Black Hat
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2 hours ago, The Meerkat said:

hi all

 

i looked few all the pages and i cant find the uncoupler video, i saw on page 3 (grinning)  that some one saw the video. has any one got the link. 

Its in the Bachmann launch video on Youtube

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I don’t think this has been mentioned before. This is from the Collectors’ Club magazine. “The locomotive will ease back to slacken the coupling, the coupling hook will rise, and in doing so will lift a paddle that disconnects the opposing coupling hook.“ Therefore, it should work even if the adjacent vehicle’s hook isn’t metal. Whether or not it works with the droopy couplings beloved of some manufacturers remains to be seen.

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58 minutes ago, No Decorum said:

Whether or not it works with the droopy couplings beloved of some manufacturers remains to be seen.

This is a problem that anyone familiar with coupler set up for automatic coupling and uncoupling will be aware of. The owner has to take charge of consistent coupler position on all the stock the system has to work with. Hopefully Bachmann will think to mention that in the 'enclosed destructions'.

 

1 hour ago, No Decorum said:

“The locomotive will ease back to slacken the coupling, the coupling hook will rise, and in doing so will lift a paddle that disconnects the opposing coupling hook.“

Some of Bachmann's (fine) rolling stock product that may well find itself coupled to a Brush 2 may defeat this method! Specifically their low rolling friction bogies on the Thompson carriages and Met-Camm Pullman cars. These have detected gradients on several layouts where the track is thought to be level, because they can roll away on a 1 in 200. Installing a small drag on the train end vehicles' axles is the solution.

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8 hours ago, No Decorum said:

Whether or not it works with the droopy couplings beloved of some manufacturers remains to be seen.

 

I did ask Bachmann how it would cope with droopy Heljan or Dapol couplings and they said it should uncouple ok from the tests done. Whether you can couple up is a different matter.

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On 12/02/2024 at 17:53, atherton said:

I'm sure that it's a class 30 as there's no grille in the bodyside door which was put in at the time of conversion to a 31 with the EE engine. Also it's a toffee apple with the white window surround which will need to be  painted to include the yellow panel, although I have seen a pic of D5515 with SYP and white window surrounds. Happy to be corrected on any of these points, but the have certainly put me off buying one!

 

I did all those things with my early Hornby version, as well as renumbering it to avoid an address clash on DCC. The one thing I didn't do was repaint the eggshell blue bands to off-white, a change that happened fairly early on with the Brush type 2 livery. I must fix that '2' that has partially rubbed off again. The crack apparent in the lower corner at left (in the photo) was the result of the dreaded mazak rot - Hornby sent me out a new chassis block. I was lucky to be able to catch it before more damage was done to the body. This also has an early attempt at the Mirrlees sounds from Howes.

 

IMG20210609205408.jpg.ee571acdba86896041cd0704759472c5.jpg

 

 

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On 11/02/2024 at 06:58, Ray M said:

Are AS or Bachmann doing a skinhead

in Green SYP ?

I think I see that the NRM exclusive is a skinhead. It is blue but at least it’s in the tooling suite, so I think eventually you’ll get your wish.

Clang! Apologies for misinformation. The NRM exclusive is by Accurascale.

Edited by No Decorum
Correction.
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On 12/02/2024 at 04:41, jjb1970 said:

On the model, the obvious answer ro all the stuff about duplication would be:

 

-if you want a tip top 31 and want the Bachmann model then buy the Bachmann model;

-if you want a tip top 31 and want the Accurascale model then buy the Accurascale model;

-if you want a tip top 31 and you are not wedded to either manufacturer then take a look at the models being made by both, price and other factors which may matter to you and then decide which one to buy; and

-if you're not interested in the 31 and are not intending to buy one then why does it matter and why would it vex you?

 

I don't see why the decision making process of model suppliers in deciding which subjects to model is our business. If anything it gives us as consumers more choice and keeps producers on their toes if they know their release has to stand on its feet against a rival release.

 

Well to make it an even playing field, I have decided to go for one of each, I already have a Hornby version (31147) and will be getting no: 31319 from Bachmann and no: 31276 (the Key Model Special Edition) from Accurascale. It will be interesting to see how all three versions compare with each other, despite the Hornby version of course almost twenty years old! 

 

I'll probably do a similar thing with the Accurascale and retooled Bachmann Class 37s and have them go nose to nose as well! 

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17 minutes ago, Richard RK3 said:

 

Well to make it an even playing field, I have decided to go for one of each, I already have a Hornby version (31147) and will be getting no: 31319 from Bachmann and no: 31276 (the Key Model Special Edition) from Accurascale. It will be interesting to see how all three versions compare with each other, despite the Hornby version of course almost twenty years old! 

 

I'll probably do a similar thing with the Accurascale and retooled Bachmann Class 37s and have them go nose to nose as well! 

 

I, for one, will be very interested in your comparisons. I'm sure all will be good, but will there be a clear "winner", or will it be a case of "swings and roundabouts". Of course, there's also value for money.

It'll be an expensive exercise, but if you are buying the various models anyway, it will be worthwhile. 

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17 minutes ago, SRman said:

 

I, for one, will be very interested in your comparisons. I'm sure all will be good, but will there be a clear "winner", or will it be a case of "swings and roundabouts". Of course, there's also value for money.

It'll be an expensive exercise, but if you are buying the various models anyway, it will be worthwhile. 

Well, as they all happen to be examples I would have been after anyway, irrespective of whichever proves to be better or worse, they will all be staying, so it will still be our money's worth!

 

Edited by Richard RK3
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Well just looking at the EP / samples of each, I think the Hornby one has some competition, it was good for 2005, but thats almost 20 years ago now, it has its errors and weve lived with them before the Rot started. I too have ordered one from Bachmann and an Accurscale one, so lets see how they fair when they arrive

 

NL

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4 minutes ago, NickL2008 said:

Well just looking at the EP / samples of each, I think the Hornby one has some competition, it was good for 2005, but that's almost 20 years ago now, it has its errors and we've lived with them before the Rot started. I too have ordered one from Bachmann and an Accurascale one, so lets see how they fair when they arrive

 

NL

Mind you, the Hornby version I own is actually a fairly recent one, no: 31147 (product no: R3880) which was released in 2021.  

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