A prediction from the July 1980 Railway Modeller

[Clive martin]

10 minutes ago, Captain Slough said:

@Clive have a look in the "modelling BR Blue" subforum to see my attempted Cl 310 EMU done by similar methods to your models here

Yes i love your class 310 i hope you find the time to complete it ,it really captures the character of the class 310 ,we are well looked after with locos now, but their are loads of first gen dmus and emus that are not available rtr ,i think models of these units are now going to be something i find fascinating just like i used to with models of obscure locomotives before they became available rtr!

[LBRJ]

On 21/03/2024 at 12:25, Steamport Southport said:

 

Took over 40 years though!

 

The only ones that probably were viable RTR at the time were the ones that got made - GWR DRC and Classes 50 and 56. Otherwise it was MTK and Q Kits with a lot of swearing!

 

 

Notice above. Is that R G Brasher in the other letter the one who posts on here?

 

 

Jason

 

I noticed that too, and I assumed that it was one and the same....

[kevinlms]

12 hours ago, Clive martin said:

Hi kevin i am not sure you understood what i was getting at describing the Hornby 29 as bit of a half way house between a class 21 and 29, it was the unfortunate mish mash of details on the Hornby moulding that were not correct for a 21 or 29 perhaps i am being bit pedantic ,but i think the detail differences between a class 21 and 29 are numerous enough to warent a correct well researched model that we now have in the shape of the Dapol class 21 and 29!

Yes I was aware, although I must admit that I know little about the differences between various Western region diesels.

 

The class 25 reference, was a joke.

[97406]

On 21/03/2024 at 18:36, Clive martin said:

The Baby Deltics were never ugly i remember an article i Rail Enthusiast describing them as pretty little things that also sounded rather nice ,one thing  that article did not predict is that by 2024 we would have a brand new full size baby Deltic being built!

 

In my view, almost all British diesel and electric classes are good looking, even 31s which ooze character. One exception that comes to mind is the Class 28 ‘Object’, but it’s still a fascinating class and I’m on the lookout for a Heljan one. The Fell is another example.

[Clive martin]

4 hours ago, kevinlms said:

 

 

The class 25 reference, was a joke.

Hi kevin i did think  the class 25 reference might be  joke , i hope i did not offend you with my reply as thats the very last think i wanted to do !

[Clive martin]

1 hour ago, 97406 said:

 

In my view, almost all British diesel and electric classes are good looking, even 31s which ooze character. One exception that comes to mind is the Class 28 ‘Object’, but it’s still a fascinating class and I’m on the lookout for a Heljan one. The Fell is another example.

Hi 97  406 I agree with you i love all british diesels ,a lot of the locos built in the 1960s have stood the test of time very well for example the class 47 a very good looking  machine ,i agree with you about 31s, being an east anglian lad i grew up with 31s being an every day sight and sound , i hope you manage to find yourself a Heljan 28 as i think this is one of their best models and are superb runners!

[Robin Brasher]

On 21/03/2024 at 12:25, Steamport Southport said:

 

Took over 40 years though!

 

The only ones that probably were viable RTR at the time were the ones that got made - GWR DRC and Classes 50 and 56. Otherwise it was MTK and Q Kits with a lot of swearing!

 

 

Notice above. Is that R G Brasher in the other letter the one who posts on here?

 

 

Jason

I wonder what I wrote. The Railway Modeller used to publish a lot of my articles about the Swanage Railway in the 1970s but now my articles appear in the Hornby Railway Collector and the Swanage Railway Magazine.

[97406]

Just now, Clive martin said:

Hi 97  406 I agree with you i love all british diesels ,a lot of the locos built in the 1960s have stood the test of time very well for example the class 47 a very good looking  machine ,i agree with you about 31s, being an east anglian lad i grew up with 31s being an every day sight and sound , i hope you manage to find yourself a Heljan 28 as i think this is one of their best models and are superb runners!

 

Indeed! The 47 is a design classic.

 

The 86/6s that have been exported to Bulgaria are getting flush fronts, LED lights and look quite modern too. Excuse the Faceache link but you can access it without an account https://www.facebook.com/express.service.ood/

 

I’d actually like a couple of 28s, one in GSYP as preserved D5705, but also a blue or GFYE example which wasn’t very flattering on them but I kinda like it. 

 

 

[97406]

17 hours ago, Clive Mortimore said:

Snap!!!!

 

As a model maker/plastic card butcher I do miss the days when if I wanted a model of class XYZ I enjoyed making it. Today's models are far better than I could have imagined back in the 1980s when I was told no manufacturer would ever make a BTH or a Baby Deltic.

 

At least there are still some gaps in steam classes and DMUs

 

 

 

As for EMUs

 

My long term Class 304 project is moving forward slowly. I used the DC kits ends but wasn’t happy with the subtle windscreen shape which I filed out too much, so I’m having a second go at them. They’re deceptively difficult to get right but slowly I think I’m getting there.

 

 

 

Edited March 23 by 97406

[Clive martin]

23 minutes ago, 97406 said:

 

My long term Class 304 project is moving forward slowly. I used the DC kits ends but wasn’t happy with the subtle windscreen shape which I filed out too much, so I’m having a second go at them. They’re deceptively difficult to get right but slowly I think I’m getting there.

 

 

 

You are doing a superb job with that 304 i think the shape of the windscreens are spot on ,its all about subtle shapes and profiles on those first gen units and locos, they had some very skilled metal fabricators about in the 1960s ,i am sure i have read about EMD in the USA only building locos with flat panels as they dont have people with the skills to fabricate curved panels!

[97406]

45 minutes ago, Clive martin said:

You are doing a superb job with that 304 i think the shape of the windscreens are spot on ,its all about subtle shapes and profiles on those first gen units and locos, they had some very skilled metal fabricators about in the 1960s ,i am sure i have read about EMD in the USA only building locos with flat panels as they dont have people with the skills to fabricate curved panels!

 

Thank you. A trick that I worked out when I filed a little too much off the windscreen aperture is to spray a little cyanoacrylate activator onto cab front and apply a little superglue to the bit I need to build back up with  a cocktail stick. It cures almost immediately and is easily sanded down with 320 or 400 grit wet and dry, so I just kept tweaking the edges until they looked right.

 

The compound curves on the likes of 37s/40s and 47s is one of the reasons why it's taken so long to get models that look right. Now we have the advantage of laser scanning, CAD and CNC tooling manufacture which means we are getting very close to the real thing now.

[andyman7]

2 hours ago, Robin Brasher said:

I wonder what I wrote. The Railway Modeller used to publish a lot of my articles about the Swanage Railway in the 1970s but now my articles appear in the Hornby Railway Collector and the Swanage Railway Magazine.

When I dig it out again I'll remind you 🙂
The first Railway Modeller I bought brand new (rather than cadging back numbers) was the June 1980 issue. I then skipped July (I mean, 50p was the price of a Matchbox car...) but in subsequent issues there seemed to be endless correspondence referring back to news snippets or letters (I can't remember which) in that July 1980 issue regarding BR Class 03s and whether 40106 had ever been blue before it went green again.
It was years before I picked up the offending issue which is why I still have it!

[kevinlms]

4 hours ago, Robin Brasher said:

I wonder what I wrote. The Railway Modeller used to publish a lot of my articles about the Swanage Railway in the 1970s but now my articles appear in the Hornby Railway Collector and the Swanage Railway Magazine.

July 1980? It was a request for more info etc on the Swanage branch and to thank people who loaned you photographs and a request for names of the photographer(s), for your upcoming book on the topic.

[298]

On 21/03/2024 at 11:09, steve1 said:

 

Does the writer of the original piece also do the lottery? They were pretty accurate in their predictions in that article.

 

steve

 

...or more accurate in the sense that he didn't predict and we haven't got a class 83 and 84. The 81 would have been covered by Lilliput and the 82 by Triang, and although the former was a good model, neither are to modern standards.

[Captain Slough]

Triang (Triang-Hornby actually as it came out in early 1966) model was actually class 82 bogies - badly proportioned, using the Hornby-Dublo Class 81 body on top. Their class 82 as pre-announced was never released and the issued model was numbered E3001, same as Dublo's

Edited March 24 by Captain Slough

[PatB]

Of course, in 1980, few modellers were quite as fussy as now about variations within a class. A 47 was a 47, which might be green or blue, but that was about as nuanced as it got for most.