Bachmann announce Mk2f's

[curlypaws]

@SouthernMafia Someone previously posted that CVs 116, 117 and 118 control lighting and that 7 is the default (118 being interior brightness). I haven't tried that myself yet to check it works OK, but the default certainly is quite bright.

[adb968008]

16 hours ago, scumcat said:

I’m not sure about this. I can put a light strip in a coach with pick ups, capacitor and bridge rectifier for about £4 per coach. I’m not sure I would pay that much extra for a coach just for the dcc lighting.

I’m always looking for a cheaper route, especially the bridge rectifier, do you have a source ?.. the cheapest ones I found are a little chunky.

[letterspider]

The benefit of the Bachmann 2f is they will always attain a good price when you sell them, once you customise a coach by adding lighting -  it depends upon how well you do it as to whether it will sell well. Adding a rectifeir, capacitor and resistors would be a good conversion - and partly this is the disappointment with the 2f; not just that there is no capacitor but apparently no easy way to put one onto the PCB

[G-BOAF]

Disappointed by the QC on a £90 rrp model. Very poor printing of the red line on the non-window van door. Gone back to my poor retailer for a replacement. I hope he wont think im too fussy. But the overspray on bottom and poor red/white divide are just not on. Coupled with the lack of painting of the brake pipes, it does seem that this second batch was rushed/cheapened after the fanfare of the original releases (that said i had 3 howlers with my first batch blue/greh chsrter rfb including blue appearing through the grey and yellow overspray from the footsetps onto the body...)

Edited November 14, 2021 by G-BOAF
Edited for phone induced typos!

[ThaneofFife]

he might do. it took my eyes a while to see what you was talking about........from normal viewing distances thats just not going to be noticeable. 

[Class 158 productions]

7 minutes ago, ThaneofFife said:

he might do. it took my eyes a while to see what you was talking about........from normal viewing distances thats just not going to be noticeable. 

Normally I’d agree. But with a £94 rrp as well as the lack of painted piping etc, it does seem like this batch was rushed. Still happy with mine and as you say the issues aren’t really that noticeable. 

[G-BOAF]

1 hour ago, ThaneofFife said:

he might do. it took my eyes a while to see what you was talking about........from normal viewing distances thats just not going to be noticeable. 

its actually more noticable from normal viewing distances - the 'overspray' or printing smudge or whatever it is is lighter than the main red band, but from a distance, it just looks like the red band is thicker, and there is a 'jump' at the edge of the door....

[Andy Mac]

On 14/11/2021 at 18:39, G-BOAF said:

its actually more noticable from normal viewing distances - the 'overspray' or printing smudge or whatever it is is lighter than the main red band, but from a distance, it just looks like the red band is thicker, and there is a 'jump' at the edge of the door....

Well I’m happy with mine, I’m sure if I zoomed in on my camera or used a magnifying glass I might find a few imperfections, but that’s not something I do…

[ThaneofFife]

Seen a blue and grey inter city TSO mk2f go for £122 last night on ebay and it was not even a DCC fitted version.......

I know these are very rare but still seems crazy.   

Would love to see a £60 mk2f with lights from Accurascale.

[westie7]

2 hours ago, ThaneofFife said:

Seen a blue and grey inter city TSO mk2f go for £122 last night on ebay and it was not even a DCC fitted version.......

I know these are very rare but still seems crazy.   

Would love to see a £60 mk2f with lights from Accurascale.

That's why if I can sort out a fan, conversions from old Airfix is worth a try

[Zunnan]

7 hours ago, ThaneofFife said:

Seen a blue and grey inter city TSO mk2f go for £122 last night on ebay and it was not even a DCC fitted version.......

I know these are very rare but still seems crazy.   

Would love to see a £60 mk2f with lights from Accurascale.

 

The hilarious thing is that Topps trains in Stafford had two DCC blue/grey TSO in stock and on the shelf yesterday. Having seen that one on Ebay sitting at £55 at the time, and guessing it'd go silly I bought the pair from Stafford for near enough the same price that non-DCC one sold for.  Some fools are easily parted with their money, other fools have money to burn on ebay apparently.

[Tiddles47]

I wanted a B&G MK2F. FO, looked all over, couldn’t find 1 then off the top of my head came Going Loco in Wakefield.. Bingo!!! Said coach DCC fitted for £69.95 and the option of  PAyPal pay in 3 which i duly accepted…. Will become criagentinny’s 3284.  

[Tiddles47]

My FO finally came today.. fantastic model 

[ThaneofFife]

i know some seem to frown on those that like interior lights on locos and coaches and the running of trains in darker conditions but that photo of the FO above says its all.   brings a layout life during a night or early morning scene.   bachmanns coaches might been pricey now but at least they did a great job of the lights.

[GordonC]

9 hours ago, ThaneofFife said:

i know some seem to frown on those that like interior lights on locos and coaches and the running of trains in darker conditions but that photo of the FO above says its all.   brings a layout life during a night or early morning scene.   bachmanns coaches might been pricey now but at least they did a great job of the lights.

 

Sometimes the interior lights can be a little bright, but it does open up the interior for detailing too. I actually think the prices of the basic Bachmann Mk1s are actually far worse than the Mk2Fs where, especially if you pick them up on offer, they are a far higher spec of coaches

[ThaneofFife]

Anothrr non dcc TSO.sold tonight on ebay for £142......staggering.   wonder what the winners max bid was to get their mitts on it.....

Edited March 6, 2022 by ThaneofFife

[Tiddles47]

My pic is actually lighter than it looks. But running in the dark does show up just how bright the lights are. I was lucky to find this too. Sold out everywhere else and found it in a lesser well known, out of the way shop. 

[NIRCLASS80]

If you are using DCC there are cv adjustments available to turn the brightness down. 

[Tiddles47]

On 10/03/2022 at 12:46, NIRCLASS80 said:

If you are using DCC there are cv adjustments available to turn the brightness down. 

No DC only. 

[Going2theDogs]

Hi All,

There has been a coaching stock upgrade completed on my layout……

Finally got round to completing my rake of MK2F in ‘Swallow’ livery with these impressive Bachmann coaches.

Thought I would get these while I could as inevitably, later models that will be introduced will increase in their selling price.

Worth a look if you are considering getting some of these models yourselves.

Stay Safe.

[Going2theDogs]

Hi All,

Following on from my earlier post a couple of weeks ago, I now have a rake of the MK2F in ‘swallow’ livery.

The question I have is to complete my rake to a total of 6 coaches I have some options:

1, Add another TSO

2, Add the BG

3, Add a GUV

In relation to the last 2 options, both are available in the same livery albeit with the legend ‘Inter City’ but would these vehicles be found at the end of a rake of MK2F?

Any photo’s showing this would be gratefully received.

PS - I am limited to 6 coaches due to the size of my layout.

Thanks in advance.

Edited April 7, 2022 by CB Rail

[GordonC]

12 hours ago, CB Rail said:

Hi All,

Following on from my earlier post a couple of weeks ago, I now have a rake of the MK2F in ‘swallow’ livery.

The question I have is to complete my rake to a total of 6 coaches I have some options:

1, Add another TSO

2, Add the BG

3, Add a GUV

In relation to the last 2 options, both are available in the same livery albeit with the legend ‘Inter City’ but would these vehicles be found at the end of a rake of MK2F?

Any photo’s showing this would be gratefully received.

PS - I am limited to 6 coaches due to the size of my layout.

Thanks in advance.

 

I think Mk2Fs were used in Cross Country rakes so a standard 6 coach rake in swallow livery would normally have been RFB First Buffet + 4 TSO + 1 BSO. Before the RFBs were converted they used an FO and a Mk1 buffet (RB/RBR generally I think it was).

 

I think they were also used in WCML sets which would normally have been longer and they would have used either a BG before push-pull working or DVT after. GUVs were used as motorail vans.

 

All options could be prototypical so its entirely up to you which to go for.

[Zunnan]

18 hours ago, CB Rail said:

Hi All,

Following on from my earlier post a couple of weeks ago, I now have a rake of the MK2F in ‘swallow’ livery.

The question I have is to complete my rake to a total of 6 coaches I have some options:

1, Add another TSO

2, Add the BG

3, Add a GUV

In relation to the last 2 options, both are available in the same livery albeit with the legend ‘Inter City’ but would these vehicles be found at the end of a rake of MK2F?

Any photo’s showing this would be gratefully received.

PS - I am limited to 6 coaches due to the size of my layout.

Thanks in advance.

 

Gordons pretty much on the money. I suppose the biggest questions are which sort of service did you want to represent, when and with what motive power? Swallow livery came in during the late 80s, and theres plenty of footage of them in mixed rakes at first, but I'm assuming you want something a bit more uniform.

 

IC XC rakes from the early '90s being typically class 47, 86 or 90 hauled were typically 6 or 7 Mk2F coaches long in fixed sets, so meet your length criteria perfectly with no compromise. 1 BSO, 4 TSO, 1 RFB and they ran like this well into privatisation, then the livery changed to Virgin and they carried on in that formation until replaced by Voyagers. Before the Mk2F RFB, a Mk1 RBR and Mk2F FO will do nicely, which covers a bit earlier.

 

You could do a shorty WCML rake with class 86, 87 or 90 haulage, in pre-DVT days would have a BG and not necessarily in IC livery. 1 FO, 1 Mk1 RBR (or Mk3 buffet, but the Oxford Mk3a livery is quite off matching the Mk2Fs), 3 TSO and one BG. When the DVTs turned up, just switch out the BG and that covers up until they went into Virgin livery after which they were replaced by the Pendolinos.

[Going2theDogs]

Hi All,

Thanks for the feedback GordonC & Zunnan.

I will be running these ‘Swallow’’ liveried MK2F behind a Class 47 in either matching Inter City ‘Swallow’ livery or even a RES example.

Therefore the BG or adding another TSO would be my preferred option.

Still can’t find any footage on YouTube so any help with this would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

[Zunnan]

If you’re using Swallow or RES 47s then go with the extra TSO, by the time they were around a BG would be a rarity on these services...but still not unheard of 😉

 

Have a look at this one from 1993, it shows the more usual all Mk2F rake, but with an added bonus of one with a BG in place of the BSO.

 

https://youtu.be/rXdE3Q3VROI

Edited April 9, 2022 by Zunnan