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Great British Locomotives


EddieB

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It's suprisingly good - the glazing is flush and the outer handrails are not "moulded on" . No driver's mirrors but that's a minor criticism. How much are these in English money - £8.99(?), or is the first one at a reduced price? What's the brand name for the range btw?

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The offside mirror was snapped off, I can fix that when I get back. Nearside is present. And yes, the glazing is good. It's an outstanding model, and makes me wish that Hachette had done GBL.

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Have you seen the Helice? A prop-driven car... very popular on the streets of Paris, apparently!

I've got a book on it somewhere. The designer made buses that looked like planes and planes that looked like buses.

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Hachette produce some mags for UK including the 'Your model railway village' collection and their admin is not that good, although they did eventually sort things out. Pity is that they also did a French HO version which is now reaching end so I have missed it. Can't even find it on ebay, apart from a couple on French ebay.These collections seem to be popular in France, and sometimes end up in pound shops here. Looking at some of the French mags on ebay I notice there were some road vehicles in HO, which is interesting given that Oxford Diecast supplied the ones for the UK magazine.

As with many models here, we seem to accept a lower quality so don't get new models, just scans of old ones.

The Atlas Edition models(eg tram cars and railcars) seem to end up being available direct from China, and these are far far superior than anything in magazine collections here.

Its a pity the buses are 1/43 scale, as that is one scale I don't model. I did manage to get one of the French buses in 1/72 scale, but shame they did not do any of the buses found in rural parts of France(as seen in one current chocolate advert on TV).

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One of the French buses intrigued me as it appears to be built on the back of a lorry. (#4 on the illustration). The short film clip shows some very interesting subjects including an American school bus, a Swiss postal bus and a rather strange coach with a half length upper deck, both decks having extensive glazing.

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So...has anyone bought the B12, then? It looked ok enough but I've so far resisted.

 

The tender could be salvaged for use behind something else.

 

The body used to be quite popular for drastic cut-and-shut exercises to produce various D16s but, now that Hornby are muscling into this sector, I'm not sure that many will want to have a go at making their own. If Hornby are doing a D16 (or its sub-parts), might that herald an all-new B12 itself?

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Guest spet0114

So...has anyone bought the B12, then? It looked ok enough but I've so far resisted.

 

Off this lunchtime to have a look for myself.

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post-23587-0-63149500-1426687260_thumb.jpgthe very last photo n this thread of 44767 earning its keep,on my layout with seven coaches...by coincidence think the mk1 behind tender is a hatchette...just posted this to complete the record, it having at its core the GBL black 5
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1065

I wasn't going to get a B12 (I already have a Tri-ang one and a spare body), but I couldn't resist her and so one of the two examples in Asda came home with me.

 

She seems OK but has extra spurious white lining on the tender and none on the cabsides. The boiler lining lakes the black line (as usual) and the wheels are all black. I was going to repaint her BR black, but the green is very attractive (even if it's too light - see below  :jester: ), so maybe I won't. It depends how well I can match the green......

 

The Hachette partwork is 5.99€ for the first issue, 9.99€ for the second and then 19.99€ (£1 is currently 1.4€). I would be tempted by the RT, but SWMBO might have other ideas....

1075
Edited by Il Grifone
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The Asda train angel had 2 B12s in stock this morning, so bought one and here's mine. 

 

post-4032-0-03214700-1426689572.jpg

 

Not a bad finish overall, chimney looks a little odd perhaps and dome too short. However, looks the part I think.

 

post-4032-0-74254400-1426689663.jpg

 

Just one white line on boiler lining and none on cab side.

 

post-4032-0-78412500-1426689846.jpg

 

Decoration is good on this one.

 

post-4032-0-59143200-1426689894.jpg

 

I've got an old chassis block plus an ECM 3 motor (which replaces an x04)  which I thought was an 0-6-0 one but does now look like it is meant for a B12.

 

Think I've got some driving wheels that are a scale 6' 6" so got to look those out. I do have some coupling rods so this is a feasible motorising job.

 

post-4032-0-93566400-1426690106.jpg

 

This is the view underneath - the plastic under the footplate will need to be cut away ( a circular cutter in a dremel drill should work if the plastic is like other GBL locos.)

 

cheers.

 

 

 

 

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Not surprisingly, the GBL B12 is a straight copy of the Hornby model, but with simplified livery and moulded handrails. The dome is flatter and the chimney seems a touch thinner. There is no cab glazing, unusually. So all that was wrong with the original, -too short, too small-diameter boiler-, is replicated here. But plenty of folk have adapted the model over the years to produce something usable, so for £8.99 it seems a reasonable buy, esp if, like Railroad Bill, parts to motorise are already sitting in the parts box.

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Not surprisingly, the GBL B12 is a straight copy of the Hornby model, but with simplified livery and moulded handrails. The dome is flatter and the chimney seems a touch thinner. There is no cab glazing, unusually. So all that was wrong with the original, -too short, too small-diameter boiler-, is replicated here. But plenty of folk have adapted the model over the years to produce something usable, so for £8.99 it seems a reasonable buy, esp if, like Railroad Bill, parts to motorise are already sitting in the parts box.

With any luck it won't cost me any more, depends on the wheel situation. Hopefully with tender pickups and romford 40:1 gears it can be made to  run as reliably as say a Hornby railroad Tornado or P2.  Then I should have a reasonable "layout loco".

 

I did (finally) travel behind the preserved B12 on the North Norfolk railway in July 2013, when the quad art was first running again after restoration. An excellent train!

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625

Further investigation has shown that the extra white line is on the Hornby original and divides the green from the black edging, which is not present either on the tender or cab. It is also far too wide (1/8" on the real thing?). The black is far more evident on the boiler bands than the white to my eyes at least.

 

Now to dig out a chassis block from the spares box.....

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Had some bad news today.

I was in the ASDA in Great Barr and the woman sorting all the magazines had a box of B12's on the floor. When I asked if I could have one she said they are all going back because they have cancelled there order and have been sent by mistake. I asked why and she replied its because of the amount damaged locomotives from past issues and they are spending too much time sorting them out and sending them back!

Can any body help with a local supplier form me?

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There was an empty rack in Eastleigh again today. This is getting serious!

I have an order with GBL for issues 25 and 27, but those are out of stock! GBL wouldn't take my order for #28 last week, and now #29 is absent locally. Given all this, I can't see the little Pannier showing up.

So, if anyone has spare, or unwanted issues #25, 27, 28,  and 29 and will be able to lay hands on a #30, I would be really grateful to hear from you to discuss a transaction for purchase of the models with combined postage to try to minimise those costs.

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MY LNER "B12" is now for sale - seems in good order - viewed from the three sides available. The usual cost price plus RM 2nd Class Medium Parcel rate of £5.20 (or if on or after 30 March £4.89 - yes that's right RM reduce prices!!!). Also for sale (unopened) are as follows (issue no. in brackets): BR Standard 4MT Tank (15);  GWR "Prairie" tank (18);   LMS Princess Margaret Rose (19);  Br Standard "Mogul" (26);  L. & M. "Rocket" (27);  LMS "Royal Scot" (28).  Please pm me if interested. Regards

 

Stock report: as at Tues 24 March just the Prairie Tank and Stamdard Mogul remain.

Edited by emperordalek
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Re the B12, I see it has been cloned from a version without the outside steam pipes. I'm not an expert on these locos but believe the B12/3 types, which include preserved 61512, had them removed when converted. Carving off the steampipes would be a tricky job.

 

I've also found a list of unlined black in BR days, which is good news as the lining on the splashers can be a pain.

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