E100

Shades of the Caledonian Sleeper Teal (a tad lighter granted). One can dream...

There's still a fair few 9f's on the shelves currently so can't see those being redone anytime soon.

A 9F? The two examples out currently surely saturate the market enough? Got a Bachmann one recently and it's very good IMO.

I don't have a mk4 DVT but in the first instance I'd contact Hornby. They need this info for their QA process.

Yeah, I appreciate that it's only there in those circumstances. We simply fall into the two different camps: 1. Features should only be added if they are completely prototypical or can be easily changed to be so RTR i.e. no chopping of parts 2. Happy to see a manufacturer push into new features even if the first couple of attempts are a bit rougher round the edges and have some compromises. I think to my mind being switchable on DCC is fair. On with no way to switch it off is not. Give them a couple of years and they will probably be smaller and they'll make the back one(s) removable as well. Maybe I'm too optimistic!

Yes, they most certainly have and that may well play into a few of the delays we've seen but I'm confident I can recall somewhere an acknowledgement that it was a conscious decision to move away from the strict 3 month window as well.

Hmmm - I don't think that's a fair assumption as that was not the impression given on the stand by the designers I've spoken to at a three shows where these were on display in various forms. They seemed very aware of the royal train headcode for example but when asked gave the reason that they needed to check all the light channels worked as intended. That seems perfectly reasonable an answer to me. More generally, I would much prefer a manufacturer to show an EP but be honest about it by giving it a narrative of hey we are aware of problem xyz. EP's are never going to be perfect first time and that's ok. It's nice to see the design process and get a better idea of what each part is made out of. Gives a chance for some feedback. For me with the lamps I personally feel it's a good step forward but still feels a bit of beta stage. I think it would perhaps have been more appropriate to have it just on the steam and sound version for now. With the potential for fine tuning on the included decoder through an update or through user settings things like brightness can be changed and the rear lamp settings modified as well. Fast forward a year or two and this would make a very nice addition much like the rear lights we now find on many items of rolling stock.

They seem to have also indicated that the models announced in the quarterly announcements won't quite as strictly arrive in the following quarter. We've seen this with the Class 31's and the Newton Chambers stock to name a couple in the past few months. I don't really have a problem with this as such. Perhaps there is a sweet spot with newly tooled wagons being 3-6 months, coaches 6-9 months and newly tooled locos anywhere from say 9-12 months. Gives people a fair bit of time to plan whilst not playing their hand too early.

With Rails commissioning a rerun of class 28's surely the time is now right to give the conflat P's a 4mm makeover. I understand there may have been issues with the accuracy when upscaled but I think the popularity of the not quite minks show that if upfront then people tend to be a lot more forgiving. I should say this is with the selfish hope that the conflat P's would lead to a timber P!

Not great reading unfortunately. For a company that likes big NRM stuff, the fact that you cannot currently go out and buy a Flying Scotsman in current condition is ridiculous and something I think they are rightly trying to change. Those are the sort of models that bring in new people or someone with a vague interest buys to sit on a shelf.

I can only assume the lack of diecast boiler will be due to the number of different versions required. Compare this to the 9F and 2MT (at least those that are released and planned) with much fewer boiler variations unless someone wants to correct me?

It's a fair point, though I would maintain that like the class 37/47 if there's one steam loco that can justify this it's a black 5, more so than an A4 IMO.

Having seen the review I think it’s fair to say if the model didn’t have the faults his had then it’d be a reasonable model. I think his reasoning to not recommend the model is sound in that there were many issues that were unconnected to another to mean he’ll go for a refund rather than a replacement. I do agree with his main criticism that having a diecast boiler for this model would go some way to justify a higher price point but I presume the issue there is all the variations. For me personally, I’ve just got the steam and sound version on order for £225 from Hornby direct before the price rise. I still expect it to be faultless and anything less and it’ll be replaced until it is or if not a refund. That being said, at this stage I will not be ordering anymore and will keep a hold of my existing black 5’s. I do think this opens a pathway for another company to step in and if there was ever a steam loco to justify some competition then this is surely it.

That would apply to social media not an email surely?

Really great video and I’m sure you had some fun making that! I won’t be there but wishing you guys a great time. Random Q - on the email there were a few YouTubers mentioned in tag style - was that supposed to be there?