amwells

Less than 50 available to pre-order now!

1 hour ago, 37081LochLong said:

He said aside from fox :)

Doh!! :)

11 hours ago, LaGrange said:

Aside from Fox has anyone made nameplates/plaques for 73205 'London Chamber of Commerce' in OO? Before I plead with my old mate @railtec-models to crank up the 3D printer 😊

https://www.fox-transfers.co.uk/73205-london-chamber-of-commerce

21 minutes ago, G-BOAF said:

Throwing the cat among the pigeons, as 2025 will be the loco's 60th anniversary, it would be an appropriate time to repaint it into its original livery, or rather the 1990s rendition of its original livery (to get around the purists who would argue green is not historically correct for a 37/4) . I guess with this model commissioned as an anniversary release in its 'present form'  such a repaint is now ruled out.

My favourite livery for the loco… don’t think @Alasdair E would like me saying that out loud though 😁

On 27/07/2023 at 10:14, G-BOAF said:

My vote would be for 37403 in its SRPS/DRS Large Logo condition (original refurb condition but with reinforced windscreens)

And now you have your vote fulfilled!

On 03/02/2024 at 19:55, AY Mod said:

 

Don't worry; I've run the integration from this end so you should be sorted now.

I seem to have the same issue, using Safari on an iPhone 

Think I’ll be cancelling if that’s how it turns out. Shame as this is a great livery

9 hours ago, NIRCLASS80 said:

Not sure if they ever announced one 

Presume that’s one to wait for then as it was mentioned in the Accurascale email

Does anyone know where to find the Fifty Fund limited edition?

Is Illuminated Models still operating? The website seems down. Thanks

ScotRail ‘woosh’ and the 158 style Regional Express would be great for me. 

Don’t think anymore ScotRail saltire spotties are needed yet!

On 21/08/2023 at 11:05, adb968008 said:

Dont forget..

 

As a club member you get a further 10% off the sale price…

 

and your earning “wheels”, hobby rewards worth another 10% off a future purchase.

Not sure you do get the 10% off on the sale price in the outlet?

Here’s hoping for a version of this:

9 hours ago, Black 5 Bear said:

Good discount on the newly tooled Hornby A1.

10 + in stock of each variant at time of posting!

 

50% Off Two Hornby A1 Locomotives! Doncaster & Knight Of Thistle on Special Offer Whilst Stocks Last!

https://tmc-direct.co.uk/50-off-a1-locos

Must admit I thought these would go rapidly at this price. They still seem to have 195 Doncasters and 361 Knight of the Thistles at the moment!!!

On 14/04/2023 at 19:06, adb968008 said:

Southern 73202 is no more.

 

Dave Berry / Geoff Stenning is off to GBRF today.

 

Afaik it goes into history after leaving SL today as the last mainline loco allocated to a depot in London… thats probably a first since the 1830’s that a mainline loco has not had a home-base in London….
 

The next candidates could be the CS 92’s ? If Wembley yard counts ?,  or the 57/6’s at Reading…, maybe 86259 at Rugby, But CW, WN, FP, OC, SL, HG, Bricklayers Arms, Nine Elms, IL, SF all without a mainline loco… everything else is just passing through a stabling point.

London doesnt have any mainline locos any more.. just a few 08’s and arguably 35028.

 

73202 headed to GBRF at St Leonards this afternoon. Arguably the last 12 years its been the least used of all the mainline 73’s, ive never seen it coupled to anything, and its pretty much been a driver  trainer.

 

What about Southall’s 33s?

Looks like all the pristine ones gone, having missed out first time I was glad to get a few for a small rake. Even the weathered ones look close to selling out too

They look great based on what’s been revealed so far

I don’t have one, but am interested in the second tender update - it looks like this one has separate handrails. Not sure the previous iteration did?

Seems like that ‘order in confidence’ email from Hattons is already struggling to be met

On 20/02/2023 at 23:26, adb968008 said:

Just to add on what weve seen already, I went a little deeper under the hood today…

 

 

If the Dapol 59 and Hattons 66 were cousins, then the Realtrack 143 and EFE 143 are really twins.

its harder finding the differences, than it is to find things the same, but differences there are…

 

Rectangle at frame level on 3rd window from the rear has been removed.

 

The EFE seats are somewhat less detailed…

 

the circuit board is upgraded and better

 

realtrack

 

efe.. note this odd stepped console in the centre of the drivers desk, and the firebottle is omitted…

now just for fun, I fitted the Realtrack body to the EFE chassis…

 

its a perfect fit.

 

 

 

inside the body the tooling marks are identical… look at the raised outlines…

 

even the fitting holes for the gangway…

 

The chassis itself is the same, but with modifications, the motor cradle for the Realtrack design is still present, but instead the model uses twin motors to each axle. The positions for the screws holding the coach floor weight are in different locations…

 

ive seen and handled thousands of models in my time, and not since the Replica /Dapol dispute of the HEA wagon in the 1990’s have I ever seen such close relationships between a model.

 

This is imo an apples to apples comparison, with a few tweaks to the chassis and electrics to bring it more current and upto date.…

 

even the old loos look the same.. not that passenger could see as both dont have a door way to enter !

 

But wait.. the retaining lugs in the weight are different..

 

The Russians once said imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, when comparing the il62 to the vc10… whilst the two planes look similar, its clear one is inspired by the other, but when you scratch the surface, just like Concorde and the Tu144, its clear each  was its own unique work for a substantial part. 

 

But what we have here is a B52 and a Tu4…, or perhaps a SAMC built MD80… looking at these two models, whilst with tweaks and upgrades, they  are twins… slight differences but imo the same parentage.

 

 

 

 

great analysis. It’s triggered a thought - the 58 and 35 models - were they identical to the Heljan releases, or were there subtle differences / markings too? I don’t have the EFE versions of either to check myself

They do both look very good but the big difference to me is the shape / size of the front windows. I wonder whether that is also the main difference that will be visible between Hornby and Accurascale on the 50s (aside from some better grille assembly methods!). 

19 minutes ago, Great Waterton said:

 they've essentially just sat on the tooling until the license expired

What does this mean please?

Great deal for people going. @charliepetty Any chance of bringing some to Glasgow?!

10 hours ago, Erixtar1992 said:

And thirdly, the 378 project has progressed a lot. 
went for the newer livery as i like the more sleek look to it.

absolute pain to paint this, but its worth it.

just waiting on Charlie to design the chassis for them now as im itching to use it!

 

 

Fantastic! What make is the pantograph please?

4 hours ago, jjb1970 said:

my impression of Bachmann has always been that they play with a pretty straight bat and are a good outfit. So I am pretty confident based on past behaviours that whatever is going on that it's above board.

I would agree with that view. But it does seem odd. And while I don’t defend (or criticise) here any of the behaviours of any party - things like Terriergate, Titfieldgate and Shedgate shone a poor light on Hornby for doing their own tooling (or using existing old tooling) to aggressively compete with others (namely Rails, Rapido and Hattons respectively). If (big IF) this is duplication of IP, and of a smaller organisation, that’s another level!

From the EFE releases to date, they all seem to have been either modified existing EFE models (tube stock), ex-Kernow or Kernow acquired ex-DJM. Then there’s the Hymek which I assume was made with Heljan’s involvement. 
 

And also without wanting to drag up unfortunate events of the past, maybe this is also the type of thing that DJM was on about when he appeared at his most paranoid, towards the end of that venture?  Of course there may be nothing like that at all!