rembrow

I was interested to read about the history of Oxford Diecast from wikipeadia (assuming its correct) in that initially they operated from the old Mattel Corgi factory in Swansea, producing diecast models some of which were for third parties, including Corgi, who had shifted most production to China. I believe the business was set up by some former Corgi employees. What was most interesting was that when Oxford moved production from Swansea to China, they set up and managed the factory, so were not involved with a subcontract producer. Don't know if that is still the case, but if so they may have an advantage in production organisation. Don't know if the rail range will be produced at the same factory, but as they already have Mazak dicast tool and plastic injection tool experience, it would seem to be highly likely

Unfortunately the Bachmann price is very much an unknown quantity, as they have the price as 'tba' on their own site, as they are not pricing most new models following the large price increase. The Hattons price is very much a guestimate and was pre the April price increase. The actual price won't be known and will almost certainly be affected by next years price changes as I wouldn't expect to see these released until late 2015 or 16. The Hornby 2es could be in the shops later this year or early next as they are much further ahead with the r&d, having produced the tools earlier this year and are now working on livery finishes

Just seen a hint from another manufacturer concerning the BR class 07 diesel, that an oo gauge model will be announced soon 'from' Denmark. Can only be Heljan, and may be a Warley announcement?

The likelihood of the range being powered came from post 26 in this thread, when on 12 October, the oxfordrail website picture apparently had '12v' as part of the imagery. They have been changing the format of that web page, today the blurred loco inage is smaller and a statement has been added 'why make one chimney when you can make two'. Is that an oblique reference to stovepipe and rebuilt chimney variants?

I would have thought that the prospect of a new, British owned, scale model railway business coming to the market was something to get excited about, as that's as rare as hen's teeth, but with DJ Models last year, it is 2 such launches. Whatever they announce it is cause for entbusiasm, hope and wishes for success, as both these ventures indicate that uk based model designers believe they can make viable model railway products and invest significant amounts to try and achieve it. I never expected to see such a position again in my lifetime

Well we'll find out in a couple of weeks, as oxford seem to be 'going live' with their new model rail range around about Warley, if not at Warley. Kernow are announcing a new steam loco model and a diesel model at Warley, so we'll soon know if there is a common model. What is interesting is that a previous op quoted some oxford info from a collectors site, which indicated they have 2 models in tooling or already tooled and 4 more approved. This indicates they will want to hit the ground with models nearly ready to release. Other makers when entering the rail model market did the same years ago, Airfix, Mainline and Bachmann all had models being worked on before they came to market, so that they could have product in the shops soon after they made their formal announcements.In talking to my local model shop, they were unaware of the forthcoming Oxfordrail activity, even though they sell oxford diecast products. They are very excited about the possibilities, having become very disillusioned with the model rail trade from the decisions of the two main players this year. They saw that oxford diecast shook up tbe model diecast market over the last few years and were seen to be progressive and innovative, developing new ranges when the main players were not investing. They also showed that they could ubdercut the main opposition sigificantly, as an example, the 2 main manufacturers EFE andCorgi (Hornby), retail coach or bus models in 1/76 scale at over £30 per model and have made very few additions by new tooling in the last 5 years. Oxford diexast has introduced 5 new coach tools in the last 2,3 years with 2 more planned at prices tbat are half tbose of the competition. They are hoping that they can deal with oxfordrail via wholesalers as they do with their diecast products, which could give greater flexibility in order levels.

If the Hornby Mark 2Es turn out to be OK, I might abandon my order for the Bachmann 2Fs, if the Bachmann price is towards £50, as the Hornby ones look like they will be around £25 for the standard range InterCity livery versions and the level of detail is likely to be comparable to the Bachmann types, based on the Mk1 renderings from both firms. Bachmann will need to compete with Hornby on price for the Mk 2s as most buyers, I suspect, won't be too concerned about whether they have 2E or F variants

I agree with Mike (Stationmaster), that there is likely to be one model, as yet unannounced, that is being worked on by 3 or 4 manufacturers. Dave Jones of DJ Models stated this yesterday talking about a model announcement in 26-28 days, which involved an as yet unannounced model that 3 manufacturers were working on, the timescale quoted must be the launch of Oxford Rail. I agree that unfortunately the Adams Radial, may be that model, as its been hinted by Kernow Models that it is the steam model they intend to announce at Warley, the new Austrains UK offshoot has hinted that it would be interested in producing a Radial. Graham Muspratt, who advises a number of manufacturers on Southern related models, answered Dave Jones point to the effect that he is aware of 4 manufacturers involved with the same prototype for a model, presumably from requests for research he has received. There surely isn't the market for 4 producers with the same model, so it may depend on who is more advanced along the R&D route. From earlier posts Oxford Rail may have already started tooling some models, which may give them a lead, however who is the 4th interested manufacturer, one possibility is Hornby, who have a significant catalogue of Southern related models and who don't announce new models until they are virtually ready to commence tooling.

I think we can take Graham_Muz's comment denial as a Sir Humphrey Appleby (Yes Minister/Yes Prime Minister) denial, meaning its a certainty. Frothing at the moment like a cappuccino edit: spelling correction

Another day and another Adams radial photo appears on Kernow's facebook page, this time a photo of 30583 in BR late lined black livery at Lyme Regis. A couple of facebook responses saying that the posters would buy one, with nothing from Kernow to deny a possible model. Oh don't keep us waiting longer than tomorrows newsletter, pleeese!!!

Kernow have always been scrupulously honest regarding their own model range and their 'teasers' have been to tempt us prior to an official announcement. I can't see any other reason for them showing photos of the Adams Radials with no apparent reason, unless they intend to produce them. I suspect they intended to announce the model at Warley, as Chris already advised in his new weekly blog last Friday, that they were announcing two new models at this years Warley, as already detailed by Gwiwer, one being steam and one diesel. I'd lay money at odds on, that the potential Austrains + UK partner interest in a model of the Radial after the Kirtley 0-6-0s, has brought forward Chris's announcement in order to alert the other maker to a competing interest. Well that's my hope anyway, certainly the Radial fits with Kernow's model profile of prototypes that worked in the west country

Hi Dave If you do another green and green syp, I would probably change my current order for green + green syp to have the 2 different plain green variants

If anyone has pre-ordered the NCB set 37-236 from your local shop, you might want to check that they have been received. I checked with my 2 local shops, one of whom I'd ordered one set from, having seen them in stock with mail order retailers during last week, and neither had received them with last weeks Bachmann delivery. Both checked their Bachmann back order lists and found that Bachmann had made an error, not transferring last years order over. Both these shops have now had to re-order.

Thanks also Paul. Didn't know that TMC were doing another weathered/rusted set from Bachmann, let alone 6 in the pack. Another 1 sold by TMC today. From the previous limited edition sets and the Bachmann main range versions, I've managed to get a rake of 20+ differently weathered steel bodied mineral wagons, that should complete my needs.

In response to Phil J W's point, regarding holding part of bulk orders until all the goods are received by Hattons, they do in fact give that option when you order bulk items, via a tick box, however the default position on their ordering system is to have that option set so that they despatch goods as received by them and don't hold the order. The risk of 'holding' orders is that they don't retain the item against your order, so when a later item is received, they may no longer have stock of earlier received items. A recent example is that I ordered 5 different types of Bachmann Porthole coaches, I expected, as a new release, they would be received together, in fact 3 came from Bachmann about 4 weeks before the 4th and the 5th has been delayed until next year, so I will end up paying 3 lots of postage as there will be 3 separate deliveries. If I'd selected the 'hold until all received' option, by the time the final coach appears, some time next year, the other 4 are likely to be sold out

For anyone wanting to change the running number on the CCT, I found that the existing tampo printed numbers on the maroon version can be removed very easily with a craft knife and slight sideways scraping. The letter and numbers seemed to just chip off, leaving no damage to the underneath maroon finish. The benefit of scraping was I was able to retain the existing 'cct' marking. Have painted the ends black in readiness for a new number.

This was one that I managed to work out from the underside view of a CAD posted in the Kernow newsletter a couple of months ago as a tempter. Have just ordered 3 BR(S) mainland versions

That's interesting as in late August another member who is a retailer gave the then expected dates from the Hornby trade website (In the Forum - Where are the Hornby models on 26th August) and all 3 700s were showing as expected in Margate on 14th October. The other releases he gave such as the P2 and HAL seem to be panning out if a bit earlier than forecast at that time.

I agree with jib1970 that this was a well publicised part of the 'design clever' philosophy to reduce the cost of producing models and keep retail price increases to more realistic levels. While some parts of that design practice have been reversed, they were mainly the external body related features, others such as 3 pole motors and removal of brass bearings in steam loco main drive wheels have been retained. To mitigate any potential jerkiness at slow speed running with the 3 pole motor, Hornby are installing flywheels on the motor drive shaft to keep the rotation smooth, which is not something that Bachmann have installed with their 3 pole motors, which are common across their range of 'blue riband' locos

Re Tartan Arrow liveried CCT, don't forget that there will be one in Graham Farish's 'n' gauge version, so almost certainly one will come in 'oo' gauge and don't forget Bachmann are doing a Tartan Arrow ex LMS BG in the main range as well. If that sells will be a potential lead for one in the CCT.

Yes to that. To confirm member 87029, a model railway retailer, has posted this morning that they've been notified by Hornby that the Railroad P2 has been despatched to them, together with the 1960s Brighton Belle power car set and coach set and LNER L1. Info from the Hornby thread 'Where are the Hornby models'. Apparently according to 87029 the trade website advises that the main range P2 is expected to be with Hornby in late September.

Hi Dave I noticed at the end of last week that the Kernow Model D600 Warship project thread is now linked to the DJ Models subject matter, but I haven't seen anything from Kernow to confirm that a manufacturing contract is now in place. They announced last week that the master model had been completed in the UK and had been shipped to Hong Kong for CAD design work to start, which indicates that the design and manufacturing of the model has started. Are DJ Models now organising this project, it will be good news if you are, as someone with a 4 year old pre-order it was brilliant news to hear last week that the project had moved to a point where a final model was in sight and could be after the O2 in production

If it helps the query raised by Miss Prism and Stationmaster, Dapol stated in the modelling press earlier this year, that they had changed their plans to model Railcars 2-4, using the preserved No 4 as prototype, which was not accessible for scanning, and were instead basing the model on numbers 5-16, which they said provided wider route use and 'allowed for further detailed variation'. I assumed from this that they intended to build in the main design variations for that series of Railcars, within the tooling.

I think one of the problems is that the roof edge on the CADs doesn't seem to start dropping early enough. This affects the top of the double doors, but also the last passenger window at the other end. From photos, both the top of the double doors and the final passenger window at the other end, have a significant slope towards the cab, which leads to the top windows of the passenger window also being slopped to enable them to open. This leads to the fixed lower window glass having a sloping top edge but a straight bottom edge, to be in line with the bottom edge of the other passenger windows. While the CAD showing the other end with the passenger windows is not straight on, it appears to show that final window as rectangular.

Andy, yes I agree about Bachmann's intentions, however they would have had less dissatisfied customers if they had sorted out those that were OK and allocated them to retailers, to help mollify some of those who had pre-ordered 3 years ago. I don't share your optimism about the time it will take to be corrected, as one affected by the production faulty Modified Halls, still waiting 18 months later. I suspect it will be this time next year for the corrected Portholes to arrive, but we'll see and I keep telling myself 'it's only a hobby'