rembrow

I've opened a new thread as I was unable to find an existing thread for the Standard Class 5. I was interested in getting a BR green liveried version, however the recent release from Bachmann, is factory weathered. I did an ebay search and found one from the 2012 release, described by a reputable trader, as unused. What was interesting, it is described as from the Pat Hammond reference collection, with a box sticker to confirm. I hadn't realised that items from the collection of this well respected toy collector and author (Ramsey's guide etc) had been sold on.

Not so, Suffolk County Council is in Solar Together, we had a flyer earlier this week, with a bidding date of 27th September, have signed up. Suffolk CC rejoined the scheme in late August

I've received an e-mail advice from KR alerting us to a potential e-mail phishing scam using their name. Some KR customers alerted them to an e-mail requesting additional payment for delivery of one of their products. These are not from KR Models. They advise they only use Royal Mail or Canada Post for deliveries and do not ever request additional delivery charges. They do not use DPD, UPS, FedEx etc. They advise to ignore any such e-mail and delete it.

Hornby mag uses a cut off date of a current edition, so models reviewed in the Oct 2022 edition are in the vote. The same applies to the Bachmann dance hall brake van, reviewed in the Oct edition, but not yet on sale. Doubtful that these models will get many votes as they may not be with potential voters before the cut off.

The last day of the strike was 29th Aug, so not surprising that container vessels arrived on 30th, the port operator will want to get shipping into port immediately and will have scheduled arrivals. The biggest issue is creating container space for arrivals, which relies on existing stacked containers being released to road and rail haulage. RoRo vessels are not the same as feeder vessels, which are smaller container ships. It's not easy to get enough skeletal trailers to move hundreds of diverted containers by RoRo. As far as notification of product shipping, I can only give experience as a GT3 second run customer. KR sent me an e-mail that the GT3 was shipped and another when it arrived at the UK warehouse. I've not received shipping advice about my Fell order shipment, only the obscure reference in the June and July newsletters, with a photo of a Maersk container ship at sea.

It could well be. The first 7 day strike is over, but any container ships from the far east, due to dock during that period, won't have waited, but gone on to Europe, so likely to have discharged containers for the UK at Rotterdam or Hamburg, where they will have to be booked on already busy feeder vessels.

Ah, so it must have silk ribbons to tie it on with a pretty bow under the boiler. I'm beginning to get the hang of this GWR thing. Anyway it does make a difference to the excess shine on the bonnet, or is that the metal cover over an autocar engine.

The over shiny dome is a lot better after two coats of Testor's Dulcote, brushed on to the brass effect.

Prior to 2006, the MOD had a contract for the movement of spent nuclear naval material to Sellafield with EWS. They used inspection saloons, normally two, for the travelling guards. So you can operate KUAs in pairs, with 2 inspection saloons in EWS livery and an EWS Class 66.

I was tempted by the STVA 2 wagon set in grey, but balked at the price. I didn't realise that Revolution were producing 4 wagon STVA covered sets in grey and found they were still available to pre order at Rails so have gone that route, with a 4 wagon set for the price of 2 Bachmann wagons. While there I also found that 2 wagon flat and flat with stakes, in STVA grey were still available, with the proposed Cartic 4 wagon sets also planned for STVA grey. The pricing by Accurascale, Revolution and Cavalex is disproving the argument that the current pricing by Bachmann is mainly due to increased production costs in China, unless Kader is pricing significantly higher than the factories that those makes are using. They also probably operate on lower overhead UK costs.

Adding a few more thoughts on the model from someone who is happy with his purchase. 1. Plastic crosshead and piston rod. I don't believe this is a cost saving measure, as has been suggested, but I believe is due to the way they have dealt with the under running plate piston and rod on the crosshead on one side. They have made the running plate piston as a full cylinder, not open at the rear as in other makes, so I suspect the use of plastic mouldings is to enable the disconnection of the crosshead from both pistons on one side. 2. Colour. I think the colour is acceptable, maybe a bit light but better than Hornby. the orange of the lining is darker than on the Prairie, and I think this is an improvement. 3 Nameplates. These are fully lined in the quadrant below the plate. Also the moulded plate has raised edges, giving a better effect of a cast plate. The names are in flat printing.

I've checked my Lydham Manor for some of the issues raised: 1. ski jump at buffer beam running plate. I put a straight edge from the running plate over the coupled wheels to above the dropped running plate to the buffer beam and found no evidence of an upward distortion. Mine originally looked distorted due to the buffers being at a slight upward angle. Dapol use push fit buffers and shanks and these can be adjusted easily. 2. Chemical blackening of wheels. Dapol have chemically blackened the wheels and most of the motion and I checked the Manor's against both Bachmann and Hornby types. The difference is that Dapol use thicker depth tyres from the metal casting, rather than having much of the tyre depth represented by black plastic, as other makes use. This means that side on, you see only metal for most of the wheel tyre. This means they have a slight sheen. 3. Crosshead and piston rod. These are made in black flexible plastic and I'm not sure why. The crosshead is well detailed and comparable with the metal version on the Prairie. It is only noticeable as the black plastic has a more matt finish than the blackened slide bars and connecting rod.

Difficult to make a comparison without making some adjustments to the photo levels. The photo of the real Dinmore manor is slightly off horizontal, being slightly raised at the front, which reduces the pitch angle slightly, whereas the model shots, by PMP99 of the model loco in the same direction, is also off horizontal, but with the cab/rear of the loco being raised, which has the effect of increasing the pitch angle. I think overall that the pitch is slightly too great, but as I type, the postie has just delivered my late crest Lydham Manor, so will have a chance to fully examine.

They seem to have received production samples, as Joel of Dapol, advised on the Digest three weeks ago, that they were checking production samples at that time and if ok, shipping would commence within days. They may not however, release these for reviews.

If it helps some concerns, unlike the other UK outline model companies, Dapol has a model manufacturing facility in the UK, with UK based staff. They have been producing more detailed models, in 'O' gauge, for some time.

I'm assuming they are trying to say that the Fell has arrived or is close to arriving at a UK port, as the previous newsletter said they were on a ship at sea.

Just received the latest KR newsletter, they state 'the Fell is en route to the warehouse and we will update when cleared Customs'. Bit confusing as it can't be en route to UK warehouse until the consignment has cleared Customs. I assume it means they have arrived in UK and awaiting Customs clearance.

I've just received the latest KR newsletter and they have advised that they have suffered outages on both the KR uk and KR Canada domain websites. They have temporarily moved customer data to the .net site, while working on restoring the other websites. Previous orders and payment information is still held by them, so previous orders and payments are recorded and safe.

Be interesting to see what happens with the W1 late crest, R3980, due end of this month, with a couple more W1 versions, according to Kernow's newsletter,yesterday. I've had one on retailer pre order since they were announced, but if my retailer doesn't get enough stock, I won't go to Hornby. It's one of my few remaining Hornby pre orders.

Well that was quick. Just had notification thst my 2 sets of original Castle PCAs have been dispatched and are with DHL.

Also cheap enough to use the running chassis with the Silver Fox body and underframe parts, to make a Class 74, the one we hoped Hornby or DJ would produce after the 71. I have a Hornby Fox 74, great little runner.

There was a forewarning of this a few weeks ago, with Corgi. I also have an interest in scale bus and coach models, although there has been nothing new from Corgi for some time. In their July to Dec release announcement, there were two new bus liveries, however British Model Buses established that stock would not be made available to retailers only direct from Corgi. I don't know about other Corgi genres but would imagine any other new releases are the same. I have not ordered anything from Hornby this year, but have late crest W1, a 9f and a 2mt on back order with Kernow. If those are cancelled I won't be going elsewhere. Yet again Hornby are showing themselves to be arrogant and untrustworthy. There is only so much you can drag a trusted brand through the mud before it stinks and becomes a pariah.

Oh come on, next thing you'll be asking us to believe is that the Accura directors are the last Knights Templar, have come out of hiding, have mapped the leylines of Ireland and are now on a crusade to bring detailed models to the UK, while re-erecting Stonehenge in it's original shape, pointing to Dublin. Maybe not such a daft idea. I'm in awe of their approach and the credit has left me gobsmacked as I knew nothing about it before this thread.

have now received both my BR green beauties, Black Watch and Nimbus and am blown away with the detail that Accura have put into this model, they are astounding. My eyes keep going back to the open lattice footsteps for access to the cab doors, that is unbelievable for a rtr model.

had an email from Hattons yesterday, advising of two further Pilchards, for release later this year.