JSpencer

R435 old Hornby teaks are quite light. Not quite as free running as today's models but lighter and far better free running than the Triang thompsons and Dublo coaches they succeeded. A Hornby pug can easily mange 4 of these. There must something seriously wrong with your star. Tender and bogie is not lifting the loco I wonder... I have not tested my Star for strength but it has taken 5 modern day super detailed, much heavier, with fitted lights and electrical pick up Hornby Pullmans with no problem (something a pug won,t pull).

Yes, they say a European manufacturer. Time will tell.

Photoes of the model of 33002 show the model without the high intensity light. She did run as such in Dutch but most of Dutch life was with. Thanks for the REX update. It would be good to know what else that REX intended that Heljan missed.

And blue and green ones will follow end of March. They have not wasted much time getting these out!

Heljan just announced on their Facebook site that the first two retooled class 33 are in their warehouse ready for dispatch! So we will soon find out if they top notch or still lacking certain refinements. They also say 2 early class 26 with end doors and more Clayton's. They don,t say which liveries and numbers however. Nor have they posted photos.

The only parts which appear wrong are the outside steam pipes and - I think - the blower fitting on the upper smoke box side. The fire iron tunnel and running plate are correct for a hall. Not difficult to correct for a modeler but the idea of factory workers stripping apart the hall to correct them is scary at least.

I agree, however I,m am used to seeing the name itself being etched in relief. Only the borders are so, the name being simply printed.

I wonder why they switched to this system. The one the class 37 is perfectly fine. If it is not broke then don,t fix it. The various brass contact stripes is asking for trouble IMHO especially as the loco gets older and grime sets in.

Here is my Star with 4 other GWR locos. This will prove that GWR locos do not look the same. In Order of appearence, Hornby Saint, Hornby Star, Bachmann Hall, Hornby Grange, Bachmann modified Hall: Note, the Hornby Saint, being the oldest by far of the 5 locos, has certain inaccuracies. The smokebox, boiler and firebox proportions should be the same as the other 4 for a start. I think the Grange and Halls are supposed to have the same tender (Collet 4000 gal?) but the Hornby one is about 1.5 mm less tall than the Bachmann one.

I have Knight of the Grand Cross which I think does not come with them. I cannot comment for Swindon's though.

The Star is a very good model. I think all manufacturers have stopped supplying etched name plates now, like wise the 12 spokes can be replaced by 10 spokes (although I am not how you contact Hornby about it). You then have moulded vertical cab rails, not a worry as you won,t really notice them and Bachmann did the same on a recent loco as well. In fact my T9 has moulded vertical cab hand rails with day light that broke too easily, so the star is wise here. The only slight downer are the small horizontal cab handrails that look more like little cab wings. That is it really, not enough to put me off the fine model. BTW, these are very easy to remove, replace with wire ones and touch up the paint. They are so thin, you could flick them off with your finger.

Thanks, a couple of red backed number plates will fix the scene for Bluebell. Not bad I suppose.

Indeed that was my problem, the Bachmann 9017, does not have name plates nor red backed cab or running numbers. I was hard pressed to find a photo of her in this condition preserved (I.e not named and with black backed numbers). But found one in the end. The main reason I brought 9017 was because I,m a fan of the Bluebell. Western locomotives have a token appearance on my layout, albeit about 40 engines...

Interesting and thanks. When manufacturers do a preserved engine, I think it would be nice if they could state whether or not model represents it in preserved condition. Generally they do but in this case, I wonder if 9017 ran as such in preserved condition and if so, do we know when?

I think I can agree with others about chimney and dome both looking a tad too tall and thin. Though that may just be an optical illusion. I guess Bachmann will measures both to ensure they are correct. Agree on the bit of pipe work being missing. Other than that, nice looking model.

I wonder why Bluebell painted the back of the name plates and numbers red... And equally why Baxhmann,s 9017 does not include nameplates. I agree what a lovely model it is and another one from the Bluebell collection, I think we are 2/3 rgds df the way through the Bluebell loco collection in RTR now, very good.

That could be an option if I can find a kit easily enough with the correct tender. As for photoes I am ok there, as I took many of the sole preserved example plus have the Marx and Bradley books on former SECR locos. What worries me about the Golden Arrow version is that they may have added a scale foot to fit the Hornby Jinty chassis that looks nothing like an O1s.

Thanks for the advice, after checking the pictures and considering the price, I might not go for this one. With Falcon being not available, I just a need a review of the Golden Arrow version. If dimensionally it is accurate, I,d can add the missing details and weight.

There seems to be 3 SECR O1 kits out there: Golden arrow - resin kit recommended for use with a minty chassis ( the chassis is miles out for my liking so I would switch to. branchlines R1 chassis kit). I have no have close a scale representation this is (which is important) but is by far the cheapest and easiest to build. Branchlines own fully etched kit. Probably the most expensive but is it accurate? How hard to build etc Falcon brass - not available. Cheaper than branchlines but a lot of bending and forming needs to be done by the modeler. There seems to be no white metal one. Any opinions advise is welcome

That means I have a 1 in 5 chance of Hornby doing one which briefly touched Southern metals.

Well I,m convinced its a photo of an engineering prototype, to be made mostly from plastic unlike the 700 which is mostly die cast. If it was CG, you would normally either choose CAD (each part in a different colour) or you would go the whole hog and decorate it to show what the final item will exactly look like. The latter asks a lot of effort which would not be worth it. On the other hand the images may have been tidied up in photoshop, taking out unwanted glares, background clutter etc, so your eye is on the model. ( the model is the hero of the shot after all). I agree it looks more detailed than most railroad but clearly not up to Bachmanns 9F. Of course such an engine will have a very basic paint scheme unless they get their weathering act sorted out, but to date they have not been convincing here. I,d say this was a true mid range model, not strictly railroad nor main range. Perhaps they need to start splitting the range into 3 parts now... My decision to buy will be if one is numbered 92029, the only one to turn a wheel briefly on southern...

Got mine today, fine model. Not really Southern but hey how many 2-4-2s are out there?

Bargain centre ;-))

Indeed I wanted to 1s but half a bottle of red wine made me type yellow line instead! BTW I see train tech are doing cheap (battery powered with motion sensor) sound for these next year as well.

That,s it! I,m buying the blue/grey NSE one from someone's dump at £69 now!