ash39

So are Revolution basically a large manufacturer now? They started out by proving the business case for the Pendolino because none of the established manufacturers were touching it. Now you're saying we, at consumer level, have to prove the business case for a model? I thought that was Revolutions MO. Find out what modellers want and produce it.

I might be in the minority, in which case this entire post is moot, but I tend to buy models based on what else is available to go with it. I'd love to model a busy commuter station on the south ECML and a couple of First Capital Connect 313's would be perfect for this, but without a contemporary Class 91/Mk4 it is not much use. I'm not hugely familiar with the Southern Region, but I believe a similar case exists there as the Electrostar family are hugely widespread but as yet not available in any scale. For those reasons the 314's are appealing to me as you could model a southern Glasgow area really well with pretty much everything except the 318 and 380 available. The thing I'm finding hard to get my head around is most of the stock you would need is in Revolution's portfolio (92, Pendolino, Mk5 Sleeper, 320), so surely it makes sense to offer the livery which has the best synergy with the rest of the range and leads to cross sales, rather than the Strathcylde Orange which pre-dates a lot of the above.

I think the argument I'm trying to make transcends this particular case to be honest. Manufacturers consistently produce 'celebrity' and one off liveries because they know they can sell the batch quickly - which makes complete commercial sense. However I think what gets overlooked sometimes is the more mundane, widespread liveries that are more useful might actually lead to more sales across the range as it allows you to build up a selection of models to model a certain area and period of time.

You're missing the point. The 320's were refurbished pretty quickly and C&C didn't last long into the ScotRail era. The 314's lasted right up until last year and arguably you can't really accurately represent that era without C&C. I'm not personally bothered enough to go to the lengths you're suggesting, I just wanted to make the point that the decision has been partially made based on 320 data which is not representative at all (as you can see by the number of comments over the last couple of pages). I'm not going to lose any sleep over it but the hobby does frustrate me at times, always seems to be the mundane stuff that gets forgotten and the one off's and quirky liveries get done first.

Appreciate your reply Mike, and I get where you're coming from. I remember Ben saying you had to make the tough call to drop 321 liveries that he'd have actually wanted for his own personal layout, so I understand the commercial implications and that half a dozen people expressing dissapointment on a forum don't necessarily convert into the 250 orders you need to make it worth producing. My post was partially based on a personal desire for a C&C 314, but I also think your previous & upcoming models (Pendolino, Class 92, Class 320) fit right into the window where C&C would be most prevelant.

Are you sure it's the right call to exclude C&C livery ? It spans a huge time frame and has options for mixing with both Strathclyde Orange and ScotRail livery. If both were being produced, I'd probably order one of each to go with my 320 as it would be give enough variety to justify a micro layout of a Cathcart circle station. If C&C is missing, I may end up with just one ScotRail (or perhaps none at all). I can't be the only one thinking this? It would be nice to model their final days when they were battered and bruised, but more than half were still in C&C livery until the end!

The paint looked unfinished to me, like it hadn't been varnished maybe. I wouldn't judge it based on that clip. Really impressed with the livery application though, especially how they've represented the fact that the vinyls don't go into the recesses and are just white in these places. Great job

Looks incredible. One of those models that manages to look more impressive as a model than a prototype, if that makes sense.

Would be fairly straightforward to do a bit of modelling and convert a newer-liveried model into the original livery. Certainly easier than trying to do it the other way. Remove all the logos from the bodyside, mask up the cab windows and the extended yellow panel and spray, blending it into the existing yellow panel to save a full repaint of the front end. Mask up a widened white bodyside band. Apply new transfers including the yellow stripe - job done. The worst part of painting any model is always stripping it and removing the glazing, particularly in n gauge where it's very easy to break stuff. This adaptation could be done without stripping anything at all Would be unrealistic to expect every single permutation of livery to be produced. If you want one enough, sometimes you have to make it happen yourself (or pay someone else to!)

For fitting the etched details, I used some Humbrol gloss varnish. Used tweezers to position then pressed dry with a bit of paper towel. There was a tiny bit of seepage but all invisible now it's had a coat of grime

Mine arrived today. Quick run to check it works and it's impressively smooth and quiet. Fitted the etched bits whilst I had it out. Finishes it off a treat. Well worth the wait, well done everyone involved.

That looks great! Do etched channel tunnel roundels come in the box?

Anyone able to share any anecdotal experience of how long delivery has taken after the despatch email? Not in a particular rush for it, just want to make sure someone is home to receive it.

The face looks absolutely fantastic, particularly the black outline on the light clusters which must be very difficult to reproduce. Regarding the pantographs, could you not use some gentle bending force to straighten them out? I think I had to do this on one of my Pendolinos. I'm really looking forward to mine arriving, just slightly concerned about a dented roof. I accept Ben's point that it could look prototypical but it wouldn't look prototypical if two locos passed each other with the exact same damage!

I thought David had just been unlucky and got a damaged model but it looks like they all have a dent in the roof. How on earth has that happened? Tight packaging? Mine will be going back if they have the dent. £135 is a lot of money to immediately have your eye drawn to a defect every time you look at it.

I remember at the time reading in one of the railway magazines that 60066 was chosen for the launch as the 60 has flat bodywork which worked better the vinyls. Don't the empties run at 75mph usually? That would explain why DB prefer to use 66's on their biomass workings, though I'm aware GBRf now mostly use 60's on theirs so maybe I'm wrong about the 75mph running.

I nearly guessed at these but assumed it was still a no-go due to licencing issues. Really pleased to see an agreement has been reached, I will be ordering a rake of the original livery. Spent many an evening photographing these around Milford Junction when they were brand new. Does anyone have any photos of the Northern Powerhouse livery variant? Don't think I ever saw them wearing this.

Looking forward to picking up a couple of these, an important model for anyone modelling the next 30 years for sure. My only worry is if they are doing a production run of 10,000 units per livery, they will take a while to find homes which might put Kato off further production runs. It would be difficult to run a realistic GWML or ECML layout without the 9-car variants. Hopefully the TPE & Hull Trains versions will follow too.

Are the Virgin 'flowing silk' models going to have the black window bands as pictured on the livery diagrams? Most of them did have black window bands, but having had a quick look on flickr, 390010 and 390130 appear to have had white window bands. I really don't need another one, but I'm tempted by the flowing silk to go with my model from the OG batch!

I also thought the plain version had been pulled so that is great to hear. After repainting a Dapol DVT recently and pulling my hair out trying to re-insert the tiny fibre-optic light guides (and then snapping one of the tiny, fragile wires forcing me to get the soldering iron out), hearing that ease of re-assembly is being considered at this stage is music to my ears!

I'm surprised how little activity there is surrounding this release considering it's going to be a key piece of rolling stock over much of the UK for the next 30 years. Does anyone know if development is still on track, or if there have been any Covid-related delays?

Can't help but agree with RichardT's sentiments. Would be ironic if a Class 89 made it to market before a modern standard 90 or 91 which are surely more of an 'open goal' in terms of investment return. Also what are people intending to run with their 89's? A top-drawer loco is going to make Farish mk4's look like Brio toys.

I use a laserjet printer - have never varnished anything and not yet noticed any colour fading. I understand laserjet prints are less susceptible to UV than inkjet, but I'd be interested to hear from other laserjet users how their models have fared over time. I've put a lot of hours into mine so I'm wondering if I should be varnishing them, trouble is most of them are completed (and thus glazed...) now.

There isn't even a thread in the Cavalex forum for the 91/mk4 anymore since the combined 00/N one was locked. It's just gone rather quiet, which doesn't necessarily mean it isn't happening but I get the feeling it's quite far down the pecking order. I'll be seriously confused if an N gauge 89 gets produced to modern standards before the 90 and 91. Doesn't make sense however you look at it.

I fully agree, but I believe this has been brought up a couple of years ago and the outcome was that Drax are very obstructive when it comes to granting permission to use their branding. Unless anything has changed in the meantime... fingers crossed.