Zunnan

Incomplete address doesn’t stop them from dumping it on some random doorstep and emailing you a picture of where it was left in the middle of the night!

Bear in mind that in abd's photo, the 47 is lower than the Accura Mk2b, which at 1.2mm low itself is already outside that 'allowable variation'. But the general consensus is that a model which measures up pretty much spot on with the agreed standard in this area is too tall, and a model that is shorter to this measurement than a model which measures somewhere over 1.2mm low is within allowable variation. Gotcha.

If the Heljan 47 buffers lign up with the Accurascale Mk2b buffers, then they’re too low. The accepted correct buffer height for 4mm is 3’6” or 14mm. My Accura Mk2b coaches buffers are ALL under 13mm to centre, I’d say around 12.7-12.8mm Now a bit more curious of the matter, I dug out one of the new Bachmann 47s and measured its buffer height… I’d say a smidge under 14mm, but noticeably tall to an (incorrect apparently) Accurascale Mk2b.

I had the chance to mull over whether to pick up one of these 47s in Kernow the other day. Up until then I was still willing to buy 47450, but after seeing the 47s on display and giving them a good once over in person, I'll take a hard pass. Does it look like a class 47? You can make a Brio block of wood recognisable as a class 47.

I must admit I've enjoyed building a slew of the Parkside kit of these over the years, chassis variations left right and centre. This was probably the first wagon kit I built. I'm glad to see an RTR model on the horizon though, and will be only too glad to extend the fleet a bit.

I agree entirely. The internal user wagons are just that, and are pretty much as restricted in their sphere of operation as the typical industrial locomotive is. I still think that the precedent set by the way those internal user wagons were offered would be well applied to the Rapido wagon range at large, al la Accurascale. Three packs of the various liveries on offer would be literally eaten up for fleet building, whether they were all from one fleet or a mix of geographically linked wagons.

According to my uncles spotting notes, two were transferred away 7126 and 7127 (12039 and 12040) in 66 but broken at Great Bridge during late 69/early 70. The rest of the original Saltley LMS allocation languished there until August 68 with 7128 (12041) to Swindon and 7129 (12042) to Newport, 7130 (12043) and 7131 (12044) went to Great Bridge to be scrapped during 69.

I couldn’t resist this one, being a lifelong Saltley resident. I’m sorely tempted to add its stablemate 7128, especially with photos existing of the two together bearing BRITISH RAILWAYS on 7130M (12043) and LMS on 7128

Hopefully it is proven to be the latter, as that is just a case of tightening up on assembly (no pun intended). That and it also means that we as customers aren't likely to initiate these failures should we need to store the models away in their own packaging; I've lost count of the minor damage from simply rushing to clear away at the end of an exhibition over the years. It really is the only thing which has taken the gloss of what is a quite significant step forward in the British RTR market. As much as I can't wait for the SLW Rats to arrive as my most anticipated model for many years, I just don't see them surpassing the quality of the Grids you've produced, if they're even close I'll be more than chuffed. Roll on the next batch, and the logical choice of a class 58 after the 60!

When one of mine arrived with telltale skewed bogies on the cradle I pretty much expected traction issues straight away. It could barely move itself on level track and stalled out entirely on slips. I’ve not yet got into the gear towers to check the clips, but I can tell it’s gear related as it sounds like a cheese grater. The affected bogie was also sitting a good 5mm forward of where it belongs too. Overall a really impressive model, but I’m not so impressed with the cradle which is capable of allowing such drivetrain damage. I would not be surprised that if I store a model back in its box and the act of screwing it back into its cradle pops the gear tower if the bogies aren’t aligned properly while it’s inverted to get the screws back in…

These days I tend to associate rivet counting with those who ignore the shape but gush about all of the rivets and fine details that are applied to the otherwise rather Le Bonnotte offering we seem to get from certain stables.

Bescot was awash with 31s, in every colour under the sun. Used to see a lot of them from further afield around here as well.

Will I be cancelling my AS order? No, Bachmann haven't announced the variants I have coming from that stable, which are perfect for the ECS workings I used to watch running past my aunts at Northfield and used to see pottering around the Black Country on engineering trains all the time. RF Red Stripe and Petroleum sector though...Those are the ones I wished AS had announced. Thank you Bachmann, they'll do very nicely indeed!

And F18 to stop the bogie chatter. Its quite a noisy beast even on drivehold tickover for running in!

I didn't have shipment confirmation from them until today, but still have nothing from the courier and its not showing on their tracking system as yet. By all accounts this was a rather large inventory for them to get through. I was starting to wonder when the model I've ordered disappeared from their site entirely on Saturday, rather than show as out of stock like others, but its finally on its way.