M.Riddell

There wasn't actually anything wrong with the aircraft itself, it appears that the pilot was very much at fault. The new 1/48 Airfix kit as a different mark - a single seat fighter rather than a twin seat T.Mk 7 trainer like the accident aircraft. Not that Airfix have any intention of doing the two-seater for the foreseeable future so Shoreham does cast a shadow. Theoretically someone could buy the Airfix 1/48 Supermarine Walrus and mount it on a working model of the aircraft catapult of a battleship or cruiser. You would need a net to catch it though! Ultimately we're comparing the proverbial apples and oranges - it's all modelling whether the subject ends up a static display item or not. As was written up-thread what should happen, ideally, is that the various communities actually talk to one another rather than hermetically seal themselves off due to a misguided sense of what is and isn't "true" modelling. In Hornby/Airfix we have a company that straddles more than one genre so all have an interest in how well or not they're doing Mike.

Only nine 0-6-0 tank engines, LNER classes J90 and J91. Otherwise 4-4-0's en masse, a single class of passenger 0-4-4T's and a few 0-4-2T's for a harbour work and I can't say I'd expect any of them appearing in RTR form. Yes, many lasted into BR days, but even by Scottish standards they're very region specific/limited. OK, there might be an outside chance of a class V/F (LNER D40) due to Gordon Highlander being preserved and the SECR connection due to the five sold to that company pre-WW1, but it's a slim one indeed!!! Mike.

From what I can see, the livery is more correct for the pre-group era, namely the lettering on the tender and the lining around the cab sides. However the model still has raised rivets on the smokebox wrapper and cab roof which shouldn't be there for the loco in that period. Mike.

Arrival date for the SR version is now showing as 23/06/2015! http://www.Hornby.com/uk-en/sr-0-6-0-700-class-1920s-1930s.html As is the late crest BR one: http://www.Hornby.com/uk-en/br-0-6-0-700-class-late-br.html Let's see what the morrow brings.... Mike.

The Radial model does look good, but is it me, or does it have the "Hornby Horizontal Handrail knobs" issue? The appearance of the 700 and the observations about it's knobs made me have a check! Mike.

Looks like I was right about the hand rail knobs, then. Mike.

Having had a look at the images of the EP and the livery samples, I wouldn't be too surprised if these have the same niggly little faults as the J15 - horizontal hand rail knobs and an awkward join on the boiler. At least the latter will be hidden by the pipework. Mildly irritating about the knobs, though. I would have thought that would've been caught at the EP stage, but if the J15's anything to go by, it may have slipped through.... Either way, we'll see when they appear. Mike.

I'll hazard a guess - "it's not a steam engine". From what I gathered when the supermarket where I work stocked the first four issues is that if it's steam and a "big name", Joe and Josephine Public will buy it. If they haven't heard of it or it's "visually unappealing" they won't. Mallard and Flying Scotsman sold out, Coronation and the 28XX didn't and the extras were returned to John Menzies. Mike.

I'll take a stab and guess it's either the Pit-Road or Great Wall Hobby 1/144 scale kit? Mike.

Nae worries, Frobisher - glad I could help! Mike.

If I may gently interject here, I'm with HornbyFan on this one. If you look at the following CAD image of the recently announced Airfix New-Tool 1/48 Folland Gnat, HERE, you'll see that it shares the same "house style" as the Crosti 9F image. The major difference being the indicated colour of the plastic, pale grey for the Gnat and black with silver to indicate the black plastic and metal parts of the Crosti. Here's a sample of some of the other CAD for more of the Airfix 2014 range: Blenheim Mk IVF Dornier Do 17Z Bomber Command Gift Set. You'll see that they all share the same "look" as the 9F image. When the initial images were shown on Britmodeller, people thought that the Dornier would be a 1/48 scale kit, judging from the CAD, but it's been announced as a 1/72 one. Hope that helps? Mike.

I'll agree with Gwiwer and say it's probably reallocated Modelzone stock. My local branch here in Aberdeen has had the SR and regular BR liveried ones in the cabinet for a while now. Wrong end of the country to get a sale, TBH - same goes for the GW large tanks..... If Hornby's noticed that they aren't selling in certain areas of the country, I'd imagine that they'll move them to an area where they will sell. Mike.

The potential cost of simple plastic kit building can be pretty high as well. For example, a Japanese kit producer called Tamiya have several 1/32 Spitfires in their range, here's the Mk VIII as an example: http://www.hannants.co.uk/product/TA60320 So £140 for the kit, you can then add the cost of any aftermarket items that you wish to add to it, i.e:http://www.hannants.co.uk/search/index.php?adv=1&product_category_id=&product_division_id=&manufacturer_id=&product_type_id=all_aircraft_accessories&code=&scale_id=953&keyword_search=spitfire&setPerPage=100&sort=0&search_direction=asc&save_search_name=&save_search= (sorry for the length of the link!) Each item may not cost a lot individually, but add them together you could easily spend well over £250 on the project. Once you've built it you then have the problem of where to put it! Another Asian company are producing a 1/32 Lancaster bomber which will probably cost the proverbial arm and a leg with an even worse storage problem!! Mike.