Southwich

After a long week delivering Class 56s up and down the country we are pleased that all of our retailers have now received their models. Please get in contact with us or your retailer if you have any questions or issues with your Class 56s. Thanks to @P.C.M in Australia for sharing the below photos of his weathered model of 56008 on his excellent layout Llanbourne. We’re looking forward to seeing photos of 56s on layouts in the next few weeks! Kind regards, Will

Thanks for the feedback Peter. Can you please send us an email with your observations and we’ll look into it further? We felt that the all round performance benefits from going AIA-AIA on uneven track far outweighs the minimal impact of not having the centre axle driven. Hope that helps to explain our thinking behind the decisions? Kind regards, Will

Best course of action would be to call Rails to sort as they do have both EM/P4 wheelsets in stock. Although please bear with them if you can’t get through immediately as from Facebook comments they’ve been quite busy with the 56 dispatch! Kind regards, Will

They’re in stock with retailers already Mark! Kind regards, Will

Glad you’re pleased with 008! We changed the handrails on the final models to have a longer timespan for modellers. Should have blue handrails on the front of the loco and white handrails on the side. A quick Flickr search looks like bodyside handrails being white post ‘77 hence the choice to change from blue to white. Hope that helps! Kind regards, Will

Disappointed you haven’t weathered it already Tim if I’m honest 😉 In all seriousness thanks for your support - looks great on your layout. Kind regards, Will

We’re looking at sorting this asap but will be a few weeks or so till we can confirm (as you can imagine have quite a few models to get out!), but the intention is to absolutely supply DCC sound upgrade kits if we can! Kind regards, Will

Should do by the end of the weekend latest. C&M Models and Rainbow Railways competed today. Kind regards, Will

I don’t know if I’m completely honest, I imagine not but I know @Modelu Chris was looking at colour prints so I’ll let him confirm! Will

The 90s one is also a modern one - we were scanned in high vis jackets per uniforms of the current day. Kind regards, Will

Hi Tony - 56019 never carried the railfreight logos so the model doesn’t have them either. Depending on demand we’ll look at a loco in the second run with RF logos. Kind regards, Will

It’s very easy to drop the cab interiors out, they’re just clipped into the bodyshell. Driver fitting will be easy enough, but we have been scanned by ModelU (and @Revolution Mike In the modern crew with me!) for easy fitting into the cabs - simply pop out the factory fitted seats, and install the new seat with driver fitted. See link below to both crew packs: https://www.modelu3d.co.uk/product/10226/ https://www.modelu3d.co.uk/product/10225/ Kind regards, Will

Hi Garry - pic from Flickr below of the upside down 8: A few more on Flickr as well with the search being “56008 197X” depending on the year you’re modelling. Kind regards, Will

With an overwhelming sense of pride (and slight relief!), Cavalex Models are pleased to share that the entirety of the first batch of our Class 56 models have arrived in the UK. Retailer deliveries begin this afternoon and will continue throughout the next week or so. Thank you to all of our customers and retailers for your support and patience across the duration of the project!

37 looks cracking as always sir! Kind regards, Will

Looking forward to another day ahead at the Warley show - if you’re attending please visit stand C55 to see the latest developments on all of our projects. Also keep an eye out for a Large Logo Class 56 on Ravenscroft Sidings!

The first production grid arrived down under late last week, and was fortunate to be tested on @P.C.M’s excellent Llanbourne layout yesterday. Looked right at home albeit in need of some weathering! Kind regards, Will

Thanks for the hospitality as always Pete! A few more shots of the grid in miniature North Wales - looks right at home. A very enjoyable day playing trains and spotting Kangaroos! Kind regards, Will

I’ll leave this pic from Flickr here for you: Kind regards, Will

Great work as usual Tim. Your work has got me thinking about a small plank out here in Aus! Kind regards, Will

Looking great Tim - the finish you’ve achieved on 40139 is excellent! Kind regards, Will

All good thank you sir - busy with work but some occasional modelling is happening. The man that hated grids has changed his tune eh! 😉 Will

Hope the show goes well Mike - enjoy! Look forward to seeing the grid running again on your layout Kind regards, Will

I drilled out the pillars that join the bottom of the tanks to the top of the tanks and the plastic underframe, which once removed separates the three pieces nicely. I’ve been gluing the tops of the tanks back on this afternoon after fitting the speakers, so will sand back the super glue marks to get it all level before fitting. I’ve taken off the parts of the body of the tank so hoping it should sit nice and flush straight away but will see how it works! Looking forward to more of your progress. Kind regards, Will

Great work David - nicely documented on the fuel tanks. Over the last week I have been following your lead and disassembling my locos to sort the fuel tanks out - and have taken the opportunity to start looking at sound upgrades into the tanks - hope you don’t mind the slight hijack below: Details of the two speakers used from roads and rails are below: Large tank - 25x25x7mm Megabass Smaller tank - 20x20x7mm Megabass 'Mini' Currently having superglue drying to seal the speakers before being sanded back and joined back to the chassis of the locos. The plan is to pair these both with an EM1 in the body somewhere - that part is yet to be figured out! Kind regards, Will