Forester

It is thing with both Bachmann and Hornby's marketing. Release regular BR colours in year 1 then follow with more obscure Malachite or blue in later years, believing that people will buy two, a regular BR then a more exotic one. That worked in the past when trains were a lot cheaper but fails now with most going I would have brought one in malachite but I have already got a loco of that class from last year. I,m sure a H2, Nelson in malachite and a Merchant Navy in blue will be pretty, but by not including them in the first run, I content myself with the ones I did buy. I,m certain others do the same which will explain poor sales.

 

To be honest I was not aware of a malachite King Author, and this could be due to the lower of interest shown by the press and online media in later repeat runs compared to the high interest shown for initial runs.

It is now a flawed strategy saving pretty colours for later years leading to poor sales.

I don't see evidence for any of this.

BR is the main seller but even here some people will wait for their preferred early or late crest condition.

One of the earlier liveries is always included in first year releases where appropriate - not necessarily the same one each time but they nearly always cover the major liveries within a few years.

I don't see the later-released  "prettier" (your word) liveries being poor sellers. There is no way the Blue Unrebuilt MN will be a poor seller! Get your orders in now.

Judging by the enormous numbers of Bachmann LNs sold on eBay over the last eight months an awful lot of people are preparing to buy the Hornby one! (same advice)

Usually where one of the earlier liveries is seen to be selling weakly it is on a model where perhaps the demand has been weaker than expected across the whole range.

It is frustrating to have to wait for the model you want but I would have thought by now we can all have reasonable confidence the main producers will get round to all the main liveries eventually.

Yellow is the new orange!!

Pictures taken under bright yellow lighting.

Actually under daylight conditions the BR green is one of the best renditions I've seen and the lining is orange - just way too wide, that's all.

Note to Self.

 Lesson learned from Heljan 47xx Experience:   

     Don't make a purchase decision to buy or not to buy purely on photos and other people's comments, positive or negative.

        Get hold of one and try it out.

.....................See same lesson learned (but forgotten) buying first car countless decades ago

But in reverse      

With reference to Rob's photos; last time there was some objections raised to his clogging threads with his 'photo manipulations', he agreed to open a thread specifically for that purpose; if he did so, he has sadly lapsed again.

 

If, as he has contended, his images can stand on their own merits, a dedicated thread is the ideal solution. Those interested in his output can 'Follow' the thread; those who are not can 'Ignore' the thread; (as I do).

 

As things stand, I cannot get away from the impression that Rob is taking every possible opportunity, in every slightly relevant thread, to announce to the membership "Look what I did"!

 

This would be fine if the images were of models that he had built / enhanced, but they are not. This is a railway modelling forum, not one for photo manipulation.

 

.... and yes, I am aware of Rob's disabilities.

 

Regards,

John Isherwood.

Until such time as the Mods agree with you,   please scroll on.

I'm afraid Harlequin is right on this one. Rob is not modelling in any real sense of the word and so using fake modelling to  promote a model that is so poor in its construction is bound to irritate.

Sorry but I disagree on all counts.

As I said in #1199, I was ambivalent about purchasing this model but when it arrived I found it was definitely Not "poor in its constuction".

It is well constructed, to a new motor/body design and a strong powerful performer.

It has Faults.

These faults have been well described here in 49 pages of discussion and each propective buyer has to decide for themselves if these faults are acceptable/fixable or unacceptable.

I took the plunge and discovered the only remaining "fault" in my eyes after a few minutes fumbling work was the BR lining. If I'd bought a BR black one in the same condition I would have been entirely satisfied.

Not saying any faults are acceptable but we all know that with modern high-detail models parts are likely to come adrift in the post and we buy knowing we may have the inconvenience of minor repairs to a new model or sending them back for replacement. It's the way things are for nearly all new models of all makes.

Mine turned out to be no better, no worse than any other recent purchase and after a few minutes work I have (unexpectedly) a really nice addition to the layout collection.

It would be good if manufacturers could design packaging that perfectly protects our models, but none have yet achieved that.

As for Rob's work, it's not "fake modelling", it's an interesting take on our models as far as I am concerned. He claims nothing else and he regularly offers to cut down or remove his images if members feel he is posting too many.

One thing we have nearly all of us learned in the social media/forum age is to skip though mountains of stuff that annoys or doesn't interest us.

So.

I ordered one, cancelled it, re-ordered, called to cancel again, but discovered it had already been picked but not posted, weakly did another about-turn & accepted it.

Obviously highly ambivalent about the thing from the start and ready to return it at the slightest hint of trouble - which of course was a certainty.

So now I own one, how is it?

Well, it arrived with some of the well-described faults; pipe lying in the box, pony wheels detached, but otherwise complete, unmarked, undamaged, front end all square.

Push the wheels back in, put it on the track and it's a lovely smooth strong runner. Can't find anything else mechanically wrong.

Hate the coarse BR lining, but love the BR green. Dab of paint soon fixes the shiny axle ends and the silvery coupling rods.

But here's the thing:        I think I'm beginning to like it.     No,  Really like it!

It is a Big loco, much more impressive than I remember. Even next to a King it more than holds its own. Makes Castles look almost puny.

I saw one or two on shed back in those days but never alongside a King to compare it with (they were all working for their living). It has serious attitude!

Even if it sits on shed all day long on my layout (like the real ones!), it really adds something special to the scene.

Expensive bit of scenery but I'm glad I fumbled the cancellation.

One of the Schools class nominees certainly declined or refused to have a loco named ...... I have a feeling the others got 'replica' nameplates but I'm not 100% sure - many of the West Country names were immortalised as coffee tables for the appropriate Lord Mayor or whatever .......... none of the 'Nelson' or 'Arthur' named people could be contacted unfortunately.

The question was whether extra "third" plates were ever made.

None of the examples given have yet shown evidence they were other than the used plates from withdrawn locos (apart from a few crests) .

Never heard of extra plates being made and very much doubt it.

There would be many more visible in stately homes open to the public if that had been the case.

Plates from scrapped locos were often presented to institutions. The Schools class were examples here. Also some Battle of Britain and West Country plates.

The only case I can think of where extra examples were specifically made were the crests on Merchant Navy locos where third copies were incorporated into presentation items for the shipping company boardrooms.

Edited for spelin.

http://www.sixbellsjunction.co.uk/60s/610702ro.html

 

The 'Dedicated' Corps Ribbon was enclosed in a raised frame, thereby needs to be represented as such, rather than Hornby's cabside tampo job.

..if you are modelling the period after July 1961, when it was fitted.

Clearly I have always been mistaken about 34109 and 34110. 

Ooops! Fell into that one.

The Hornby model has red nameplates, which is wrong for 34090 in malachite.They should be blue.

There has been confusion in some quarters as to whether the loco belongs to the West Country or Battle of Britain classes.

The clue is the original Air Force Blue nameplates. It is the last BoB.

A quick question for the enlightened: can anyone advise me on colour-matching the dark grey roof of a Bachmann BR Mk1 Pullman? I have a white-roofed version I'd like to repaint to match the rest of my dark-grey-roofed rake. Can anyone tell me where to get a matching colour? A close-enough Halfords rattlecan would be ideal, but any suggestion would be most gratefully received.

 

If you find an answer could you please put it in an envelope and send it to the Pullman Car Company via Royal Mail Special Time Travel Delivery?

'Cos they mixed white ones with silver ones and grey ones.

Firstly, it depends what you mean by 'work started'. Though no physical design work has been done, many hours of work have gone into research, checking detail differences and deciding which versions to do in which livery. Original drawings also need to be located as the surviving example is not in  suitable condition for reference. The reason for announcing it is simple - to avoid risk of duplication by some other manufacturer, at which point any work done would be time and money wasted. We had already dropped one potential model from our plans because someone else announced it. (CJL)

On the contrary I would have thought an announcement saying no physical work done and release planned so far in the future, is an invitation to competitors.

As for the buyers we get rather tired of someone "claiming" a subject as theirs but not producing the goods for many years.

I've had more Hornby Britannias that any other class, each one traded up as an upgraded model appeared - and the current super-detail version really is as good as Hornby gets, in my view.

They are not cheap but there are plenty on the secondhand market and you'll find one at an affordable price if you are patient.

I would question whether the 1980s version is worth upgrading when the amount you would spend detailing it would come close to the sort of price you might pay for a nearly-new second hand current one which would be head and shoulders above anything you could do with yours, sadly.

Good luck with whatever you decide.

The only "sighting" of the imminent BR lined version appears on Hattons latest email. I have qualms about what I see in regard to the lining and its application .Any thoughts ?

The BR lining doesn't work for me.

It takes the eye to the cab and tender and away from the strong lines of the shape of the loco.

Don't like the silvery rods either, although that is correctable.

Does no one ever look at pictures of newly overhauled steam locos leaving Swindon Works with thick greased rods?

There's still a lot of mileage to be had from the rebuilt MN, in my view.

Most of the the best-known shipping lines were in the first series: Cunard White Star, P&O, Royal Mail, Union Castle, Orient Line, Shaw Savill.... the only series with no RTR tender available.

If it were up to me I'd update it and produce the early ones with the 5000 gal tender.

Would sell well despite the number of later series MNs produced.

32151 gained its BR number and was painted lined black (presumably in error) at Eastleigh in Jan 1949 with blank side tanks.  It lost the lining in April 1953 when it had heavy repairs.  There's a photo in Locos of the LB&SCR Part 2 / RCTS, fig 26.  It was the only one so treated.

 

Chris KT

Thanks Chris.

Lining greatly improved the appearance of these tanks.

Hazy memory all polished up for another few days.

It's hazy memory time:

I saw a lot of E1Rs in the late 50s - all in BR lined black.

Didn't see many E1s, as most had gone by then , but all the ones I saw were in plain black - which I associate with the class.

MR406 32151 is in BR lined black with no emblem.

I assume MR have photos of it. Did other E1s receive lined black?

(Asking for a bank manager)...

.I am still having a private price gripe about it though.

Who is brave enough to wait for a Tango price reduction next year?

High Brooms station (current Hornby) had a few sidings and a brick works next to it.

This makes it an attractive subject for a layout.

Dapol even does the High Brooms Brick and Tile Co private wagons.

I cannot work out how the Heljan 47XX is too dear. It is their model and they set the price. You either pay £154.00 or do without, it is as simple as that. Comparison with other locos regardless of price or value is pointless because none are 47XX's.  

I've done without because the price is too high. Therefore, ummm, the Heljan 47xx is too dear

for me

What I do find disconcerting is that in the distant future the number of customers who experienced the steam age will naturally fall which could have an undesirable reduction in interest in the older eras with which we are currently quite lavishly served by the manufactures. This in turn might result in reduced production runs combined with a corresponding increase in price for those models that are produced. Hopefully, we're a long way from that.

If that were so, since the number of customers who experienced the heyday of SECR has fallen to single figures, the demand for SECR should have fallen to near zero. Instead it has increased exponentially.

I wonder if Bachmann will release another set of these coaches in SECR livery but with different running and set numbers. I would buy a set.

I very much doubt it as the first release hasn't sold out yet. .

As someone has already said, It seems there are far more SECR loco collectors than SECR modellers needing coaches.

2. We're working on a few projects at the moment, as soon as we're ready to announce we'll make sure you know about it.

 

Cheers,

 

Dave

Wainwright D class 4-4-0. You know it would be a winner in this livery ....

Since you have to answer all questions, including how many you returned before you got a satisfactory one (Q1) , there is no option for stating you returned it for a refund and don't have one (Q3), (or for that matter cancelled your order upon studying the production model and hearing about the problems).