Coppercap

Seeing as how my comments regarding the cabside handrails shouldn't have the rails protruding out of the knobs was dismissed as a trivial detail error and easily corrected (which I don't think it is, without causing damage), then what's the huge difficulty with removing a (slightly) wonkily-applied numberplate and reaffixing it straight?

It looks like it's in the 3 o'clock position to me - I'd say it's almost pointing towards the camera.

So did the Airfix model all those years ago (and they got the cab handrails right too).

It's the handrail, not some major moulding that's come out of some expensive-to-alter tool. The wire was cut too long, and no obvious reason why. Why should I buy a model with 'detail' that none of the prototypes ever carried, to the have to meddle with it to get it looking somewhere near right? They've gone to the extent of fitting nice detail like the little hook on the buffer beam to hang the coupling on, yet they get handrails wrong!

But it should have been correct in the first place! No photo or drawing would have shown the handrails like they have been produced on the models. It couldn't have been that difficult to get them right - its not as if any major retooling would have been needed to put it right. As you say, 'simples' for me to do, but that also goes for the manufacturer.

Sadly another error, though maybe not actually a design error. The cab's vertical handrails are protroding through the ends of the knobs. Why? Can't say I've ever seen that arrangement on Great Western engines, but I stand to be corrected. That's going to have to be corrected when I get mine!

Wasn't Yeo repainted locally at Pilton not long before closure? Obviously an afternoon job after a few lunchtime ciders!

It being right hand drive, the driver's right hand would be free a lot of the time anyway (apart from when using the reverser), his left hand would be on the regulator.

Notice how someone's already pinched the safety valve bonnet for their collection.

Please do tell. Was he a German railwayman, or an ex-Swindon works, British POW who was forced/persuaded to show them how to work on it?

Looked it up elsewhere (Bank of England, no less) and 10/11 (55p) in 1962 is the equivalent to £10.58 (in 2015), with inflation quoted as averaging at 5.7% per year. (I'd like to think they're somewhere near right!) Still seems quite cheap for what it was, but I'm sure there's much more disposable income these days to make it seem cheap, despite what some might say.

Apparently... 10/11 (55p) in 1962 is equivalent to £8.20 today. Now, that seems very reasonable! I'll have a dozen!

Well, I wouldn't remember beer prices then, but I do remember petrol was somwewhere about 6/- (30p) about the time we went decimal. I only remember that as I was always badgering dad to buy where they were giving away special coins to collect, or suchlike. Sadly, I still have them somewhere... Dad always filled up at Jet petrol stations when I wasn't with him. Cheaper, but no 'giveaways'...

I realise you meant 10s 11d (and for those who don't know 'old money', it was also written as 10/11 or said as 'ten and eleven') It wasn't a small sum in 1961, so for those who aren't familiar with 'old money' that's 55p when converted to 'New Pence'. What's that today, I wonder, allowing for inflation?

They should be angled, and the model appears to be correct. (There's lots of images of the real thing out there....)

No, as per post #123, but there SHOULD be a ring of rivets around the top of the flare, which the model is lacking!

Why not go even further, and point out that the models aren't even made from similar materials to the original locomotive? So what is the true definition of 'scale model'? Is it an accurate miniaturisation of the real thing in materials and construction, or something that merely 'looks' like the original, irrespective of what it's made from and how it is assembled?

Didn't D1733 only have the red cabside double arrow panels for the publicity shots? I read that they were removed afterwards (self adhesive?) so it never actually ran in service with them. I have to admit, it did look much more attractive with the splash of red than just the blue...

Just imagine that they could have reproduced the smoke to 'scale' for 4mm, with correct smell and smuts - I'm sure the novelty would have quickly worn off and you would have wanted to open the windows after just a short while!

I always thought the smokebox was the bit at the front, with the round door thingy, under the chimney (as that's where the smoke is emitted from). I'm sure you meant to say firebox. I might be wrong though... ; -)

I believe the only new Airfix locomotive was the Drewry diesel shunter, and also the Park Royal Railbus.

7? You were a late starter!

At the time the first smoke units were introduced, Triang trains were definitely aimed at the toy market, and still were when the Synchrosmoke units came along. They just added to the play value of these toys. By the time the 4-4-0 units appeared (which was quite a few years after Synchrosmoke was discontinued, inevitably due to costs), Hornby were aiming a little higher, and these units worked quite well and were obviously cheaper than of old. As with many things, these were all "of their time". At least they can be disconnected if not required.

Except the footsteps...