shunny

My local shop took delivery of the new class 17's today and has been advised to return them after they tested several to discover that the led light for the headcode box only lights up half the headcode. They checked them all and it appears that its a design fault where Heljan have replaced the old buld with a small led. He contacted Gaugemaster and was advised to remove these from sale awaiting return instructions.

Bachmann could potentially release MK2 and a new class 47 in Anglia blue in the future

My local retailer was advised today Bachmann have had these in UK for a couple of months awaiting the big announcement at the weekend and the new models from autumn releases will be ready for immediate shipping. I'm looking forward to seeing what's released and hopefully picking one up soon.

I have had word from Steve at Scoonie hobbies the my new DVT in LNER and TFW is due in the next 2 weeks at Hornby but no mention on GNER to match coaches already delivered 🤔

I got my replacement for Ballymoss (returned due to white paint mark on body) delivered yesterday and opened it tonight and I have to say I'm disappointed to find 3 chains detached and multiple bits in the bottom of the box. I have emailed the warranty team and sent pictures and I'm sure they will advise what to do but still feel that the model should be arriving complete and not relying on the end user having to fix. My other model Tulyar from DPS was similar with 1 chain loose and a piece in the bottom of the box which I have fixed already and 2 friends have both had chains loose and parts loose in box on their models, so this is not an isolated issue.

While I do agree Hornby are making a bad habit of this and my local retailer has suffered the same as others with cuts in allocation and he is a tier 1. Hornby do themselves no favour with retailers by cutting allocations then still advertising on their own website. A lot of current production is very limited and some larger retailers have been selling on day of announcement often before quantities have been given. The Bachmann SFX 47 being an example and again some Hornby products which quantities are unknown at release. It might be better for clarity if manufacturers have quantities ready on day of announcement and sent to retailers for clarity and in Hornby's case stick to them.

Politics aside, did anyone else notice this is listed as a next 18 decoder which Hornby don't currently make? It can't be a typo as they can't have accidentally copied it from another model (except maybe rapidos website🤣) but it would suggest Hornby are at least finally getting up to date with dcc technology.

I have an email from DPS saying my 55015 is on its way. Looks like they are working there way through them it's been about 5 days since I paid balance. As mentioned above they are a volunteer society so no complaints and the main reason I choose to give them the sale to help with the upkeep of the real loco's

I got word today both my new 68s have arrived at Scoonie Hobbies😁

It looks like white paint on body

Unfortunately mine will have to be returned white paint on the body, l have sent message to accurrascale I'm sure they will get it sorted. Otherwise a great model and captures the look of the Deltic.

I got word today my analogue 90's should be delivered to my local shop on Thursday

Is that the new accurrascale super detailed stick on Garfield much more realistic than the old eighties version😹

Can I ask a question from the picture above with the driver, the window rivets seem very pronounced on the white surrounding I don't recall seeing them so noticeable in pictures. Is this something that was change in later life or did they get less obvious in later life, wore away or covered by layers of paint? Just wondering as I have 2 blue ordered and wasn't sure if they would be like later life?

That looks like something you'd find second hand unboxed rather than a brand new model. I wonder if the factory producing these is new to Hornby as we haven't seen quality issues like that in many of their other products?

It looks like Hornby are suffering badly with manufacturing delays due to the various issues in China. 69 of the 125 locomotives available to pre order are now listed as Spring, Summer or Autumn 23 delivery. I know this is not solely a Hornby issue but with Hornby trying to get back to being profitable company this will add further challenges to this.

Looks like new 90 probably been planned for a while as due May/June along with the rest of previous models but very happy with the liveries definitely getting an Freightliner orange and EWS

It looks like this has reverted to the previous option of being only available direct, the retailers were sent an email advising sound version was available to order to sell in store. Then a few weeks later the email I saw was sent stating all order for sound version cancelled placed by retailers.

I saw the email on Saturday when I was asking to change my order to a sound version in my local shop and that was the reason Dapol gave for the cancellation.

Dapol have emailed retailers saying they have cancelled all orders for sound fitted class 68s as they don't have an agreement use the class 68 sound file from zimo. Seems a bit odd as they not long ago announced their new deal with zimo to do factory fitted sound loco's again but might be on a loco by loco basis by looks of things.

I can see why retailers are frustrated with Hornby that's around a third of the production run given to Hornby's own shop and you guys get allocated 1!

In respect to the health of the hobby my Lms Scoobie Hobbies is a small all round model shop well stocked with a good number of die hard customer and a lot more newbies from the lock down boom. Sales wise an interesting fact sales of Bachmann SFX 47 all sold and at the other end of the scale new batch of railroad 37s also all sold. There is good demand for both detail and quality and also for value models. He also regularly sells out of Hornby trainset add on packs both track and building from Hornby's point of view a great seller with many trainsets expanded to cover the track mat. He regularly states railways and plastic kits are the main sellers for the last few years , thankfully he is a tier one and I preorder everything with him but even he is struggling to get enough from Hornby to meet customer demand.

A bit harder to tell with non sound version as Bachmann produced a lot more of them. The shops could be selling them but have spares unlike the SFX, I know when I got my 2 analogue ones, the blue version was still on the shelf but my local had all the IC Swallow liveries pre-ordered

Hornby are in a unique position where its brand awareness and availability support it, for every person on here delighted with say the new accurrascale 31 and getting the version with correct body and finish for their choose modelling era. There are many more who walk into a shop or go online and look for Hornby models and buy what they like the look of, many don't know if the 31 has the correct body, roof grills, boiler ports etc but like the look of the model and know Hornby brand and will buy it.

The Bachmann Mk1 also has separate pipe work on the ends while Hornby's is moulded due to the tooling being dual used for railroad versions as well.