Revolution Mike

Hi Alan Follow the link to our website - it all seems to be working here - or use the direct link to the expressions of interest form that I gave earlier in this thread ie: http://www.revolutiontrains.com/class-2129/class-2129-expressions-of-interest/ Cheers, Mike

Hi folks Class 21/29 expressions of interest page now available: http://www.revolutiontrains.com/class-2129/class-2129-expressions-of-interest/ Cheers, Mike

Soon ie before TINGS - the news got out slightly earlier than anticipated (and work sent me to Belgium for the last 2 days!). Cheers, Mike

We've spent a lot of time looking at the different variants of Mk3 units and how much is common (and how much is annoyingly subtly different), so we are reasonably confident we can do at least the 320 (pre-refurb?), 321/4 and 321/9. Come and talk to us about a 456 (either at TINGS or Warley) - we have a few ideas (though of course they were refurbed and lost their toilets). As Ben said we'd rather get one lot right than compromise or try to offer too many variations making tooling either difficult or (more) expensive. Cheers, Mike

Hi Rob Approx 120mm plus a little for the couplers IIRC. Cheers, Mike

The initial plan is each wagon (triple or single) will be a unique number. Based on the expressions of interest tt is possible for some of the more popular liveries (EWS grey, Greenergy in particular) that we will receive enough orders to do two runs of numbers for each triple pack but I can't confirm that until we see the number of orders! Cheers, Mike

Hi Rusty We are looking into getting transfer sheets produced - depending on how much they cost we might be able to supply them with the model (or sell them for a small amount). Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but what Paul said is correct - the prices you quote are the 50% deposit prices for the Pendolino (if only we could produce Pendolinos that cheaply!). Cheers, Mike PS incidentally we had originally planned to offer a deposit scheme for the TEAs but finalising the price took longer than expected and design probably went quicker than expected so we didn't see much point in doubling admin in a short period of time.

Hi Alistair Sorry about that! It was not our original plan, but when the opportunity came to produce the TEA we couldn't really turn it down. Perhaps inevitably development has been much quicker than the Pendolino as it is a much simpler model (despite the variations!). If it is any consolation to those of you waiting to pay balances on Pendolinos - we won't be asking for those until we are ready to confirm final production so you still have quite a bit of time on that front (considering we have not quite finalised the design of the Pendolino (just a few bits to complete) and we expect the Pendolino to require more testing/de-bugging than the TEA). For most of the wagons there are alternative numbers for the single wagons and all the wagons in the triple packs. Cheers, Mike

Hi Eddie We would assume those you were the sets you wanted, but we will be checking with anyone who paid in full before we place the final production order. For anyone who paid a deposit they will be able to select the set(s) when they pay their balance. Cheers, Mike

Ian - if you have no space for Cobalts then how about servo control? You can have the servo mounted in a convenient location driving a piece of wire to move the point blades. Cheers, Mike

New customers can already pick the livery/set number they want when they place an order. I'm working on how best to do it for existing customers! Cheers, Mike

Having some variety in milk tankers would be excellent! Cheers, Mike

That is the plan! Cheers, Mike

I don't know how much demand there would be for them as though they are based on the Brecknell Willis HS they are actually unique to the Pendolino IIRC. Cheers, Mike

I fear it will be a big turn off for people (it certainly is for me). A possible alternative (given that you already have the relevant artwork) would be to offer a non-solid window version and either get some windows laser cut or give purchasers the artwork for the windows so that they can get some laser cut. Cheers, Mike

Nothing to worry about - we've just been busy with "proper" jobs and checking lots of CAD! We'll be in touch with people in plenty of time. Cheers, Mike

Hi Charlie Having solid windows seems a shame (and potentially unnecessary) - is there a particular reason for doing that? I can't help feeling that you automatically limit your market immediately. You might have seen the thread on the NGF which Claude refers to as it is something that Ben and I would consider as a very sensible RTR project for the future - it contains lots of useful detail information. Cheers, Mike

Sod's law - you wait patiently for CAD to arrive and loads of it arrives at once! Anyway, here are a few teasers of the full CAD (which hopefully we can release very shortly): DMSO roof and bodyside 653XX vehicle pantograph well. Note there is not actually a pantograph on these vehicles. We are very happy with the overall shape and look of the model – the hard work is in making sure all the smaller details are right! You can see the full news here. Cheers, Mike

Why do you say that? You can compare the cost of a servo with say a Tortoise (or Seep/Peco) point motor. Whether you need additional equipment will depend entirely on the rest of your set up (which is the same whichever solution you use). Even including the ancillary equipment you can still work out the cost per point of different options including servos.

That is scandalous - don't they know who you are!?!

The newsletter basically said - please get your vote in for the set number/name by Sunday's deadline! If you ordered via Rapido then please register for an account on our website and drop me an email so that I can give you the necessary access (please note I will be running an exhibition from first thing on Friday to end of Sunday so please try not to leave it to the last minute!). Current voting (as of this morning!): 1 390104 Alstom Pendolino (special Alstom livery) (28 votes) 2= 390001 Virgin Pioneer (26 votes) 2= 390045 101 Squadron 4= 390114 City of Manchester (13 votes) 4= 390122 Penny the Pendolino 6 390005 City of Wolverhampton (11 votes) 7 390132 City of Birmingham (10 votes) 8= 390138 City of London (9 votes) 8= 390151 Virgin Ambassador (special "Business is great" livery) Cheers, Mike

Great Western If you PM me your name then I will let you know why! (You have to have opted in to receive the newsletter either when you purchase the set or by signing up to the newsletter on our website - registering is not enough). Cheers, Mike

The Kato Eurostar was a pain in the neck as getting the intermediate coaches is nigh on impossible. Given you need multiple intermediate packs per set there just were not enough produced. If you are interested in modelling the APT-P pop along to DEMU's Showcase on Saturday - Shane will be demo'ing his APT-P (hopefully with a special guest appearance from the Rapido APT-E!). Cheers, Mike