David Stannard

Is it an ROD 43xx or an Afrika Korps one 🤔

With a DJ/Hattons 48xx/58xx too boot, I got myself a 58xx with Shirtbutton when they first came out and it's a beautiful little machine.

For me the Bulldog is an obvious choice, they were a fairly long lived class and Bachmann already has the chassis, they just need the boiler and cab.

They would have to change some of the moulds as the 74xx and the later 64xx didn't have the curve where the bunker and cab join, check the Flickr link for reference. https://flic.kr/p/A1JSPS

They released a DC model of 3214 with Shirtbutton logo back in 2014.

I already have a 64xx for that job.

Trust me, you're not Robinson Crusoe with this one.

Well Hornby pretty much missed any opportunity available to them, N Scale Bachmann and Dapol took that ground, OO9 Bachmann, Peco and Heljan have captured the market, O Scale Dapol, Heljan and Ixion have that covered, when it comes to 00 Scale Rapido and Accurascale are pushing their way hard into the market with far superior models at a price that Hornby can't beat, the only markets left where there is no competition is either Z Scale or TT.

Even though I am a Swindon man I will agree with you in that it would be nice to see more LNWR models, for a railway of its size it is certainly well underrepresented, as far as RTR LMS absorbed locomotives are concerned the Midland has a decent representation while it's a mere smattering of the other constituent lines.

In many respects it is, the first decent RTR Pannier was introduced by Mainline in 1981, for it's day it was a fantastic model but as we all know it had a number of inaccuarcies, that said it was far in advance of what the "others" were offering at the time, years down the track Bachmann updated the Mainline model to the degree but still with a number of inaccuracies, the chief of those as many of us Pre War modellers know is the topfeed, Bachmann has prided itself over the years stating they make highly detailed and accurate models for the ready to run market, yes they may make good models but they also have their compromises. I still remember the release announcement of their Manor's back in the early 90's, at the time it was heralded to the sounds of trumpets and lauded as the most accurate model of a Manor that had ever been made, truth be told it was a bit of a dogs breakfast with a basic retooling of the original Mainline model, I'm glad I turned my nose up at one back then and now have the Accurascale model, I may have waited 30 odd years but it was worth it.

I wonder if Accurascale and Rapido's offerings are going force the "big players" to lift their game, the industry hasn't seen this sort of shake up since the introduction of Mainline to the markets, back then Hornby and Lima had been quite content pushing out rather mediocre models for decades, a prime example is the Black Five which has taken Hornby at least 50 years for them to maybe get it right.

For those of us who are Pre War modellers the Bachmann and earlier Mainline/Replica models are inaccurate, I wouldn't go has far as saying they are misshapen lumps that bear no resemblance to the real thing, that said they require a fair bit of cosmetic surgery that is out of the comfort zone for many modellers, taking a razor saw and a plethora of Excel knife blades to a brand new locomotive is not for the faint hearted and be quite a daunting prospect for many.

Looks like I will be putting my Bachmann conversions on ice with this announcement, I don't mind waiting for the 8750 with Shirtbutton later on down the track as Accurascale will certainly be doing future releases considering the sheer diversity of this prolific class.

Bachmann model with topfeed removed and some extra details added.

Well if Bachmann isn't coming to the party you can always do it yourself like I did. https://flic.kr/p/JsG2BV