Brocp

I'm not saying that. People can do whatever they want with their models. But that isn't what we are talking about. We are talking about how some people seem to think things at certain periods were spotless most if not all of the time. Yes i too have photos of very clean locos in service but were they the majority? It may also come down to the railway. The LMS for example seemed to not care as much for cleaning locos as others, at least taking in all the pictures I've seen as a whole. Camden and Crewe North Duchesses seemed worse off than the Scottish ones but those weren't sparkling either. BR Eastern Region was a great example of sheds doing things as they saw fit for them. King's Cross seemingly really took cosmetic care of their locos (Elizabethen, Flying Scotsman pulling locos) where as others (Gateshead if memory serves) seemingly cared less what their locos looked like. Going back to the modelling side of it I've seen plenty of brilliantly detailed layouts that just look real, fantastic landscape modelling. Then every loco that rolls past is pristine. All the rolling stock is the same. Pre grouping layouts for the most part, at least from the ones I've seen, are a lot like this. But again it's their models they can do what they want with them.

I remember that topic well. It had some great photos in it. What people seem to forget is that these are machines that are driven by steam, that have water, fire, oil and smoke effecting the paint/condition of them. All of their work is done outside. Most were 'shedded' outside. So the weather plays its part. They were never showroom pieces they were made for work and most of them worked goods trains, themselves dirty. Unless they were recently painted or being prepared to work a royal train they certainly weren't very clean. Yes pre WW1 they may have had more of a conscious effort to keep them cleaner, but they weren't fresh out of the box mint at all, which some people don't want to acknowledge.

Not a fan of those unpainted wheel rims

That's true, I've got a few photos of Duchesses being coupled to Black 5s, hell I've got one of a Duchess with a Midland 3F but it still is something that was extremely rare with these two classes.

The comet bogie does make a huge difference. Why Hornby thought it a good idea to design there's for a front coupler is strange decision.

I've said it before but the first batch have a lot of issues. My Princess Elizabeth has the same fate regarding the sky jump front end and the cylinders hanging too low. Thanks for your write up on how you tackled the issues, that'll come in handy. And I don't care what anyone says bit those smoke deflectors on these new Duchesses are wrong, like the DJH ones they aren't tall enough and detract from the face of the loco. At least Comet make the right sized deflectors.

That makes no sense at all. A retooled Black 5, 8F, rebuilt Merchant Navy would be definitely better to what we currently have. The chassis alone would be a monstrous improvement and hopefully Hornby would tool up versions of each we've not yet seen. Also if they don't do it sooner rather than later, someone else will. Especially now that it's no longer a two horse race.

They both need a new chassis quite badly for one. A new 9 ton 4000 gallon tender is something LMS fans have wanted for a while, the Hornby one is crap compared to Bachmann's offering. The Black 5 has that stupid infill under the smokebox that's not on the real thing. It's missing a lot of little details that Brassmasters detail pack luckily. Overall that and the 8F aren't bad, but they are the best part of 20 years old and really it's time they were brought up to current standards.

Simply stunning

No it's not. It's half way between a streamlined tender and the destreamlined one they had when the streamlining was removed. Again Hornby have never made it. Look closer at the photo of the bottom of the tender sides and the chassis near the axle boxes. The streamlined parts for want of a better term, are still there. The rest of the tender is how they all ended up in the end. It would be a new tooling one Hornby haven't done before.

Please don't doom us to the same fate as you!

I'd love to see you diversify to LMS stuff one day.

No they've never done one like this. Tender has the side sheets cut down, the cowling over the front of the coal space removed and the side skirts on the bottom of the tank sides/over the chassis. This is the type of tender i want to see on a Hornby wartime black streamliner, as this is how the tenders were during this period.

Not with the right tender though

Personally I'd love to see a post war streamlined Duchess, wartime black, cut down tender sides and tender cowling removed. Hornby have never done a version like this (as far as i know) and they ran like this much longer than they did in just wartime black. Also i want to see them do 6253-6255 with their different tender compared to the rest of the class. And surely 6256 in LMS 46 Black is on the cards for this year. Though whatever we get is what he get in the end.

The A1/1 as well.

Retooled Black 5

Original Boilered Scots British Legion Rebuilt Jubilees....

Well no, the Bachmann range version is the left hand drive version, so boiler fittings, cab interior, chimney, tender, different frames, dome. Definitely not just a repackaged NRM model.

Following this with very keen interest.

http://www.locomotionmodels.com/exclusive-models/diesel-and-electric-models/dp1-deltic-prototype-east-coast-version.htm Still seems available Tony.

If he wants out of the nameplate game just sell up. I always feel like these announcements are made just to (hopefully) see a quick influx of orders when things are going slow for him... I don't know, I really like his products but I'm starting to be put off by slow orders and stuff like this.

Oh I know, but Steve there doesn't seem to think so.

Deltic didn't use 3 links....