Brocp

It certainly did run de-streamlined as 6229, there is a photo of her in the book "profile of the Duchesses" in post war black with her LMS number.

No thanks. Either they should go all the way, ie do a fully detailed model, or not at all on a loco like Turbomotive. What works for a Flying Scotsman or Mallard wouldn't work in this case.

Was that Bon Scott i heard singing in the background?

I'll add to my last post and say that if Hornby do annouce a new Princess, then i hope they go all out and make Turbomotive as well. Now that will attract some attention.

From the sounds of it, the tooling may be broken, as basically all the A3's released in the last few years have had running plate and front end issues.

Gibson and Markits do, personally prefer the Gibson ones.

Retooled Princess. I honestly can't think of anything more obvious from within the Hornby family that needs being brought in to the 21st century.

Wrong wheels. Duchesses had 3' 9 spoke wheels.

I've used plenty of sets of LMS numerals and lining from PC/HMRS and nothing beats the older PC transfers. The newer HMRS ones seem to be more washed out in colour and sharpness, the 1946 numerals espeically are closer to Hornby's poor straw colour than the real thing should look like. I wish another firm would come along and make big 4 transfers that are accurate, presentable and have less issues than what these newer HMRS ones do. Even the HMRS ones from a decade ago are better then brand new ones.

I'd think one of the non streamlined locos would sell well in wartime black, espeically if it was say 6230 or 6231 which pulled Streamlined tenders (with the sides cut down admittedly) during the war. Also these are Duchesses we're talking about, just like A4's, they sell and always have which is why new ones are in the catalogue basically every year.

The deflectors and the bogie wheels still need changing to make it look really good in my opinion. If Bachmann could do etched deflectors for their Patriot model, which is nearly 10 years old, you'd think Hornby would do the same now.

Hornby's designs certainly sometimes are too clever for themselves, on the new Patriots for example they've completely forgotten to add the mechanical lubricators on the LMS version. Mine has none and none of the ones I've seen on shop sites have them either. But strangely the BR one has them... For me Hornby's issues with their models aren't that they are designed necessarily poorly or that they are overly fragile (they are no where near as bad as Heljan's steam locos for example) but that QC is quite poor and little things are either ignored or forgotten about. Hornby need to quickly improve this and get back on the right track.

Personally Lancaster as a streamliner with cut down tender is a must. It'll be a popular model, being the last one in the shroud and also having a BR number. I'm personally hoping we get 6253-6255 next year with the proper tender. They haven't done a model of any of those 3 in a very long time.

The very same people complaining about lack of trains would probably complain about lack of realism if there were trains entering and leaving every 30 seconds. Some people will never be happy. We're lucky a layout of this size and brilliance gets exhibited and isn't in someone's shed permanently.

I think a lot of that has got to do with the front end, the inside cylinder cover is too small and the area around the bogie is pretty sparse. A Comet replacement bogie and detailing around the bogie helps that quite a bit. As does replacement deflectors.

Did they have a red one there too?

Very true. I did speak with Hornby when the new tooling was annouced and he said that they had tooled up the tender for 6253-6255, which means we'll get them for the first ever with correct tender.

She was wartime black when new, no deflectors and streamlined tender.

No new updates Iain? Ps hope you're well

I can only imagine Steve. What are some of the larger projects that need doing?

Great video. Love seeing the layout. What will the next big project be? Ballasting?

I use AK Interactive "Fuel Stains" for that greasy oily look now, but there are several other ways to do it. Have a look at my thread "weathered LMS locomotives" to see the results.

Only one name I'd recommend, Iwata. Cannot go wrong with them.

From memory Tom uses Masokit screw links and slaters 3 link. Though that could have changed. Ps good to see you back modelling Tom.

Tmc are way overpriced for the services they give imo. I'd go the old mig powders. Smoke Black, Track Brown and Light Mud will give you a weathered black, dark and light rust colours. Use them more as finishing off items instead of an using them for overall weathering application. You'll see the best weatherers in any sort of modelling will also use paints and washes etc as well.