romley midland

I can totally see what Andrew is saying, and I think the point has been missed somewhat here. Collectors will buy a model because it is a limited edition, thus it is collectible, so if they buy a model which is a limited edition of 250 units, then a couple of years later another 250 are produced then that collector isn't going to be happy as the reason they brought it in the first place was because they were led to believe they were buying one of only 250 models of that particular loco that would be produced. Look at the outcry when modelzone did a run of the RTC class 24 experiment or subsequent batches of DP1 from the NRM, and from what Dave has said above it seems to me that Dapol are opening the door for a similar situation again, albeit in this case by the same commissioner as the original 'limited edition'. Cheers, Richard

See post #315 Cheers, Richard

But how many of Dapol's customers are members of their club? I'm not disputing the fact that it will arrive one day but just pointing out that I don't think it is a well known fact that Dapol are doing an n gauge western outside of the likes of rmweb and the Dapol club. It s missing from what should be the main reference point for customers, the catalogue, however I presume it will be in the new 2012 catalogue whenever that is released. Compare this to the farish blue Pullman for example, and whilst most of the talk has been about the 00 version, I would expect the majority of N modellers know about it because it is in the catalogue and any customer can go into a shop and find that information from the catalogue, whereas for the western they can't unless the retailer is upto speed with what has and hasn't been announced and given the announcement was almost a year and a half ago I wouldn't be surprised if many had forgotten the western announcement by now! Cheers, Richard

I can see a few reasons why people might buy the farish version actually, first of all they can get it to market pretty quickly it's just a case of planning a production slot, the Dapol version I don't think we will see until this time next year at the earliest, despite Dave saying the 00 version could be out in May, there is no way that will happen so that pushes everything else back. Also how many people actually know Dapol are doing an n gauge western? It wasn't in their catalogue when announced last year and there are many modellers who just don't use the Internet, at least not for websites such as rmweb, so unless they are searching around trying to find this information then I'm sure there are many n gauge modellers that haven't got a clue about this forthcoming loco, and any coverage in the magazines was a long time ago now and I bet it can confuse things further if any news/updates are in the same article as the 00 version. I personally often look back at catalogues from the previous year or two to see what I'm still waiting for that I want to buy, but as it isn't in the Dapol catalogue people who don't use the Internet will either forget it was announced, or think they must have imagined it! Cheers, Richard

We gave the Hornby Mag review sample an outing on Ashland this afternoon at Warley during the 'happy hour' where anything goes ( including a derby lightweight dmu and LMS 10000!) and this caught my eye straight away, there is a definite wobble, or maybe to say the loco 'rocks' would be a better description, this rocking is quite obvious as you watch the loco travelling along a piece of track. Hopefully this is a co-incidence and not something that will affect the whole production run? Cheers, Richard

Just picked up a green model, nice little loco this! Only problem is there is no guide to where all the pipes go, is this online somewhere or can anyone post a suitable picture, and should they all be fitted to a loco in original 60's condition? Thanks for any help, cheers, Richard

Thanks for the tips on the copper tape Steve, I shall try some of those pointers out, Many thanks and keep up the good work, Richard

Hi Steve, The layout looks to be coming on really well and it's all being done to a very high standard! Can I ask you about the copper track (self adhesive?) that you are using under the boards, I am using the same but after I apply it the ends start to lift pretty quickly and I don't think any of it will stay on for very long! I am using some I brought from all components and sticking it to a full gloss surface. What are you using and can you give any tips for keeping it stuck to the board?! Best regards, Richard

My brother has just returned from the local model shop with one of these beasts, I've had a quick glance, looks good, I reckon the box is the best bit tho! Cheers Richard Edit : should have mentioned it's BLUE PETER that he has just come home with, not ne of the others which have been around for a while

I personally don't ever remember Bachmann promising this model for Christmas 2009, and having just looked through the winter 2009 collectors club mag they have in it the pictures of the first test shot from the tooling, and as anyone will know it usually takes Bachmann 6+ months from that stage to actually release the model so it should have been obvious back then that is was never going to be a Christmas 2009 release! Cheers, Richard

Hope you guys don't mind this 'stab in the dark' explanation, maybe it was the wooden presentation boxes which have already arrived at barwell thus causing confusion if the loco's themselves haven't yet arrived but to those not involved in the packing/distribution etc they may well think the locos are in them boxes! Edit: another possibility, it may be the collectors club special which has arrived at barwell, Blue Peter in current preserved condition, again a logical source of confusion? Cheers, Richard

May I ask why you actually need to get it off at the moment? Surely you've not ran it for 50 hours already have you?! Cheers, Richard

Alan, I bit the bullet and took the body off this evening, just out of curiosity! I did it the same way as Andy described and the smoke deflectors stayed on the running plate of mine aswell, it was tight but came apart safely and went back together similarly so, however the cab handrails will need a touch up with paint where it has come off as I pushed them back into their holes with a pair of tweezers. I wouldn't have noticed the difference with the con-rods but swapped them round when I had them off to paint the wheels, satin black for me and it looks SO MUCH BETTER! Not got round to doing the rods an oily wash yet but I'm sure this will Finnish the transformation off! Cheers, Richard

Have Dapol said they will be making these changes to future batches then? Cheers, Richard

Gordon, I think the grass looks fantastic, but can I ask what fibres you used ( make, colour, size etc) as I would like to create a similar effect? Sorry if it has already been mentioned I did browse but couldn't see any references, Cheers, Richard

http://www.newrailwaymodellers.co.uk/Forums/viewtopic.php?f=20&t=28727 As for your other comments Roy, I can only agree, all of my farish loco's have been great, where as with Dapol I feel its more a case of luck, based mainly on the fact I had a B17 which burnt itself out whilst running in! BTW have the britannia's been delayed? I don't remember seeing them being advertised at all but I have noticed the B1 is advertised in the latest model rail as arriving during October, I thought the B1's were 'to follow' the Brits? Maybe they are rushing the B1 out in desperation to beat the farish example, or they're not going to bother advertising the Brit at all as they have only produced to stockist orders so for their part don't need to advertise?! Cheers, Richard

Grahame, are you sure you don't work for Dapol?! Cheers, Richard

I see on the Dapol website they have just despatched the latest new releases, but no sign of the Brit's on that list, any idea when we will see them in the shops? Cheers, Richard

Andy, I know Dapol insist that all loco's are oiled before use or it will invalidate the warranty, is the worm gear one of the points that needs to be oiled aswell before running, as it seems very strange to ask customers to disassemble their loco's so drastically before they can run them, and I would imagine it may put a good few people off buying them, especially those in the 'train set' sector of the market? Also do you have any idea of when they will be available? thanks for the pics Andy, cheers Rich

The wall looks great, reminds me of Tetley Mills. This is the first time i've seen your posts but i'll certainly be keeping a lookout for more updates, keep up the good work! Cheers, Richard

Would it not be more annoying though if Bachmann didn't announce an Arriva version, so decided to sacrifice another 150 to repaint into your desired livery, then the next day they announce it and its released a week later? I would certainly prefer to know in advance, hence why i haven't tried to upgrade a minitrix Brit or attempt the Langley B1 in N gauge as i know Dapol will release them in good time and the product will be better than is possible to achieve from the current options. And is it really going to ruin your life if you can't get one NOW? Atleast you're not going round shows seeing them running on other layouts and feeling jealous because they got theirs before you, when they arrive i'm sure you will be able to get one and atleast you know they will be released at some point, you're not praying every march that Bachmann might finally announce the livery you've been waiting for! cheers, Richard

Bachmann's delivery schedule on newly tooled models seems to be highly variable (at least systematically late was reliable!) - in the last week we've had the 4CEP (2 or three years wait possibly a record) and the 3mt (10 months wait! - must be one of the quickest releases of recent years), while the A1, only needing a tender retool is not here, and the A2 (announced last July) is not here. Still, it keeps things interesting! G-BOAF, i think you have to cut Bachmann some slack here and look at the reasons for the varied durations from announcement to release. The 4-cep was announced before Bachmann changed their policy to only making new announcements when a model was at an advance stage, so either tooled or pretty much ready for tooling. It has also been well documented that they have struggled greatly to get the drawings and info required to produce the 4-cep. The 3mt had already been announced in the farish range so i would guess a lot of the research was done before the announcement so that makes the 00 model a 'quick and easy' model to produce. Tornado was announced at the same time as the 3mt, and by the looks of it it will be released within 12 months since the announcement which i feel is still very good. You may say that they only needed to retool the tender, but that means new drawings, tools etc, and if they only have one guy who produces the drawings, tools etc, and they all have to go through the chief designer to be signed off, then they can only do 1 at a time surely? If i remember rightly the A2 was announced at the trade fair in March when the new range was released, it didn't make it into the catalogue but there was a supplement with this and the presflos on, so being a brand new model announced at the same time as the 3mt i would expect it to be released after the 3mt as they already ahd a lot of work done for the 3mt through farish. Cheers, Richard