timbo2857

That was the only downer for me was the loco to tender connection on the Ivatt, but these were easily disguised with some black paint.

A good job I don’t need one then...I moaned about the price of the Class 117 when it first came out, even though I eventually bought one, but that’s ridiculous.

The prices that Bachmann are charging for older tooling models are ridiculous. Though you could probably pick up a very decent second hand Ivatt for less than £100. In comparison You can get an Accurascale Manor from Bure Valley Models for £135 that’s what I call value. I haven’t bought a new model from Bachmann in a while now for that very reason, and Hornby, up until very recently have fell behind in the quality of new models.

No sorry Hornby I can’t justify £200 for what is a small tender loco. I will stick with my two Bachmann Ivatts, they run perfectly well, and still stand up to today’s standards. OK Hornby has a cast body, and perhaps slightly better detailing in pipework (though the standard 2mt had more to be fair), but the shiny wheel rims remind me of Dapols offerings, and there is too much brass and copper bling, which even on preserved locos would be considerably toned down. Instead of including a snowplough, they could have gone down Accurascales route and provided a proper front bogie attachment detail to disguise that NEM coupling hole, and you still have to fit those fiddly brake rodding like you had to 20 years ago. Perhaps I’m being picky but at this price I’m entitled to be.

It seems from recent experiences Hattons have become one of the last retailers to receive new items for some reason.

Me too, yes it’s expensive, and Accurascale have managed all of those features on their manors for less than £200, though I’d hope for a better motor on this WD.

It looks great, a tad expensive even for these days, but a lot of detail. I’ve always wanted a model of 600 Gordon to complete my SVR fleet. It hasn’t run for many years now.

What minimum radius are we looking at for this WD?

Is green D6703 still scheduled for mid october? if so I had better pay the balance. 🙂

Thanks, I will give them a try, though its a pity they dont have a proper web site to buy online.

Any ideas where I can find number plates for 1501? Fox Transfers have sold out.

I haven't with both my manors on DC even with considerable running in now.

I have returned it back to Cheltenham Models, and bought a replacement from AS, which is much better at slow speeds, not brilliant, but hoping it will improve more with running in.

My Gaugemaster controller is not a new one by any means ( twin DD) and all my locos run fine in all speed ranges, including the new 15xx from Rapido, which runs like a dream down to a crawl, and is heavy for its size. I can understand there may be slightly more controllability on DCC, but shouldn’t make much difference. I had to reorder Erlestoke from AS, after returning the original to Cheltenham models (noisy runner, and very jerky at slow speed, even after several hours running in), and to be fair it’s a lot better, not brilliant, but at least I can get it down to an acceptable slow speed, it may get better after more running in).

Yes there is no doubt the AS version wins in the detailing stakes, it really is a fantastic locomotive. However, I have 3 of these models and they all perform differently, and none of them brilliant at slow speeds, on DC, and this is the one aspect where the Dapol version wins for me. I have one of their manors, prairie, and 43xx and all perform superbly smoothly and quietly. I suggest for their next steam project, they ditch the 3 pole motor.