Asked Joel nicely could I have a closer look at this one in the dying moments of Warley on Sunday and he was happy to oblige. They were wrapping up, and I'd to help dismantle a stand myself, so only poked it for a minute (ooh cheeky)
My observations - stuff like the silencer, lampirons and couplings has already been covered so no need to repeat here
The printing of the name plate is nice, but the font on the number plate and the repeater numbers is not right. Cast plates will be provided too, but didn't see these. Guessing they will be number, name, data panel and worksplates, their version of 59005 doesnt have the extra Megatrain plate applied so my guess is that this wont be included. Obviously that ARC logo will be going, to be replaced with a FOX decal. Jury is out on the shades of yellow. More concerned about the warning panel (hopefully not lemon again!!) than the mustard custard, which got certain people a little bit flustered
The Yeoman one was running on the little display layout they had too on Sunday, literally a little roundey roundey layout, so obviously didnt have 18+ JHA's in tow
Its not as heavy as I was expecting, but given my benchmark for 'heavy' is now an Accurascale Deltic this is not surprising
The cab glazing looks amazing and flush, so that interior will need a lick of green paint. I didnt get to look closely to see if it has the American style control pedestal rather than a generic 'cab' but I'm sure that a 3D print of the proper 59 interior will be done if this model is lacking one. Might need to revert to some of the forbidden 'Modelling'
Also saw the box it will come in, not quite Accurascale Deltic sized but sufficient, approx the same size as a Dapol Western box. Strong Cardboard outer, foam inside with the model sitting in a plastic tray - same as most models these days
There will be 5 variants of each
Standard (Analogue)
DCC
DCC with sound
DCC with smoke - 2 versions of smoke, smoke oil and the water version
DCC with smoke and sound
Its also noticeable that Andy (of DCC Supplies) is not longer working for Dapol, who had been the project manager, so it needed to be pushed over the line. Tooling does not come cheap, so recoup on investments is needed
This is looking like a repeat of the Dapol 73 here - so close, yet so far - Improvements are possible and making it your own model that bit more is a part of it for many, which is satisfying to those but some want it bang on immediately. Its amazing that the latter are the loudest online and on social media, they might make a nice video, but the mere mention of an airbrush, blade, transfers or detailing parts instills fear or just 'I want it perfect, but dont want to pay lots'. Only 1 youtuber I've seen is happy to roll up his sleeves and get on with it
Probably a bit biased myself as I'm a big fan of Mendip Stone stuff, and I'm happy to get my hands (and the models) dirty. Just means there will be quite a few 'returns' like there were with 73's. Given the announced ARC JHA I'll be needing 3 59's now... 1 FY and 2 ARC.
Still - could be worse. Remember Convict Jones and his aspirations......