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Would these have run through the Chesterfield/Tinsley area in the mid 80s at all?!

27 minutes ago, Csalem said:

Watching the blue Deltic going around the layout with blue/grey Mark 1s and Mark 2s did make me think how good it will look with AS Mark 2s.

and some Accurascale 2Ds - hint hint! 😉

On 07/05/2022 at 21:02, Gary H said:

I wonder if there would be any market for some more early Freight Liner flats, namely the FFA and FGA?

I wasn't interested in them when Bachmann done them, now I am, they seem like hens teeth, which is typical.  You can find the 'outer' buffered examples still, but the 'inners' seem non existent.

Doesn't look as though Bachmann are interested in doing anymore. 

Not helped by the fact that in typical Bachmann fashion they only did one inner when I believe they ran in sets of five?! 
 

This is where the new manufacturers lead the way in my opinion, by offering multiple running numbers so you can assemble a rake early on rather than being drip fed as Bachmann do. 
 

I’d like a rake or two of four or five sets each but I’ll not buy the Bachmann ones (or much else of theirs now) as it just takes them too long to release things and would rather do without.

An Accurascale model would be welcomed by me also, likely to be better overall and better value, and I’m prepared to wait for that or just continue to do without! 

11 hours ago, adb968008 said:

37430 was missed, it hung around in Mainline for a very long time and a strong performer.

 

agreed on the others but as I raced from school to Bolton to see the Blackpool, Barrow and Southport’s, the ones above never appeared. I did see 403 in Green at Crewe though, just after it burnt out.

 

I forgot to add 37431 to this list..

 

A mainline 37/4 and 37430 is very much my wish list.

and moving forwards a few decades 37716 with DRS arguably the last BR era freight diesel loco to be used on daily scheduled LHCS.

431 was the one with small Railfreight Petroleum logos under the cab windows wasn’t it?

Hopefully the INTERCITY Saloon is a pre production model as they appear to have done the white stripe in executive light grey? Or did this carry a different version at some point - the photo on Flickr from 1993 looks to be white as would be normal. 

32 minutes ago, Torbay Express said:

This is disgusting!  Showing such filthy tractor porn on a Wednesday morning.  How are people going to concentrate until Friday afternoon with such frivolities being shown.

 

God knows what will happen when you start sound demonstrations......

 

......they do look very, very nice by the way!   

 

 

So that’s the tractor porn the mp recently resigned for! 🤣

They seem to have missed painting the inside edge of the window surrounds black on all versions looking at those pics above? 

10 minutes ago, Wickham Green too said:

Southampton to Ramsgate via Milton Keynes & Brighton, much of East Anglia and whichever bits of Western-Land are wired this week - so a fair chunk of the country ............ and don't forget this the effluent sarf east where we have lots of spare dosh to spend on our toys - in theory !

As I said - former NSE area - so in terms of modelling it’s really only quite a narrow spread of the country! ;-) Apart from Cardiff, which I mentioned, and ironically this is probably the biggest draw for a 387 as GWR stuff is usually quite popular! 

The Desiro has, or had, a much wider spread if not the numbers of units - from Weymouth across to Ipswich (possibly Norwich?!), Heathrow, London to the Midlands and North West and up  to Glasgow/Edinburgh so potentially more appealing to those modelling different areas rather than just the South East. But for whatever reason Bachmann hasn’t released any further 350s or modified the front to a 360?

Is that just because they’ve not got around to it yet or are these not the best sellers? Only Bachmann will know that though! 
 

It would be interesting to know how many model where they live though! I’m from the South East but have no interest in modelling it and am torn between South Yorkshire or Scotland! Lol.

35 minutes ago, Roy Langridge said:

 

Third rail arcing also gets worse as the weather changes. I grew up about 1/2 mile from a third-rail line and on cold winter mornings you would see the sky light up as if there was lightning as the early trains would arc their way along the line.

Roy

The first train after a frosty or icy night always put on quite a light show! 
 

I guess those modelling third rail areas almost need both options - train fitted for the continuous arcing caused by ice but also the track fitted option for locations prone to arcing!

7 hours ago, TomScrut said:

 

Not necessarily IMO. The engineering design is for the tooling. It happens once per tooling lifecycle (except any mods), art design happens every release. Probably someone signs off on the art but not necessarily the person who signed the CADs or EPs off possibly a while before the art is done.

 

If it is two people, then if they do their jobs right the tooling and art will be right anyway.

Whoever does the box sleeve artwork seems to be able to get it right! Unfortunately though it never gets through to the actual models!! 
 

The Railfreight 60s on the box looked quite a good match for colour, then you opened it… 

31 minutes ago, reddragon said:

The Electrostars have a wider appeal, many liveries and a broad spread across the UK.

 

c387 = 4 routes, 6 liveries

c379 = 2 routes / liveries

c377 = Southern 2 routes / liveries

c375 = 2 routes / liveries 

c172 = 2 routes / liveries

 

You can model all southern routes, all eastern routes, GWR & MML from London. Only Euston / Chiltern missed, but Birmingham covered.

 

That's without the c170,171 / 357,375,378s without corridor ends! Rest of UK covered there!

 

Wider appeal to what though?! 
 

In terms of area covered I’d say the Electrostar has quite a narrow spread really, pretty much within the former Network SouthEast area and not much else other than GWR operating them to Cardiff, but that’s only very recent. 
 

The 172 were diesel last time I looked! ;-) But to be fair have probably covered a wider area number of areas and liveries than you’ve given them credit for! 
 

London Overground

Chiltern

London Midland

West Midlands Railway temporary 

West Midlands Railway (however many versions until they made their mind up!) 

And they’ve moved about a bit in those liveries too, I think the LO ones ran in that livery in the midlands before repainting and the Chiltern ones are currently at WMR too. 
 

I don’t knock anyone who wants an Electrostar as if you want one you want one but I do wonder how widespread the actual demand for one is? The Bachmann Desiro 350/450 has, I would say a larger geographical spread but they don’t seem to have offered any of the newer liveries recently.

First TransPennine Express

TransPennine Express

Plain Grey

London Northwestern Railway temp

London Northwestern Railway

South Western Railway stripes

South Western Railway plain

And with the different cab they could have offered all the versions of 360.

There is still time of course but TransPennine stuff seems really popular so I’m surprised that one of those hasn’t appeared before. 

It just strikes me that these units don’t have the demand, or enough of it, to make them appealing to (some) manufacturers, but I readily admit that is just my feeling! While I was was still going for privatisation era models I picked up several London Midland units very cheaply as they seemed to be slow sellers. 

It would be really interesting to carry out a census to actually get a true idea how many model where, what era, what amount they’d (truthfully) purchase etc! 

11 minutes ago, Gary H said:

You have 2 containers?? 

20 footers or 40's or 53's??

Either way, that's alot of Deltics!!!

Sort of off topic but applicable, does a shipper share a container with another shippers goods, or is it simply, 'use all the available space'??

The costs involved, I wouldn't expect them to be half full etc.

I imagine weight per container must come into it somewhere - and we know these weigh quite a bit each!! 

1 hour ago, wombatofludham said:

I've got a feeling the window shape and depth differ between the 114, 119 and 120, plus the 120 has a deeper chassis frame.

However, if Accurascale were to develop a long-frame DMU chassis, then there might be some mileage in doing a family of units - the 114 as a two car unit would be in the same market segment as the Bachmann 108 but sufficiently different to appeal to those of us who are fart-cart fans (plus a lot of them ended up at Tyseley in the 80s and then got used everywhere from Yarmouth to Barmouth), a 116 would be in the same market segment as the Bachmann 117 but covering a greater geographical area, again not competing head on with the Bachmann product but complementary, whilst the 119 would be a new market segment which hasn't yet been tackled, the first generation "long haul" DMU.  I'm sure that a lot of components could be shared between the units even if things like body mouldings and some underframe details differed.

Any of these three being produced would further aid my road to bankruptcy.

I’d certainly want several 114s to replace my Bachmann fleet of 108s and a 116 or two would be good too!

If the SYPTE brown and cream 114 could be done too then all the better! 

How about a 111 as well?! ;-) 

I’d say the HSTs look too dark - almost dirty - and the 91 is closer to the correct shade but maybe just a little light? That is from memory though so just an opinion! 

An MSV as used from Peak Forest in the 80s would be good - for me anyway! 

Just wondering how easy it is on these to move the wipers to pose them in a different position?! 
 

Ie to have both pointing in same direction rather than centre. Are they glued in or just a tight push fit?!

Thanks. 

Ignoring anything Railroad what do Hornby have in their slightly better than Railroad range?
 

08, 31, 50, 56, 60 and HST, and if being really generous - the 153! Lol.

The 31 and 56 have already been targeted obviously, Hornby’s half hearted attempt at the HST still leaves it a viable target I think (hope!) for a high end version along with the others, not too fussed on the 153 though! 
 

I agree with the comments on the 60 - I think it was one of their best at the time but they’ve let it go somewhat, both in quality and decoration. When I was going for mid 2000s I thought the EWS ones were pretty good, but the recent Railfreight ones, as has been said, are really not great. 

4 hours ago, James Makin said:

My pet peeve - with the Hornby Class 60 I think it's the colours that let them down, where they used to have the capability to produce a good triple grey Class 60 back in the mid-late 2000s with their first few releases, nowadays their more modern releases all use shades that are too dark. It's almost like they had a member(s) of staff that left the business and took the knowledge with them - the last decently-shaded triple grey releases they did were 60062 in Trainload Petroleum, 60066 in Coal/Transrail mash and 60014 in EWS sticker triple grey. 

 

Each release since including 60090 and 60015 have all been wrong, the Rail grey being too yellow and the upper Flint grey being too dark. Strangely it never gets picked out by the model reviews in the magazines (the old REX reviews would've seen this!) - lots of big fuss when Hornby misprinted the Construction logo in the wrong place on the body but not one person mentioned that the basic shades of grey were completely wrong, making the loco still useless without a repaint 🤦‍♂️😄

 

Hopefully now they've announced new runs of 60001 and 60002 they will have new shades of grey much closer to the real thing, fingers crossed!

 

Cheers,

James

I do miss the reviews of the past that weren't actually scared to highlight any issues - all the reviews these days seem pretty pointless reading to be honest, as if they’re in bed with the manufacturer or scared to get on the wrong side of them! 
 

The model can be completely the wrong shape or colour, or both in some cases and the reviewer ignores all the issues and writes… ‘excellent model 9 out of 10!’

I think it was Philip Sutton who pulled no punches in his reviews and should be applauded for that and of course is now putting his money where his mouth and producing some great models! 

40 minutes ago, spamcan61 said:

They're the one and only brand name the vast majority of the population have heard of, their product range (across all brands) is vastly bigger than anyone else in the market so I suspect that would be a cutting off nose to spite face situation for pretty much any mainstream retailer.

I’m not disagreeing on the fact that the brand name is well known - whether that actually translates into major sales who knows.

Whilst I suspect there maybe a few purchases that are completely unrelated to any form of ‘persuasion’, that these are very much in the minority! 
 

By persuasion I mean truly unbiased purchases by people with no real interest in railways or modelling beforehand where knowledge of the brand name has been the only deciding factor. 
 

For example my interest in railways and models was most likely only due to my grandad having a layout when I was growing up. He was never seriously into the real railway though, but I do remember us going to watch HSTs nearby while holidaying in Devon.

I then had model railways bought for me for Birthdays and Christmas, if that hadn’t been the case as much as I may now know what Hornby was I wouldn’t be out buying model railways, I was kind of steered that way by influences in my formative years. 
 

If there are families with generations of parents, grandparents with no interest in railways then the chances are neither will the children unless they pick it up elsewhere, so it won’t matter how well known we think Hornby are! 
 

I do disagree a bit on this Hornby is the most well known, people will only buy that because they haven’t heard of others. It’s 2022 - for those with an interest it really doesn’t take much time online to find out.

I’d lost interest until lockdown forced me to find something to do! I’d not heard of Accurascale until then - it didn’t take long to find out about them and now I pretty much won’t buy anything else! 

If I were a retailer I just wouldn’t stock Hornby - that may play into their hands a bit I know, with them seemingly wanting everyone to use their website - as it must surely be more hassle than it’s worth?

The product isn’t great, the quality control is shocking, decoration can be hit and miss, and that’s before you get into the fun and games around allocations etc.

Surely the stress of all that, customers returning faulty or cheaply made items and dealing with Hornby themselves must mean for a lot them they be better off telling them where to go?! 

2 hours ago, Roy Langridge said:

I have been looking at photos of 31402 and comparing the prototype in my usual time period (early 1980s) with the Accurascale model.

 

The obvious difference is that 31402 already had Dominos fitted by the late 1970s.  Other than that, early 1980s photos have glimpses of the old white strip still sowing and the depot sticker was no longer present below the TOPS panel - both of which I can sort easily.

 

Can anybody think of any other differences that I have over looked please?

 

That then leads on to a question for @Accurascale Fran and the guys, will the 31s come with a sheet of headcodes which includes dominos as you have done for the 37s/55s?  I am assuming yes, but thought I would check.

 

Many thanks,

Roy

Hi Roy, I was having the same thoughts as you with both 248 and 402!

As Fran has said the dominos can be easily sorted and McC said the same to my earlier post.
 

I later then realised that by the early 80s the front doors had been plated over and I think the models still have the opening doors looking at the artwork?

I guess it depends how much that bothers you?! I’m going more mid-late 80s so unfortunately they’re probably just a bit too early for me. 

12 hours ago, stonojnr said:

 

Id send it back even without the scratch, that just looks an awful textured finish,for a £200+ locomotive remember, I dont care if from 10 metres away its not that noticeable, thats a bad level of livery finish imo, Ive never had a model that I used a varnish coat on end up looking like that, thats almost like the application has partially melted the plastic surface.

 

apparently R3890 is due within the next 2 to 4 weeks, I hope the InterCity Executive livery is not similarly afflicted.

Have to agree with you, that finish is horrendous - even allowing for the light and being close up it looks awful!

It reminds me of my first, and only, attempt at spraying when I was a teenager! That came out all mottled and lumpy, and clogged up all the detail! I realised I didn’t have the patience for it so have never tried again. I certainly wouldn’t want to spend 200 plus on something new with the same finish! 

I’m glad I cancelled mine back in January now, whilst I’d liked to have the livery that finish is really disappointing.

9 hours ago, 97403_Ixion said:

They're doing the 37/6's but I wonder if the EPS variant with ring emblems is on the cards...

But I guess they have to wait until they've announced the rolling stock first...

 

The 37/9's would be great, though personally perhaps not 37905 & 37906 as I already have the Kernow / Bachmann pair from a while back.  I remember seeing and hearing this monsters!

 

In my view, it would also be good to see more of the Europhoenix livery locos, especially with all the dragging/scrap train work they have been doing as of late, allowing a real mix of off-region electric units on a GWML scene layout!!!

 

Perhaps the only thing I would like to hear is for two locos in multiple to somehow have de-synchronised sound, so it does not sound like it's down a drainpipe when working in consist.  Short of buying sound from two different suppliers, I have never heard of it being done on a production model and I am sure it must be possible to do so, with the 37 being a fine loco to have this feature.  Just imagine the double thundering sound they could create - maybe Accurascale could be the first with this innovation?

 

The Accurascale NR 97301 looks absolutely superb - now I can't wait for them to arrive.

 

Cheers,

Ixion.

Or three in multiple if you’re running the Hunterston to Ravenscraig Iron Ore?! 
 

Not my image… but what a collection of liveries! 

7 hours ago, Ajax50046 said:

Right, that's it. Every last one of my Bachmann 37's are going on eBay tonight. Wow.

Gotta be done! Haha.

I’ve had a major cull of Bachmann and Hornby over the past few weeks - in fact I’m now down to one Hornby 31 (the RTC one), and that’ll be gone if Accurascale promise to do it! Lol, and a set of blue/grey HST power cars!

I’ve cleared out Bachmann 20s, 25s, 37s, 47s, Hornby HSTs, 08, 31s, 50s, 56s and 60s! Probably around 80 locos in total and I’m b***** tired of packing boxes but it’s very therapeutic - getting rid of Bachmann and Hornby that is, not packing boxes! Haha. And now I have plenty of room for lots of Accurascale niceties!