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Well the requirement for a banger blue centre box 37 got the better of me so this is the latest project based on the Vitrains offering with Shawplan windscreens. Need to source some better horns for the roof next. The 'Cardiff Rod Mill' (titter!)!

Gosh it makes you feel old! I remember them being built in Crewe works alongside the then 87/2s. Mind you they lasted longer in service than the Deltics or most of the EE Type 4 fleet, so it just shows the difference in perception of the longevity of locos built before you were born compared to ones that were built when you were around to see them being built!

^^^^^ Yes, I want my Duffs and Syphons back!

They look great. I’m slowly getting into weathering. Thing is you don’t need much to improve the appearance of a model, so I’m starting generally with light weathering on the roof and chassis, and will get more adventurous as I go on.

Duplicate post - I'm repeating myself in my old age!

If you scroll back up on P45 of this thread to my pic of 25191 with the cab door handrails bent closer to the door frames, this has been renumbered from 25093. I used fine wet and dry which had been used a lot already, and I haven't yet varnished over where the old number was. T Cut will work, though I didn't have any to hand in the wee small hours when I was up because of Covid jab man flu! The originals are very sturdily printed, though, acrylic thinners / marker pen didn't touch them!

Surely it’s ‘Enry you need!

A little brute force with the end of a steel rule has made the cab door handrails a lot better.

Well, I've gone and panic bought a Ballymoss. The Finsbury Park look was one of my favourites.

Try brian55hanson@icloud.com. He’s often a few days behind due to the volume of orders. Sometimes correspondence gets lost, but a reminder normally does the job.

Well, I've decided to upgrade my Ice Cream Van which is currently a slightly grungy (close up) Bachmann/Hornby hybrid. One slight hiccup was that American Express wasn't accepted despite there being an icon on the checkout page. Ended up using the Visa Debit card that I use for ecommerce shopping, but hopefully they'll send a notification so I can make sure there's money in the account. Will email Suttons. Just need one of the earlier (intermediate) body style ones now. Maybe a Hornby body on the old Bachmann chassis for now.

Yes, it is a representation of the mucky patch underneath. Obscured behind a fresh warning flash on my model of 25191 (which looks to have all the same body differences, along with some nostalgia for me)!

I’d be up for a duff rat! That sounds a bit rude! There’s nothing a respray won’t sort, though!

A little black paint did the trick with mine. Prepare for disco lights if you run it before the (acrylic) paint’s dried though!

Well an unsettled night, probably as an after effect of the Covid jab meant an early morning identity change. Ready for some dirt. I'm pleased with it as a model.

I don't think those funky 70s platform soles help with the matter. On a more serious note, I do like your Sulzer fleet a lot and to me the Bachmann one stands out the worst due to the curve on the cab roof. So much so that mine ended up with Hornby cabs.

I stand corrected on the cab front handrails, they are wire. The bow can be got rid of by removing and putting back on the other way up, it seems! A couple of tiny blobs of thin superglue on the little mounded pips that they sit on to keep them in place and they sit straight, now.

It’s good enough for me, but then I rarely run stuff straight out of the box for very long as I do like to tinker. Improving the handrails and the fit of the front glazing slightly, plus installing some grime should do the job.

Proper! Needs a dirty weekend at some point! Think the cab front handrails may get replaced with wire. The cab windows would benefit from black around the inner edges which is what I do with FYE locos (the ones without bonnets)

Brill. Many thanks!

Are they your own prints or available somewhere? The other important part is an accurate plated over headcode box with the little lip around the edges. The Hornby model with headcodes incorrectly has the lip, but it’s handy when modelling the plated boxes. It’s extremely fine detail so difficult to model properly with styrene strip.

There is a good chance that my blue one on order at the moment may get some stuck on, and a platey-over headcode box if I can get (or make) some bits that look just right. It’s a shame that only a couple of 86/2s got dominoes as the look suited them. Mind you the loco fleet spans any time from the late 60s to the 80s, with the odd temporal anomaly happening when I fancy mixing and matching, so it may just retain the 0O00.

I must say that I thoroughly enjoy working with older models, as I am currently doing with. a couple of the original Bachmann class 40s at the moment. It’s very satisfying to get something that sits alongside one of the latest ones, and somewhat more so than just plonking a brand new model straight out of the box on the layout.

Thanks, Ben, they’re on the water / in transit so to speak which is good to know. The day job involves working with many customers that manufacture offshore in the Far East, and much ‘fun’ and shenanigans is being had landing the goods at their final destination due to Brexit. Some have managed to open EU operations (or UK operations in the case of those in the Republic of Ireland) with their own warehouses, but this is costly and many of the remainder are experiencing red tape and delays. Anyhow, current state of affairs aside, I’m looking forward to these, and the Zebedees to follow!