andyman7

I do like the Hornby (ex-Lima) 101 so it's good to see it issues again. One oddity I've noticed is that the motor bogie frame has a NEM socket but the other bogies retain the moulded on 'D ring' coupling. Upgrading those bogies so that the couplings could be easily altered would be my next choice of upgrade for this model.

Lovely wagon builds! As something of a KItmaster/Airfix enthusiast its' worth pointing out that Airfix did not take over the Kitmaster company, nor did the latter go bust. What happened is that Rosebud, having overextended itself with their railway plastic kits, sold the tooling to Airfix and withdrew from that market. They carried on with the Rosebud dolls and other sundry products before being taken over by Mattel. Indeed, if you are lucky enough to possess any original UK market Hot Wheels cars from the late 60s, you will see the maker's name as 'Rosebud Mattel', although the cars themselves were made in the US or Hong Kong (the latter normally provided the UK stock). It wasn't long before consolidation saw the final closure of the Raunds facility and whatever Rosebud DNA remained was subsumed into Mattel. Here's a 1968 Pathe film of the Raunds factory making Rosebud Mattel dolls: https://www.britishpathe.com/asset/55852/

As @AY Mod has pointed out, there is a search function and in my experience it works really well, it is always worth using that first when one has a question. At the very least it means you can reference it when seeking more information.

Indeed, a consequence of Government's continual kicking the can down the road with regard to legislative change means that the capacity to run TOCs via the 'Operator of Last Resort (OLR)' process is pretty much maxed out. The legal basis under which TOCs run right now is the 1993 Railways Act and until that is suitably amended there simply isn't the legal basis to run large parts of the network under public ownership indefinitely.

The WCRC colour issue has been debated to a considerable extent further up the thread

Gostude is even at this moment preparing an offer for you for this 'Rare' 'Kitbuilt/modified' railcar 🙂

When I dig it out again I'll remind you 🙂 The first Railway Modeller I bought brand new (rather than cadging back numbers) was the June 1980 issue. I then skipped July (I mean, 50p was the price of a Matchbox car...) but in subsequent issues there seemed to be endless correspondence referring back to news snippets or letters (I can't remember which) in that July 1980 issue regarding BR Class 03s and whether 40106 had ever been blue before it went green again. It was years before I picked up the offending issue which is why I still have it!

The only ones affected were the first 3 versions issued (green skinhead, weathered blue and grey/yellow civils 'Dutch'), made nearly 20 years ago. There hasn't been a problem with any of the many variants made since.

Here you go - note the Triang model is a Mk2a, Accurascale a Mk2b. This is an original 1968 Triang Hornby R723 so is correctly modelled as a BFK and even has track powered interior lighting to boot. The B4 bogies were also a better rendition than the later 1977 push-fit replacements that Hornby turned to using. Note that this one has a factory error with the number applied being the one meant for the SO - they normally come with the number M14052. The Accurascale one is unsurprisingly on a planet of its own but the Triang one isn't at all bad for its time - the biggest shortcoming is the extremely unflush glazing.

This is the final bit...

Browsing through some back numbers I spotted this letter in the aforementioned magazine which predicted that manufacturers might soon run out of Diesel models to make without resorting to duplication. I found the assessment of where the future opportunities might lie very entertaining with the benefit of 42 years' time travel. Every single item suggested has since been made - sometimes by more than one manufacturer, even if in some cases it took a few decades.

Here's a 1982 Railway Modeller advert from Highfield Birds and Models - this was the organisation that became Dapol Ltd from 1983. As you can see, it was already specialising in remaindered Airfix model railways, which was to lead to the acquisition of the tooling, the rest is history!

In my case it was EUFMO '80 at the Westminster Central Halls. I've found this Railway Modeller advert for it - wow, I'd forgotten that back then it was on for whole week during the Summer holidays! I remember buying my first 'brand new' (as opposed to secondhand) loco there - a Hornby R156 Diesel Shunter on offer for £6.50 from the Beatties stand

Here's a scan of a 1982 MTK advert in Railway Modeller...

I have found that a two stage approach is best adopted with the cabs located in place and glued with 5 minutes epoxy, and then a liberal interior coating of a good 24 hour epoxy that acts as a fillet and strong bond, left to set properly. Milliput can also be used to strengthen the joint.

You may recall my MTK 4 REP featured last year. The weak point of the model for me were the cab ends - the cast MTK versions being fairly crude representations of the BR SR standard fibreglass corridor cab ends. However it was done and other projects beckoned...then at the Tonbridge show I came across a stand with some MJT parts including a pair of said BR SR EMU cab ends....£6.50. I bought them, took them home and made them up, they are so much better than the MTK ones that inevitably with a sigh out came the MTK REP again. Anyone who has built these kits will know that getting a decent bond between the whitemetal ends and aluminium sides is not easy, but I managed to get the old ones off, clean and attach the new ones and then endure that they were well bonded with copious epoxy filleting and filling. Well, I have to say it is well worth it, the model actually looks the part now from the end view as well as the sides, so I am pleased I went to the effort.

Yes, that's the one and this example still has the original mechanism. The plastic wheels etc were a clear reflection that this was being built down to a price but the design was (and is) good - if it was being employed on heavy duty work I would look to replace the wheels with metal ones.

You just need to put on 3D spectacles 🙂

Oh, I also have a Triang one stashed away too that someone did an incredible job with too. I'll dig it out at some point 🙂

My personal favourite layout exhibit was the one based on the RTC test track - with literally dozens of classic RTC items of rolling stock faithfully modelled.

Ah yes, that's actually part of the DOGA display. It's a really nice diorama display but every time I've seen it. the person on the stand hasn't been able to tell me much about it as 'someone else built it'. Here's a couple of images from the Longfield show:

I think you may be referring to the MRC's 'York Road' which is a 2mm finescale representation of the tube that fits with the rest of Copenhagen Fields in the full setup

I was at LFoRM at Ally Pally this weekend on the Junior MRC modular layout. Although we try and operate stock that has been brought in by members I normally dig around in my vintage conversions to have something to run as a standby. This weekend honours were taken by the Airfix Class 31 converted to 'skinhead' type with detailing and flush glazing. This was already good when I got it but I renumbered it as a 'Toffee Apple' 31/0 version and serviced it, it ran faultlessly today and I must say looked fabulous - a good reminder that models don't have to be £200+ superdetail wonders to bring pleasure

I would define mass market as any manufacturer with an established retail distribution network and a catalogue of items that are available on demand for a sustained period of time. It's certainly not a definition set in stone but all the examples noted above have limited distribution although Revolution and Cavalex are somewhere nearer the border. Accurascale have expanded enormously since their inception and some of their items are 'stock' ones but many of their current/announced items still require pre-ordering and purchase immediately on release rather than being available for a little while at least. I'd expect this to be less of an issue as 2nd and 3rd runs of items such as Deltics, Class 37s, Mk2s etc are released.

Agreed, the SLW product is the ultimate one but is simply not widely enough available to directly compete. There are a few Diesel models now where Heljan and Bachmann compete directly.