andyman7

It's actually a sober reminder that the original Heljan Class 47 - the very first 'newly tooled' D&E model of the super detail era - came out nearly a quarter of a century ago, in other words before quite a few of todays proper grown up adults were born. A good comparison for me in relativity is, for example, when Hornby introduced the 'Morning Star' Britannia into its range in 1981. This had a newly-tooled body (featuring 'separate wire handrails' and a proper representation of the boiler section beneath the running plate). It replaced the original Triang Britannia body tooling introduced in 1959, i.e. 22 years earlier. To my teenage self, that earlier Britannia might as well have been introduced in 1659, the 1950s being utterly ancient history to my perspective then.

That's the ex-Mainline/Dapol version. Really pretty good for it's time. I reckon the Class 56 is unique in British RTR in that every model made was amongst the best in class at the time - Mainline in 1983, Hornby circa 2008 and now Cavalex. A much better record than some - Hornby Dublo Deltic anyone?

Other examples were the Ransomes & Rapier Crane and the Porthole coaches which caught a number of dealers out with 'price guaranteed' pre -orders where the gap between announcement and release meant that the actual trade price exceeded the promised pre-order sale prices. It was because of this that pre-order price guarantees were dropped for any item that did not have a firm price set by the manufacturer. I know that prices are a constant source of debate but however difficult it can be to swallow my view is that the quality and specification of many of these models equal or exceed the quality of professional or kitbuilt items that cost substantially more in real terms 30 or 40 years ago.

Re the choice of 44 007 'Ingleborough' for the latest release Class 44, this was one of the last three survivors into 1980. Photos of it from its final couple of years are quite plentiful as it was a celebrity by then; however, the Bachmann model is shown with nameplates and ex-works which would position the time period to mid 70s. Even then it's a bit problematical - it had numbers in all four corners in its final years although a '4' was missing from one corner by 1979 so it read 4 007. More notable it had very obvious main grille damage from the mid 70s onwards. Earlier photos show a bent and distorted area of slats, but by 1979 some sheet metal had been crudely welded over the holes. I did a project 44 007 a couple of years back on a spare Bachmann body that I mated to a Mainline chassis which had surgery to correct various issues. The weathering/modification made use of the plentiful photos to replicate the actual streaks, damage and rust spots on the loco in 1979/80. I'm still very pleased with it.

I've dug out my own original Bachmann 46045 - bought for £29.95 in 1995, quite scary how long ago. It still works well and has directional lights which were omitted from later Bachmann 'Peaks' until the model got a 21 Pin chassis upgrade. I'd also forgotten that it came with a Limited Lifetime Guarantee - free repair for one year and then $10 US. I didn't send the tear-off card to Barwell but I wonder if anyone has tried to claim under the Warranty after all this time 🙂

As the apertures are small, an alternative would be glue'n'glaze which would be my first choice to make a lovely flush glazing panel

Quite right too 🙂

The engine, main generator and traction motors in the Class 11 are identical to the Class 08 so an 08 sound project looks like it would work

Which version of the Ringfield motor is it? The pre 1977 version in a white housing with metal faceplate or the black one with the silver strip brush arms on the front?

Reviving the specific Class 45 thread following today's announcements. I'm assuming that the Class 45 (and 44/46) models are reworkings along the lines of the recently upgraded Class 40, i.e. tooling and lighting upgrades with Plux22 decoder fitting. Interesting that D49 The Manchester Regiment reprises the original 1970s Mainline issue in green SYP.

"There's nothing for you here!" (sorry, couldn't resist...)

D&E modellers: Hornby are hopeless, nothing for me, they've ruled themselves out of the game Steam modellers: Bachmann are hopeless, nothing for me, they've rules themselves out of the game

Hmm, well that certainly takes the 'blame Hornby for everything' approach to new heights... Why? They already have a Railroad one filling a market gap that no-one else is interested in, and a fully depreciated higher spec model that many customers will buy if it's available and offered at the right price and livery(s). As for us the consumer, we have lots more choice than we did a couple of years ago.

I agree. Especially now that very specific examples are modelled, we are a long way from the 'one in green and one in blue' days of modernisation plan diesels.

You're assuming that they want a dog in the fight. Hornby's more recent tooling is covering other subjects (big/unusual/classic steam, Railroad, plus things like the VEP and Stadler units). Other than that they have cranked out further 08s, 31s, 50s and 60s from tools made a long time ago now and therefore we can assume the initial investment is long paid off

I guess that brings the Hattons story to a close then...

Apparently they have been working on it for 'some years'.

Fabulous!

'We' haven't been through it before but I am happy to be CORRECTED on that. The pertinent bit is that they are low floor

That 'dark' saloon affects the Bachmann refurbished CEPs and 150s too. The very latest newly tooled Bachmann DMUs (117, 121, 158) have low floor coreless motors but with these ones modified from earlier tooling it's a shortcoming we'll have to live with. If they produce pre-facelift liveries it won't be an issue - I'd quite like early NSE as the facelifting was done during NSE days and they exist in that livery with the early full brake van. Yes, amazing to think that one retailer sold off the blue grey VEP at £99. I think it was a classic Hornby stock-dumping cash flow thing but it's a shame they couldn't have fed them out a bit more steadily!

It's a problem not just confined to people buying from the UK - many things I search for that turn up in the US have similarly absurd shipping charges. However, in such cases I can see an emerging opportunity for intermediaries who can obtain items domestically and then ship abroad. I was very happy to ship abroad for many years but the escalating costs and paperwork mean that generally I only use GSP for ebay exports (expensive for the buyer). It's simply not worth the detailed form filling to send an item overseas whilst running the risk that I'll be on the hook if they get it and decide they don't want it.

I don't think anyone has blamed the end buyers, and as for Hattons, in terms of their orderly decision to close and the process that they have followed, as far as I can see they have been very responsible in taking accountability for their business.

It's an interesting one. As a consumer, there still appear to be retailers that will do a deal for overstocks of certain items - we see these in the bargain offers that appear every so often for items that have been in the catalogue for a couple of years or so. Bachmann are presumably unaffected. Gaugemaster is a distributor in its own right so it will depend on the degree to which Hattons picked up the cash flow management of stock items and I guess Peco, with its agency lines, is not dissimilar.

The paint shades are close on all of these and apart from the coach numbers (in fact only the final digits) they are identical. Indeed for the second release of the 395 Hornby didn't made any specific extra coaches so you just had to use those from the earlier release. There's a surfeit of the add-on coach packs for the Hornby Visitor Centre model right now so they can be had for good prices.

But that's because Rails don't do enough business with Australia to have to register for GST. Hattons did, and they had to charge GST to customers down under. So that doesn't particularly encourage anyone else to build a big business in shipping abroad,