robf

Hey, great review, well done! I would tend to agree with your points, the model isn't 100% but what is, I'm certainly very happy with my GWR 800.

Next to a Dapol GWR Mk3, there is certainly a difference, but then as has been mentioned, the 800 is vinyl, the Mk3 paint etc.

Mines arrived as well. I think it's pretty amazing and real value for money. The green is ok, I'm not a purist by any means, downscaled colours are always a challenge and very subjective, take any manufacturer and they will all have their own interpretation of the colour. It runs like a dream from the box. It seems happy with a Unitrack R282 S-curve without a straight piece in the middle, and by coincidence it fits perfectly in the standard Unitrack M2 or V1 passing loop which is great as I only have room on the inside circuit for the standard length loop with island platform. All in very impressed for the money, I can forgive any livery discrepancies, especially given it's size!

I think I mentioned earlier I've just moved to N from OO, mainly to save on space, but wow, I'm very impressed with the quality of the models, given the size. The 800 seems to verify this.

All this talk of curves, I'm glad I went for R282 and R315 so fingers crossed I'll be fine when mine arrives tomorrow (I hope)!

I've just moved to N from OO and think the Kato system is fantastic, simple to use, the fact the points have built in motors, it really is the closest you can get to to plug and play. Yes, I would highly recommend Traintrax.

If you wish to do that feel free.

For want of being shot down by admin again, I do find the automatic Hornby bashing quite interesting when funnily enough, no one seems to be mentioning Hornby pre-orders being cancelled by any other retailer.

To be fair to Hornby they have said that the Railroad and Railroad plus range is not 100% accurate, it's just meant to be a representation. Also worth noting that some of the new Railroad models are not described as Railroad Plus so will have a less detailed paint job.

Old Lima rubbish that appears to fly off the shelves.......

I wonder could Hornby be trying to get a little ahead of Bachmann with a "Christmas Launch" at 10am tomorrow (2nd November? https://www.facebook.com/officialhornby

The 150s should be April I think. As to the 170s, didn't they say they had been put on hold?

Interesting observation to a post, I can see why I dont post more regularly. I read the forum everyday, just my interpretation of it. Whilst delays getting new tooling items out if perfectly understandable, older tooled items is a little less understandable. I'm talking from my experience never had a problem with any Hornby model I've had but then I'm no rivet counter (sorry) so if it looks fine then I'm happy with that.

I have to say I tend to agree with Ben on this one. The only Bachmann model I've bought in the last year or so was the albeit excellent Class 158. It's interesting how Hornby were ridiculed, lambasted, use whatever word / phrase you want for delays in bringing out models, yet there's not a great deal of criticism of Bachmann (Can't do wrong) for being in exactly the same position. I've been waiting for the GWR 150 and WCRC coaches (still no sign of a release date for these, even though they are a re-livery of older models) for rather a long time. Certainly seems to be a bit of a bias towards Bachmann on here. That said hopefully there will something interesting in the announcement on Tuesday, the new announce release within 3 months is certainly an improvement.

On the whole I'd agree with you in supporting your local model shop. However when it comes to items like this, commissioned directly by an organisation, in this case Hattons, I would support them by pre-ordering directly. It would appear either not enough people did or, as been mentioned before, someone else may be looking to bring one out.

I think in this day and age we have to assume that is the case for everything produced. Even the big boys have decided not to produce models due to lack of pre-orders.

As I mentioned before, the lesson here is if you want something pre-order it. To be fair to Hattons it's fine all of you saying, well I wanted one / two etc but didn't pre=order, how were they supposed to know, crystal ball time? Moral of the tail is if you want it always pre-order!

You may very well be onto something! Anything is possible as you say not heard of.

Could this be an example both actual pre-orders - not, I was going to buy one but didn't want to pre-order (no use saying shame if you didn't pre-order), also odd they didn't make it available through wholesalers for other retailers to sell on. A great shame as I had a couple on pre-order. Ah well.

Yes, I got an email from Hornby and a notification from DPD.

Rather surprisingly it's arrived this morning. 20200808_112003 by robfrowen, on Flickr 20200808_112120 by robfrowen, on Flickr 20200808_112134 by robfrowen, on Flickr

There are some pictures on their web site. https://www.westhillwagonworks.co.uk/couplings-new-c-2/hunt-couplings-oo-gauge-c-15/hunt-couplings-for-new-Hornby-mk3s-with-sliding-doors-10-pairs-for-nem-sockets-oo-gauge-p-51

Fantastic, thank you, looking to add passengers and lights.

I'm sorry if this has already been covered, I did have a quick look in the thread, how easy is it to remove the bodies of the new MkIIIs?

Basically whatever Hornby do will displease someone. Too few and why can't I have, too many and it's not a limited edition anymore! Does it really matter. Some will probably be the same that will moan when it arrives that it's a basic model with no lights etc. Hornby cannot win with this one, but good on them I say, the more they sell the more goes to charity, and yes, I did manage to get one of the first 500, do I care, no.