MRDBLUE17

It’s good to see the 90’s have arrived, they look great and I will shortly be getting the powerhaul model via Rainbow Railways. I think we will see the colourful 86/2 and 86/4’s develop from Heljan following on from the 86/0 so it’s just a case of waiting for that to happen. Cheers Mark

Hi everyone, I’ve been checking the May madness offers and a few days back spotted the Hornby Virgin MK3’s at £19.99. A full WCML virgin rake has been tempting me for a while, especially from watching YouTube videos from the early 2000’s. I ordered a full set plus DVT and Buffett which were less than RRP and along with free postage and the extra £1 off per coach Kernow offer made this a great purchase. Service was superb as normal. Trevor phoned as one item was out of stock and asked if I was fine to wait until it was in which I was and today a well packed box arrived with my order packed by Greg. Having had to get an item in from Hornby then send out to me I’m amazed at how quick this was achieved in. Well done and thanks to the team at Kernow. Mark

That will have been an old Hornby model you’ve seen. I would wait until Charlie gets his new model produced as it will be excellent and Northern is on the list as I will be getting one too. Hope that helps Mark

Absolutely shocking mindless vandalism. My thoughts go out to the club and all those affected by it. Mark

Hi Charlie, A very sensible approach and quite right delaying it to get it right. Now wheres my 156! Seriously the Scotrail sound fitted pair I have already are simply superb and the Provincial one holds excitement simply for the fact I remember getting my Lima one for my Birthday way back when they first came out when I was 10, and it was a cracking model for its time. Hopefully see you at Perth all the best Mark

Hi everyone, I have a deposit on a DJM 92 as at the time we didn’t expect another 4mm Model. As this is supposed to be a crowd funded model I’m beginning to think more and more that clarity is needed as to where this project is and where has all the money gone. Dave has made it clear all along that any money he would make would come after the crowd funded models through retail sales etc from the tooling that he would then own. We have seen very little so if it does get cancelled now refunds should be given with his vague T&C’s or evidence where this has gone. With Accurascales 92 in production and as we’ve see the development images is going to be an excellent model in 4mm and Ben and Mikes Revolution 2mm Model which was leaked by Dave if we all remember as a spoiler tactic, looks excellent in that scale too. Can this really continue to fruition? Sadly for Dave there is only one person responsible and he needs to be clear and open about all projects, costs, where money has been spent etc or deliver models ASAP. Mark

The best photo I found was on Flickr searching by loco number and it stabled at Carlisle and looked very close. Cheers Mark

I totally agree I bought an 85 when it first came out as it was a superb model at the time. The first really decent electric loco. It was really a bit early for my modelling needs and I only remember seeing the odd one in service in the late 80’s but just like my Hornby 86 I bought myself aged about 6 over 30 years ago it had the same interest for me. I’m looking forward the 90 as I think Bachmann have captured it very well with some nice detailing. If you think about the real thing it doesn’t have the same appeal as some locos so I get Roys point of view about wow factor but the model itself captures the real thing perfectly. The Freightliner is top of my list and I hope for a DB/Malcolm/EWS livery in the future for a double headed pairing. cheers Mark

Hi All, 32 pages of an announcement which doesn’t demonstrate any progress or intent to get on with models. Many people have invested money at this stage and is this actually listed in the accounts as income and the £250k spent on tooling/ Cad etc. I’ve not looked but it should all be there. Registering IP’s would protect his Cad/design work but anyone else can do there own and produce whatever models they like plus if anything did come to court or attempt to the digital footprints of rants/accusations with the dozens of brands and names mentioned innocently even within this topic would make the position very difficult to defend and would cost into tens of thousands. In fact if those brands were even slightly bothered by this I suspect they would already be in a stronger position to take action. I wouldn’t expect this to be the case and I already see that two firms are already getting extra orders for what will be a superb model in 2 scales as an example of the damage this announcement has caused. The original part to protect his own work was fine in principle especially if contracted to commission etc and a sensible business approach. But announcing it the way it was done and the thinking that it would stop anyone from doing a duplicated model, leading to some sort of Cad monopoly is just too far and I will be surprised at any mag even printing this latest news release. With the next day amendment as well. Mark

It was nice to see the 2F samples today think they look really good especially at the price point. The Scotrail livery looks good which is what I’m planning to get a set of. cheers Mark

Hi Fran and team, that looks fantastic, the roof detail is incredible. Glad I have 2 ordered already! cheers mark

Hi everyone, I am looking forward to the Freightliner 90 when it comes out. A cracking looking model and I’ve seen the real one a few times at Waverley stables for sleeper duties. After discounts the loco is around £150 which is the same as most other D&E locos for a brand new model with working panto, lighting and fitted speaker. It seems sensible that Bachmann are already highlighting the need to set up a decoder and in time I’m fairly sure that sound decoders from the likes of legomanbiffo for example will be ready to fit once they have a model in hand to be able to set up correctly for use with the servo. I’m fed up of the price moaners, look at all Hobbies and costs of luxury items - they have all gone up significantly over the last 10 years. And try running any leisure/service/retail/manufacturing SME business for yourself then you would appreciate the actual costs involved. Looking forward to this coming out. cheers Mark

Yes I think it is, spotted it on the Cheltenham Model Centre advert today at a decent price. cheers Mark

Hi Cav/Alex, Great to see these progressing so quickly, I’m going to have to get the new layout built so I can run all my 90’s era trains. Pair of metals 37’s ready for them and will make for a great site with a rake of BDA’s passing the other way! All the best Mark

Hi Fran and the Accurascale team, collected my triple pack today from the post office. Nice packaging and the contents are superb. So much attention to detail on the pipework underneath and the level of printed detail is excellent. Very pleased with them. cheers Mark

Hi Fran, thats looking superb. Seriously tempted to get a 3rd one but will need to wait and save a while. all the best Mark

Whilst I’m not in the business of model railways I’ve recently spoken with my accountant and the VT transaction software I use has a new digital solution that will come out and is only £75 per annum which is really good value compared to many of those heavily advertised ones out there. The VT software has been easy to learn and you can run multiple businesses if needed from it. Agree with Mike above if you’ve not done anything about MTD yet I would look into quickly. Cheers Mark

Hi everyone, I am looking forward to getting my set of 3 water jetting wagons next week when my mum comes up. My thanks to John and Shelagh at Crafty Hobbies in Barrow for ordering them in for me for her to collect. Great that Hattons will supply there products to local model shops. I can understand the disappointment for a few that have had damaged parts - it’s going to happen on super detailed models. I would suggest it better to email Hattons directly with any issues so they can offer a solution instead of ranting on here. Any good retailer will sort you out and offer free returns to replace if necessary and I suspect the number of issues will be a tiny percentage of the overall production run. Thanks Mark

Hi, 159220, thanks for putting up as they are some useful photos for scratch building one of those containers at some point. The DRS ones are there as ordered yesterday there are 2 packs with the half height low level waste containers and a triple pack of empty wagons. Hope that helps. Cheers Mark

This is a superb choice of wagon from Fran and Team. I couldn’t resist and just ordered the 3 DRS packs as they suit my interests in the Cumbrian Coast workings. Top and Tail to Drigg and Workington Docks. A pair to sandwich a flask on the Highland Mainline working up to Georgemass and a couple will get scratch built containers to create further interesting workings. thanks Mark

Hi Fran & team, Another fantastic wagon announcement. Did not see this one coming but great choice and once I’ve sold some more items I will be ordering the 3 DRS era packs. Nice to have even more variety for the DRS fleet to haul. All the best Mark

Hello everyone, I ordered 16 DB red ones back in December as it’s a block train I really like the look of. Back at the end of Feb at Glasgow, Ben & Mike let me have a proper look at one of the samples and it is a superb model. Good weight to it, nice solid feel and the level of detail achieved underneath really needs to be seen in person so you can see just how good it is. Certainly a good decision to order and if your thinking about it I would go for it as you will be impressed with them. cheers Mark

Hi Dave, those last 2 videos were excellent to see. Nice work on the inspection saloon too. All the best Mark

I enjoyed that short video, nice to enjoy your work too. Cheers Mark

I was lucky enough to get a good look at both sides out of the cabinet and whilst this version is too early for me eventually it will evolve and I’ll get a decent pair of Freightliner 86’s and maybe even a Les Ross which would be ideal. The body side grills look great a massive improvement on the old model and the cab front shape of the roof is also changed. The Pan is missing detail on this early sample but already looks so much better and with the excellent chassis and underframe details I think this is going to be a cracking model. cheers Mark