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Love the little Sunbeam Alpine - I’m rather fond of our 1360 Triumph herald convertible - it’s just so plucky and drives like a little go-kart - I’m hoping the Alpine is the sort of formula - never driven one but I’d love to, just based on its looks alone. Our electrician had up until recently an early triumph herald -(1200 I think?)not a show car but remarkably original - original paint - original interior, under the carpet it even had the original tape holding the wiring loom to the floor pan - and tight as a drum to drive - fab little car, although I like the slightly more aggressive bonnet/front on the later ones. jon

I do like 'Harry' yes the lowered duetto looks lovely - I hope with the wider tyres they've upgraded the steering box - the cast alloy housings on them are weak - fine for original 'skinny' tyres , but the extra loading on them from big GTA wheels stresses them and the chassis legs a little. The view from my office at the moment: Cadillac Eldorado - hard to imagine this thing was built at the same time we were hammering together E-Types - its lightyears ahead of its time , and a lovely rare Volvo 164 , Jon

need a jar of wiring harness smoke to go with that..

That's very kind words - If it's not already on your list , the Spider book by John Tipler is very good plus I think one of the earlier versions of the Brooklands workshop manual has some beautiful cut away drawings of the engine, carburettor etc - almost worth framing! Mines a genuine RHD 'euro spec' car so its got the extra little 'plus 2 'seats in the back . Yes black is not so common , it was a special order color , and only black and dark blue cars came with a red interior. All other colors had a black interior - as a result , genuine unmolested red interior panels are quite rare , particularly the plastic b' pillar/wheelarch trims - which previous owner like to ruin by fitting speakers . I've not dared count up the time/££s invested in it - certainly more than its currently worth but being a rare black car I wanted to 'save it' and make it as good as it can be . I've spent 10 years getting it to where it is today; full bare metal body restoration, expoxied underneath , dynamat sound deadening, full engine, gearbox and diff rebuilt , all suspension powdercoated , hardware zinc plated etc etc and I built a new wiring loom from scratch and rebuilt all the instruments to upgrade them to LEDS - the only deviation from originality is technically its got the wrong wheels on it - series 2 spider didn't have hubcaps , the Duettos did , but mine are , I think, supposed to be for a GTV, but they seem to 'work'. I've driven a few 105 saloons - a Super , and a GTV - essentially the same car underneath as mine but they drive nicer - the spider , having no roof does suffer scuttle shake which obviously the others don't. Id like to try a 1750 or 1600 , I'm sure being smaller they will be more free and responsive (more fun basically!) plus you've got a 5 speed gearbox . On a little car like a spider the 1600 is probably more than enough really - in some ways the rather sluggish 2 little is a bit overkill. I run a classic car workshop so I'm used to weird pedals/driving positions - the pedals seem ok - more of an issue - lets say , 'Italian feature' is the column stalks , when the cars were designed they mostly had left hand drive in mind . For the UK all they did was moved the steering wheel over the other side, without really considering where the stalks are now relative to the gear lever - its got a very long throw -so when you put it in 5th you flash the headlights While on the subject of all things Alfa - I was very very lucky to see the BAT cars in person while they were displayed briefly in london 2019 they gave away a little book at the entrance which is a lovely little thign in its own right - well worth trying to hunt down a copy. Jon

Ah that Gaz 21 is lovely - it’s got a bit more ‘Flair’ than mine and they carry a 2 tone paint job much better too. To own and run the GAZ is pure bliss, its tough and reliable and easy to work on , everything’s nice and accessible it’s even got a starting handle and a lever to hand prime the carb on those cold Soviet mornings! The Alfa is somewhat the Antithesis- it’s all rather cramped , everything else is always in the way of whatever it is you’re trying to get a socket onto - there’s normally a nice sharp bit metal right where your hand wants to be as well! - one can barely get to the dipstick without taking off the distributor cap - very Italian! Makes me wish I’d bought a Herald instead! jon

My Series 2 Alfa Spider , and 1972 Gaz 24 Volga. The soviet bug has bitten harder than the italian one - the Volga is hilarious to drive , and I must admit the condition of the Alfa makes it hard to enjoy without fear of spoiling it - dare i say it , the Alfa may be moved on , to be replaced by an old Vaz/Lada , or a Gaz Chaika if i really wanted to be stupid... Jon

Two out of work actors go on holiday by mistake

Modern classics/future classics - not sure where they fall , but the 159/Sportwagon/Brera are drop dead gorgeous looking little family of cars , with 'that' V6 too - i just never get tired of looking at these - though I'm not too keen on the styling of the back of the Brera. Conways , Avons and Alfas , pretty much all my favourite things are in that photo tfn Jon

Gosh - that , and the Iso Grifo posted earlier - I need to have a little lie down! The Holy grail for me has to be the Alfa Romeo Montreal - that over a Miura any day. Jon

Just imported this beast as I've always loved the styling : a 1972 Gaz -24 'Volga' favoured wheels of the KGB , officials and apparatchik etc - this ones an original black car so would have been for 'offical' use rather than being on sale to the genral public (i guess you should read that as 'proletariat') Its presence, quirkiness , and er , 'build quality' has won me over - its 90% original , including the paint so they must have some something right back in the day when they built these things. Its been converted to LPG but other than that is stock and drives like an old volvo on steroids. Jon

ooer ... do they know that there's also more than one version of original NSE...? This excellent thread below overs pretty much everything. If Heljan ever wanted to make numbered NSE class 50s each with the correct livery variation , there's enough there to keep them going for a very long time! Jon

A rogue! - unusual sized arrows on it as well- they looks huge, plus of course no white cantrail stripe on the cabs . I think there was possibly 2 other oddballs like 023 in the dark blue. ‘Howe’ also had some rather fetching black windscreens when it was in original NSE - which I’m sure would look look rather nice on the Heljan model. jon

Photos are extremely misleading as to the shades of blue on revised locos. West of England branding = dark blue , BR Arrows = light blue , simples. Jon

Not only was it higher up ,but it was applied very wonky on one side - ! its clearly visible in both revised and original NSE livery - proving that only the cabs were painted when it was revised! '017 did get the later dark blue , complete with West of England brandings - it always looked weird with the nameplate above the "Network Southeast " on one side. Not as weird as that LMS maroon/gold livery though - the less said about that the better! tfn Jon

Silver grey is the main body colour for NSE class 159s, 442s and 321s . The regional railways ‘buff’ colour I don’t think has ever been done as paint , but fox did do it as transfers on a big long sheet specifically for the 158 - I’ve got a couple of sheets in my stash somewhere - from memory the sheet also had the light and dark blue stripes on it. tfn Jon

Aaah that tooks so much better with the paintwork on the nose corrected - and 018 was an absolute beast with its ploughs Have you resprayed the blue as it looks lighter than the 'press' shots of the revised NSE model ? Regards Jon

Oh dear that's going to cause all sorts of other compounded errors I'd also be concerned about the proportions of the headcode box, the tops of the windscreens are straight on the model , rather than having a gentle curve to follow the rainstrip, and the tail lights don't really look that well observed. It may be the lighting , but the head on shot makes the whole cab look rather narrow. In the cropped image of the model from Miss prisms post above the negative rake of the lower cab front appears really extreme. Ok, so this is a RTR class 47 on O gauge, where there is at present no other available , but In 2019/2020 , for a £600ish model , of such an iconic loco , is this really good enough? Regards Jon

Lovely ! - A alight c*ck up on the revised NSE one though - the top of the nose (where the washer jets sit) should be yellow not blue - but hey , keeps the airbrushing skills polished - and Heljans colors are usually nice and easy to match They'll scrub up very nicely indeed. tfn Jon

It's a genius livery indeed I love the way the light and dark blue stripes tie in with Regional railways , while the beige livery elements hint at INTERCITY - very clever. Jon

Lovely - and weren't we good at coming up with seriously smart liveries for DMUs back in the day... A really nice touch i loved on Bachmanns MPV was they modelled the inboard brake discs on the axles - its a real shame they didn't carry that detail over onto the 158 - a nice little aftermarket detail for someone to come up with perhaps Jon

Well , that’s 2 sales lost then Shame as the names on those two are fantastic !! (Achilles once being a beast of a class 50 , and Destroyer , well , who wouldn’t want a loco called that !) Jon

Good Evening Ben , that's great news! - Is it possible to see what the revised CAD for the 56 looks like (Loadhaul for me please!) Regards Jon

They do look to be too chunky - likewise the top headlight sticks out too far . One thing thats become obvious seeing these painted samples is the 'roots' that the light clusters sit on (the vertical bits with the numbers , and , in the case of the EWS locos, the OHLE warning flashes on) are not tall enough - suggesting they're either not thick enough , or the negative rake of the lower cab front is wrong - i think it may be the former , and therefore the wipacs have been made chunkier to compensate. Saying all that , show me one in CEMEX or early Bardon Aggregates livery and I'd get the wallet out! Jon