cairnsroadworks

I think it might be the white stripe that is slightly too wide but I haven’t started tinkering yet. My 404 is going blue as 402 anyways ;-)

It is indeed, mounted on my wall and wired into a light switch… my favourite class of loco. It used to live on the front of 86213.

From Rails, I live in Sheff so was able to collect. They were still sorting out pre-orders. Excellent service and they even checked that all the handrails were OK without me prompting them.

Now unboxed. Look lovely, a few minor niggles but will be resolved during the customisation process.

You’ve not mentioned the shade of yellow either!

Yeah - it got the 60 style buffers at the other end in 2020 too.

Rails have just relieved me of a substantial wedge of cash. I have 404 and 609 on preorder.

Now having had the chance to pose the two alongside each other I am completely happy that the upper grey is correct. The logos aren’t but that’s an easy fix.

I know it’s a contentious view, but as someone who does a repaint now and again, i’m saying the upper bodyside grey is right from the pictures seen so far. I did an old Dapol 150/2 in this scheme back in the 90s and had the livery diagrams (long gone now of course!) the upper bodyside is Rail grey - found most frequently on the bottom half of triple grey sector liveried freight locos of the late 80s/early 90s. There was a clear separation of the stripes and the upper body grey in ex-works condition. The M logos are obviously wrong but easily corrected with Fox Transfers!

I’m still excited!

I’m wagering blue paint!

Ooooooooo I’m excited about this!

Wishing you the best of luck Ben. As Lee has mentioned quality is paramount. We’ve all been there chasing being the first to do things in certain liveries but it matters not being first if you can’t reflect on it being your best. I know I’m not alone in saying you can drop me a message if you want help or advice. Nor am I saying that because I think I’m perfect. We all have issues with masking, decals, etc etc. It’s just how we respond to those issues.

Absolutely fair enough. Great sense of satisfaction from doing it yourself.

Interesting stuff. Out of interest why are you doing a conversion as opposed to using a Bachmann ScotRail DBSO?

I’ve asked repeatedly on a variety of forums but the only response was that they got the paint spec from Freightliner, which although is fine doesn’t say if it was the darker or the lighter shade, and evidence points that it was the lighter one.

I would pick you up on your assessment of livery application Danny. There was the Colas issue and the fact that no one from Hattons has acknowledged that 66623 is totally wrong, plus questionable yellow on the front of at least 66780. But I’m probably too picky. It will be interesting what news the Bachmann announcement next week brings. As mentioned before many rumours of an upgrade for their 66. I have no wish for the Hattons project to fail; the model looks and sounds great when it works. I would have hoped that they would have issued something about 66623 and offered replacement bodies in the correct colour; Dapol did with their 68s when they got the printing wrong.

It’ll certainly be interesting if the rumoured retooled Bachmann one is true.

The Black looks correct ‘CHARD...

Does anyone have a picture of the orange 66623 yet to confirm if the orange is right or wrong please?

Agree absolutely that it’s impossible to compare photos but the shot posted of 413 and 623 coupled together shows the difference in colour. I’ll happily be proved wrong when they arrive. The fact that Hattons worked with Freightliner is great unless they were provided with the shade used on 66413 not the remainder of the locos painted subsequently in the darker shade.

Thanks for the post Shoey. This confirms my suspicions that it’s going to be wrong. The Hornby one is the original pale colour only carried by 66413. The problem with your comparison pictures is that the one of 413 is over contrasted - the yellow on your pic of 413 is darker than on The pic 623 and we know they are the same shade. There is no debate that 413 and 623 are different shades of orange In real life; we know they are as 413 was painted wrong. The orange on 623 Is the same as Loadhaul or Strathclyde PTE orange. Thanks again for posting the pics though - very helpful.

You had! The Bachmann aircons are a perfect base for the rake I did for DickyL pictures above, and I think Hornby have announced the correct Mk1 buffet in this years range too, so no excuse not to get cracking!

Interesting to read people’s comments about the various detailing bits. I guess it was inevitable with going for such a high specification that there would be issues. I’m pleased Hattons did but also sympathise with those who were probably looking for something more easy to use. When repainting Bachmann ones I used to knock off the various detailing bits so it’ll be interesting to see one of these ‘in the plastic’ later today.

Stripes! I’d forgotten about them as well. Cheers for the pictures. The Bachmann one I did earlier on in the thread has the right stripes (I think!)