SWT442

Here's a few Great Western ones from me, with more to come. Rolling past the building mess, 43002 "Sir Kenneth Grange" arrives at Didcot Parkway with 1B42 London Paddington to Cardiff Central - 05.01.2018 Flying past my previous car, 43027 brings up the rear of 1C81 London Paddington to Exeter St. Davids at Crofton - 24.02.2015 Heading towards Brockenhurst, 43028 leads 1Z12 Worcester Shrub Hill to Swanage. The excursion was terminated at Corfe Castle due to guaging issues - 28.09.2013 Heading the return working, 43078 has just passed through Beaulieu Road with 1Z13 Swanage to Worcester Shrub Hill - 28.09.2013 With a wave from the driver, 43030 & 43141 head through Crampmoor (between Romsey & Chandlers Ford) working 1Z30 Hereford to Portsmouth Harbour "Cotswold - Portsea Express" excursion - 11.09.2011 Having terminated with a working from Paddington, 43070 idles away at Westbury on a chilly Autumn evening - 27.10.2017 Wearing its "Bristol 2015 - European Green Capital" vinyls, 43126 brings up the rear of 1P47 Worcester Foregare Street to London Paddington at Oxford - 06.01.2017 Glimpsed inside the shed at St. Philips Marsh is 43127 and its train - 02.05.2016 Crossing the River Usk, 43172 "Harry Patch" heads away from Newport working 1L74 Cardiff Central to London Paddington - 30.05.2018 Andy.

Yes, pretty much what I was told. Didn't ask about the front end/valance area, so can't say how it's supposed to be. I think me saying that was pre-production may have been the wrong wording, perhaps more of an engineering sample? Not sure. The bogies did seem nicely detailed, but one thing I did notice was that the brake shoes aren't inline with the wheels. I don't think that helps in portraying how substantial they are. Hattons 66 will have the edge over it I think, but the 59 will still be a good model, to me at least. Andy.

Evening, Had a little look at the forth coming Class 59 at the DEMU show this weekend. Looks like it's shaping up to be a great model. They had recently arrived (pre-production I think? Not 100% on what he said it was, sorry!) model. Believe it was on a running chassis but was devoid of all the lighting circuitry and the smoke unit. Was a surprisingly heavy model, which is probably just as well if it's to pull 40+ JHA's! It was hoped that fully decorated livery samples would be available for Warley this year. Another (possible) bogie wagon is being mooted to complement it, but not until the JHA's have been prodcued and sold. Whatever it would be is likely to be 18 months to two years away. Attached are a few pictures: Andy.

Evening all, Was speaking to one of the Dapol guys at DEMU over the weekend regarding the 73's. Not a huge amount to say, but a new batch is due this year and should have a revised circuit board. Also did say that the livery samples were currently being scrutinised so they come out the right colour! Was also mentiond that their *may* be an option of swapping out circuit boards for the revised ones but nothings concrete yet. I asked if 73/9's were on the radar and was told that depending on how the next batch sell, then finances may well be released to produce them. Wait and see I guess! Andy.

Evening all, Spoke to one of the Dapol guys on the DCC Concepts stand at DEMU over the weekend and asked about the 68's. By all accounts a new batch should be here by the end of the year, with an announcment to be made nearer their release. Was told that liveries are to include the "plain" DRS colours and TPE along with some more 'bog standard' DRS ones. The RRP cost is likely to be 5-10% more than the last batch as well. I asked about the price as I mentioned the resprays available in another room for £220+ and was told that theirs will be correct as new tooling has been made to alter the cab fronts so they don't have the Vossloh mark/logo. Also enquired about a MK5 rake to go with the TPE loco, and was told that it's of interest but would ideally need a second livery/operator on the real thing to make a production run financially viable. Hopefully info of use, wait and see what happens I guess! Andy.

And that's fair enough, and also a good reason to get one! I don't mind a wait for stuff, but I do like to know to why I'm waiting for something, even more so when it's way overdue without reason. Andy.

But they've been "on the way" since last year. You can't tell me they don't know where the product they've spent thousands on manufacturing is in the supply chain, surely? It would be nice if there was some sort of reason given as to the delay of products, especially those that get pushed back month after month without explanation. Sure the delay sucks, but if they said it was a QC issue and stuff had to be remade, or it was a manpower issue in the facory or whatever, then at least it gives us some insight into what the hold up is rather than continuous silent push backs. We are their customer at the end of the day, surely we're allowed some info on what the crack is? Andy.

Good to know it is on it's way! I did tweet Hattons a couple of weeks ago, and they said the info given to them indicated it'd be here April/May. Though, when I spoke to a chap on the Bachmann stand at Ally Pally they told me "any week now", and that was near the end of March. The guy did also say they wished they'd produced more, as they didn't expect it to sell out so quick, so I wouldn't be surprised if another run is done at some point. Andy.

I was going to say, where's the Colas 70 on that list! Can finally look forward to my pair arriving soon then! Andy.

Life Won't Wait - Rancid

Idiots Are Taking Over - NOFX

Some Suck, Some Rock - Spunge

Been having a little catch up with your thread Jack, and love what you're doing! Those MXA's will make a great little rake when all done and all the re-wiring work on the locos blows my mind! Andy.

Cheers Jack! The car's had its engine rebuilt and is now back on the road (much to my wallets annoyance!) I would love a 325 unit or two. Quite surprised Bratchell haven't done one as suspect it could be a good seller. Though, you'd need a Hornby 466 for the cab ends if you were to use a Bratchell model as a base. To be honest, my current thinking is to go down the Replica motor route for the 2nd unit. Might well pick one up at Ally Pally this year. Andy.

Evening all. Not a great deal has passed over the bench in recent weeks, its become a bit of a dumping ground at the moment. That being said, there's a few little projects of sorts to do soon, can never have enough going on! First up, a second Bratchell Class 456 was picked up during January. It was part built and came with a pre-fitted Black Beetle. Came in at less than the kit direct from Bratchell, which helped! Both coaches were removed from their underframes, fortunately they nor the cab ends were glued in place. The Black Beetle was also removed, as I'm in two minds whether or not to have this unit as a dummy to pair with the other or fit it with a Replica chassis to have two usable units. Tackled first was the trailer coach, with this having the yaw damper mouldings removed from the bogie sides. It was then mounted back onto the chassis, with the cabs left unsecured so they can be removed for detailing and to allow an interior to be slid in. I've also now gone DCC on my layout. I had an opportunity to trial a friends Lenz system that he was looking to get rid of, which helped sway me onto going digital! I had a few chips lying about from stock I'd purchased second hand, so these were put into a handful of locos. One thing led to another and I now have 2 sound fitted locos, with a thrid being converted shortly! These have used the Hornby TTS chips, which I think are a steal, especially if picked up for around the £35 mark. The first loco treated was 60065, with the second being 67026 seen in this thread. The instructions with the chips are good, but where they fall down is on the actual installation inside the loco, with there being no info provided. Luckily YouTube came in handy on how to install the chip in the 67, as the speaker goes in the fuel tank, meaning the wires need cutting so they can be routed through the chassis. It took a couple of attempts to get the system fully fitted inside the 60, as seen below! I assumed this set up was correct and proper, but the body wouldn't fit back on... So attempt 2 saw the chip wrapped in insulation tape and nestled alongside the speaker. Much better I thought! But the body still didn't fit properly... So attempt 3 saw the speaker removed from the enclosure and put face down into the chassis. This time the body went on! If anyone wishes to correct me on the installation please feel free, as I'm here to learn! In time I hope to suppliment what I have with some "proper" sound chips, but for now I think the TTS ones are great way to get sound on a budget. Oh, and one more thing. If you're driving and come across a flooded road, and you're not sure whether or not you can make it through, I'd say turn around and try another route otherwise this happens... One snapped and one bent conrod later, and you're not going anywhere! These will be cleaned up and put on a plinth as a reminder to my moment of idiocy. Andy.

Coming along quite nicely Rich! Don't envy you trying to wire the signal up, wiring of any sort makes my head spin at the best of times. Look forward to seeing all the work at Basingstoke. Andy.

Class 442, obviously! Andy.

Thanks for proving me wrong! Dennis' comment makes sense. Not sure how I missed it, as I have 37099 on order as well. Would still be nice to have a definative arrival date for the Colas 70. Andy.

But surely as it's now a 2018 release, it would be included in the current catalogue whether or not it's sold out at Bachmann? If it's not in the catalogue, that speaks to me that it's no longer being produced. Hopefully I'm wrong! Andy.

Has the Colas 70 been dropped from the range or something? They were due last year, but kept getting pushed back each month that they were due for release. Last bit of info said here in January, and it's now February. What gives? Andy.

Well, so much for trying to have at least one modelling session a week! On Sunday, I made a start on some A1 Models ZFA "Gunnell" conversion kits, which utilised some 'odd one out' Lima PGA's from a mainly Yeoman set I picked up a few years back. But first up was a scratch converted Gunnell which was picked up off eBay a couple of weeks back for about the price of one conversion kit(!), which had a very loose body and needed the EWS paint job finishing off. Before the body was put back on, some Liquid Gravity was put in the space that the origional weights would have occupied. Once that was done and the body glued in place, the first of the Lima PGA's was up for the chop. The aggregate load was first taken out of it before the main hopper top was cut off with a saw, leaving approximately 2mm for the new sides to attach to. And that was it! Before I could think about putting the ends on, the work phone rang and I was off out the door to continue with the most tiring call out weeks I've done so far. Andy.