robmcg

Don't we have any moderators around here to ensure balanced and civilised commentary on this great subject? Mind you, I used to think I would never touch a Thompson Pacific and now I have four. So there's hope for you yet... Actually the much-commented-upon Hornby flat paint finish is very evident on the blue 35024... a real challenge to replicate the light and panelling on these ugly boxes... that's why god invented photo-editing. This below is before any particular work, including adding cylinder drains, front steps and coupling and so on... messing around with my new camera is half the fun. lower photo edited.

I'm rather saddened by the number of instances of what looks like very poor handling and packing by ham-fisted people in the case of this and other examples of this model. It clearly needs to go back, and I have had to return a few Hornby engines myself, various models, and once the initial disappointment has passed I have tended to think of it as an intrinsic part of buying models which are built to a lowish price, after all, one receives a good one eventually, or a refund. There are a few posts of retailer opening quite large numbers of models before sale and having to reject many, even most of them, which suggests to me that many damaged models are fixed by buyers, or never really checked by buyers. Hornby certainly aren't saying how many returns they receive. We will never know the nature of the contractors in China, either. Good luck with your replacement (or refund if that's your preference) , it is certainly not a good buying experience.

Thankyou Graham, I have bought a fair bit from Kernow and haven't been disappointed. Edit; duly purchased, can't wait to photograph this example of 1940s steam!

Thanks John, I think the skills required to assemble a model like an A2/3 are not quite as easily found as some buyers tend to think. At least at the prices we pay. Not to say a Bulleid is much easier. I thought I had read somewhere that the new Merchant Navy models were 'imminent' which I take to mean on a a ship in a UK port, or better. I confess I haven't kept up with the new models, being rather taken with the wartime black version, which I had hoped would be in the shipments described as 'Spring 2021' or '2nd quarter 2021', and was surprised that TMC list R3717 21C7 as 'out of stock'. It's far too easy to speculate, but impatience you know.... given the way retailers are supplied these days. I usually pay full price up front on pre-order if I know the model is in a UK port.

With various Merchant Navy engines in the offing, especially 21C7, time to remember the one one which set it all off... A certain blue 35024 is in the works for photos too. Who ever thought Thompson could build a 6' 2" mixed traffic engine which would still be running express trains at over 100mph in 1967?

I'm wondering which of these two would be easier for a factory to assemble... Given the reputation for poor assembly of the latter. I have bought four A2s (four different models, two different sellers) and all were excellent, one had a broken rear coupling. The front lamps on the Merchant Navy are a bit annoying. All run well. Just thought I'd put a word in for Hornby from a satisfied customer, for both models. Edie; p.s. does anyone know when the new Merchant Navy plastic-body models might arrive? Beyond the official '2nd quarter 2021'? I see TMC describe R3717 21C7 as 'out of stock' but you can pre-order others, Kernow are still inviting pre-orders for 21C7. As is Hornby.

I don't know how one can overlook the brooding power of 21C7 !

Thanks Mike, I'm inclined to agree, and the Hornby advertising shot of LNER A2/3 500 'Edward Thompson' shows a very tidy engine indeed, just prior to naming, at Nottingham Victoria before the run to London, I think. So there is a precedent for a clean LNER A2. I'm pleased to say that I have splashed out on a new camera, about UKP650, a 33MP Canon M6 MkII with 15-45mm lens , and have taken just four photos, three in rather poor light, tungsten room light and reading lamp, but the results are promising, here is an un-edited pic, apart from auto settings and a crop and re-size. TMC value weathering of 60512, as it was out of the box. The question remains, which of the LNER A2 versions to buy, given their place in steam locomotive history.

Oh dear another blow to the wallet. There is a rumour that Simon Kohler wanted to 'do' the Thompson A2/2 and A2/3 locos partly because of their names. How can you refuse a name like 'Chamossaire'? There is a photo about of the engine in BR days in immaculate order, and I look forward to seeing how the LNER Apple green will look, then, to weather or not to weather, given that these engines did some of their best work in the 1940s and in surviving photos were not usually clean ...

The wartime circumstances of 1942 when Thompson was finding his feet were that a reliable standard design had merit. The A2s may have been a lot better if developed so that they didn't leak steam, or break frames, and had retained some of the Gresley features like wedge cab fronts, even without armoured glass spectacles. But steam crews, shedmasters and engineers had their say. ET had a very difficult job and I will enjoy reading the new book, I suspect it will do little to change my current view of ET as lacking some 'people skills'. His attempt to ingratiate himself with O S Nock says a lot.... and it failed. Great piece of history though.

Indeed there may be more to Edward Thompson than I have read to date, and the book by Tim Hillier-Graves sounds interesting. I never knew he served with distinction in WW1, for instance. Other books about his talents are pretty muted in praise, if there is any praise at all. I too do not quite understand why Thompson Pacifics are described as unbalanced and ungainly when Castles and Princesses are not. If post-war there had been a need for standardised mixed-traffic engines capable of anything, then they may have been a good basis. The large grates may not have suited.... Thanks for mentioning the book, and if your Nikon Df ever wears out (impossible!) you can borrow my spare camera, Tony.... I noticed when browsing s/h quality cameras that shutter counts over 100,000 weren't unusual. As to A2/2s being ungainly, it's subjective indeed. TMC value weathering, edited but nothing changed on model. edit; p.s. I have just bought the book by Tim Hillier-Graves, so shall be obliged to be completely objective.

It certainly feels like I am creating when I take a beautiful RTR model and photograph it, and then make an evocative scene. I do understand proper modelling too, and am astounded by the quality shown here and elsewhere, I loved rebuilding car engines and made a living at it, before the accident, same with photography. Incidentally just bought a couple of new camaras. Not quite your Nikon Df but will be pretty good, a 24MP Canon M200 and a 33MP Canon M6 Mk II. One fifth the cost of a state-of-the-art full frame 50MP body only ... I think if younger I might have gone the whole way with Canon or Nikon.

Thanks Tony, I might add that my enjoyment of photo editing, for those who don't know, arises from serious crash multiple injuries and being paralysed and only one good hand, 47 years since the crash now... in 1974 I was 23 and indestructible on my British bikes!. I'm proud to have survived these 47 years paralysed and mostly independent, still, and creating pictures of superb models even if not modelling as such.

I think they are lovely models, but much criticism since release for poor assembly of some, solid cab side handrail , a left over from the design clever debacle, and most were fitted with 12-spoke front wheels, should be 10. As with some other Hornby RTR engines, lovely if you have a good one, and even better if you weather, or add and embellish. Or in my case photo-edit.

I think you've got those colours down to a tee, David, and wonder which if any of your Haymarket engines were given the royal treatment... some of the prototype photos show very clean A1s and A4s from the 50s, perhaps rather fewer A3s and hardly ever a clean A2? Of course cameras used to come out for clean engines on sunny days, usually by the looks of it for named trains.

There is an answer for a Saint class, given their truly great design 1904-11 and withdrawal when worn out post-war... photo-edit one! oops.. ) works for me though. I think the number of variations and names mitigate against the class, as well as the lack of BR-era 'presence'. A truly beautiful locomotive, engineering art, as it were. The above has a great name too. edit; and how different to Gresley! Or Thompson... although as Tony has mentioned, A2s had great names too.

Absolutely superb. I wonder how often that happened at Haymarket? Who was this other fellow Gresley anyway? These models do look good and you have that paintwork just right. I like the colouring of the wheels and motion too. Excellent.

Horrors! I may have the wrong boiler on 60523 above, but here is the right one for 60512... celebrating the great tradition of poles poking above engines in shed portraits. Such fine models these, I have enjoyed photographing them so much I have splashed out on a new camera. It will probably take me a whole day to work out how it works though.

I was not aware of the personal circumstances and Tim sending the B17 to you, weathered under such circumstances with express intentions in a matter which is of course private and personal. Nor was I aware of the bereavement and particular circumstances surrounding the creation of the image sent to you. My sincere apologies.

I'd love to have go at grafting my B17 photo onto this superb shot, and colouring it as well, if it were to permitted. It reminds me of my own experiences of 1958 when the sun always shone, and the photo is redolent of those days of spotting , too. Lovely. My picture removed. Sorry Gilbert and especially Tim.

Crab. Lovely photos lately, also Tim's. A pleasure to 'catch up'. Cheers

I think the ski jump is an illusion, from the four I have, caused by the inwards turn of the running plate and lens distortion in some photos. Looks straight to me.

You are very kind Tony to describe the equipment and settings you use so very well, I must add, uniquely well. I can think of no other photographer who can obtain the results you achieve, especially with single-shot methods. Unlike you I understand photo stacking, in fact the latest cameras will do it for you, if you can find the commands on the menu. They will also cook you a fine meal if you can find the control sub-menu. I do stacking manually and prefer the dictates of my eye over a program. Your cameras and lenses confirm for me that you have to have top equipment, and i have enjoyed confirming this in the last few days, whether the best be Nikon or Canon 45-50MP full frame. There are some options with less outlay, but most of the 'improvements' are all about 'interconnectivity', video speeds, and all sorts of irrelevant things if the aim is great photos of model railways. They use words like 'rethink' and soon they will use 'improved optionalities'. There are people out there who have to have the latest cameras and 8 lenses, and photography is simply a test of camera capability, nothing much to do with beauty or art. However you can buy a new 34 Megapixel Canon M-series camera for about UKP700 with a fairly good 15-45mm or 22-74mm (35mm equiv.) lens it's the Canon M6 MkII with 15-45mm , about as good as you can get with anything less than full frame and micro lenses. It will take RAW or JPEG images 6900 x 4500 pixels which gives some room for cropping without excessive loss of definition.. These smaller format cameras can use older full frame lenses via an adaptor ring. Trouble is that my current 'old' 2015 camera, an 18MP EOS-M, is nearly as good as a new 24MP M200 or maybe a 34MP M6 MkII, and I am lazy, the M6 MkII has different batteries and so on, but lenses would intermix, It may be fun to try something new. I have a micro lens for my cameras coming, regardless. My cameras will currently go to F36 and we shall see what happens. The one thing I suspect many readers like about your photography Tony is that it is a fine expression of art, the techniques would be invisible to many. Just for interest here is an example of my camera on F36 and some sharpening.... not a patch on an express roaring through Little Bytham! Thanks again for your reply.

John Le Carre reading 'Smiley's People' is absolutely brilliant, and I've heard Richard Burton reading Dylan Thomas's 'Under Milkwood', and like you in my youth I spent hours in our large local library absorbing facts about, in my case, photography, cars, ships, or whatever my passion was on the day. Speaking of photography, again, I think Tony has made a good choice for his camera gear with a 45MP full frame Nikon Df, apart from its bulk, as he points out, and an array of top lenses. In the search for equivalence in results, but for much less money, I have yet to strike the full-frame camera and lenses ... but will win in the end! I am stuck rather with Canon equivalent cameras, by no means bad, I just prefer the controls and 'logic' of their system, but the search continues. I must ask Tony, was the Deltic photo at Little Bytham a 40mm micro cropped?

I copied the colours from a prototype photo of the engine .... and put them on this pic of the model, which shows how a bit of shine does not go amiss. With bits and pieces of scenery track and Bachmann Mk1s Replicating a cross-country train of about 1961. It show how good the model is in detail, certainly. Edited mostly just with front wheel profile, colours and contrast.