deltic17

Yes a nice effort but too high in my eyes. I am prepared to wait as Dapol are probably going to clean up with these latest Mk1's. I'm in no rush and in particular, I need the ones with the later window surrounds.

Yes I would like some BG's too...

Thanks for clarifying - I must have somehow missed the original reply

Re the O guage Mk2 coaches..... Firstly a brilliant introduction, BUT, It would be interesting to get Ben's reasoning for why 2 brake coaches are being produced? In my eyes a FK instead of a BFK would have been a much better choice.....otherwise I can see loads of TSO being sold and not so many of the brake coaches..... Over to you Ben?

Just seen a photo of one of these latest Deltics on Hattons site. IMHO what a mess they have made of the weathered version of D9001 on the nose ends. Far too much dirt has been added - do they not look at photographs? Generally weathered locos still had fairly clean yellow ends apart from the odd Gateshead 37 say! Not that I personally wanted one but they really should have done a clean version of green with full yellow ends as that was the one livery that hadn't been done before allowing modellers to accurately weather it themselves.

…...and now they are about to produce the Mark2/a then maybe some more modern 2d/e/f could be produced as obviously there are so many similarities etc. I need some for my Deltic to pull....and I'm sure others will be in the same 'boat'..... I've said before lets just hope they get the shape/height correct etc.....and they will be on to a real winner....

Fantastic news re Mk2/2a coaches in O guage - just please, please, please get the shape correct and you will sell loads

a I will look forward to the Diesel Gala in 2021 then.... It is obviously not easy for starters as the railway has no mainline diesels. If it is to run properly and attract bigger crowds then you need a decent number of diesels present - it was risking it last time with 1 x 31 & 2 peaks trying to run a frequent service as one failure instantly means things are stretched and if I recall both Peaks ran into trouble at various times. GBRf have done a superb job of supporting such events but I personally think you have to watch you don't end up with too many GBRf locos as happened in a previous year. It is important to include the heritage diesels and maybe other rare traction such as a Colas 37 or 56 but if you run the event in cold weather then they can't provide train heat. I would love to see classes 33 & 73 (for Southern fans) represented along with say a 31,37,55(Deltic) again or 52(Western) and say one 66 or other modern traction to tow them there if required. Not easy of course, and all diesel fans would want the Bluebell to have a successful event but sometimes you have to go out and get good traction in to really pull in the crowds. Any best wishes and I will look forward to my next visit to the Bluebell in 2021.

Excellent work - I look forward to these weekly updates. There are some fantastic preservation activities taking place every year around the country but for me the GCR with realistic freight trains on a mainline tops the lot. It is a part of preservation that can often be neglected so well done on promoting it. I just wish I lived closer to experience it all more often! 10/10

Essentially the 03 looks good My only comment from the photo of 03107 in the photo above is that the BR arrow looks a fair bit on the 'thick' side. HJ have done this before! so it looks like I will need to replace that with a Fox version... I wonder who is going to bring out the bits to convert the HJ model into an air braked version - that would be handy otherwise I have got some scratchbuilding to do!

I agree very much with your comments above. I think one other thing is because HJ were brave enough to make O guage diesels in the first place they have pretty much covered all the classes now and taken the vast majority of the available market. Dapol have done really well with their 08 but if you want a 20,25,26,31,35,37,40,45,47,50,55 or 56 then it has to be HJ.

I believe it was dependent on where they were overhauled with smaller and standard numbers being used at various times - as you state the photos above show both styles 6" (792 & 709) & 8" numbers (750, 855 & 900).

Thanks. I sold all my old 47's in the hope that they get the new one spot on. Fingers crossed! It is amazing what can be done to improve the standard production model....

I think that could have been me you were referring to Here is 40068 with corrected angle of the front cab windows. In time I will no doubt be doing a repeat job for the centre headcode version

Just the 60 came with a number sheet - for the rest your source your own

Yes I had thought exactly that - a standard GBRf one is the missing link here - I’m sure one will appear from somewhere before too long!

Personally I am really looking forward to this - it says tooling is completed so we are stuck with the errors it seems. The later versions of their 37 was pretty much based around the original 37 so this will be the same. Not ideal for many rivot counters but it is ‘Railway Modelling’ after all so we can all improve the basic model. Hopefully the back to backs backs on this one are correct do it goes through the standard Peco pointwork without the problems the original disc version suffered from!

My comment would be are the front cab windows still at the wrong angle ie too steep/vertical? Good to have a centre headcode 40 on the way but I hope I don’t have to cut the windows out, reposition, filler etc but expect that could be the case. We will see I suppose....

* Teesside

Of those produced already, I think the Class 45 Peak was probably their best effort in capturing the correct body shape The 05?, 20, 33? & 42 are pretty good I believe but many others need a bit of correction, some more than others. The forthcoming 03 looks good although it is not such a difficult shape to reproduce I guess. It is a bit encouraging that with the 56 they appear to be (finally) asking modellers for their thoughts from the initial CAD images because in the past it was basically there is your loco buy it or leave it!! Hopefully the new 47 with have time spent on it to get it spot on because if they do they will sell loads. Surely it is worth taking the time to get it 100% correct.

I had thought exactly the same re the front windows being too high above the 'shelf'

Personally I'd hope for an HST

I did my class 40 too. Cut the windows out across the bonnet and across the roof and a bit of bodyside so that it slopes back at the correct angle and then filler, sand, filler, sand etc, etc. It does take a while but in my eyes is worth it as it now looks like a 40!

I was like many others just wondering when the Vanwide (VBA&VEA) and the coal hoppers HEA will be appearing? Maybe we all need to try and nudge Dapol on this one. I can see these being very popular but other projects seem to overtake these all of the time. They certainly seem stuck in a siding with the signal at Red unfortunately We have all tried to be patient but it would be great to hear of some progress here

Gear problems are not an issue with the 05 - it only affected early 37,47 & hymek? I have only seen one 05 running, a friend's and it was superb - lovely and smooth I personally can't wait for the 03