I have had a rolling program of upgrading printed name plates with etched ones over the last few years. I put in two orders to Modelmasters just before Christmas to cover most of the remaining diesel and electric models I have, although a couple were not available for various reasons (either not made or out of stock).

The following photos show the ones I have fitted so far.

London Transport (ex-Metropolitan Railway) Bo-Bo no. 8 Sherlock Holmes has benefitted from having its over-thick plastic plates replaced by the etched versions, although I have to say the Heljan version was not too bad at all.

ViTrains class 37, 37 428 David Lloyd George needs a little more work to patch up the paintwork at either end of the new plates - that's where I had to scrape off the slightly longer printed versions. This locomotive had its yellow bits overpainted with a deeper (correct) colour, plus some black paint inside the noses to reduce light bleed. It has the TTS sound chip in it from a Hornby RailRoad class 37, with a home made speaker enclosure to house the speaker. Note that the front of the nose is not quite seated properly, a known weakness of these very early ViTrains class 37s.

I like my Lima class 73s for their liveries, but the running qualities were nothing to write home about. All of my operational ones except one now have Hornby mechanisms (the odd man out has a ModelTorque motor fitted). 73 125 Stewarts Lane 1860 - 1985 looks much better with the etched plates instead of the printed ones. It would benefit further if I weathered it lightly.

Another hybrid locomotive is class 59, 59 005 Kenneth J. Painter, with Hornby chassis and Lima body. I experimentally fitted LED head and marker lights at one end only - something I would rate as entirely successful but I need to tidy up the internal wiring a bit. The plates are black, where I think they should be blue for the earlier condition. I may flood some blue paint into them at a later date, but they still look good now, as is.

And finally, for the name plate fittings for this session, Hornby class 09, 09 012 Dick Hardy, now sports the etched plates. The printed ones were just a tiny bit longer, but I didn't modify them at all; you don't see it from normal viewing distance, and only notice if it is pointed out at closer viewing distances.

Since placing the order for name plates, I have landed a few more models, two of which are named! I'll have to order plates for them next time I place an order.

First up is Heljan BR blue class 47, 47 508 S.S. Great Britain, bought second-hand but almost unused. I spent yesterday evening gluing the buffer beam pipes and coupling hook in, then cut them all off at a level just below the bottom of the buffer beam to clear the model coupling swing. I still think this looks better than having a bare buffer beam.

Also from the same source, and almost unused, was BR blue Heljan class 33/1, 33 117. This one is not named (whew!) but needs some buffer beam detailing and weathering.

p.s. I only spotted the cat hair on the front of the 33 when looking at the photo full-screen. I wish our Toby wouldn't share his hair quite so freely!!

And finally, from eBay, sound-fitted Hornby 08, 08 844 Chris Wren 1955 - 2002 in EWS livery.