royaloak Posted February 25, 2015 Share Posted February 25, 2015 There storage warehouse must be a long way away. I ordered mine Friday on the first hours and it still has not left yet! My VEP is showing as despatched as of 25/02/15 so the van has arrived at the shop, yours should be on its way as well! 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRAILRAGE Posted February 26, 2015 Share Posted February 26, 2015 Ordered one yesterday eve along with a Blue Bill which "accidently fell in me basket" I'm already looking at using some spare Hornby DMU bogie steps as the short ones may come in usefull. As for the guard irons I've already made one as me NSE unit lost one when I was doing the bogie mods to correct the assembly error. Roll on postie! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSpencer Posted February 26, 2015 Share Posted February 26, 2015 My VEP is showing as despatched as of 25/02/15 so the van has arrived at the shop, yours should be on its way as well! Not mine unfortunately Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 26, 2015 Share Posted February 26, 2015 Mine arrived yesterday morning and is already run in and chipped. I have to agree with others that the "face" of the VEP looks better in blue/grey than it does in blue or NSE. There's no reason for it as the moulding is identical, it just does look better! Strange. 7 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron Ron Ron Posted February 26, 2015 Share Posted February 26, 2015 (edited) Whatever livery they produce it in, it looks a mess with the howler on the front. Edited February 26, 2015 by Ron Ron Ron 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SRman Posted February 26, 2015 Share Posted February 26, 2015 Email from Kernow says mine has now been packed and is ready to start its long journey to Australia.Nice photos Ron. They do highlight that the Hornby corner pillars are too wide. At the price, I can live with it until I get up the courage to do something better, but it does still annoy me just a little. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Multiple identity account Posted February 26, 2015 Share Posted February 26, 2015 Mine arrived yesterday morning and is already run in and chipped. I have to agree with others that the "face" of the VEP looks better in blue/grey than it does in blue or NSE. There's no reason for it as the moulding is identical, it just does look better! Strange. manorroad_130.jpg It does look better...... Blue-Grey magic Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Ian J. Posted February 26, 2015 RMweb Premium Share Posted February 26, 2015 It seems to be that Hornby's designers made the front door too narrow, but put the windows and pipe recess in the right place relative to the door leading to the gap between edge of body and windows/recess being too wide. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oakydoke Posted February 26, 2015 Share Posted February 26, 2015 That porch effect with the connecting door being deeply recessed looks horrendous. That has to be one of the biggest gaffs with this model, but the blinkered seem to be ignoring it. The 4VEP is still a Dog! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Venator Posted February 26, 2015 Share Posted February 26, 2015 That porch effect with the connecting door being deeply recessed looks horrendous. That has to be one of the biggest gaffs with this model, but the blinkered seem to be ignoring it. The 4VEP is still a Dog! Or some of us don't care because it's certainly much better than any attempt I could ever dream of doing with a kit. If you don't like a RTR model for whatever reason don't buy it. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 26, 2015 Share Posted February 26, 2015 (edited) That porch effect with the connecting door being deeply recessed looks horrendous. That has to be one of the biggest gaffs with this model, but the blinkered seem to be ignoring it. The 4VEP is still a Dog! Perhaps the "blinkered" remember when there was no Southern Region RTR (certainly no EMU stock) and are simply grateful now that there is. My attempts at kitbuilding or scratchbuilding would surely result in a bigger, uglier dog. I like the Hornby VEP. Now where did I put my white stick? Edited February 26, 2015 by Pete 75C 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Budgie Posted February 26, 2015 RMweb Gold Share Posted February 26, 2015 Or perhaps their model railway is impressionistic, as mine is. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSpencer Posted February 26, 2015 Share Posted February 26, 2015 It is now official, they found the keys, cracked the digi code, got the van fixed and pulled my VEP out of storage. Just had confirmation it has been dispatched (touchwood). Happy bunny I be. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSpencer Posted February 26, 2015 Share Posted February 26, 2015 That porch effect with the connecting door being deeply recessed looks horrendous. That has to be one of the biggest gaffs with this model, but the blinkered seem to be ignoring it. The 4VEP is still a Dog! 20 years ago, we had no EMUs to boot. You had either the 501 tin plate from Dublo, the Triang looks a bit like a southern EMU and even those were hard to find. We then had the 466, Simon K never understood why this model, but it quickly boosted our aspirations, even if the model had realistic wheel slip for leaves on the line. Then silence for almost 10 years, leaving to fight with metal kits, Kirk kits or at best southern pride. Today I am glad of all these EMUs even if the VEP is not up to cep standards, it is still better than nothing. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulbb Posted February 26, 2015 Share Posted February 26, 2015 The shade of BR blue used by Hornby looks way off - too dark and too matt..... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SRman Posted February 26, 2015 Share Posted February 26, 2015 (edited) I have previously used MJT brass sides and driving ends on Lima mark 1 coach chassis, all motorised with a Lima class 73 motor bogie. It ran OK and looked the part in plain BR blue, but I never got around to adding all the door handles, grab rails, door hinges, and bump stops. I did eventually add silver window frames, using a silver gel pen ... wasn't that a tedious job!No, the Hornby one has its faults, especially at full retail price, but at the reduced prices I have always paid, I can accept that the face is not right but the hard work of detailing and painting the complex sides is already done for me to a very high standard. The running qualities are not up to the Bachmann CEP/EPB/MLV standards but are not bad either, and a good deal better than my old Lima based unit. I have a spare Hornby motor bogie lined up for installation in the MJT/Lima unit eventually. I'm certainly not saying everyone has to accept the shortcomings of the Hornby VEP, just that some of us are prepared to accept more compromise than others. Each to his own. Edited February 27, 2015 by SRman Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRAILRAGE Posted February 26, 2015 Share Posted February 26, 2015 I cant really comment on the shades used as I still haven't seen the B/G model in the flesh yet and screen saturation has too many variables. I'm happy with me Blue and NSE sets that I have as there actually very good runners. Guess I Must have been one of the lucky ones. Dog Cat or any other animal you might want to refer it to, to the majority of us it looks like a VEP and that's good enough. improvements and mods are what modelling is all about after all NOTHINGS PERFECT IF IT WAS WE'D HAVE NOTHING TO MOAN ABOUT. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium 33212 Posted February 26, 2015 RMweb Premium Share Posted February 26, 2015 When I get time, I will paint the yellow bits on the inside edge of the gangway black, and also pick out the black (dirt) line on the outside, comparing the two images above, there is too much yellow around the gangway area which highlights the incorrect depth even more. The blue grey vep runs much better than my NSE, so with the above, it is for me, more than acceptable. 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
brendan8056 Posted February 27, 2015 Share Posted February 27, 2015 It is nice to see the correct interior in the driving trailers. Unfortunately the motor coach of my model has a lighting bar for the rebuilt Vep, and an interior and stepboards to match that version. Again, no guard irons despite being shown on the picture on the box. But as said earlier it is good times for emu modellers at present and it would be boring if there was nothing to add or modify on a model. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Southernman46 Posted February 27, 2015 Share Posted February 27, 2015 (edited) Yes - fancy making it with the wheels totally the wrong distance apart - the shortcomings we are expected to accept - terrible, shocking !! Edited February 27, 2015 by Southernman46 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Storey Posted February 27, 2015 Share Posted February 27, 2015 Or perhaps their model railway is impressionistic, as mine is. Most outstanding comment of the week! Thank you! 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRAILRAGE Posted February 27, 2015 Share Posted February 27, 2015 WOW incredible response from Kernow, ordered a VEP and BIL weds eve and they both turned up this morning! MUCHOOS GRACIAS So far only test run but first impressions are that the VEP is incredibly smooth with excellent slow speed control easily as good as the 2-BIL'S & 5-BEL. When I've had a chance to run it in I'll report back but if its as good a runner as it looks to be, I'll be fitting the upgraded power bogie to my other 2 VEP'S. Thanks Hornby Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium gc4946 Posted February 28, 2015 RMweb Premium Share Posted February 28, 2015 Today I collected my blue/grey example ex-Kernow from the sorting office. Running wise, it's an improvement on their previous batch, the motor ran better and cab end tension locks didn't bind on curves. However I found they inserted a plain wheelset that had a groove milled in so a traction tyre could be fitted on the trailing bogie of the motor coach, which caused a lot of noise when running. Substituting that with a spare 14mm diameter non-grooved wheelset solved the matter. This is my second and almost certainly my last 4VEP in my fleet, so I now have the satisfaction of owning both original and refurbished versions in my preferred livery choices. I haven't decided yet whether to renumber the blue/grey example in the 30XX or 31XX series and affix NSE markings, or to keep it as the original. I'll chip my unit which allows me to switch off the carriage lighting, and also address light bleed in and around the headcodes by painting the insides black and/or boxing in the light. They are intended to be my workhorses in my collection as much as what happened on the Southern Region with the prototypes. 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kintbury jon Posted February 28, 2015 Share Posted February 28, 2015 I have managed to get all three of mine running together. Here is a video of 3588 leading 7830 with 3470 bringing up the rear. 9 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Storey Posted February 28, 2015 Share Posted February 28, 2015 I have managed to get all three of mine running together. Here is a video of 3588 leading 7830 with 3470 bringing up the rear. Good to see, thanks. What's the unit in Jaffa Cake livery that can be glimpsed for a few seconds? 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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