John Isherwood

At age 73, and with Alps printers and consumables rapidly entering the 'hens' teeth' category, the time will come!! 😧 John Isherwood.

Pedant alert !!! Many of us should be at our modelling benches, instead of looking for miniscule inaccuracies in the posts here! CJI.

This'll never catch on - wagons that not merely, vaguely resemble a prototype, but are actual accurate models of a specific prototype! Next - they'll be finishing them in accurate liveries! CJI.

I won't spell it out - you know the answer; 25kv AC versus ?00v DC! CJI.

Whatever; with a NEM pocket - if that is what the red thing is - way out there, there'll be no chance of buffer-locking! CJI.

Indeed it was THE Doug Hewson. Quite a few expletives were expended in the building of those kits - but I still run them! John Isherwood.

Dirt - when every surface was coated in dirt, to the extent that you could not make out even the outline of the lettering, it WAS uniform. Believe me - I saw plenty of them, and a multitude of other VERY dirty NPCCS back in the day. CJI.

I'm coming to the conclusion that a self-build in plastic card, tailored to fit Peco Code 75, would be the best and most economic approach. ..... or, at least, if it doesn't work, I'll only have myself to blame! CJI.

Being in a similar position, I will be interested to read responses. CJI.

Headroom clearance is usually a problem in lofts - raising the boarding to this extent would surely reduce it to an impractical extent? CJI.

Builder? Bodger! CJI.

The problem with boarding lofts is that modern insulation standards require insulation thicker than the joists. If existing thick insulation is compressed when boarding the loft, it becomes far less effective. CJI.

That is water that has condensed onto the interior face of the roofing felt and dripped off. In cold weather the roofing felt gets very cold, and the warm air rising into the loft space is moist - hence condensation. Insulation placed between and over the joists will prevent the warmth from the house entering the loft space - and save energy cost! CJI.

Those bodies are a relatively easy cut-and-shut into a Collett slip coach - been there! John Isherwood.

Brown livery? What brown livery? BR never used a brown livery on Siphons - or anything else for that matter. Surely you weren't suggesting GWR brown livery? CJI.

Watch it !!!! You'll have a certain flamboyant 'lady of colour' after you !!!! CJI.

As anticipated, I am clearly of a minority view. If I am still around, it will be interesting to see where the hobby stands, and if prices have continued to spiral, in ten year's time. CJI.

I would have thought that was obvious, and I fully accept the information from a better informed source. My reason for posting was that we seem to have reached a point with detailing where it might be wise to consider for how much longer, particularly with the economy in recession, prices can continue to spiral upwards- even by degrees - before there are adverse consequences for the hobby. CJI.

Since it seems that my point is not getting through - or is being deliberately 'overlooked' - I will spell it out in one word - PRICE. .... and this is not a peevish reaction because I can't afford to buy the product - I could. I have two B-sets; a Keyser flat-ended one and an Airfix bow-ended one; both have been detailed and repainted to a good standard. I could sell both of these on Ebay and buy the new models instead. I won't, because I deem the asking price to be excessive for a pair of coaches, however well detailed they may be within their invisible interiors, and elsewhere. My major concern, though, is that today's prices will make the hobby of railway modelling seem, to younger, less affluent persons, the sole preserve of old, retired men with too much time and money on their hands. At present, all the producers of railway models seem to be chasing their tails to add ever more exterior detail - and I cannot take exception to this, though it does, inevitably, add to the cost of their products. However, we have now arrived at the point where interior detail is being added which is invisible unless the model is dismantled! We are told that it would be fantastic just to know that the detail is there, even though we cannot see it! IMHO, that way lies madness - a classic case of 'The Emporer's New Clothes'. Why on earth would we wish to pay significantly more for detail that is invisible? ..... and it does cost significantly more - tooling is one of the principal costs of production, possibly THE principal cost. I know that my view will be in the minority but, especially during the current recession, ever-spiralling prices WILL become unsustainable. CJI.

It would surely depend, for most of us, how much extra the inclusion of invisible detail costs. I'm sorry, but paying significantly extra for something that we will never see makes no sense whatsoever to me. .... and don't anyone tell me that tooling a fully detailed interior - and providing lights - doesn't significantly add to cost, because it most certainly does. It is common knowledge that the tooling design and production costs are a very major proportion of the cost of production - mega money, that some companies need to take in advance from customers if the project is to proceed. (I am aware that this is not the case with this particular producer). CJI.

Not my point - how many potential purchasers WANT luggage racks, ETC.? A lot of this superfluous, often invisible, detail is being added simply because : - a] it can be done (at a price); b] the opposition hasn't done it yet. At the moment, it seems that there is a viable market of potential purchasers who will pay ANY price, however inflated, for the latest bells and whistles. What you can be sure of is that they are NOT young, potential railway modellers of the future. The industry relies upon the mature 'modeller', with plenty disposable income, at its peril. Jam today may become stale crusts tomorrow! CJI.

True - but how many modellers have, prior to this announcement, felt the need to fit compartment luggage racks, etc. In these days of "We can do it - so we will", surely we have to ask "But at what price"? I'll be sticking with my (detailed) Keyser and Airfix B-sets! CJI.

By all means correct me if I'm mistaken but ..... doesn't the W1 / W5 have a different wheelbase from all of the other Coopercraft / Cambrian kits? CJI.

It is possible to run a small producer business without any advertising at all - I've been doing it for 23 years, and have never placed an advert anywhere. A website, word of mouth and the odd new product announcement here bring in a reasonable level of trade. That said, I couldn't make a living from Cambridge Custom Transfers, and I keep no stock - everything is printed to order. Any tools and materials business run in the same way would have to have a much reduced range available and, ideally, be operated by a couple, with one having a separate, full-time job. John Isherwood.

I'm afraid that these 9'-9"WB wagons were not used for container traffic under BR to any significant extent - their sub-ten foot wheelbase would certainly have precluded this by the time that the Co-Bos were around. CJI.