SRman

I like the idea of the battery. Make it a 3V one and add a metal spike on the front, and you'll have a new replacement / rival for the old Triang Battle Space Turbo Car! p.s. I agree with Derek regarding not mixing the voltages. There would be the ever-present danger he mentions that you would forget to switch the 12V off before placing the trolley on the track and POOF! Up it goes in smoke.

I used a couple of CT Elektronic 6-pin decoders in my two Bachmann E4 0-6-2T locomotives. These weren't the smallest ones available, but the E4s don't need that. They took a fair bit of fiddling with settings to get them to run properly, so I am not entirely convinced about CT Elektronik at this stage, although they are undoubtedly of good quality. It may help if they release a proper English translation for their manual - at the moment I have used partially translated versions from a couple of U.S. sites (with thanks to those who did go to the trouble of doing even that much). However, I do take your point that the TCS decoders may well be too big. There isn't much to the Wickham trolleys!

Hmmm. I want one of these but I do want it to run on DCC. Once they hit the shelves, I hope someone will report on how much room there is to squeeze a small, hard-wired decoder in. To date, I have used three TCS Z2 decoders to convert Hornby and Dapol terriers. These are very small decoders, although I also like TCS M1/M4 decoders for their usefully small footprint.

I have one of the Hobby Shop Faversham specials on the way, together with a Lenz decoder, although I am strongly considering putting a sound decoder in it with Legomanbiffo sounds. I have the decoder already with other sounds on it in another unit. Will the fix (ref. post #800) be present if I reblow my existing decoder, Charlie (or Ian, if you are reading this)? I am also considering, sight unseen, pulling the wires from the cab lighting and attaching them to the auxilliary outputs of the decoder pins on the motherboard, thus fixing the problem for any decoder that is plugged in. Until I receive the model, I cannot say for sure how feasible this is.

Tail lights on a 73 should be red blinds in the rear cab. They would only apply if the loco is running light engine, or at the rear of a train (pull-push mode?). In the latter case, one would then need to kill the headlight and forward blind.

Hornby's and Bachmann's Pullman liveries differ somewhat anyway, and there was some discussion about this elsewhere a while ago. As Hornby's Pullman's are the more suitable ones for the 73, one would hope it matches those rather than Bachmann's interpretation of the livery.

Even though I was a previous customer for the now cancelled class 33, because I went shares in a two-pack with a friend, his name is on the list and mine is not. However, I have now done the same thing with another friend who is on the returning customer list, and have ordered a green D5000 with sound. Looking forward to receiving mine, although it may take a while with the Christmas postal rush.

They can email you an O2? Isn't modern technology wonderful!

Yes, the wheels are quite a bit finer than the Lima ones, and also of a better material than the brass that Lima used which needed constant cleaning and tarnished if you even looked at it for too long!

My class 30 Mirrlees was one of the earliest that Bryan released and is on a v3.5 decoder (I think I was the one who 'provoked' him into doing the Mirrlees project!). It has always been a little juddery on the first movement after switch-on, but after that it runs smoothly, and I have never yet been able to cure this. I did remove all the capacitors but to no avail. I'll have to try the CV52 trick and see if that helps at all.

Agreeing with the above posts, the Lima body does stand up very well indeed to comparison, with only minor detail differences, mainly on the roof panels. Where there is no comparison is the detail on the underframe equipment and the bogies. Those dreadful Lima sandpipes (perpetuated by Hornby) have all had to be cut off flush on my models as they fouled my third rail installations. Most of my existing 73s are Lima bodies now running on Hornby chassis, which have decent running qualities. I am only assuming here, but I expect the Dapol one to be superior in both running qualities and pulling power.

OK, got it now. I was clicking on the FAV001 model rather than the FAV002 with the grey stripe (much preferred anyway!). Thanks for that.

I actually clicked "buy" on their site but the cart reported there were none in stock. I'm not sure if that's a problem with their on-line shop or they really have sold them out already.

Hattons and Rails (at least) now have close-up photos of the models. The Intercity one on Hattons site appears to have dark grey rather than black, although I cannot say with any certainty it is the correct shade.

They're not looking for just noodles, they're looking for funny noodles!

Heljan's most recent batch of class 15s lists one as a carriage heating unit in Sherwood Green, which more or less confirms Shane's post.

The spare smokebox doors for the BWTs are available, so it should be only a matter of time for the O2 ones to be made available. Being a separate part, they could feasibly get lost, so it makes sense to have spares available.

Oh no! Andy Y is flashing! p.s. Nice pics.

Hi Graham. You could also include the newly announced Rail Exclusive class 24 in green for BR(S) interest, as D5000 was allocated to the SR for some time in the late 1950s and early 1960s.

I would very much like a green one but they don' t make it easy for anyone overseas to buy one. No mention even, on their main website and the other one linked, http://www.sulzertype2.com/ , looks very nice but doesn't even let you go to the 'contact us' link - it doesn't seem to have been set up properly (yet?). While D5000 looks superb in model form, I always thought that first livery (on D5000 only) looked so deadly dull - BR probably thought the same, hence all subsequent ones got what became the standard livery. Still, D5000 suits my Southern-based location, with most of the first 20 having spent some time on the Southern in the late 1950s and early '60s (normally 15 or so of the 20 at any one time).

I have continued with the weathering of my Hornby S15, thus ruining Hornby's beautiful pristine black finish! I have been using two colour photos in the book The Heyday of Nine Elms and its Locomotives (Colin Boocock) for reference to the degrees of weathering 'suffered' by the S15s. The first pic is of 30839 outside the 'New Shed', the other is of 30829 on a local passenger turn. After the initial Humbrol black washes, I added a wash of their dark brown. This actually came out a bit more patchy than I wanted, but it was still a step in the right direction. I then decided that for a more even finish, I would revert to my older technique of mixing up the grunge colours and adding some matte or satin varnish. I used Humbrol 62, leather, Humbrol dark grey wash, and Humbrol satin varnish stirred very well, then added some Humbrol coal black 85. I do not mix this thoroughly, allowing the brush to pick up various shades and mixes of brown shading to dirty black. This was all thinned down with some mineral turps, before using the weathering wash the boiler and smoke deflectors, cab floor, cylinders and steps, some of the valve gear, all wheels and visible frames and pipes, the tender sides and steps, and a few other minor bits and bobs. I left the crests on the tender with a slightly thinner covering, as if they had been cleaned off in the ast but had gained a newer layer of dirt. This has dried much more evenly, and I am much happier with the effect so far. The overall finish is just a tad too brown at the moment, so now needs a wash of dark grey shading to black to finish off the main weathering. That will be followed by a few rusty and limey streaks around the cylinders and firebox washout plugs. Then I will have to see if there are any final adjustments or additions needed to make it as near completely convincing as I can.

Rail Exclusives usually have someone else actually manufacture the models, so that was what I was asking. Do they have their own plant now? (p.s. I am at work. I can get away with looking at RMweb but I have to be careful looking at anything too obviously 'not work'! I will ahve a look at Rail Exclusive's site this evening when I get home.)

I must say that the front end looks much more like a class 24 than the standard Bachmann model. I may have missed it in skimming through this topic, but who actually manufactures the model?

As I've suggested once before, they have their guards compartments filled with batteries!

I really like the weathering you have done on most of those, Rick. The natural daylight really helps with the effect too. Very convincing.