VESPA

Thank you Roger that sounds better. It saves all the coppicing and pollarding. What do you all think about Bryce's railway is the more important now that issue has been simplified. There is some money invested in that.

Thank you Brewman for that info. If I need to link again I will try that faffing about next time. What happened to the easy way it always used to be?. I think it needs reverting back to the simple method. I joined in April 2011 and am not a fan of this newer version as everything seems long winded.

Thank you to the mod who reset the link. I no longer have any idea how this site now operates regarding links since it was revised about a year ago.

I have a friend in the US whose son is a big railway fan. He models 0 Guage. Have a look at his facebook page of his 32' layout. There are moving section and stills.. Bryce Manz - For Christmas 2022, I thought it would be fun... | Facebook

I can sympathise with your dilema. I recently bought parts from Lendons with no issues other than excellent service. It's rare I need parts and miss the Modelspares of Burnley supplies. That chap knew every part going and I think still sells bits on Ebay under a different name. Lendons are now my "Go to first" shop now as Peter's Spares are usually out of stock or the postage charges are horrendous for small parts. I can assume that Lendons have possibly been on the wrong end of the stick, so to speak, and lost £100's with rogue buyers, hence the no out of the UK sales. I find it a great outlet for my needs when required. Perhaps someone on here will help you get what you want. Hornby are the culprits in the lack of spares to the general public. Fancy buying a Rolls Royce only to find they do not supply spare parts. After all some locos are now over £350 and no spares??? That is a big loss if it goes wrong 2 years on.

The very best to you all over Christmas and New Year VESPA

Let's be honest here, the vast majority on here have no interest in Twitter, Facecloth, Tick tock tick tock etc etc so are unable or unwilling to enter. That actually is a snub to us the customer. A very bad decision by Hornby with so many newcomers to the model railway world such as Rapido, Accurascale etc. hitting the market. Dapol are really getting into new quality models as well. Hornby have already messed up with several retailers with Rails no longer dealing with them and forging ahead with popular exclusives from Heljan and Bachmann, some of which are NRM exclusives with their funding. If Hornby continue with their disasterous approach to customers, both trade and public, I see no future for them.

What if you are retired with no grandchildren or children like me and my wife. The Facebooks etc are not of much use to us. Once you leave work your workmates gardually disappear and you only ever see them at someones funeral.

Personally I think it is sad that Hornby can only do all this via the woke systems leaving the older, somewhat more cash viable regular customers, unable to enter because they don't do woke. I think someone in their 20s/30s in marketing at Hornby has decided this mad method. Now hands up those who know many followers of model railways under 30? I am not talking about trainsets at Christmas never to be played with again after Easter. Most are into computer games and football. Some prefer to hang about on street corners. I await being cancelled.

If you want an advent calendar to win everytime get a Cadbury's one. I am not bothering with the Hornby one. I can bet I know who at Hornby thinks this childish twitterary is a good idea. It's not Simon Kholer.

I cannot understand why any company wants to use the woke sites for their products. Hornby are once again making large losses and they are not in touch with their customers at all anymore be that trade or shopper. I have been on about prices of locos a lot recently and to prove that they are overpriced along comes offer on the A2's at nealry half the RRP at various shops. Just wait for what you want and save hundreds when slow moving stock is dumped out to the trade.

I have several blues from Humbrol but will look at those 2.

I just tried to register to have a go at getting the Rocket. I have been blocked trying to hack my non existant account. So, I assume someone is using "Vespa" as a username. Why do companies use these useless medias to interact with customers. If all the Advent Calender is going to be done that way then that is me out. ( As I won't and can't because I am blocked)

I have recently got a 2nd hand LNER Mallard R2339, with a door missing. I have sourced several Hornby A3/A4 doors from Hornby directly but these are in plain black plastic. They are slightly different from the one on the loco so I want to replace both sides. Can anyone who has used an LNER blue paint advise me on which company gets the best match to Hornby LNER blue? A long shot I know but I am happy to add a spot of another blue to match spot on.

It's shame you are in Aus. We have German retailers with a shop called Lidl. They are grocery mainly but have a middle isle of other things. I bought a super temperature adjustable soldering iron kit from them for I think £20 ish. It had cleaning mat, stand, different solders on small rolls for high and low temp use. Brilliant bit of kit for the money.

Hornby are making huge losses at present, so maybe some bright spark has decided to make things more realistically priced. The dearer they get the less they sell.

Well I have found an abundace of A3 A4 doors on Hornby's own website so ordered 2 packs as the postage was double the parts price. Peters spares haven't got any but want £3 more per pack + £5 del.

My Mallard arrived today. I am very pleased with it. I will have to sort the cab door. I can see why the draincocks are not fitted as it will make the loco usable only on scale gentle curves as the front bogie will catch. It looks as the returned NRM version except it's semi matt rather than gloss. A very quick delivery from the sender via Royal Mail.

I will try a tube of superglue of which I have around a 12 pack card. The Wilko 2 pack has been dreadful taking nearly 2 days to go off and still feels tacky when it does go off. I use Humbrol for kits and have done for 60+ years with no trouble. It also works on some Hornby plastics.

96RAF the other door is still attached. I will attempt (when it arrives) to make another from plasticard. I have made a few for Britannias in the past. If you do find it I would be very greatful to have it.

I have been very disappointed with several two pack glues recently taking far too long to dry. I also have't had much luck with superglues. Can anyone recommend a decent make of both for use with Hornby plastics etc.

Thank you Atom. I have managed to get hold of a set of correct draincocks and full rear bogie wheel for £2.95 brand new. All I need to do is make a cab door. From all the photos of it, it looks as new otherwise and does have the 14 day returns facility if required. I was surprised at Peter's Spares for postage prices, so got the accessory pack cheaper with £2 p+p elsewhere. I do not understand how a charge of £5 can be alloted to an envelope part. Say 10p for the envelope and £1 for the postage leaving a furthur wacking £3.90 effectively profit after the profit on the parts. EDIT EDIT 96 RAF if you do find them I will gladly pay you inc P+P if you can get them to me.

I recently bought a MALLARD A4 that went back due to faulty paintwork (No QC in China) I wanted it to go with my newly aquired Dynomometer car ( returned under recall) Yesterday I saw a Mallard A4 2nd hand with just a door missing but still having the small glass cab windows intact. That was half the price of the NRM returned version. More sympathetic to my wallet. I will make a cab door from styrene sheet, as I have done on a few locos. The paint match will have to be done carefully. If there is anyone out there with a spare right door in LNER blue I would gladly purchase it. Now a question, did the MALLARD version R2339 have cylinder drain pipes?

I prefer Royal Mail in our area. It's the same man or woman who are extremely good opening the outer doors for anything that could be be valuable such as magazines. Parcels always arrive perfect. On one occasion our old postie went out of his way when I told him we were going away later in the day and I was expecting a parcel. He went back to the deopt, found it and was back about an hour later. The item was a Bachmann Royal Mail coach. Evri was rubbish with most things until we got a new chap and then it became reliable. Now he doesn't care. Yodel actually thieved 2 cases of wine over 2 Christmas periods and thieved one bottle out of a case of 6. I hope whoever that was choked on it.

Hattons have had a few over the last few days in their secondhand section so have a loook there.