Bought in the current Hattons sale and still not that cheap at £42 each (UK price), but much better value than the supposed 'RRP', on impulse I ordered them and was notified that they were despatched yesterday (Sunday???) by 'Yodel 24'.......never knew 7 day a week couriers existed, but lo and behold, they turned up today, and in an attempt to get some of my 'modelling mojo' back after ongoing health issues, I duly hauled myself up the loft ladder into my 'train room' for a closer look. They're individually priced and packed, but ran on the real railway in virtually permanently connected sets of 3, so it's perhaps odd that they're not sold as a set.......maybe something to do with the price? Packed in the usual Bachmann style clear plastic 'casing' within a cardboard box, so well protected for transit, unpacking them it was clear that they were indeed very nicely made and detailed, putting the 3 on the track, they instantly looked a nice rake of coaches, fitted with the standard Bachmann small tension lock couplers in NEM pockets, I may replace with Kadee's or perhaps just each end of the rake, not decided yet. Here's what they look like as a rake.
So what's the 'innards' like then? Upending one, first and most obvious 'Plus point' is that each bogie is already fitted with pickups for coach lighting (Yippee, at last!), though no lighting fitted, so another one for the 'to-do' list.
As is common with many coaches, there are 4 clips each side of the body to ease away, easily done with a few bits of 'Plasticard' or similar, checking that any clipped in 'pipework' etc at the ends are free first, the body eases off fairly easily to reveal that Bachmann have saved me another job (might make me redundant yet!) and pre-painted the seating, something that I always do as a prelude to fitting passengers. The roof interior looks to be no problem for lighting fitment, though I will, as usual, be gluing in a strip of white paper along the underside, partly to give better light reflection, partly to prevent any light 'bleed' through the roof as some coach roofs are on the thin side. Glazing is commendably flush with the bodywork too, as it ought to be at this price level. All 3 coaches are a little on the light side weightwise though, so I'll look to add in some lead flashing between seat moulding and chassis to sort that.
Finally, here's a closer shot of a coach side, showing how well detailed these ones are. Are they worth the money then??? Well, perhaps not if you're asked to pay the full asking price, but at Hattons current price, (cheaper still if you're not resident in our VAT area), then yes, especially if you compare it to the 'Rails' Dynamometer coach with a price of £125 in the UK, though the level of detail on that coach is something else altogether. Keith.
Fabulous looking coaches Keith . As they would normally run as a set could you fit 3 links between them and KD's at the ends? Cheer's, Pete.
Might be a week or two before I get around to fitting lighting as I need to make up another batch of my 'standard fit' lighting supply boards. I have the parts but as yet, still lacking the inspiration to get 'stuck in' as I'm not 100% just yet......but I'll get there in due course! Keith.
