Oxford Diecast - 2017 deliveries and announcements

[Sprintex]

One thing to remember is there is a MASSIVE following for Stobart,

Unless you ask anyone that's ever been involved in the haulage industry 


Paul

[exmouthcraig]

Are you suggesting Mr Tinklers green and white armada aren't highly regarded by other haulage firms paul??

I would definitely agree with you we know of first hand experience of their staff and the ruthlessness of it all.

[RailGooner]

.. I'm not complaining though ...

Me neither Alistair. Indeed I'm really looking forward to the Stobart Rail Nooteboom rig, amongst other items.

[Sprintex]

Are you suggesting Mr Tinklers green and white armada aren't highly regarded by other haulage firms paul??

Other drivers too. Put it this way - if some of these "enthusiasts" knew the tactics employed by their transport company of choice they might see the stark reality behind the image 

Spent enough time driving trucks to find out the awful truth!


Paul

[exmouthcraig]

Indeed

Driver:- sorry I've just smashed light bar off trailer hitting wall in loading bay

Planner:- did you drive in to area as detailed on your red sheet?

Driver:- yes, exactly as that knowing how awful it is here

Planner:- is it safe to bring trailer back to depot??

Driver:- yes, shall I return now?

Planner:- yes immediately return to me at depot.

30 mins later driver arrives at depot, planner and management assess damage and get drivers record of events.

Thank you for your service driver here's your P45!!

Think that happens at least once a week 😯

[Bornin1980something]

I note the new so called Mini (well the real ones are hardly minis).  That I would buy.  There is a district shortage of decent ordinary current cars (say 2005 on) in the UK scale - things like the Focus, Mondeo, Vectra, Astra, Polo etc the sort of thing ordinary people, buy.  I have a couple of Toyotas from tomytec, a first generation Galaxy, a Mercedes A class,  and a current Beetle but that is more or less it.

Ah, I see their first contemporary car offering is getting recognition at last. I have one on pre-order. Thing is, not all cars come from Oxford. When I started, there were no Oxford cars in N, and if you wanted cars which didn't look under scale, you had to go for white metal ones. While the P&D Marsh and Fleetline ranges actually extend into the mid 1980s in some cases, they seem to stop around that point. I once spoke to the current owner of P&D Marsh about that, and he said that older cars have a bigger market, as you can put classic cars on a modern layout, but not modern cars on a steam age layout (never mind the inconvenient fact that many cars last less than 15 years, and the viability of using 80s era cars suddenly got lower with the scrappage scheme of 2010).

In recent times, however, other parts of the kits markets seem to have been somewhat revitalised, though you have to search diligently and be willing to pay for it. This following link leads to the Aspect Model Making range of cars, the most modern I have ever seen in white metal.

http://modelsupplies.net/index.php?route=product/category&path=97_110

They are 1/150 architectural models with mounting spigots, and might be the best castings I have ever seen. Trouble is, you have to order several in order to fulfil their minimum spend requirements, and you never know what exact models will be sent to you (though real railway managers never know what cars will appear in their yard either!). The other major supplier to the architectural market is 4D Modelshop, the original home of Graham Avis Detail. They have just released a brand-new set of cars in 1/200, and they will eventually be available in 1/150.

http://www.ngaugeforum.co.uk/SMFN/index.php?topic=34673.0

The other alternative, though an expensive one, is Shapeways. These following links would be of interest to those who need modern cars.

www.shapeways.com/shops/madaboutcars?sort=newest&section=1%2F148&s=0
www.shapeways.com/product/65CTVZZ2J/nam01-1-148-austin-maestro?optionId=42373118
www.shapeways.com/product/YXYZ75M24/1-144-marco-s-car-sa?optionId=10252418
www.shapeways.com/product/CZYUDH74W/vauxhall-corsa-1-148-british-n?optionId=59908015
www.shapeways.com/product/BVC6NC3R9/reliant-robin-1-148-scale-british-n?optionId=59908010
www.shapeways.com/shops/djrail?section=Road+Vehicles&s=0
www.shapeways.com/shops/cmacmodels?section=British+Bus+Collection&s=0
www.shapeways.com/product/MP6A68B3A/mercedes-benz-207d-bus-british-n-1-148?optionId=58504410
www.shapeways.com/shops/tinytrains?section=1%3A148th+Scale&s=0

Several makers will also upscale 1/160 items to British N at the touch of a button. This way, I have even requested American outline vehicles in British N for my car show. You still have to be prepared to pay a bit more than the listed price, but this whole currency thing just might settle down by the end of this year!

Here are some pictures of my own collection.

[daffy]

Thanks for this post @Bornin1980something

I have just posted a link to it on this thread of other links for N Gauge vehicles for obvious reasons:

http://www.ngaugeforum.co.uk/SMFN/index.php?topic=36201.msg426259;topicseen#msg426259

[Railwaygun]

Any pictures from the London Toy FAir??

[woodbury22uk]

The only Toyfair pictures I have seen are on the Oxford Diecast Collectors Facebook group. There were finished versions of the Scania truck with lowloader trailer, various Borismasters, lots of the reliveries, and the raw castings for the 3 x farm trailers, Dingo scout Car, CMP, Weymann Fanfare coach, (unannounced) Burlingham Seagull coach, BMW Mini, Cortina MkIII, MGB, Mercedes ambulance, and Austin Princess. The raw castings plus the D-Tec skeletal trailer, and container, are all from the same mould suite, and have been delayed until now because of major corrections being needed to the MGB part of the mould. Close up pictures of most of the raw castings are on the Facebook Group too. The Mercedes Ambulance, which will have a lot of printed detail, will become the basis for supermarket delivery vans as soon as people get their hands on them. My local roads seem to be frequented by Tesco, Asda, Morrisons, Ocado, Sainsburys, Iceland etc. so just right for current street scenes.

[Rabbitaway]

Hi

The proposed use of the Mercedes van casting for the ambulance and Ocado type delivery van might explain the well over scale rear box on the ice cream van, this makes this model one of the poorest from Oxford in recent times. Just put it beside a LWB Transit or an artic tractor unit to see how out of scale it is. A van with this size of box likely be closer to scale for the new models

As I have said before why are the excellent TomyTec 1/150 cars not used more for modern Layouts?

[woodbury22uk]

Hi

The proposed use of the Mercedes van casting for the ambulance and Ocado type delivery van might explain the well over scale rear box on the ice cream van, this makes this model one of the poorest from Oxford in recent times. Just put it beside a LWB Transit or an artic tractor unit to see how out of scale it is. A van with this size of box likely be closer to scale for the new models

As I have said before why are the excellent TomyTec 1/150 cars not used more for modern Layouts?

The ambulance is a completely new casting, looks a much better shape and size. I do not think that the Sprinter ice cream van is a good shape in 1/43 or 1/148ish.

I agree with your view on Tomytec cars, but although similar and sometimes identical models were or are in Europe, the model names vary and are not recognised by many possible buyers.

[Bornin1980something]

Hi

The proposed use of the Mercedes van casting for the ambulance and Ocado type delivery van might explain the well over scale rear box on the ice cream van, this makes this model one of the poorest from Oxford in recent times. Just put it beside a LWB Transit or an artic tractor unit to see how out of scale it is. A van with this size of box likely be closer to scale for the new models

As I have said before why are the excellent TomyTec 1/150 cars not used more for modern Layouts?

Is their Bedford ice cream van any better?

I suspect the reason we don't see so many Tomytecs any more is that they are not as easily obtained as they once were. For instance, DM toys in Germany used to sell them separated from the pack, but their supplies seem to have been drying up in recent times.

[Rabbitaway]

Yes, I understand the body is likely to be a new casting but will this not be on the same base plate more suitable for a wide bodied box therefore save some tooling

Are TomyTec car still not available from Plaza Japan?

[railsquid]

I suspect the reason we don't see so many Tomytecs any more is that they are not as easily obtained as they once were. For instance, DM toys in Germany used to sell them separated from the pack, but their supplies seem to have been drying up in recent times.

I haven't been following developments closely, but my impression is Tomytec haven't released any new cars/vans for quite a while (though they're certainly putting out enough buses). Many of the existing models are still widely available in packs of 4 here though.

[Mustermark]

I'm looking forward to the MkIII Cortina, and I think the Princess and MGB will be good. I will wait to see what the NGS might do for the carflat, but I quite fancy a delivery load of Cortinas from Dagenham, or Princesses from Abingdon.