At long last Bachmann's new Class 25/1s have arrived in the shops and my samples have just been delivered. This latest incarnation of the ubiquitous Type 2 offers no suprises to those familiar with previous releases, and although it's nice to see a line of rivets have appeared around the base of the cab, this does little to compensate for the main errors that have been well documented in the past. The windows are still too flat at the tops, the nose door is too short and the trench around the triangular side-plate is reminiscent of 1970s Matchbox aircraft kits.
By way of comparison, here's the veteran Hornby model on the left next to the new Bachmann release on the right.
And again, but this time with Hornby's 1970s moulding on the right. Whilst Bachmann's bodged window shape is clearly inferior to it's 25 year old ancestor, in most other areas the aged Hornby item is outgunned. The proportions and shape of it's body are inaccurate, the detail poor and the whole lot sits far too high on a crude chassis that's barely functional.