I can only apologise for the lack of updates on here of late, unfortunately I seem to be working 24/7 at the moment. This leaves precious little time for modelling, although I have managed to sort out a few prototype photos by way of compensation.
I really should return to the electronic coal-face now, but I can't crawl back into my office without at least a short comment about Bachmann's Class 66, which has been greeted with howls of dismay following it's debut at the toy fair recently. Crude, toy-like and with in-your-face errors that even some of the WeveNeverHadItSoGood luddites (or, at least, those without an advertising revenue stream to lubricate) will probably notice, this has not made a good impression.
Perhaps no worse in reality than Bachmann's own melted-looking attempt at a Class 40 or Heljan's half-Western, at a strategic level the Class 66 is a disaster of the highest magnitude. As many consumers (including your humble scribe) have noted, GM's Shed is the key to modelling a whole era in a way that no loco before has ever been. Without a decent Ying-Ying, discerning modellers can't really create a convincing replica of the modern scene. The absence of The Red Death spells, well, death for many a post-2000 layout scheme.
The implications of this shouldn't be under-estimated. Not only won't I be spending money on Class 66s, but I won't be buying rakes of HTAs or HHAs to go with them. Neither will I need any Hornby Class 60s, no matter how good they turn out to be. Without the leading role 66 I have no use for the supporting cast. The damage this kind of thing does to the hobby is immense, yet the spin-doctors and crevice-cleaners will be falling over themselves to report record sales of just one loco into just one sub-sector of the market. The same sycophants will, no doubt, be citing the small nature of the UK hobby as an excuse for something else the very next day, lacking the intelligence to see simple cause and effect at work.
Still, at least our tiny, insular market will soon have a choice of Gronks to move our Hull and Barnsley fish vans around our tiny, insular shunting planks...
Currently On My Stereo: Thunder - Live