Great British Locomotives Magazine

[S.A.C. Martin]

Black Five. I bought one so I can build a tender for my model of Belgian Marine as she was in the 1948 exchanges.

[Kestrel]

Black Five. I bought one so I can build a tender for my model of Belgian Marine as she was in the 1948 exchanges.

Thanks S.A.C.

[Atlantic 3279]

A quick skim of the current GBL Black Five froth over on RMWeb seems to reveal an encouraging omen for the forthcoming K3. Let's hope the K3 is one of the good models, that it has the stepped out copings on the tender, and that we can all actually get some......

[ten ten]

I have sinned, and purchased this Black five issue.( I like this engineman's engine).Given some shortcomings, remarkable value for the price.Was quite surprised my local branch of WHS reading rooms still carried this part work.

[Horsetan]

Major hacking session underway on the GBL Black Five. Loads of things to correct / modify / replace ....and the more you look, the more work there is to do.

This whole knock-off industry reminds me of Louis Vuitton luggage or Ugg boots - both have spawned a huge industry of mostly Chinese-made imitations of mostly Chinese-made originals

In the absence of body spares from Hornby, etc., and with zero development in the field of plastic loco kits, the GBL series would appear to be the only game in town if you want to improve your modelling skills or try to turn a static model into a runner.

[Kestrel]

For the first time since my bulk buy of A4s, my local Asda has sold out of Black 5s.

[Horsetan]

....my local Asda has sold out of Black 5s.

How many do they normally get in for each one of the series?

I have observed that quite a few WHS branches have refused to stock GBL from day one (Ealing, for example, and none of the smaller WHS premises at stations, etc. ever seem to have had it in), and other branches have progressively lost interest as the series has gone on. My own local newsagent/corner shop gave up after part 2. I suppose the space that it takes up on the dedicated shelf or box is something that militates against it being kept on.

Only Asda seems to keep the faith, as it were. None of the Sainsbury's branches that I buy my wine stocks from (West Hendon, Golders Green, Hemel Hempstead) have ever had it on the shelves, and even the Sainsbury's megastore at London Colney never stocked the series.

[Trestrol]

Sainsbury's Whitley Bay normally has two.

[Postman Prat]

Hi Greenglade and also Kestrel

Thanks for the suggestions, a week or so ago, as to where I might get this publication (Black 5 edition) I've tried Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury and Smiths in Southampton and Eastleigh. Even Smiths in Portsmouth.
No luck anywhere but I just wanted to say thanks for your suggestions

[manna]

G'Day Gents

I was going to ask my son to buy a K3 for me when they came out, he lives in Southampton !!

manna

[Horsetan]

Hi Greenglade and also Kestrel

Thanks for the suggestions, a week or so ago, as to where I might get this publication (Black 5 edition) I've tried Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury and Smiths in Southampton and Eastleigh. Even Smiths in Portsmouth.
No luck anywhere ....

This is what I meant by coverage becoming patchy. On the other hand, it may be that you were beaten to it by people who bulk-buy these things for reselling later on eBay....

[2002EarlMarischal]

Issue 10 is the K3 & K4 class.

Can't make much out of the model from the GBL web-site image.

[mick b]

K3 has a flush side tender, Bachmann copy ?

[Mercator II]

Whats the release date for that issue? I have totally lost track of when?

Brian

[Atlantic 3279]

Two weeks from today I believe.

We need yet another straight sided tender model like we need a hole in the head.....

What's wrong with the stepped out coping version???????

Apparently Bachmann found the K3 a poor seller, hence no attempt at producing the other variants. As many of them were lumpy runners too, I wonder if a model never meant to run in the first place might attract custom from those who are willing to build a chassis, but don't fancy paying the Bachmann price and then throwing away the mechanism? Looking at it another way, if Bachmann could not sell many K3s, will GBL manage to sell theirs?