Oxford Diecast diversifies into railway models

[adrianbs]

Hi Richard Thanks, do you want the full unexpurgated version or just the top of the pops ten ?? Adrian

[richard]

Shall we just go for the top 10?

[adrianbs]

Observations on the forthcoming Oxfordrail 7 Plank PO Wagon
1 Very few if any POWs had the clips holding the capping strip in place until post-war/B.R. days. Bachmann have this feature and it is very annoying as it is very difficult to remove them and reinstate the paintwork. They would have been one up on Bachmann had they left them off. When these were added the wagons had been pooled and the liveries would have been far from pristine after the war so the smart as built paintwork is somewhat incongruous
2 What have they done with the corner plate?? I have never seen a single picture with the bottom plank held on with a separate small corner plate. This must be a very unusual, if not unique, repair and totally unwarranted on a standard version of this model.
3 The buffer bodies seem too long and the spindles too short.
4 The outer row of bolts on the corner plate seems to be too near the end and would not be possible to fit.
5 The outer Vee hanger is far too thick although the Bachmann model has a similar problem, theirs was designed to fit slots in the solebar thus disguising its over scale thickness. It is clearly assembled badly as it is too low.
6 The detail at the top of the door end diagonal is not correct, the door goes the full height but the hinge position is that for wagons which have a narrow top plank to the doors.
7 The wood end stanchions have too little, if any, taper towards the top
8 The three end door vertical straps should go almost to the top of the door.They only reach as high as they would if there was a narrow top plank.
9 The door end coupler pocket has no upward extension over the floor plank
10 There is a “plank groove” halfway up each buffer beam, why ??
All Items bar Nunber 1 are where Oxford’s product fails to come up to the standard of the Bachmann equivalent. Regrettably it seems that there has been a mix up by the designer of the two variants of this RCH design
In my opinion a 1907 design RCH coal wagon would have been a far better bet, only some, as yet, being available in kit form. Many of these lasted into the early BR period and only got scrapped in the general annihilation of all wood underframe 9’wb wagons. Unless you are planning to produce a large range of heavily distressed wagons, still in PO livery, these give a further 16 year coverage of modeling from 1907 to 1941 as opposed to 1923 to 1941. This is almost twice as long for the PO livery to be suitable in reasonable condition in some cases.
I am very much afraid their claim of “ A new level of detail for the most discerning of railway modelers” does not stand scrutiny. This model is well below the standard of kits AND a competitors RTR model and since many of the latter are available on ebay at prices below £8-95 the price advantage is hardly a selling point at the present time and may soon force down ebay prices further once Oxford’s become available.
Quite a large number of LNER 7 Pank wagons had wooden end stanchions although Tatlow is not specific as to whether all the contractor built wagons were so fitted. They did NOT all have narrow top plank end doors like the standard LNER version. adrianbs

[D2100]

Ten sounds reasonable to me, FWIW. After that, the more minute the minutiae, the less folk are likely to be bothered.

One plea if I may, Richard: can we try not to entertain posts with the 'Adrian has a vested interest' nonsense that's plagued other forums. If a criticism is correct and valid, it's correct and valid no matter who makes it.

[Dave]

10 Sounds good to me too, I'm always wanting to know more.
Quite agree Pennine.

[adrianbs]

Hi all I notice that Oxfordrail have added a note on their site to the effect that the coupling loop is being shortened. Quite how much this will be remains to be seen but they certainly need to reduce the gap between wagons by at least 50% to match other makes but still suit 1st radius curves. That may be the only mod now possible since it is a separate part whilst any attempt to correct most of the other major errors would need almost a complete set of tooling. They say the tooling is complete so only very minor mods like adding a bolt head seem possible now. This is another case where early modeler participation before tooling commenced might have saved the day and, more importantly, produced something not already available RTR or in kit form but still with the requisite cash cow parameter. adrianbs

[Atlantic 3279]

Oddly enough those capping strip clips missed my scrutiny when playing around with a Bachmann wagon, so that shows my shortcomings. Mr Weallans saved me from my own ignorance/negligence.
Notwithstanding my own failings, I'd VERY MUCH AGREE that a model of something new (1907 RCH being a leading candidate) would have been far more welcome (even with minor errors) than simply YET ANOTHER PRODUCT DUPLICATION (triplication, quadruplication or whatever).

And if I dare mention price, even today I'd hardly consider £8.95 a true bargain rate for a Far East mass produced RTR four wheeled mineral wagon - with errors.

[notascoobie]

Oddly enough those capping strip clips missed my scrutiny when playing around with a Bachmann wagon, so that shows my shortcomings. Mr Weallans saved me from my own ignorance/negligence.
Notwithstanding my own failings, I'd VERY MUCH AGREE that a model of something new (1907 RCH being a leading candidate) would have been far more welcome (even with minor errors) than simply YET ANOTHER PRODUCT DUPLICATION (triplication, quadruplication or whatever).

And if I dare mention price, even today I'd hardly consider £8.95 a true bargain rate for a Far East mass produced RTR four wheeled mineral wagon - with errors.

You can buy a Cambrian kit for a 1907 RCH wagon for £4.40. No capping rails!

Regards,

Vernon

[Hatfield Shed]

... They say the tooling is complete so only very minor mods like adding a bolt head seem possible now...

It comes down to their intent. The impression they put over is an aim to immediately be in the first rank for production of plastic moulded RTR OO models. If they are serious, then it's time to dump this tool and start again because it is a clear 'miss'. And possibly take the very sound advice to go for the 1907 design, and have a unique RTR product...

[D2100]

Whilst I'd be the first to support the principle of objective criticism and the pursuit of accuracy, after that there has to come the subjective stage - armed with the information, does it matter to the purchaser. And that of course is an individual decision. For me - and I emphasise this is me - none of those ten points are what I'd call 'major', even though I agree that they're valid observations. Removing the capping clips and the spurious addition to the corner plate would - again for me, if I were modelling pre-BR - soon be hidden by weathering. And of course for the vast majority of purchasers, they won't matter one whit; looking at the bigger picture, the Oxford wagons are streets ahead of most 4mm RTR POs. And they're certainly better than those abysmal Dapol 7mm efforts...

One other thing that hasnt been mentioned here (but has elsewhere) is that some shots only seem to show one drop door in the floor - is this the case, does anybody know, or is it just the angle of the illustrations that mean the nearer one is out of view? That for me would be more likely to be a deal breaker.

[jwealleans]

I'm not sure anyone has seen one in the plastic, but the concensus seems to be that there is only one.

This is a prototype, though; hopefully they can alter the tooling to that extent at least, although the way people are picking up on discrepancies in the photographs, they may not be able to alter it sufficiently to please everyone.

[mick b]

Whilst I'd be the first to support the principle of objective criticism and the pursuit of accuracy, after that there has to come the subjective stage - armed with the information, does it matter to the purchaser. And that of course is an individual decision. For me - and I emphasise this is me - none of those ten points are what I'd call 'major', even though I agree that they're valid observations. Removing the capping clips and the spurious addition to the corner plate would - again for me, if I were modelling pre-BR - soon be hidden by weathering. And of course for the vast majority of purchasers, they won't matter one whit; looking at the bigger picture, the Oxford wagons are streets ahead of most 4mm RTR POs. And they're certainly better than those abysmal Dapol 7mm efforts...

One other thing that hasnt been mentioned here (but has elsewhere) is that some shots only seem to show one drop door in the floor - is this the case, does anybody know, or is it just the angle of the illustrations that mean the nearer one is out of view? That for me would be more likely to be a deal breaker.

If you look at the photos on M R E there appears to be one door on the floor, the same layout ( blank space) on the underneath as well.

[adrianbs]

Hi Pennine at al Would anyone REALLY buy this model which has at least 23 other faults/anomalies, in addition to the 10 listed to date, when for about £6--00 plus postage or less you could buy a new condition Bachmann model on ebay which only has about 12 faults compared with the Oxfordrail version. Apart from the clips, which you might want to keep anyway if modelling BR, the other faults are all of slightly less importance than number 10 on my list. If you intend to distress it clearly the livery is unimportant. It will take much less time to rectify the Bachmann version, should you wish to work on it at all, compared with bringing the Oxfordrail model up to a similar standard. I would be interested to know why anyone would choose to do so. I am still not sure how many of the liveries are correct for the wagon design Oxford have produced, some are suspect and I would like to see photographic evidence for all six before I am convinced. Regards adrianbs

[mick b]

Adrian
I think we need to now sit back and see what is actually offered for sale. As to liveries the general punter simply buys them because he/she likes them. They are not/or maybe not interested in exacting detail they simply like it. At a Tenner a pop for rtr that is cheap nowadays .
Not everybody uses ebay which due to postage cost isn't as cheap as it looks either.

[D2100]

Hi Pennine at al Would anyone REALLY buy this model which has at least 23 other faults/anomalies, in addition to the 10 listed to date, when for about £6--00 plus postage or less you could buy a new condition Bachmann model on ebay which only has about 12 faults compared with the Oxfordrail version.

They would, and they will. I can't fully explain it, but I'm sure of it.