Oxford Diecast - 2013 Toyfair announcements

[Sprintex]

STOBART !!!!!!!!!
Just now wondering how many ?

Too many, FAR too many!


Paul

[H]

..... FAR too .........

Far too, dee two. Must be talking Star Wars. 

Still waiting for ODC stuff promised what seems like years ago like the Austin Mini, VW Beetle and Plaxton Pananrama I.

H.

[woodbury22uk]

..... FAR too .........

Still waiting for ODC stuff promised what seems like years ago like the Austin Mini, VW Beetle and Plaxton Pananrama I.

H.

No real need to worry Grahame. They are on the boat before the remaining 25 or so Scenecraft buses announced in March 2009 and still awaited. At least Oxford have shown the first castings of the Panorama announced in February 2013 (and the Guy Arab Utility), and have recently committed publicly to providing more factory capacity for the N gauge range. The Mini and the Beetle were first announced in February 2011, and I have not yet seen the mouldings for these.

http://www.collectors-club-of-great-britain.co.uk/News/Oxford-Diecast-New-Releases-N-gauge-models/_nw843

Mike

[woodbury22uk]

Oxford have released photos of the first 3 Bristol Lodekkas which can be seen on the News page here:-

http://www.britishmodelbuses.com/   in the item for Thursday 2nd July. Two extra colour schemes appropriate for Scotland and Bristol are also listed.

The thickness of the window pillars and the rear platform are very apparent in these enlarged views.

[H]

Still waiting for ODC stuff promised what seems like years ago like the Austin Mini, VW Beetle and Plaxton Pananrama I.

No real need to worry Grahame. They are on the boat before the remaining 25 or so Scenecraft buses announced in March 2009 and still awaited. At least Oxford have shown the first castings of the Panorama announced in February 2013 (and the Guy Arab Utility), and have recently committed publicly to providing more factory capacity for the N gauge range. The Mini and the Beetle were first announced in February 2011, and I have not yet seen the mouldings for these.

They're probably on the boat that busted in half ; http://www.ngaugeforum.co.uk/SMFN/index.php?topic=14761.msg146787#msg146787 

So the Mini and Beetle were announced almost two and a half years ago - and still no news, that's quite a poor showing. It's no good providing more factory capacity if they don't use it. 

Hopefully Farish won't waste any time on bothering to produce more undersized buses without starting afresh with an appropriate 1:148 scale rule. The first lot probably didn't sell very well so with luck they'll have got the message. 

H.

[H]

The thickness of the window pillars and the rear platform are very apparent in these enlarged views.

Yes, that is an unfortunate failing of ODC. I'm surprised they haven't done anything about this time around as the tiddly Farish buses showed it wasn't necessary.

H.

[woodbury22uk]

Hopefully Farish won't waste any time on bothering to produce more undersized buses without starting afresh with an appropriate 1:148 scale rule. The first lot probably didn't sell very well so with luck they'll have got the message. 

H.

They were still showing in the online catalogue listing this morning, some even with delivery dates against them!

Their plastic construction allows much slimmer window pillars than Oxford's metal bodies. As far as I can tell the Oxford Guy Arab will perpetuate the cast metal body, but the Panorama I coach will follow the Elite coach with more plastic and absolutely flush glazing with no prism effect.

The attraction of the Farish models is that they are much easier to chop than metal castings. Maybe they are resizing them. I hope so. Making lowbridge Utility buses from a Farish moulding would be much more likely to work than taking the saw to an Oxford casting.

[H]

Their plastic construction allows much slimmer window pillars than Oxford's metal bodies. As far as I can tell the Oxford Guy Arab will perpetuate the cast metal body, but the Panorama I coach will follow the Elite coach with more plastic and absolutely flush glazing with no prism effect.

The attraction of the Farish models is that they are much easier to chop than metal castings. Maybe they are resizing them. I hope so. Making lowbridge Utility buses from a Farish moulding would be much more likely to work than taking the saw to an Oxford casting.

It's not the thickness/width of the window pillars but the depth of them, with the glazing then placed so far behind the outer surface that it makes it look like the windows have ledges deep enough to accommodate window boxes in which you could grow enough to compete with an average sized allotment. ODC could easily improve the look by moulding the plastic glazing to fit and be more appropriately 'flush' glazed. Plus there is no reason for the rear boarding platform to be that thick - even in die-cast metal.

I'm looking forward to the Plaxton Panorama - if it is the same construction as the Elite it should be far better than the other buses. It's a shame that they've taken so long and still have nothing to show. And a shame they haven't made other buses to the same higher standard of the Elite.

Yep, plastic is easier to chop about - but its going to take a massive amount of chopping effort to enlarge the Farish models so they are the correct scale width, length and height. It certainly would be nice if they correctly resized them but I think it's unlikely.

H.

[Railwaygun]

The 2CV model has arrived at A and H models - also the VW vans

The 2CV is a beauty!

[H]

The 2CV is a beauty!

The model might be good, but the old Citroen deux Chevaux-vapeur (2CV) has never been considered beautiful. 

H.

[H]

Managed to pick up a new ODC 2CV and VW Type 2 (camper van) today.

The 'VW Type 2' is a little beauty - very nicely flush glazed and finished (lights and handles picked out with paint very neatly), and mine has a pair of surf boards and rack on the roof (although the boards need painting).

Unfortunately it's not the original iconic 'VW Type 2' (T1 variant) with split windscreen and swept down vee panel on the front. Its one of the second generation 'VW Type 2' vans without the split screen know as a T2 and is the pre-face lifted version T2a built between 1968 and 1971 with low front indicators. The T2b had waist level indicators above the headlights and the T2c a higher roof which lasted until the T3 version 'VW Type 2' in 1980 which was the last 'VW Type 2' as the T4 variant was branded VW Transporter.

H.

[woodbury22uk]

Just received the Bedford O series furniture removals lorry. This is flush glazed and the cab has the potential for other models. The model's cab and body are completely plastic. There is a diecast metal chassis which includes the front mudguards. The chassis could be adapted to accept other body set ups. The body is a bit too low slung for my liking so I will be putting in a 1mm+ plastic spacer between chassis and body to raise it a bit.

[Pete Mc]

Crikey H,with information on specific versions of the veedub type 2,you come across as something of an afficianado of the air cooled van and perhaps car scene.

Obviously VW produced many variants of the type 2 van,which to those of us that aren't really interested in the aircooled veedub scene is mind boggling.Only now are the other van manufacturers producing many variants of the same basic model.They certainly had the foresight to produce these as far back as they did,didn't they?

Pete

[woodbury22uk]

The new releases from Oxford Diecast now being distributed are:-

NBL001     Bristol Lodekka - Crosville
NVW004    VW Camper - red (4th bodystyle on the VW)
NCT002    Citroen 2CV - Charleston - Yellow/Black
NBP002    Bedford O Pantechnicon - Pickfords
NTEA002  Ferguson Tractor - red

[woodbury22uk]

September releases are :-

NBP003 Bedford O Removals van - Padfields
NVW005  VW van - Senegal Red
NVW006 VW pickup Emerald Green/Arcona White
NVW007 VW minibus Birch Green/White
NVW008  VW Camper Marino Yellow/White

A sign that OD are catching up with the backlog of planned releases is that there are 9 new castings this month in 1/76 and 1/43. Roll on the next phase of N new castings too.

Edited to include one extra new item, and correct the number of new castings.