Metadyneman

Being in the fortuitous position of having two computers, I am at this very moment saving a very hastily made video filmed this morning on the garden line. It depicts the VEP in tandem with the all blue modelzone CEP and later in a 12 car consist of two CEPs and a VEP! Here are one or two of my own observations. Firstly, the train looks like a 4-VEP! That is probably the most important feature of any prototypical model. There are shortcomings but they are not terminal to anyone wanting to improve it. OK so the bad bits what are they? I'll start with the horns, they are way too small as are the roof ventilators, the front profile Isn't quite right and the bright full yellow ends accentuate that. I will include traction tyres as a bad point but in essence it's only on one axle so it isn't too bad. The biggest boo,boo in my book is the 1st class corridor compartment partition in the driving Trailer Composite Lavatory Coach (the southern have always loved their toilets in train classification, the best being the 4-LAV!). It is one solid "wall" and you cannot see through the coach from the corridor side to the compartment side. That has to be something Hornby needs to change in the model and I hope they do in subsequent versions. Now for the good points, The motor bogie is a delight to look at and captures the look of the real thing perfectly. Underframe detail is also superb. The couplings between cars are good if a little scary to look at. They incorporate a 4 pin plug & socket system. It's a tad fiddly to couple them but not as fiddly as the Bachmann 4-CEP. You just have to be gentle and ensure the 4 pins line up with the 4 corresponding holes in the socket. The motor is powerful and very fast too, it is a faster unit than the 4-CEP. Because of this, it will be difficult if not impossible to consist the Hornby VEP with the Bachmann CEP on analogue DC.(On DCC it's fairly easy to adjust the top speed by tweaking CV5 (I used a Bachmann 36-553 decoder) down to about 18, that just about matches the top speed of the 4-CEP but i won't bore you with DCC balls!) The interior lighting is very good indeed and even better is the fact that the headcode lighting changes in accordance with the direction of travel. Hornby include stickers to go over the top of the headcode window and the two white squares are particularly effective and show red in reverse and white (yellow LED) in forward position. Fitting a decoder is as easy as described in the model railway press but it is important to take care with the fly leads between the body & chassis the motor coach when separating one from the other. The paint finish is very good and the double arrow and numbering is well executed. The silver frames round the windows are also very good but it's slightly disappointing that the top sliding vents are only depicted by a printed silver line on the glazing, these were quite prominent on the real units even after they had been bolted shut in the mid 80s and if you look down the train it looks too flush sided as a result. My example is an extremely smooth runner however and despite the scepticism before it's release, I think Hornby have scored a hit with this train. To summarise, There are improvements Hornby could do to this unit most notably and perhaps easily, the solid corridor "wall" and slightly larger horns, but I think early criticism of this unit before it's release was a little premature and it will be a popular model. Here's the video

Well it arrived this morning and yes it's got traction tyres on one axle. Just going to my workshop now to fit a bacchy decoder to it and put it through line acceptance trials. will report later this evening on the days running trials and my candid opinion!

From what I have read elsewhere so far it would seem Hornby have used their self contained motor bogie similar to that used in the 156. This motor bogie is light in construction and without traction tyres would not pull the skin off a rice pudding. Mine has been dispatched and is on it's way as we speak so I'll be giving it the once over during the weekend and will hopefully draw up some kind of a review by Sunday. I agree though, traction tyres are not good on outdoor lines and are next to useless in dampened conditions.. I suppose it has to be said that the majority of models are not designed for outdoor use, but it would have been nicer if Hornby had used a similar mechanism to the one Bachmann have used in their CEP and EPB. That in my opinion is an outstanding motor and mechanism for both fast and slow running without wheelslip.

This model is now filtering it's way into the shops and mine has been dispatched to me today. One or two things worry me about this model and two words disappoint and slightly anger me already.... traction tyres!