Friday Update: Twenty-eight Ten Twenty-two…

Well, the big news, if you hadn't already noticed, is that Victory has arrived! 3 pallets of over 2000 models arrived at our premises in Bexhill last week and so I've spent a busy few days down on the south coast with Steve...

It is our first ready to run model, and our first experience with the factory and so we made the decision to individually check and test each and every direct customer order - yes, every model has been removed from it's packaging, inspected for missing parts and tested on a torturous radius 1 circuit (we don't recommend this at home) before having a QC check sticker applied to the box and then put to one side before dispatch...

Dispatch starts today, and we've managed to get all the black, grey and green ones checked for you all - these will start going in boxes and out with Royal Mail in the next 24 hours. The maroon ones will not be long behind - what about all those custom orders?

We offered a custom weathering option, including fitting nameplates and coal - as well as the painted crew. Many of you took advantage of this, I had 40 sets of figures to paint and over 70 models to customise which was many more than I had envisaged. This has all been completed too, and these models are boxed and ready to go, I can't wait to see what you all think of them.

The weathering aped my own black model, with a wash on the chassis and smokebox as well as footplate, buffer beams and tank top. The airbrush was used to soften the edges and apply sooty smoky debris across the top of the boiler and cab roof - the result is really effective, and lifts the otherwise pristine models. I do really love all four liveries, but my favourite out of the box is maroon. A funny story is that it was me who pressed for this to be included as originally the IW&D, Black and Green ones had the most votes in our livery survey - I was keen for us to maroon though, and for it to be different to the green in terms of lining and arrangement of colours (you'll note the underframes are black and red rods - the green has green cylinders, green wheels and green steps).

Bexhill isn't a bad place at all to spend a few days and although I have been incredibly tired after a 7 hour journey on Sunday, lunchtimes at the seafront weren't bad at all. It hasn't all been work though, Steve and I managed a visit to Rapido too - ostensibly to hand deliver Andy's own order, but took the opportunity to talk about future collaborations - watch this space...

The most pleasing thing for me was seeing all the weathered customs all lined up before I started boxing them - these are unique models of my own hand, I've never had the chance to work on something like this more akin to a production line - and although it had it's moments of hell, on the whole it's been a hugely rewarding experience.

And of Victory? How do Steve and I feel about what we've achieved? We're really happy, really very pleased with the end result in terms of quality and finish - and as you'd imagine, really excited as they make their way out to new homes and new adventures to watch the story continue. If you haven't ordered one already they are available still on the Light Railway Stores website as well as Rails of Sheffield (who should receive their batch today as well) - In the meantime though, I'll leave you with another testing shot of 5 black ones on our loop:

Back in the real world today, I plan on taking a few days off this coming week, but have some blogs all set up ready to use. This weekend will see another visit to Ffestiniog too but for now, until next time more soon...