I know what you mean Donald, I had this on pre-order from last year (takes so long for some of these things to come through) and as such I had a bit of a discount. But it was still around £180, but as it is a brand new design and the first ready to run of this design of this class I figured it was worth having one in my collection. Also I do get loyalty points as well which will reduce a bit more too.
As for the model not only does it look the business it is very very heavy for a locomotive of this size. I guess that must be the flywheel which to be honest I wasn't expecting as that's pretty much a new thing for Hornby in terms of the steam locomotives - I'm not an expert but I think some of the newer diesels/electric locomotives have them already (Class 66 for example?). The finish and detailing is superb and the pictures don't really do it justice. I have to also say until it was released I didn't even know they had made a streamlined version of the B17, but apparently it did exist for a while. As the text I posted says it was really more a gimmick than for performance as it didn't improve the speed, just the look of the locomotive.
You do know there were some nice teaks released a few years back, around the time of the pandemic specifically when it was the Hornby anniversary thing. But, they were quite expensive and very difficult to get hold of, especially the separate ones. I have a few which came with the Dublo Royal Scot set which are very nice indeed and far more realistic looking than the old versions - although to be fair those versions were available what in the 70's? Until recently they were the only thing on offer for LNER which was a shame. They often have the separate ones in the release schedule, but they usually sell out to pre-orders even before they are released. As they are so popular you'd think they'd do bigger runs wouldn't you?
I think the next big steam era carriage release though is going to be the Coronation coach set, that also was offered for pre-order last year, but I understand they are due soon. They look as though they will be awesome, especially the viewing car.
As for the model not only does it look the business it is very very heavy for a locomotive of this size. I guess that must be the flywheel which to be honest I wasn't expecting as that's pretty much a new thing for Hornby in terms of the steam locomotives - I'm not an expert but I think some of the newer diesels/electric locomotives have them already (Class 66 for example?). The finish and detailing is superb and the pictures don't really do it justice. I have to also say until it was released I didn't even know they had made a streamlined version of the B17, but apparently it did exist for a while. As the text I posted says it was really more a gimmick than for performance as it didn't improve the speed, just the look of the locomotive.
You do know there were some nice teaks released a few years back, around the time of the pandemic specifically when it was the Hornby anniversary thing. But, they were quite expensive and very difficult to get hold of, especially the separate ones. I have a few which came with the Dublo Royal Scot set which are very nice indeed and far more realistic looking than the old versions - although to be fair those versions were available what in the 70's? Until recently they were the only thing on offer for LNER which was a shame. They often have the separate ones in the release schedule, but they usually sell out to pre-orders even before they are released. As they are so popular you'd think they'd do bigger runs wouldn't you?
I think the next big steam era carriage release though is going to be the Coronation coach set, that also was offered for pre-order last year, but I understand they are due soon. They look as though they will be awesome, especially the viewing car.
Happily collecting things all my life... 
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