From Miniature to BIG

Wow these are long. How long are they in real life. I am curious that these are like containers that can be removed from the chassis...are they. Oh they are beautiful 😁

They are beautiful that's for sure and I got them at a bargain price.  HO scale is what 1/87 if I recall correctly?  If so they would work out to be around 72 feet long based on the model being around 10" long.  So definitely a great long car for sure.  It's not a container carrier either, its described as a 'sliding wall wagon', so presumably has side panels that slide to give access to the internal storage of the cars.

They are a bit odd in general though as Rivarossi is (or should that be was?) an Italian manufacturer, which has since been bought by Hornby, yet these wagons despite being HO gauge - which fits with the Italian heritage - are carrying an English brand of cider (that is an alcoholic apple juice as I think you refer to that as a 'hard cider' in the USA).  Of course the branding on the side could be due to the change of ownership of the brand, but then if they are going to go English you'd expect them to have sized it up to OO to appeal  to  their normal UK customers.

Not that I particularly mind, the difference in HO and OO is not so great that they look weird when mixed, in fact I've often used HO rolling stock with OO gauge loco's, after all its boring to stick to 'prototype' trains isn't it

The latest arrival in NigelLand is a lovely OO scale limited edition (500) only available to Hornby Collector Club members of the Coronation class locomotive "Coronation" itself. This is carrying the beautiful British Rail Blue livery which has always been one of my favourite liveries. Enough said, here's some pictures!

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Love the sort of mat blue paint (not dull, not shiny) and the cab details are lovely 😁

I have to agree, although Hornby models are usually very good, they have really outdone themselves with this one.  Everything is really executed superbly with an incredible amount of detail, the paint finish as you mention is a truly lovely satin finish and as well as being a very limited edition it was also sold at a very reasonable price as well.  I'm so glad I managed to get hold of one of these as I reckon they are going to become very collectible, not that I'd ever let it go anyway

My latest addition, a Hornby OO gauge class 90 Electric locomotive.  This is a special edition collectors club only model which was just released to celebrate the 100 years anniversary of Malcolm Rail (no I don't know what that is either, but its got a cool livery and I didn't have a class 90 so...).  

Best part is when I bought it I got a club discount on the original price, then using loyalty points was able to get it just for the cost of postage  

Anyway enjoy...

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That Pantograph looks like it could actually work.

I don't think that particular model does, although they did make some which had the option. They would run either from the two rails like most electric trains, but they also had a switch on the top that would change it so that it would pick up one of the polarities from the pantograph. Although that of course meant you had to have a working overhead power cable system (cetenary?!? I'm sure that's not how its spelt and the spell checker don't help lol)

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Actually I think I got that wrong, if you look at the fourth picture, just behind the pantograph you can see a white switch on the top edge, that is what should switch the pantograph to functioning mode

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Eureka!!! 👍

Ok folks, here's my latest 00 gauge Hornby model and she's a beauty.  This is a model of the P2 class steam locomotive - Thane of Fyfe, the last of the class built (only 6 produced by LNER) and was completed in 1936.  This model is an exclusive available only through the Hornby Collectors Club and is incredibly well specified and detailed.  Featuring a metal chassis and running plate it is considerably heavier than the normal models and has extra features such as a flickering firebox that simulates the fire burning under the boiler as seen from the cab where the fireman would shovel coal into the firebox.  It is fully DCC ready and suited to the new Hornby HM7000 bluetooth sound decoders as it is fitted with the 21 pin standard socket in the tender.  The pictures below are intended to illustrate the level of detail of this beauty, including the supplied accessories which even come with a fully painted and detailed driver and fireman.  The finish of the model is a lovely satin green, some pictures make this look fairly flat, but that is due to those being taken with the camera flash turned off, the latter pictures has the constant flash/light on and gives a far better illustration of the great paint job.  Anyway enough of my ramblings, I'll let the pictures do the talking;

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I like that they come with their own engineers/brakeman? Are they exclusive or general sitting figures?