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Not strange, but within expectations, is the fact that the german range seems spotless.
I havent seen any Arnold model yet, but I guess, to win back the customers, these must also be spotless.
As for the italian range, common complaints regard the liveries (incorrect colours), the position of details, unprototypical square buffers, etc, and unreliable mechanics (loose gear drives).
Now I explain my negative judgment on Hornby's british models.
In the side views, as illustrated in the web-site, there is a big air-gap between the chassis and the motor bogies.
This is something we have learnt from ROCO: their models have bogies well enclosed in the chassis.
All continental manufacturers had to follow suit.
And it is an improvement British Modellers should deserve. Better mechanics.
Now Hornby has the know-how inherited from the international range.
And how about giving up those horrible unprototypical couplers?
While I was in Australia, many British Modellers changed over to KADEEs, and they made a dramatic improvement.
The new coupler designed by Rivarossi-Lima is now Hornby's heritage, and could make its debut.
My critics are meant to be positive, because ours is "the world's greatest hobby".
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