Welcome to the January 2021 Accurascale newsletter. We would like to take this opportunity to wish all modellers a very happy new year.

On the model railway front it will be an excellent year, with a number of new Accurascale models coming your way, both previously announced and yet to be announced. Here is the latest news from the past four weeks.

REMEMBER: IF YOU DONT SEE NEWS ON A PROJECT YOU ARE INTERESTED IN BELOW IT MEANS THE PREVIOUS NEWS UPDATE IS THE LATEST UPDATE. YOU CAN SEE ALL OUR PROJECT UPDATES HERE. WE WILL SEND OUT NEWS ON THESE PROJECTS AS WE GET THEM, SO KEEP SUBSCRIBING FOR UPDATES!

Right, let's get started!

A First Look At Our Class 37

The biggest news over the past few weeks was the revealing of the very first tooling prototype sample of our forthcoming Class 37.

We received a substantial parcel containing a myriad of Class 37 bodies and various tooling parts which allowed us to cobble together this first model of D6700. In the weeks ahead we will have fully operating samples of our other variants, including highly-anticipated WIPAC-equipped Class 37/6, Scottish car headlight Class 37/0s, our modern Class 37/4s and of course Accurascale Exclusive 97301 with its *unique roof, distinctive flush noses and underbody-mounted radar equipment.

Unfortunately we were missing some parts such as enough etches for the cab footsteps, cab door hand rails, footsteps and some other etches. However, we persevered and assembled this sample to give you a flavour of what's to come! 

Of course there are corrections to be made before we proceed to decoration samples, but overall it is shaping up quite nicely. Look out for more Class 37 updates and previews in the coming weeks including a look at the other variants from our first run.

For the full update on these beasts and a closer look at this first sample, click here.

ARC Tipplers Arrive In Stock

Our final livery of our first run of tippler wagons, the iconic ARC JUAs with later CAIB branding and embellishments arrived in early December. These tipplers worked on the heavy stone trains from the Mendips in the early 1990s and have been another sales hit, with packs selling strongly. We still have a limited supply left if you wish to get your order in.

Our whole tippler range has sold strongly, and thank you to everyone who has ordered them. Our British Steel blue and orange packs are sold out here at Accurascale, but a limited amount are still with our retail partners. The same goes for our Yeoman and British Steel Grey inner packs. However, we still have outer packs, ARC inner and out and VTG outer remaining. Grab them while you can here.

New Accuraloads Due In Stock

We get asked all the time for loads for our wagons, so here you go! We have increased our range of OO gauge wagon loads to incorporate iron ore, aggregate, lime/dolofines and coal for our tipplers, as well as coal for our PFA coal containers, steel coils and welcoming our HUO coal loads back into stock.

Due in mid-late January, you can check out all the info on them here, or via your local Accurascale stockist.

JSA Wagons Due In Stock This Month

Or highly anticipated JSA family of steel coil wagons are due in stock this month, smooth customs process permitting! The ship docks is due to dock at Felixstowe on January 18th, with unloading, clearance and delivery likely to take seven further days at the port.

We have covered all eras of these wagons that were converted from the PTA/JTA/JUA tippler wagons, from British Steel blue with original hoods, to VTG with rivetted hoods and the latest open coil carrier in attractive VTG black.

Pre-ordering has been strong with retailers also reporting strong sales, so make sure you order yours from your local stockist or directly here before they're gone. At just £59.95 per twin pack and with bundle deals available they represent excellent value for money.

KUA Update

As reported last month, production of our KUA nuclear flask wagons is progressing well at our factory, with the decoration stage nearing completion.

Final assembly is now underway. As it is a short production run, assembly should not take too long to complete, but due to a labour shortage the factories have been running slower than usual in recent months.

The assembly team will be working round the clock to complete the models over the Christmas period and into January. Once this is complete they will then be packed ready for shipping. We will then be faced with a decision on air or sea shipping.

Due to the COVID19 pandemic, there are less flights in the air, which means significantly reduced air freight space. While we use air freight for many models, this is freight space in the holds of passenger air craft. As a result of this significant reduction in flights, air freight prices have increased dramatically in 2020.

However, we will not rule it out, and if the price is not prohibitive we will fly them in. This would see them in stock in late January 2021.

If the cost is too prohibitive, then they will go by sea and be with us in March 2021.

So, the KUAs will be due in either late January, or March 2021. Keep subscribing to our newsletter and keep an eye on our website and social media channels for further updates in the coming days.

You can order yours with any of our Accurascale Approved local stockists or direct via this link.

And Finally....

Look out for an all new OO model announcement in the next week or so. What could it be??

Also, keep an eye out for the revealing of the first engineering samples of our Mark 5 coaches. You really don't want to miss that!

Keep subscribing to this newsletter for all our latest news, and keep an eye on the "What's New" tab on the website for full updates on all projects.