As a dyed-in-the-wool 1970s/80s era modeller, it takes something rather special to tempt me into a "current operations" model. In spite of this I had already added a Hattons shed to my stud, this being 66789. I had no thought of adding another until the announcement that Accurascale were taking over and improving the tooling. I was keen on 779 as like 789 this was a loco which seemed to be following me about at one time. I missed out when orders were first announced, but when I noticed that a few "spares" were available I quickly snapped one up. The model certainly lives up to expectations, having moved on from the already excellent Hattons Originals model. The only criticisms are the front handrail being plastic and easily deformed, and the headlight setting. All photos I have seen show that 779 has (or at least had as built) the conventional arrangement where only the secondman's headlight is illuminated in daylight, the driver's side headlight being illuminated after dark. Photos show that some locos, notably 66415, have run with all lights working together but as built I an fairly sure that this was not the case for this loco.
The other criticism is not of the model but of the packaging. The usual giant bubble packing was present around the loco except at the base of the box, which was touching the outer card of the parcel. Fortunately, and testament to the inner packaging, my model arrived in perfect condition, but perhaps the packing staff should be reminded that packing should surround the model on all six sides.
That apart, another excellent model which runs superbly on my DC controller and really captures the look of this unique loco.