Two B...or not Two B

Well I'm not quite ready to post a picture or two of the next build project. But I thought I would cover something else in the motive power department:

 This Lima B-class came into my workshop to have a pilot re-attached plus a bit of a service. At some stage it has been converted from the old 'dunny seat' couplers to Kadees while using the original Lima pilot. The Lima B-class was first introduced onto the market in the early 1990s following the success of the Lima S-class (not the NSW 44-class repaint version by the way). Until this model came along it was common for modellers to buy two S-class and use the Bulldog cab off one to stick on the other end (after chopping the...errr...'B' end off first). So what became of the leftover bits? Well some made a...errr... 'B' unit by sticking the remaining rear end chopped off onto the other body. Unfortunately I don't have a photo to show this but it was a good way to use the leftover parts.

So in this post I thought I would do a quick comparison of the Lima B-class against the newer Auscision model which came out in 2009:

Now there is no question that the Auscision model is more detailed and has a superior mechanism to the ringfield motor used on the Lima model. It also caters for the DCC market by having a 8-pin plug to fit a plug-and-play decoder (though this may change to the 21-pin arrangement going by what Auscision have done with the recent re-run of the A-class). Anyway enough of the sales pitch, here is some pretty pictures of the pair together:

As happy as I am with my Auscision model (except for the grills coming off as it is from the very first batch made) I would make room for the Lima one in my fleet to show off where the hobby was 25 years ago compared to the offering today. Another comparison could be made with the brass B-class models produced by Alco Models in the 1980s and the one produced by Precision Scale Models in 1992. One day maybe.....