EFE 1/76 LEYLAND NATIONAL - BARTON

There's a real appeal to the Barton fleet, with plenty of people who have never had a ride on a Barton Buses vehicle still unable to resist models in the livery.

The Barton livery this National I appears in really suits the shape of the bus, and the archer logo is very well done.

A nice touch is the Barton logo on the drivers windscreen. There's no sign of any legal lettering on our pre-production sample, we rather think it should be for Trent, new owners of Barton. Shop here

EFE 1/76 XA ATLANTEAN - LT

The Atlantean was hardly an unqualified success for London Transport. In its short life it wore few livery variations, but XA18 is seen with open bullseye livery. It also features nice LT house ads for travel enquiries and exact fares.

The EFE advertisements feature a gold stripe, but the production release features the correct white stripe appropriate for the open bullseye era. Shop here

VOLVO F12 40' FLATBED AND LOAD - H E PAYNE - BEDFORDSHIRE

Now into its sixty-eighth year of trading and with three generations of family ownership, H E Payne Transport Ltd has developed an extensive fleet of vehicles specialising in transporting goods from ambient, chilled and frozen temperature ranges.

Harry Edward Payne was first introduced to fresh produce transportation during the wartime years when he began replacing local farmers’ previous hauliers.

After his death in 1948, his wife Edna and mother Violet kept the business going until 1958. In its growing years, Payne’s bought its vehicles from various sources. David Payne, managing director and son of Harry Payne, recalls at one time having six vehicles, all painted different colours. Generally the livery was mid Brunswick Green with a black chassis and mudguards with gold paint lettering although in recent years the chassis colour has change to red.

Payne’s first Volvo was an F86 6x2 rigid and made a strong first impression. Today H E Payne operates from their five acre site at Wyboston next to the house where Harry Payne started his business. When Harry Edward Payne started up his Bedfordshire based haulage business back in 1938 he could hardly have imaged that so many years later the company would still be going strong and providing employment for two later generations of his family. Shop here

CORGI 1/76 PD2 ORION - PLYMOUTH

Plymouth had a long history as a loyal Leyland buyer, and in 1955 took delivery of  the then new and lightweight MCW Orion body on 90 new PD2s.

The Plymouth livery is well reproduced, and gives a really satisfyingly Corporation bus feel. The radiator is a bit bright but commendably thin, and both 'Cyder' and beer adverts lead one to think a holiday in Plymouth in the 50s must have been quite an affair. Charming stuff from OOC. Shop here

EFE 1/76 DAIMLER UTILITY MIDLAND RED

What a real delight this model is. It may only be a 40's bus, but in many ways it looks older, thanks to the old fashioned Midland lettering and the squareness of the Utility body.

Look up close, and it is yet another virtually new casting around the cab area. Of course the radiator is different from previous Utilities, but so also is the area below the driver's screen, with new positioning again for the cast-in headlights and the cover box.

The bonnet is the same length as the previous Mk I Arab, not the Mk II with the extended length. The mudguards are created in the plastic moulding used for the chassis, and follow a different pattern for the odd Mk II or curvier Mk I wings.

he fluted top of the Daimler radiator is nicely cast-albeit in plastic- and again there is the well-detailed interior roof. Shop here

BRUMM 1/43 FERRARI 330 P4

The model represents the Ferrari 330 P4 V12 'spyder' sports car with race number 224, as raced by Nino Vaccarella and Ludovicio Scarfiotti in the 1967 Targa Florio race, pracices were held and Vaccarella achieved the fastest lap time of 37 minutes 12.4 seconds. Scarfiotti in the same car recorded a time of 41 seconds slower. Vaccarella led the opening lap, but in the village of Collesano, trying too hard, the Sicilian driver slid the car into a stone wall breaking the car wheel hubs and front suspension. Shop here

BRUMM 1/43 MORGAN MX4

These days, the only three-wheeler we get excited about is Del Boy's Regal van, but back in the 30s, the Morgan MX4 was a most exciting car to own.

Fast, stylish and to all intends and purposes, qualifying as a motorbike in term of licensing and running costs, the Morgan gave stylish motoring to many people for the first time. Noisy though the Supersport was, it became a much loved machine.

Brumm has, of course, done a very neat job with its Morgan. We all ought to buy one simply to encourage the company to make a few more British outline model!

The detailing in that air-cooled engine, the nicely spoked wheels with separate hubs and the gleaming exhaust make this a most attractive model.(Review by Diecast Model) Shop here