I am
very grateful to Mark Smith for reviewing this new casting from EFE
EFE
Leyland Olympian Review by Mark Smith
EFE’s latest new casting is of the Leyland Olympian has been eagerly
awaited by model collectors as it provides a direct comparison with the
Corgi OOC model, long regarded as one of their most inferior offerings,
despite a modest reworking of the tools fairly soon after the initial
releases.
EFE’s first release is Southern Vectis No.711, Corgi having already
produced No.714 from the same batch, in the same beige/dark green livery.
The EFE casting appears to be based on the highbridge (14’2”)
version of the later Leyland produced body, based on that originally
produced by ECW.
This
contrasts with the lowheight ECW version modelled by Corgi, and provides
EFE with a wide selection of operators of this later version, including
Preston, Colchester, Armchair, Thamesway, Capital Citybus to name but a
few.
The
castings are split between upper and lower decks in the usual EFE style,
with crisp castings and some relief detailed.
The
upper deck may be derived from the near identical Titan model judging by
the rectangular panel moulded in the mid decks panels on the nearside rear
(eagle eyed viewers of the EFE Olympian samples at Showbus 2002 may have
spotted the upper decks on display were Titan castings).
However the finished article correctly
has a frameless emergency exit and a plain panel below.
The
BET style windscreen is well done and the window pillars are correctly
proportioned and slender.
The flush fitting side windows have the
rubbers moulded on the edge like as per the Titan and additionally are
finished in black, but I think this detracts from the finished result and
makes the cast pillars on the model look wider than they are, probably due
to the light livery colour.
On the prototype the panel joins are
generally overlapped rather than finished with raised straps, and
thankfully the EFE model does not have the spurious excess of these like
the OOC ECW Olympian and Palatine 2 models.
Grilles and details are generally
printed on, accurate and in the right place.
The
front dash looks fine with the Leyland badge neatly done. One omission
present on the OOC version and perpetuated by EFE is the destination
panel, which on most if not all Olympians of this type was set into a
large recessed panel.
The
livery details are well executed and accurate except the registration is
wrong; the number should be 711 not 11.
What really mystifies me are these two
points.
Why did EFE choose a Southern Vectis
prototype when have SV never operated highbridge Olympians, and why have
the opening windows on the lower deck windows been portrayed as sliders
when they are hopper vents on the real thing?
The
upper deck windows are correctly hoppers, and in the right places.
The
same mistakes were evident on the forthcoming Wilts and Dorset model on
display too.
Generally
though we have another fine casting with accurate detail and one that
captures the character of the prototype in the usual EFE manner – they
really do manage to get the basic shapes right on their castings in a
consistent manner which should be the envy of other manufacturers.
When
EFE choose to represent a prototypical ‘highbridge’ livery with
accurately printed opening windows, they will have a model of the highest
quality.
This
one scores highly on the casting but falls down on the detailed finishing
– again the errors noted in my review are easily detected by reference
to any half decent photo of the real thing.
This
review is © Mark Smith 2 October 2003
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