I've always thought it was wrong for Hornby, and others, to go for superdetailing at the cost of higher prices, totally negating the potential savings of moving production to China. Now it seems Hornby agree "This locomotive is designed and priced at a slightly lower specification than our high detail products, while maintaining margins. In the current economic climate it seems that a proportion of our hobby customers would prefer a slightly less detailed product, available at a more competitive price point," from the Daily Telegraph report on sales of tornado.
MBQ