Spot the gem

[tw66]

Picked this group up a few days ago on the cheap.

Tom

[Idris]

46b with rear bumper?

[tw66]

Yep. It's a lot clearer in this picture than it was online.

[kwakers]

That looks right to me also Idris. We got late shipments with these rear bumpers mixed in over here in the U.S., but not very many! The 'picture boxes' were mainly filled with the earlier castings. kwakers

[Idris]

Well done! That’s not an easy model to find (especially online unless it's specifically highlighted), and it looks to be in really good condition too. I was lucky enough to come across a mint one for a giveaway price at the NEC a couple of years ago.
It’s odd that such a significant casting change should have been made so late in the model’s life. (Wasn’t it a problem up till then?) In all my years, I’ve only seen one example where the casting had failed at the bottom of the shutter door, but does that mean this failure was uncommon, or does it simply mean that the broken models were all thrown away?

[johnboy]

That's a very nice find. I could understand strengthening the windscreen pillars, but I can't recall seeing any models with rear casting damage and if it was a common fault there should be more about. I'll have to keep my eyes open in future

[SMS88]

Bumper most likely added due to tooling wear around the hole for the rear tongue needing to be remade

[Idris]

Bumper most likely added due to tooling wear around the hole for the rear tongue needing to be remade

Surely tool wear would lead to the casting becoming thicker, not thinner, and why change the design? This modification looks like a deliberate, localised strengthening of the casting to me