Another Interesting 38a!

[Idris]

This is a Nick Jones variation code 8 (MW,type 3 body) which caught my eye. As you can see, it has gold trim to the grille and front bumper! (My apologies for the quality of the photographs, but the model proved surprisingly difficult to photograph. Quite apart from anything else, damaged areas of the trim reflected the light back, making them look silver. However, examination with a magnifying glass has shown this to be proper gold trim rather than a gold/silver mix.)

[matchbox_n_molars]

You're on a roll Hugh! This is an interesting find. I don't know why these grill trim variants and oddities are intriguing to me but they are.

[durangokid]

That is a dandy and a variation that I did not know existed--learned something new today!
Well done!
It seems like the models with uncommon gold trim on grille/bumpers,e.g.- 19b MGA, 20a ERF stake truck usually have "thin" and somewhat transparent paint. Thanks for sharing and posting.

Bill

[Idris]

It seems like the models with uncommon gold trim on grille/bumpers,e.g.- 19b MGA, 20a ERF stake truck usually have "thin" and somewhat transparent paint.

I agree. It seems to me that the nature of the gold paint changed over time. That used on early models (1a,2a, etc.) was very clearly gold and gave a good, thick coating. Later models (such as this 38a and all my 21b coaches) are a much subtler colour, which only really becomes apparent when viewed obliquely. I'm sure this is the reason why the gold-trimmed 21b has ben missed by the cataloguers.
I think it highly likely that there are other unknown gold-trimmed models out there, waiting to be discovered.