Cavalex reveals decorated OO-gauge Class 47 samples, new tooling takes shape

Cavalex’s OO-gauge Class 47 has reached the point where modelers can judge more than intent. The first decorated samples, 47460 in BR large logo blue and D1500 in BR two-tone green, showed an all-new Brush Type 4 moving into visible shape, with the bodywork, grilles and livery choices now open to scrutiny. For a class that ran to 512 locomotives, that kind of spread is exactly where a serious 4mm project lives or dies.

This is not a simple refresh of an older release. Cavalex has presented the Class 47 as a newly tooled model in 4mm scale, built from the ground up to cope with the class’s huge variation across sub-classes, eras and body details. That matters on a Brush Type 4 because the prototype changed enough over a long career that a generic tooling can only go so far. The progression from 3D-printed sample to tooling sample, with further refinements already made, suggested the project had moved well beyond concept art and into the hard work of getting the detail package right.

The samples also landed in public view at the right places. The first decorated example surfaced ahead of Model World Live at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham on April 25 and 26, 2026, and additional decorated samples were later shown at the Diesel and Electric Modellers United Showcase in Sutton Coldfield on June 6 and 7, 2026. That sequence gave the project a very practical test: not just whether the model looked good in photographs, but whether it could stand up under the close viewing that Class 47 buyers always bring to a new release.

There was also a useful warning sign in the detail work. The green applied to D1500 was reported as incorrect and was due to be corrected before production, which is exactly the sort of admission that reassures rather than alarms when a model is still being tuned. Cavalex’s pricing, set at £209.95 for DCC Ready and £309.95 for DCC Sound-fitted, with delivery expected in the first quarter of 2027, puts the locomotive firmly into premium territory, where prototype accuracy and tooling finesse are the headline features, not optional extras.

That is the real significance of these decorated samples: they marked the moment the Class 47 stopped being a promise and started acting like evidence. If Cavalex keeps tightening the details, this all-new Brush Type 4 could become the yardstick for OO-gauge Class 47 buyers who expect more than a familiar shape in a new box.