James May is the Reassembler 28th December 9pm BBC4

[Andrew s]

Very enjoyable half hour.

[gr.king]

Hmmm, yes, Super-Four track. It merely reinforces the known fact that nobody who knows anything about railways, real or model, is ever properly consulted by producers of entertainment, and we should certainly never watch the results!

 

I was intrigued to see that one moment he had an empty motor frame and an armature. A shot or two later he miraculously had a motor frame with armature, front bearing, oil pad and frame end plate all correctly assembled with worm gear fitted. Of course, any casual observer with no knowledge of such matters should have spotted him in the opening credits drifting the worm gear onto the armature shaft, and the correct method for fitting of the other parts will be obvious to any novice, won't it?

[JohnR]

One question is why did his set have Super 4 track? He claimed it he got it for Christmas 1972, yet my almost identical set from 1970 came with System 6 track, which would had taken over by the time his was produced. 

 

The set only came with two LNER coaches according to this...

 

http://www.hornbyguide.com/item_details.asp?itemid=555

[jamesg]

One question is why did his set have Super 4 track? He claimed it he got it for Christmas 1972, yet my almost identical set from 1970 came with System 6 track, which would had taken over by the time his was produced. 

He mentioned that Flying Scotsman wasn't his first train set; he had an earlier, second hand set as well.  Maybe he had a Flying Scotsman locomotive without the set.

[melmerby]

 

PS A big plus mark from me about his definition of screws, which should pass through the first object and fasten into the second, not be fastened into both as seems to be modern practice.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Screw#Differentiation_between_bolt_and_screw

 

Unfortunately a screw and a bolt can be the same thing.

Sometimes the same thing is used both with a nut or for screwing into something!

 

Keith

Edited December 29, 2016 by melmerby

[Pacific231G]

I enjoyed the content of this programme but it was rather spoiled for me by poor camerawork/directiion. I know it wasn't really a how-to programme but I still wanted to see what he was doing and most of the time I couldn't. If you show someone demonstrating something then you've got to have close ups that are in frame and in focus and held for long enough to see what they're doing. That's not easy when they're working on objects as small as the components of a 00 loco but it is entirely possible (even in a live broadcast whcih this wasn't) and James May is an experienced enough presenter to take direction for this.

 

Remagnetising rather than using a new magnet made sense as the object was to reassemble the original loco.

 

The insights into the history of the manufacturers was informative. I know plenty of people who still think that their current purchases from Hornby are directly descended from the Hornby Dublo they or their fathers/grandfathers had as children rather than from Tri-ang.

Edited January 7, 2017 by Pacific231G

[Horsetan]

Hmmm, yes, Super-Four track. It merely reinforces the known fact that nobody who knows anything about railways, real or model, is ever properly consulted by producers of entertainment, and we should certainly never watch the results!

 

I was intrigued to see that one moment he had an empty motor frame and an armature. A shot or two later he miraculously had a motor frame with armature, front bearing, oil pad and frame end plate all correctly assembled with worm gear fitted. Of course, any casual observer with no knowledge of such matters should have spotted him in the opening credits drifting the worm gear onto the armature shaft, and the correct method for fitting of the other parts will be obvious to any novice, won't it?

 

I'd have liked to have seen him tackle a Finney kit that had been ruined by someone else. 

[melmerby]

I'd have liked to have seen him tackle a Finney kit that had been ruined by someone else. 

That hardly fits in with the title "The re-assembler"

 

Keith

[Horsetan]

That hardly fits in with the title "The re-assembler"

 

(Oh) yes it does. He'd have to dismantle the ruin, and then reassemble it, this time properly.

[Michael Delamar]

I liked his comment in jest of how the manufacturers realised their product changed from toys to items for "sad nostalgic dissapointed old men."

 

How true.

Edited December 30, 2016 by Michael Delamar

[60159]

Nice gentle program but as another poster pointed out, poorish camera work which frustrated seeing exactly what he was doing. Also frustrating not to actually see some of the more essential steps - elements of "here is a bit I prepared earlier". Railways nationalised in the 60's - ouch!

[melmerby]

(Oh) yes it does. He'd have to dismantle the ruin, and then reassemble it, this time properly.

Shades of panto:

 

Oh, No it doesn't.

(As he starts with something that is perfectly good, dismantles it into it's component parts and then "Re-assembles it")

 

Keith

[philsandy]

I liked his comment in jest of how the manufacturers realised their product changed from toys to items for "sad nostalgic dissapointed old men."

 

How true.

 

Yes, I like James May's sense of humour. When he said the product had changed to items for "sad nostalgic disappointed old men," there was a slight pause.... " I've got hundreds of them".

 

Also liked the quote, " some people may think £5 is a lot for a screwdriver, but not a screwdriver that changes your life",  looks deadpan into camera, chuckles from the camera crew, "Shut up!"

 

[Hroth]

Just a thought - Mr May may not have got an RS605 set for his Christmas present - it might have made more sense for his present to have been individual items (more fun unpacking and not an easily identifiable box?) and if cost was a factor, he might have been given Super4 track that was on offer because of the new System 6.

 

On the other hand, I've got locos and coaches from that era (nostalgia, etc), that are no longer in their boxes and I'd be hard put to lay my hand on contemporary track.  In the early 70s, Super 4 was still available - production overlapped with the new "fine scale" stuff so if a complete oval of Super 4 was to hand, it would be sensible to run Flying Scotsman on it.  Personally, ALL my old locos (except the HD 3-rail ones!) are run on a Super 4 double oval, when I have the urge to give them some exercise!  And that includes my glowing firebox Scotsman, which has a tendancy to hurdle on modern pointwork, though not as much as my mid-50s Princess Elizabeth from the R.0 set, does....

[Flood]

The title of the show is "James May: The Christmas Reassembler, Hornby train set".

 

Therefore it is not "How to reassemble a...." so the camera work will be dedicated towards the presenter not specifically the subject he is reassembling.

Likewise, there is no requirement for the contents of what is being reassembled to exactly match a boxed set previously produced.

 

I have thoroughly enjoyed watching all of the Reassembler programs. Long may they continue (any comments about puns will be ignored).

[sharris]

Hmmm, yes, Super-Four track. It merely reinforces the known fact that nobody who knows anything about railways, real or model, is ever properly consulted by producers of entertainment, and we should certainly never watch the results!

 

I was intrigued to see that one moment he had an empty motor frame and an armature. A shot or two later he miraculously had a motor frame with armature, front bearing, oil pad and frame end plate all correctly assembled with worm gear fitted. Of course, any casual observer with no knowledge of such matters should have spotted him in the opening credits drifting the worm gear onto the armature shaft, and the correct method for fitting of the other parts will be obvious to any novice, won't it?

I suspect for two reasons:

 

They probably expect the average viewer to want to see the train taking shape rather than too much about an individual component of it (May had already spent some time on the motor anyway).

 

The whole reassembly had to fit into a 30 minute programme. There were points at which he said how many hours and minutes it had taken to get to each stage, so there's probably a lot on the virtual cutting-room floor.

[Georgeconna]

(Oh) yes it does. He'd have to dismantle the ruin, and then reassemble it, this time properly.

 

You would have to Series link that one, 30 mins way to short.

[sharris]

According to the Radio Times interview, it's James May's first loco from the 1970s so it's certainly precious to him!

Hasn't his Flying Scotsman with realistic chuffing sound already appeared on previous 'Toy stories' programmes? I'm sure on one we saw him giving it a good overhaul before its long run, so I'd expect it to have a reasonably good magnet. I suspect there may be a few Flying Scotsmen as stunt-doubles for his own original one.

Edited December 30, 2016 by sharris

[hayfield]

My wife liked the program, then she likes the old Top Gear shows. In some ways its bringing railway modelling into main stream acceptably. But I could not see the point of totally taking virtually all the parts off and reassembling. Also some of the processes were nor shown

 

Why un-assemble the wheels?, on the other hand not showing the fitting of the worm gear

 

Showing how to clean the motor was very good, but new motors are now fully encased 

[melmerby]

You would have to Series link that one, 30 mins way to short.

I don't think my set top box does a life-time length!

 

Keith

[melmerby]

Showing how to clean the motor was very good, but new motors are now fully encased 

A worthwhile bit of info

There's a lot of older stuff out there with open frame motors, plus some of the basic Hornby locos stlll use them.

 

Keith

Edited December 30, 2016 by melmerby

[Titan]

Hasn't his Flying Scotsman with realistic chuffing sound already appeared on previous 'Toy stories' programmes? I'm sure on one we saw him giving it a good overhaul before its long run, so I'd expect it to have a reasonably good magnet. I suspect there may be a few Flying Scotsmen as stunt-doubles for his own original one.

 

Certainly looks like it is the very same, complete with miss-aligned  ⁴ 472 number on the cabside, which does lend weight to the idea that no stunt doubles were used, unless the BBC were unusually good with their continuity for a change - I suspect the former is more likely!

[MikeTrice]

What was it he was using for quartering?

 

I've not seen anything like it before???

I would be interested as well. It looks like a couple of optical beam splitter cubes to which he has added fine black lines with a marker pen.

[BlackRat]

I would be interested as well. It looks like a couple of optical beam splitter cubes to which he has added fine black lines with a marker pen.

Mike I was trying to work out if it was a prism, like in binos, where he looks down and sees the wheels.......I'd love to know as it looks a great gadget and I'd love one!

[Nearholmer]

Had a quick squint.

 

Well, all credit: he is a genuine enthusiast.

 

I might even watch one or two of the other programmes, because I will probably learn something from them, whereas stripping down and reassembling Triang locos I did in the 1960s/70s, so it held no mysteries.

 

K