Improving Hornby mk1s

[deltic9014]

I've been looking at my rake of Hornby mk1 coaches (the ex-Tri-ang? tooling, not the recent version) to see how they can be improved, and have a couple of things that I need some help with:

 

1) The sleeper coach doesn't have an interior. Would this be visible through the windows when in service, and if so, what does it look like?

2) The whole rake of coaches is the Hornby factory weathered version. It appears that Hornby just gave them a spray of track dirt colour along the bottom half of the coach. Unfortunately some are more heavily weathered than others, resulting in some of the glazing being weathered as well. If I detail the interiors, I want to be able to see through the glazing, so does anyone know a way to remove the weathering from the glazing without damaging it?

 

Any help would be massively appreciated.

 

 

[SRman]

You could try a good cutting polish, such as T-cut.

[Campaman]

I have used Duraglit to remove scratches from my motorhomes plastic windows so that may work as well.

[Fat Controller]

Toothpaste?

[john new]

I've been looking at my rake of Hornby mk1 coaches (the ex-Tri-ang? tooling, not the recent version) to see how they can be improved, and have a couple of things that I need some help with:

 

1) The sleeper coach doesn't have an interior. Would this be visible through the windows when in service, and if so, what does it look like?

2) The whole rake of coaches is the Hornby factory weathered version. It appears that Hornby just gave them a spray of track dirt colour along the bottom half of the coach. Unfortunately some are more heavily weathered than others, resulting in some of the glazing being weathered as well. If I detail the interiors, I want to be able to see through the glazing, so does anyone know a way to remove the weathering from the glazing without damaging it?

 

Any help would be massively appreciated.

 

Seem to recall travelling on them back in the day and you sometimes couldn't see out through the mix of dirt outside and condensation inside! On the positive though they had leg room unlike today's Voyagers

Edited August 9, 2017 by john new

[Il Grifone]

In steam days the windows were often filthy too....

 

The sleeper had a corridor on one side and individual compartment windows the other. Modelling the curtains closed saves worrying about the berths (2 in 3rd/2nd* and 1 in 1st). One end had toilets, the other an attendants compartment.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Railways_Mark_1_sleeping_car

 

* 3rd to 1956 then 2nd.

[deltic9014]

Thanks guys, I will give your suggestions a try

[The Johnster]

IIRC the corridor side of sleepers, opposite to the toilet windows, had clear windows with the sleeping compartment sliding doors visible opposite them and a handrail like other corridor stock; this would have been wooden until the vehicles were refurbished in blue/grey livery when it was replaced by an aluminium one.  The sliding doors and compartment/corridor wall was wood until refurb then some sort of melanine or similar.

 

The sleeping compartments had bunk beds transversely, the lower one approximating to the seat in a normal compartment, and a small wash hand basin, but I can't remember exactly where now, under the window I think.  You could get away with not modelling these and having closed blinds in the second class, curtains in first.  Sleepers would usually have commonwealth pattern bogies not the B1s of Triang models, with B4 on some later, but most sleeper services were timed at 75mph.

 

My personal opinion is that if these are the old Triang models, much better options from Hornby and Bachmann are available now, and the side thickness of them lets them down badly, as do the old Lima ones, though the Triangs were mould breakers in their day and the first attempt at a scale length rtr coach for the UK market.  Modern Hornby Railroad range are better models and much better finished and lettered, though.  Weathering is a fairly personal thing anyway, but in my view a rake, having mostly gone through the same amount of dirt and foul weather, should at least have an overall similar look to each vehicle.  Some coaches in steam days got pretty dirty, and things were not much better in the early diesel period, but the widespread introduction of carriage washing machines in the 60s and early 70s made a big difference.  It depends on your period to an extent; during the mid and late 50s when mk1s were the stock on premium expresses they were largely kept in pretty good order, but as I say matters degenerated a bit a decade or so later.

 

The answer may be to try and remove the weathering as suggested above, or to strip the glazing out and repaint, if you are comfortable with that.  Lining and number transfers are available from Fox.

[frobisher]

2) The whole rake of coaches is the Hornby factory weathered version. It appears that Hornby just gave them a spray of track dirt colour along the bottom half of the coach. Unfortunately some are more heavily weathered than others, resulting in some of the glazing being weathered as well. If I detail the interiors, I want to be able to see through the glazing, so does anyone know a way to remove the weathering from the glazing without damaging it?

I'm presuming from your description these are the later incarnation of the ex-Triang tooling with flush glazing? If so you might be able to get the glazing strips as Hornby spares or maybe try Replica's glazing which whilst it is intended for their MK1s, may fit (which wouldn't cover the sleepers unfortunately).

[James Evans]

I've been looking at my rake of Hornby mk1 coaches (the ex-Tri-ang? tooling, not the recent version) to see how they can be improved, and have a couple of things that I need some help with:

 

1) The sleeper coach doesn't have an interior. Would this be visible through the windows when in service, and if so, what does it look like?

2) The whole rake of coaches is the Hornby factory weathered version. It appears that Hornby just gave them a spray of track dirt colour along the bottom half of the coach. Unfortunately some are more heavily weathered than others, resulting in some of the glazing being weathered as well. If I detail the interiors, I want to be able to see through the glazing, so does anyone know a way to remove the weathering from the glazing without damaging it?

 

Any help would be massively appreciated.

The Bogies are really poorly made so they're what I would improve, I fitted a pair of Bachmann bogies to a Hornby coach and it looks very good.

Edited December 12, 2017 by James Evans

[roythebus]

A set of Preiser naked figures would be useful for a sleeping coach....more than once when I worked suburban trains into Kings Cross we'd see people in various stages of undress getting dressed as they went past out crowded commuter trains.