robmcg

You forgot a regular part of the Hornby 'experience'. The four-wire connector plug does not always have all four wires inserted, at least in my experience. And no, I do not pull on them, or even bend them apart for very gentle persuasion in a warm room when inserting the plug into the tender socket. I use screwdrivers for removal. That said, recent Hornby packaging is fine. Rob

Also they are posting ordered R4410 models now... Rob

I agree that sound chips have a long way to go in replicating the exhaust sounds with wide or narrow cutoff, apart from the usual difficulies in recording things onboard or lineside, fast or slow, extraneous noises like helipcopters, diesel horns, and suchlike. Cylinder draincock noises are not wanted in warm starting either, as in a typical station stop of 30 seconds .. (a separate function for cylinder cock noise?) Personally I'd like a speed-correct rod clanking or drifting function too, and real time volume control, but by and large the current sound chips from Hornby are pretty good and can be improved with speakers and fiddling with CVs ... the latter for volume, acceleration and deceleration are very quick and easy to change. Until sound chips improve I am unwilling to spend as much as I have to date on them. here is a Hornby sound clip I made, with some modest changes to decel and acceleration, sound volume reduced slightly, factory speaker and chip, recorded with a cheap Canon point-and-shoot A620 camera single microphone. Rob

I hadn't noticed this rather glaring error! Heads must roll! At a glance however I find the Hornby efforts less glaring than Bachmann, in general. Rob

There is also the option of unashamed computer changes to pictures, although in the case of this pre-war GWR express surely the reality was in black and white? They must have had more cleaners back in 1938 too! Bachmann put a nice shine on this model, but the lining is perhaps too prominent? Rob

As to the quality of green, I suspect that wars could be fought over these things, a female friend assures me that men are colour-blind anyway. As to GWR green, a lot depends on the light. Compare the colour in the Hattons ad for the recent GWR Hall ( bit yellow to my eyes) and the Rails of Sheffield photos of the same model (much more attractive)... and the lining is equally a bit prone to the vagaries of light? Rob

Recieved supplementary carriage pack after pre-order from Hattons and finally made this video.. carriages all excellent, added a two 8-wheelers for video, and 12-wheel 'Monaco'. Loco had a few issues, a loose wire into 4-pin plug and coupling rod fouled connecting rod, but runs beautifully now, plenty of adhesion for the 9-total tried so far.

As tends to happen when preparing recent Hornby models for use, by me anyway, the missing cab roof ventilator cover for 70009 Alfred the Great was never visible until today, when, after exhaustive searches of box, loco, tender, carpet and so on, it appeared from nowhere .. when I turned engine and tender gently upside down for 4-pin plug connection. ... perhaps it had been stuck somehow out of sight in the cab? ... it's rather large really. There may be some little-understood laws of nature pertaining to lost parts... As if to remind me of universal laws pertaining to myself, one of the wires from the harness to the male part of the plug-socket detached from the plug when I was gently coaxing the harness into alignment. I blame myself for attempting this on a day when the room temperature was perhaps below 15C. Far to cold for wires to bend.... (sigh) It appears to be an interference fit so I have pushed it back in, and the loco runs well. I seriously do not like these 4-pin connectors, Hornby! At least none of the boiler pipes controls whistle etc have been damaged during several loco-tender inversions. And seven 12 wheel Pullmans await unpacking for a video. Now how to attach the headboard again.... for a video made in a style similar to this, of the Hornby 'Heart of Midlothian' pack; Rob

Thanks, that all seems good and logical, a video will be made soon, after a photo being made currently of 'The Heart of Midlothian' on my non-location-specific station scene where platforms are staggered and fast and slow lines are regulaly confused! For what it's worth, the A4 60025 'Falcon' with headboard and paint on lamps is drying as I write, and there is a bit of ambient room light as I write.. looking good, with corridor tender (BRb crest) and crimson-cream carriages, three Hornby pack versions with excellent very 'dirty' crimson or custard, together with 4 Bachmann Mk 1s.. we shall soon see how it all comes together. I mounted the engine headboard in the high position on the smokebox knowing full well that it was probably 'normally' in the lower, but at least one 2009 'Heart' with 60009 has it mounted high... It's quite time consuming setting up a seven carriage 'Bournemouth Belle' (I might add the 12 wheel kitchen 1st 'Monaco' to add substance to the passing train on the video-to-come)... but great fun. Rob

On the subject of 'Bournemouth Belle' (and perhaps other SR Pullman trains) could someone offer a representative order of carriages from the 6 produced by Hornby so far, and perhaps also car no 98 should it appear? I might make a short video showing the loco and train passing slowly and imagine that the brake 3rds are at each end, but am not sure of the likely order of the remainder. I suspect kitchen 1st in the middle-rear Rob

Thanks for the reply and the info. I'm sure a carefully cut rectangle of black photo album card would make a suitable replacement cab roof ventilator cover, it has similar texture and lacks the ridge on the sliding edges but would probably be almost indistinguishable from the lost one. Hattons have car no 98 available on pre-order, described as 'due late June 2010' in the heading but 'unknown' in the text, so who knows? http://www.ehattons.com/StockDetail.aspx?SID=25814 Cheers, Rob

In the proud tradition of exactitude native to this thread I must observe that the train pack I received recently, also in NZ., from Hattons, was not damaged but one of the loco cab roof-ventilator halves was missing, for which I initially blamed myself but am now content to blame the English. It is not visible in the view below (apologies if I repeat the pic) thanks also to Ceptic for the lovely images of the carriages themselves. Also may enquire as to the relevance of 1st class kitchen car 'Monaco' and 3rd class parlour car 'No 98' to any express trains, as these are or have been available from Hattons, as well as the supplimentary carriage pack, the latter having needed to be pre-ordered (yes! I actually had pre-ordered!). I expect a video within the next while, of the six or seven cars behind 'Alfred the Great'. I doubt any of my unrebuilt Bulleids would haul such a load without slipping, if in fact light Pacifics ever hauled the Bournemouth Belle. Rob

So when you set your controller to one , or the other, was it the controller? I find it unusual for such things to get through everything, and I asked about DCC only because the wiring for DCC-ready is the same as DCC-equipped, and it's all-black wiring.? If it was DCC you could reverse it easily without removing the body .... The assembly of wiring would mostly likely be done to a pattern for sometimes unskilled people, but quality control would only pick it up if one a maybe 100 locos was tested, all else passing production test. Sorry if I caused offence. My response would be to return it to retailer, ... or as you might otherwise suggest; remove body and reverse motor wiring; but given that this is not a clear option in instructions in the pack, I can only say that these products have errors and commonly have damage in transit from one production line to another, and that also, the transport of them, and reversal of motor wiring is not simple nor easy. A bit like a steam reverser lever backwards, or left-hand right-hand drive steam engines, ... which only Britain had to it's everlasting glory in the 1950s I would add that the running of all my RTR locos is variable. Now! Back to 'Castle' superheaters and mechanical lubricators... and before I finish , if I got a really good weathered 38XX 2-8-0 which ran in reverse, I'd say it just wanted to be a tank engine... and I'm Southern or LMS first. Rob

I might pre-order a Bournemouth Belle trainpack if they can keep a good price on that! UKP164 last time I looked. ... but isn't that 3rd or 4th quarter? Rob

Yes, judicious use of plasticard or cardboard might help the rather noticeable abscence of front cylinders. The 'space' and daylight tends not to be very notieable unless you think about it! One thing I've noticed with recent Hornby DC locos is some variability in current draw between different models, 5-pole Bristol Castle quite touchy, Earl Cairns runs easily on low current, but the same speed and load requires more current with Scot/Patriot and Britannias, and more again with 4MTs... perhaps gearing has something to do with it, and possibly other gears/motion, but I sometimes wonder if the specs of the motor windings and such has something to do with it? This is just an observation, with variable 'running-in', but most of the above have done 15-40mins running, mostly light load especially when new. A typical 4-carriage train at a scale 50-60mph requires about 2.5-3.5 from 10 gradations on my Bachmann Spectrum controller(s) with the Castles, but 3.5-5.5 with the other locos mentioned, although some, not many Scots run freely on less current than others, and Bulleids and N15s are variable too. Note, I'm not complaining... they are all pretty good. If the 28XX has a motor like the new Castle and lower gearing it should be a purler. Rob

Rather you than me! Is the loco analogue or DCC? I have an 'Ince Castle' en route and hope to film it with an exemplar 1961 GW express train. It would be very un-GWR-like to run backwards! <g> Rob

I agree about the superb quality of the model, and having photographed 'Earl Cairns' a while ago I was trying to work out what wasn't "quite right" appearance of the front end, in my photo anyway, and decided that perhaps it was the fact that on the real thing the inside cylinders prevent a lot of light passing through the area of the front wheels, the cylinders being directly over the front axle. So I modified the pic thus, using PSP6; Rob

The abscence of lower motion bracket arm is one of the few things which helps me find reasons to save my money prudently! Perhaps I will craft one from thin card after throwing caution to the wind and buying one of these great models! As mentioned in other replies they really are great models. Mind you, I have always rather liked my recent Hornby Castles too. Now maybe I will compromise by buying just one of the two recent releases! Rob

The pipework looking chunky? .... I wash such parts with dilute matt black paint, then wipe if brightwork is wanted... and it seems to make them look finer. btw are your cylinder drain pipes on driver's side falling out at rear in '26885:ince1.jpg'? Rob

Yes the double chimney on 7034 is right after all, confirmed by photos here from other contributors, and a look at Swindon drawings on p.241 of the OPC 'Great Western Engines' Vol. 2 by J H Russell. For some reason I had thought the top flange was less curved than it actually is front-to-rear. Perhaps in everyday work it was rather black above the flange! In any even congratatulations Hornby for two more beautiful models. Rob

My 'Earl Cairns' bought early Jan 2010 had very poor adhesion, the cause was the angle bracket which screws to the frame in front of the drivers and carries the front bogie, ...when tightened it sets the front bogie too 'low' and the front drivers carry no weight. It needs to be re-bent or at least loosened. You can test adhesion with front bogie removed before embarking on bending! <g> In my case I filed the frame slightly too, at the point where the angle-bracket bogie-mounting plate bears on the frame. Quite annoying. I had thought the fault might be a 'one off' but it appears not. It was Simon Kohler's suggestion, from his technicians at Hornby, to test adhesion with from bogie removed. I don't have tools to accurately bend the angle plate so I have set mine slightly loose with the aformentioned filing on the engine frames at the rebate between the bogie wheels, and a little glue on the threads of the retaining screw, and it runs OK. I was surprised that nodoby else had ever mentioned this issue... a bit like the T9, but a different cure. Rob

I'm sure you are right. I'm trying to find reasons to save my money for a single chimney version! <g>

Superb model, congratulations. Rob

The pics of 'Ince Castle' on the ehattons.com site show what looks like a rather 'large' double chimney, and I'm hoping it's just the angle or the light. It's not so obvious on the Rails of S site. Perhaps it's just me. My earlier Hornby 5-pole double chimney 'Bristol Castle' has an excellent 'look' especially with some weathering around the copper. Rob

A pretty good job, 5053. Now what we want is scale wheels and guage. <g> Everyone has their own 'take' ... and I think that modelling the curly steam pipes would have been tricky and I congratulate Hornby for the model. It is beautuful. Rob