Playing with Hornby Dublo 3 rail again

[Phil Clarke 1980]

wow thats so cool id love a dublo layout like that

[Phil Clarke 1980]

I might have to buy something to restore see if I can have a go
 

[Leicester Thumper]

some awesome stuff on this thread, nice to see the following for 3 rail dublo is still very much alive and well.

 

I have been doing some research into repaints and servicing. so sorry to hijack but seems this is a good place to ask.

 

I have a standard 4 tank, which is complete, don't know if it runs (my stuff is packed away so can't test it) but it needa a complete repaint as the paint is had it and i'd like it to be serviced and rebuilt as such. anyone know someone who does that kind of work and would be willing to take on the job? really fancy having 80135 in BR green, will admit, the standard tanks look rather nice in Green!

 

cheers in advance

[sagaguy]

some awesome stuff on this thread, nice to see the following for 3 rail dublo is still very much alive and well.

 

I have been doing some research into repaints and servicing. so sorry to hijack but seems this is a good place to ask.

 

I have a standard 4 tank, which is complete, don't know if it runs (my stuff is packed away so can't test it) but it needa a complete repaint as the paint is had it and i'd like it to be serviced and rebuilt as such. anyone know someone who does that kind of work and would be willing to take on the job? really fancy having 80135 in BR green, will admit, the standard tanks look rather nice in Green!

 

cheers in advance

 

 

 

 

            You could try these people although it`s likely to be expensive

 

                         http://www.Hornby-railway-trains.co.uk/Services/Services.htm

 

              Or join us lot on here at facebook      www.facebook.com/groups/hornbydubloenthusiasts/

 

there`s few guys on there who undertake restorations although i don`t know whay they charge.Failing all that,there are plenty of spares available & advice on here,armatures,bearings,super neo magnets.For the body,arm yourself  with a tin of strong paint stripper from a diy store,a rattle can of Grey primer & a can of satin black from Halfords.Tranfers sets can be obtained from the Dublo Surgeon website.There is a lot of satisfaction from restoring HD locos,it`s rare that much needs to be done,i got my 50 year old 2 rail converted to 3 rail 48079 8f out a few weeks ago & it ran like a well oiled sewing machine,the same with my Deltic of the same period.

 

 

  Hope this gives you impetus to give it a go,

 

                              Ray.

 

 

 PS,you have to join facebook but it`s worth it for that webpage alone or if you really want to push the boat out,join the HRCA,their spares catalogue is really something!.

Edited May 24, 2016 by sagaguy

[Golden Fleece 30]

They are not too hard to repaint, my half dozen are on here somewhere including 80135 in green . Spares are avaliable as Ray says from Dennis Williams (The Dublo Surgeon) or Tony Cooper without joining the HRCA but if you do join there are others who sell the same things, it depends on what you need. Both will also do a service then again as Ray mentions some on Facebook will.

 

Garry

[daftbovine]

Golden Fleece of this parish, see the post above, is an expert at re painting Dublo locos. He has easy to follow YouTube clips.

 

I hope he doesn't mind me sharing them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Il Grifone]

I'd look on this as a change to learn skills . The Dublo 4MT body is cheap and plentiful, so a good replacement will cost a lot less than a professional repaint. (unless the original is 80059 - the rare 3 rail version with the 2 rail (80033) body*). In this case leave well alone.

 

Apart from the number, these are recognisable by the improved chimney, which is a separate casting. The driving wheels will be nickel plated and the carrying wheels nylon. AFAIK all Wrenn versions are like this.

 

Mainly Trains http://mtrains.co.uk/ (usual disclaimer, but can recommend) usually has a selection or there's always eBay.

 

(The dopey looking smiley above is supposed to be happy/smiling (like the one in the toolbar), but looks like he's high on something!)

Edited May 25, 2016 by Il Grifone

[Il Grifone]

Circuit 24 was a product that an experienced company like Meccano should never have touched with the proverbial barge pole.the clue lay in the power requirement,24 volts.It was a French cottage industry which made supplies very erratic,no wonder it was a commercial disaster.

 

 Rovex/Triang had some very capable model makers on their staff in the early days,one of them was Martin Evans who went on to design 5"/3 1/2" gauge live steam locos,i built one of his Simplex 0-6-0 tank locos in the 1970s.

 

 Ray.

 

As my only experience of Circuit 24 was looking in a shop window and asking "Why?", I didn't realise that it was 24V -  a sure guarantee of failure in itself. They were rather into French things at the time with their introduction of Hornby Acho. I doubt that this sold all that well in this country either. (I'm not so sure it sold all that well in France!) I only have one item - a wagon with slatted sides. Even that is marked with another maker's name (S.M.C.F. IIRC) though it is clearly the same moulding and came with Dublo couplings. This one  http://a406.idata.over-blog.com/3/01/15/88/wagon-Hornby-043.jpg 

 

Beware! the following link can produce serious cases of "Must have one of those!" Enter at your own risk!

 

http://trainsdefrancois.free.fr/hornbyacc.php

Edited May 25, 2016 by Il Grifone

[sagaguy]

I must confess that i never realised Acho had such a large range of models.Most interesting!!.

 

                            Ray.

[Il Grifone]

See what I mean! 

 

His copy of the Dublo breakdown crane in tinplate impressed me. My efforts at 12 years old have all ended up where they belonged - in the bin!

 

Some 4mm items from across the channel. I see Tri-ang even inflicted the wretched giraffe car! (I'll probably end up with one in the end...)

[Golden Fleece 30]

I hope he doesn't mind me sharing them.

 

No problem at all daftbovine.

 

Here are the repainted 2-6-4's again if you cannot find them.

 

Garry

[Golden Fleece 30]

Here is a naked Merchant Navy.  This is an old Millholme Models kit and shows the difference in length to a Wrenn west Country, approx 15mm.  The loco castings are reasonable (not the best but not the worst) but the tender is very good, and very heavy itself.  The tender needs a separate chassis making but I am using a Dublo Barnstaple one for the loco.  The wheel spacing in real life was only a couple of inches different and therefore the Dublo chassis lined up nicely. The motor housing did need a little removing to fit the cab castings but otherwise looks quite straight forward and saves modifying an A4 one like the Wrenn bodies do.  I made a few etched replica valve gear parts a while ago hand hopefully one will fit this. 

 

I am unsure about the colour to paint this as I am getting a Blue Farish body and repainting a City and Castle into blue so this loco maybe BR Blue or BR Green.  Which ever it will be lined full length and not with rectangular panels on the cab or tender. 

 

When I stripped the hand painted green W/C I was surprised it was an original Wrenn Blue one but it was too late to try to save the original colour so it will go back in the caustic bath later.

 

Garry

[Dublodad]

BTW my layout at Padfield court was loose laid on eight 4 x 2 foot tables giving an area of 10 x 6 feet. The layout design was done using SCARM software that was introduced to the HRCA via Garry (Golden Fleece). In truth what is shown is a shall part of my "collection"!! I do not have a fixed layout as I enjoy designing Dublo layouts. I made some changes/improvements to the design once I had returned home!!

 

What you see there was transported in a Ford Focus estate along with four people.

 

Terry

[Il Grifone]

Strictly Castles and West Countries were not 8P, so didn't qualify for BR blue livery, (Rule 1 applies of course!). Personally I'm not that keen on BR blue* (especially the diesel colour!), but have to confess to repainting a Duchess. She'll probably end up as 46230, but the next job is the lining... (so she is sitting in a box). I've decided to modify another one as a 'semi' possibly 46235.

 

I rather like Coronations....

 

* If it's not 'Midddle Chrome Green', it's the wrong colour (see below).

Edited May 25, 2016 by Il Grifone

[Golden Fleece 30]

I will go for rule 1 all the time David.  You just wait for a surprise though.

 

The only reason I am doing a Castle is because all my others are green (I doubt mid chrome though lol), and, I have a set of W/B/W transfers to use on one.  I am looking at the darker version of blue, ultramarine, as opposed to the lighter version.  A King was painted in the lighter blue and the restored King Edward II looks very nice in the colour.

 

Garry

[Il Grifone]

Hi Garry

 

I'm afraid I tend to agree with Sir Felix Pole. He reportedly said he was glad to be blind so as to be spared the sight of a 'King' in blue. (it's not quite that bad though.... )

 

BR green was allegedly the same shade as Middle Chrome, but no-one would admit it. I wouldn't know the only engine I remember seeing in pre-war paint (a 97xx) was so covered in muck that she appeared black. The GWR 'shirt button' was just still visible under the layers of dirt.

 

(The NRM use the same colour for all versions of MR/LMS/BR crimson/maroon.)

 

Hopefully I can take advantage of SWMBO's absence for a week to take a few photos.

Edited May 25, 2016 by Il Grifone

[Fat Controller]

I must confess that i never realised Acho had such a large range of models.Most interesting!!.

 

                            Ray.

The ACHO range of wagons seems to have many more 'typical' wagons than the Dublo one; I have one or two examples of the later production, such as a 'STEF' four-wheel refrigerated wagon and the high-sided open, and they stand comparison with many more recent models.

[Golden Fleece 30]

Hi David,

 

I have read quite a lot over the years about the "different" greens with no definitive answer but a few contradictory ones. Some say it was the same, others say it was different. Only this week while looking up about blues one chap searching for a Britannia came across a photo of two newly outshopped locos next to each other and both were different shades of green . This was all regarding BR green. One shade had a RAL number and also 2 different BSC381 numbers are quoted . It was commented on that BR took any available and at times mixed remnants. I will say none of the colours looked right on the monitor which without calibration is not supposed to be a good example. True or not the colour chart samples in my view don't match any locos seen on it anyway .

 

Regarding a blue Duchess/City or an A1 to me that is the perfect combination with blood and custard coaches. Even though I love my A4's blue does not suit them, BR green only, mid chrome or not.

 

Garry

Edited May 26, 2016 by Golden Fleece 30

[Il Grifone]

Hi Garry.

 

Yes there were undoubtedly variations in the shade of paint (some formulae involved handfuls of pigment!). It's not helped by the fact that the shade changes with ambient light., which is something that film 'sees' more than the eye does. Add in computer monitors and all is lost....

 

I have several versions of DMU/EMU, 'Southern' and Doncaster greens (the later is supposedly different from 'Darlington' green though there is dispute over this!). All are different from each other (and from memory). I work on the principle that if is near to Dublo's* colour, it's near enough.

 

I understand BR blue apparently varied with time. First it was Ultramarine. The LMS men at the top must have then realised that this colour came from LNER territory (GER) and switched to Prussian Blue (Caledonian and therefore perfectly OK - until it was found to fade badly). The only reason I can think of for the choice of GWR (almost) livery for express passenger was in honour of Stanier's Swindon origins.

 

*The only surviving contemporary evidence (at least for me) and, since I never noticed any difference at the time, they can't have been far out, (especially since the shades are almost identical to Trix - Tri-ang are less reliable due to being self-coloured plastic). Also repaints should match the originals as far as possible IMHO.

(Dublo BR tinplate wagon colours are less reliable - the grey is too green and the bauxite should be more orange (again IMHO) - The pre-nationalisation colours reflect practice from 1937/8 which is rather before my time, though I think the greys are again too green. (Possibly something to do with the lithographic process?)

 

Rumour has it that BR wagon grey has something to do with surplus stocks of warship paint. It was originally Dark Admiralty Grey and then Light.... (Perhaps being much the same as LMS wagon grey is purely coincidental.)

 

David

Edited May 26, 2016 by Il Grifone

[Golden Fleece 30]

Not only all that David but real paint can be too "strong" for a model.  When I worked at the carriage works in my early days we still had new tins of BR coach maroon.  Obviously I could not let the chance slip and "secured" some from the paint shop.  Unfortunately when I repainted a 00 coach it was far too dark on a model and looked nothing like the real thing.  I don't know if this applies to most colours but when I was making the models there for various purposes BR grey seemed okay but BR blue again looked too dark yet these paints were taken from production vehicles.  The initial class 150 DMU was mainly a cream and again looked okay so maybe light colours were not affected by scale yet darker ones were?

 

I did today go to a paint suppliers to look at their RAL cards and the 5002 (Ultramarine - dark blue) and 5010 (light blue) looked very different to my PC shades, and Phoenix/Precision light blue ones.  I am hedging towards RAL 5002 for my locos.

 

As far as I can remember the Trix 0-4-0 with tender (A/C) I had was the lighter shade and matches the King at Didcot.

 

Garry

[sagaguy]

And therin lies a problem.PC monitors are well known to need calibrating,i use a Spyder 3 monitor calibrating device.I use Photoshop & over the years,i have noticed that the colours on the printed product were nothing like the colours on the screen.Adding to that,using non OEM inks & small printers give some funny results.I use a Canonpro9000 A3 printer,not too often as a set of Canon inks cost over £80.I head a small AGEuk over 50s photo club once a month & two of the most usual questions are why do the pics look different on the print out to the screen & why do i get a blue or green cast on my pic when i print monochrome.I`m afraid that cheap inks,non OEM paper & cheap printers will not give the accuracy that a lot of people want.Phew!!!.

 

 

                      Ray.

[PatB]

Did anyone see the episode of Antiques Roadshow from the museum at Swindon? At the close of the programme we were shown an odd, marbled lump of "stuff". Apparently it was a sectioned piece of the build-up from a wall in theSwindon paintshop, where generations of painters had cleaned their brushes. I thought, at the time, that said lump could potentially provide historians and modellers with all sorts of useful information.

[Il Grifone]

There is a distance scaling effect that makes small models appear darker than the real thing. Luminosity is non-linear, so the the effect is probably more noticeable with dark colours. (I'll leave the details to those with more artistic training than myself!)

 

The Trix 0-4-0 came in two shades of blue - not that I can remember - I was about five when they changed to green (1952 I believe).

 

http://www.the-saleroom.com/en-us/auction-catalogues/special-auction-services/catalogue-id-srspe10023/lot-a4117c10-eae8-4b4a-897f-a3ff00c2a709

 

Perhaps that lump of old paint holds the secret of what colour GWR wagon red actually was? Then again, paint changes composition/hue with age - especially lead based paints.

[sagaguy]

Getting there slowly with rebuilding my HD layout.It keeps evolving but i have had some trains running albeit a bit stuttery as the track has been in storage for about 20years & needs a clean.

 

 

 

        Ray.

 

PS.Disregard the top pic,added by mistake

Edited May 30, 2016 by sagaguy

[brianusa]

Scale guys love their sweeping curves but there is something sensual about  the uniformity of Dublo track.

 

    Brian.