Hornby Princess Coronation Class (Duchess)

[w4rrn]

Good news that Hornby have decided to release the Ivatt duchess as City of Salford in this years line up. 

[Brocp]

3 hours ago, w4rrn said:

Good news that Hornby have decided to release the Ivatt duchess as City of Salford in this years line up. 

Totally agree, City of Salford always seemed like the forgotten member of the class. She'll look good next to 46256.

 

Hopefully next year we'll get Sir William in 46 lined black.

 

Also does anyone know if Hornby will finally get around with this new tooling to do 6253-6255?

 

[MikeParkin65]

On 09/01/2020 at 01:51, Brocp said:

Totally agree, City of Salford always seemed like the forgotten member of the class. She'll look good next to 46256.

 

Hopefully next year we'll get Sir William in 46 lined black.

 

Also does anyone know if Hornby will finally get around with this new tooling to do 6253-6255?

 

I think a lot depends on Hornby sorting their version of BR Green out for 46257 to be a strong seller. 46256 has that lovely deep almost semi gloss rendition of BR Maroon and to my eye shows up the limitations of their BR green 46235  which looks matt and lifeless in comparison when the two are posed together. I'll be taking my chances re 46257 to wait and see one in the flesh rather than placing a pre order.

[brushman47544]

23 hours ago, MikeParkin65 said:

I think a lot depends on Hornby sorting their version of BR Green out for 46257 to be a strong seller. 46256 has that lovely deep almost semi gloss rendition of BR Maroon and to my eye shows up the limitations of their BR green 46235  which looks matt and lifeless in comparison when the two are posed together. I'll be taking my chances re 46257 to wait and see one in the flesh rather than placing a pre order.

The green on their more recent 46232 DoM looks much better IMHO than 46235. So if 46257 follows that colour wise...

[Henry 84F]

Of course they've announced 46257; I've nearly finished mine! At least I can't complain about my shade of green which is richer than Hornby's earlier shades but lighter than Bachmann's rendition.

 

Maybe when Hornby's 46257 arrives in September, mine will get a repaint. Ironically back to 46256 but in blue! 

 

On a side note, these Princess Coronations are wondrerful, robust models. Mine is anyway. Let's hope the new releases will be just as good.

 

Edited January 11, 2020 by Henry 84F

[Pete the Elaner]

On 09/01/2020 at 01:51, Brocp said:

Totally agree, City of Salford always seemed like the forgotten member of the class. She'll look good next to 46256.

 

Hopefully next year we'll get Sir William in 46 lined black.

 

Sensible decision to make the most of the tooling.

Nice to see the Hornby make full use of the tooling with 46257. The one I would really like is 6256 in '46 black.

[Henry 84F]

Just to whet the appetite for those considering ordering 46257...

 

Henry

 

Edited January 13, 2020 by Henry 84F

[MikeParkin65]

3 hours ago, Henry 84F said:

Just to whet the appetite for those considering ordering 46257...

 

Henry

 

Nice paint job. Think the AWS battery box needs to come off for early crest tho. According to the RCTS book late crest applied Jan ‘57, AWS fitted Aug ‘59. 

[vitalspark]

Will certainly be having one to to with my '56.

First thing will no doubt be to 'lift' the inevitable flat paint finish and weather.

Sir William being tested on 'Alloa'..the trainspotters on the platform cant believe their eyes.

 

 

 

 

 

Dave.

[JhornG201]

How difficult is it to rename one of these models? Can the boiler mounted nameplate be easily removed and replaced or does it involve much work? 

[Henry 84F]

1 hour ago, JhornG201 said:

How difficult is it to rename one of these models? Can the boiler mounted nameplate be easily removed and replaced or does it involve much work? 

 

Hi - I found the boiler nameplate fairly easy to remove using some thin-nosed pliers although the nameplate was unrecoverable afterwards due to snapping as it was eased off. If I remember correctly, the nameplate was fixed to the body by only two points so the blemish to the bodywork after removal was minimal and easy to conceal by a new nameplate.

 

All the best and stay safe,

Henry

[Buhar]

Just for a bit of info.  I was able to lay out some curves in a space that unexpectedly became available and tried out 6231 on the following generous radii 1100mm, 1250mm, 1350mm and 1500mm.  Unfortunately, I don't have a power pack (or even 9v battery) to had so had to resort to sliding the loco but, fitted with the flanged wheels in the trailing truck and the tender coupling at it's closest, it seemed to manage on all these radii.  I'm not totally convinced about how it might perform at 1100mm (3ft 9in) but the close coupling was fine.  I don't think the next size up would pose any problems.  It seems that at this sort of radius John Isherwood's piercing saw modification isn't required to use the flanged set.

 

As noted earlier, the power plug to the tender prevents closer coupling unless you either bend down or snip off the last 2mm or so f the bar.  The photo attached shows the bogie swing on the 1350mm (just under 4ft 6in) radius with the leading bogie wheel pushed to the inside and the front of the footplate pushed to the outside as a worst case.

Alan

Edited April 23, 2020 by Buhar
clarity

[MikeParkin65]

33 minutes ago, Buhar said:

Just for a bit of info.  I was able to lay out some curves in a space that unexpectedly became available and tried out 6231 on the following generous radii 1100mm, 1250mm, 1350mm and 1500mm.  Unfortunately, I don't have a power pack (or even 9v battery) to had so had to resort to sliding the loco but, fitted with the flanged wheels in the trailing truck and the tender coupling at it's closest, it seemed to manage on all these radii.  I'm not totally convinced about how it might perform at 1100mm (3ft 9in) but the close coupling was fine.  I don't think the next size up would pose any problems.  It seems that at this sort of radius John Isherwood's piercing saw modification isn't required to use the flanged set.

 

As noted earlier, the power plug to the tender prevents closer coupling unless you either bend down or snip off the last 2mm or so f the bar.  The photo attached shows the bogie swing on the 1350mm (just under 4ft 6in) radius with the leading bogie wheel pushed to the inside and the front of the footplate pushed to the outside as a worst case.

Alan

I’ve made a shorter loco to tender coupling than Hornby’s and it will traverse my minimum 30 inch curve with no problems. Front footsteps and draincocks fitted too. Not the same for the new Princess by the way - steps foul the front wheel of the bogie (even with scale Gibson’s). 

[Brocp]

38 minutes ago, Buhar said:

Just for a bit of info.  I was able to lay out some curves in a space that unexpectedly became available and tried out 6231 on the following generous radii 1100mm, 1250mm, 1350mm and 1500mm.  Unfortunately, I don't have a power pack (or even 9v battery) to had so had to resort to sliding the loco but, fitted with the flanged wheels in the trailing truck and the tender coupling at it's closest, it seemed to manage on all these radii.  I'm not totally convinced about how it might perform at 1100mm (3ft 9in) but the close coupling was fine.  I don't think the next size up would pose any problems.  It seems that at this sort of radius John Isherwood's piercing saw modification isn't required to use the flanged set.

 

As noted earlier, the power plug to the tender prevents closer coupling unless you either bend down or snip off the last 2mm or so f the bar.  The photo attached shows the bogie swing on the 1350mm (just under 4ft 6in) radius with the leading bogie wheel pushed to the inside and the front of the footplate pushed to the outside as a worst case.

Alan

 

 

In regards to close coupling, hopefully Hornby Will release the loco tender coupling from the new Princess, it's 100% better than the one on the Duchess and allows close coupling a lot easier.

[MikeParkin65]

6 minutes ago, Brocp said:

 

 

In regards to close coupling, hopefully Hornby Will release the loco tender coupling from the new Princess, it's 100% better than the one on the Duchess and allows close coupling a lot easier.

I don’t think the coupling is significantly different, it’s they’ve actually made provision for to fit in its closer setting. Made a shorter coupling than Hornbys for my Princess - still goes round 30inch curves (well it did until I fitted the front steps - will move them outwards on the weekend :))

[Buhar]

29 minutes ago, MikeParkin65 said:

I’ve made a shorter loco to tender coupling than Hornby’s and it will traverse my minimum 30 inch curve with no problems. Front footsteps and draincocks fitted too. Not the same for the new Princess by the way - steps foul the front wheel of the bogie (even with scale Gibson’s). 

Did you fit the flanged wheel set? 

My Princess performed much the same as 6231but I haven't fitted front steps and draincocks yet as I'm thinking about an earlier style of lettering. 

Alan 

[MikeParkin65]

11 minutes ago, Buhar said:

Did you fit the flanged wheel set? 

My Princess performed much the same as 6231but I haven't fitted front steps and draincocks yet as I'm thinking about an earlier style of lettering. 

Alan 

No didn’t fit the flanged wheel. With the tender close coupled the loco the swing of the cab is effectively limited- good enough for my purposes anyway. The draincocks are a b#gger to fit by the way - very short interference fit into the cylinder bottom. 

[Pete the Elaner]

8 minutes ago, Richard Croft said:

I've just finished fitting this Princess with wheeltappers sound, Its a great sound file for anyone looking to add sound to theirs.

 

 

Richard

 

That's nice but this is the Duchess thread. Do the 2 sound close enough to share the same sound files?

[robmcg]

4 hours ago, Pete the Elaner said:

 

That's nice but this is the Duchess thread. Do the 2 sound close enough to share the same sound files?

 

I don't think so, the Princess is generally described in real life as being much sharper, being single chimney. 

[Pete the Elaner]

5 hours ago, robmcg said:

 

I don't think so, the Princess is generally described in real life as being much sharper, being single chimney. 

 

That's made me think I should maybe use a Princess sound file in my early single-chimney Duchesses?

[MikeParkin65]

12 hours ago, robmcg said:

 

I don't think so, the Princess is generally described in real life as being much sharper, being single chimney. 

 

7 hours ago, Pete the Elaner said:

 

That's made me think I should maybe use a Princess sound file in my early single-chimney Duchesses?

In 4mm the difference in sound is really more dependent on the quality of the recording, the skill of the project creator and the speaker set up. That said a Princess has a sharper bark when moving off (rather like the King that it is derived from ) than a Duchess - the latter dont really make a loud noise until they really get into their stride. Of my two sound fitted Duchesses one has Digitrains 'heavy LMS' project, the other has Locomans Black Five (adjusted to account for the larger diameter drivers so as to keep the beat in time with the wheel rotation). Both pretty good, the recording on the Locoman project is better tho. I did have a TTS chip factory fitted to 46235 when delivered - that was awful and was removed after literally one circuit of the layout and will be going on ebay!!

 

I have yet to hear a sound project that really captures the sound of any steam loco working hard at speed. My layout (and I suspect this is true for most of us!) doesnt give scope for loco's to move at much more than about 30mph anyway.

 

Incidentally I dont like the way the exhaust seems to continue almost until the loco has stopped on the Wheeltappers project Richard has posted above.

Edited May 11, 2020 by MikeParkin65
My usual appalling typing

[adb968008]

I find the sound of a double chimney’d Duchess at speed on a heavy load to be like a record player, my last ride behind 6233 I kept having to remind myself to pause the recording occasionally, it just ran like a dream.

 

Princess sounds much more “traditional” by comparison.

 

6201 on Shap... (to get to the point goto 2mins in)

 

6233 on Shap (from 2m10 in)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-tDSR_HSvk
 

(both random videos from Youtube)

tbh, Ive not been impressed by DCC sound on steam locos, a bluetooth speaker costing £5 on Amazon hidden in the lead coach, playing either of the above videos (or any other video for any other loco ) sounds better, ok I dont have the “f”’s and start up, but then i’m DC only anyway.

 

Edited May 13, 2020 by adb968008

[railroadbill]

Some great shots on that video, you can almost smell the smoke as it goes by. And what a sound...

Edited May 13, 2020 by railroadbill

[adb968008]

Hmm, just thought i'd tease a little bit more...

 

this is what is sounded like on Wilpshire bank with 13 on, imagine I had to put up with a whole day of this..., I slept very well that night.

 

 

Try getting that sound on DCC.

 

Edited May 13, 2020 by adb968008

[EHertsGER]

I am in the process of changing ‘City of London’ to P4 via a Comet chassis. In doing so I have found the injectors to be an appalling representation of the actual item. Does anyone have or know of any good photographs of them. I fear fabrication is the order of progress here.

 

many thanks,

Best,

Marcus