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R3518 "Gay Crusader" -The Final Day


Chamby
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R3518 A3 "Gay Crusader" in 1947 condition appears to be arriving on retailers shelves now. Has anyone seen the actual model yet? I am interested to know what the green colour looks like - the graphic issued pre-issue looked more like malachite green than anything that came out of Doncaster or Darlington, so I would be grateful for some clarification before ordering.

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R3518 A3 "Gay Crusader" in 1947 condition appears to be arriving on retailers shelves now. Has anyone seen the actual model yet? I am interested to know what the green colour looks like - the graphic issued pre-issue looked more like malachite green than anything that came out of Doncaster or Darlington, so I would be grateful for some clarification before ordering.

Rails have multiple angle views on their website which may help.

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Looking at these photos.

 

https://railsofsheffield.com/the-final-day-lner-4-6-2-gay-crusader-a3-class-locomotive-no-108-JJJA32427

 

 

The Loco still has the A3 Book Law "ski lift" front end , unpainted edges to front Bufferbeam, Tender lettering looks too high and perhaps slightly small as do the numbers. I has been mentioned in one review I have read that the Green is also showing through the numbers . The one in the pictures also has bent oil feeds and a slight  bent handrail on the smokebox front edge.

 

 

£150 err no chance.

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Looking at these photos.

 

https://railsofsheffield.com/the-final-day-lner-4-6-2-gay-crusader-a3-class-locomotive-no-108-JJJA32427

 

 

The Loco still has the A3 Book Law "ski lift" front end , unpainted edges to front Bufferbeam, Tender lettering looks too high and perhaps slightly small as do the numbers. I has been mentioned in one review I have read that the Green is also showing through the numbers . The one in the pictures also has bent oil feeds and a slight  bent handrail on the smokebox front edge.

 

 

£150 err no chance.

 

Such a shame, so near yet so far. Smokebox handrails are bent upwards toward the front but at least it's the same angle as the frame 'ski-jump'. Nice to be consistent. Dome isn't attached very well in the Rails example either. I would think that Hornby have by now missed out on many A1/A3 sales since the assembly line issues started appearing. Really is a shame as otherwise it's a nice model.

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What is going on with the tooling for the A3? Surely after Book Law, someone would have inspected the tooling for the running plate and made amendments.

Have the magazines not picked this up at any point?

I can appreciate that replacing tooling, or altering operation (is it simply a case of mould release temperature), costs money, but for a 'flagship' model (including variants of Flying Scotsman), it must be worth a little investment/attention. As Sanda Kan demonstrated it is possible to produce this model correctly and reliably for many years.

 

Disappointed, but not personally worried - I've covered all my A3 bases with single and double chimney, Sanda Kan made 4472 models. But thinking of the wider community, including the next generation, this is a shame and I hope someone from Hornby is reading this; You CAN do it, just have to tell someone to take corrective action.

Edited by G-BOAF
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  • 9 months later...

I just got one, S/H but unused, part-exchange for some Peco trackwork for £40. I am very happy with it. The ski-jump effect, while not eliminated completely, is vastly improved over Book Law's Harrier-launching effort: it's been reduced to fractions of a millimetre. I can live with it and I'm fairly picky about this kind of thing. Similarly I don't have an issue with the number/lettering alignment on my example. 

So, while it's not exactly a return to the glory trilogy of Flying Fox Great NorthernGladiateur it is still far, far better than other recent examples. And it makes a nice companion to Bachmann's A2 Sugar Palm!

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  • 2 weeks later...

Looking at these photos.

 

https://railsofsheffield.com/the-final-day-lner-4-6-2-gay-crusader-a3-class-locomotive-no-108-JJJA32427

 

 

The Loco still has the A3 Book Law "ski lift" front end , unpainted edges to front Bufferbeam, Tender lettering looks too high and perhaps slightly small as do the numbers. I has been mentioned in one review I have read that the Green is also showing through the numbers . The one in the pictures also has bent oil feeds and a slight  bent handrail on the smokebox front edge.

 

 

£150 err no chance.

 

I totally disagree.

 

This model is a fantastic piece of RTR art, of a very interesting and attractive prototype from the post-war era,  you will find wavy footplates in most A3 modela right from the start, if you look hard enough. They come more-or-less fully assembled, run sweetly, and are made mostly of plastic,   most importantly, they look great. 

 

And now they are a little cheaper, I intend to buy one.

 

Picture coming soon.  (while I wait for a Stirling Single  (also with some degree of ski jump possible) and Heljan BR 47XX (various similar issues).

 

Of course if you insist on absolute perfection at under £150, good luck.  :)

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I just got one, S/H but unused, part-exchange for some Peco trackwork for £40. I am very happy with it. The ski-jump effect, while not eliminated completely, is vastly improved over Book Law's Harrier-launching effort: it's been reduced to fractions of a millimetre. I can live with it and I'm fairly picky about this kind of thing. Similarly I don't have an issue with the number/lettering alignment on my example. 

 

So, while it's not exactly a return to the glory trilogy of Flying Fox Great NorthernGladiateur it is still far, far better than other recent examples. And it makes a nice companion to Bachmann's A2 Sugar Palm!

 

That's more like it,but I would add that A1/A3 models have always had high tenders and droop cabs to some degree.

 

Here are two mildly edited pics of early-LNER Sanda Kan 1470 and current A3 108.

 

post-7929-0-69558300-1533602932_thumb.jpg

 

post-7929-0-76889600-1533605521_thumb.jpg

 

How can you have a selection of A3s without 'Gay Crusader'?  :)  Days of rationing, hardship, but bright colours after WW2.

Edited by robmcg
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That's more like it,but I would add that A1/A3 models have always had high tenders and droop cabs to some degree.

 

Here are two mildly edited pics of early-LNER Sanda Kan 1470 and current A3 108.

 

attachicon.gif1470_A1_LNER_Portrait1_3ab_r1200.jpg

 

attachicon.gif108_A3_A1_portrait1_3abc_r1200.jpg

 

How can you have a selection of A3s without 'Gay Crusader'?  :)  Days of rationing, hardship, but bright colours after WW2.

Nice photos Rob.

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The cylinders aren't lined in the Crusader photo either. Good luck if you to buy it , simply not good enough and should have been never put on sale after Book Law fiasco.

 

Lined cylinders with that Sir? I'm afraid we only do those as part of the Authenticity Upgrade Kit -

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Hornby-X9561-Class-A1-A3-Loco-Cylinder-Block-/312109125076

 

;-)

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Lined cylinders with that Sir? I'm afraid we only do those as part of the Authenticity Upgrade Kit -

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Hornby-X9561-Class-A1-A3-Loco-Cylinder-Block-/312109125076

 

;-)

 

Nice!  And while model is stripped for the fitting of the cylinders you can tweak the mouldings and joint-faces to remove any hint of ski-jump.

 

There are some pics of A3s without obvious cylinder lining,  1947 era, Irwell p92, p.63 1948, p58 undated all apple green.  Probably a trick of the light.

 

I could wade into the RCTS book 2A  but my tea would go cold... :)

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