Hornby dublo

[Bill Matters]

If it is 2-rail then the Duchess should be in a red box.

[Il Grifone]

2 hours ago, Sarahagain said:

Apparently, Hornby has decided that it is 100 years old, and is releasing some Hornby Dublo inspired models, including a version of Duchess of Athol.

 

I haven't seen any photos yet...

 

Possibly just a version of the normal Hornby Duchess?

 

Nope...

 

Apparently it has a diecast body!

 

 

 

 

 

It  has the standard Tri-ang trademark of a misplaced return crank and appears to be a standard Hornby' model.

 

For a 1940s Dublo loco, it should indeed have a blue box with a  lift off lid for the loco and a separate blue rolling stock type box for the tender. That's what mine came in for Xmas 1951 The candy stripe boxes didn't arrive until the late fifties and, unless it's a three rail model, should be red!

Perhaps they found 500 Duchess bodies in Binns Road and have being wondering how to get rid of them ever since?

 

Shouldn't it be a tinplate clockwork 0-4-0 for 100 years?

[Ruffnut Thorston]

The 1920s style Meccano locos are also being "re incarnated"!

 

 

And a modern version of the Hornby Dublo LNER A4 train set!

 

 

For some reason... trademarks?

 

The Dublo Dinkies are now Dublo Diecast...

 

And mainly models Dinky didn't make, but Oxford Diecast do!

 

EDIT: Oh...and the tractor should be blue!

 

 

And "nostalgic" liveries on existing model tooling...

 

 

 

A pity about the voice of the 'van' model though!

 

And just to prove that someone has remembered the real roots of today's Hornby...

 

A take on the Rovex Train Set...

 

But I doubt that this issue is limited to sale in Marks and Spencer stores?

 

 

Edited January 6, 2020 by Sarahagain
tractor text added!

[andyman7]

The DInky trademark is owned and still used by Mattel so is not available for Hornby's use. I suspect that the reuse (for the first time in many years) of the Tri-ang name is due to trademark rights having lapsed elsewhere due to non-use.

[Wolseley]

Those other items are much more interesting than the Duchess.  I am rather tempted by the "Dublo Diecast" and the goods wagons.

[Il Grifone]

The 'Hornby' 0-4-0s are interesting, but you could probably get an original one for £524.99! Do they bolt together with 5/32" Whitworth nuts and bolts?

The originals (only black and green IIRC - the red and blue were later 1922?) did not have the luxury of coupling rods. There's a slightly later one here

http://www.tcawestern.org/Hornby.htm

and here

https://www.brightontoymuseum.co.uk/index/Category:Hornby_No1_locomotives

I suppose an articulated set with the A4 would be asking too much (It would have been a good addition to the normal range however!)

Now I haven't got an original 'Hornby Dublo' VW Van, so might be tempted (I have several by other makers though).  Margate?????

The rehashed P.O. wagon liveries are nice, but what they are on is rubbish. Surely there's a better van in the the Hornby range than that horror! (I've already got a 'Jacob's Biscuits' van!) The Hornby Milk Tank was a 'de-luxe' product and 'Seccotine' was a van. The substance would probably have glued up a tank wagon (or maybe not, seeing its inability to stick anything or perhaps that was just me?)

The 'Rovex' (this is probably the name that has lapsed as there's no sign of Tri-ang beyond 'Margate') set has to be an improvement on the original!

Pedantic as usual. It's a welcome enterprise.

Edited January 7, 2020 by Il Grifone

[Wolseley]

I think I'll probably get the VW van, Scammell Mechanical Horse and the Palethorpes Sausages wagon (I'm not sure why but Ive always wanted a Palethorpes Sausages wagon).

[Wolseley]

I wonder if the coaches in the "Rovex" set are going to be bent like bananas.....

[Colin_McLeod]

Only if you keep them long enough

[sncf231e]

1 hour ago, Il Grifone said:

The 'Hornby' 0-4-0s are interesting, but you could probably get an original one for £524.99! Do they bolt together with 5/32" Whitworth nuts and bolts?

The originals (only black and green IIRC - the red and blue were later 1922?) did not have the luxury of coupling rods.

These Hornby No 1's, which the replica is based on,  did have coupling rods. But you cannot find an original like the replica anyway, since the originals were clockwork only. And of course they were British made while the replica is Czech made, so who wants a replica like this anyway..

For current prices of originals see: https://www.dutchhrca.nl/priceguide.html#No.1

 

Regards

Fred

[Il Grifone]

On 07/01/2020 at 11:05, Colin_McLeod said:

Only if you keep them long enough

 

That would be about six months! (or less....) 

 

On 07/01/2020 at 12:06, sncf231e said:

These Hornby No 1's, which the9o replica is based on,  did have coupling rods. But you cannot find an original like the replica anyway, since the originals were clockwork only. And of course they were British made while the replica is Czech made, so who wants a replica like this anyway..

For current prices of originals see: https://www.dutchhrca.nl/priceguide.html#No.1

 

Regards

Fred

 

This is the later version. The pre-grouping and early post-grouping versions have the drive on the leading axle and a free running rear axle with the connecting  rods, but no coupling rods. My two LMS ('24 and '25*) tanks are like this. All clockwork of course. The right hand picture of the No. 1 tanks in the link is the later one.

*IIRC (it might be 25/6) - the differences are the earlier one doesn't have lamps, and the later should have a black dome. (Mine has been polished at some time in her long life) and the cab roof slides on the earlier and is tabbed on the later. (Both are missing.) Stupidly I saw them for sale at a fair and didn't buy them.... Mine have 0-4-0 as a number - the next change was to a proper number (like the middle one).

Hornby's is quite a faithful replica apart from the chassis, which I suppose is intended to run on finer scale track than 1920s tinplate.

EDIT

It would appear the headlamps came in 1925, making my two 1924 and 1925.

 

Edited January 9, 2020 by Il Grifone

[sagaguy]

Well,here we are.The Marklin turntable installed at last,the Marklin track sections help to line up the exit tracks.

 

                        Ray.

 

                    

 

[sagaguy]

A still pic of the shed yard.It shows the Marklin track sections which made life a little easier.

 

                             Ray.

[MikeCW]

It's a while since I've posted anything on this topic.  Part of the reason is that I've had several Hornby Dublo rebuilds and repaints on the workbench complete but for nameplates.  After waiting over three months for these from Jackson Evans I gave up and ordered several from Fox Transfers. They arrived here in New Zealand within a couple of weeks.

 

Empire of India started out as a sad Silver King which had sat in a damp box for too long.  Condensation had set to work and, where the locomotive had been lying on its side against the cardboard, the handrails had started to rust around the split pins (4th Form Science: 2 different metals in an electrolyte?) and the rust had caused irremovable staining in the paint around the holes in the body-side.

 

On the plus side, the mechanism was sound and ran quietly, or as quietly as Hornby Dublo vertical motors ever do, and with a mild service it pulled only about 3-4 milliamps with no load.  The nickel plating on the valve gear was still bright, with none of the yellowing as brass starts to show through the plating. I thought it well worth a repaint.

 

Then I had a closer look at the lining and rest of the paintwork.  The lining in particular was in good shape and I wondered if I could  fix the rust marks without embarking on a full repaint, which would then mean a decision whether to use reproduction Hornby Dublo decals or "scale" ones. So the hand-rails came off and I set to work with a  fine fibreglass burnishing tool to eradicate the stains and the "nameplate". 

 

I covered the boiler band lining with Tamiya masking tape and loaded my airbrush (a Badger "Patriot") with a few well thinned mls of my own brew of BR Green. With the air pressure at about 20 psi I was able to "mist" on the colour, gradually building it up and feathering it into the existing paint.  Very pleased with myself I removed the masking tape and pulled off sections of the lining with it!   After  commenting aloud on the quality of the varnish used in Roland Hornby's factory I prepared to throw the locomotive body across the shed. But then I thought, perhaps I could replace some of the lining with Dennis Williams'/Dublo Surgeon's lining, a small supply of which I had to hand. Alternatively I could piece together some of the detached sections of lining and re-affix them with varnish.  In the end I replaced two small sections of lining with recovered pieces. But most of the repair was done with a "000" brush, orange and black Humbrol enamel, and a desk-top lamp/magnifier.

 

I then worked over the engine, touching in chipped black paint with Humbrol 85 and repainting the cab roof entirely.  After applying the cabside decals (Fox waterslide) and shooting the locomotive with an overall spray of domestic polyurethane satin, the job was done.  I put it aside to harden off before fitting stainless steel handrails. 

 

This locomotive came to me without a tender, The tender you see here was a complete repaint and is another story entirely.  The coal/tender top is a modern, stable casting sourced off the internet.

 

The nameplates arrived today from Fox and were fitted with epoxy.  In summary, I'm rather pleased with 60011.

 

 

If there is any interest I can post the stories of the other rebuilds and repaints as they are completed.

 

Mike

Edited February 14, 2020 by MikeCW
Grammar

[Colin_McLeod]

An excellent job Mike, resulting in a beautiful model. Congratulations.

[Il Grifone]

Please!

[MikeCW]

On 14/02/2020 at 20:30, Colin_McLeod said:

An excellent job Mike, resulting in a beautiful model. Congratulations.

That's generous of you Colin. I get a lot of satisfaction from this sort of "modelling".  In part it's nostalgia but a large part is taking a 60-70 year old item, getting it running again and returning it to something like it's former glory.

 

I think that  Hornby Dublo locomotives are ideal for this sort of treatment.  With one or two exceptions they are still plentiful and careworn examples can be obtained at reasonable cost.  They are solid, well made items and can generally be repaired with traditional hand-tools and a soldering iron. Where "cannibalisation" of examples which are past the point of no return can't provide those elusive parts, reproduction or used parts can be sourced from several suppliers.

 

And when refurbished, they can both be used and make an attractive display. As one contributor to this thread said a year or so ago, "Much of it's about the simple pleasure of fixing things."

 

Mike   

Edited February 20, 2020 by MikeCW
Grammar

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

9 minutes ago, MikeCW said:

... careworn examples can be obtained at reasonable cost...

Or even a practically unused two rail specimen for £40. A ringfield 8F advertised as 'intermittent and slow runner': the mechanism pretty much as it left the factory, bright copper windings, brush carbons near unworn, no polishing on the tyres, no lubricant on working surfaces. A few dots of oil and slowly turned over to distribute, then off it zipped, and fully capable of pulling a long train.

[Ruffnut Thorston]

It could even be said that it's not so much fun if something works perfectly straight out of the box after you get it.

 

It's more satisfying to restore old stuff to good working order...

 

A good clean and lubrication are the basics....

 

We had a two rail 8f that was seized solid with old lubricant, gunged up axles, etc.

 

In this case, taking the 1/2 inch motor out, and applications of penetrating and easing oil, while gently pushing the chassis up and down a short length of track, freed off the chassis.

 

After reassembly, it's a lovely loco.

 

 

Edited February 15, 2020 by Sarahagain
added photos....

[MikeCW]

I spent an hour or two today finishing off the second of my A4 projects which have been waiting for nameplates.  For several reasons this was more challenging than 60011 above.  First, the starting point was a disparate collection of parts, some of which were not in good condition.  The second was that I decided to fit proper stainless steel numbers to the cabside, of which more later.

 

This was the genesis of the rebuild.  A battered tender, an incomplete but running chassis, and a Golden Fleece body.

 

Before the late 1950s I believe that only four A4s sported double chimneys. One was No. 22 Mallard.  I have a couple of photos of her at the time of the locomotive exchanges of 1948, in Garter Blue, with "E 22" on the cabside (the number in cut-out stainless steel letters), and "British Railways" on the tender,  which at that time happened to be the 1928 pattern corridor tender as modelled by Hornby Dublo.  So E22 it was to be.

 

At an early stage I acquired a more complete chassis which gave me the nudge to start the rebuild. I began with the tender.  Dublo A4 tenders seem to suffer from two habitual problems.  The first is the well-known and well-canvassed "banana shaped" tender top.  The tender top in this example seemed to be a replacement, not distorted but far too small, as though the casting had shrunk. It was replaced with a modern reproduction which fitted well and is moulded in a stable material.  The second problem is that the tender sides at the front (locomotive cab entrance) end are often distorted. They are not well-supported and are very prone to damage when young Johnny drops the tender on the floor. This was a particularly bad example.

 

One wheel-set was missing and the tender bogies were heavily rusted.  After a strip down I had the following kit of parts for the body.

 

After cleaning off the rust with a wire brush in my Dremel and applying a rust preventative and etch primer to the areas inside the tender where the tinplate had worn or corroded away, I contemplated repair of the distorted tender front and the bent sides.  I did my best with pliers, gentle panel beating with a miniature hammer on wooden dollies and then filled the worst of the remaining dents on the side with solder. I used solder rather than model filler as the side was split for a few millimetres from the top beading and I thought the solder would repair as well as conceal.

 

Following a spell of filing and sanding things were starting to look more promising.

 

After further removal of external rust and residual Binns Road paint, some priming and sanding, and a smear or two of filler, the body was looking good - not perfect but good enough and far better than it was when I started.

I  carefully levered up the edges of the rivets holding the bogies to the tender underframe (wheels can't be replaced with these in situ), only just enough to ease the bogies away, and put the rivets aside for re-use.  As well as the missing wheel-set and rust to be treated, the coupling had lost its dropper at some point.  So the rivet holding the coupling in place was drilled and punched out.  All the wheels were removed for cleaning and to allow rust treatment of the bogies themselves.

 

The result - bogies cleaned of rust and chemically blackened, replacement wheel-set installed, all wheels cleaned and reinstalled with a smear of oil on the axles, and the wheel faces painted with Humbrol Crimson.  A replacement coupling has been installed with a home-brewed rivet. You can see that the low spring sunshine (the photos were taken in October in the Southern Hemisphere), reveals that the tender side, despite all the work, isn't perfectly flat.

 

The bogies were re-installed in the underframe and the tender body put aside for painting.  Now for the locomotive itself.  The old Golden Fleece body had two problems.  First, it was missing a vital part: the plate at the front which holds the threaded rod for the body fixing nut. This is held in place by the buffers, the inside ends of which are peened over, effectively riveting this plate in place.

To cut a long story short(er), I stripped a replacement from an old Sir Nigel Gresley body and secured it partly with the residual buffer stems, and partly with epoxy, unseen between the plate itself and the inside of the sloping smokebox. 

 

The second problem with the body was the result of another long drop in the engine's history, The cab roof was buckled where it had hit the floor.

 

In fact the cab was quite distorted and had a twist which I have not quite eliminated.  With gentle heat and more miniature panel beating, I restored the cab roof close to its original shape.  I didn't want to go further as the mazak casting can become brittle with age and work-hardening.

 

The locomotive and tender bodies were given a coat of Tamiya fine primer, then my own mix of Garter Blue (effectively as close a match as I can get with Humbrol enamels to the Hornby Dublo shade on Sir Nigel Gresley) was applied with an airbrush.  Humbrol 85 Satin Black was hand-painted using a quality synthetic brush; and an overall coat of polyurethane satin varnish sprayed through the airbrush after the decals for the tender lettering (Fox Transfers) had dried off . Paint chips and wear on the chassis were also touched in by brush,  With new handrails from 1mm stainless steel wire and Modelfixings 1.2mm split pins, and with Fox numbers and nameplates, here is the result.

 

The painting and transfer application didn't go smoothly.  I was so concerned at getting the tender lettering straight that I didn't notice that I had applied the transfer too low.  As it was still wet I thought I could remove it with some meths.  The meths removed the transfer and the paint.  So a major sanding, priming and repainting job was needed on the tender side.

 

The Fox stainless steel numbers were fixed with superglue.  Those on the left hand side (photo above) went on with no trouble.  Those on the right hand side didn't. I have a turbulent relationship with Cyano glues. Today was hot (27 degrees C) and very dry.  Glues and paint go "off" very quickly.  The superglue grabbed the first "2" on the RH cabside and held it firmly at an angle of 20 degrees to the vertical.  I prised it off with a scalpel blade and took a patch of paint away with it. This happened twice before I finally had a satisfactory result.

 

This time I carefully brush-painted around the "2" with blue paint and shot some varnish on the cabside with the airbrush.  It's slightly rougher than the other side but well within my standards. The tiny "E" above the number, which was applied from early 1948 until BR numbers were finalised, is a Fox transfer. Two more additions are needed: the plaque on the body side commemorating the world speed record and  a number transfer on the "buffer beam" .  I have neither on hand but will get them in due course.

 

My apologies for the length of this post - but the rebuild took a lot longer!

 

Mike

Edited February 16, 2020 by MikeCW
Add photo

[gtis]

Hi mike

i too did a mallard repaint but I used a silver link body with a single chimney 

I too had the same problem with my

waterslide decals couldn’t get the level

i took my a second attempt to get I something level I then sprayed Matt lacquer on to seal them

the red is a reflection from my car

neil 

[MikeCW]

A couple of items I forgot to include in my long-winded post about E22 Mallard.  As this an A4 in LNER days I ground and filed away the bracket for the BR smokebox number. (I see that gtis has also done this for his conversion.) The nameplate has a red background which is rather bright.  I know little about LNER liveries and suspect that the colour should be more crimson (like the wheels).  The Fox nameplates are etched brass.  The Modelmaster pair I originally ordered and which failed to arrive were stainless steel, which I would have preferred.

 

Finally, for my blue A4s I have simply copied where the Hornby Dublo factory workers applied the black paint on their Sir Nigel Gresley models, continuing the black of the parabolic curve of the smoke box along the top of the residual valence as far as the cab.  Photos of the real thing seem to show this demarcation (with red/white lining) ending close to the bottom of the parabolic curve.  But as this is a Hornby Dublo "Neverwozza" rather than a scale model, I decided to retain the  Binns Road factory style.

 

Mike

[gtis]

Hi mike 

here is another A4 repaint this time

Gannet in war time black

neil

[Wolseley]

And my Silver King, which had been repainted before I got my hands on it, but needed repairs and some tidying up before it looked like this - and the photo has just highlighted one spot that needs retouching.....

 

[gtis]

Hi

i went to the HRCA AGM at Tamworth yesterday had a really good day 
somethings I got

Neil