Hornby dublo

[Ruffnut Thorston]

We would really appreciate a copy of that Hornby Dublo Technical Manual.

 

Despite sending emails to the published addresses, we have not had any response so far.

 

Have the money, just need to place an order somehow....

[gtis]

11 minutes ago, Sarahagain said:

We would really appreciate a copy of that Hornby Dublo Technical Manual.

 

Despite sending emails to the published addresses, we have not had any response so far.

 

Have the money, just need to place an order somehow....

Hi Sarah 

he had two box’s full and he sold quite

a few don’t know if he is on HRCA . net

neil 

[Ruffnut Thorston]

Thanks.

 

I'm not actually a HRCA member...

 

Just the Train Collector's Society.

 

As we do all makes...mainly OO Gauge though.

 

Edited February 24, 2020 by Sarahagain
housekeeping, spelling, etc...

[gtis]

Hi Sarah 

pm sent 

Neil 

[Ruffnut Thorston]

Hi Neil.

 

PM received and answered...thanks.

 

I have sent Mr. Hamilton an email...

 

 

[Il Grifone]

I've just found this on Ebay.

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Rare-Pre-War-Hornby-Dublo-DR383-D1-Buff-Esso-Tank-Wagon/383441290084?_trkparms=aid%3D1110006%26algo%3DHOMESPLICE.SIM%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D225076%26meid%3D9546567de5a14dda90884ad0f77ec294%26pid%3D100005%26rk%3D3%26rkt%3D12%26mehot%3Dpf%26sd%3D233514123365%26itm%3D383441290084%26pmt%3D1%26noa%3D0%26pg%3D2047675%26algv%3DSimplAMLv5PairwiseWebWithImageAndTitleNsfwFilters%26brand%3DHornby&_trksid=p2047675.c100005.m1851

 

Now I don't know if the price is reasonable, so I won't comment on that (beyond stating it's decidedly not Grifone friendly!), but two points  struck me immediately. 1. it's the wrong box (to be fair, the seller does state this) and 2. a pre-war version should have the filler cap in body colour I thought. The condition I would assess as average - repainting and faded - the Esso blue should be much darker. Conversely, the underframe seems free of the 'pest' and the couplings are straight.

 

Good hunting to anyone interested! 

 

Here's a post-war example for reference (with the right box).

 

https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/vintage-Hornby-dublo-rail-petrol-tank-275974323

Edited March 16, 2020 by Il Grifone

[Wolseley]

A post-war wagon retro-fitted with pre-war couplings perhaps?

[Il Grifone]

Possibly? There were some repro. parts about at one time I believe. The tabs don't seem to have been tampered with though.

 

Of course the post-war tinplate does appear to have been printed pre-war anyway. I still don't see how Meccano Ltd. managed to stash away sufficient tinplate to make thousands of wagons.  I wouldn't like to suggest the use of a brown envelope....

[sagaguy]

The 4CEP in the platform,Video will hopefully follow shortly,I didn`t manage to make the lights work but that may be the way i connected it.Getting the body off is not for the faint hearted,i found an instructional on RMweb.After rewiring,it started to run like dream.Getting the body back on without damage is a bit of a job.Coupling the coaches can be a trial when the coupling bars are new,so much so that one of the coach pockets managed to jam up neccisitating removing the coach body,stripping the coupling mechanism,replacing in the correct position and reassembling whilst not losing the small tension spring.Two of the intermediate cars have cloudy glazing which is impossible to remove but then again,i do have another 4CEP so if needs be,i can swap the coaches.

 

                         Ray.

Edited March 11, 2020 by sagaguy

[roythebus]

Rummaging through my box of bits, I've got an EMU motor coach body if anyone needs one. It's missing the ends and roof, but they may well be around somewhere else. Also 2 coach underframes.

[Robin Brasher]

My Sir Nigel Gresley and LNER coaches are still running well after 70 years of service. Hornby is bringing out a celebratory set which goes some way to replicating the first Hornby Dublo 1938 passenger train set. Then new Gresley teak effect coaches show the amazing advances in model production since the launch of Hornby Dublo's 1938 train sets.

 

Despite this the later Hornby Dublo teak coaches with printed windows run very well, are very robust and have a charm of their own.

[Robin Brasher]

I assume that Roythebus, who wrote the post before mine, lives near the Romney Hythe and Dymchurch Railway. 

 

I can remember buying a Hornby Dublo level crossing at Model land at New Romney Station in 1957 to go with my level crossing rail in my 0-6-2T goods train set.

[MikeCW]

Thank you for the supportive reactions to my previous Hornby Dublo locomotive refurbishments.  The latest off the line comes from Swindon, rather than Doncaster, works.  The starting point was a very sad "Bristol Castle", sold by Hattons as a non-runner.  Ex-VAT and plus postage, it cost me just over 30 pounds landed in NZ.  The main reason for the purchase was that I had a spare half-inch motor in good condition, picked up last year at a local model railway show.  I also had a set of Dublo-style plates (i.e. transfers) for "Windsor Castle", bought some time ago from the "Dublo Surgeon".  So my idea was that a motor swap and a repaint would give me a another project to keep me busy at home at the modelling bench in these difficult times.

 

The starting point,

 

All parts were there, but everything was either dirty, rusty or just plain tatty.  The first job was to try and identify the reason why the engine wouldn't run. In fact there were three reasons, best explained by reference to the picture below of the refurbished chassis.

 

First, electrical continuity problems. The wire which connects the nearside motor brush to the phosphor bronze plug to the tender had been shortened at some time, and the plug itself was crushed and distorted.  Because of the short wire, the plug couldn't be pushed fully home into the tender connection and, because the plug was misshapen, what contact it made was intermittent.

 

Furthermore,  the brass sleeve over the insulated end of the  "V spring" which bears against the brush arm on this side had been slid rearwards to compensate for the shortened wire.  As a result, it barely made contact with the brush,

 

So I straightened the tender plug and replaced the wire with one of suitable length.  This enabled the tender connecting plug to be pushed fully home and the brass sleeve on the "V spring" to be pushed down to its proper position and bear fully on the brush arm. Job done. Well, no.

 

Second, mechanical problems.  A previous owner had tightened the adjusting screw on the worm end of the motor shaft so there was no fore and aft play. He or she had then put a ring spanner on the lock nut, put a three foot length of pipe on the end of the spanner to give some extra leverage, and then commissioned Arnold Schwarzenegger to swing on the end to ensure it was nice and tight. Boy it took some effort to free!

 

Perhaps as a result of motor shaft pressure on the top end bearing, the whole top end bearing housing had started to rotate in the motor end plate.  There was no option but to dismantle the motor, degrease the end plate and top bearing, and fix the bearing in place in the end plate with permanent Loctite. Both top and bottom bearings were lubricated, the motor re-assembled and re-magnetised, and all ran smoothly with a low current draw.

 

So my spare half-inch motor remains in store for another project.

 

With the chassis sorted, I turned to the locomotive body and tender. The picture below shows the locomotive body and tender dismantled and after I had gently scrubbed the bodies clean with mild detergent and a paint brush. At this stage I had also removed rust from the engine/tender draw-bar and chemically blackened it.  I had also started rubbing rust off the reversing rod with a fine fibreglass pencil.

It became obvious that, much like "Empire of India" described on a previous page, the paintwork was in poor shape but the lining was pretty good.  The tender body makes the point well.

So I decided to repeat the "Empire of India" approach of  patch-painting the body while retaining the lining.  But the problem I had with the A4 was that masking the lining with tape pulled parts of the lining off when the tape was removed . After some contemplation I decided to try the technique used by plastic modellers to obtain a soft demarcation line between different sprayed-on colours for aircraft camouflage. This uses "snakes" of Blu-Tack instead of masking tape.

Note in the picture above that I carefully removed the remnants of the BR totem transfer with a fibreglass pencil. Probably because the Hornby Dublo transfers were affixed with varnish, removing the transfer alone will often leave a "ghost" of the transfer shape which I suspect is the varnish adhesive which forms a layer between the transfer itself and the surface of the model.

 

While the masking  looked bizarre, the end result was gratifying.

 

The photos were taken straight after removal of the masking. There are a few spots of Blu-Tack to be removed, and the odd tiny spot of chipped green paint close to the boiler bands which will need to be touched in by brush, but the technique worked well with no damage at all to the original transfers.

 

Obviously, the running plate is yet to be repainted by brush and other black parts of the body (cab roof, smokebox etc) either fully repainted or touched in with Humbrol enamel No. 85.

 

One of the challenges of refurbishing a "Castle" is getting the continuous handrail both symmetrical and a good fit to the locomotive body.  To avoid scratching the new paintwork I did all the trial fitting of a new 1.0mm stainless steel wire handrail on a scrap "Castle" body from the junk box.  (I was not responsible for the butchery on the body!).

I can recommend this method of stress-free handrail trial fitting.

 

The final stages of the project were:

 

     (1) Restoring all the "brass" trim and safety valve bonnet with Humbrol Brass applied with a good quality brush;

     (2) Applying decals for the name and number plates.  As stated above those for the engine are Dublo style and were applied by varnish-fixing.  The tender crests were 30 year old PC/HMRS Pressfix type.  I used the early crest rather than the later totem as I prefer the earlier design and it also makes a change from the standard "Bristol Castle";

     (3) Polishing and oiling the reversing lever. It remains to be seen how long it will last before rusting again where the nickel plating has worn off the steel stamping.  My models are kept in a dry atmosphere so it may well last.

    (4) Cleaning the bogie wheels and touching in a few spots of wear on the chassis with Humbrol 85. 

    (5) Giving "Windsor Castle" an overall coat of domestic satin polyurethane varnish.  This is always a fraught process.  Spray it insufficiently thinned, from too great a distance, or with too high a pressure and it dries as it hits the surface, leaving a rough, "frosty" finish.  If too thinned it will run in an instant.  In both cases a repaint is about the only option.  In this case all was well except that the varnish dried more semi-gloss than satin.  Perhaps I hadn't stirred it enough.  But I'm happy with the ex-works finish.

 

And here it is.  After I took the photos I noticed that the cylinder lining needs to be replaced. A job for the weekend.

 

Another engine saved from Woodham's scrapyard at Barry.

 

Mike

 

 

 

 

Edited March 19, 2020 by MikeCW
Punctuation

[Il Grifone]

 

I hope my 'Eastnor Castle' ends up as as good. (She started off as a wreck (like the one above, but even worse!) rescued from a scrap box at a toy fair.)

Windsor Castle is of course the correct identity for 'Bristol Castle'. Wanting an appropriate name for their 'Bristolian' set, they chose 'Bristol Castle', but unfortunately this was the original 4082!

Edited March 22, 2020 by Il Grifone

[LMS2968]

On ‎18‎/‎03‎/‎2020 at 08:59, Robin Brasher said:

Despite this the later Hornby Dublo teak coaches with printed windows run very well, are very robust and have a charm of their own.

Have to agree there! Despite being an LMS man and having only N2s from the LNER, I've still managed to acquire a nine coach rake of them!

[Il Grifone]

The LNER coaches come in 3 versions 1st/3rd, Bk/3rd and (rarer) full 3rd (post war - pre-war the latter two were combined as an articulated unit. The prototype is a 52' 6" steel panelled coach for secondary services, so the lack of panelling is correct. They are not really appropriate for an A4, however, and, despite the short length of the real thing, are still under scale length (like Dublo's N2). The last examples (only 3rds?) were cleared out with the grey roof of the BR version, which only came in 1st/3rd and Bk/3rd, the very last ones having BR bogies.

 

I always found they ran better than the Stanier coaches, being lighter and holding the track better. The longer coaches have less play in the bogie pivots.)

[Wolseley]

Seeing as how we're talking about repaints of old Dublo locos, here are a few of mine:

 

 

 

[Wolseley]

I just spotted a paint chip I have to touch up......

[MikeCW]

2 hours ago, Wolseley said:

I just spotted a paint chip I have to touch up......

 The camera is a pitiless critic isn't it!

 

Thank you for the photos. I really like your repairs and repaints.  They make a fine display and also give me further ideas and a spur to keep my own production line moving. That line-up of Duchesses could be at Camden shed.

 

I've just heard of the next tranche of restrictions being imposed in Australia.  We're a couple of weeks behind you in the spread of the virus (as well as a long way away) and with the benefit of your and European experience the Government here has moved fast to close the border, shut down gatherings, impose and urge "lock-downs", make self-isolation in some cases mandatory by law and push over-70s like me to stay home.   So I've spent a few extra, guilt-free hours at the modelling workbench yesterday and today. I suspect I'm one of many.

 

Mike 

Edited March 22, 2020 by MikeCW
Grammar

[Il Grifone]

If anyone needs a Dublo SR 0-6-2T tank:

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/143566683875?ul_noapp=true

 

I've got one, so I'll leave the field open.

[Wolseley]

14 hours ago, Il Grifone said:

If anyone needs a Dublo SR 0-6-2T tank:

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/143566683875?ul_noapp=true

 

I've got one, so I'll leave the field open.

 

I already have a Southern 0-6-2T, but it's a repaint of a BR one and not a genuine one, so I put in a bid for it, but I've already been outbid and there's still five days to go.  I think I'll just stick with my repaint and let it go.  It will be interesting to see how far it goes though.

[Il Grifone]

I don't think it's a repaint. The body has the embossed 'Hornby' on the smokebox (why did they do this?*), which is the sign of a pre-nationalisation body and the colour and transfers seem authentic. The chassis possibly has repainted wheels, which could just indicate a trip back to Binns Road for repair or a chassis swop. The pins seem the earlier thin type (there's evidence of wear on the rear of the coupling rod in one of the photos and the pony truck has solid wheels and a silver screw, which also indicate an early chassis.

 

My first modification was to file this off from an LNER body before subjecting the poor thing to a heretical  teenage repaint in matt black with Airfix transfers. I thought she looked quite good at  the time....

Edited March 30, 2020 by Il Grifone

[Wolseley]

1 hour ago, Il Grifone said:

I don't think it's a repaint.

 

The one on eBay is most certainly not a repaint.  It is original.  When I was talking about a repaint, I was referring to the Southern 0-6-2T I have already.  I repainted a playworn BR example because, prices being what they are for these things, I saw it as my only way of having one of these desirable little locos in Southern livery.  I suspect that the one on eBay (I'll keep watching it) will go for more than I'm willing to pay, just like all the others......

[Dorkingian]

2-railing the Duchess of Montrose

 

Despite the sharp intakes of breath to be heard from some colleagues, I want to 2-rail the Duchess recently given to me by a close friend.  At the risk of repeating earlier material, what are my main options please (assuming normal conditions will eventually apply once more)?

 

I'm not able to do sophisticated drilling or quartering myself, so any solution will require outsourcing, or buying-in bits.

 

This is what she looks like, posed on the Dorking Garden Railway:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 31, 2020 by Dorkingian
more detail

[Il Grifone]

 

A heresy I performed in the early sixties, when you could finally obtain Dublo spares. It used to be return to Binns Road only.

Your best bet is to try and source a set of 2 rail HD or Wrenn 'City' wheels. For some unknown reason, Meccano Ltd. redesigned the chassis so a complete one won't fit without modification, but the wheels are the same. Saying that, it looks like this is an early Montrose' with the thin crank pins. The later wheels will need bushing for these to fit. An alternative is to source a later set of motion*. It rather depends on how much wear has taken place in the coupling rods.

The pony truck has a standard rolling stock spoked wheelset, but the bogie and tender wheels are specials. For economy the original wheels can be left on the non-insulated side, which should be the left-hand side, contrary to normal practice, to avoid having to reverse  the magnet.  The tender can be used to pickup on one side, which saves manufacturing a 2 rail pickup, but obviously will require an insulated drawbar.

* A set from a 'City' will do but, IIRC needs some modification at the cylinder end to fit. As a downside, you get the pressed tin crosshead rather than the superior cast 'Duchess' one.

All I could find at present was this, but it should be possible to find them at a lower price - keep the original gear wheel unless worn - there are two types fine and the early coarse.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Hornby-DUBLO-DUCHESS-or-CITY-6-MAIN-BRIGHT-INSULATED-WHEELS-AXLES-COG-2-RAIL/372999842964?hash=item56d885ec94:g:5pcAAOSwBP1eehvR

 

On 30/03/2020 at 14:59, Wolseley said:

 

The one on eBay is most certainly not a repaint.  It is original.  When I was talking about a repaint, I was referring to the Southern 0-6-2T I have already.  I repainted a playworn BR example because, prices being what they are for these things, I saw it as my only way of having one of these desirable little locos in Southern livery.  I suspect that the one on eBay (I'll keep watching it) will go for more than I'm willing to pay, just like all the others......

 

Sorry I misread your post! I can only claim brain-numbing coronavirus propaganda* overkill as an excuse.  I won't say what I paid for mine, but it was the early seventies. There are at least three versions to collect:- pre-war, post-war horseshoe and AlNiCo magnets. There are differences in the size of the rear cab windows and gold and silver bunker transfers. I've settled for just the single example....

*As in "Too little, too late, but we don't want to admit it!"

Edited April 2, 2020 by Il Grifone