Hornby class 31 - mazak?

[ikcdab]

I am very keen on getting a class 31, the Hornby one looks to be a good performing model. However, the mazak list shows that R2420; R2421; R2754 and R2413 are all mazak affected. Indeed, there are several on ebay which show the damage. Question, are all l models affected? Or has the chassis material been upgraded? How do i know which ones are safe to buy?

Are there any other options?

Thanks

Edited November 15, 2019 by ikcdab

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

Just avoid the identified failures, which were made years ago. The vast majority of OO models are made with Mazak castings, including the production of newer versions of this model; hopefully the several current manufacturers that have had this problem with their products now have some effective prevention in place. At present Hornby are the only manufacturer offering this class in RTR OO.

[Ouroborus]

There is a very detailed thread elsewhere on rmweb that lists the mazak problems of all manufacturers

[truffy]

11 hours ago, Ouroborus said:

There is a very detailed thread elsewhere on rmweb that lists the mazak problems of all manufacturers

indeed:

 

[Paul G]

I have two Hornby class 31s that I've bought second hand. Not sure how old they are but they were not new. Neither shows signs of chassis rot as yet and I hope it stays that way, they're a rather nice model and I like 31s particularly. Guess it may be luck of the draw which models get this or not?

[pheaton]

On 15/11/2019 at 10:07, ikcdab said:

I am very keen on getting a class 31, the Hornby one looks to be a good performing model. However, the mazak list shows that R2420; R2421; R2754 and R2413 are all mazak affected. Indeed, there are several on ebay which show the damage. Question, are all l models affected? Or has the chassis material been upgraded? How do i know which ones are safe to buy?

Are there any other options?

Thanks

In terms if the class 31 most if them have shown symptoms by now.... Thats not to say it will never happen again though, but as rightly mentioned this isn't a Hornby specific problem, Heljan and Bachmann models have had issues in the past. 

 

Not all affected models were affected... What i mean is 31110 was a dead cert for mazak rot but only certain batches some were unaffected. 

 

I wouldn't worry if you are buying a brand new one, if you are looking at second hand just look for the tell tale signs. Cracking in cab corners and droopy buffer beams. 

Edited April 11, 2020 by pheaton

[atom3624]

Thanks @pheaton

Answered a thought I had.

I think some of the MAZAK ingots melted down for use were worse than others.

 

Basically, some, perhaps many of the references indicated as probably having MAZAK rot were actually OK.

 

I've seen R2420, R2421 advertised on Ebay looking fine - perhaps OK, or even they've had a chassis swap - spare chassis have been available on Ebay as well.

 

Al.

Edited April 12, 2020 by atom3624

[adb968008]

Theres not been many new reports of Mazak rot for a few years now, so it looks like the industry is ahead of that.

 

I’d imagine most models of older batches will have imploded by now also, so whilst theres risk of fringe cases, many models that look ok, probably are now OK, as they may be outside the fault zone, or repaired, or chassis swapped.

 

Certainly theres not as many mazak affected models on ebay as their used to be, and ironically their values have doubled as people feast on their bones.

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

1 hour ago, adb968008 said:

There's not been many new reports of Mazak rot for a few years now, so it looks like the industry is ahead of that...

With handheld XRD element analysers (all very Star Trek!) now available, one would hope that most manufacturers casting Mazak will have realised that this method of checking that the melt doesn't have any of the 'poisoning' elements present before beginning casting, is a potential cost saving. No customer coming back requiring replacement casts of proven faulty batches...

[truffy]

2 hours ago, adb968008 said:

Theres not been many new reports of Mazak rot for a few years now, so it looks like the industry is ahead of that.

 

That's like mazak to my ears...

 

...IGMC