Ben B Posted September 25, 2020 Share Posted September 25, 2020 6 hours ago, Vanguard 5374 said: I've noticed Airfix have a quick build (Lego style) system for younger builders and Scalextric have a similar Lego styled system for cars too. Given Marklin already offer a brick compatible system in their younger range I feel Hornby have missed a trick in not doing something similar using the 0-4-0 chassis and the typical train set wagon chassis parts. Probably already been discussed on here but I'd imagine that would be more enticing to younger modellers, especially being compatible with another toy brand. I'm sure I read somewhere that Hornby tried that, a Lego-type compatible system, with a starter range back in the 80's. If it got beyond the prototype stage I don't know though, I think it's mentioned in one of the Pat Hammond books 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ruffnut Thorston Posted September 25, 2020 Share Posted September 25, 2020 I seem to recall it was a system using Scalextric cars and Hornby Railways bases, on which things could be built. At the time, Lego were not happy with the brick parts, so it was dropped. The Hornby System? Now there are a lot of Lego compatible brick systems available, so maybe it could be time to look at it again? 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben B Posted September 25, 2020 Share Posted September 25, 2020 I keep umming and ah-ing over this range. I'm tempted to do a Steampunk micro layout, but I'm not sure if the available models quite appeal to me. I can see the point and the intent, but for me the whole point is using your imagination and creativity to make something yourself. Here's one I did earlier though- a bit crude, but it only needed to be a background item for a couple of digital pieces I did (for an exhibition at Bradford Industrial Museum, way back in about 2009). Loosely based on a pic of a Kitson experimental loco (in terms of a boiler sat high-up on a chassis) but in best Steampunk tradition it doesn't bear too much thinking about the serious engineering side. I needed an overhead railway to liven up the sky in a photomanip of Saltaire, and a monorail seemed a bit more fantasy, if unlikely. Kitbashed Dapol "City of Truro" with odds and ends, mounted on a battery-powered N gauge chassis; it didn't need to work for the piece, obviously, but I couldnt help myself and thought at some point it might be nice to build a layout for it. I can remember that the monorail tracks were a sod to cut out, all done in card in pre-laser cutter days. I remember it getting a few comments on a model railway forum that it wasn't steampunk enough- a fellow enthusiast said it should have still been 00 scale, but used G-scale trains, with names like "Goliath"... 8 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
298 Posted September 27, 2020 Share Posted September 27, 2020 It turns out that those pesky Canadians have had a Steampunk diesel all along... https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/GMD_GMDH-3 4 6 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben B Posted September 28, 2020 Share Posted September 28, 2020 12 hours ago, 298 said: It turns out that those pesky Canadians have had a Steampunk diesel all along... https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/GMD_GMDH-3 Dieselpunk certainly- that nose end is fantastic! Never seen a streamlined shunter before, is it in case it goes over the hump accidentally in a marshalling yard and hits high speed? 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MG 7305 Posted October 3, 2020 Share Posted October 3, 2020 I love the way the horn faces backwards to reduce frontal area. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
atom3624 Posted October 3, 2020 Share Posted October 3, 2020 Isn't one reason it's there to warn those in front of it coming? It could be the right way around and run like 20's and 08's, 'backwards'. Al. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
F-UnitMad Posted October 3, 2020 Share Posted October 3, 2020 North American train horns are loud enough whichever way they're facing. None of that feeble & pathetic British "beep-barp" nonsense over there. *waits for usual anti-American prejudice jibes about "loud" etc, from Unbelievers* 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hroth Posted October 3, 2020 Share Posted October 3, 2020 4 hours ago, F-UnitMad said: North American train horns are loud enough whichever way they're facing. None of that feeble & pathetic British "beep-barp" nonsense over there. *waits for usual anti-American prejudice jibes about "loud" etc, from Unbelievers* I should imagine they need to be loud for warning as they approach ungated rural crossings. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium newbryford Posted October 4, 2020 RMweb Premium Share Posted October 4, 2020 (edited) Waits for the inevitable "stick some odds and sods on it and call it steampunk" gems on ebay. (Not) What's the worst that could happen? Paint the resulting mess yellow and call it Network Rail steampunk? Edited October 4, 2020 by newbryford 2 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pmorgancym Posted October 5, 2020 Share Posted October 5, 2020 My son has been showing an interesting in these. It has tweeked my imagination, but more along the lines of what could I do with and old Hornby loco boight off ebay for £30 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Harris Posted October 5, 2020 Share Posted October 5, 2020 On 15/02/2020 at 10:39, jjb1970 said: This is an interesting concept and the sci-fi/fantasy model market is huge. Unfortunately standards in that market can be exceptionally high with prices to match and it seems to be driven by products linked to films, games and books. I often visit the Forbidden Planet shop near Covent Garden and some of the stuff they sell is really quite remarkable. I am not sure sticking some fantasy lip stick on old tat will cut it in that world, especially with no link to a franchise. While I agree that the "sci-fi/fantasy model" market exists, I'm not sure I'd go so far as it being huge. The only dedicated UK magazine on the subject finished last year, the only dedicated shop in London (Comet Miniatures) closed a few years ago. Sci-fi/Fantasy fans want ready built models of their heroes and the associated hardware, they are not really modellers. Witness how the Airfix "Doctor Who" range bombed, yet "DW" us probably the biggest UK genre franchise and was still on TV when the kits came out. Your point about re-hashing existing models is well made as is not tying into a franchise. In the toy shops kids will want the latest Marvel/DC/Harry Potter figure. jch Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MGR Hooper! Posted October 5, 2020 Share Posted October 5, 2020 14 hours ago, newbryford said: Waits for the inevitable "stick some odds and sods on it and call it steampunk" gems on ebay. (Not) What's the worst that could happen? Paint the resulting mess yellow and call it Network Rail steampunk? I'd actually love to see you do that!! 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
atom3624 Posted October 5, 2020 Share Posted October 5, 2020 Imagine an A4 or Streamlined Coronation with 'bits' stuck on them ..... !! Al. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glorious NSE Posted October 5, 2020 Share Posted October 5, 2020 On 27/09/2020 at 19:29, 298 said: It turns out that those pesky Canadians have had a Steampunk diesel all along... https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/GMD_GMDH-3 Never seen that one before - here's it's slightly bigger brother: http://www.railpictures.ca/upload/general-motors-diesel-hydraulic-switcher-600-a-gmdh-1-is-seen-here-on-trial-on-the-canadian-pacific-at-st-marys-ontario-in-1958-an-experimental-locomotive-concept-that-never-caught-on-a-tota 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ruffnut Thorston Posted October 7, 2020 Share Posted October 7, 2020 Most certainly a family likeness there..... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hroth Posted October 7, 2020 Share Posted October 7, 2020 On 04/10/2020 at 23:34, newbryford said: Waits for the inevitable "stick some odds and sods on it and call it steampunk" gems on ebay. (Not) What's the worst that could happen? Paint the resulting mess yellow and call it Network Rail steampunk? Hornby sell packets of "gears" and "cogs" to help in achieving that result.... Why not have a go? 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold adb968008 Posted October 7, 2020 RMweb Gold Share Posted October 7, 2020 13 hours ago, Hroth said: Hornby sell packets of "gears" and "cogs" to help in achieving that result.... Why not have a go? I just bought a broken pocket watch off ebay for 50p and took the gears out of it.. But then lost motivation to go any further, but it was interesting to see how a watch holds together, the gears look cool, and may end up as a scrap load in a wagon. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MG 7305 Posted October 8, 2020 Share Posted October 8, 2020 http://www.railpictures.ca/upload/general-motors-diesel-hydraulic-switcher-600-a-gmdh-1-is-seen-here-on-trial-on-the-canadian-pacific-at-st-marys-ontario-in-1958-an-experimental-locomotive-concept-that-never-caught-on-a-tota And someone has started to steam (well diesel anyway) punk it by sticking bits on it, have a look at the leading bogie...... 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hroth Posted October 8, 2020 Share Posted October 8, 2020 13 hours ago, adb968008 said: I just bought a broken pocket watch off ebay for 50p and took the gears out of it.. But then lost motivation to go any further, but it was interesting to see how a watch holds together, the gears look cool, and may end up as a scrap load in a wagon. Whem we had Jumble Sales, before (s)crap junk became commercially monetised by car boot sales and ebay, I spent many a happy Saturday afternoon browsing and occasionally buying old clocks and model railway items for a fraction of what we pay now for the same stuff! Some could be made to work again, and others were broken down for other uses.... 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
F-UnitMad Posted October 9, 2020 Share Posted October 9, 2020 (edited) On 08/10/2020 at 10:02, MG 7305 said: http://www.railpictures.ca/upload/general-motors-diesel-hydraulic-switcher-600-a-gmdh-1-is-seen-here-on-trial-on-the-canadian-pacific-at-st-marys-ontario-in-1958-an-experimental-locomotive-concept-that-never-caught-on-a-tota And someone has started to steam (well diesel anyway) punk it by sticking bits on it, have a look at the leading bogie...... That is a re-railing frog, very commonly carried by US/Canadian locos, so that minor derailments out in the middle of nowhere could be easily dealt with by the train crew. They were more commonly painted yellow, as on my O Scale model here.... Edited October 9, 2020 by F-UnitMad 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ruffnut Thorston Posted October 24, 2020 Share Posted October 24, 2020 Well I never did.... Wenman Joseph Bassett Lowke owned tea plantations! Background Story... So this is the new world; a world of mad science, Eco warriors beneath the waves and empiric wars. The three mast clippers are now too slow to get their precious cargo past the devastating submersibles of those that despise empires, whilst the horse and cart falls constant prey to the hungry lizards that slip through the streams. The tea must get through though, the world demands it. Wenman Joseph Bassett Lowke is one of those concerned; a seasoned maker of steam boilers, industrial brewing equipment and proud owner of some of the finest aromatic tea plantations across the world. ..... www.Hornby.com/uk-en/bassett-lowke-steampunk It seems that there is always something new to learn! OR.... Maybe not such a brilliant idea to use the name of a real person in connexion with a fictional story universe... Why not involve Frank Hornby in this story? Possibly the people behind this story, and the rest of the descriptions of models in the range don't actually know the history of Mr. Bassett Lowke? I do hope that any descendants are OK with this? On a related issue, there are figures described as "10cm" figures.... | Description Compatible with OO and HO track and accessories. https://www.Hornby.com/uk-en/shop/brands/bassett-lowke-steam-punk/steampunk-lady-triphenia-lovelace-10cm-figure.html Very big statues? 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TangoOscarMike Posted January 14, 2021 Share Posted January 14, 2021 (edited) Way back in February @Corbs produced his elegant response to Hornby's steampunk range. In the mean time, I've been pottering away at my design, with help from @Gibbo675 and @LNWR18901910. And now, finally, I have a picture of my 0-4-0 streamliner, sitting on a Holden chassis. Now it's time to slosh some paint on. Edited July 26, 2023 by TangoOscarMike Restoring pictures 11 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Compound2632 Posted January 14, 2021 RMweb Premium Share Posted January 14, 2021 That has real charm. Is Steampunk supposed to be charming? 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Corbs Posted January 14, 2021 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 14, 2021 I love it! Fantastic form. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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