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Hornby A2/2 and A2/3 (2020 Range)


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42 minutes ago, Market65 said:

Good morning, everyone. Well, I’ve been busy repainting Thane Of Fife, and using the Railmatch BR green. Using a brush, with three coats of thinly applied paint, with thinners, and having masked off the lining, I’ve arrived at this stage. I’ve just applied some of the Klear, and I think, all things considered, there’s an improvement overall. I’m being cautious, it’s not perfect, and some carefully applied weathering is yet to be applied. But, ultimately, I think I prefer it to how it came out of the box. The lining, well now the green is darker, and weathering is going to be applied, may well be left. I’m open to suggestions - I have a sheet of transfers available...

So, here’s a quick photo’, later in the week, I’m hoping to weather it then, and after all of that the cab interior will be repainted. The edges of the roof above the cab sides will get repainted into black too before the weathering.

 

2F622A96-63D3-490C-8FB9-4F49DD446D2C.jpeg.63747f103eafd43219efbc4d107b767c.jpeg

 

Best regards,

 

 Rob.

 

That looks masses better IMHO. Interesting that the lining no longer glares out with the darkening of the base colour, and the similarity of the sheen as noted above.

 

Presumably you will rely on the weathering to darken the section inside the lining on the cab side?

 

John.

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Well, my second Thane turned up this morning, having been posted on Monday last week. It’s been out of the country and back. Lack of flanged trailing wheels are a disappointment but at least it seems possible to change the drawbar to the shorter setting, unlike some Hornby models. Not a bad runner but not wonderful either. I’ll see if oiling round helps. The shade of paint is, of course, awful. Oh well.

 

The water scoop is, like all the others, the wrong way round. The motion has been assembled correctly and the top lamp iron is still attached to the smokebox door. The smokebox door, though, has fallen off. :sarcastichand:

 

Honestly, I’m not making this up.

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For comparisson purposes, I have treated my ToF to two coats of Johnsons Klear directly onto the out of the box Hornby rendition of Brunswick Green. I used a 10mm flat brush to apply the Klear to avoid possibility of streaking.  The resulting colour is darker and certainly has a bit more life about it. I intend to weather the loco from it's current ex works appearance to an approx 4 weeks in service look and hopefully disguise the lining a little.

Peter.

IMG_20210223_170234.jpg.5612fb22ffb69ad0ab57c1c9f95cd99c.jpgI also took the opportunity to reduce the length of the cylinder draincock pipework to match the A2/2 locos.

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43 minutes ago, locoman462 said:

For comparisson purposes, I have treated my ToF to two coats of Johnsons Klear directly onto the out of the box Hornby rendition of Brunswick Green. I used a 10mm flat brush to apply the Klear to avoid possibility of streaking.  The resulting colour is darker and certainly has a bit more life about it. I intend to weather the loco from it's current ex works appearance to an approx 4 weeks in service look and hopefully disguise the lining a little.

Peter.

IMG_20210223_170234.jpg.5612fb22ffb69ad0ab57c1c9f95cd99c.jpgI also took the opportunity to reduce the length of the cylinder draincock pipework to match the A2/2 locos.

That’s a nice improvement. Expect a job offer from Hornby!

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7 hours ago, Mad McCann said:

Very nice seeing all these A2/2s here but for me, the main event is going to be the A2/3.

Anything on the scuttlebutt about their arrival? I did hear that this week was possible.

 

Davy.

 

A couple of retailers have said probably last week of February , subject to usual possible delays.

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1 hour ago, gordon s said:

That’s a huge improvement and tempted to do the same.

 

Just one question though, can you still apply weathering powders on top of a coating of Klear?

Good quesion, I honestly don't know. Suggest a trial on something not important / spare bit of plastic sheet before moving on to £170's worth. I've not had a problem in the past when spraying weathering finish onto Klear.

Peter

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1 hour ago, Butler Henderson said:

Its like going back in time 40+ years ago when people thought the Airfix LMS coaches were wrong and then the improvement a coat of varnish brought was outstanding. 

Used to spray mine in Halfords British Leyland Damask Red :)

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I dithered over ordering one of these for ages, partly because I never like to pre order, then because the initial reviews were not good and when I decided to go for it anyway most places were sold out. But I tracked one down at Colletts Models and spoke to the proprietor who told me he was checking them all before despatch. I received mine today and I’m pretty pleased with it.

 

685DE44F-FC80-4076-8822-47AC328B0A75.jpeg.d837bf071955fcd8406ec8eb06fbe701.jpeg
 

The fit of the cab and footplate seems good and the only thing wrong that I can find is a missing top front lamp iron - easy to fix. The colour is horrible, but nothing that a coat of Klear won’t fix as has been proven.  I shall run it in and then get the Klear out and report back.

 

Colletts still have some if anyone else is searching (no connection etc.....).

 

Andy

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21 hours ago, John Tomlinson said:

That looks masses better IMHO. Interesting that the lining no longer glares out with the darkening of the base colour, and the similarity of the sheen as noted above.

 

Presumably you will rely on the weathering to darken the section inside the lining on the cab side?

 

John.

 

If you just used a varnish I think results would be as good. 

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1 hour ago, The Black Hat said:

 

If you just used a varnish I think results would be as good. 

Well you can compare the two, a repaint and a varnish, by looking also at Locoman 462's post above, theh back to Market 65's repaint. The varnish (Kleer) does make a big difference, and it remains to be seen what the impact of the weathering will be. The repaint still wins for me until then, and that's just my view, but is obviously a much more involved and fraught option.

 

I've wondered in the past what the impact would be of adding a bit of darkening to the Kleer would do, say a smidge of dark gray or brown acrylic paint prior to application. Never tried it though, probably make a complete mess!

 

John.

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1 hour ago, The Black Hat said:

 

If you just used a varnish I think results would be as good. 

For whats its worth and no disrespect to the skills of Market65 I think the imperfections of his partial repaint and varnish have already given his model a proper patina that raises it beyond the rtr look. Varnish alone is better than the as supplied product but doesnt really resolve the issue with the shade of green or the strange lining, especially on the boiler bands.

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Saw this post earlier, which may be of interest.....

 

May be the answer for those of us with bent footplates, missing parts or poorly fitted cabs. Mine runs so well, I'd be loathe to change it, but a new body would certainly be very welcome.  :drinks:

 

 

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On 22/02/2021 at 20:52, robmcg said:

I wonder if anyone can come up with any opinions from drivers and firemen of the 1950s who actually had anything good to say about the Thompson Pacifics?

 

There is a possibly apocryphal story of a driver from Top Shed whose regular engine was A4 'Walter K Whigham' , the A4 was faulty and he was given a Thompson A2 for his train to Newcastle, but the foreman expected some resistance so offered an A4 for the return.  When the driver reached Newcastle he chose an A2 for the return, saying he liked the engine.... 

 

 

This story is true , Rob . You can find the details in Peter Townend's " East coast pacifics at Work " 

   Due to maintenance problems with the A.4's he borrowed no.60520 from New England & booked it out on the Yorkshire Pullman lodge turn to Leeds . The driver promptly refused it but was persuaded to take it & told if he wasn't happy to ring Mr . Townend from the station the next day & an A.4 would be provided . In fact he rang up to ask if he could have it all week as it was a very good engine .

  In the past I have spoken to a number of footplate staff from York , New England & Heaton & their views can be summarised as follows :

    Extremely powerful , free steaming & fast .

    However , they could be very rough riding , especially as mileage built up & they tended to be heavy on coal .The A.2/2's needed  careful handling when starting due to their low adhesion factor ( about the same as an original Bullied pacific ) Despite this one York top link driver with much experience of the class stated that in his opinion no. 60501 was the best pacific ever based at York .

   I'm not saying others shared his opinions as footplate crews tended to have a diverse spread of opinions but it wasn't all bad .

          Cheers ,

                     Ray .

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6 hours ago, Ray Flintoft said:

This story is true , Rob . You can find the details in Peter Townend's " East coast pacifics at Work " 

   Due to maintenance problems with the A.4's he borrowed no.60520 from New England & booked it out on the Yorkshire Pullman lodge turn to Leeds . The driver promptly refused it but was persuaded to take it & told if he wasn't happy to ring Mr . Townend from the station the next day & an A.4 would be provided . In fact he rang up to ask if he could have it all week as it was a very good engine .

  In the past I have spoken to a number of footplate staff from York , New England & Heaton & their views can be summarised as follows :

    Extremely powerful , free steaming & fast .

    However , they could be very rough riding , especially as mileage built up & they tended to be heavy on coal .The A.2/2's needed  careful handling when starting due to their low adhesion factor ( about the same as an original Bullied pacific ) Despite this one York top link driver with much experience of the class stated that in his opinion no. 60501 was the best pacific ever based at York .

   I'm not saying others shared his opinions as footplate crews tended to have a diverse spread of opinions but it wasn't all bad .

          Cheers ,

                     Ray .

 

Thanks very much Ray, I especially like your reference to the variable opinions amongst footplate staff.

 

And especially the 'Extremely powerful , free steaming & fast' .  What more can you ask for? :)

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A thought on varnish.

 

The originals were given at least two coats of varnish over their paintwork before being released to traffic.

 

If Hornby have matched the paint they will be producing an unvarnished model.  I'm not surprised that people are finding they are getting a more "realistic" colour after a coat or two of varnish.  Perhaps it will save purists respraying and faffing about with new lining just to follow the prototype..

 

It worked on my Dapol N-gauge A3s...

 

All the very best

Les

Edited by Les1952
typos...
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7 hours ago, Ray Flintoft said:

This story is true , Rob . You can find the details in Peter Townend's " East coast pacifics at Work " 

   Due to maintenance problems with the A.4's he borrowed no.60520 from New England & booked it out on the Yorkshire Pullman lodge turn to Leeds . The driver promptly refused it but was persuaded to take it & told if he wasn't happy to ring Mr . Townend from the station the next day & an A.4 would be provided . In fact he rang up to ask if he could have it all week as it was a very good engine .

  In the past I have spoken to a number of footplate staff from York , New England & Heaton & their views can be summarised as follows :

    Extremely powerful , free steaming & fast .

    However , they could be very rough riding , especially as mileage built up & they tended to be heavy on coal .The A.2/2's needed  careful handling when starting due to their low adhesion factor ( about the same as an original Bullied pacific ) Despite this one York top link driver with much experience of the class stated that in his opinion no. 60501 was the best pacific ever based at York .

   I'm not saying others shared his opinions as footplate crews tended to have a diverse spread of opinions but it wasn't all bad .

          Cheers ,

                     Ray .

 

 

Just to expand on this, the A4 was Walter K Wigham, and the driver Fred Dines- its regular driver.  The situation came about when a few too many Pacifics needed routine maintenance at the same time - piston and valve exams were mileage based and needed a couple of days away at Doncaster.  The version in the Peter Coster book (relater to PC by Peter Townend) said that he agreed to take the loco on strict condition he would have an A4 the next day, and asked on return to keep the A2 until his own A4 came back.  Close enough correlation.

 

There is another tale of an A2, which I can't find, relating a substitute from New England again where the driver had said "It's a fine engine but how do you keep it from trying to go over the fields" or similar.  I wish I could find the story - it will turn up at some stage- too many books and not enough hours in the day.....

 

Les

 

 

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On 24/02/2021 at 00:14, thegreenhowards said:

I dithered over ordering one of these for ages, partly because I never like to pre order, then because the initial reviews were not good and when I decided to go for it anyway most places were sold out. But I tracked one down at Colletts Models and spoke to the proprietor who told me he was checking them all before despatch. I received mine today and I’m pretty pleased with it.

 

685DE44F-FC80-4076-8822-47AC328B0A75.jpeg.d837bf071955fcd8406ec8eb06fbe701.jpeg
 

The fit of the cab and footplate seems good and the only thing wrong that I can find is a missing top front lamp iron - easy to fix. The colour is horrible, but nothing that a coat of Klear won’t fix as has been proven.  I shall run it in and then get the Klear out and report back.

 

Colletts still have some if anyone else is searching (no connection etc.....).

 

Andy

Is the very back of the cab clipped into the footplate properly? Looks to be a slight gap with the mounting lugs visible. 

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