New Hornby Rocket

[melmerby]

18 minutes ago, Butler Henderson said:

Given 6 pin decoders are pretty thin (2.6mm in the case of the Zimo ZM617N) not very big at all. For some reason Coastal DCC web site is giving security errors on all browsers as their decoder selector properly has some thinner than that. The alternative that worked on the old model is to site a decoder on the underside of the tender floor - a fitted a TCS M1 their without it being readily visible.

Security certificate has just expired.

[Hroth]

21 hours ago, melmerby said:

Another take on it:

  ^^^

(WWW.)ARTES.SU is a russian art site.

 

Wasn't one of the competition stipulations that the locomotive should "effectually consume its own smoke"?

 

If Rocket was putting that much clag out, it should have been disqualified!

(Looks more like a Class 37 performing a cold start...)

[Compound2632]

1 hour ago, Hroth said:

 

Wasn't one of the competition stipulations that the locomotive should "effectually consume its own smoke"?

 

If Rocket was putting that much clag out, it should have been disqualified!

(Looks more like a Class 37 performing a cold start...)

 

The artist (Alan Fearnley) has drawn his ideas from the steam locomotives with which he is familiar, overlooking the fact that coke rather than coal would have been the fuel: "The consumption of coke was very moderate, not exceeding half a ton in the whole 70 miles" (The Times, quoted by Wikipedia).

[Hroth]

10 hours ago, Compound2632 said:

The artist (Alan Fearnley) has drawn his ideas from the steam locomotives with which he is familiar, overlooking the fact that coke rather than coal would have been the fuel

 

I was going to mention the coke...

I should also have used one or more of the emojii to indicate that I didn't believe that it displayed protypical behaviour!!!

 

 

It is reminiscent of an "Enthusiasts Special" doing a run past for the passengers, with the fireman putting the coal on a bit thick, which is perhaps the vibe Alan Fearnley was aiming for...

[Rudititanic]

Just some quick photos for reference as mine arrived this morning.

 

[Rudititanic]

Example coach (can't upload all three for some reason).  The names are definitively:

Times

Experience

Despatch

[Dungrange]

Very, nice, but the join in the barrel on the tender is quite obvious.  Does the top push down a bit further? 

[Edwardian]

On 14/02/2020 at 22:33, melmerby said:

Another take on it:

  ^^^

(WWW.)ARTES.SU is a russian art site.

 

It's a little known fact that Rocket was painted bright yellow at the insistence of the Health & Safety Executive, though, as is clear from the picture, this is long before they "went mad".

 

 

[Rudititanic]

1 minute ago, Dungrange said:

Very, nice, but the join in the barrel on the tender is quite obvious.  Does the top push down a bit further? 

 

Will find out in a moment!

[boxbrownie]

16 hours ago, Butler Henderson said:

Given 6 pin decoders are pretty thin (2.6mm in the case of the Zimo ZM617N) not very big at all. For some reason Coastal DCC web site is giving security errors on all browsers as their decoder selector properly has some thinner than that. The alternative that worked on the old model is to site a decoder on the underside of the tender floor - I fitted a TCS M1 their without it being readily visible.

Great, cannot wait.....have you given up putting in a pile of coal (coke)? 

 

 

 

Edited February 16, 2020 by boxbrownie

[didcot]

Looks great. Shame the barrel doesn't pull off in one a bit like the 3 1/2" version. 

[Coppercap]

Shame Hornby have used their standard hex headed screws for the crankpins and on the crosshead. I would have thought a smaller headed slotted screw could have looked a bit less conspicuous. Otherwise (apart from the barrel...) it looks fantastic!

Edited February 16, 2020 by Coppercap

[Pre Grouping fan]

10 minutes ago, Coppercap said:

Shame Hornby have used their standard hex headed screws for the crankpins and on the crosshead. I would have thought a smaller headed slotted screw could have looked a bit less conspicuous. Otherwise (apart from the barrel...) it looks fantastic!

Or possibly what Dapol use, a round head with a spanner flat. Agree it does look fantastic, can't wait for mine to arrive. 

[Rudititanic]

As some initial thoughts:

 

Removing it from the box surround was a bit tight in places, though this could be as it was literally the first time. 

Similarly some of the coach wheels had been pushed out of their bearings.

The couplings look great, but are very fiddly!  There are six in the pack which should allow for expansion (I'll be modifying my 3D-print 2nd & 3rd coaches asap), though I noticed one coupling was smaller than the others - for the tender-coach coupling I presume.  

The barrel gap will not reduce on my example as some flashing is in the way on the edge.  I might look to altering this later, but for the price I'm hesitant to take a file to it this soon!

The figures are designed to clip in place - good for anyone not keen on gluing.  

White on the inside of the chimney is a bit of a shame.  

While the gearing means the lower eccentrics/etc are unfeasible, there are at least two support braces missing under the footplate - rather noticeable when looking at track level.

Running it on just a few feet of track with a 9v battery (I'm an N-Gauger usually), it goes well though very clean track is a necessity.  With this rudimentary power source there was some initial wheel slipping - this not only to be expected but is a common issue on the replica.

 

So yes niggles (some slightly pedantic), but overall an impressive model.  

Edited February 16, 2020 by Rudititanic

[Butler Henderson]

3 hours ago, boxbrownie said:

• 1 hour ago, boxbrownie said:

Great, cannot wait.....have you given up putting in a pile of coal (coke)? 

No idea until I get my hands on one. I'm not one for accepting Hornbys decoder socket or position if there is a better solution and which in doing so often removes the spiders web of wiring they seem to supply in many models; the neatest alteration I can think of being a TCS M1 hard wired in a M7 with all the internal wiring removed bar the single wire from the pick-ups. That made the body removal and refitting a breeze compared to the other four M7s I have where I have retained the spiders web with DP2X-UKs in the socket (that decoder has to be installed the wrong way round to get the body back on) .  

 

 Looking at the photo above I do wonder if a simple solution might be to paint the barrel black which might disguise the joint from a normal viewing distance, more so with the NRM branding for someone using it on a modern layout as the replica if that can be sourced / done on transfer paper.

 

Edited February 16, 2020 by Butler Henderson

[phil gollin]

2 hours ago, Rudititanic said:

.

  

.......  The barrel gap will not reduce on my example as some flashing is in the way on the edge.  I might look to altering this later, but for the price I'm hesitant to take a file to it this soon! ....

 

.

.

 

Rather a shame on what is/was meant to be a special model.

 

.

[Rudititanic]

A few more photos now it is out of the box (please ignore the N Gauge structures in the background!) and a quick comparison with the original 1960s version.  

 

As an aside, 2nd and 3rd class coaches to suit this set are now available via my site at Newman Miniatures.  Rather than spamming here, details can be found on my thread or through the web address in my sig below. 

[aaron3820]

It’s damned tiny that’s for sure! Hopefully I should get an email from Hattons soon charging my card then another saying it’s on it’s way to me Down Under!

[melmerby]

22 hours ago, Butler Henderson said:

 For some reason Coastal DCC web site is giving security errors on all browsers

 

22 hours ago, melmerby said:

Security certificate has just expired.

Now OK again.

[Coppercap]

It's noticeable how much richer the yellow is on Rocket, compared to the coaches. Presumably that's deliberate on Hornby's part.

[Compound2632]

Of the available yellow pigments in the early 19th century, chrome yellow seems to me the most probable.

[MarkSG]

47 minutes ago, Coppercap said:

It's noticeable how much richer the yellow is on Rocket, compared to the coaches. Presumably that's deliberate on Hornby's part.

 

I would expect it's deliberate, and, if so, it's quite a neat twist. We know from contemporary documentation that Rocket was painted yellow because the coaches were yellow, but if the paint was from different sources (which is almost certain) then it would have been impossible to match it precisely given the technology of the time. So Rocket and the coaches would both have been yellow, but different shades of yellow. Recreating that with the model shows a fine grasp of history.

 

The only problem, of course, is that although we know they were yellow, we don't know what shade of yellow. It's just as likely that the difference was the other way around, and Rocket was a lighter shade than the coaches. But, given that we don't know, and cannot possibly know, it doesn't really matter.

[MarkSG]

39 minutes ago, Compound2632 said:

Of the available yellow pigments in the early 19th century, chrome yellow seems to me the most probable.

 

Contemporary documentation describes it as "canary yellow". But that doesn't really help, as colour names were by no means standardised in the way that many are now and canaries are quite a wide range of yellow!

[Compound2632]

6 minutes ago, MarkSG said:

 

Contemporary documentation describes it as "canary yellow". But that doesn't really help, as colour names were by no means standardised in the way that many are now and canaries are quite a wide range of yellow!

 

And equally chrome yellow could be variable, though the classic shade is US school bus yellow - not that they're painted in lead-based paint these days.

[Gibbo675]

7 minutes ago, MarkSG said:

 

Contemporary documentation describes it as "canary yellow". But that doesn't really help, as colour names were by no means standardised in the way that many are now and canaries are quite a wide range of yellow!

Hi Mark,

 

You could always get yourself a canary feather and a RAL chart and see which is the best match !

 

Gibbo.