Hornby Gresley A1s, A3s and A4s.

[Captain_Mumbles]

Gday all!

Firstly I want to start this thread to as collection of modifications and improvements for the Hornby A1s and A3s for anyone to show off photos of theirs, and ask questions. Secondly, to increase my knowledge on the subject as I love them so much. Thirdly, this is also to stop me from starting a new thread every time I start a project because everything I own is either an A1, an A3, or an A4. (Except for Judy in my profile pic, of course) 

If this is already a duplicate thread, admin please delete. I tried to find one but have not.

Ill start with a picture of my A3, Tranquil in the pretty blue. It was an old low detail, almost train set looking loco. (Yes, I am floor running, Sam's trains style ATM!) The loco and tender are sitting on Sandwich chassis. I ended up with a few too  many 'Talisman' train packs very cheaply before the covid lock downs and stock shortages were an issue.

There is a small change to the boiler underside where I had to cut it to fit the loco drive chassis. Turning it into a later style of body shell. The mounting points are pretty much the same.

 

The main work was on the GN coal rail tender body shell as it is too wide to fit the new style tender chassis. Both side sheets were cut off carefully on the band saw. The loss of material on those two passes of the blade made the shell the perfect width to fit on the newer tender chassis after the sides were glued back on. Feeding the tender shell into the band saw so slowly, the cut was so clean and the join invisible after careful gluing. No repaint required. The high plastic coal that would have hidden the tender motor was cut down to fit back inside the tender at a lower position. All those changes make it look more like how the tender should look.

On the Livery, I hope to add a darker stripe within the lining to improve the look of the lining. I also want to polish and weather the finish for that clean but in service look.

 

QUESTION!: Can anyone tell me if the handrails are not to be painted to match the boiler colour? It seems odd to me that the hand rails are in bare metal on the boiler and painted silver on the cab.

 

Have a good one,

Ben

Edited September 19, 2021 by Captain_Mumbles
Title change

[Captain_Mumbles]

Here is Tranquil again after a subtle polish, dark wash, grey wash in some areas and some small amount of detail painting here and there. Still a lot more to do. As inaccurate as it may be it will be nice to keep the charm of it as well.

 

[Captain_Mumbles]

Here is an Railroad A4 made to look less railroad with some paint adjustment and a little bit of a wash. Some detail painting went into the cab and cab windows.

I originally got this to cut the skirts to expose the wheels for the late 40s look but I think I like it now. I would love for the wheels to be a little more red. Not sure how I am going to do that yet.

 

[cypherman]

Hi Captain.

I have a couple of A3's that have had a similar treatment to make them look shall we say a little less loved.

[JaymzHatstand]

Lovely! The weathering on the A4 is very nice, it really looks very much 'in service' but not filthy. What did you use to achieve it? 

 

Amongst other projects, I have a couple of A4s in my works, the early RailRoad range Falcon, which will become Silver Fox, when she was blue with polished casing/boiler bands in hopefully a similar external condition to your Gadwall! I'll post some photos as I get on with it, but am currently trying to disguise a couple of scratches it has from a previous owner without a full repaint!

 

I look forward to further updates

 

Cheers

 

J

[Captain_Mumbles]

2 hours ago, JaymzHatstand said:

Lovely! The weathering on the A4 is very nice, it really looks very much 'in service' but not filthy. What did you use to achieve it? 

 

Amongst other projects, I have a couple of A4s in my works, the early RailRoad range Falcon, which will become Silver Fox, when she was blue with polished casing/boiler bands in hopefully a similar external condition to your Gadwall! I'll post some photos as I get on with it, but am currently trying to disguise a couple of scratches it has from a previous owner without a full repaint!

 

I look forward to further updates

 

Cheers

 

J

Tamiya light polish and cotton swab. Focus on the centre of the panels. only go lightly. Once it starts to get easy to rub stop. If it gets tooo shiny it might look a bit weird. I glued some cloth to sticks made out of thin styrene to polish under the hand rails and other details. If you leave the areas near corners and detail a bit rough or 'matt' it will help with the next step, a dark wash. Also rubbed off with odourless solvent and cotton swabs. Remove thew dark wash until you get the look you want.

 

16 hours ago, cypherman said:

Hi Captain.

I have a couple of A3's that have had a similar treatment to make them look shall we say a little less loved.

Cypherman, I love the later revision with the german smoke deflectors in the dark green. I'd like to do one of my A3's just like that. Maybe as 60091 Captain Cuttle.

 

Edited September 20, 2021 by Captain_Mumbles
get my no:s right

[cypherman]

5 hours ago, Captain_Mumbles said:

Tamiya light polish and cotton swab. Focus on the centre of the panels. only go lightly. Once it starts to get easy to rub stop. If it gets tooo shiny it might look a bit weird. I glued some cloth to sticks made out of thin styrene to polish under the hand rails and other details. If you leave the areas near corners and detail a bit rough or 'matt' it will help with the next step, a dark wash. Also rubbed off with odourless solvent and cotton swabs. Remove thew dark wash until you get the look you want.

 

Cypherman, I love the later revision with the german smoke deflectors in the dark green. I'd like to do one of my A3's just like that. Maybe as 60091 Captain Cuttle.

 

Hi Captain.

I used one of the GBL Flying Scotsman models to steal all the parts I needed for this engine. They all fit perfectly on the Old Triang body and tender chassis

[Captain_Mumbles]

On 20/09/2021 at 21:49, cypherman said:

Hi Captain.

I used one of the GBL Flying Scotsman models to steal all the parts I needed for this engine. They all fit perfectly on the Old Triang body and tender chassis

Unfortunately I missed the train on those! (pun intended)

When those were piled up at the news agency I ignored them as I was avoiding the temptations of getting back into trains. And now look what has happened to me!

 

[cypherman]

On 24/09/2021 at 08:08, Captain_Mumbles said:

Unfortunately I missed the train on those! (pun intended)

When those were piled up at the news agency I ignored them as I was avoiding the temptations of getting back into trains. And now look what has happened to me!

 

Hi Captain,

They are still available direct from the printers. Just google Amercom. They also do N gauge engines and a mix of 100 1/72 scale model aircraft.

[Steamport Southport]

8 hours ago, cypherman said:

Hi Captain,

They are still available direct from the printers. Just google Amercom. They also do N gauge engines and a mix of 100 1/72 scale model aircraft.

 

Ripoff from there though, they want about £25 each for them. They're at least half that price on eBay and were only £8.99 when available.

 

Keep a look out at carboot sales and charity shops. Loads of them. Many still in the packaging often going for a couple of quid each. Don't pay more than about a tenner for one you really want.

 

Some are better than others. Relevant to this thread the A3 and A4 were good, as was the A2 which was a copy of the Bachmann model. Good source of tenders as well. Just need a new chassis.

 

They didn't do the A1 as it was covered in the same magazine as the A2. I did expect a model of Tornado, but we got Blue Peter.

 

 

 

Jason