Farish announce Princess Coronation

[Dr Al]

LMS style lining:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/23987565@N05/7418981194

 

 

 

 

This side view shows the length of the real Duchess front bogie and is an excellent comparison shot....

Cheers,

Alan

[Portpatrick]

Interesting remark Pufferazi.  I hope you are right.  I will perhaps not place my order now but wait until the price drops!  Coventry in maroon is the one I was about to go for.  The reason?  It is the only one of the class I ever saw.  In Aug 62 Dad took me loco spotting to Euston.  Coventry was there.  Cleaned that week, looking massive she left a big impression on me.  Especially when she started the 14 maroon coaches of the Lakes Express and stormed off with no slipping.  Magnificent.

[Pufferazzi]

A recent copy of Steam World with a featuring titled Duchesess at War and Peace reaffirms that all the GF livery options are correct...However the yellow lining on the 46245 City of London is much too thick making the model look a touch clumsy...GF please, please  take note...

[Crepello]

The date has slipped to Sep/Oct according to Farish website today.

[Padishar Creel]

I say this is good news, the wallet is recovering from being hammered this year....

 

es grüßt

pc

[Crepello]

I agree entirely but what a hammering it will take with the A2 also due Sep/Oct!

[Padishar Creel]

The Duchesses have landed according to the Bachmann website

 

oh dear

 

es grüßt

pc

[Black Sheep]

Tempted to back date Coventry by a couple of years to 1947 with some Fox LMS transfers...

 

I was at uni in Coventry where I met my wife and I doubt I'd be able to get the city's crest etched on the name plate to re-name an LMS one

[Elvinley]

I had mine yesterday - lovely loco. Some pics here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/75564485@N08/

[CF MRC]

This is clearly a super model, but why does it need a front bogie that is 2 mm too short? Easy enough to rebuild it, but as supplied it looks like the engine has run into something at the front.

 

Tim

[PLD]

This is clearly a super model, but why does it need a front bogie that is 2 mm too short? Easy enough to rebuild it, but as supplied it looks like the engine has run into something at the front.

 

Tim

 

It appears they have reused the larger wheeled version from the Jubilee/Royal Scot.

 

Presumably a cost influenced decision, and as such an unfortunate backwards step from previous policy of supplying two bogies ("trainset" and "scale") per loco...

[Dr Al]

I wasn't expecting to get my model until after Xmas, but was nicely surprised to have it arrive a few days back - excellent service from Rails of Sheffield.

Out of the box she ran fairly smoothly, but with a whisker of a wobble - as is normally the case with Farish models, quartering wasn't perfect. A gentle adjustment cured her.

The front bogie is definitely too short, and directly off other locos, but the wheel size looks to be correct - it probably looks too large as a result of the compressed wheelbase, and the relatively thin wheel rims. I've fitted a scale modified N-brass bogie and this looks rather good by comparison - fortunately the Duchess seems very forgiving in terms of clearances for this, so it was just dropped in from one of my old Duchesses with a minor adjustment of its drawbar length:





The loco tender drawbar can definitely be closed up - even on 9" radius curves it could be closed up by at lease a millimetre. Looking at it, it would need a modification to the existing drawbar, or a replacement plastic one (metal will short circuit the loco) - perhaps something for those 3D printers amongst us?



The coal load can be removed, but is fairly tight, and the best way to do this is remove the tender top (just pulls off for those DCCers) and press the coal load through the tender. This will also push out the interior of the tender which can then be reinserted. I was slightly disappointed that there wasn't a moulding of coal and coal pusher in this - all the space is taken with the substantial coal load weight. I suspect those wanting to fit sound will need to remove this and the interior for space.



One nice touch is the moulded lamps on the front bufferbeam. These could do with a touch of white paint which I will do in due course.



As Elvinley has already said, the setting of the eccentric rod cranks needs adjusted for accuracy:



One thing that is apparent is that the old Farish Duchess still stands up very well to scrutiny - they biggest thing with it being the underscale wheels. Otherwise it still looks surprisingly good.

Old vs new (old is maroon, and has been detailed and re-bogied):







Overall I do feel it's a very good loco, but just a few minor things that could easily have been done better.

 

Struggling to resist the blue version which appears to now be at stockists....

Cheers,
Alan

[TomE]

The N Brass bogie makes a world of difference. Certainly worth the time and effort to fit one. 

 

It's also interesting to note they have done away with the conducting drawbar. Whilst I never really had any issue with the old version, a hard wired connection is probably a more robust way of ensuring continuous pick up from the tender.

 

Tom. 

[Dr Al]

The N Brass bogie makes a world of difference. Certainly worth the time and effort to fit one.

 

It's heavily modified. The N Brass bogie as it comes has exactly the same wheelbase as the one it would replace on the new loco - it's something I did for my old Farish Duchesses, so it was transplanted onto the new model, fortunately, with little effort.

 

The N brass is again generic - only really suited to Scots, Patriots, Jubilees and Black 5s.

Cheers,

Alan

[Nig H]

Tempted to back date Coventry by a couple of years to 1947 with some Fox LMS transfers...

 

I was at uni in Coventry where I met my wife and I doubt I'd be able to get the city's crest etched on the name plate to re-name an LMS one

City of Coventry didn't get a fully cylindrical smokebox until c. 1953, according to the Wild Swan LMS Profile book. I think it said it was de-streamlined July 1947 with a sloping smokebox top and got LMS black livery.

 

Nig H

[Black Sheep]

City of Coventry didn't get a fully cylindrical smokebox until c. 1953, according to the Wild Swan LMS Profile book. I think it said it was de-streamlined July 1947 with a sloping smokebox top and got LMS black livery.

 

Nig H

Thanks for that information.

 

Anyone know if the etched plates are deprecate for the modeller to fit themselves like on the Jubilee?

 

Could re-paint into wartime black

[TomE]

It's heavily modified. The N Brass bogie as it comes has exactly the same wheelbase as the one it would replace on the new loco - it's something I did for my old Farish Duchesses, so it was transplanted onto the new model, fortunately, with little effort.

 

The N brass is again generic - only really suited to Scots, Patriots, Jubilees and Black 5s.

 

Cheers,

Alan

Thanks Alan. Could I ask the distance you went for between wheel centres on your modified bogie? I caved and ordered a Duchess of Hamilton and I think I'll have a go at modifying the Farish bogie to a more prototypical length.

 

Curiously, my model arrived with no red lining on the cylinders at all. I haven't seen any other samples with this missing, so maybe I was just lucky! It's the first time I've had a Farish model with a livery fault though. Otherwise it was a sweet runner straight out of the box, possibly the best I've had so far, so i'll be keeping it and will line out the cylinders myself when it gets the running boards & tender modified to represent Duchess of Sutherland as preserved.

 

Tom.

[Dr Al]

The blue examples arrived just before xmas, and mine arrived today.

 

No real issues with this one - smooth and solid straight from the box. The front and rear couplers look like they've been crudely adjusted in the factory - I think they would sit saggy otherwise. I've replaced the rear one with another make. I wonder if this is going to be a problem in the future - the rear coupling socket is quite loose as it clips onto the base of the tender chassis (good if you want to completely remove the pocket though) - I guess this could be glued to make more solid.

 

Detail bits (apart from front steps) fitted, eccentric rod cranks set correctly, coal load removed and front bogie also changed on my model below. Compared below with the 2003 release in the same livery of the old tool model - it's the wheels (drivers in particular) and cab windows that are the biggest improvement over the old I think.

 

 

 

Interestingly, the cylinders on the new model are not lined - I can't find any picture of 46226, but one of 46231 shows this appears to be correct, and it's the 2003 model that shouldn't have lining. This does assume BR painted all the blue ones the same though!

 

Cheers,
Alan

[Dr Al]

Thanks Alan. Could I ask the distance you went for between wheel centres on your modified bogie? I caved and ordered a Duchess of Hamilton and I think I'll have a go at modifying the Farish bogie to a more prototypical length.

 

 

True scale should be 15.4mm and you can just about get away with this on the old tool model. For the new tool a slight compromise is best and no more than 14.8mm so it will clear the front brake blocks without having to sit too far forward (to get round 9" curves that is).

 

I'm doing some of these bogies for folks on the N Gauge Forum (would add link, but Forum currently down for server relocation), so if you might be interested in this drop me a line and I can let you know the details.

 

Best,

Alan

[TomE]

The more I look at the Duchess the more I like it. Even with the minor niggle of the front bogie, I feel it has real presence, something N Gauge can struggle with. It may not nudge the Ivatt from my No.1 spot (The forthcoming N Class looks like that could be a contender though) but when you factor in the excellent running straight out of the box, I believe it is certainly one of the best N Gauge models yet produced by Bachmann.

 

 

Tom.

[paulprice]

I'm just waiting for the older models to start to appear at reasonable prices, as I have a few plans for the chassis etc

[Kris]

I'm just waiting for the older models to start to appear at reasonable prices, as I have a few plans for the chassis etc

The prices have dropped on ebay over the past few months. Just over a year ago I sold one for the same price you could purchase a new version. 

[paulprice]

The prices have dropped on ebay over the past few months. Just over a year ago I sold one for the same price you could purchase a new version.

I know but Im a well known "tight wad" or should that be prudent, I am waiting for some sub £50 bargains

[Crepello]

Could some kind person please tell me how to fit the valve guides? Bachmann's illustration on the instruction sheets is (as usual) too difficult to interpret.

T.I.A. 

[Dr Al]

Could some kind person please tell me how to fit the valve guides? Bachmann's illustration on the instruction sheets is (as usual) too difficult to interpret.

T.I.A. 

 

A set is already fitted - it's a bit odd, but I suspect those included are ones for display models, that fit closer in to the valve gear. For running models, the ones fitted already should suffice so those supplied extra aren't needed.

 

HTH,

Alan