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Hornby A4 "De-valancing" Conversion Kit - Messers Harvey & Martin


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I've just got back from looking at valanced and de-valanced A4s side by side in 12"-1' scale! Had I remembered this thread, I would have taken more/better photos!

 

The more the merrier! I suppose I should have posted up some of my own Gresley A4 photographs earlier on in the build. I'm going off period photographs in almost all cases anyway: all of my A4 conversions have been "snapshots" out of Yeadon's, RCTS or The Power of the A4s books, or other photographs found in magazines or online.

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Fox Transfers delivered the necessary nameplates, etchings and transfers within a day - that's customer service of the highest order. I intend to get Gannet finished this week as the final proving model. Already removed the nameplates, T-cut'ed the body shell, removed numbers and lettering on cab and tender, and am working up the courage to put the scalpel along the cutting guides now glued to the valances. Wish me luck...!

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Really neat bit of work Simon.  I wonder if the spectacle plates would work with other ER motive power: V2, A2/2 and the A2/1?

 

i may be interesed for my A4's but you may have hit on somthing with that 

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Really neat bit of work Simon.  I wonder if the spectacle plates would work with other ER motive power: V2, A2/2 and the A2/1?

 

i may be interesed for my A4's but you may have hit on somthing with that 

 

They would definitely be correct for the ex-P2s, as the cab design is virtually identical to the A4 bar the lower edge to the running plate, and the ventilator/s placement. I'm not sure 100% about the V2s but I would say it must be very close to the same size and shape. 

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Will do a full blog update later on, but better or worse than Empire of India? I think much better on the valance cuts, which are neater and smoother than when I did 60011 in a hurry for the end of the 2012 Challenge.

 

Missing hatch added, firebox sides, reverser. Hornby lamp irons removed in preparation for addition of etched ones. No smokebox plate on this one.

 

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post-1656-0-45299500-1363306271.png

 

Peter Harvey's excellent artwork gives us replacement, very sturdy and correctly shaped lamp irons for the front end...

 

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...as can be seen more clearly in this shot.

 

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You can read more on the final test build here.

 

It's nearly finished in terms of the additions, I'm very happy with how these etches have turned out and will probably look to get these out sometime soon.

 

A very fulfilling project overall, and I hope the etches can at least be of help to other modellers in some capacity.

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post-1656-0-51923100-1363358328.png

 

Finished, transfers and all! Not sure about weathering yet. Very much enjoyed developing these etches, I will be dropping Peter Harvey an email at the earliest available opportunity about the next stage. This pretty much concludes the development of the "De-valancing kit", thank you to everyone for their thoughts and support in this.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I was asked a question on this entry off-forum and thought the question would be best served by posting it in my challenge thread's entry.

 

The question was "is it possible to model Sir Nigel Gresley of the 1980s using this conversion kit?"

 

The answer is yes, but you will need the streamlined, beaded garter blue corridor tender from a Hornby Kingfisher or similar, married to either Kingfisher with a replacement double chimney, plus the A4 de-valancing kit, or a Hornby Mallard with the de-valancing kit.

 

It will require some mixing and matching of parts, which if you are quick on the button on eBay for the A4 Pacific spares which come up from time to time, is not wholly out of reach. 

 

post-1656-0-80055100-1364240545.png

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The question was "is it possible to model Sir Nigel Gresley of the 1980s using this conversion kit?"

 

The answer is yes, but you will need the streamlined, beaded garter blue corridor tender from a Hornby Kingfisher or similar, married to either Kingfisher with a replacement double chimney, plus the A4 de-valancing kit, or a Hornby Mallard with the de-valancing kit.

 

Great news for me, as I have a spare Mallard loco that I will be using and I have Kingfisher so I will be doing a quick tender swap. My flagship loco will soon be Sir Nigel Gresley if all goes well :locomotive:

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Great news for me, as I have a spare Mallard loco that I will be using and I have Kingfisher so I will be doing a quick tender swap. My flagship loco will soon be Sir Nigel Gresley if all goes well :locomotive:

 

You could use that non-corridor tender to good effect for a 1948/9 locomotive. Off the top of my head, Gannet as above, Sir Ralph Wedgwood and a few other KX locos had the non-corridor tenders in garter blue with British Railways. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Just a quick note to say I will be having the production run of etches made around May.

 

From the quantity and prices quotes, it looks like the de-valancing etch (which also includes the reverser and other detailing parts) will be more expensive than the lamp irons/access hatches etch. The cab spectacle etch is the cheapest to produce. I'll advise of availability and pricing nearer the time on my blog.

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Hello SAC, all,

 

one of the other variants that you could do using this kit is the A4s in the war years that had only the main part of the valance removed over the driving wheels. I know it did not last long and I don't think that all of them had it done to them. IIRC I don't think that any RTR models have this mod. on them.

I know it's not an A4 but this photo shows what I'm meaning. The casing is still in place between the front of the cylinders and the front of the loco (you can't really say the front buffer beam, can you?).

post-8920-0-82452800-1365603869_thumb.jpg

 

OzzyO.

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  • 5 months later...

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