Great British Locomotives

[Paul Cram]

I somehow think that may not be a market the publishers are actively targeting!

 

John

Agreed, but they aren't targeting modellers anyway.

[Horsetan]

Maybe so but if you are modelling in P4 it is a good starting point as you are not having to pay for a chassis and wheels that aren't required.

The problem is that nobody really makes the essential detailing parts any more.....unless you know somebody.

[S.A.C Martin]

 

Prototype 2 uses a Hornby Railroad chassis. The only change to the Railroad chassis is to the cylinder block. The A3 type one is too wide, I have replaced it with one of my Hornby A4 spares (they fit perfectly - the Railroad chassis is a further derivation from the super detail Hornby A3/A4 chassis block).

 

 

So, Bachmann chassis/GBL body + GBL Tender/Hornby frames in front, then Hornby Railroad Chassis/GBL body + GBL tender/Hornby frames at rear. Two different ways of doing things, I'm going to modify them as planned and see which one comes out better. The Hornby Railroad chassis has a few things going for it, so does the Bachmann chassis, the two body shells have to be modified differently to each other to fit properly so it's going to be a case of seeing which is easier.

 

Enjoyable project this, hopefully will emerge with a few swans from some ugly ducklings in due course.

 

[Paul Cram]

The problem is that nobody really makes the essential detailing parts any more.....unless you know somebody.

i haven't looked into it closely. Brassmasters do a detailing kit for the A4. Would need a chime whistle but a comet chassis and Gibson wheels. I have a portescap motor in stock so for less than a Hornby great gathering price it is possible to have a P4 A4. This is also cheaper than converting my bargain Commonwealth of Australia using an Easichas/gibson conversion.

[Horsetan]

List of the first 20 taken from another forum so hopefully correct

1. Mallard

2. Coronation

3. Flying Scotsman

4. 28xx

5. Stowe 'Schools’ Class

6. ‘Deltics’

7. Evening Star

8. No. 44781 ‘Black Five'

9. City of Truro

10. Gresley ‘K3’

11. Bulleid ‘West Country’ unrebuilt

12. Fowler 3F ‘Jinty’

13. Collett ‘Castle’

14. No. 1000 ‘Compound'

15. BR standard ‘4MT’ tank

16. Locomotion

17. Sulzer ‘Peaks’

18. Butler Henderson

19. 45xx

20. 'T9’

 

Locomotion stands out as the only one not obviously a copy.

I'd like to see how they tackle the 9F, CoT, and the Compound in particular, plus the 45xx (which might turn out to be a 4575, who knows).

 

The brief glimpse of the "Schools" didn't look promising.

 

i haven't looked into it closely. Brassmasters do a detailing kit for the A4. Would need a chime whistle but a comet chassis and Gibson wheels.....

 

Would benefit from a better chimney as well, I think - not in the Brassmasters pack, which is mainly etchings.

Edited March 2, 2014 by Horsetan

[S.A.C Martin]

 

Both of my prototypes are working now - removal of the valances on Wednesday and the start of detailing commences. Very pleased with mine thus far, proving to be a tonic where other portions of my modelling have been dormant and desolate for some time.

[SDJR7F88]

 Here's a review I filmed of the model for YouTube. Sorry about me blabbering on a bit (I tend to get carried away)   . The model sure does have a lot of potential. Hope you find it of interest.

 

[stewartingram]

I purchased one as a spur-of-the-moment thing. Co-incidently I had purchased a Hornby 60011 from Janes Trains of Tooting last week! This was bought to supercede my (old chassis) Bachmann A4 (getting complicated here...) so what did I do with the cheapy? Loco body & tender body were fitted to the Bachmann running gear. The tender chassis has a vertical lump in the centre rear, behind the corridor; this needed filing thinner to fit the GBL body, which was stuck on with mekpak. The loco body was ever so slightly more difficult. The front GBL fixing screw fitted ok, the rear one was also used but needed a solder tag to grip the rear of the chassis. Also a little filing here and there just to tidy up rough edges when I took it apart. So for less than 1/2 hour easy work, I now have a working Mallard. I will probably pinch some detail from the Bachmann bodies such as the whistle. The remains will go in the pending box as a possible B17 conversion. It will probably remain as Mallard, with new nameplates and perhaps even a repaint.

That just leaves a Trix loco driven SNG and a Trix tender drive BR A4 to sort out! Both are suffering from damaged cylinders & valve gear, as is the Trix loco-drive 4472 with a 2nd (Hornby) tender.....

 

Question is, do I want to subscribe to the others?

 

Stewart

[Dan Hill]

List of the first 20 taken from another forum so hopefully correct

1. Mallard

2. Coronation

3. Flying Scotsman

4. 28xx

5. Stowe 'Schools’ Class

 6. ‘Deltics’ 

7. Evening Star

 8. No. 44781 ‘Black Five'

 9. City of Truro

 10. Gresley ‘K3’

 11. Bulleid ‘West Country’ unrebuilt

12. Fowler 3F ‘Jinty’

13. Collett ‘Castle’

14. No. 1000 ‘Compound'

15. BR standard ‘4MT’ tank

16. Locomotion

17. Sulzer ‘Peaks’

 18. Butler Henderson

19. 45xx

20. 'T9’

 

Locomotion stands out as the only one not obviously a copy.

I saw the advert and I think the LNER Y7 tank and a B1 appear in it so not whether they are possible models or not.

 

I decided to subscribe as this looks an interesting series. If the Duchess does turn out to be Coronation in red then how easy would it be for an ameteur like myself to rename and number it 6229. I wouldn't mind getrting a second and painting it blue.

[69843]

I wonder if the diesels will have the axles fitted to the bogie sideframes, or on a separate internal piece allowing the sideframes to be reused?

[NORTHDUK]

Although I'm not a railway modeller, I bought the GBL Mallard this week with the intention of tidying it up and possibly making a small scenic base for it.  I'm fairly pleased with the model so far but it has been rather sloppily assembled.  Most irritatingly, the connecting rod (if that's the right name) that fits onto the rear driving wheel on one side has been forced into place and has broken as a result.  With luck, superglue will deal with it.  The magazine seems to be pretty good; I found it well written and informative as I have no railway references to work from.  This leads me to a question about the model.

 

The magazine mentions that the tender was so arranged that relief crews could make their way forward through it to reach the cab.  There are no photographs of the rear of Mallard's tender in the magazine and I can't find one on Google Images but photographs of other A4s show a bellows-like arrangement on the rear face of the tender, like those seen on corridor carriiages.  Neither the GBL model nor the Hornby model as seen in on-line photographs has this feature and there seems to be nothing on the model tender that would allow the crew to enter it from the rest of the train.  Is this correct for Mallard's tender or should it have some additional details that the model doesn't represent?

 

Now that I've seen this first model, I'm tempted to buy the second release, the Coronation.  I can't justify buying any others at £8.99 though.

 

This is the second partwork that I've bought recently for the first issue "loss leader".  My main interest is in road vehicles of all kinds, military and civilian.  A partwork dealing with military vehicles appeared a few weeks ago and offered a 1/72 scale American Gun Truck as used in Viet Nam for £1.99.  I bought one and measured it.  It turned out to be remarkably accurate and quite well made.  By removing the gun truck fittings and the winch, I'm well on the way to converting it to a cargo truck that I've long fancied.  The only plastic kit of the truck is at least £10.00, which is a bit steep for what it is, so I've saved myself some money and embarked on an interesting small project.  The magazine, unfortunately, was poor with no evidence of proof reading or editing.  It went into the bin but I'll keep the Mallard magazine.

 

Best wishes,

 

Gordon McLaughlin

[S.A.C Martin]

RE the tender - that's because Mallard as preserved is coupled to a streamlined, non corridor tender as opposed a corridor tender like that coupled behind 4472. Hence the difference in tender body and frames.

[Brian Indge]

Hi Gordon,

 

Some, but not all A4 locos were equipped with corridor tenders to allow crew change-overs, there will be others on this forum who, I feel sure, will be able to let you know which those were.

 

Welcome to the forum.

 

Brian

[Coryton]

Apologies if this has already come up, but a quick search didn't find anything...

 

Can anyone explain what's going on with the wheels on the train in the cover photo on Issue 1?

 

Somehow the wheels of the first tender seem to have ended up under the rear of the locomotive, and the leading bogie of the first coach under the 2nd tender.

 

I'm have difficulty seeing how this could be a trick of perspective, as opposed to dodgy photo-shopping but maybe I'm missing something?

 

Doesn't affect the model which is of course what I bought it for...but I'm still curious.

[NORTHDUK]

SAC Martin,

 

Thanks for your reply.  If I understand you correctly, the model represents Mallard as it is now and not in the form in which it broke the record.  Does this mean that the tender as supplied is of a different pattern altogether or would it be possible to convert it to the original type?  Would it need much work to convert?  If it's a practical proposition to back-date the tender, is there a readily available paint to match the colour on the locomotive?  For that matter, does the locomotive itself need to be back-dated?

 

Gordon McLaughlin

[NORTHDUK]

Brian,

 

Thanks for your quick reply to my question about Mallard.  Apparently, it's a more complicated project than I had expected but an interesting one!

 

Best wishes,

 

Gordon McLaughlin

[69843]

SAC Martin,

 

Thanks for your reply.  If I understand you correctly, the model represents Mallard as it is now and not in the form in which it broke the record.  Does this mean that the tender as supplied is of a different pattern altogether or would it be possible to convert it to the original type?  Would it need much work to convert?  If it's a practical proposition to back-date the tender, is there a readily available paint to match the colour on the locomotive?  For that matter, does the locomotive itself need to be back-dated?

 

Gordon McLaughlin

The tender that Mallard broke the record with (with the model) and the one that she has now are the same design. Mallard was fitted with a corridor tender in the 1948 Locomotive Exchange trials, and retained corridor tenders through until 1963, when it was fitted with another non-corridor tender for display and preservation.

 

A good listing of the tenders is available here:http://www.sirnigelgresley.org.uk/tenders/tenders.html

 

It is interesting to note that tender 5642, the original tender with Mallard, survived up until 1975 with the A4 Locomotive Society who planned to turn it into a water tender. The plan fell through as it was not financially viable, and the tender was cut up in the Hunslet goods yard in Leeds. 

Edited March 3, 2014 by 69843

[S.A.C Martin]

As above, the tender is correct for Mallard in certain time frames. As preserved, a corridor tender is entirely correct and it is also correct for the speed record. Interesting but in theory you could swap the tenders on the two GBL models - 4468 and 4472 - and you'd have the appropriate tender types for the two locomotives in 1948 and at the end of their careers in the 1960s.

[69843]

BR Database is probably the best online source of information regarding the variations applied to the A4, including giving shopping dates and paint details, plus the all important valiance removal and single to double chimney dates, plus tender info. I am currently working on a spreadsheet to cover all the major differences in the class. There is quite a bit!

 

http://www.brdatabase.info/locoqry.php?action=class&id=600104&type=S&page=fleet&ad=&sc=

[ikks]

I am sure we can arrange to send some. The model packed in its plastic with all the magazine and cardboard removed isnt too heavy.

Hi Lightengine,

Thank you for your reply

Are you a trader or an individual modeler, I ask because occasionally things come up that seem to be easily available in the UK but not here, it would really be good if I could find someone that would be able to supply them(I would always pay prior to dispatch). This would not be a regular and often happening but just on the odd occasion it would be really useful. I am particularly interested in the BR(ex LMS items)

 

Rgds....Mike

[micklner]

Tender reworked sitting (not screwed down) on a Hornby Tender frame . Floor raised etc. Awaits primer front not touched as it will sit in pending pile awaiting Livery decision.

 

 

 

 

 

Rear mounting post using Plastikard square rod

 

Edited March 5, 2014 by micklner

[Horsetan]

Ealing WHS have just told me they're not stocking any partworks now.

[Guest spet0114]

As above, the tender is correct for Mallard in certain time frames. As preserved, a non-corridor tender is entirely correct and it is also correct for the speed record. Interesting but in theory you could swap the tenders on the two GBL models - 4468 and 4472 - and you'd have the appropriate tender types for the two locomotives in 1948 and at the end of their careers in the 1960s.

 

Typo!

[S.A.C Martin]

Yes, saw that earlier but don't have access to the editing facility I'm afraid. The basic gist is understood though!

[Phil Parker]

Hi Lightengine,

Thank you for your reply

Are you a trader or an individual modeler, I ask because occasionally things come up that seem to be easily available in the UK but not here, it would really be good if I could find someone that would be able to supply them(I would always pay prior to dispatch). This would not be a regular and often happening but just on the odd occasion it would be really useful. I am particularly interested in the BR(ex LMS items)

 

Rgds....Mike

 

Mike

 

One of the readers of MREmag spotted that the locos and other partwork items can be bought from the publishers (http://www.mremag.com/news/article/having-your-say--26th-february-2014/17835)

 

"Just like the "Giant Warplanes" collection, the models are not unique to magazine vendors and can be brought direct from the publisher, Amercom:

 

http://www.amercom-hobby.com/index.php?route=product/category&path=63

 

It's obviously cheaper in the shops (especially as you'll have no postage costs!), but there's also plenty of other models on the site for those interested.

 

Matt Dawson"