Where are the Hornby models?

[robmcg]

The fairings ahead of the cylinders were removed from West Countries in the early 1950s, they come off the model quite easily.

 

Hornby made so few errors with these locos that I suspected Weymouth might have kept hers and had to hunt out a photograph to confirm their absence!  

 

Further models would be eagerly snapped up by me at least - especially if they were to do 34006 'Bude' as running in the sixties!

 

Some wide-cab examples paired with cut-down 4500g. tenders after losing their large ones to rebuilts would be good, too. 

 

John

Hi John, I think it highly improbable that 34091 kept the front valances after about 1950 and as you say it will come off quite easily, presuming any glue which holds it was sparingly applied.

 

And yes LNWRModeller and Olddudders we do have it good with current RTR models!

 

Hattons just wrote advising that they hoped Glastonbury Abbey would arrive on or soon after 18 November, as in the Hornby dealer list, so we live in hope.

 

Rob

[OnTheBranchline]

A friend of mine spoke to a Bachmann rep:

 

It's Apple's fault that Hornby and Bachmann are having quality issues (take it for what it's worth).

 

"Both Bachmann and Hornby are suffering with production delays due to workers walking out of their factories, walking down the road and walking into the Foxconn factory - as Apple are paying 3p per hour more. Foxconn is rapidly becoming one of the largest employers in some provinces and they manufacture most of the chips you find in any Apple device. And with Apple's pockets being deeper than nearly every other company on Earth - they are paying the most and consequently, the other factories are having problems."

[Ozexpatriate]

A friend of mine spoke to a Bachmann rep:

 

It's Apple's fault that Hornby and Bachmann are having quality issues (take it for what it's worth).

 

"Both Bachmann and Hornby are suffering with production delays due to workers walking out of their factories, walking down the road and walking into the Foxconn factory - as Apple are paying 3p per hour more. ... And with Apple's pockets being deeper than nearly every other company on Earth - they are paying the most and consequently, the other factories are having problems."

Yes. Electronics assembly houses like Foxconn (and it's not just them alone) are attracting the workers. Mind you, Foxconn is the company that had to install suicide nets a few years ago, so it's not all the good life there. You can find plenty of documentaries about working conditions at Foxconn on the web.

 

Foxconn is rapidly becoming one of the largest employers in some provinces and they manufacture most of the chips you find in any Apple device.

This is not quite accurate. Foxconn assembles pretty much all Apple products like iPads and iPhones. The chips that go inside Apple products are made elsewhere.

[robmcg]

Although also illustrated in the large green powerful' thread, I thought I'd add this display of Hornby power both 2000 and 2010 -derived models, the venerable Simon Kohler-inspired Merchant Navy, and BR Maunsell coaches behind, on a Bournemouth relief express sometime around 1959-60, before AWS but after speedo. and coach set 390 leading the train.

 

The engine still looks excellent in today's modelling standards environment.

 

 

 

 

 

[Jol Wilkinson]

The engine still looks excellent in today's modelling standards environment.

 

Rob,

 

while I think the results of your work are most impressive, I have difficulty in understanding what it really has to do with modelling. Once you start to edit/manage/amend images to this extent, then the original is very much lost and it's accuracy/quality is disguised by the work of the artist.

 

To me, the only obvious thing in that picture that says "model" are the size of the handrail knobs, but then I have no real knowledge of the Merchant Navy Class.

 

Jol

[brushman47544]

 

A friend of mine spoke to a Bachmann rep:

 

It's Apple's fault that Hornby and Bachmann are having quality issues (take it for what it's worth).

 

"Both Bachmann and Hornby are suffering with production delays due to workers walking out of their factories, walking down the road and walking into the Foxconn factory - as Apple are paying 3p per hour more. Foxconn is rapidly becoming one of the largest employers in some provinces and they manufacture most of the chips you find in any Apple device. And with Apple's pockets being deeper than nearly every other company on Earth - they are paying the most and consequently, the other factories are having problems."

 

 

Makes sense if there is a shortage of skilled workers overall. And of course there would be no point in Kader etc. trying to match Foxconn because it would simply up its wages to stay ahead.

[Jol Wilkinson]

Makes sense if there is a shortage of skilled workers overall. And of course there would be no point in Kader etc. trying to match Foxconn because it would simply up its wages to stay ahead.

 

Several tv documentaries have shown that the employment market in China is very fluid. With many workers spending the best part of a year away from home, returning only for holidays, then they have no tie to a particular location or company and will readily move to a different job for better pay and conditions.

 

Quality control within a factory will depend on the contract they have with a customer. To get better quality then better designs, materials and processes are required, all causing higher costs. Clearly the demand for low pricing of the final product will restrain quality. It may be that Bachmann have an advantage here, being a part of the same business that owns runs the factories, whereas Hornby have a different, less close, relationship with their suppliers. Moving from one supplier to another also causes disruption in the continuity of manufacturing , quality, etc.

[G-BOAF]

 

A friend of mine spoke to a Bachmann rep:

 

It's Apple's fault that Hornby and Bachmann are having quality issues (take it for what it's worth).

 

"Both Bachmann and Hornby are suffering with production delays due to workers walking out of their factories, walking down the road and walking into the Foxconn factory - as Apple are paying 3p per hour more. Foxconn is rapidly becoming one of the largest employers in some provinces and they manufacture most of the chips you find in any Apple device. And with Apple's pockets being deeper than nearly every other company on Earth - they are paying the most and consequently, the other factories are having problems."

 

Bit of a shame - building model trains should be a more rewarding exercise - a model that will be cherished for years, rather than an electronic device disposed of after 24 months. Still, distorted markets etc. and obviously the workers want to most pay they can get, although yes there have been some shocking reports from Apple factories.

Yet another reason to aviod Apple products - factory conditions AND the impact they have on our models.

 

and just for completeness of my Anti-Apple rant, this message (like most of my replies on here) was typed on one of the last IBM (Branded) Thinkpads!!!

[Jol Wilkinson]

Bit of a shame - building model trains should be a more rewarding exercise

 

I will avoid making the obvious comment about building from scratch or kits being more rewarding, but suggest that the consumer market in the UK is what drives end prices. I am sure that the RTR manufacturers would charge more if they could. That might lead to more profit and more investment and hence a bigger choice of better models. However, if the overall market "value" is relatively fixed, then people would buy fewer, more expensive models. So we appear to have  a vicious circle in 4mm, lower price, higher production volume, lower quality.

 

Is this peculiar to the 4mm market? The 7mm sector seems to support more expensive products, both RTR and kits.

[Oldddudders]

 

Is this peculiar to the 4mm market? The 7mm sector seems to support more expensive products, both RTR and kits.

I would suggest that 7mm models probably actually get used in most cases, while a proportion of 4mm RTR products seldom even leave the box, or go no further than a display case or shelf.

[Ian Hargrave]

A friend of mine spoke to a Bachmann rep:

 

It's Apple's fault that Hornby and Bachmann are having quality issues (take it for what it's worth).

 

"Both Bachmann and Hornby are suffering with production delays due to workers walking out of their factories, walking down the road and walking into the Foxconn factory - as Apple are paying 3p per hour more. Foxconn is rapidly becoming one of the largest employers in some provinces and they manufacture most of the chips you find in any Apple device. And with Apple's pockets being deeper than nearly every other company on Earth - they are paying the most and consequently, the other factories are having problems."

Thus must I do penance every time I post,as I do now,using my Apple I-pad ? Bit like ordering books from Amazon online,when the morally correct way is to use your local bookshop.I am in a state of moral confusion here.Posted using potentially corrupt media.One man's I pad is another man's Hornby Star.Yea,brothers and sisters,I have truly seen the Gospel of Jobs...Steve,actually

[The Stationmaster]

Thus must I do penance every time I post,as I do now,using my Apple I-pad ? Bit like ordering books from Amazon online,when the morally correct way is to use your local bookshop.I am in a state of moral confusion here.Posted using potentially corrupt media.One man's I pad is another man's Hornby Star.Yea,brothers and sisters,I have truly seen the Gospel of Jobs...Steve,actually

Kindly note that my 'Like' tick was clicked on the keyboard of an Apple product - it came with the equivalent of inside valvegear so presumably was simpler to assemble.

[7013]

Wonder if Apple could make DCC decoders?

[Stanley Melrose]

Wonder if Apple could make DCC decoders?

 

Of course they could but could anyone afford them?  And how many useless add-ons would they come with?

 

Stan - reluctant owner/user of an iPad that was a present and its only use is for me to email myself a copy of the papers for meetings that I have to attend to save me carting a tree load of papers around.  The most useless aspect is that you cannot open a second (or third or fourth) window.

[brushman47544]

But without my i-Pad or i-Phone I wouldn't be able to keep up with RMweb, read Model Rail and other mags, when on the move...

 

Posted from my PC.

[frobisher]

G-BOAF, on 14 Nov 2013 - 10:25, said:

and just for completeness of my Anti-Apple rant, this message (like most of my replies on here) was typed on one of the last IBM (Branded) Thinkpads!!!

Which was made in China in "one of those" factories.

[G-BOAF]

Indeed, but not an Apple one! Plus when this was built (June 2007), we had plentiful supplies of top quality models, so it can't be blamed.

 

Interestingly the similarity between my laptop and models is quite striking. In the time I have owned this (Chinese made) machine it has had a not insignificant component replacement/physical rebuild by engineers IN THE UK, as well as had a number of parts replaced by me personally (hence lasted so long! - 5.5 years old, and not an totally easy life – I’d like to see an Apple product last so long – few consumer replicable parts). Why the rebuild, well due in part to poor manufacturing of components in the first place (esp the screen)... But at least this emerged over time. Normally with locos 'strip down and rebuild' is immediately proceeded by 'receive loco and take out of box!!

ThinkPad – the laptop equivalent of Meccano!

[Fenman]

5.5 years old, and not an totally easy life – I’d like to see an Apple product last so long

 

I'm still using a 6 year old MacBook Pro, which has had no replacement parts and has been fired-up pretty much every single day since new.

 

Paul

[G-BOAF]

I'm still using a 6 year old MacBook Pro, which has had no replacement parts and has been fired-up pretty much every single day since new.

 

Paul

Sorry, rephrase - 'modern mac product' - my colleague sitting at the next desk was seen violently hitting his 2yr old macbook air a couple of months ago to 'repair the graphics card' (screen gone stripy). The number of 'tatty' looking 2-3 year old mac products - scratched iphones etc... Simples - start with a robust, matt-finished tank and it can't look any worse!

[Vistisen]

Of course they could but could anyone afford them?  And how many useless add-ons would they come with?

 

Stan - reluctant owner/user of an iPad that was a present and its only use is for me to email myself a copy of the papers for meetings that I have to attend to save me carting a tree load of papers around.  The most useless aspect is that you cannot open a second (or third or fourth) window.

 

 

Wonder if Apple could make DCC decoders?

As long as you don't wanting flashing lights, Apple don't do FLASH

[7013]

You can tell when a thread has run its course when random postings appear

[truffy]

A few weeks have now passed since I last updated the list of anticipated release dates, so here goes...

 

The first date shows the anticipated date or release as of October 2nd.

The 2nd column shows any changes as of 16th October.

The 3rd, and final column, shows the situation as per the Hornby trade website on the evening of November 10th 2013.

 

R3161A,     SR 2 BIL 2 CAR EMU TRAIN PACK,      14/11/2013       Now 20/12/2013        UNCHANGED 20/12/2013

R3161AX,    SR 2 BIL 2 CAR EMU TRAIN PACK,      18/11/2013       Now 20/12/2013        UNCHANGED 20/12/2013

Interesting. I have R3161A sitting on my track.

 

And R3010(X), SR 4-6-0 'Sir Sagramore' King Arthur N15 Class, seems to be missing (from the list, that is, not my track...although that too).

[robmcg]

Rob,

 

while I think the results of your work are most impressive, I have difficulty in understanding what it really has to do with modelling. Once you start to edit/manage/amend images to this extent, then the original is very much lost and it's accuracy/quality is disguised by the work of the artist.

 

To me, the only obvious thing in that picture that says "model" are the size of the handrail knobs, but then I have no real knowledge of the Merchant Navy Class.

 

Jol

 

It has everything to do with the Hornby Merchant Navy because I enjoy the model and use a photograph it as a basis for re-creation of the sense or experience of the real thing. 

 

The model allows me and others to recall and 'sense' the real Merchant Navy engines, and while it is not what you see as modelling, to me it  is my modelling.  I also enjoy buying selling and collecting these models. The photos make no claim to be a perfect illustration of the model's exact details, flange dimensions and so on, but are for me a lovely re-creation of scenes I may have seen in the 50s or 60s had I been lucky enough to be by the side of the track when an engine roared by with an express . 

 

Cheers,

 

Rob

[robmcg]

I would add to the above that an enjoyable part of making the illustrations is matching the details of the engine to the condition it might have been in on the day... weathering, style of BR crest, AWS or not, speedo or not, and so on, all part of the 'modelling'.

 

On top of that I have the enjoyment of owning and detailing a marvellous model which in the case of the Merchant Navy was a significant development for Hornby.

 

I'm at a loss to see how this is not about modelling.

 

Rob

[Trains&armour]

I would add to the above that an enjoyable part of making the illustrations is matching the details of the engine to the condition it might have been in on the day... weathering, style of BR crest, AWS or not, speedo or not, and so on, all part of the 'modelling'.

 

On top of that I have the enjoyment of owning and detailing a marvellous model which in the case of the Merchant Navy was a significant development for Hornby.

 

I'm at a loss to see how this is not about modelling.

 

Rob

 

Again off topic, but what the hell... Although it is not my kind of modelling, I really enjoy your illustrations. And I admire all the artistry and work you've put into them. Your illustrations of the Hornby Star also made me look with other eyes on my own  model, and made it come more alive. Keep on posting! (In a separate thread?)