Hornby ex LSWR/SR Adams 0415 Radial

[Robin Brasher]

I was interested to read that CJL (post 475) had built a Ks Adams Radial. Ks solution to the radial truck was to mount the trailing axle on the white metal body. I sawed the mounting off and made a pony truck mounting from a tin can. The Ks Radial was a nightmare to build. When I gave it a test run the motor burned out so it put me off making locomotive kits for good. I think that the prototype Wrenn Adams Radial was a Ks kit so the difficulty making it probably put Wrenn off.

 

The Hornby Radial looks a lot better than the Ks Radial and I will have an opportunity to run it this evening on the Purbeck Model Railway Group's test track on the first floor of the stables at Godlingston Manor, Swanage.

[JSpencer]

I was interested to read that CJL (post 475) had built a Ks Adams Radial. Ks solution to the radial truck was to mount the trailing axle on the white metal body. I sawed the mounting off and made a pony truck mounting from a tin can. The Ks Radial was a nightmare to build. When I gave it a test run the motor burned out so it put me off making locomotive kits for good. I think that the prototype Wrenn Adams Radial was a Ks kit so the difficulty making it probably put Wrenn off.

 

The Hornby Radial looks a lot better than the Ks Radial and I will have an opportunity to run it this evening on the Purbeck Model Railway Group's test track on the first floor of the stables at Godlingston Manor, Swanage.

 

In general all of K's kits had the same nightmares.

Thick lumps of brass to make chassis frames with

cheap plastic insert wheels that fell apart which when replaced by romfords, leave no side play (if the inserts did not fall out, the tyres rusted instead)

thin plastic gears that wear out after running in and that motor which burns out.

 

I built the K's Adams as my first kit, then did their P2. The first did not last, the second needs 8ft curves and has a tiny under powered DC10 which barely propels the mass.

 

I knew someone, who managed to build and turn their K's Adams into a wonderful runner and stunning model and regret not buying it from them when I had the chance (it was not being sold cheap and i was student at the time).

 

It was a long wait for the RTR Adams, and you then get 2 makes at once but what great models.

[mikesndbs]

In general all of K's kits had the same nightmares.

Thick lumps of brass to make chassis frames with

cheap plastic insert wheels that fell apart which when replaced by romfords, leave no side play (if the inserts did not fall out, the tyres rusted instead)

thin plastic gears that wear out after running in and that motor which burns out.

 

I built the K's Adams as my first kit, then did their P2. The first did not last, the second needs 8ft curves and has a tiny under powered DC10 which barely propels the mass.

 

I knew someone, who managed to build and turn their K's Adams into a wonderful runner and stunning model and regret not buying it from them when I had the chance (it was not being sold cheap and i was student at the time).

 

It was a long wait for the RTR Adams, and you then get 2 makes at once but what great models.

 

Oh come come, have you seen my dad's kit built loco? granted he refined a lot but she stands up against Hornby's one no trouble at all!

[JSpencer]

Oh come come, have you seen my dad's kit built loco? granted he refined a lot but she stands up against Hornby's one no trouble at all!

 

Yep, like my friend did that I stated in my post,. they can be refined into decent locos. However if you build the kit as is, it leaves a lot to be desired.

 

I thought about stripping apart and redoing mine, but never found time and now its overtaken by a big margin (in my case) by these beauties.

[dibber25]

In general all of K's kits had the same nightmares.

Thick lumps of brass to make chassis frames with

cheap plastic insert wheels that fell apart which when replaced by romfords, leave no side play (if the inserts did not fall out, the tyres rusted instead)

thin plastic gears that wear out after running in and that motor which burns out.

 

I built the K's Adams as my first kit, then did their P2. The first did not last, the second needs 8ft curves and has a tiny under powered DC10 which barely propels the mass.

 

I knew someone, who managed to build and turn their K's Adams into a wonderful runner and stunning model and regret not buying it from them when I had the chance (it was not being sold cheap and i was student at the time).

 

It was a long wait for the RTR Adams, and you then get 2 makes at once but what great models.

And the GWR railcar motor bogie, where the pivot pin was also the screw that held the bogie in place. Do it up tight and it clamped hard against the armature and prevented it turning. Leave it loose and the motor bogie fell out after about four yards! Loctite would make it last a little longer. But we couldn't wait to get our hands on K's kits because it was that or nothing! The Adams Radial that I built was for Andy Waller, who had a very fine layout of Sheffield Park in early Bluebell days, hence his need for an Adams. I recall that the loco waggled so much that in certain circumstances the left-hand buffer would be aligned with the buffer on the opposite side of the adjacent coach! (CJL)

[Dunsignalling]

Check out the relationship between the numberplate and the top hinge, too. When the lamp irons were moved, I reckon she needed a new smokebox door (maybe the bolt holes for the lamp irons rendered the door u/s) The new door has shorter hinge straps so the numberplate is clear of the top strap. On the earlier smokebox door the plate sits uncomfortably over the end of the hinge strap and stands much further away from the door itself, altering the 'face' quite a bit. (CJL)

The change involved a bit more than a smokebox door.

 

When 30582 got a repaint and late crest in July 1960, she also received Drummond boiler No.916 in place of No.921 which she had carried since May 1954. 

 

Boiler No.916 had been carried by 30583 from February 1953 to April 1959.

 

I haven't yet had chance to make a close inspection of mine but it seems that Hornby may have modelled 30582 as she was when carrying early emblem but applied the late crest.

 

John

Edited August 6, 2016 by Dunsignalling

[NHY 581]

With regard to 30582 as released by Hornby, it appears to be a bit of a mixture. Somwthing was bugging me and I got the photo albums out. It has the late crest and though I am not sure of the exact date of the repaint, it is fair to say that as of August 1960 it was running with late crest. September 1959 sees it running with the early crest clearly in need of a splash of paint.

Now here's the thing. It looks like the lamp irons were moved from the smoke box door to the edges of the smoke box at the same time as the repaint.

Therefore Hornbys release of 30582 is not strictly correct as regards the position of the lampirons.

I can see their problem. They wanted to release early and late crest examples. 30582 and 30584 shared the twin slide bar arrangement. 30584 always carried the early crest. 30582 carried the late crest, albeit late in service.

Lovely model and not the end of the world but it perhaps illustrates the minefield that manufacturers have to navigate.

Will it stop me buying 39582.......absolutely not !!

I of course stand to be corrected.

Rob.

  

 

 

The change involved a bit more than a smokebox door.

 

When 30582 got a repaint and late crest in July 1960, she also received Drummond boiler No.916 in place of No.921 which she had carried since May 1954. 

 

Boiler No.916 had been carried by 30583 from February 1953 to April 1959.

 

I haven't yet had chance to make a close inspection of mine but it seems that Hornby may have modelled 30582 as she was when carrying early emblem but applied the late crest.

 

John

 

 

Agreed John.

[Robin Brasher]

A comparison of the chassis of the Hornby Radial with the Oxford Radial.

 

The top picture shows the Hornby Radial. The front bogie has a sophisticated rotating mechanism and the radial truck rotates like a conventional pony truck.

 

The bottom picture shows the Oxford Radial. The front bogie has a simple mechanism. Oxford has mounted the radial truck rigidly with the coupled wheels and there is a lot of horizontal play in the axle to enable the Adams Radial to negotiate curves.

[Dan Hamblin]

Purchased my version of 488 earlier this week, finally got around to unpacking it for running in and the cylinders fell off! As is common the cyliders are connected by a moulded bar across the chassis, but with a counter-sunk open ended slot rather than a counter-sunk single hole to secure it to the chassis block. The moulding has snapped on the end of the slot.

 

It's a shame as the model looks superb and I want to get it running. An e-mail to Hornby will be in order...

 

Regards,

 

Dan

[Butler Henderson]

Collected my 488 from Argos today (a model shop via ebay purchase for £104 inc P&P with £5 worth of Nectar points due to an Ebay Nectar offer last week). Pleased to say everything seems fixed on okay and its done a hour round a test track oval okay ( 15 mins one way, 15 mins the other - then turned round and repeated ) aside from a sticky front bogie wheel as reported by others and presumably down to the pick ups.

[Robin Brasher]

At the Swanage trials I tested the Oxford Radial against the Hornby Radial. Although I had run in and oiled the motion of the Oxford Radial the Hornby Radial operated silently whereas the Oxford Radial made a noise like the Hornby R1. The Oxford Radial was much quieter than the old Tri-ang Winston Churchill. The Hornby Radial was faster than the Oxford Radial. With both on the same track the Hornby Radial caught up with the Oxford Radial after a couple of laps. A plastic handrail has fallen off the Hornby Radial whereas the Oxford Radial is still intact.

 

The Purbeck Model Railway Group's track at the first floor of the stables at Godlingston Manor, Washpond Lane, Swanage is well laid on a plywood baseboard with cork underlay. The minimum radius is 2' 6" and most of the points are Peco large radius curves. There is a slight incline which was enough to bring an 02 to a halt with three coaches. Neither of the Radials suffered any derailments and both ran perfectly in each direction. I ran the Hornby Radial with four goods wagons but I will see what it can pull after it has run in.

 

I am planning to run the Oxford Radial with goods trains as it has a lower top speed and the Hornby Radial with passenger trains as it is a silent runner so it won't disturb the passengers. It is unusual to have two locomotives with the same number running at the same time but it easy to distinguish between them as the Hornby version is a lighter colour.

[Butler Henderson]

So has anyone actually got a 8 pin plugged decoder to fit? Seems to me that the angle of bunker as other as noted will prevent any 8 pin decoder being used. Really seems to be a loco that should have has a 6 pin socket if Hornby actually realised they existed, or possibly a Next 18 socket. The one good thing about this loco is that actually does not have miles of over long wires that Hornby normally seem to have fitted.

Edited August 7, 2016 by Butler Henderson

[railroadbill]

Collected my 488 from Argos today (a model shop via ebay purchase for £104 inc P&P with £5 worth of Nectar points due to an Ebay Nectar offer last week). Pleased to say everything seems fixed on okay and its done a hour round a test track oval okay ( 15 mins one way, 15 mins the other - then turned round and repeated ) aside from a sticky front bogie wheel as reported by others and presumably down to the pick ups.

After some running the bogie wheels on mine now turn freely. The pickups appear to be formed from brass strip and once they've smoothed down they don't catch on the back of the wheels. The M7 has longer strip pickups which have less pressure and the T9 uses thin wire for pickups and neither of mine had this problem. The 0415 sorts its pickup drag out  with use (well at least mine did!). 

[Butler Henderson]

There are wiring errors to the dcc socket on some or all models which will equally mean some pick ups will not be effective on dc. See this thread

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/113633-Hornby-adams-radial-dcc-issues/

Edited August 9, 2016 by Butler Henderson

[Wicor Models]

So has anyone actually got a 8 pin plugged decoder to fit? Seems to me that the angle of bunker as other as noted will prevent any 8 pin decoder being used. Really seems to be a loco that should have has a 6 pin socket if Hornby actually realised they existed, or possibly a Next 18 socket. The one good thing about this loco is that actually does not have miles of over long wires that Hornby normally seem to have fitted.

Simple answer - yes but......  It's not easy, I guess the engineer gave the dimensions of a standard Hornby R8249 decoder and the space in the bunker seemed made for it.  Nobody took into account the wiring harness.  I have now done 3 locos for customers and on all three I have cut all but the Red, Black, Grey and Orange wires out of the harness, unscrewed the socket from the chassis and lost as much of the harness as I can under the socket screwing back into place to trap the wires.  Then plug the decoder in and put the whole thing up into the body.  I read in one of the mags (Hornby?) that they had to use a DCC Concepts direct plug decoder so I am going to order a dozen shortly to ease the fitting problems, especially on my own version when it arrives.

[Bulleidboy100]

I fitted a TCS DP2X-UK and it fitted perfectly. However I did notice that one of the two screws that hold the socket to the loco, touched the underside of the decoder. I placed a small piece of heat shrink between the decoder and the screw head. I did not have a problem in the first place, but noticed this contact before any power was applied. The loco appears to run ok! It is noisier on the track than on the rolling road - that may be down to PVA'd ballast.

[dibber25]

The change involved a bit more than a smokebox door.

 

When 30582 got a repaint and late crest in July 1960, she also received Drummond boiler No.916 in place of No.921 which she had carried since May 1954. 

 

Boiler No.916 had been carried by 30583 from February 1953 to April 1959.

 

I haven't yet had chance to make a close inspection of mine but it seems that Hornby may have modelled 30582 as she was when carrying early emblem but applied the late crest.

 

John

No, I have a picture of 30582 with early crest, carrying the Drummond boiler (with the combined dome and safety valves) and with lamp irons on the door, but with the numberplate overlapping the hinge strap. It is this aspect of the 'face' that I'm referring to, because when the lamp irons were moved out, a new door with shorter hinge straps has been fitted and the numberplate no longer reaches the hinge strap. So, the boiler hadn't changed at that point but the smokebox door/lamp irons had changed. Hornby has the short-strap door with the inboard lamps and I can find no evidence for that combination, either before or after the crest or boiler were changed.  (CJL)

[Butler Henderson]

I fitted a TCS DP2X-UK and it fitted perfectly. However I did notice that one of the two screws that hold the socket to the loco, touched the underside of the decoder. I placed a small piece of heat shrink between the decoder and the screw head. I did not have a problem in the first place, but noticed this contact before any power was applied. The loco appears to run ok! It is noisier on the track than on the rolling road - that may be down to PVA'd ballast.

Interesting - I did some measurements of mine and no way it seemed  would a direct fit decoder fit simply because of the bunker angle which is borne out buy other postings earlier in the thread, Wonder if there are different pcbs with the 8 pin socket mounted slightly differently.

[Bulleidboy100]

There may have been a slight variation in the size of the pcb on the TCS DP2X-UK.  There was talk a little while ago that this decoder would not now fit into the Hornby M7, where as I fitted one into the M7 without problem. I did buy half a dozen of these decoders in the USA a couple of years ago - may be old stock. You will of course appreciate that a slight variation in the size will dictate whether it fits or not. May be I have been lucky.

[Butler Henderson]

Have read that DP2Xs have increased in size. The comment of one hitting the socket fixing screws made me look at mine again and that would not happen. Suspect the issue is that sockets of differing heights have been used.

[Robin Brasher]

Hornby Adams Radial with two Hornby ex LSWR coaches repainted in LSWR coach brown and coach salmon livery crossing Corfe Viaduct at the Purbeck Model Railway Group's layout at the first floor of the stables, Godlingston Manor, Washpond Lane, Swanage.

[JSpencer]

Hornby Adams Radial with two Hornby ex LSWR coaches repainted in LSWR coach brown and coach salmon livery crossing Corfe Viaduct at the Purbeck Model Railway Group's layout at the first floor of the stables, Godlingston Manor, Washpond Lane, Swanage.

 

They were repainted quickly. Very nice.

[railroadbill]

Great stuff, Robin, they look just the job!

[railroadbill]

Thought it was time to add some real coal to the bunker.  I originally thought of sticking  coal on top of the moulded coal, but that is quite high. However, the plastic coal just lifts out, along with the water filler pipe.  This reveals that the top of the rear water tank and the sloping coal space in front of it has been moulded into the loco body.  Therefore I could have less coal by sticking real coal to, say, a rectangle of plasticard on top of the tank and down into the bunker moulding. 

 

 

 

 

There can't have been much space for coal on top of the tank itself, so having coal rails added in Drummond's time must have been necessary.

 

 

 

 

What I've also discovered is that the coal rails just unclip so it's very easy to make the model look closer to its original Adams condition as built.(1882 onwards).  I've found a picture of 488 on the Bluebell with the coal rails removed, and another 415   at Waterloo in 1890. That one has some very large lumps of coal on the top of the tank, but they can't have got much on without it falling off.

 

The later filler pipe is too high. Neither the Roche or Ian Beattie drawings I've got show the original bunker arrangement, so would anyone know the height of the original filler?

 

My plan is to have a different  coal/filler part to fit depending on coal rails or not.

[Gwiwer]

I removed the plastic coal and inserted a piece of cardboard to act as the bunker base for lump coal.  I was hoping to achieve a quite-empty look but instead managed to get the coal almost as high as the plastic but without the heaps on top.  It does look rather better with the real stuff however - I haven't yet perfected a way of weathering plastic to look like coal.  What ever you do make sure no coal strays under the cab floor into the workings.

 

I also discovered how readily the coal rail moulding unclips and wished in that moment for an etch without the infill.  That's going to be an easy upgrade if one falls into my hands at some later date.

 

The filler cap also shows a little work in that view to make it appear well-used and not just smooth plastic. The technique here was nothing more than a wipe of PVA and a shake of my usual "engine grime" mix of weathering powder from a soft brush onto the wet glue.  Allow to dry and there you have it.