Hornby announce the ex SECR / SR / BR(s) Wainwright H Class 0-4-4 tank as part of their 2017 range

[Dunsignalling]

Pleeeeease don't be cross with me for asking, but does anyone know when a BR black version is expected?

 

I love the SE&CR livery but really, expecting something painted like that to end up on the Somerset Levels is pushing it a bit, even for me.

 

And anyway, most prettily-coloured locos that I buy end up getting sold on, second hand but in mint condition, a few years later.

 

I've always liked the 'H' class, ever since I built a Wills kit for someone many years ago, but it's easier to kid myself that I need one, if it's in a livery that most of my other locos carry (that way it won't stand out from the crowd and can try not to be noticed, blend in with all the other engines such as panniers and Midland locos, and hope no one spots that it is different).

December, allegedly, but only in BR late crest, (correctly) complete with electrification flashes.

 

I want the earlier style but, from the pictures (CADs) so far published it looks like it will be tricky to get the flashes off without mucking up the splasher lining.

 

Hopefully, Hornby will do the version I want in due course so, for now, my wallet is staying shut.

 

John

[adb968008]

Hornby website says December, my guess would be on the shelves for Warley.

[adb968008]

Looking at my H today, I was wondering how hard it would be to get an SECR R 0-6-0T out of it.

 

My conclusion is, it doesn’t look that hard, if I removed then shortened the bunker (which is a separate piece), modified the tanks (which is also a separate piece), added some elements to the front wheel splashes, and cut the frame, where their is a mould Line, add some screws, where there are some screw indentations in the body, I could then swap for an 0-6-0 chassis..

 

Is it really that simple, and looking underneath it, it kinds of feels there’s a “cut along the dotted line” feel to doing it ?

 

An O1 doesn’t look hard either.

Edited November 2, 2017 by adb968008

[Guest Midland Mole]

As I type this my H Class is now sitting in front of me on my desk. It is a stunning little model, could not be happier with it. Well done Hornby! (not so well done on other fronts but there you go....)

Alex

[Budgie]

Mine arrived today. I note the following points:

 

The trailing bogie is supposed to pick up electricity; mine does only occasionally, which means I shall probably have to dismantle it to find out why.

If you take the body off, be careful of the leading sandboxes, which can easily be damaged.

Install the front coupling's NEM pocket before adding the brake rigging.

The loco see-saws on the rear drivers, with the back heavier than the front. So this loco is excellent for finding all your abrupt changes of gradient, because it will derail there.

 

Having installed a decoder, I need to find the space to put the stay-alive capacitors. Thank you adb968008 for showing how to take the body apart.

Edited November 2, 2017 by Budgie

[Mikkel]

Looking at my H today, I was wondering how hard it would be to get an SECR R 0-6-0T out of it.

My conclusion is, it doesn’t look that hard, if I removed then shortened the bunker (which is a separate piece), modified the tanks (which is also a separate piece), added some elements to the front wheel splashes, and cut the frame, where their is a mould Line, add some screws, where there are some screw indentations in the body, I could then swap for an 0-6-0 chassis..

Is it really that simple, and looking underneath it, it kinds of feels there’s a “cut along the dotted line” feel to doing it ?

An O1 doesn’t look hard either.

Interesting sub-assembly. Has that been done before in RTR?

[Pre Grouping fan]

adb968008's photos of the split body are quite interesting. As a toolmaker I'm interested at how these modern locos are tooled. Its different to see the boiler split like that and I would assume the cab/bunker splits down into more parts.

 

Mine is currently running in round my layout. Initially a bit sticky but once id cleaned the track its settled down nicely

[dandrews2000]

What issues?

 

I've seen about three genuine complaints so far out of thousands of models sold over the last few weeks.

 

 

 

Jason

 

QC issues

 

Here are mine so far this year:

 

Oxford Rail Dean goods noticeable limp whilst in reverse returned for refund

 

Hattons 14xx fist one kept stalling, replacement did not sit level so only three drivers in contact with rail both returned and refunded

 

Hornby D16/3 Claud Hamilton this was my third attempt at getting a good one but oh no binding issue on wheelset returned for refund

 

Hornby H Class x 2 (forgot I pre-ordered at two shops) First one sounds like a coffee grinder in reverse and boiler gets warm after ten minutes of running obviously something catching on the flywheel getting ready to return for refund. Second one has noticeable wobble and after twenty minutes running in reverse at a moderate speed started to smell of burning plastic, so just about to be packed up and sent for return/exchange

 

Now currently have a lovely Dapol railcar doing the loop thought was all good however have noticed loco surges at slow speed. I will keep gently running this model in and if no improvement of back she goes. Out of all the issues this one will annoy me the most as had on pre-order from the moment it was Delete repeated word

 

Normally I cant be bothered to voice my complaints or issues with my loco's as I normally don't see the point until I get really annoyed like the last time I posted on this site with regards to QC. However I do wonder out of how many people with faulty locos actually do voice complaints on here, I cant imagine that many, yes of course you will always have a select view and why not its their money.  I would imagine more people try to fix the problems and here in lies the problem. I will be the first to admit i'm ham fisted when it comes to model making so that route is not viable, only other option is buy to RTR. But I refuse to believe that I am that unlucky and that all the lemons find there way to my house. The only loco purchased this year that has not had running problems has been my Hornby Castle Earl St Germans (best we forget about the stem pipe being all bent).

 

I think my complaints are pretty genuine

[Steamport Southport]

QC issues

 

Here are mine so far this year:

 

Oxford Rail Dean goods noticeable limp whilst in reverse returned for refund

 

Hattons 14xx fist one kept stalling, replacement did not sit level so only three drivers in contact with rail both returned and refunded

 

Hornby D16/3 Claud Hamilton this was my third attempt at getting a good one but oh no binding issue on wheelset returned for refund

 

Hornby H Class x 2 (forgot I pre-ordered at two shops) First one sounds like a coffee grinder in reverse and boiler gets warm after ten minutes of running obviously something catching on the flywheel getting ready to return for refund. Second one has noticeable wobble and after twenty minutes running in reverse at a moderate speed started to smell of burning plastic, so just about to be packed up and sent for return/exchange

 

Now currently have a lovely Dapol railcar doing the loop thought was all good however have noticed loco surges at slow speed. I will keep gently running this model in and if no improvement of back she goes. Out of all the issues this one will annoy me the most as had on pre-order from the moment it was Delete repeated word

 

Normally I cant be bothered to voice my complaints or issues with my loco's as I normally don't see the point until I get really annoyed like the last time I posted on this site with regards to QC. However I do wonder out of how many people with faulty locos actually do voice complaints on here, I cant imagine that many, yes of course you will always have a select view and why not its their money.  I would imagine more people try to fix the problems and here in lies the problem. I will be the first to admit i'm ham fisted when it comes to model making so that route is not viable, only other option is buy to RTR. But I refuse to believe that I am that unlucky and that all the lemons find there way to my house. The only loco purchased this year that has not had running problems has been my Hornby Castle Earl St Germans (best we forget about the stem pipe being all bent).

 

I think my complaints are pretty genuine

 

What have DJM and Oxford got to do with Hornby?

 

 

For the record. From Hornby this year or so.

 

Twelve locomotives, three EMUs and twenty plus coaches purchased, mostly Maunsells.

 

 

Amount of damage. Zero.

Amount of derailments. Zero.

 

 

Makes you wonder doesn't it?

 

 

Jason

[Dunsignalling]

Interesting sub-assembly. Has that been done before in RTR?

Not into as many sections AFAIK, probably done to make it easier to do the complex livery though it will help with future variations to bunker etc.

 

I think the cab/bunker being separate is quite common.

 

John

[adb968008]

Interesting sub-assembly. Has that been done before in RTR?

Bachmanns Std4 2-6-4T and the 3mt 2-6-2t are built in a similar way (on those the cab/tanks, bunker and boiler are separate components.. in those cases, I don’t know why that was done as there no different variants I can think of (it’s not even useful for making a 77xx from the 3mt)).

 

However one myth the model does dispell is about being unable to keep the joints tight..until I dismantled it you couldn’t tell they were there, and after putting it back you can’t see them again. In addition to two body part screws, one each side of the part, they clip into slots on the chassis, which makes it sit tight.

Only two niggles with reassembly.. the handbrake in the cab is very tight to the boiler piece it took a few attempts to get it right without strafing it, the second is the whistle.. it doesn’t sit nicely on the cab roof when the roof is in the palm of your hand !

 

The dome and cab roof are also separate fittings. When removing it gently used my finger nail starting at the bunker and working forwards to edge it from the chassis, the body is thin no way would I suggest any metal tools to gain leverage.

It comes out easy enough though.

To remove the chassis, there’s two screws, one either side of the bogie, and two screws at the front.. one to remove the NEM pocket and another hidden underneath that pocket presumably this was done to give a screw under the boiler as the front screw if alone wouldn’t be strong enough in the frame and would be too big and come above the frame.

 

Cab detail FYI is fantastic, really worth having the body off to see it, and the windows are push fit, so are flush to the window, inside and out, so has no hangover plastic in the cab (though the front windows have gauge glasses on the inside too..but glass gauges are clear ! Oh and sprung buffers too.

 

 

As for an R1.. shorten the frame at the footplate end, and the bunker, bit of filing work to curve off the tanks ends..

4f 0-6-0 (5’2” wheeled chassis) and away you go for 31128 at least..

http://www.semgonline.com/steam/pics/mm_31128.jpg

But looking how modular it’s built, and the various other unexplained sprue marks, I can’t help thinking they have already thought about this and the 01, which all share common components.

Edited November 2, 2017 by adb968008

[dandrews2000]

QC

 

 

What have DJM and Oxford got to do with Hornby?

 

 

For the record. From Hornby this year or so.

 

Twelve locomotives, three EMUs and twenty plus coaches purchased, mostly Maunsells.

 

 

Amount of damage. Zero.

Amount of derailments. Zero.

 

 

Makes you wonder doesn't it?

 

 

Jason

 

Doesn't make me wonder, it make me think that I cannot be the only who has issue with QC and Hornby or other manufacturers for that matter. It annoys me more that these issues are present for the simple reason I only purchase normally two loco's a year One for birthday and one for Christmas so when these are faulty I get a little annoyed. Currently my entire fleet consist of twelve loco's and that's it and so each time a faulty one comes through I do get annoyed but very rarely voice my annoyance. But after this latest issue with two of Hornby's new H Class i'm more than annoyed i'm pretty pi**ed off which I feel is my right as the consumer who has paid for items that are not fit for purpose. The fact that someone else has been more fortunate with the models they have purchased is of little comfort to me or to anyone else for that matter who has a model with QC issues!

 

You Tw&t

Edited November 2, 2017 by dandrews2000

[toboldlygo]

Looking at my H today, I was wondering how hard it would be to get an SECR R 0-6-0T out of it.

 

My conclusion is, it doesn’t look that hard, if I removed then shortened the bunker (which is a separate piece), modified the tanks (which is also a separate piece), added some elements to the front wheel splashes, and cut the frame, where their is a mould Line, add some screws, where there are some screw indentations in the body, I could then swap for an 0-6-0 chassis..

 

Is it really that simple, and looking underneath it, it kinds of feels there’s a “cut along the dotted line” feel to doing it ?

 

An O1 doesn’t look hard either.

 

Such cruelty to a brand new loco, how would you like to be disassembled and displayed in such a way? 

 

Besides Loco's have feelings too   

[adb968008]

Such cruelty to a brand new loco, how would you like to be disassembled and displayed in such a way?

 

Besides Loco's have feelings too

The CME insisted on a partial strip down before acceptance into service.

Everyone wants to get lucky on a first date, H is no exception, one could say it was easy and willing to reveal its parts.

 

The two Duchesses behind the H however don’t seem to be as revealing, they are a different class, whilst attractive, they are stiff rigid and expensive, no challenge.

Edited November 2, 2017 by adb968008

[toboldlygo]

The CME insisted on a partial strip down before acceptance into service.

Everyone wants to get lucky on a first date, H is no exception, one could say it was easy and willing to reveal its parts.

 

The two Duchesses behind the H however don’t seem to be as revealing, they are a different class, whilst attractive, they are stiff rigid and expensive, no challenge.

 

I think Hornby need to supply you with the Loco in an Airfix Box

[adb968008]

I think Hornby need to supply you with the Loco in an Airfix Box

Oh Yes please !

 

If they supplied various body parts prepainted i’d be having fun all day long.

 

This new stuff is so much fun to assemble than the old days.

Edited November 2, 2017 by adb968008

[Pre Grouping fan]

Anyine tried to fit the brake rigging. All the location pins on mine seem too large, and how is the larger diameter bits meant to squeeze in the metal chassis?

[Nile]

The Hornby M7 body is made from more parts than a typical Airfix kit. The days of single piece body mouldings is long gone.

[3rd Rail Exile]

Anyine tried to fit the brake rigging. All the location pins on mine seem too large, and how is the larger diameter bits meant to squeeze in the metal chassis?

It was a bit of a squeeze but it got there eventually - luckily both the rigging and the location points were flexible enough for a bit of bending.  Agree the location pins are a tight fit, but they worked...  The fun bit was finding the two bigger holes for the smaller bits of the brake assembly, and then ensuring they were glued in straight.  Worth persevering though...

[toboldlygo]

The Hornby M7 body is made from more parts than a typical Airfix kit. The days of single piece body mouldings is long gone.

 

Maybe the Airifx Kits of old, but certainly not the newer ones tooled up under Hornby.

[toboldlygo]

Maybe the Airifx Kits of old, but certainly not the newer ones tooled up under Hornby.

 

Some examples, these are all 1:72 Scale all new toolings of WW2 Aircraft:

 

Hawker Hurricane Mk. 1 - 51 parts

 

Messerschmitt Me 262 - 65

 

Bristol Blenheim Mk. 1F - 156

 

Dornier Do17Z - 170

 

AW Whitley Mk V - 152

 

Heinkel He.111 P-2 - 151*

 

Avro Lancaster BI/BIII - 236*

 

Boeing B-17G Flying Fortress - 245

 

*No bombs included with these kits

[roythebus]

I've just been on the Hattons website and they've got the SECR liveried version in stock at just under £120, I've ordered one.

[bertiedog]

On the rocking on the rear drivers mentioned, all 044 locos tend to have this issue, which if dealt properly by the designer, just reduces the haulage, it does not cause derailment.

If there are sudden changes of gradient causing derailing, then frankly it is the sudden change, not the loco causing the problem.

Hornby have the balance point ahead of the rear driven axle, and testing on my test bench setup shows it would have to be from flat to a 1:18 slope, with no transitions, before the front wheels would leave the track.

Other points on QC are very valid, pickups unadjusted or missing, badly moulded gears etc, but make sure the complaint is valid.

The H is in every way very nice running, and powerful on the flat, but load and gradient can reduce the haulage far more than the 044 type.

Edited November 3, 2017 by bertiedog

[bertiedog]

Not possible with the Hornby design as it stands, there is a way to cure all issues with an 044, and that is to treat the drivers part of the chassis as a bogie, with the section allowed to pivot, but only fore and aft, not sideways. The bearings for the pivot goes under the footplate, with a rod running through the chassis.

 

The movement only needs to be about a mm each way. The motor either stays put and moves with the drivers, or is connected by a U/J.

It applies about 70% of the weight to the driving wheels.

 

The result is amazing, it behaves like a diesel chassis, always having all four drivers firmly on the track, and giving a steady smooth operation to the loco. The haulage shoots up dramatically, as much as three times more. Derailments are near impossible on gradient changes.

Stephen.

[Wickham Green]

Hornby website says December, my guess would be on the shelves for Warley.

Hattons tell me my Southern one's suddenly slipped from November to January ..... obviously didn't get on the boat and there isn't another for a month ! ................................  like everything else it'll get here when it gets here ( Hmm - the 'P' seem to to be due in January too ... and maybe the 'B4' too : could be a big parcel,).