Hornby Patriot

[Black5]

Hi,

Back in late November I asked a question regarding a loco that suddenly had lost it`s drive between motor and gears.

I had several people kindly giving me suggestions as to what the problem might be.

 To cut a long story short, after a phone call to Hornby, I sent the loco back to them to look at.

I received the loco back at the weekend and it is now running again.

Bearing in mind I`d had this loco for some time, therefore, way out of any guarantee, I found that Hornby had put a new chassis in, provided me with a new decoder and rebuilt a bit of damage that happened during transit to them.

To be honest, I thought I`d get a reply saying a repair would be not worth it, but to have all that done and not be charged! was a big surprise and a great way to start the modelling year.

So, thank you Hornby, it`s nice to be able to say something positive about a firm rather than a lot of negative things as happens most of the time these days.

 

Happy New Year to one and all.

 

Jim.

 

[ianLMS]

I am very glad Hornby was able to help out like that - nice to have some good news and kudos for a major manufacturer instead a wave of complaints and negative comments. 

[Puggers]

I agree with Jim that Hornby's service department is second to none as I have now sent three locos to them in the last couple of years and, in only one of them, one of the first Chinese West Countrys, was I charged a very reasonable £20 for a new chassis. My latest one was a Duke of Gloucester which I bought when they were first released and had started running as if there was something binding at a particular point (when going forwards, of course, in reverse was fine). They fitted a new motor and valve gear as well as a motor and returned in within 10 days at no charge. This is in complete contrast to the service department of the other major manufacturer(B*****n) who, when I sent a 'screeching' J72 back to them, returned it, having supposedly oiled & serviced it, only to find it, if anything, worse than before and charged me nearly £30 for the privilege!. When I rang them, they said that it was the best they could do and there was nothing further to be done. Needless to say, I will not send them anything else in future. And the J72? It now makes a nice shelf ornament!

 

Richard

[phil-b259]

I have a question regarding a Hornby Patriot. A friend sent me this which shows that the metal around the motor has broken. Has this happened to anyone else and how might it be fixed? The locomotive does not run, possibly because of this.C96466B0-74C4-413B-A120-5D51F4EACD00.png

 

Looks like Mazak rot / Zinc Pest setting in.

 

Unfortunately there is nothing anyone can do to stop this (i.e. repair it) as the entire metal component will continue to disintegrate as seen with a number of other models. In such cases the only solution is a new metal chassis......

 

See

 

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/109803-mazak-rot-arrghhh/

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/127907-chassis-rot-in-grange/

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/118381-m7-mazak-rot/

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/98918-Hornby-t9-broken-motor-housing-retainer/

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

I have a question regarding a Hornby Patriot. A friend sent me this which shows that the metal around the motor has broken. Has this happened to anyone else and how might it be fixed? The locomotive does not run, possibly because of this.C96466B0-74C4-413B-A120-5D51F4EACD00.png

 

Or even, that fault is definitely the cause of it being a non-runner.

 

Side note, this failure doesn't require mazak rot to occur, although if that problem is also present the failure will happen earlier. The root cause of the failure is a seriously inept design of clamp which applies force to a relatively brittle metal component distant from the point where it has to do its work retaining the worm gear end of the motor: and has a nice right angle stress raiser cast into it, just to make sure it has a good chance of breaking.

 

I have been glueing in all the Hornby motors retained in this way since first seeing this 'design' on the 2004 introduction of the A4 pacific, and thinking 'NBG', not had a failure so far. With old fashioned Evostick bonding the motor underside to the chassis block the 'clamp' is effectively relieved of doing any mechanical work, it can be left off if desired provided you don't mind the gear train lubricant being thrown about inside.

 

Happily Hornby ceased using this style of motor retainer on new introductions from the introduction of their loco drive Britannia, late 2006, and now use what are mechanically more competent arrangements. But they haven't gone back to revise the earlier arrangement...