Hornby dublo

[sagaguy]

Still being worked on,First side of tender lined & lettered & varnished to protect previous work on transfers whilst working on the other side of the tender.

 

            Ray.

[robmcg]

On 08/06/2019 at 19:50, Wolseley said:

I wouldn't pay £180 for one.  I can't remember what I paid for mine, but it was considerably less than that.  I think I was lucky more than anything else - whatever my maximum bid was, I remember thinking that it wouldn't be high enough, so I was rather surprised when I was the successful bidder.  I was even more surprised when it arrived and I saw how good the condition of it was, as the photos weren't very complimentary.  It seems that there was only one other person interested in acquiring it...... 

 

 

 

 

I don't know how long ago that was, but I have observed the prices reached on Ebay for mint Hornby Dublo items , especially the ones which are well-photographed and are in fact 'as new' even though 70 years old.  Such an engine today was a mint boxed Atholl with all bits and unmarked leaflets, unmarked, UKP255

 

There are some Dorchesters and Ludlow Castles for 'buy now' at similar and higher prices, but many here will know this market better than me.

 

As I recall Wrenn prices have been referred to in other threads as being 'ridiculous' and then plummeting, but I don't know how true this is.

 

I shall nevertheless keep my eyes open for a 'lucky' Dorchester because I think it a very attractive model, and a little play-wear doesn't worry me.

Edited June 9, 2019 by robmcg
correction

[Wolseley]

1 hour ago, robmcg said:

.....a little play-wear doesn't worry me.

 

Nor me.  Quite a few of my locos have been restored, touched up or repainted by me.  I am at present working on the rescue of a City of London, which I have converted to three rail.  The body I picked up for something like ‎£12 with minimal postage.  It had been very badly painted in GWR green and the number 111 and a GWR roundel stuck on the cabside.  I then waited for a suitable chassis to come up at a reasonable price (that took about 6 months) and paired it up with a scruffy Duchess of Montrose tender.  It is going to be the City of Bradford in LMS post-war black but with its BR number and BRITISH RAILWAYS on the tender.  It's almost finished now.  I'll post a photo when I'm done.

 

Next up is a City of Nottingham in BR experimental black.....

[robmcg]

Excellent stuff, Wolseley...  

 

by the way the only Wolseley car I ever owned was an 1100cc BMC version and it was excellent

 

 

as to Dorchester, I have not yet found one at a nice price, so created a pic using a Hattons s/h ad  I'm sure they won't mind, 

 

 

Picture edited, similar in Hornby best ever thread...  this one a smidgeon darker.

 

New models started arriving today, 2-6-4Ts, another Montrose, some rolling stock, and not a plastic wheel between them.   

[Wolseley]

Here is my Duchess of Atholl.  I have posted this photo or similar in another thread, but here it is anyway:

 

 

I bought it as a rather play worn non-runner for, I think, either $39 or $49, thinking that the parts might come in useful at some future date.  It was missing one buffer, the front of the footplate was bent and the paintwork and transfers were the worse for wear.  After fiddling about with the chassis, I realised that the reason it didn't run was that someone had screwed the adjusting nut at the top of the armature as far down as it would go.  After cleaning, adjusting and oiling, it took off and it's still one of the best runners I have.  I started off trying to retouch the chips and scratches but there were so many I ended up having to repaint virtually everything above the handrail, as well as the usual bits, like the sides of the footplate and the cylinders.  The end result looked quite good though

 

Then, a year or two later, I got hold of another Atholl, which I was going to paint in LMS wartime black (as the City of Leicester) but, when it arrived, although the tender was very scruffy, the loco was in very good condition, especially the nameplate and number transfers, which were almost as good as new.  So I swapped my original Atholl body with the new one after touching up a few scratches and scuff marks.  The photo above is of the original chassis and tender (the initials on the tender are not the original Dublo ones, but are from Fox Transfers) after restoring and fitting the second loco body.

 

 

 

Edited June 10, 2019 by Wolseley
Correcting typo

[Prometheus]

Beautiful, they have such presence, and the fact that it runs well shows the quality of the original engineering.

 

I acquired a play-worn, non-running two-rail City of London a while back  for £15. Apart from a filthy, fluff encrusted motor, it too had an over-tightened top bearing nut, massively so. Cleaned up and properly adjusted [luckily, the armature shaft had not bent] it runs beautifully in its new and incorrect guise as Duchess of Atholl.

 

I've posted this elsewhere, but another won't hurt!

 

 

All of the plastic wheel-sets have been changed, as have the front buffers and the rear coupling. Otherwise, all is as was.

 

Tony

Edited June 10, 2019 by Prometheus
Grammatical errors.

[sagaguy]

Ex works,on shed,late 1947.

 

                  Ray.

[Wolseley]

On 10/06/2019 at 13:26, robmcg said:

Excellent stuff, Wolseley...  

 

by the way the only Wolseley car I ever owned was an 1100cc BMC version and it was excellent

 

I tend to have this habit of having too many projects on the go at any one given time, so most of my Duchesses still need a bit of work, but most of them are around 90-95% finished.  I'll have to take photographs of them as I finish them and post them here.  I'm about to replace the tender initials on my City of Leicester (I put them a bit too low down the first time and it just doesn't look right) and, after that, all I'll need to do to it is give the tender a quick spray with semi-gloss clear.  The model depicts the engine as built, complete with streamlined tender.  It's basically a plain black repaint of an Atholl, but with a Triang/Hornby streamlined tender body fitted to the Dublo tender chassis.

 

This is going off topic, so I'll keep it brief.  Yes, I do have a Wolseley - a 1962 15/60, which I've had since 2004 (in case some UK forum members think I got the date of manufacture wrong, the 15/60 may have been discontinued in the UK in 1961, but it continued in production in Australia until around February of 1962, and my car was the 48th built in 1962 and has the highest body number known to the Wolseley Car Club of NSW).

[5050]

Again off topic but my Dad ran several Wolseleys, starting with a 4/44 then 15/60, 16/60 and ending with (possibly?) an 1800 version?  I had a 1500 until some numpty in an old Vauxhall (uninsured and slightly intoxicated) rearranged its design for me!

[Wolseley]

On 12/06/2019 at 22:51, Wolseley said:

I'm about to replace the tender initials on my City of Leicester (I put them a bit too low down the first time and it just doesn't look right) and, after that, all I'll need to do to it is give the tender a quick spray with semi-gloss clear.

 

Well, I didn't do it yesterday, but I did do it tonight.  I have only ever used waterslide transfers and when I went to get the sheet with seriffed LMS tender initials, I found I didn't have enough - I was one M short.  I did have an HMRS Methfix sheet of LMS locomotive insignia, initials and numbers I bought quite some time ago, but I had never used any Methfix transfers before, and I have seen comments about them being difficult to apply.  As by then it was getting close to midnight, I decided to put it off for another day.  That other day was today, and I must say that I didn't have any difficulty using Methfix transfers, and the result looks rather good, with no carrier film.  I'll  give the tender a quick spray with semi-gloss clear some time tomorrow and post a photo.

 

Now to finish lining the tender of the City of Bradford.....

[sagaguy]

A quartet of my refinished City & Duchess locos,City of Liverpool has been finished in BR green for obvious reasons.

 

                         Ray.

[robmcg]

These are lovely models indeed!

 

I think the A4 shape is particularly good.  I'm a bit limited in my modelling and painting achievements so far (never say never!  ) and being a new 'returnee' to the Hornby Dublo fold have simply bought via Ebay some nice mildly play-worn but tidy models including this A4 60016 'Silver King' with late crest, and an evergreen BR 46232 'Duchess of Montrose'... both in what I think is the factory matt finish.

 

I never know how tolerant people are of my enjoyment of dding a background, especially given my laziness in using the same one again, so here are both engines as photographed and edited...   I hope to build a modest layout or diorama some day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I've taken the anti-addiction anti-madness pills but they don't seem to have worked.

 

The A4 was about UKP55, the Duchess UKP45 with carriages wagons and much track.   Don't ask about the postage to NZ ! These were combined with other similar purchases without my knowledge or consent by the postal agent, making them liable for a pile of taxes and fees...   but the pain is lessening as time goes on, with a 2-6-4T next on the list to photograph, an who knows, I might even attempt some new angles and effects,   heaven forbid! 

 

They give great pleasure, so they certainly 'work'.

[sagaguy]

A few more of my Dublo never produced models & what you can do with British Trix Mk1 coaches,

 

                               Ray.

[Wolseley]

Here are a couple of my Duchesses that aren't quite as Meccano Ltd intended.

 

The first one is a bit of a mixture, cobbled together from bits I have accumulated.  The City of Leicester, one of the non-streamlined locomotives built during the war and fitted with streamlined tenders (the story goes that the tenders were built first and then the decision was made not to streamline the locomotives).  The body is a repainted Duchess of Atholl, locomotive and tender chassis are from a Duchess of Montrose, and the tender body is from a Tri-ang/Hornby streamlined Coronation.

 

 

The second one is a bit more straightforward.  A City of London, three-railed and refinished in green as the City of Edinburgh.

 

 

 

 

Edited June 14, 2019 by Wolseley
Corrected typo.

[railroadbill]

 

 

This one doesn't seem to come up very much, the plastic bodied D8000.  A 3 rail one,  it's just sitting on the main layout.

Rather play worn as Rob would say,  but still runs ok on the "proper" track.  It was a present from my grandmother (over 55 years ago?) so I've hung on to it.

 

I've read that Hornby had a lot of trouble with the 2 rail version of this and couldn't get them to run very well for some reason. 

[railroadbill]

 

Here's the other end!

 

 

[Wolseley]

5 minutes ago, railroadbill said:

I've read that Hornby had a lot of trouble with the 2 rail version of this and couldn't get them to run very well for some reason. 

 

The problem with the 2 rail version that led to its early deletion from the catalogue was poor current collection, mainly due to the use of traction tyres and the non-conductive characteristics of rubber.....

[Il Grifone]

Everyone else put the traction tyres on  one side and then used the other to pick up the current. The traction tyres on one axle can cause 'grabbing' even on the 3 rail version.

 

Mine copy the prototype and can run in tandem nose to nose. I have both D8000 and D8017, but they are both 3 rail. D8017 has her magnet reversed so that she runs backwards, as a 2 rail conversion would do. (She was assembled from a spare 2 rail body and a 3 rail chassis.)

 

The roof paint does tend to flake off and is quite hard to mix the shade for a repaint.

Edited June 14, 2019 by Il Grifone

[railroadbill]

Traction tyres just on the 2rail insulated power bogie wheels might have done it. Guess it was getting too late for h-d to do much development on the 2r version 

It's also light with the plastic body, the 3r one needed the traction tyres it would seem. The die cast bodied steam locos were heavy and pulled well which was just as well with the older stock that didn't run freely.

 

I think the plastic type 1 was the newest h-d loco I had. However, did the co-bo, deltic and shunter have die cast bodies?

Edited June 14, 2019 by railroadbill
Typo

[Wolseley]

 

Hornby, according to Michael Foster's book, did consider using the Hornby Acho Bo-Bo chassis instead of their own, but nothing came of it.  They decided to drop the 2 rail version from their range instead.

 

The Co-Bo and Deltic had die-cast metal bodies.  The other plastic bodied locomotives in the Dublo range were the diesel shunter, R1 0-6-0T and E3002 (AL1) as well as the two "starter set" locos.

 

[Dublodad]

My experience with the Bo-Bo and the Wrenn Brighton Belle is that oiling the non powered bogie axles insulates the axles ro  the bogie frame, causing loss of conductivity. Cleaning out the oil cures the problem, what is required is conductive oil!!!

The Co-Co and Co-Bo chassis have a plunger running in the axles.

[railroadbill]

19 hours ago, Il Grifone said:

 

The roof paint does tend to flake off and is quite hard to mix the shade for a repaint.

 

I got a while ago some Railmatch "diesel loco roof grey" paint, which didn't quite match the remaining roof/footplate paint.  One of those "do it one day" projects.  The 3 r usually lives in a box and comes out occasionally.

[railroadbill]

 

The second Hornby Dublo loco I had. A classic.  From the original Hornby Dublo to Wrenn, could this be one of the longest produced model locos?

Plus the brakedown crane, still got the jacks! (Plus a knot in the string, I've just noticed).

[Wolseley]

The problem I have found with running the breakdown crane is that, if you have any TPO apparatus set up (and I have two, one on the outer circuit and one on the inner), the crane handle on one side (I think it's the right side when looking forward) must be in the down position otherwise it hits the hook for the mailbag.  It also looks quite unrealistic when it's going around standard curves although, that said, it's a very impressive beast when it's just sitting in a siding.

[Wolseley]

And, as we were talking about Dorchesters earlier, here's mine.  Not mint, but in above average condition, and a very good runner.

 

 

And also, just to show that I have a few items that are not Dublo, here's a Trix Twin coach I acquired last year on eBay.  It was a lot of five coaches, two LMS, two LNER and one Southern, all rather sad and battered, but with all the paintwork on the sides in very good condition, and all with coarse wheels and pre-war couplings.  I put in a bid at the starting price (£12 I think it was) and, surprise, surprise, mine was the only bid.  The cost of postage was surprisingly low too (I can't remember the exact amount) considering that the package came from the UK and weighed a fair bit.  The Southern coach was missing the underfloor detail (what there is of it!) but I managed to pick up a set a while later from another eBay vendor for a minimal cost.  Obviously I'll have to change the wheels and couplings before I can run it on Dublo track, but that should be a pretty straightforward job.  One of those restoration projects I'm going to get around to some time or other......

 

 

Looking at that photo just now, after it uploaded, I realised that the coach is parked in front of my breakdown crane - how's that for a coincidence?