Improving Hornby's LNER A4s (4468 'Mallard' 1986-1988)

[gregpokes1/Camden]

Hi, all!  I'm beginning a new thread here on improving Hornby's OO gauge LNER A4s.  More specifically, I am improving my own stock example of Hornby's 2018 release of the R3676 'Mallard' in as-preserved livery.  PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE post in here with your own tips, tricks, and project related to any OO gauge A4!  My goal is to detail my own 'Mallard' to 1986-1988 specifications when she ran.  I've got Brassmasters detail parts and front bogie etch coming soon along with a "MALLARD'88" headboard and "RESTORATION SPONSORED BY SCARBOROUGH BOROUGH COUNCIL" custom etches within the next few weeks.  The main connecting rod and crosshead have been replaced on both sides of my model using parts from a Bachmann A1.  The only other modifications are painted details.  Paint REALLY can bring a model to LIFE!  I've installed a speaker into the tender and am waiting for a SWD ESU Loksound V4 decoder to arrive.  The speaker is from a donor MTH HO scale steam loco (Arguably the best speakers for size in ANY OO/HO loco) and the tender shell is being sealed off as the speaker's baffle.  A support coach (FNRM 35362) that ran behind her during the mid-late 1980s is also being customized through TMC models.  The cylinder drain cock pipes WILL be replaced once the Brassmasters bits have arrived and will be made from copper wire.  This project is looking up!

[DCB]

From looking at loads of photos of Mallard (and other A4s)  in preservation service I feel lowering the height of the tender to match the loco would be a good start.  It seems to be modelled with an empty tender both water and  coal. The handrails on loco and tender should be in line and the top of the tender sides where they bend should be in line with the top of the cab side and the tender running plate  should be very nearly in line with the loco running ate below the cab  .This may not be a straightforward mod probably because the tender has its roots in the 1970s Triang Flying Scotsman which had a running plate and everything below it  1mm higher than scale.

There should also be a storm sheet between loco and tender. 

Edited March 6, 2019 by DavidCBroad

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

Have Hornby corrected the fault of different size apertures on the double chimney? if not a few minutes careful work with a fine rattail file to open out the rear aperture to match the front is one simple way, or alternatively fit a liner inside the front aperture to reduce it to match the rear.

 

6 hours ago, DavidCBroad said:

From looking at loads of photos of Mallard (and other A4s)  in preservation service I feel lowering the height of the tender to match the loco would be a good start...

With the small caution to first check the adjustment required with the loco and tender on rails, because assessment standing on flanges  depends on the manufacturer making these consistent on all wheelsets. I do wonder where this mismatch crept in. It's been a decade or more since my last Hornby A4 purchase, and none have this 'high tender' problem.

 

I would think to correct by deepening the inside bearings on the tender. But where do the tender buffers stand above railtop on this model would be my first check point for what is possible.

[DCB]

Looking more closely there seems to be a hugely over scale running plate moulding at the top of the tender chassis  which does not exist on the corridor tenders and looks like a very thin maybe 1" strip on the non corridors.   Cutting this away and lowering the body should cure the height issue.   Shouldn't really have to in this day and age.

[gregpokes1/Camden]

I may be replacing the chimney on mine and swap it for a metal one.  As for the tender, I think the replicated tyres are a bit too thick and makes the tender higher than it ought to be.  Possibly an easy fix with ultrascale wheels?  Reason for the metal chimney for me would be the addition of a fan-driven synchronized puffing smoke unit.  A Lokprogrammer will have to purchased first, though and I've already got an I/O expansion board.  Getting 4468 detailed and running with sound is my priority before smoke, though.