Hornby APT (2020 tooling)

[WestRail642fan]

19 hours ago, PaulRhB said:

No easier, these are flat from the pivot so don’t bend like those. All it takes is gently aligning the two

Note they are identical but one is upside down,

 

slide one over the other until they are interlocked like this. 

 

Then grasp the bogies sideframes firmly and push together.

 

Do the same to pull apart.  

i wonder how easy it would be to swap out the stock coupling with something like NEM? Asking as idea i had was running the APT as an APT-Q using the new tooled MK4 DVT

[RJ82]

Received my 7 car set today, just set it up and got it going.
 

Firstly, nothing is damaged on arrival which is a pleasant change - the last 4 or 5 Hornby  products I’ve received were. For me, that’s the biggest win which is a bit of a sad state of affairs! Most of the coupling wasn’t too painful, with the exception of the two NDM’s, for some reason that was an absolute pain.
 

My only criticism, unless someone points out it was prototypical of course, is that Hornby seem to have used two different temperatures for the internal lighting strips. The two DTS’ are a nice warm white, which I would have thought was correct, whereas the the two TBF’s appear to be a cooler colour. Not entirely sure, maybe it’s the different seat colours that’s throwing me off a bit. Will save the coach packs for another night!

[Wolf27]

1 hour ago, scumcat said:

I believe this is more to do with the different colour interiors and the way it reflects the light.

It is. I checked mine at the weekend. If you look up into the coach you will see they are the same. It’s the blue vs red seats that make the difference. Painting the seating units may mitigate some

of the variance. 

[RJ82]

1 hour ago, scumcat said:

I believe this is more to do with the different colour interiors and the way it reflects the light.

Agreed, I think it was just the light. Thanks for confirming though.

[NewSiding]

yes the pantographs are very cheap looking.  I've seen it on the NDM I have.  The pantograph is like something from a £10 toy, dreadful value for money.  I'm still trying to work out how to raise it without breaking it.  I've unclipped it as per the instructions, but it starts to bend in the wrong place when I try and lift it.  Perhaps I'll have another go tomorrow.  For my 5 car pack I have also now found out from my retailer (who have been informed by Hornby) that for DCC sound, it requires 2 sound decoders, 1 in each DT, otherwise it won't work.  Surely it should be designed to have one sound decoder in the NDM to be prototypical.

Edited January 24, 2022 by NewSiding

[Wolf27]

52 minutes ago, NewSiding said:

yes the pantographs are very cheap looking.  I've seen it on the NDM I have.  The pantograph is like something from a £10 toy, dreadful value for money.  I'm still trying to work out how to raise it without breaking it.  I've unclipped it as per the instructions, but it starts to bend in the wrong place when I try and lift it.  Perhaps I'll have another go tomorrow.  For my 5 car pack I have also now found out from my retailer (who have been informed by Hornby) that for DCC sound, it requires 2 sound decoders, 1 in each DT, otherwise it won't work.  Surely it should be designed to have one sound decoder in the NDM to be prototypical.

Take look at this pic and note the part I have circled, you need to remove part of this to get the pan to rise further. I feel It’s a design flaw.

 

[stonojnr]

14 hours ago, Wolf27 said:

Do you not use social

media? There are some really grumpy people on there! I’m a little more pragmatic and look to fix any issues. Does that make me a bad person and the evil Hornby empire will never learn?
 

controversially I have moved all the capacitors and didn’t shout about it from the rooftops. Am I doing this wrong?

 

I was intruiged though by OORails video that moving the capacitors, certainly into the gangway ends, appeared to upset the weight balance of the coaches enough as it put more pressure on to the bogie which led to some derailments. Im kind of minded to leave them where they are for the time being,until more running time experience is gained by people

 

[PaulRhB]

1 hour ago, Wolf27 said:

Take look at this pic and note the part I have circled, you need to remove part of this to get the pan to rise further. I feel It’s a design flaw.

 

How high do you want it? They didn’t rise very high in reality most of the time, I’d say that’s about right for a lot of catenary. 
 

Richard Hugo on Flickr

 

 

Edited January 25, 2022 by PaulRhB

[E100]

Overall I'm very pleased with the set. The paint is generally perfect for me. The data panel on the power car is v/. impressive. Looks the part. Most of the capacitors have been placed somewhat sensibly so won't require moving just maybe camouflaging a bit on the coaches I've got (no intermediate pure seating trailers). It's great they are allowing you to build full sets with all the different coaches. The APT-U coach is probably the best detailed one but the capacitor really frustrates me on that one and I think that will be the one I do look to change. That being said the price does mean this had to be the flagship Hornby product and I don't think it is.

 

Improvements for me

• I will be taking this on and off the track a bit and therefore the propitiatory couplings are not ideal. I wish they had at least put NEM pockets on and through wiring would have obviously have been preferable.
• The etched grills whilst nice are not fitted as well as I'd like with a varying gap around some.
• Cab lighting and 1 DCC chip. It's 2022 guys come on.
• The pantograph isn't great all round really. 
• Pickup improvement.

In short I've banged on about it previously but now having it has confirmed that the through wiring of this would have been a substantial improvement. It may be that longer term I look to do this.

[boxbrownie]

14 hours ago, 30801 said:

 

Don't worry. He's busy making sure details are correct.

Measuring the capacitors?  

[boxbrownie]

9 hours ago, stonojnr said:

 

I was intruiged though by OORails video that moving the capacitors, certainly into the gangway ends, appeared to upset the weight balance of the coaches enough as it put more pressure on to the bogie which led to some derailments. Im kind of minded to leave them where they are for the time being,until more running time experience is gained by people

 

I am very surprised it would be the weight of a capacitor causing issues.

[Wolf27]

25 minutes ago, boxbrownie said:

I am very surprised it would be the weight of a capacitor causing issues.

I wonder if the pick up wiring was snagged when the coach was put back together. This happened to a couple I had apart with the pick up wires being pulled tight when I put it all back together. I don’t think the capacitor weighs enough to make such a difference.

[Wolf27]

9 hours ago, PaulRhB said:

How high do you want it? They didn’t rise very high in reality most of the time, I’d say that’s about right for a lot of catenary. 
 

Richard Hugo on Flickr

 

 

I can’t remember why I did the mod now but I see your point. 

[boxbrownie]

3 minutes ago, Wolf27 said:

I wonder if the pick up wiring was snagged when the coach was put back together. This happened to a couple I had apart with the pick up wires being pulled tight when I put it all back together. I don’t think the capacitor weighs enough to make such a difference.

That was my first thought as well.

 

And the layout isn’t the most level I’ve seen, some parts you can actually see the carriages “bucking” as they cross a section.

Edited January 25, 2022 by boxbrownie

[SamThomas]

Someone please tell me that the pantograph is not made of plastic - it certainly looks it.

[PaulRhB]

26 minutes ago, SamThomas said:

Someone please tell me that the pantograph is not made of plastic -

Ok,
It’s not made from plastic  . . 

 

26 minutes ago, SamThomas said:

it certainly looks it.

it’s plastic with metal wire . . .

 

 
 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited January 25, 2022 by PaulRhB

[SamThomas]

19 minutes ago, PaulRhB said:

Ok,
It’s not made from plastic  . . 

 

it’s plastic with metal wire . . .

 

 
 

 

 

 

 

 

So the shiny bits & spring are metal & the rest is plastic ?

[Dragonfly]

 

 

A little running session, following the obligatory body swap.

 

 

[Dragonfly]

Of course, there is one coach that wants to lean when it shouldn't, but as noted above, quite prototypical.

 

Additional: On further investigation, it would appear that the bogie of the neighbouring coach is a bit warped. I@ve been able to straighten it out about 75% or so, but it's still not right. But thankfully this is only affecting one item out of 14.

 

Edited January 25, 2022 by Dragonfly

[boxbrownie]

13 minutes ago, Dragonfly said:

Of course, there is one coach that wants to lean when it shouldn't, but as noted above, quite prototypical.

I cannot help thinking your just making excuses now 

[WestRail642fan]

its arrived.

I did how ever had to re attatch the pantograph on the non powered NDM as ot had unclipped from its base

[WestRail642fan]

just put the NDM on a oval of track on its own and the motor started smoking, it 

[NewSiding]

4 hours ago, Wolf27 said:

I can’t remember why I did the mod now but I see your point. 

thanks both.

I had another look.  I found that the lower arm wasn't raising at all.  I had to carefully manoeuver a piece on the lower arm around a piece on the base.  Have put a photo up showing with red circle. The upper arm falls down easily.  I've also included in the picture the pantograph from a budget model for comparison.  I can't decide if the pantograph on the premium model is better quality or not.  Perhaps it is very slightly. 

[Dragonfly]

Oh, and to answer a question from a few pages back, the overall length of a 14-car set, I make to be 392 cm.

[letterspider]

14 minutes ago, NewSiding said:

thanks both.

I had another look.  I found that the lower arm wasn't raising at all.  I had to carefully manoeuver a piece on the lower arm around a piece on the base.  Have put a photo up showing with red circle. The upper arm falls down easily.  I've also included in the picture the pantograph from a budget model for comparison.  I can't decide if the pantograph on the premium model is better quality or not.  Perhaps it is very slightly. 

 

Take a look at the pantographs on the Accurascale Class 92 or the Bachmann 90 - a good quality and precise pantograph can be done in metal but my guess is it would add £10 - 20 to the motor car.

Mind you after upwards of £400 you are not going to quibble over £10-20 provided you smile every time you look at your model?

 

 

Edited January 25, 2022 by letterspider