GWR-fan Posted April 13, 2020 Share Posted April 13, 2020 (edited) I purchased one of these several years ago but never even took the opportunity to run it. When I tested it the other day for possible sale it ran OK but I decided to check the chassis for a small issue in running quality. I had expected an ex-Dapol ringfield type motor but was surprised with a black can motor drive. I assume that the Legends Castle was upgraded when the Railroad County class was released. Given my total dislike of the flawed Dapol/Hornby ringfield drive I was wondering if other Castle class releases received this upgraded drive as a possible replacement for older ringfield Hornby models. I am aware of the retooled Castle with its superior can motor drive but was thinking of a replacement drive that would fit the earlier ex-Dapol Hornby body tooling. Edited April 13, 2020 by GWR-fan Additional info Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
lofty1966 Posted April 13, 2020 Share Posted April 13, 2020 11 hours ago, GWR-fan said: I purchased one of these several years ago but never even took the opportunity to run it. When I tested it the other day for possible sale it ran OK but I decided to check the chassis for a small issue in running quality. I had expected an ex-Dapol ringfield type motor but was surprised with a black can motor drive. I assume that the Legends Castle was upgraded when the Railroad County class was released. Given my total dislike of the flawed Dapol/Hornby ringfield drive I was wondering if other Castle class releases received this upgraded drive as a possible replacement for older ringfield Hornby models. I am aware of the retooled Castle with its superior can motor drive but was thinking of a replacement drive that would fit the earlier ex-Dapol Hornby body tooling. Several Castles have the can motor. You would need a new chassis block as the ringfield drives the rear wheels and the can drives the centre. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
GWR-fan Posted April 13, 2020 Author Share Posted April 13, 2020 (edited) 8 hours ago, lofty1966 said: Several Castles have the can motor. You would need a new chassis block as the ringfield drives the rear wheels and the can drives the centre. The Legends Castle uses the old ex-Dapol body tooling as distinct from the later retooled body with the super detailed drive with five-pole motor. The Legends model has a black can motor drive replacing the old ringfield model but fits the old tooling body. This chassis is totally different to the later super detail drive. I was wondering if the company had fitted this drive to other ex-Dapol tooled Castle bodies. Edited April 13, 2020 by GWR-fan Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
lofty1966 Posted April 14, 2020 Share Posted April 14, 2020 (edited) 7 hours ago, GWR-fan said: The Legends Castle uses the old ex-Dapol body tooling as distinct from the later retooled body with the super detailed drive with five-pole motor. The Legends model has a black can motor drive replacing the old ringfield model but fits the old tooling body. This chassis is totally different to the later super detail drive. I was wondering if the company had fitted this drive to other ex-Dapol tooled Castle bodies. Sorry I didn’t make it clear enough. As far as I can ascertain: There are two different “old style” chassis’ (three if you count the original unpowered chassis from Airfix) one has a Ringfield motor mount and one has a centre drive for the can. The Ringfield chassis is the oldest which was also used on the 1000xx Counties. When the can motor was introduced the Castle got it's "own" chassis and that continued until the "new tooling" Castles. There are two “old style” bodies as well. One with a fire iron tunnel and one without. The new tooling Castle uses a longer chassis that will not fit the old style bodies. You can fit the New tooling Castle cylinder blocks and metal valve gear/slide bars to the older chassis’ with a little bit of trimming of the cylinder block mount. If you are really brave (stupid) you can just about squeeze a new tooling front bogie under the older chassis but it is major work and not a lot of clearance in the vertical plane despite a lot of filing of the chassis block and the bogie. The new tooling Castles wheel spacing is also slightly different as well. There are two types of wheels fitted amongst the new tooling Castles. The very first release of the new tooling has its own unique wheel “R” no. All releases after it appear to have a new “R” number. I have no idea what Hornby changed as there are no spares available for the latest issues. Comprehensive enough? Edited April 14, 2020 by lofty1966 Updated/corrected info Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
lofty1966 Posted April 14, 2020 Share Posted April 14, 2020 Airfix body on Old chassis with new tooling cylinders and sidebars etc. Also new tooling front bogie. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
GWR-fan Posted April 14, 2020 Author Share Posted April 14, 2020 Many thanks. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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