Hornby Class 423 4-VEP

[Xerces Fobe2]

I would imagine given the current economic climate that this change might not be high on Hornby's agenda as I would think they were focus on areas where they can generate more income which new models. I would also think that they might consider carrying out some other improvements at the same such as the front end and the bogies.

 

XF

Edited September 11, 2012 by Xerces Fobe2

[Removed a/c]

Is it too impertinant and impolite to enquire as to whether there is any news regarding the promised corrected Vep and/or the replacement interiors?

 

OO passengers need to know!

 

Gerry ;O)))

 

 

I would suggest they take the bus, they may get to their destination a little quicker that way

[33212]

Any news on a blue grey vep???

[Gwiwer]

Any news on a blue grey vep???

 

Yes. They're available for pre-order at the retailers. The Liverpool Store also suggests delivery within the last few weeks of this year.

[Guest dubdee1000]

Adding my tuppenth..........

 

I bought a VEP off ebay (too good a price etc) and didn't encounter the derailing that some suffer, but did have running issues - stuttery, dramatic acceleration and deceleration

 

Ploughing through 58 pages in this thread helped somewhat as i changed the CV settings, but not enough. Next step was to fiddle with the motor and i took note of some of the 'Margate Modifications members have reported. However, switching the traction tyres to the diagonal arrangement, whilst it improved the pickup, caused an awful lot of lateral juddering, to the extent that it threw itself off the track. (that was in addition to the wires breaking off and needing to be resoldered) Switching the traction tyres to the same side (eg left), eliminated the juddering and performance remained reasonably good, but at the cost of poorer pickup. I think this is perhaps going to be the best of a bad job. For a model that continues to retail at around £140, its a poor show

[brushman47544]

Any news on a blue grey vep???

Yes. They're available for pre-order at the retailers. The Liverpool Store also suggests delivery within the last few weeks of this year.

 

Now showing on the Hornby delayed products list for June.

[Gwiwer]

Which in theory gives them more time to fix some of the issues but will they? Watch this space .........

[John M Upton]

They were supposed to be producing a corrected compartment corridor internal wall part with the blue/grey VEP production run for retrofitting to the earlier releases so presumably this has been delayed as well.

 

Given the curates egg that the VEP quickly became upon initial release and now this lengthy delay coupled with the fact that you can barely give them away now - well unless you break it up and sell it in individual parts on Ebay that is - I would prefer it if Hornby forgot about this model now, put it out of its (and our) collective misery and either started again from scratch or left it to someone else to do.

[andyman7]

I would prefer it if Hornby forgot about this model now, put it out of its (and our) collective misery and either started again from scratch or left it to someone else to do.

 

Hang on, I'm actually waiting for the blue-grey one. Once the solid corridors are dealt with, it is to me passable. As someone who wrestled with horrors of the MTK kits 25 years ago, I can live with this!

[33212]

Hello, I am waiting for a blue grey one....Hornby can manufacture one better than I could ever hope to get from a kit.....I can put up with a few errors.

 

Matt

[miles73128]

Hello, I am waiting for a blue grey one....Hornby can manufacture one better than I could ever hope to get from a kit.....I can put up with a few errors.

 

Matt

 

Well said Matt! Yes there are a few errors (cab front), but overall it looks fab in my display.

[The Evil Bus Driver]

At some point soon, after my house move, I will have a go at making some new gangway connectors with the door moved forward correctly, using resin moulding techniques and post the results up here.

[kipford]

coupled with the fact that you can barely give them away now

Do not call £139 still at Hattons barely giving them away? Only paid £124 for mine last year? Yes I will buy another at some point.

[John M Upton]

On Ebay they are struggling to reach eighty quid, in fact I am still puzzled as to why the box shifters are not discounting them as per the Bachmann CEP's as they just are not moving.

Edited December 10, 2012 by John M Upton

[Karhedron]

On Ebay they are struggling to reach eighty quid, in fact I am still puzzled as to why the box shifters are not discounting them as per the Bachmann CEP's as they just are not moving.

How do you know they are not selling? Perhaps the big box shifters feel they are selling at a sufficient rate that they do not require any further discouting.

[phil gollin]

.

 

So, any news of a 4-VEP re-vamp?

 

Seemingly no new one in 2013 ???????????????

 

.

[brushman47544]

.

 

So, any news of a 4-VEP re-vamp?

 

Seemingly no new one in 2013 ???????????????

 

.

 

The 4 VEP in Blue/Grey originally earmarked for this year but now delayed until apparently June 2013 is still shown on the Hornby website as "New", so it won't have been dropped. Presumably the internal corridor partition windows in the DTCs will still be upgraded as advised by SK.

[phil gollin]

.

 

Thanks

 

.

[Xerces Fobe2]

With 2BIL having a much improved motor drive and chassis I hope that Hornby will consier upgrading the 4VEP to the same standard, however how many RMweb members would be interested in purchacing an upgraded model?

 

XF

[br-nse-fan]

With 2BIL having a much improved motor drive and chassis I hope that Hornby will consier upgrading the 4VEP to the same standard, however how many RMweb members would be interested in purchacing an upgraded model?

 

XF

 

If Hornby made the upgraded power bogies available as a simple (?) swap out, I would gladly pay for one. That being said, I've not had the problems with my NSE one that a lot of people have had in terms of running quality.

[SRman]

If (we are speculating a bit here) the 2BIL mech is better it will no doubt soon become available from the spares purveyors such as Peter's Spares or East Kent Models (no connection to either). Hopefully it will be, as br-nse-fan suggests, a straight clip-in swap.

[Ceptic]

With 2BIL having a much improved motor drive and chassis I hope that Hornby will consier upgrading the 4VEP to the same standard, however how many RMweb members would be interested in purchacing an upgraded model?

 

XF

 

Me,

 

but, it better be good.

Edited December 21, 2012 by Ceptic

[Gwiwer]

It would have to be more than just remotored. In principle I would be more than happy to take at least one but they need to look like a Vep first. The "face" is an issue. The internals are allegedly being reworked which might resolve some of the objections. A heavyweight motor will fit in the brake of an as-built unit but we are still stuck with a visible motor where ever you place it in a refurbished unit. Hornby isn't alone in having that sort of problem either as anyone with a Bachmann 108, 150, 158, 221 or 2EPB will know.

[griffgriff]

For me it's the number of petty issues rather than any one or two .... an improved drive will go a long way but unless they decide to do something about (at least some) of the problems I shall remain a cynic.

[davyjcrow]

Adding a metal chassis would be a step in the right direction but I believe that by itself will not be enough to ensure good performance as there are too many other deign flaws that contribute to the problem. I found that a lot of work was necessary to get performance to acceptable levels:

 

1) All the wheelsets need to be replaced with pinpoint axles

2) The traction tyres have to be removed (if you ask Hornby they will send you the "Revised" wheels as spares, and you can pry these apart to add to the original wheels and obtain enough non-tyred wheels to have a tyre free motor bogie)

3) You also need to get rid of the end NEM pockets which are a key culprit of the slowing down around curves due to their design

4) Add lots and lots of weight to the motor coach - to the sides of the motor arrangement, stuck to the undercarriage, in the roof (after cutting away the circuit board above the motor bogie, which contains no functional components). I added probably 150-200g of weight to each motor coach.

 

Once I did all of the above, then you get much better performance. There is still noticeable cogging at low speed due to the crude motor bogie design which has half decent power but no slow speed finesse, these Limby motor designs are toylike compared to the arrangement that Bachmann use in their EMUs.

 

On the end of unit appearance, they would go a long way to improving the issues by tooling a new "clip in" corridor connector just for the cab fronts that is shallower. I think they have tried to save cost by using the same corridor connector that is employed between the cars; this is too deep and makes the door appear way too far back.

 

So, if they deal with all of the issues above then I might buy some more.. anyone care to give me odds on these points being addressed??