Hornby ScotRail Class 153

[Richy59]

Received the new Hornby ScotRail class 153 today after about a 2 year wait. Overall quite disappointed, the printing of the livery is of poor quality and with very little sharpness in the details.

 

I know it’s not exactly comparable to the Bachmann I have taken pictures of it with, but it’s not a Railroad model and not priced as such.

 

They talked about delaying it before due to the complex nature of the print they had to apply - and the overall livery seems well designed - but it’s been poorly applied with very blurred edges to everything and can barely make out the Abellio logos etc.

 

Probably a return if I’m honest, which isn’t something I’ve done before.

 

[Clan Mcadder]

I had seen that these are now in stock at a few places , they brought them in through the backdoor , now we can see why .... 

[scouse889]

Wow. That looks quite shocking.

I was never entirely sure why Hornby decided to make three versions of this, especially since they don’t have anything in their current portfolio to run it with. You would have to pair it with the Realtrack 156 (if you did not want to apply Rule 1) so the Bachmann 158 is probably a valid comparison in many respects.

[HExpressD]

Maybe going against the grain but from a distance (as in on a layout and not a zoomed in photo) it looks pretty good. I would imagine decorating any livery as complicated as that would be hard, maybe up magnified it's not 10/10 but such is life, a good thing returns and refunds exist if people aren't happy.

Edited May 21, 2023 by HExpressD
Corrrection

[Legend]

58 minutes ago, HExpressD said:

Maybe going against the grain but from a distance (as in on a layout and not a zoomed in photo) it looks pretty good. I would imagine decorating any livery as complicated as that would be hard, maybe up magnified it's not 10/10 but such is life, a good thing returns and refunds exist if people aren't happy.

Yeah from the normal layout viewpoint. I don’t think these look too bad . Up close obviously you can see all the defects . What stops me buying it , though, is the fact there’s nothing to run with it . They only run with Class 156s in Spotrail. They don’t run as single units . 

Edited May 21, 2023 by Legend

[Great Waterton]

When it's moving on a layout and being viewed from "normal" distance I think it would probably be passable, although that being said if I'd bought one for even discounted RRP (I wouldn't buy one as it's off region and off era for me) I'd probably feel a bit disappointed.

 

It also won't help that a lot of the 153 body profile is covered in rivets.

 

I'm often left bewildered how Hornby can make such a superb job of one model and then make a complete hash of another.

Edited May 21, 2023 by Great Waterton

[andyman7]

It's not so much defective is looking out of focus up close - a bit like getting close to the picture on an old fashioned television. From normal distance it looks very attractive but we are very used to the pin sharp microscopic printing on modern models and don't really think about how labour intensive that can be to apply. Given the complexity of the livery I think that it is 'take it or leave it'. I suspect that many will happily run it on its own without the requisite Scotrail 156. 

Edited May 21, 2023 by andyman7

[Nova Scotian]

The body sides actually look like a better attempt than the doors (shocking) and the front side by cab.

 

Wonder if for models like that they need to replicate real life - start printing vinyl wraps and applying those. 

[Steadfast]

That looks like it's printed on a UV printer, which works well for complicated liveries but isn't as crisp as tampo printing.

Reckon they'd have got better results with mixed media, ie use the UV printer for the livery, and then tampo print the Scotrail, Abellio logos and other small labels.

 

Jo

[spamcan61]

4 hours ago, Great Waterton said:

 

I'm often left bewildered how Hornby can make such a superb job of one model and then make a complete hash of another.

Maybe different factories, or different budgets.

[Great Waterton]

Definitely different factories.

[surfsup]

Granted, the bodyside of the 153 isn't as flat as say the 158, but RealTrack made an excellent attempt at printing FGWs Local Lines onto the side of an equally riveted Class 143 and at least theirs was legible. I'm sorry, but this just shows up Hornby's 'That'll do' approach to the quality control of their modern models - they wouldn't dare let out any rendition of the sacred Flying Scotsman like it, so why should we as modern image modellers have to put up with it? Heck, like the FGW Fag Packet HST, they made an excellent job at previous models - for example, Truro Cathedral & the Gold Knot on the Wessex Trains 'Great Scenic Railways of Devon & Cornwall' black 153 for example. 

 

I'm sorry to the shop I ordered from that I cancelled my order, I'm not at all sorry to Hornby for giving us this. 

[Hilux5972]

11 hours ago, Nova Scotian said:

Wonder if for models like that they need to replicate real life - start printing vinyl wraps and applying those. 

They tried that with the Fag Packet coaches and look how bad some of them turned out.  

[Matt]

I seem to recall Rainbow Railways printed up some in advance of Hs release - I’ve never seen one in the flesh but based on their other reliveries I would be surprised if not a lot better than the factory attempt!  Haven’t looked if still avail….

[adb968008]

Mines arrived, opened the box and it looks like this..

if you take this. 99p Pot, which has better printing than the model, and put it into a bowl you could probably service it for £4.99 in the right restaurant. Reminds me of this model and the packaging.

Edited May 24, 2023 by adb968008

[adb968008]

At a distance it passes the trainset test…

 

 

 

 

 

but on close up it fails the detail scrutiny.
 

I wonder if they just took a copy of the real artwork and resized it down losing pixelation in the process ?

 

 

The door, logos and numbers are the worst, and putting it next to my Realtrack Scotrail 156 will really stand out the detail difference.

 

to be fair its only £135 after discount, so its at the cheaper end of the spectrum, but I would have paid more for a better one. I think this should be in a railroad box myself.

 

I’m not sure the demand for 3 different numbers though. My guess is most will only buy 1, to go with the Realtrack Scotrail ones, which iirc theres only 2x 250 of them out there. These things dont run alone or in multiple afaik ?

 

 

Edited May 24, 2023 by adb968008

[cessna152towser]

Difficult one to call.   Living in the south of Scotland near the English border I am prone to buying everything Scotrail or Northern Rail as there is a limited market up here in the north and it is a case of use it or lose it, they won't make any more northern prototypes if we don't keep buying.   I am not sure about this one though.   Could only run it with a Realtrack 156 alongside which it would look rather toylike, or with the long discontinued Hornby Scotrail Saltire liveried 156.

[scouse889]

1 hour ago, cessna152towser said:

Difficult one to call.   Living in the south of Scotland near the English border I am prone to buying everything Scotrail or Northern Rail as there is a limited market up here in the north and it is a case of use it or lose it, they won't make any more northern prototypes if we don't keep buying.   I am not sure about this one though.   Could only run it with a Realtrack 156 alongside which it would look rather toylike, or with the long discontinued Hornby Scotrail Saltire liveried 156.

 

Isn't the Hornby Saltire 156 a much lighter shade of blue than it should be - I have the First Scotrail and Saltire 156s and the former is much darker than the latter, but both should be the same shade of blue as it is my understanding that the base colours for both liveries were the same? These 153s seem quite dark (close to the Bachmann 158) and so I suspect it would stick out like a sore thumb against the Hornby Saltire 156.

I can't help feeling that Hornby missed a trick here - the idea of releasing even a non-powered Saltire 156 to be pulled around by these 153s seems like it might have legs to me.

[ColinB]

On 21/05/2023 at 12:58, Great Waterton said:

When it's moving on a layout and being viewed from "normal" distance I think it would probably be passable, although that being said if I'd bought one for even discounted RRP (I wouldn't buy one as it's off region and off era for me) I'd probably feel a bit disappointed.

 

It also won't help that a lot of the 153 body profile is covered in rivets.

 

I'm often left bewildered how Hornby can make such a superb job of one model and then make a complete hash of another.

I suppose it depends on which designer gets the job. I find it with the steam locos, some are really well designed some are not. When it comes to DCC socket positioning same issue. Some are good, some you think they could have done that a bit better. I must admit for something like this I would go for the blue boxed one instead, if they do it.

[E100]

I'm hoping these go towards the £100 mark in the bargain section. Then I'll probably grab one. Should have got the rainbow version whilst I had the chance!

[Ouroborus]

I didn't think mine was that bad.

[scottrains29]

I think they look awful, especially any writing, warning flashes etc. Looks really blurry. Hornby managed to do a good job on the drax wagons, with complex pictures and the usual high quality small printed detail. Didn't know why the same couldn't be done for the 153.

 

I'm not going to buy one until they're at least sub £100 in the bargain bins. I also see the 153 tooling as a railroad spec model that'll look toy like when run with a Realtrack 156. Surprised Hornby didn't release their 156 in SpotRail to run with the 153.

[HExpressD]

3 hours ago, scottrains29 said:

I think they look awful, especially any writing, warning flashes etc. Looks really blurry. Hornby managed to do a good job on the drax wagons, with complex pictures and the usual high quality small printed detail. Didn't know why the same couldn't be done for the 153.

 

I'm not going to buy one until they're at least sub £100 in the bargain bins. I also see the 153 tooling as a railroad spec model that'll look toy like when run with a Realtrack 156. Surprised Hornby didn't release their 156 in SpotRail to run with the 153.

Have you seen one in person or just the 8x blown up pictures on here?

[adb968008]

On 03/06/2023 at 17:26, HExpressD said:

Have you seen one in person or just the 8x blown up pictures on here?

I’ll raise you on that one, all my pictures are taking on an iphone, inc the real 153.

its zoom depth is way to poor beyond 2.5 on an iphone 12 pro max… you see see in the lack of depth.

 

Best I can do is trim the image.

 

 

 

However, I stick with my opinion, having bought one….its not up to standing next to a 2 car Realtrack 156 (£240), or a 2 car Bachmann 158 (c£240), both of which are twin motorised. So at £135 (after discount), it feels a little price high, quality poor. As a railroad model imo it would be excellant, but it is neither priced or boxed as railroad, though it is a lot cheaper than a super detailed Class 91.

it dissapoints me on logos, numbers, the door painting and transfers, all which could have been rendered much better.

 

 

 

Edited June 5, 2023 by adb968008

[Pmorgancym]

It's a shame really, witht he surface details and the range of liveries there's an opportunity for.someone to make a cracking lil model of the 153.