Hornby castle arriving?

[coachmann]

I would have thought the model would have carried its August 1950 livery when it was named 'Swindon'. Hornby evidently think more modellers model the post 1956 scene, hence the later totem.

[The Stationmaster]

I would have thought the model would have carried its August 1950 livery when it was named 'Swindon'. Hornby evidently think more modellers model the post 1956 scene, hence the later totem.

 

 

From what I understand of it Larry someone at 'Steam' specified it to be in 'final condition' and Hornby responded to that specification.

 

The model as delivered is in exactly the same livery/condition (reporting numbers excepted) as the illustration on a 'flyer' published by 'Steam' getting on for a 12 month ago. (And fortunately not the same as the incorrect detail shown on a Hornby illustration which was around at the 'Steam' model railway exhibition last year and which caused me to delay placing an order until I had clarified with them exactly what the modelled livery and condition would be.)

 

But whatever else I do wish Hornby would do something about the rather peculiar green they keep on using; shame you don't do locos any more as a trio of 'Castles' might be heading your way!

[stuart galbraith]

From what I understand of it Larry someone at 'Steam' specified it to be in 'final condition' and Hornby responded to that specification.

 

The model as delivered is in exactly the same livery/condition (reporting numbers excepted) as the illustration on a 'flyer' published by 'Steam' getting on for a 12 month ago. (And fortunately not the same as the incorrect detail shown on a Hornby illustration which was around at the 'Steam' model railway exhibition last year and which caused me to delay placing an order until I had clarified with them exactly what the modelled livery and condition would be.)

 

But whatever else I do wish Hornby would do something about the rather peculiar green they keep on using; shame you don't do locos any more as a trio of 'Castles' might be heading your way!

 

When I picked up mine from Steam, I talked to the chap (possibly the same man) who had some of the input into that decision. I got the impression they did that because they could use the Collet tender. I must admit I would prefer the Hawksworth tender for a postwar build, but I have to admit it does look very good with the late pattern logo.

 

Is the green really that wrong?

[coachmann]

But whatever else I do wish Hornby would do something about the rather peculiar green they keep on using....

I agree. If only these guys would get their act together and adopt the best finish, which as far as I can see is a combination of Bachmann's BR green and Hornby's fine lining out.

 

Thanks for the background to the Swindon model livery.

[robmcg]

I agree. If only these guys would get their act together and adopt the best finish, which as far as I can see is a combination of Bachmann's BR green and Hornby's fine lining out.

 

Thanks for the background to the Swindon model livery.

 

 

As to the quality of green, I suspect that wars could be fought over these things, a female friend assures me that men are colour-blind anyway.

 

As to GWR green, a lot depends on the light. Compare the colour in the Hattons ad for the recent GWR Hall ( bit yellow to my eyes) and the Rails of Sheffield photos of the same model (much more attractive)... and the lining is equally a bit prone to the vagaries of light?

 

Rob

[craigwelsh]

The green responds well to a bit of t-cut giving it some depth in the same way the Stanier coach maroon improved. Hornby seem to use a decent colour but apply it in a way that makes it very flat matt.

[Chris Chewter]

I seem to recall that Hornby uses self coloured plastic, therefore the green is actually the plastic itself. However I cannot find anything to back that one up, so I could be wrong!

[Andy M]

If only these guys would get their act together and adopt the best finish, which as far as I can see is a combination of Bachmann's BR green and Hornby's fine lining out.

 

Amen to that statement Larry. The Hornby green is too blue and the Bachmann lining is way too pronounced and ORANGE!

 

Still it was for that very reason I purchased a lining pen, taught myself to use it and stopped making excuses for not doing full repaints following gauge conversions.

 

Andy.

[The Stationmaster]

I do wonder if Hornby might be using a matched colour but applied, in effect, = too thinly over the wrong base. In BR days Swindon used an almost apple-green undercoat under the final livery green and I suspect the finishing green took some colour from the undercoat as it was quite 'bright' when new. Interestingly from what I can remember of visits to the works the undercoat appeared darker on, for example, the D8XX 'Warships' than it did on steam locos standing near them and similarly the finished livery on the diesels always looked a little darker to me although it could of course have been a different paint(?) anda result of the body shape.

[coachmann]

No one has any excuse for getting railway colours wrong.....Paints matched to the real colours have been available since goodness knows when courtesy Mr. Sheppard ex-Precision Paints. Only on RMweb do I see heresy and confusion! There is no confusion in the world outside.

 

Hornby may have compromised their colours with a chalky matt finish. I'll tackle one of my locos in due course to see if it can be darkenned or given more depth by applying a clear cellulose spray over.

 

Larry G.

[gwrrob]

Just a heads up that the sound version 4098 'Kidwelly Castle' is now available.I look forward to hearing this beauty.

 

http://www.ehattons.com/StockDetail.aspx?SID=32100

[The Stationmaster]

Just a heads up that the sound version 4098 'Kidwelly Castle' is now available.I look forward to hearing this beauty.

 

http://www.ehattons.com/StockDetail.aspx?SID=32100

 

A loco which very much appeals to me for sentimental reasons however I'm not a lover of the early crest so I'm not very keen to pay that much UNLESS the crest is going to come off relatively easily to allow its replacement by the later one (which 4098 did have from at least 1958 on that pattern of tender).

[Barry Ten]

Any tips for removing the plug from the socket in the tender? I bought a Castle on the weekend, but didn't test run it as the shop was busy (and when was the last time a Hornby steam loco didn't run well, anyway?). After I got it home I pushed the plug into the tender socket but my loco only runs well in forward gear - it judders horribly in reverse. Now it must go back to the dealer but now I can't detach the plug! I've tried getting tweezers around it, but they can't get enough of a grip. I'm wary of applying too much force to the wires for fear that they'll snap and leave the plug stuck in place.

[Taz]

Any tips for removing the plug from the socket in the tender? I bought a Castle on the weekend, but didn't test run it as the shop was busy (and when was the last time a Hornby steam loco didn't run well, anyway?). After I got it home I pushed the plug into the tender socket but my loco only runs well in forward gear - it judders horribly in reverse. Now it must go back to the dealer but now I can't detach the plug! I've tried getting tweezers around it, but they can't get enough of a grip. I'm wary of applying too much force to the wires for fear that they'll snap and leave the plug stuck in place.

 

Just a thought, but have you put the screws back in that held the packaging support brackets in place?

On my first Castle i didn't do this and had exactly the same problem you describe. Turns out it was the bottom plastic 'keeper plate' catching when the loco ran in reverse. Turns out that the screws are there to hold it all together as well

[Barry Ten]

Just a thought, but have you put the screws back in that held the packaging support brackets in place?

On my first Castle i didn't do this and had exactly the same problem you describe. Turns out it was the bottom plastic 'keeper plate' catching when the loco ran in reverse. Turns out that the screws are there to hold it all together as well

 

I did put them back in, but maybe I'll experiment and adjust them a bit. Thanks, worth a try!

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

Working from the tender front either side, get a flat fine bladed screwdriver tip in under the flange of the plug to ease it up a little. Once started tweezers or needle nosed pliers can get enough of a grip on the broader faces of the plug body to pull it out. As for the running, this has been one of the smoothest running steam models I have seen from any maker; hold out for a goodun.

[craigwelsh]

I mentioned how ridiculous that plug is a few pages back, it really should have had a flange that sat proud and not go in flush. I ended up yanking on the wires and they are stronger than they look.

 

The screws going back in to hold the keeper plate was something I noted in direct contrast to the screw on the HST which if put back in knackers the motor by bearing onto the flywheel!

[Barry Ten]

Again, thanks all. No dice. I adjusted the screws on the keeper plate but she still won't run in reverse. I'm wary of loosening the keeper plate too much as I've been down that road before, and found myself unable to get the pickup assembly to bed back in again. For a loco that cost more than a 100 quid, that's as much d*cking around as I'm prepared to do. I'll have another go at easing the plug out per 34c's suggestion, and then I may give it a firm tug on the wires as a last resort - other than that, it's Hornby's problem, I'm afraid.

 

One thing I noticed, and which I see in some of the photos on this thread, and also on some models in shop cabinets, is areas of white staining around some of the detail parts, esp. near the piston steampipes. It looks to me as if whoever assembled the model had traces of CA on their fingers.

 

The sooner Hornby ditch the plug/socket arrangement the better, as far as I'm concerned - or at least come up with a more user-friendly arrangement. And change their ridiculous packaging system as well, while they're at it...grrr!

[stuart galbraith]

No one has any excuse for getting railway colours wrong.....Paints matched to the real colours have been available since goodness knows when courtesy Mr. Sheppard ex-Precision Paints. Only on RMweb do I see heresy and confusion! There is no confusion in the world outside.

 

Hornby may have compromised their colours with a chalky matt finish. I'll tackle one of my locos in due course to see if it can be darkenned or given more depth by applying a clear cellulose spray over.

 

Larry G.

 

Not sure I entirely agree with that, I gather that when restoring the LMS 'Streamliner' someone sourced some original LMS red from a source he had from a tin back in the day, so they were able to synthesize a fully accurate LMS red. I gather there was quite a bit of debate about what it was till this was found. And that was a well known company.

 

Of course BR green ought to be a different matter. There are a number of machines which got preserved when withdrawn from service. The problem I have is, whilst there may be an exact BR green, logic dictates that supply in the 1950s may have been variable. There is also the matter how each depot may have rectified running repairs. I know there is a story that the old MSWJR works at Cirencester repainted machines a different shade of green to the GWR machines just down the road at Swindon, to the point that because they skimped so much on the paint after a few firings it started go go black.... That was down to paint application as it turned out, the MSWJR were used to slapping it on, whereas the GWR was a bit pound happy and were used to eking it out. So I ask, in BR days did Swindon works end up with a finish exactly the same as that at Crewe? Knowing Swindon, possibly not.

 

Im uncertain how relevant this is to railway modelling, but my experience in building model AFVs shows that light has a great effect on the 'look' of a particular shade of green or red. I sourced an authentic can of BAOR paint to build a 1-35 chieftain, and although its the right shade, it reflects light too well, which makes it look a bit glossy. Using a can of humbrol might have been the wrong shade, but strangely gives the right look. Perhaps its wrong to based an argument on Nato IR disruptive green, but you can see the point I make. Paint might be the right shade, but scale down a model and the area that relects light is reduced, hence the shade can look wrong. Or so ive found anyway.

 

Throw in weathering from a hundred runs, indifferent cleaning and perhaps even heating of the paint and whilst there is I dont doubt an official colour, I wouldnt be surprised to see a castle run in nearly every shade from greeny blue to black. Certainly the ones on Gloucester shed were rather closer to the latter at the end.

[Adrian Wintle]

Im uncertain how relevant this is to railway modelling, but my experience in building model AFVs shows that light has a great effect on the 'look' of a particular shade of green or red. I sourced an authentic can of BAOR paint to build a 1-35 chieftain, and although its the right shade, it reflects light too well, which makes it look a bit glossy. Using a can of humbrol might have been the wrong shade, but strangely gives the right look. Perhaps its wrong to based an argument on Nato IR disruptive green, but you can see the point I make. Paint might be the right shade, but scale down a model and the area that relects light is reduced, hence the shade can look wrong. Or so ive found anyway.

 

This is the big problem with models. Not only does the finish not scale well, but the colour doesn't either. If you paint a model with the exact colour used on the prototype, you will likely find that the model looks wrong (typically too dark).

 

Adrian

[Chris Chewter]

Most colours are subjective but I think Green is the most subjective colour you can get, and will easily differ due to age, wear, and the intensity of light. However I do agree that the Green used by Bachmann does appear to be more pleasing to the eye than the Green used by Hornby!

[Bernard Lamb]

 

 

The sooner Hornby ditch the plug/socket arrangement the better, as far as I'm concerned - or at least come up with a more user-friendly arrangement. And change their ridiculous packaging system as well, while they're at it...grrr!

 

 

I first had a moan about this when I came across it on an updated Britannia. Got some flack on here for being critical about it. A pin in a hole has done the job since the days of Adam and Eve. Why change it?

Bernard

[Barry Ten]

Most colours are subjective but I think Green is the most subjective colour you can get, and will easily differ due to age, wear, and the intensity of light. However I do agree that the Green used by Bachmann does appear to be more pleasing to the eye than the Green used by Hornby!

 

At the risk of flogging a dead horse, I think Hornby's take on BR green has been wrong for years - far too matt, pastel, blue-tinged whatever. Even my original 9F, from 1980, had that same dead-looking shade. I remember when I first saw Bachmann's rendition of the green, on a lined V2, it immediately looked right.

 

I agree with those posters who talk about the subjectivity of memory, variations in paint mix, and the vagaries of different types of film and colour reproduction in books and slides, but through all the countless colour images most of us have seen over the years, quite aside from real locos on preserved lines, we can get a sense of what is in the right ball park, and Hornby's green is just not quite there to my eyes. Oddly enough it always looks richer and more lustrous on the packaging artwork.

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

... A pin in a hole has done the job since the days of Adam and Eve. Why change it?

While that's true of humankind , small scale loco models have moved from push along to clockwork to electric powered, and that is generally considered progress. Getting rid of the clunky combined loco to tender link with wipers for electrical contact, for a near scale drawbar and seperate wiring is further progress as far as this customer is concerned.

 

However I don't think the execution is perfect, and have suggested that a socket in the rear of the loco chassis (which could accept a blanking plug to make the loco a running item on its' own), and a plug on the flying leads from the tender, with some kind of tag or grip on the plug to ease extraction, would go a long way to eliminating present criticisms.

[neal]

Really tempted to make new post with the title 'Great Western Castle Arrives at last' and watch the froth rise like washing up liquid in a dishwasher:

 

http://www.ehattons.....aspx?sid=32175

 

N

 

p.s. if you want a good laugh, put a good squeeze of fairy liquid into an egg cup and put it in the dishwasher on a normal cycle. When finished you open the door to a wall of foam! However be aware that the doghouse can be cold at night!