Hornby castle arriving?

[robmcg]

I know it's subjective, but I rather like Hornby's 'usual' BR colours. If I was to make any comment on the appearance of the new Castles, it would be the see-through appearance of the front wheels, inside cylinders and frames. This can be fixed by one means or another by dark plasticard or similar, and in any event is perhaps nit-picking of a very fine model.

 

Rob

[BR(W)]

I say, chaps.

 

I've just seen the pictures on the Rails site of Hornby's 5011 and the G.W.R. livery looks so attractive, as you'd expect 5011. But is that a BR smokebox numberplate? And is there really an oil gauge for a mechanical lubricator in the beautifully detailed cab on what is, so obviously, an hydrostatic machine? Could someone who owns one of these fine models elucidate, please? I could also ask about the bufferbeam rivets, but that may incur the wrath of the liberal, anti-rivet-counter faction .

 

Hope no one's offended, this is all meant constructively,

 

BR(W).

[Hilux5972]

I say, chaps.

 

I've just seen the pictures on the Rails site of Hornby's 5011 and the G.W.R. livery looks so attractive, as you'd expect 5011. But is that a BR smokebox numberplate?

 

It looks like it on that photo. But on the ehattons Site http://www.ehattons.com/stockdetail.aspx?SID=25741 it doesnt have the Smokebox numberplate. Perhaps a slip in QC in china?

[brushman47544]

It looks like it on that photo. But on the ehattons Site http://www.ehattons.com/stockdetail.aspx?SID=25741 it doesnt have the Smokebox numberplate. Perhaps a slip in QC in china?

Whilst I haven't specially checked, when I took mine out of the box I certainly didn't notice a smokebox numberplate and I'm sure I would have done. I bought mine - DCC Fitted - from Hattons. So it probably is a mistake in the factory in China and only applies to some - but I wonder how many? - models.

 

But if the factory produces smokebox doors to order, i.e. the quantity based on complete models being produced (plus spares?) will this mean that other Castles currently in production that should have a smokebox numberplate will not, I wonder???

[coachmann]

I expected to see pictures of the new 'Castle' before now. Shots of the new moulding for the inside cylinder cover would be handy.

[Coppercap]

Should hopefully collect my 'Tintagel' tomorrow. Thanks to you guys, I'll be checking the smokebox door before I leave the shop!

[gwrrob]

My 5011 has definitely NOT got a smokebox numberplate but has the correct lamp iron fitted.

[gwrrob]

Heres the front end albeit with a crap photo.

[Prometheus]

I expected to see pictures of the new 'Castle' before now. Shots of the new moulding for the inside cylinder cover would be handy.

 

Here goes....

 

Taken last night in poor light, these show the detail well enough but the colour will be affected obviously. That said, looks OK in natural light to my generally indiscriminate eye. Incidentally, this was a replacement for my first purchase - that one has significant, multiple damage. This one was perfect however.

 

 

 

 

Speedo drive : an arm connects it to the motion - not shown well here.

 

A warning : the bogie is held in place by a very small plastic sleeve which slips over the top of a vertical shaft arising from the bogie frame. It's fairly easy to detach. Nice detail here though, I thought. Note irons for spare lamps.

 

 

 

 

 

Hope this is of interest.

 

Tony

[coachmann]

Just washed up and so it was a neat suprise to find thise pictures on this thread. Many thanks Tony for taking the trouble and putting them here. Everything about this model looks looks very upmarket. Maybe it's because it is a remnant of the older 'Star' that I prefer the original cylinder cover as pictured here. I think the only improvement left would be for Hornby to slim down its orange boiler band lining.

[Prometheus]

Just washed up and so it was a neat suprise to find thise pictures on this thread. Many thanks Tony for taking the trouble and putting them here. Everything about this model looks looks very upmarket. Maybe it's because it is a remnant of the older 'Star' that I prefer the original cylinder cover as pictured here. I think the only improvement left would be for Hornby to slim down its orange boiler band lining.

 

A pleasure. I'd agree about the lining, and the rivet detail is perhaps just a little over-scale too - but that really is nit-picking [churlish, almost] and Hornby is to be congratulated on this one. And at less than £100 too....

 

Tony

[Coppercap]

I do wish Hornby would sort something out with what appears to be a mould line halfway between the handrail and the top of the boiler. It runs all the way back from the front of the smokebox. It catches the light and it's very visible in those photos. Several recent Hornby locos do seem to have this problem. It's probably a moulding tool insert for different versions, but to my eye, it does rather spoil them, as it's in a very prominent place.

[coachmann]

If the boiler could be morphed into a smaller one suitable for a 'Star', I for one could put up with the moulding line....B)

[Neal Ball]

Maybe its a deliberate show for the 'photo, but have we lost the connection from loco to tender? - Its fiddly as hell on the 28xx! - Having said that, I do prefer the idea of pick-ups and DCC decoder in the tender!

[Prometheus]

Maybe its a deliberate show for the 'photo, but have we lost the connection from loco to tender? - Its fiddly as hell on the 28xx! - Having said that, I do prefer the idea of pick-ups and DCC decoder in the tender!

 

No, the fiddley connector is still there, I just didn't photograph it Neal.

 

Tony

[Coppercap]

Maybe its a deliberate show for the 'photo, but have we lost the connection from loco to tender? - Its fiddly as hell on the 28xx! - Having said that, I do prefer the idea of pick-ups and DCC decoder in the tender!

 

I noticed that the loco/tender connection on my two 28xx were fitted the opposite way round to that shown on the instruction leaflet. It was a right pain as fitted, snagging the fragile wires. Turning the connection round doesn't make any difference technically, but it does make it an awful lot easier to couple/uncouple them. The Castle I collected yesterday, but I haven't had it out of the box yet to see what it's like.

[BR(W)]

Hornby 5011 "Tintagel Castle"

 

Prometheus, thanks for the photos. of 5011. WARNING! Non rivet-counters of the 'it'll do' persuasion look away now!

 

As has been suggested above, the smokebox numberplate may, indeed, be a QC problem in China (surely not ).

 

What is, to me, inexplicable, however, is the provision of post-war features on a locomotive in pre-war condition.

 

Firstly, there is, indeed, an oil gauge (oil/no oil) in the cab. These first saw the light of day in 1946 with the introduction of the new-build, 3-row superheat boiler whose higher steam temperature was deemed to require pumped (mechanical) lubrication for the cylinders, valves and pistons (although 5098 and 5099 were not, at first, so fitted and were considered to be the freest of runners!). But 5011 never carried a high-superheat boiler - and they didn't exist pre-war; therefore no mechanical lubricator and no oil gauge. Instead, she was always a 2-row machine with pre-1946 hydrostatic lubrication, so there should be the sight-feed, hydrostatic 'fiddlesticks' in the cab where the oil gauge is on Hornby's effort.

 

Secondly, the model sports two additional handhole covers in front of the top-feed housings. These are the same as those on the firebox shoulders, and were provided on all high superheat boilers (3 and 4-row) to allow inspection of the water trays and flue tubes at washout time, as it was considered that the higher temperatures could precipitate more solids from the feedwater. But, again, 5011 never carried a high-superheat boiler, so no additional handhole covers, especially on a machine in pre-war condition - they simply didn't exist then.

 

Now some literal rivet counting . Hornby have never represented the very obvious horizontal line of fasteners at the top of the drop plate, where it joins the front of the running plate. In fact, I don't think they've represented any in this area above the footstep; to me, these are an integral part of the 4073s' front elevation and the way the conspicuous fastener detail just peters out above the footstep, leaving this area smooth, looks ridiculous. I'm trying to work out which of the Archers products can be used to correct this omission.

 

And finally, something else that is there that shouldn't be: the middle rivet head in the vertical line just outboard of the buffer mounting flange. All new-build 4073s up to 5012, inclusive, and all 4000 ('Star') rebuilds (in other words all 'Vauxhall' inside-cylinder casings) had five rivet heads on this outer part of the bufferbeam; all new-builds from 5013, inclusive (box casings), had six, as per the Hornby models. In later years, certainly during the BR era, this was not necessarily the case as overhauls sometimes used what was easily to hand.

 

Phew! The usual apologies to non-rivet-counters, but you've probably lost the will to live long before now...

 

Again, I have to say that I'm not knocking Hornby (much), I think the Sino-Hornby 4073s are lovely models of a drop-dead gorgeous prototype, but the points above should surely have been addressed at the design stage.

 

Regards,

 

BR(W).

[gwrrob]

Thanks for your in depth review BR[W].Phew.I'm not knowledgeable to know whether those details you mentioned are incorrect for this particular model.The Castle class is a detail minefield as I've found looking for possible name changes etc.All I know is I've waited years for a quality model of this class and hope they sell by the bucketload.Its good enough for my discerning eye and will put my money where my mouth is and buy several.Can Hornby be persuaded to do the 'King' to the same standards.

[The Stationmaster]

Hornby 5011 "Tintagel Castle"

 

Prometheus, thanks for the photos. of 5011. WARNING! Non rivet-counters of the 'it'll do' persuasion look away now!

 

Firstly, there is, indeed, an oil gauge (oil/no oil) in the cab. These first saw the light of day in 1946 with the introduction of the new-build, 3-row superheat boiler whose higher steam temperature was deemed to require pumped (mechanical) lubrication for the cylinders, valves and pistons (although 5098 and 5099 were not, at first, so fitted and were considered to be the freest of runners!). But 5011 never carried a high-superheat boiler - and they didn't exist pre-war; therefore no mechanical lubricator and no oil gauge. Instead, she was always a 2-row machine with pre-1946 hydrostatic lubrication, so there should be the sight-feed, hydrostatic 'fiddlesticks' in the cab where the oil gauge is on Hornby's effort.

 

BR(W).

 

Good point (so were the others but this one has a special resonance - read on). As some folk might be aware I mentioned this potential flaw when we saw the early shots of the 'Castle' but more importantly it was one of the items I mentioned to Simon Kohler when talking about things Hornby would need to get right as they went through different members of the class during an extended production run - he said that I needn't be concerned as a lot of research was being put into getting individual locos correct details correct before production got underway. Well ..........

 

Mind you having come along with that piece of 'oil flow counting' the remarkable thing is that we are able to talk about such an error - which many folk won't ever notice or know about - on an r-t-r loco retailing for around £100+ a few quid; shows just how far things have progressed in the last decade or so. And yes Rob - I've had a go at Mr K on the subject of the 'King' on several occasions and while he readily admitted that it 'falls short of current Hornby standards' he was far less forthcoming about what they might do to improve that situation. As it happens I'd far sooner see a 54XX/64XX/74XX pannier (but then I've been saying that for several years and it still hasn't done any good)

[Neal Ball]

It's arrived! - at last! - Not a Happy Bunny :-(

 

having chased the supplier before I went on holiday, I was a bit put out when it did not arrive when we were away. I chased on Monday by email, having checked to see if my credit card had been debited. Tuesday I telephoned them - Oops, very sorry we haven't done it. - Not to worry we all make mistakes. The guys on the 'phone are always very polite, so not to worry. Anyway the issie is with Hornby quality control....

 

The loco arrived today and the staff in one branch brought it over to where I was working.....

 

1. Imagine the disapointment when I open it up and it has a BR Smokebox number plate.

2. Having called the friendly guys in Sheffield..... They tell me it's now out of stock.

 

For goodness sake what a palava. - So it will be winging its way back to Sheffield - to say I am p****d off, would be putting it midly.

 

Plus I do not think much of the new style box, this one is all in its constituent parts. No wonder I dropped the 28xx at Christmas.

[gwcatman]

Has anyone else been lucky enough to receive their NEW Hornby Castle yet? I have, and after nearly two years of waiting and monitoring railway web sites and Hornby newsletters, and since reserving one a year in advance with one of the larger mail order companies, and mithering them about my order since then. The CASTLE is in the building !!

 

What a fantastically impressive model. A great tribute to the orginal Collet 12 inch to the foot version! Well done Hornby. Now all I need is a similarly decent quality set of brown and cream stock for it to pull.

 

However I have spotted two issues: -

Firstly the safety valve brass cap appears to be sitting in a poorly moulded hole. The bore of which is either incorrectly moulded or oversize, rather unsightly.

Secondly the paint on top of the smokebox in front of the chimney is marked by being too firmly held by the packaging.

For a premium model costing a little over a ton, I don't think this is to a high enough standard of production.

 

I will be asking the retailer for an exchange item, but thought that I would poll web watchers first to see if these issues are common, and hence maybe not rectifiable by the retailer.

 

Has anyone else experienced the same ?

 

gwcatman

 

 

[Prometheus]

I sympathise Neal - that smoke box door error is a real gaffe, and very disappointing. Neither of mine had this problem but the first arrived in many parts and had to be returned for the second [which was perfect]. I sent a really polite e-mail to Hornby about the condition of the first model - no sarcasm, no rudeness - but received no reply. Naively, maybe, I thought that they would want to know......

 

Tony

[Guest dilbert]

Plus I do not think much of the new style box, this one is all in its constituent parts. No wonder I dropped the 28xx at Christmas.

 

Well at least the Castle isn't 'bolted' into the packaging like the 28xx.

 

The Hornby packaging could do with simplification - the latest approach from Bachmann (at least for the GW panniers) seems to be a good compromise - a one piece "open" type plastic frame where the loco is secured at the top, bottom, front and back (and not the sides) and yet the contents can withstand the rigours of logistical and postal systems management... dilbert

[7013]

Interesting, enlarging GWRrob and Prometheus' pictures do not show any sign of a BR smoke box number plate, this must be a factory error whereby a batch of BR smoke box doors (are they a separate moulding?) have been used. After waiting so long for this loco it is very disappointing that such a basic error should be allowed. Hornby are doing their reputation no good at all with this kind of mistake, what a shame, lets hope it is rectified quickly and efficiently.

[7013]

Photographs would be useful to show the error, but have you checked your smokebox door (see Castle thread)

Perhaps this thread needs to be moved to the 'Castle arriving' thread to bring it all together