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Hornby Sentinel - including cranked version

Southernman46

By Southernman46,
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Hippo

Hippo

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While not deliberately trying to outdo anyone...

 

I'm up to 8 already (one of each, plus 2 to repaint) and I've got the next 2 on preorder as well :-)

 

Certainly building up into a nice collection :-)

I have a very similar collection of one of each, and an extra of the Balfour livery to detail. Wierdly I even have them in the same Lidl glass cabinet.

I even have the next 2 on pre-order.

 

I wonder how many collectors like us Hornby rely on each year buying the next liveries just to carry on our collection....

 

Owen

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D5541

D5541

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Mine never actually started out as an intentional collection, I only got Cattewater originally as I used to live not all that far from the refinery in Plymouth n had an idea for a shunting plank. It was only a few months later when I found the other 2 of the first run in Hamleys reduced to 30 each I got them and it's sort of gone from there really.

 

I appreciate that price is a subjective matter, but personally at £50 a pop, or less in the sales, it's not an excessive amount for a lovely little loco and it's going to be fun filling up the display cabinet :-)

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MGR Hooper!

MGR Hooper!

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Got mine today, a cracking smoothe runner and I must say how kind of you to rename your Sentinels after my "better half". I suppose I'm honour bound to do the same now!?

Note to one's self- do not show picture of Heather to Heather!!

Interestingly enough....That's my aunt's name :D

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aforsyth

aforsyth

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Hi Sentinel owners (particularly) - could I ask a favour, please? Does anyone know, or could anyone test, whether either the chain-driven or cranked Hornby Sentinels will negotiate a Peco setrack ST-244/ST-245 curved point without stopping?

This is the insulfrog small radius point that can cause problems for mainline running, but 0-6-0 shunters such as 08s and Panniers have no problem traversing them in my experience, on either DC or DCC.

 

I am building a micro industrial shunting layout with some friends that solely uses these curved points and was considering a Sentinel for it, but have read of someone else having problems with their chain-driven Sentinel stopping on the frog, This could be just due to faulty pick-ups, I would think, but I'd be very grateful if anyone can confirm that before I invest in one!

 

Thanks,
Alan

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decauville1126

decauville1126

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Hi Sentinel owners (particularly) - could I ask a favour, please? Does anyone know, or could anyone test, whether either the chain-driven or cranked Hornby Sentinels will negotiate a Peco setrack ST-244/ST-245 curved point without stopping?

This is the insulfrog small radius point that can cause problems for mainline running, but 0-6-0 shunters such as 08s and Panniers have no problem traversing them in my experience, on either DC or DCC.

 

I am building a micro industrial shunting layout with some friends that solely uses these curved points and was considering a Sentinel for it, but have read of someone else having problems with their chain-driven Sentinel stopping on the frog, This could be just due to faulty pick-ups, I would think, but I'd be very grateful if anyone can confirm that before I invest in one!

 

Thanks,

Alan

I got my chain-coupled drive one round 6" radius with no problems or stalling using a Gaugemaster HH feedback controller. Obviously the couplings are way outside the norms!

 

Always worth keeping a scrap piece of flexitrack to bend and find minimum radii for use, and check the sweep curve required when doing micro layouts.

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aforsyth

aforsyth

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I got my chain-coupled drive one round 6" radius with no problems or stalling using a Gaugemaster HH feedback controller. Obviously the couplings are way outside the norms!

 

Always worth keeping a scrap piece of flexitrack to bend and find minimum radii for use, and check the sweep curve required when doing micro layouts.

 

Thank you - that's amazing. A 6" radius! I can quite believe it with that short wheelbase, but the latter seems to have caused problems on the longer plastic frogs that setrack curved points have (particularly Hornby versions).

 

Here's a video of the guy I mentioned now using a Bachmann decoder (which apparently fixed earlier Hornby decoder issues he had), but the Sentinel just stops on the Hornby curved point. He goes on to say elsewhere that he got the shop to try the loco on a Peco curved point, with the same result. If I can be sure that it was 'just' a pickup problem that affected running on the Peco point, then I'll be off to order a Sentinel!

 

Video: Hornby Sentinel Poor Running 2

 

Thanks,

Alan

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aforsyth

aforsyth

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Yes - I have read that some Sentinels (particularly from 2014) seem to stutter and stop - in the cases I've seen needing a strip down to deal with dodgy pickups, and the Hornby decoder seems to multiply the issues.

 

However, going back to my query, I think I've determined the issue with the curved points - not rocket science really. In the picture below, I reckon that an 0-4-0 loco wheelbase needs to be at least 32mm in length (ideally 35mm) to avoid both wheelsets being on the plastic frog components at the same time.

 

peco_st-245_curved_point_min_wheelbase_z

 

From the Hornby near-1:1 photos I've seen, it looks like the chain-drive Sentinel wheelbase is closer to 30mm (correct me if I'm wrong), while the cranked version is even shorter.

Therefore it's not going to work on DC without modifying the frog to be live in some manner, but on DCC a decoder with a stay-alive capacitor should allow it to traverse the point.

 

Any recommendations for the cheapest decoder + stay-alive capacitor for a Sentinel?

 

Thanks,

Alan

 

Edit: fixed photo

Edited by aforsyth
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JDW

JDW

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I've never had any major problems with the running quality, but only ever test run them so far.  I'd say that a stay-alive would probably be a worthwhile investment, especially over insulfrogs, and even if not, with only one wheel picking up on that side when the other is on the frog, you need to make sure your track (and wheels) are properly clean for it to run smoothly.

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HOTTODDY

HOTTODDY

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You wont get Rolls Royce performance (pun intended!) from Austin 7 products. Bin the Hornby point and using copperclad sleepers make live frog (DPDT switched) points as per tram/ dockside track. It would be possible to convert the Hornby, but I doubt the effort would be worth it and get the reliability you want, IMO.

 

Tod

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aforsyth

aforsyth

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Thank you all - replies inline.

 

I've never had any major problems with the running quality, but only ever test run them so far.  I'd say that a stay-alive would probably be a worthwhile investment, especially over insulfrogs, and even if not, with only one wheel picking up on that side when the other is on the frog, you need to make sure your track (and wheels) are properly clean for it to run smoothly.

 

That's encouraging to hear, thank you. Any recommendations on a budget decoder with stay-alive that might fit in the Sentinel?

 

 

You wont get Rolls Royce performance (pun intended!) from Austin 7 products. Bin the Hornby point and using copperclad sleepers make live frog (DPDT switched) points as per tram/ dockside track. It would be possible to convert the Hornby, but I doubt the effort would be worth it and get the reliability you want, IMO.

 

Tod

 

Yes - very true, although it's actually a Peco point, which seems reasonably well made. However, the micro-layout we're building has a budget of £100 (excluding stock), so we're mostly re-using what we have in our modelling boxes. Therefore sadly copperclad is likely to be out (unless my friends have a point kit spare!).

In this case, it will have to be a 'DCC with stay-alive or nothing' for the Sentinel on this layout. I will mull it over with the team and in the worst case, we'll just stick with DC/DCC 6-coupled 03s, 08s and Panniers for now, with the Sentinel a later project.

 

 

I run two sentinels, one DC and DCC sound (zimo micro) on Kirkmellington and so long as we keep the track clean (daily)and clean the wheels (every 4 hours or so) then they run smoothly for a full 2 day exhibition.

We use live frog points.

 

Yes - I saw a video of Kirkmellington recently online. Very impressive - both layout and stock! The DCC sound Sentinel is brilliant, and would be a great small project when the budget is available.

 

 

Thank you all for your information and opinions!

 

Alan

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