AdamOrmorod

The driver's side slidebars on 2001 look like they could do with pushing back in to place! Lovely weathering though, and good job of disguising the plastic coal.

While I'm not personally that interested in sound and smoke, it is great to see that they've put effort in to getting the synchronisation working. Whenever I see a sound loco, without thinking I automatically find myself comparing the chuffs to the wheel rotation, can't help it!

Looks to me like there are exactly 6 beats each time the wheels go around, and the sound sounds like it's looping every six too. There is a strange accentuation though, like one two three four five six, which I agree does sound a bit two-cylindery. Maybe Hornby knows something we don't and this is what it would sound like with the rotary gear? 🤷‍♂️

One of my pet peeves is how the Walschaerts return crank often leans the wrong way on one side of Hornby locos. However, the rectangular slot is a friction fit inside the rest of the crankpin, and it's possible to CAREFULLY push the return crank to correct the angle. I know @LNER4479 has done this with needle pliers, I prefer to use my thumb! (perks of small hands) I don't know for sure if the speedo crank is similar, but it might be possible to just push it into place.

Looks like there's a bit of a kink on the "straight" route: Will trains run okay over that?

Kicking myself for not having seen this coming, especially having just filled the space vacated for the smoke generator on my 2005 with weights to sort out its balance. The extra smoke deflectors will come in very handy with the steam generator!

Hi everyone, I noticed in a video of 46115 Scots Guardsman that the front pair of tender wheels are discs, while the other two pairs are spoked, which I'd never noticed before. I did some googling and it seems like it has not always been like this. I'm just curious, does anyone know if these were swapped in after the hot box on the GBXV tour? Where are they from? I hope I've put this in the right place! Best, Adam

The front nem socket also comes off easily, just slide a flat-headed screwdriver underneath. Nice to not have to do surgery!

Looks great! How did you do the deflector handrail?

I think there is if you look very closely

Thanks, Hornby said they all have it. Some strategic weathering in order!

Just got my replacement ToF this morning, smokebox seam is much better than the first one. However, I noticed there's a small hole on the top of the smokebox front, presumably where the whistle on a double chimney example would fit. Does anyone else's have this?

Just in case anyone was thinking of doing the same, a friend found upon removing Earl Marischal's nameplates to fit proper etched ones that there are a pair of locating holes close to both ends. The Fox ones were too short to hide them, so he fitted the supplied ones instead.

The difference with 2006's boiler isn't just the washout plugs, but the geometry is different too. The other have no gap between the final "round" boiler band (the proper name escapes me) and the firebox slope, whereas there is an appreciable gap between them on 2006. A friend contacted the design team who said they had no intention of tooling for this, a shame as Wolf is the coolest name imo

My CotN was the first model I bought when I got into the hobby, and I honestly think it doesn't look too bad against the new one, the silver handrails helping disguise the moulded ones. I painted the cab controls on mine, and have been meaning for years to do something about the coal space! I'd be interested how the weight compares between 2001 and either 2002 or 2007 with their cast running plates, the pointy ones seem quite a bit lighter (space in the front for the smoke generator?) Incidentally your 2005 in the background has convinced me to swap mine, even if I have to wait for the second batch to arrive in a month or so.