Hroth
-
Posts
11,728 -
Joined
-
Last visited
-
Days Won
18
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Blogs
Gallery
Events
Exhibition Layout Details
Store
Posts posted by Hroth
-
-
And the only "available" Hornby club exclusive model is the rather garish PGA hopper for £16.99.
Listed by Hattons in their Hornby Bargain List for £7.
Hattons also have more than 10 of the ex-club Limited Edition Flying Scotsman with the white roof for £115. Hornby couldn't convince 500 club members to snap it up, Hattons seem to be struggling to get buyers at a reduced price.
The idea of a range of club models seems to have been a mistake. Perhaps Hornby needs to emulate Bachmann and offer a decent wagon or coach in an unusual but prototypical livery, none of this "Hornby" emblazoned nonsense like the hopper, as a model that goes to members each year. Along with the 10% off offer and the decent magazine, this might encourage former members to renew and new members to join.
-
2
-
-
Hornby B12
in Hornby
Dow Jones or FTSE ?
Hang Seng......
-
Hornby B12
in Hornby
B12 arrivals are all over the place.
According to the Hornby website:
R3430 (LNER) is holding at 04/12/16
R3431 (BR/EC) has slumped to 02/12/16
R3432 (BR/LC) is holding at 30/11/16
The way things are going, we might get them by Christmas!
-
On a visit to Dunham Massey, I noticed that Altrincham crem is signposted off Charcoal Road.....
-
What are you talking about?!
For centuries, Norwich was the number 2 city in England. By the early Industrial Revolution it was losing its core manufacturing industries (cloth) to the North of England and, instead, developed cutting-edge banking and insurance (whatever the name is of the company that used to be called "Norwich Union", it's still one of the world's biggest insurance companies and still based in Norwich; while much of modern British banking is made up of companies carrying the names of East Anglian families - most notably Barclays). Just 100-odd miles from the City, Norwich's financial services would benefit from faster connections - it's the same distance from London as Peterborough, yet it takes more than twice as long to get there by train. Even the "Norwich in 90" campaign, considered very audacious by some, is a pathetically half-hearted attempt at playing catch-up.
It's "thinking" like yours which has left Norwich poorly served on a communications limb, with some of the slowest train services to a major English city, and only in the last handful of years has Norwich finally been connected by dual carriageway to the rest of the country - until then it was by far the largest place in England not so connected. There are, of course, no motorways in Norfolk.
The old joke goes "what's the nearest motorway to Norwich?". The answer is: "the Amsterdam ring road". In fact, that's not true - but the fact that it could plausibly be considered so tells you all you need to know about how isolated Norwich has been allowed to become from the rest of the country.
Paul
Just that, as you said yourself, Norwich in particular and Norfolk in general is largely isolated. That dual-carriageway will be the thin edge of the wedge, it'll become a motorway sooner or later! As for the trains, everywhere needs better train services, but perhaps East Anglia needs to be a high priority.
From the Normans to the Tudors, East Anglia was one of the seats of the wool industry; all those large churches in isolated (theres that word again) places, and Norwich Cathedral itself were built on the backs of countless sheep, but times and industry changed. Banking may have its roots there too, but has since moved to London, whilst Norwich Union has sought, through its corporate name change, to similarly disassociate itself from its roots (and how many look at the current logo and think of the spire of the Cathedral?).
Perhaps the region, the City and its businesses need to put themselves forward in a more dynamic light, show how proud they are to be East Anglian, to counter what you see as poor perceptions, holding things back. Norwich might even get a decent train service...
-
Rewriting history are we?
Not really, and I stand corrected, though it IS difficult to imagine Norwich as a destination for a premium service!
Thanks to everyone for the info on liveries, etc. I'll mull it all over.
-
I've several, acquired second-hand. The previous owner had deflanged the middle wheelset and I've not had any problems with derailments. From a normal viewing distance/angle, the lack of flanges is not apparent.
-
I was just scrolling through a folder of downloaded pics in the backwaters of my PC, and came across a photo of 2859 "East Anglian", a typical cheapo LNER publicity stunt for the boat trains to Harwich as a genuine A4 would be far too heavy for the GER main line!
A bit of cut'n'shut on an old A4 bodyshell should do the trick, mount it on a B17 chassis and bobs yer uncle! Or perhaps taking a leaf out of the LNER book, a bit of card wrapped around the existing B17 bodyshell... As its a monochrome image, what livery did the LNER slap on the poor foreshortened beasts?
-
The MN looks like its coming along nicely!
As for the B17, Hattons still have Gilwell Park and Serlby Hall for £74 and £79 respectively, ok they're in early BR green rather than LNER green, but if you want an inexpensive B17.....
A Railroad "Liverpool" won't be gracing MY layout. Around here the annual Santa Dash features some wearing blue rather than red, for certain reasons.
(Perhaps Hornby will include alternative name and number stickers as of yore?)
-
1
-
-
Eeek!
Certainly puts the Wickham in perspective!
-
Liked the review by SDJR7F88 - it would have been nice to see it alongside a couple of more "normal" locos to give a real impression of the size, say a Bachmann Midland 1F or a Hornby Sentinel.
As for DCC, I was struck by the really tiny decoder offered by Golden Valley Models ( https://www.goldenvalleyhobbies.com/index.php?page=product&prodID=13500&catID=3151 ) for Z/N gauge locos wihch looks like it might have "possibilities", although at £32.50 you could get half another Trolley! (Based on what Hattons is asking for the Trolley)
And I second locoholic regarding the lack of crew. Bachmann could have popped in a bod wearing a hi-vis vest to drive it. Of course, the maroon version would have to have a bloke in overalls and a flat cap....
-
I read the notice on their website and I must say that I am unimpressed by their hosting company. A major error has occurred in the hosting program, and the customer has to pay to have it fixed. To me that is unacceptable, and the hosting company should pay some compensation to them for the lack of advertising income while they are forcibly offline.,.
Its not necessarily anything to do with the hosting company.
I've never looked "under the floorboards" but its possible that MREmag uses a third party software solution to present the mag, and that runs on the hardware managed by the hosting company. Its also possible that there's an interaction between the software, the database system used and memory issues that have caused the meltdown. As the persons using the external software solution are responsible for the maintanance of that software, then unless there is a maintenance contract between the user (ie MREmag) and the software supplier, any problems that need to be sorted out will have to be paid for on an ad-hoc basis.
That sort of thing never comes cheap!
-
Hornby B12
in Hornby
Looking at "Coming Soon" on the Hornby website, I was a bit puzzled by only one B12 shown thus, as its been listed there since the beginning of October and I thought it would have been joined by its companions by now!
Investigation revealed that Hornby estimated arrival dates have telescoped backwards for the Black liveries, from the 18th November for R3431 (EC) to 30th November for both. R3430 (LNER) is still currently at 4th December.
The waiting is prolonged!!!
-
Two liveries to follow? I thought they were only doing yellow, then crimson/maroon (whichever it it).
I'm more interested in green though. Anyone know the shade of green to use in a repaint?
Stewart
According to Bachmann red and yellow with and without stripes.
32-991 in BR Maroon
32-992 in BR Engineers Yellow
32-993 in BR Engineers Yellow with Wasp Stripes
The two yellow ones are due out together RSN (according to Hattons) and the maroon in the new year. I was tempted by the maroon one when they were first announced, but the delays in production and ever up-creeping price soon dampened that interest!
Oh well....
-
Just got one of the "BR" livery cattle wagons - the brakes are actually ON, ie in contact with the wheels and its conspicuously slow to move when on a gentle incline......
-
Has it ever had an interior?
I suspect not - I only mentioned the fact to highlight the extremely basic nature of the coach, and any "glazing" would consist of a couple of strips of transparent plastic material glued inside the body.
As for the Toad undercart, I was thinking along the lines that ANYTHING would be better than the overpriced Hornby 4 wheelers.....
-
I'd be happy if anyone who finds the clerestory unsatisfactory sends it in my direction. I've got a list of cut and shut jobs that could make use of a good number of them
. Hornby could do quite well flogging them cheap to RTR bashers!Its a pity they don't! The one in the set doesn't have an interior and apparently doesn't have any glazing either. Priced at the level of the Lima Junior basic coaches
they would probably be snapped up, especially if both the composite and brake versions were available.
(just thinking - how "appropriate" would be a sliced up clerestory on the chassis of the forthcoming Oxford 6-wheeled Toad?)
-
Hawkins bazaar are selling the Christmas train set at a reasonable 39.99
Not bad, but close to the price being charged by Hattons. Hattons are currently flogging 4 Hornby train sets all powered by the same 0-4-0 chassis, but to be fair one of them has the Caledonian Pug body instead of old 101. The most risible is the Postal Express set where the poor thing has to lug not only an operating postal van but a dodgy old ex-triang clerestory brake too! Hattons prices for comparison:
- R1151 Caledonian Belle £35.00
- R1185 Santa Express £44.00
- R1188 Country Flyer £57.00
- R1180 Postal Express £70.00
At least the Santa Express has the most reasonable excuse for its fictitious livery, but it should also include a figure pack of Santa, a reindeer and some elves too......
edit because I forgot some punctuation, etc.
-
Just so long as all the 2016 models cross the finishing line in 2016!
Particularly thinking of the H&P Peckett....
-
I'm sure that this is the worst possible thing that could happen during the transfer period. It was bad enough adjusting from M/W/F to the Tu/F publication frequency, but a blackout means that people won't bother to check at all and when MREmag comes back online, they'll fall through the cracks and may never return. This isn't good as it seems that maximal eyeballs to screen (ok, page views) are the key to MREmag continuing to exist in ANY form!
My best wishes to Phil Parker and the rest of the team!
And I hope that MREmag returns sooner than later...
-
The curse of predictive text? It is usually possible to work out the intended word, but I confess myself stuck here.
But it would make a nice collective noun for rivets, which to the best of my knowledge don't enjoy one. We only have to use it enough, and it will get into the OED.
So many rivets suggests a sandpaper of rivets might make an appropriate collective noun. And prompts the thought that, provided the plastic isn't too tough, an emery board and some dirty black paint would cure the superfluity of carbuncles already present.
Given the other criticisms levelled at the model, perhaps it should be renamed the Dean "Great Wen" - see, back to lumps and carbuncles again......
-
Looks like it's a very significant problem with the database. Won't be a quick fix I'm afraid.
Not good news. MREmag was the first thing I looked at this morning.
Hope its just connected with trashed indices rather than a loss of content.
You did back up all your hard work before hitting the upload key?
-
Slightly off topic I know, but one of Hornby's other brands does like attention to detail.. 43 parts and counting and I've only got to this stage:
Without checking I think it's got more parts in this sub-assembly than the previous version of 1:48th Scale Hawker Hurricane had altogether.
It makes you wonder how many parts go into building say the forthcoming H Class or the forthcoming BSO & FO Mk1's
Of course, every now and then someone will ask "Why can't Hornby reintroduce CKD kits to save money on assembly?"
Of course, its well known that the CKD models were a way to get around Purchase Tax and when VAT was introduced, they vanished because the kits were no longer cost-effective.
However, others will chime in with "Well, there's so many small parts in a modern loco/coach/whatever that modellers wouldn't be able to cope!" Yet anyone building an Airfix kit, even at the least complicated level (not including the Lego inspired stuff) is dealing with a large number of pieces to be identified, any flash removed and carefully glued into place. Individual sub-assemblies may also need painting before combining with other parts.
It may be a collection of (finely detailed) pre-moulded parts, but the success of the final object is a combination of the skill and art of the modeller.
I'm not sure what I started off to say, but I suppose that if we don't want to have to build all our locos and rolling stock from an Airfix style kit of that level of complexity just to reduce costs a little then we should be glad that there's people in China who are prepared to do something similar to the above for not a lot of money, and provide us with highly detailed models at fairly reasonable prices.
Of course, with an Airfix kit, the main challenge is in the assembly and decoration, the damn thing isn't expected to fly too!
-
Hornby B12
in Hornby
The latest "Engine Shed" blog allays any fears about the wheel spoke flares. They state that the wheels on the pre-production models illustrated were from an older model, and that the wheels fitted to the production models will be the correct ones.
Indeed, but I'm sure that people will find something else to fret over.
Anyone counted the spokes on the drivers or the leading bogie?
Hornby's Best Ever Models
in Hornby
Posted
Like the Boy Racer bonnet on the Hurricane!
You'd better get the fitters to have a look at that port aileron, looks like its drooping a little, though if the starboard one is raised, its probably ok.....
(Going by the serial, I suppose its a representation of a Training Unit aeroplane, and silver so it can be seen by all and sundry.)