gregpokes1/Camden

6 hours ago, Tony Wright said:

Good morning Camden,

 

What an extraordinary piece of work.

 

I feel quite ashamed in a way with what I usually do with tender interiors. That is to solder a piece of flat brass, just below the top of the sides of my tenders, then, after painting, just fill it with (real) coal, even allowing some to spill over to the rear, around the dome and water filler. Thus, any detail (not that there is any) is buried.

 

Would anyone actually model a tender interior like the one you've shown? By that I mean, on an operating model railway like Little Bytham, most of the locos' tenders would be fairly full of coal (even the Up 'Lizzie's' tender used to have plenty left by Kings Cross). The only time a tender's interior would be so visible is just as its towed out of the paint shop for weighing or in a museum. Splendid work, nonetheless. 

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

Tony,

Thank you very much for the compliments.  I'd thought about the coal covering the detail... but there still would be at least something sticking out.  Since my model is the NRM glossed edition, I decided to have a go at modeling this one empty to a museum standard.  Even with tenders relatively full, the water filler area would still be visible and maybe the top of the front when the coal would start to form a dimple where you could see the coal door and corner bracings.  I think the representation of the detail ought to be there if you're paying close to the £200 for these models.  Since the A3's/A1's are obviously undergoing a retool, I think we should expect to at least see some sort of representation of the interior as we did with the new A2's Hornby is rolling out.  Since there were no A4's in the 2021 range announcements and the A1/A3 retool was announced, I think it's reasonable to expect a retool of the A4 announced next year?  I hope they do something better than the horrid '90s tender drive valve gear, sort out the slab-sided cylinder valancing and correct the tender height and interior detailing to a degree, longer front buffers, and an open-framed front bogie.  Oh how I can wish!

Regards,
Camden

I must admit... all the items Hornby's announced and released is quite impressive.  The W1 really surprised me for a number of reasons... and did anyone else spot not a single super detail A3 or A4 in the range?  Thought those were the staple trademark of that range.
Little did I know my advice sent via email to Hornby on a retool on the A3 and the A4 might be taken seriously.  I'd had a number of issues with the current super detail tooling of the A4 in particular.  I'd criticized the valve gear and tenders most on the tooling.  The crosshead was a rather ungainly sight on the gresley pacifics.  When Hornby's Tornado was released, the crosshead was properly modeled, which I thought would carry over to the other gresley engines but never happened.  That is the main problem I had with the Hornby tooling on the A4 engines along with the hinge rivet detailing lacking on the cods mouth door.  The tenders are almost unacceptably poor as well.  The interior of the bunker and water filler area is lacking a massive wealth of detail.  There should be bracings, rivets, ribbing, supports and a flange on the rear bunker arch.

What intrigued me is that every single critique of the A4 engine applied to the rebuilt W1... down to the crosshead swap from the Tornado tooling.  The tenders are also completely retooled... which, if done as I'd have thought them to do with no retooling, would have robbed the super detail tooling for the A3s and A4s.  These tenders have the added ribbing, riveting, and bracing inside the bunker and water filler areas as I'd suggested.

Just some fuel for though for the possibilities of what we may see in the 2021, 2022 range...

I may be replacing the chimney on mine and swap it for a metal one.  As for the tender, I think the replicated tyres are a bit too thick and makes the tender higher than it ought to be.  Possibly an easy fix with ultrascale wheels?  Reason for the metal chimney for me would be the addition of a fan-driven synchronized puffing smoke unit.  A Lokprogrammer will have to purchased first, though and I've already got an I/O expansion board.  Getting 4468 detailed and running with sound is my priority before smoke, though.

Oh, OF COURSE!  I'm trying to sort out the difficult-to-get items first, then I will order the plates from Fox Transfers.

Hi, all!  I'm beginning a new thread here on improving Hornby's OO gauge LNER A4s.  More specifically, I am improving my own stock example of Hornby's 2018 release of the R3676 'Mallard' in as-preserved livery.  PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE post in here with your own tips, tricks, and project related to any OO gauge A4!  My goal is to detail my own 'Mallard' to 1986-1988 specifications when she ran.  I've got Brassmasters detail parts and front bogie etch coming soon along with a "MALLARD'88" headboard and "RESTORATION SPONSORED BY SCARBOROUGH BOROUGH COUNCIL" custom etches within the next few weeks.  The main connecting rod and crosshead have been replaced on both sides of my model using parts from a Bachmann A1.  The only other modifications are painted details.  Paint REALLY can bring a model to LIFE!  I've installed a speaker into the tender and am waiting for a SWD ESU Loksound V4 decoder to arrive.  The speaker is from a donor MTH HO scale steam loco (Arguably the best speakers for size in ANY OO/HO loco) and the tender shell is being sealed off as the speaker's baffle.  A support coach (FNRM 35362) that ran behind her during the mid-late 1980s is also being customized through TMC models.  The cylinder drain cock pipes WILL be replaced once the Brassmasters bits have arrived and will be made from copper wire.  This project is looking up!

Hi, all!  I'm beginning a new thread here on improving Hornby's OO gauge LNER A4s.  More specifically, I am improving my own stock example of Hornby's 2018 release of the R3676 'Mallard' in as-preserved livery.  PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE post in here with your own tips, tricks, and project related to any OO gauge A4!  My goal is to detail my own 'Mallard' to 1986-1988 specifications when she ran.  I've got Brassmasters detail parts and front bogie etch coming soon along with a "MALLARD'88" headboard and "RESTORATION SPONSORED BY SCARBOROUGH BOROUGH COUNCIL" custom etches within the next few weeks.  The main connecting rod and crosshead have been replaced on both sides of my model using parts from a Bachmann A1.  The only other modifications are painted details.  Paint REALLY can bring a model to LIFE!  I've installed a speaker into the tender and am waiting for a SWD ESU Loksound V4 decoder to arrive.  The speaker is from a donor MTH HO scale steam loco (Arguably the best speakers for size in ANY OO/HO loco) and the tender shell is being sealed off as the speaker's baffle.  A support coach (FNRM 35362) that ran behind her during the mid-late 1980s is also being customized through TMC models.  The cylinder drain cock pipes WILL be replaced once the Brassmasters bits have arrived and will be made from copper wire.  This project is looking up!