Sjcm

Could be the start of a new trend in the hobby. No more messing around with airbrushes and weathering paint. just plonk your loco in a box with a breeding pair of weathering mice and wait a month.

IF YOU DON'T LIKE MICE, DON'T BID

*may need gloves*

12 hours ago, PieGuyRob said:

I have never sold anything on Ebay, so wasn't sure. In that case we are definitely encouraging him! 

I've always assumed he knows he has a fan club on here, and purposely sets aside a listing each month for our entertainment😉

Looks factory to me. Wouldn't mind a dabble on one of them. Picked up the later version without the plungers years back with the chassis snapped from zinc pest. Fortunately the zinc had stopped pesting and 15+ years on the repair is still solid. Mine has the x04 type motor so it got a neo magnet upgrade and runs as good as any comparable model from that time period

Don't think its been mentioned here but Royal Mail signed has changed. Apart from the  big price increase in April you now only get covered upto 20 pounds instead of 50 for insurance. And they wonder why they are losing business😳

I imagine they go by returns rather than social media and unfortunately our hobby is loathe to return models unless they are totally broken. 2 reviewers on here both had running problems and the crank pins falling out but they "fixed" the problems themselves despite not being that happy with the model. I'm guessing phone and car manufacturers would kill for that sort of customer base.😂

I wonder if the lamps are an example of the gap between what the designers wanted, and what is possible on the manufacturing side. Sticking "changing lamps requires a good degree of modelling abilty" in the instructions for something that is supposed to press fit? What does that even mean? A tacit admission that glue will be required to keep them on?

Another reviewer with problems

yeah I have left (a polite) reply now. It's just the fact there is nothing I could have done faced with this sort of buyer. if he had contacted me on its arrival, I would have sorted it whether it was working or not. I would have still sorted it after he left the bad feedback if he had replied to my (polite) messages, but apparently he doesn't want a free loco😐 I have my suspicions that this is another seller's burner account so getting his money back isn't the point.

Just had my 1st bad feedback ever due to the buyer from hell. Sold an item as working (with video showing it working). Didn't contact me to say he had a problem, just left feedback saying it didn't work. Contacted him a couple of times to offer a refund, no reply. Then he started out-bidding everyone on my other items when they were finishing, so had to block him (advised to). Apparently Ebay can't do anything because

a)while it was working when sent, they can't prove it arrived working (fair enough)

b)not wanting a refund when you receive a faulty item is odd but not necessary suspicious. maybe he never reads his e-mails (!!)

c)bidding on other items by a seller you're not happy with is odd but not necessary suspicious. maybe he hasn't realised its the same seller ? (!!!)

ah well, gotta laugh.😂

14 hours ago, Hacksworth_Sidings said:

Having another look at his account and the listings...

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/364869810156

 

"This Graham Farish OO Gauge steam locomotive... ...is a ready-to-go model that comes pre-built and is powered by a DC system."

 

 

"...has a 4-6-2 wheel configuration..."

 

Doesn't look "ready-to-go" to me... Or "pre-built"... Sadly a victim of zinc pest, and he's asking £150...

The one I sold was in much  worse condition than that except it didn't have zinc pest (the rear bogie was missing so had probably disintigrated). From what  I was being asked by potential buyers the big problem is the frame and the wheels having the pest, and luckily my example, the wheels and rods turned smoothly with no signs of cracking or bulging. GF collectors are brilliant for sellers though - they make Hornby Dublo collectors look sane individuals after a bargain.

21 minutes ago, The Stationmaster said:

The mag has permission to use the Hornby name and that has been public knowledge for a good while.  Whether or not they pay to use it would be a commercial matter between the two organisations so we don;t know the answer to that and never will.  

 

But the big thing for Hornby is that the front page of the magazine is putting their name in front of tens of thousands of people who might otherwise think the company no longer exists or that it had gone the way of umpteen other British brands.  I suspect that far more people visit places like WHS, or other retailers selling magazines etc, than ever visit model railway retailers' premises so it's good advertising that creates brand awareness..

i'm not sure there are many people who don't know Hornby still exist, but I agree its good publicity if the magazine takes a reviewing style of not much more than just showing the model. Looking at that Turbomotive video posted they don't really judge the product at all in any detail so getting a fair viewpoint of whether its any good or not...well you don't.  they could have at least noticed the wonky front buffer😉

I don't think I am kicking them personally. I think Bachmann/Dapol/whoever would do exactly the same when it comes to control of their name. I'm sure whatever is in the licensing agreement doesn't have 50 pages on what is acceptable copy to print in the magazine, but I bet there is a clause along the lines of "Hornby reserve the right to withdraw licensing of the name if they consider it's usage to be detrimental/ harmful to the companies reputation" Does the same job.

18 minutes ago, Steamport Southport said:

 

Which would be illegal.

 

Is them using the Hornby name any different to having sponsored sections on a forum?

 

I remember when I was into gaming and there was a magazine called SEGA magazine that would often give games made by SEGA poor reviews.

 

 

Jason

Having a sponsored section is a bit different from having paid control of a company's name and intellectual property.  If you think they are totally free to do what they like then fine, but a company who is not adverse to entering into wars with suppliers or announcing models to out-manouvre other manufacturers to protect their interests being totally unconcerned about what appears with their name above it? I think that's naive personally.

I still don't think any company lets their trademark be used unless they have some control or caveats over what is associated with it.  It would be frankly...daft.  I imagine the written document of the licensing deal between the 2 companies is very long and detailed, so where they have some leeway or editorial freedom to criticise, permission to trash a bad model is not included

well......companies are fiercely protective of their trade names, so somehow I don't think Hornby went "of course, take our name for XXX pounds. We're not worried that people will assume you are part of Hornby and if you want to print "Hornby's new black5 is a bit of a dog" on the cover, got for it!"

10 hours ago, Steamport Southport said:

 

However Hornby Magazine is nothing to do with Hornby....

 

It's published by Key Publishing and they sell as much Bachmann, Dapol, Cavalex and Accurascale as they do Hornby.

 

https://shop.keypublishing.com/collections/kmw-limited-editions

 

I find the reviews and videos to be pretty good, with less of the bias that comes with some of the other reviewers. When they show a video of a locomotive or train they tend to be running it on a proper layout so you can see them running.

 

 

 

 

Jason

Wouldn't they need permission to use the Hornby name? I think its very unlikely that it would be granted if they are expecting any sort of critical reviews, especially as they seem to have close links to Hornby whether they own them or not

17 hours ago, Hacksworth_Sidings said:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?sid=atmodels18&_pgn=1&isRefine=true&_trksid=p4429486.m3561.l49496
 

Been looking at GraFar OO stuff, and I think I found out why it’s so hard to get a hold of… This guy seemingly has most of the supply*! Saw a good 16 listings for 8100s…

 

Some of his prices seem half decent… £45-£55 for Prairies, an early plunger prairie for £50 (plastic wheels, screwed onto their axles in similar fashion to a Keyser model, plungers between the rear and middle drivers), I’m honestly tempted to purchase one as 8100s are models I hardly see being sold…
 
Then there’s things like Merchant Navies going for almost three hundred quid! Are the BR blue ones really worth that much!?

 

*Well, him and that guy with the room full of GraFar stuff selling for £10k…

Mentioned it on here before but I sold a landfill grafar merchant Navy with no tender for 100 pounds. thought I'd get a fiver for it....

yeah that's about the size of it. I did think the lamp thing was a bit of a storm in a teacup, but after seeing them on the reviews they do look a bit big and lighted, a bit.....well naff. Maybe I'm turning into a rivet counter on the quiet. As for glueing lamp brackets into a new model as the one reviewer did, fine for you, but basically taking away a main feature if you ever try to sell it, plus you can see the lamp/brackets getting lost over time. I just have a bee in my bonnet about the QC on new models given the price, and the tender thing is too much of an unknown quantity for me. That said, some people are happy with it, and some people will still buy it whatever the problems mentioned on here. Some people just want it, which is fine. Even Sam's trains swore blind he wouldn't buy it but did. He claimed  it was for a proper review but as someone who spends 30 minutes per review going on about the lining, or the detail of the cylinder cocks, then it's obviously a model aimed at him.

1 hour ago, Johan DC said:

It seems to me that this new type of plug is better working, and closer coupling, on the previous locos like P2’s and A1’s. I have four of these, and not a single issue. And the gap between tender and engine looks smaller too. So it’s really a step back. 

Yep, the problem is no-one knows exactly what the problem is. Is it a mechanical problem where the tender connectors on this batch are not making proper contact when they click in. Is is an electrical problem somewhere in the loco or tender (faulty/corroded contacts). On the one hand Sam's trains got his working with contact cleaner which hints at electrical problems. On the other hand that didn't work with first one. Maybe it's a combination of both and the main difference between the P2 and the black 5 is QC or cost cutting.

27 minutes ago, adb968008 said:

Surely an EP model would have been on / off that Hornby test track, connected and disconnected enough times to test that and ID it as a weakness ?

 

some EPs ive seen have been through a hedge backwards, but thats part of the life of an EP is to find these things.

 

 

 

Apart from the colour, they remind me of the contacts you used to get on 90's game console cartridges which could oxidise and stop working over time. of course if they are the same, then the presumably hidden smaller traces that join up to the visible contact bars could be the real problem  as you can't reach them to clean them.

well........that tender connection.  he got it working with contact spray but you have to wonder how long that is going to last. I suppose the crank pin falling out is about par for the course😂

just seen it. Same problems and its fallen apart 😂

1 minute ago, 34theletterbetweenB&D said:

Bought the very lovely Hornby P2 as no 2003 'Lord President', and had it all in pieces after test running was complete, decoder now in Loco, tender wiper pick ups removed, etc.. It's way cheaper than a self build model would be. Does that answer the question? (Overall I rate it very good.)

 

The main motivation was assessing the mechanism for a future project acquisition. Gresley would so have advanced to a 4-8-4 had he been spared...

But you are not the norm. Plenty of people willing and capable to service and repair a rtr model. A complete rebuild with new pickups? less likely.

14 minutes ago, 34theletterbetweenB&D said:

This culture doesn't trouble me: before there was RTR OO worth purchasing as a model, everything had to be built by DIY using kit components. Now we get fully assembled kits, and happily an increasing proportion of these fully deserve the 'RTR' label: Joy unbounded, I don't have to run the loco, carriage and wagon works, more time for my real interest in timetable operation.

 

But all models that come my way get taken apart to some extent, because improvements and adjustments can be made. Hornby's product typically gets the most extensive treatment, because among the current brands it has the largest content of toytrainium in its offerings, which can be discarded: first to go are wiper pick ups on tender wheels. (They are only fitted to try to help the loco get over the dreadful design set track pointwork, completely unnecessary on a live crossing layout.) And there's much more besides.

 

As far as I am concerned, now that it is generally recognised that scale dimensions and appearance - insofar as that is possible within the necessary OO compromise for UK subject matter - all is generally well. The minor problems and deficiencies can be quickly fixed: HURRAH!

 

Once there's a plain and simple Hornby Black 5 in BR late crest on sale, it'll be in pieces on my bench the moment it's completed infant mortality acceptance testing.

 

Yes, they can in their RTR HO product, which is made to a long time well developed standard, with an extensive range of toytrainium input and performs impressively. And it is so marvellous that 'modellers that can' adopt P87 to get rid of the toytrainium and have true scale models, which  - surprise! - won't get around the minimum radius HO set track curves.

 

There's little point in making comparisons between RTR HO and RTR OO, which developed on very different paths reflecting aspects of national character, there ordnung, here gung-ho; the chance of any future convergence is so small as to be ignored...

Yeah, it was more an observation on how everyone seems reluctant to delve deeper with the problems and why? I don't subscribe to Sam's trains or watch a lot of his stuff, but I do know he's not adverse to taking apart new models for major surgery like many youtubers. Yet this time he's not touched it, even to look at the mechanism. Like wise the other guy posted on here who again has tried to fix new models before. As someone who would return a new faulty loco out of principle, I wonder if the people who would usually have a dabble, have gone "nope, not touching a 230 pound loco under warranty"