Ollie K

3 hours ago, Tony Wright said:My couplings? They really are simple, cheap and effective...............

 

 

Seen without the 30Amp fusewire additional pipes. 

 

Now with the addition of the pipes (only attached to the towing vehicle).

 

 

In crude (and cruel) close-up. Just two lengths of PCB sleeper strip, glued underneath, then the goalpost and hook made from .45 mm brass or nickel silver wire, with 30 Amp fusewire for the train-heating/vacuum brake conduits, all soldered solidly together. 

 

Visually...........

 

 

 

 

I think my couplings 'work'. 

 

They certainly work 'physically' inasmuch as they pull off the headstock (like the real thing) and not the bogies, can be propelled with equal ease as being towed and never come uncoupled. Granted, they're not even semi-automatic, but since LB's rakes in the main are dedicated, there's no need for coupling/uncoupling on the layout.

 

I use the same coupling system on good trains which run in dedicated sets as well...........

 

 

 

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

 

Tony, do you have any images to illustrate how tight a curve radius your coaches (or wagons) with the bar and hook system can manage?

I’ve always thought them an elegant solution when I’ve visited LB, but wondered how they’d fare on more cramped layouts. Could they cope with third or fourth radius set-track (perish the thought)?

On 18/03/2023 at 16:57, gr.king said:

Perhaps you'll be kind enough to let us know whether it is defect-free and a good smooth runner when received?

Mine is one of the Hattons bargain bin examples: not in my usual prewar modelling period but at that price it seemed worth a punt for a new-tooling Pacific. It’s next in the renumbering/renaming/weathering queue.

Insipid green notwithstanding, it’s spot on. Running plate straight (unlike the A2/2s) no loose details in the box and a smooth runner. Massive discount seems to be to clear stock of a slow-selling livery as opposed to shifting a flakey product.

5 hours ago, gr.king said:

Indeed. Looking at what appears to be the end of a gear shaft protruding through the side of the main chassis block, above the middle wheel, I suspect the spur gears require no other means of retention, but the separate weight may still do the job of holding down the nose of the motor and thus keeping the worm in mesh. A new means of retention without the weight may be possible, but clear knowledge of what lies beneath would still be best.

Ask and you shall receive…

Purely as I’m also interested to see what Graeme’s up to (and it might answer questions for others in future) I’ve just had the bonnet off my A2/3.

The metal shroud protruding from the motor and stretching over the top of the driving wheels is released via two small screws.

Once removed it reveals the motor worm drive and a tall screw tower mounting. No other gears are exposed.

The shroud’s rear acts as a retaining bracket for the front of the motor, as per the Hornby A3 / A4 chassis. 
 

As seen here the loco still runs with the cover removed, but the worm drive skips out of mesh in forward drive (better in reverse) and would require an alternative means of securing the motor. 
 

If the motor cover was sawn off just ahead of the first screw hole it appears to me it would be held by the aft screw, continuing to do its job retaining the motor but leave the space above of the first pair of driving wheels clear.

Does this help?

Ollie

The instructions supplied warn to remove the separately supplied accessory parts before placing the loco into the blister pack.

By way of experiment, I've gently tried packing up mine (LNER 5024) into the packaging with the brake rigging fitted and fire irons / shovel lightly tacked into place atop the tanks, and found they don't foul at all. Not sure if it's different with the other versions. 

Mine’s also been on an extended adventure courtesy of Royal Mail, who sent my Lincolnshire-bound package to a delivery office in Leeds, then lost all tracking information before delivering it eight days after dispatch. Good ol’ 48-hour recorded delivery…

Very strong first impressions on the model. Front bogie and cab correctly seated, no livery issues and crucially no broken parts despite the postal mystery tour, so thumbs up for the packaging. Has been running in happily on the rolling road. 

Now Sonic Models, if you were to follow this up with an OO GNR C2 / LNER C12 4-4-2 tank (with lamps in the detail bag this time) that would be superb…

Seen a few of these lurking in the bargains section for a while below £150 or even £140 - now Hattons are shifting their stock for under £110 a pop! Interesting how the LNER liveried locos didn't sell. The next LNER release of 'Airborne' is still advertised for pre-order at over twice the price...

No affiliation, but under £115 including postage for a 4-6-2 these days...

1 hour ago, Dunsignalling said:

You weren't expecting to see pics of actual models were you?

 

Those of the "new" West Countries also show the non-DCC-tender drawbar that dates back to Hornby's first China-sourced locos.  

 

The only images to be even half-trusted are those of entirely new items, and even that presupposes no changes were made to the CADs after they were copied to Photoshop to create the catalogue mug-shots.

 

John

This was the reason I stopped bothering with the Hornby catalogue. Used to be a beautifully presented item that brought an an air of tradition about adding each year's to the the collection. But alongside the typos and factual errors, far too many of the images are simply photoshopped defunct toolings. Understandable perhaps for brand-new tooling models yet to be signed off like, say, a Black 5 or P2. But the LNER A3? The revised version's been on sale a good while and yet the image supposed to entice you to part with £200+ has the old tender connection and the previous DCC-in-loco chassis.

Same numbering error remains in the official website listing too: https://uk.Hornby.com/products/lner-class-a1-4-6-2-4478-hermit-big-four-centenary-collection-era-3-r30270

Attention to detail, detail, detail.

Sets an interesting precedent. Now eagerly looking forward to some 'Accurascaled' Hattons Genesis coaches with slight tooling improvements to make each individual coach accurate to a pre-grouping railway company...

1 hour ago, robertcwp said:

On the subject of A4 tenders, is there a summary of them anywhere? Yea don gives tender numbers but I could not quickly find where there is a list of which type each number was. 

One of the most comprehensive articles I’ve seen on the subject is the ‘Tangle of Tenders’ written by Mel Haigh of the Sir Nigel Gresley loco trust. Initially in the members’ magazine and now generously available free of charge on the SNGLT website:

https://www.sirnigelgresley.org.uk/mob-tenders.shtml

23 hours ago, Steamport Southport said:

Was going to make a Phil Collins joke but I think some of the youngsters wouldn't get it!

I used to be obsessed with Phil Collins lyrics, but take a look at me now.

Did the decorated samples of these ever land, and has that consequently affected the arrival of the finished locos?

Hattons have them listed as expected in Q3 2023, Kernow MRC still say Q2. Would be good to have an update from Heljan.

Not sure if this footage is old news to most folks, but I stumbled upon it on YouTube recently and thought it'd be of interest to WW readers. There's no audio, several of the commentary's loco class identities are incorrect, and the quality is grainy but give it a few minutes and your eyes acclimatise to it, and then you've got 20 minutes of late steam ECML to enjoy with a cuppa. Hopefully something of note in the stock diagrams too. 

56 minutes ago, Trains4U said:

Maybe in 2043, we’ll see a “Blur Vs Oasis” britpop battle train pack!

(you can have that one for free, Hornby!)

The box artwork would certainly reflect the mood of our times. And hey, they’ve got the perfect diecast-bodied motive power tooled and ready. No pesky on-sale delays! 
 

Well that was a very pleasant surprise this morning, apart from a very confused exchange with the postman, insisting it couldn't be a package for me as I'd adamantly not ordered anything recently!

Thanks very much indeed Rapido. Hope the sponge tiling for the lorry unloading bay floor is coming along nicely...

2 hours ago, Tony Wright said:

Ollie Kew came round today (Oliver Bytham on here) for some one-to-one tuition on dry-brush weathering...........

A very good day indeed. Thanks as ever to Tony, Mo and the cats for their hospitality. 

Today was a good opportunity to ask all the 'stupid questions'. How dry should a brush be during 'dry brush' weathering? Is it better to weather loco body and chassis separately? How best to tone down shiny valve gear without impeding operation? Obvious I'm sure to many WW contributors, but I appreciated the opportunity to start from the ground floor, so to speak. I know there are umpteen guides in magazines, on DVDs and on YouTube but there's no substitute for a bit of teaching in person!

I'll carry on with the chassis later this week and then finish off with some weathering powders. Then both locos will join the queue for lamps and crew.

The C12 was an impulse eBay buy, which I've a terrible weakness for. The motor was gummed up, the front bogie lifted the front drivers clean off the rails as fitted, and it was a bit tatty all over. It seemed a well-built engine though, so I touched up the chipped paintwork, repainted the (rather grim) bogie wheels, simply gave the mechanism a good clean and a dab of oil, and off it went. Removing a washer and loosening the front bogie screw got everything sitting straight. While I claim no credit for its construction, it is certainly satisfying to recommission an old and neglected model, and put it back into service. 

Cheers all, and thanks again to Tony.

14 minutes ago, rapidoandy said:

Progress is being made! It’s going to take a little time but we are on the home straight.

 

To give everyone an idea of what we have to do -

 

The PCBs arrive as produced in blocks of 10 - these need cutting apart and the ends removing.

 

Car needs unboxing.

 

Body removed

 

PCB removed

 

PCB installed

 

Contact spring checked

 

Body reassembled

 

Test electronics

 

 Visual check and rectify any other faults

 

Box model

 

Complete paperwork.

 

Repeat 2999 more times…

 

Sort shipping.

 

All is done by hand and it is taking time but progress is being made. I might even work over Christmas to progress it…

 

Happy Christmas everyone.

 

Andy

Thanks for all you’re doing, and the updates. I for one would be happy to wait a little longer - you guys all deserve a break!

Decorated renders of the Coronation observation car and one of the twins have quietly popped up on Hornby’s website.

Looking forward to seeing more of how the articulated coach coupling and streamlined shroud have been engineered.

26 minutes ago, davidw said:

Hope  that new coupling is less obtrusive as the Bachmann V2.....

Is it just me, or in the images posted does the tender seem no more closely coupled than either of the previous two drawbar arrangements?
 

I’m all for a tidier connection (so long as it’s not as clumsy as Bachmann’s latest effort) but the supposedly kinematic Hornby one doesn’t seem like much of an improvement in terms of the long jump between footplate and tender. 

5 hours ago, 60027Merlin said:

At long last the new V2 has been "done up" and running in fine.

 

The new style drawbar was binned and replaced with a bar and hook and the smokebox door altered to improve the front end. Not some of Bachmann's better ideas!

 

Looks splendid. What was your technique for safely removing and then altering the smokebox door?

6 minutes ago, wombatofludham said:

I wonder if he might actually have some sympathy for their retail partners if he comes from a retail background, or whether he'll prioritise their online retail offer.  For me that'll be the deciding factor whether I decide to spend any money with Hornby in the future, not whether the deckchairs have been laid out nicely to watch the looming iceberg.

Given Paperchase's miraculous recovery was not the rosy story it seemed, I wouldn't count on it. Several reports out there about how the rescue deal saved jobs on the retail side of the business, but Paperchase wriggled out of paying creators and artists who'd provided work for its greetings cards before it went bust. 

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/may/07/paperchase-has-been-rescued-but-greetings-card-artists-are-losing-thousands

https://www.forbes.com/sites/catherineerdly/2022/05/05/small-businesses-speak-out-over-ruinous-impact-of-paperchases-administration/

I pre-ordered a pack of the GNR and the LNER Genesis coaches and a full brake for each. In August I got the email saying Hattons was unable to fulfil my order so it would be cancelled. Disappointing, but hardly serious in the way of the world right now.

Thanks to this thread, I saw that LNER coaches had become available again last week, and ordered the same pack I’d missed out on before. The box set of four arrived today, promptly and well packaged. I’m very satisfied with the product, but it would’ve been even better if Hattons had perhaps notified those of us who lost our original orders that the items were healthily back in stock again…

Anyway, well done Hattons on some very impressive rolling stock, thanks RMweb for the heads up that they were in stock, and fingers crossed some of the GNR ones become available again in due course. 

10 minutes ago, rapidoandy said:

We have to manually reply to each with your returns number. As you can imagine we have a number to get through so please bare with us. If you have not had a response by half way through the week drop me a message and let me know.

 

Andy

I thought it might be being done personally rather than an automated response. Another case of Rapido showing up the rest with customer service the way it should be. Thanks again, all the best with the recall process.

Anyone who’s done the Rapido return form online, how long did your response / return label take to arrive in your inbox? Been a couple of days since I submitted mine and not heard everything, it hasn’t gone into spam or anything like that. I don’t want to inundate the poor Rapido admin with another load of repeated requests though, as I’ve only one model to return. 
 

Thanks.

24 minutes ago, Johan DC said:

Couldn't find the numbers on the recordrun set. Has anybody this information? Might do a regular and a record one, now with the dynamometer car rerun. 

The record run set is often referred to as the ‘spare’ set of streamlined stock kept in reserve if the regular Coronation, West Riding Limited or Silver Jubilee stock had a mechanical problem.

However, in Max Hoather’s invaluable and incredibly evocative photos from 03-07-1938, the shots taken from the train on the northbound run (as Mallard hauls the brake test special from the down slow to the down fast at Everton box) clearly show the Coronation lettering affixed to the sides of the carriages, indicating it was a Coronation set proper and not in fact the unlettered spare.

https://collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/objects/co8052664/hoather-collection-photographs

I’ve not seen definitive proof of the car numbers involved but it’s generally agreed the usual nine-car summer Coronation set was reduced to six cars: A-B, C-D, G-H and no ‘beavertail’ observation car.

If anyone has more information on the above, it’d be great to hear it!