andyman7

If I recall correctly, the wagon is fitted with a clockwork spring knob on the platform which is wound up. The helicopter is located so that the rotor is linked to the knob. When the trigger is released the spring quickly unwinds and spins the rotor which caused the helicopter to fly up and away. If the spring in the wagon is broken it won't work... 

2 hours ago, melmerby said:

It's also expensive for what you get.

At RRP I totally agree. I've got one bought in around 2009 for just over £100. I was able to update the firmware to the current version. At that price it's a useful bit of kit for testing/operating DCC fitted models.

The Hornby Elite has 2 knobs....

2 hours ago, SHerr said:

Quick question on the current batch of 47’s in particular the heavily faded 47526 in large  logo. Is the fading/weathering applied over the blue and able to be removed with thinners etc (I have done this successfully on Heljan heavy handed weathering) or in this situation is the paint job more complex and the weathering is effectively the base livery? 
 

I don’t want something that faded but an after a standard large logo and wondering if anyone has had a go?

 

many thanks

48 minutes ago, MikeParkin65 said:

From having seen but not owning an example it looks like the fading is an intrinsic part of the body decoration as opposed to a Heljan quick blow over.

The weathering is indeed printed and is not a subsequent pass of the 'dirt' airbrush. It's applied in layers but unless you want an expensive test there's no telling which bits will come off first. One other thing to note with this type of weathering is that the base BR blue is a faded shade - there's no 'pristine' model under there.

5 hours ago, wainwright1 said:

Don't forget that the code of the rail on the old steel rail will be coarser that the newer nickel silver.

 

Ray

No, Triang-Hornby changed to Code 100 rail in 1970 and the 'new' 1978 Turntable was always Code 100.

The change to Nickel Silver rail was made to the track range in 1993.

3 hours ago, Butler Henderson said:

Surely both are Code 100. I think the change came when production shifted to China. However buying a second hand one in a box labelled made in China will not neccessarily be a guarantee that the rails are nickle silver as mispackaged second hand items is not uncommon IME.

What might be one on ebay has a starting price of £50 with £6 postage

Kernow for example are selling them new for £59.99 plus £4 postage

 

No, it was before the move to China. The very last locomotive to be made with an X.03 motor and Magnadhesion was the R866 Battle of Brighton 'Fighter Pilot' deleted at the end of the 1989 season. That cleared the way for the change from steel rails, the track was still made in Austria by Roco under contract although 'special' pieces such as the isolating tracks (and the turntable tracks) were made in Margate,  

4 minutes ago, JDW said:

So long as it doesn't obscure too much, I'd be tempted to try the sliced-through buildings idea, but not with open fronts (to do the whole row would be a huge task, but also might look a bit gimmicky I think), but rather just 'blanked off' as part of the facia, similar to the post above. However, I'd use matt black rather than white or a light colour, for the same reason it's used in theatres; to make it disappear. It would blend the unusual outline into the facia, and the eye would be drawn to the layout rather than to the odd shapes along the front.  

An option with the blanked off matt black approach would be to have the interior of just one house modelled with a clear/perspex viewing window. That would create a feature/talking point!

21 hours ago, Melton Works said:

Yes avoid D5512, 31270 and 31110. All 3 of mine crumbled!

Those ones are the only Hornby ones where the entire production runs were affected. I've had about eight or nine later examples and none have had any chassis trouble at all - including BR Blue 31111 bought in 2006 which is still fine. In my experience where other examples appear affected it's because they were either renumbered or their original chassis had been swapped with one from the affected D5512 Green/31270 Blue/31110 Dutch livery batch

19 hours ago, melmerby said:

Strange that factory clearance stuff was going up in price!

 

Not strange at all - this wasn't a sell off in the conventional sense but a long term investment. Some of that stock was still being sold 'new' in the 1980s by which time items prices reflected the 'collectors' rates. I imagine Norman Hatton would have given short shrift to anyone that argued he should still be asking 63p (12/6 rounded up) for his Dublo Super-Detail coaches (Hattons advert below from the October 1982 Railway Modeller)

Browsing the 'bay for a copy of Stewart Joy's 1973 economic treatise on BR, this listing includes the most risible AI-generated cobblers I've seen yet. Yes, it's a book concerned with the railways but is an analysis of BR's economic performance from the 50s to the 70s and not "...a must-have for any train enthusiast....this book contains 160 pages filled with captivating information about trains....a fascinating insight into the world of trains, covering topics such as the history of locomotives, train designs, and the impact of trains on society. Whether you are a collector, historian, or simply a lover of trains, this book is sure to provide hours of reading pleasure."

If AI really is going to destroy society, it will presumably be by means of burying under a tidal wave of bullcrap!

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/315037371225?itmmeta=01HQ6XSDA3MS3Q753FZ88468HP&hash=item4959b0cb59:g:2HIAAOSw6RBlfzxR&itmprp=enc%3AAQAIAAAA8I9yytHvKythbm9v6zrGpbjPn9SSu7WTCXQWUVeezLDxSlsV4VrSg0hM%2FahTPFPVLvjzKevbdDfGMVKrvV4Ulu0%2BTCNxSOVvqu8PXCmSmlpeRVCmj7lWyZe2mXDvZmjzveAXzvHFAtiTWdYBKx%2BGkH%2Fi6P6iiDKvEhNkyPG2fJHYfZB7WuQuULg3iFdHasKUE%2FBfoDByp1iNCxQaJUl9ra1IIDo2sTZA1nB1uYAM0NvJVywn2x2gp54M89r68tzPbz06DSql0UawXUTIoZXZl2TvW5%2ByRmx22%2Bm9iPd5pXSrgQcPytDLv9ym4Z03Lop%2BGw%3D%3D|tkp%3ABk9SR4zV5d25Yw

The DCC items are bought in rebadged ones; the DC stuff is made by them onsite so they are in a position to repair the latter.

1 hour ago, sjrixon said:

When it's operated in a realistic and railway like manner.. 

I'm afraid that's likely to be far too broad a definition to help! Taken to extremes that would exclude 99.9% of modellers and potentially leave us only with a painfully serious gentleman modelling a section the Fairford branch (or whatever) in P4 as it was on the afternoon of Wednesday 4th October 1950.

18 minutes ago, MattR said:

A train set is a retail pre-packaged box of motive power/stock/track/sometimes controller.

 

Add one thing that wasn't in the box and it's not a train set anymore.

 

If you use only the things in the box on a permanent layout with scenery and operate it to the most mind-numbingly accurate real life standard as recorded at Flibbetyflom Station from 1-4 p.m. on Jan. 27, 1959, it's still a trainset.

I'm more inclined to this one although I'd argue that the input/knowledge of operating the train set to prototype practice elevates it. The 'operation' is being modelled by the user in the true sense of the word.

I've noticed that the Hobby Shop Faversham has a pretty good price for the SWT one (no connection other than as a satisfied customer):

 https://hobb-e-mail.com/Hornby-r30107-south-west-trains-cl423-4-vep-66211-p.asp

An alternative if you're up for it would be to slice through the houses and model the interiors where rooms and lofts are exposed - it might drive you mad but it would certainly be a feature!

2 minutes ago, ColinB said:

I am not sure this isn't another mess up by Hornby, you would need to look at R3565 to see whether that had it. The Stanier 4P tank engine has the same front pony and they definitely have proper NEM couplings so Hornby could have used that.

Unlike the Margate days each loco is allocated its own part numbers fro pretty much everything and the tool sets are spread across different suppliers, so whilst it's a missed opportunity there's no guarantee that the 4P front bogie tool was available for use with the 8F

If it's weak and running hot that does sound like it needs remagnetising

I'm still not quite sure what the motivation is behind some of these circular discussions. It is extremely useful when considering a purchase to have the information about the model spec - this is marketed at a full superdetail price point yet is an older model that doesn't even match up to the spec of previously-issued versions.

What I'm less sure about is the debate about the motives. Anyone that has bought or been aware of Hornby products will know that due to their enormous back tooling bank, their brand position and their longstanding inconsistency of pricing and use of sub-brands like Railroad, you cannot assume that expensive = high end and cheap = low quality. The recently re-issued ex-Lima GUV was put in the main range at a price north of £40 yet for under £100 there are some fairly decent diesel models in the Railroad range right now. The retooled VEPs come in at 25% less than Bachmann 4 car EMUs and in my opinion are (at last) really very good models for the price. So frankly rather than assuming some specifically malevolent intent I would just treat this as business as usual 'for Hornby' and take the information we have as a clear message that if you want an 8F buying a previous issue secondhand is a much better bet than paying 'new issue' money for this one. The feedback has been passed back to Hornby, if they choose to ignore it than so be it. The field is still wide open for a newly-tooled 8F, I'm sure it won't have gone un-noticed!

If I need any SEF flushglaze I just ring them up to order stuff. Works for me, no cheques or POs involved, just my card to hand.

12 minutes ago, cypherman said:

Hi all,

Now I know this is going to raise some peoples hackles and rouse people ire shouting heresy. But I use small amounts of ultra low viscosity 0W-16 viscosity motor oil. I have been using it over the last 10 years and have never had a problem with it. All I can say is before you decry it. Just try it. It is applied though with a syringe and a fine needle. Take an old loco that you are not too bothered about and try it. You may like it or you may hate it. That's up to you.

Hornby Dublo mechs, being old school metal can take these machine oils. These oils generally have to be avoided like the plague due to their effect on hard plastics but that's not really an issue on the old HD stuff

1 hour ago, roythebus1 said:

From my memory of driving EPB stock every day for 10 years, 4 car units didn't have shoe beams on trailing bogies, nor did the 2EP units either. Having said that the 2EPs had collector beams on the outer end of the driving trailer.

They didn't, the beams are only on the outer (motor) bogies - one of the 'motor' bogies on this one is a dummy. The 501s on the North London lines had quite a different arrangement, a single driving motor car with both bogies powered and with shoebeams plus an additional shoebeam on the outer bogie of the driving trailer.

12 minutes ago, Halvarras said:

Another very decent MTK find - looking at all those door shutline transfers I think a new word for "tedious" is required (I thought applying these to my Class 119 unit back in 1975 was bad enough) but hey, someone else has done all that for you, what's not to like?!

With a motor bogie at each end how does the whole unit run? Those old Tri-ang MBs could (and still can) be remarkably smooth-running. I reckon the steel axles and brass gears* gave them the edge over the diesels which used one-piece nylon gear/axles - any inaccuracy in the moulding could make the motor bogie run with a surging motion, so there was an element of luck involved.

 

*I know later versions had nylon gears but at least mounting them on steel axles gave them a head start over the one-piece things.

It's a dummy bogie at one end (the dummy one as used on the R157 DMU but a late version that takes pinpoint axles). The motor bogie is great - it has smooth wheels and these when in good nick are bulletproof. I might at some point add some extra pickups to the trailing bogie. 

Just now, Darius43 said:

Nice work Andy.

 

Phoenix Precision supply etched cab side widows for both SR and BR EPB units.

 

Cheers

 

Darius

I might add those at some point - I've a few units that would benefit

I've completed another MTK project. A couple of years ago I bought a number of kit built EMUs at auction. They were well built but in many cases missing finishing details such as numbering. I traded on a few that were not from my core period but one I did put aside was a BR Class 416 4-EPB.  The motor bogie was loose and the model had no numbering but really appealed - unlike @Darius43 's (very lovely) detailed approach, these models were built with the aluminium coach bases, the door shut lines applied by transfer, Triang coach bogies and Triang DMU motor bogies with collector shoes added. The models were gloss varnished and very much echo the feel of Hornby Dublo 'super detail' era models.
We all know that Colin Massingham's castings could be rather variable but in this case the cab ends were really spot on and captured the classis 'Eastleigh' BR cab end.
I numbered the unit up, added door handle detail using a silver pen, picked the shoe beams out as per an ex-works unit and added the shoe fuses. Some colour correction was carried out at each end where the pipes were not quite correctly finished. The aim was very much to capture the spirit of these units with a period model and I'm very pleased with the result.

An interesting discussion that once again highlights that no matter how dedicated one is to fidelity, once you get down to 4mm scale there have to be compromises. One of the massive benefits of kinematic couplings in my opinion is their ability to allow buffer-to-buffer or corridor-to-corridor coupling when correctly configured. For me, this vastly outweighs the trade-off of the NEM box. For others, the appearance is more important. At the end of the day you have to make a choice!

1 hour ago, RBE said:

If I'm honest I still don't know what the nail does. 🤷

1 hour ago, BR Blue said:

You are not alone. I cannot see what it does apart from being able to say "I nailed it" if it does work.

As far as I can see, the nail is arranged to nudge the pocket over when the bogie rotates rather than relying on the force exerted from the vehicle it is coupled to - but presumably only in one direction, so I assume the model has to be the right way round. A number of kinematic mounting arrangements on coaches are arranged so that the rotation of the bogie nudges the pocket in the direction of the curve but as long as the pocket is free-moving it's not a requirement, and on the Cavalex 56 the rather nifty NEM mounting for the dummy screw coupling is reliant on the pocket not moving by itself on curves.