stuart galbraith

Living very near the aforesaid Castle,I can tell you there arent any rivers suitable for Beavers within 10 miles. Its apparently a derivation of the word 'Blue Stone', the fields for which are littered with here abouts. But I digress.... Is there anything inaccurate about the configuration for the first build of Beverston castles released last year? If there is can someone point it out, because Id like to make sure mine is as accurate as possible. The only thing I dont like about it is the prominent boiler seam, which I really must try to do something about one day.

Bought mine the other day, and by and large Im quite happy with it. I made sure I checked after comments on here there was no smokebox number and that was OK, but after getting it home the right hand motion mount (the metal one the slide bar slides in) came off, albeit undamaged. Dont think they glued it in properly. Ive now fixed it with sparing amounts of superglue, and Ill try and give it a run tomorrow. The other thing is that the wire on the front of the reverser mount is slightly bent, but I think thats fixable. its also rather annoying to note that Hornby still havent fully solved the problem of the mould line on the boiler. If it was on the top it wouldnt show at all, but 2 thirds down the boiler it does show unless its filed down. My 7037 was well done, as was cairns, Beverston castle needs remedial work in this area, and Tintagel, whilst its a lot better than Beverston, still shows more than Swindon. I must say though, that I dont wish to sound too negative. These are for the most part nitpicks because the paint job is superb. I love the livery, and when connected up to a Collett in GW livery looks fantastic.

In fairness, its just another OO Gauge Castle, albeit with a particularly well done paint job, nice box, booklet and a limited edition. Its also available only from Swindon, just like the original. I like getting famous ones though. If Launceston, Caerpilly and Windsor Castle ever come up for production its going to get a bit expensive. I already have the older model of Pendennis, which is still quite a good model IMHO. Incidentally, I got Pete Waterman to sign the booklet the other day. Im sure nearly everyone else has too by now.

Would I be right in assuming this was the original Windsor Castle, or is that before they swapped plates?

7013, that does look very good indeed. Though perhaps least said the better about the neatnest of the original BR conversion!

Thanks, I may give that a try. I might try it on my 26 year old Dapol County first though....

I accept its very USEFUL to start with a colour that is shade accurate. Where I disagree is whether its is the final decider of whether a model is really accurate or not since in the 50s there could have been so many variables in the way it was applied. (as suggested by the way it looked in comparison on Diesels and Steamers) Swindon funnily enough is exactly the same shade of green as Beverston castle. Its just where Swindon has a slight glossy sheen to it, it looks more accurate than Beverston Castle. The latter is still the pride of the collection though. Its also interesting to compare Swindon to a Class 5 in BR green from Bachmann (73068) and it looks almost the same shade. Maybe the problem as other have suggested here is how the paint is actually applied to the model, not that the actual shade is wrong. Does anyone know of a good way of taking the slight matt off the paint, without eroding all the decals and details? T cut sounds a little extreme, but Id give it a try to get 5068 up to 7037 standard. I must admit I said to the chap at steam I prefered the Hawksworth tender, but It has to be said, the combination of late embalem and old tender does look very good on the eye. There is a photograph I have in a book of Pendennis Castle in the same configuration, fully bulled up for one of the late BR runs and it looks fantastic.

Not sure I entirely agree with that, I gather that when restoring the LMS 'Streamliner' someone sourced some original LMS red from a source he had from a tin back in the day, so they were able to synthesize a fully accurate LMS red. I gather there was quite a bit of debate about what it was till this was found. And that was a well known company. Of course BR green ought to be a different matter. There are a number of machines which got preserved when withdrawn from service. The problem I have is, whilst there may be an exact BR green, logic dictates that supply in the 1950s may have been variable. There is also the matter how each depot may have rectified running repairs. I know there is a story that the old MSWJR works at Cirencester repainted machines a different shade of green to the GWR machines just down the road at Swindon, to the point that because they skimped so much on the paint after a few firings it started go go black.... That was down to paint application as it turned out, the MSWJR were used to slapping it on, whereas the GWR was a bit pound happy and were used to eking it out. So I ask, in BR days did Swindon works end up with a finish exactly the same as that at Crewe? Knowing Swindon, possibly not. Im uncertain how relevant this is to railway modelling, but my experience in building model AFVs shows that light has a great effect on the 'look' of a particular shade of green or red. I sourced an authentic can of BAOR paint to build a 1-35 chieftain, and although its the right shade, it reflects light too well, which makes it look a bit glossy. Using a can of humbrol might have been the wrong shade, but strangely gives the right look. Perhaps its wrong to based an argument on Nato IR disruptive green, but you can see the point I make. Paint might be the right shade, but scale down a model and the area that relects light is reduced, hence the shade can look wrong. Or so ive found anyway. Throw in weathering from a hundred runs, indifferent cleaning and perhaps even heating of the paint and whilst there is I dont doubt an official colour, I wouldnt be surprised to see a castle run in nearly every shade from greeny blue to black. Certainly the ones on Gloucester shed were rather closer to the latter at the end.

When I picked up mine from Steam, I talked to the chap (possibly the same man) who had some of the input into that decision. I got the impression they did that because they could use the Collet tender. I must admit I would prefer the Hawksworth tender for a postwar build, but I have to admit it does look very good with the late pattern logo. Is the green really that wrong?

Its not too bad and its not very noticeable from a distance. Its just that close up its more noticeable than that on Earl Cairns and Swindon. Ultimately its still a very good model, and from the limited running ive done Id have to agree, its a very good runner indeed.

I think yours is a little better than mine. Mine had a slight mould seam around the top 1/3 of the boiler, which I notice is present on yours but less pronounced. I may remove that one day, but its not quite bad enough to do something about it myself. It runs well though, and is well liked by my father since he saw the real one at Kemble in the 50s. I wonder what would be suitable to replicate the 8 wheel tender 5068 operated with for a while in early BR days?

I very much like the engine shed setting. Or perhaps that is meant to be the interior of A Shop?

Well the only consolation I can give to the ones waiting for Swindon is that its an exceptional model and well worth the wait. Now all I need is a garden layout so I can thrash the guts out of it. Does anyone get the impression the popularity of the Castle has taken Hornby by surprise? I wonder how easy they will find it to get Great Western out by the end of they year.

I guess I must have been really lucky then. I ordered mine at the STEAM model railway show, and it was well past 12 so they must have sold dozens by then.

Well I ran Swindon up today, and no surprise it ran as well as the other new Hornby Castles. A couple of years ago I bought Pendennis Castle, and what a contrast the new motors are with that! Even well oiled it sounded like an old washing machine. Runs well mind, just noisy. Ive found that so far with all the new castles ive bought, they are all very quite and smooth runners. I think Swindon so far is the smoothest of the lot.