Hornby: A Model World

[The Stationmaster]

On 11/10/2021 at 19:58, Phil Parker said:

OK, nearly telly time. Based on previous TV threads, can I point out:

1. This isn't Open University, it's popular entertainment. There will not be a dissection of Hornby or anyone else's business models.
2. In the same vein, they won't spend any time forensically digging into the accounts of any part of the company.
3. This is TV - it HAS been edited before being shown.
4. Your TV has an off button. If you REALLY don't like the show, turn it off. If you feel the need to appear on here 5 minutes in for a rant, please resist.

Now, sit back and enjoy...

Agree entirely - exactly what it says on the tin.  and last week it was great sitting in our hotel room seeing Heaton Lodge on a tv screen which was about 4  (four) feet wide.  It's all good fun and entertainment and that was more or less what I expected and that is what is being delivered so I'm watching it every week.

Edited October 28, 2021 by The Stationmaster

[spamcan61]

I watched the first three episodes the other evening via the Sky box so I could skip the annoying adverts (let's not go there lol)  and whilst there were certain parts that were over-egged to the point of  mild irritation  IMHO (rivet counting on the BG and the lower wing struts on the Bristol Fighter) in general I found the programmes interesting and entertaining, I watched all through all 3, which is very rare for me with my minimal TV watching. Looking forward to the next episode.

[The Stationmaster]

13 hours ago, HeatonLodge40 said:

In my defence what I wanted to create with Heaton Lodge Junction was the sheer anticipation of being able to see a train approaching from well over a scale mile away. This can only be done on a huge scale by its very nature.

In O gauge (like the real thing) it’s pretty mesmerising. As such there will be 10 pairs of binoculars at each end of the model for visitors use.

Yep, it may not have siding or a station but it does have steep and shallow gradients, tunnels, a viaduct & bridges, superelevated curves, complicated handbuilt pointwork and a 150ft fiddle yard with lots of long heavy trains.

Above the layout are 4 platform type timetables which show the time of all the trains inc the next steam charter.

 

Pete Waterman’s Chester cathedral layout had 44,000 visitors over a month. If I get half that over 2 weeks I’ll be very happy.

I guess we’ll see soon enough! 

 

Watching it last week on a very large screen tv set (courtesy of the hotel we were staying in) - I think you have well and truly achieved what you set out to achieve.  It looked even better in moving images than in the many pics which have appeared on RMweb and it is a stupendous model,  in so many senses, of a real place.  Great stuff and glad it has been included in this series.  Your upcoming first public appearance made one of the national tv news channels yesteday so the best of luck with it.

[bgman]

I'll just leave this here....

 

 

[Phil Parker]

16 hours ago, HeatonLodge40 said:

In my defence what I wanted to create with Heaton Lodge Junction was the sheer anticipation of being able to see a train approaching from well over a scale mile away. This can only be done on a huge scale by its very nature.

In O gauge (like the real thing) it’s pretty mesmerising. As such there will be 10 pairs of binoculars at each end of the model for visitors use.

Yep, it may not have siding or a station but it does have steep and shallow gradients, tunnels, a viaduct & bridges, superelevated curves, complicated handbuilt pointwork and a 150ft fiddle yard with lots of long heavy trains.

Above the layout are 4 platform type timetables which show the time of all the trains inc the next steam charter.

 

 

Having seen the layout for real, I'd say "Mission accomplished". As I said in BRM you cannot appreciate the size of the model until you see it. Watching a train come towards you is just like real life, not something I've seen in this way on other layouts. And I've seen a lot of layouts...

[25081]

Think the trailer for this program with Simon Kohler's statement "Im selling happiness,buy me"is the most positive thing I've heard in a long time certainly post covid - this man should put himself forward for PM    

Edited October 29, 2021 by 25081

[Colin_McLeod]

1 hour ago, 25081 said:

Think the trailer for this program with Simon Kohler's statement "Im selling happiness,buy me"is the most positive thing I've heard in a lost time certainly post covid - this man should put himself forward for PM    

 

If he did become PM he could authorise the re-gauging of Network Rail to four foot one and a half and thus solve a long standing model railway problem. 

[BlackFivesMatter]

Still enjoying. Great too that it is helping to dispel the myth of the typical demographic of the railway modeller. 

[Jol Wilkinson]

46 minutes ago, BlackFivesMatter said:

Still enjoying. Great too that it is helping to dispel the myth of the typical demographic of the railway modeller. 

What myth is that?

[BlackFivesMatter]

5 hours ago, Jol Wilkinson said:

What myth is that?

The myth that the "typical " model railway enthusiast meets a prejudged stereotype of gender; age; ethnicity; socio-economic; grooming and psychological profiling encouraged by lazy media and entertainers. This image is fortunately being dispelled by this and other shows, features and articles. 

[25081]

… you are of course referring to the usual journalist crap of oh,your into railways - you must have a thermos flask,a parka and source your wardrobe from the centre isles at either Lidl or Aldi - the likes of jasper carrot and that moron seen on itn news trying to s--- a deltic never helped years ago

[JohnR]

In tonight's program, I'm not sure showing them mix paint by eye to get the right shade is going to instill confidence 

[Phil Parker]

3 minutes ago, JohnR said:

In tonight's program, I'm not sure showing them mix paint by eye to get the right shade is going to instill confidence 

 

Just remember, it's telly. Not real. Or at least not the whole story. 

[RJS1977]

Yes, I did wonder how he was going to replicate the specification of that paint when he hadn't recorded the quantities he used....

[RJS1977]

And am I the only one to think it would have been nice to have shown the APT running on Pete's layout at the end, to pull the whole episode together?

[MrTea]

I thought tonight’s was a good episode in terms of showing more of the process the models go through (and why the development process often seems agonisingly long to those of us on the outside). Although admittedly the focus for this one was very much on the fettling stage. Surely there must have been some interesting work done on getting the model to tilt realistically, especially on the unprototypically tight radius curves of a model layout?
 

I never thought I’d see an APT charging about along a meat counter either!

[Markwj]

13 minutes ago, RJS1977 said:

And am I the only one to think it would have been nice to have shown the APT running on Pete's layout at the end, to pull the whole episode together?

I agree but I don’t think the apt had arrived at the time they were filming the layout (despite what the program insinuated).

As an aside it’s really got me excited for my APT but it seems from the program only 1 power car to shift the whole set?

[Andymsa]

I thinks the sale of fire extinguishers will go up if your going to flame thrower your scenery  

[SamThomas]

SK's comments along the lines of "it's just got to be right" seem a bit hollow to me with the abundance of trainset curves & poor senery on all the Hornby "layouts". Mrs T thought the APT & other trains looked "stupid" on the tight curves but did admit that it was probably to show off the tilting mechanism.*

 

Still not impressed with PW's layout. IMHO it's boring** & the speed of construction shows. Still, the public like it so I suppose in this media driven world that's all that matters.

 

*I was under the impression that the main problem with the APT (apart from the motion sickness it induced) was that the tilting mechanism was not reliable & that the pendalino's used a different system ?

 

** Then again, most of the WCML is boring !

[MrTea]

22 minutes ago, SamThomas said:

SK's comments along the lines of "it's just got to be right" seem a bit hollow to me with the abundance of trainset curves & poor senery on all the Hornby "layouts". Mrs T thought the APT & other trains looked "stupid" on the tight curves but did admit that it was probably to show off the tilting mechanism.*

Agree with you on that Sam. I do hope that some of the additional profits generated by the series might be put towards an upgrade to the layouts at the Hornby factory - it seems a shame to see new models showcased against such a tired background featured in their videos. 
 

And if I was testing the models I’d probably want a bit of a gradient to try new models out on too!

[Dunsignalling]

11 hours ago, JohnR said:

In tonight's program, I'm not sure showing them mix paint by eye to get the right shade is going to instill confidence 

Once the shade is agreed, it can be scanned and analysed for easy replication.

 

The reason for the ad hoc mixing was that, as with most colours, the prototypically correct shade looks too dark when applied to models. Arriving at one that looks right on the model can't really be worked out scientifically in advance.

 

John 

[Phil Parker]

17 minutes ago, Dunsignalling said:

Once the shade is agreed, it can be scanned and analysed for easy replication.

 

Or you can write the details down as you do it, but that would be too boring for telly. If those a lot of those shots weren't staged for the camera, I'd be very surprised.

[Legend]

The best episode yet I though , having watched last nights APT and Chester Cathedral edition .  Quite interesting about the colours too .  Yes I can see how manually mixing it then scanning makes sense . It has to look right . 

 

The programs doing its job.  Great publicity for Hornby and the hobby in general.  I really fancy an APT now . I bought an 80s one second hand when DJ announced his model  and really dont have space , but it did look good .  Of course lots of cliches in there . SK "its just got to be right".   Interesting that the issue of light bleed was referred to and came up after enthusiasts picked up on the light bleed on their mk3 DVT. These damned demanding enthusiasts ! Looks like it was an issue on APT but got resolved, so some good came out of it . 

 

I know the guy matching colours will always attract criticism  from someone , but I still wonder how Hornby can get shades of green or GBRf blue wrong , after all per SK "its just got to be right" when Bachmann get it right . 

 

Never seen anyone attacking grass with a blow torch before . I know the material is supposed to be fire retardent  but it didnt seem an entirely sensible thing to do . There must be other combustibles around .Surprised that got shown. 

[PaulRhB]

58 minutes ago, SamThomas said:

*I was under the impression that the main problem with the APT (apart from the motion sickness it induced) was that the tilting mechanism was not reliable & that the pendalino's used a different system ?

I’d watch Kit Spackman’s presentations on YouTube and stories in the Apt-e thread if you want the accurate facts on the tilt system. The motion sickness was eliminated before the passenger one ran, the sickness on the press junket was down to hangovers! 

 

[SamThomas]

52 minutes ago, MrTea said:

Agree with you on that Sam. I do hope that some of the additional profits generated by the series might be put towards an upgrade to the layouts at the Hornby factory - it seems a shame to see new models showcased against such a tired background featured in their videos. 

 

And if I was testing the models I’d probably want a bit of a gradient to try new models out on too!

Agreed -regarding the tired layouts at the Visitors Centre - they have had several opportunities in the past to do something about them but in this respect are firmly stuck with the "trainset" mindset.

 

& with all that space in the former factory they could easily construct a decent length test track with gradiants in a figure of 8 format which would curve both ways.

Never seem to see them doing any long term testing though...........

Edited November 2, 2021 by SamThomas