I have an opinion - firmly held - gained from lifetime experience, mostly in light high tech manufacturing. Every design and manufacturing shop evolves its own custom and practise. Relocating tooling from operation A to operation B does not result in the same product emerging from operation B as was previously obtained from operation A. It is that simple. It needs a book to explain all the reasons, but significant detailed understanding in how the product is documented and tooled gets 'lost in translation'. When standards have to be maintained across multiple design and manufacturing shops, it requires heavyweight conformance effort. Just not affordable for the low added value scale of manufacturing for model railway product.
One of the interesting features of Hornby's move from Sanda Kan to the half dozen or more smaller outfits they presently use, is spotting the finger prints that indicate where those on the design side of the new outfits likely gained their experience. Very clear on the Hornby K1: that mechanism was designed by someone previously working for Kader/Bachmann.
This observation matches my own, it is not just about dimensions on drawings there are many things that affect the finished part and not everything can be captured on the drawing or the manufacturing process documentation. Changing a manufacturing facility is always problematic.
Is that bizarre? Pacifics were regularly seen on trains of non-gangwayed coaches in the KX area. All of scheduled services such as the remnant of the 'parliamentary' trains, outer suburban duty for a loco to season renewed bearings or other maintenance, it's summer weekend excursion time, repositioning moves of loco or stock, ECS between siding and terminus.
List of faults gee, where to start.....
The most obvious is the running board above the cylinders bends upwards, some referring to it as the ski ramp. General build quality is the biggest problem in my opinion, most seem to arrive with a few parts having come loose and floating around in the packaging.
Bent front can be partially rectified by removing an unnecessary washer from the front body fixing screw, other bits are easily enough refitted.
Of the 3 I have picked up, only one was acceptably well made, other 2 were pretty rough, although I pulled them to bits anyway so not really an issue in the circumstances.
I think you can probably cover any A3 built new using the model as a basis, ie the series starting at 2743, but not the converted A1s or the 1934 batch starting at 2500, unless you enjoy a bit of conversion and repainting. You'll need to source tenders to suit particular engines as well with 3 (maybe 4) distinct types used.
Given they're now available for £99 not a bad place to start .
nzpaul wrote:List of faults gee, where to start.....
The most obvious is the running board above the cylinders bends upwards, some referring to it as the ski ramp. General build quality is the biggest problem in my opinion, most seem to arrive with a few parts having come loose and floating around in the packaging.
Bent front can be partially rectified by removing an unnecessary washer from the front body fixing screw, other bits are easily enough refitted.
Of the 3 I have picked up, only one was acceptably well made, other 2 were pretty rough, although I pulled them to bits anyway so not really an issue in the circumstances.
I think you can probably cover any A3 built new using the model as a basis, ie the series starting at 2743, but not the converted A1s or the 1934 batch starting at 2500, unless you enjoy a bit of conversion and repainting. You'll need to source tenders to suit particular engines as well with 3 (maybe 4) distinct types used.
Given they're now available for £99 not a bad place to start .
I've read a couple of pages back that you guys said that this A3 has the wrong cab cut-outs, couldn't we just swap it with a A1/A3 cab with the correct cut-outs like Flying Scotsman, Flying Fox or Gladiateur?
Also I have a feeling that the reason for it's tender riding height is due to the tender chassis assembly (which has that god awful DDC plug socket), maybe if we swapped it for the older type like X9393R it'll fix the issue? If and when I get a hold of another one I'll see if changing the tender chassis fixes the tender and cab alinement.
And one more thing... you can cram the entire DDC components from the tender onto the locomotive chassis, I've done this on my Book Law (which is being converted into something else) and the NRM Flying Scotsman (2004 condition, 2015 re-release). They both work fine, although I could try to shorten the wires since they take up a lot of space.
Godred01 wrote:I've read a couple of pages back that you guys said that this A3 has the wrong cab cut-outs, couldn't we just swap it with a A1/A3 cab with the correct cut-outs like Flying Scotsman, Flying Fox or Gladiateur?
Yes - I've done exactly that with three Book Laws which are now post war A3s. It's a pretty straightforward job. I found that the easiest way to get the original cabs off the Book Laws without damaging the rather fragile running plate was to cut the four retaining lugs which extend into the running plate. Just insert a fine, sharp scalpel into the gap between the bottom of the cab and the running plate (this is made easier on some Book Law models by poor assembly and a very large gap!) There wasn't too much adhesive on the cabs of any of my Book Law models and I was able to just pull them away from the footplate. This left the lugs in the running plate, but it was an easy job to push these out with a watchmaker's screwdriver.
Getting hold of genuine Hornby replacement cabs might be a bit expensive these days, as the locos you've mentioned seem to go for crazy amounts on the auction site and bodies don't seem to come up that often. I was lucky enough to get hold of a number of USA tour edition Scotsman bodies a few years ago, and by chance I found a chassis less "Flying Fox" at a local model shop - £20 for the loco body, complete tender and box seemed very reasonable! As I was prepared to sacrifice three of the bodies for my Book Law conversions I was able to remove the cabs complete with retaining lugs by cutting away the running plate under the cab. There was more glue on the cabs of these models and they had to be gently teased away from the footplate with a scalpel to get them off undamaged.
There is an alternative to the genuine Hornby cab though, which is probably going to be more cost effective - the static model of Flying Scotsman which came with the Great British Locomotives Collection Magazine. These often come up on the auction site and you should be able to get one for about £10. The cab is a separate component which comes off easily and I believe is a straight replacement for the Hornby cab. It's glazed and includes cab doors, but has moulded handrails. These could be carved off and replaced though.
Sea Eagle wrote:There is an alternative to the genuine Hornby cab though, which is probably going to be more cost effective - the static model of Flying Scotsman which came with the Great British Locomotives Collection Magazine. These often come up on the auction site and you should be able to get one for about £10. The cab is a separate component which comes off easily and I believe is a straight replacement for the Hornby cab. It's glazed and includes cab doors, but has moulded handrails. These could be carved off and replaced though.
That's exactly what Simon has done for his A3 fleet made from Railroad Flying Scotsman's, I can find the GBL Scotsman's on Ebay although the prices varies from seller to seller.
