No.83 Hornby Apollo versus Duke of Gloucester – a fair comparison?

This is a follow up to my last Post which was devoted to Hornby’s release of Special Edition Duke of Gloucester.


Hornby R3191 Duke of Gloucester left versus Hornby R2171 Apollo right

What do I still think of the model? I am not so sure about value for money.

Hornby R2171 Apollo left versus Hornby R3191 Duke of Gloucester right

Hornby R2171 Apollo came with a wealth of added detail parts fitted at manufacture – almost too many to list.

HornbyR2171 Apollo - a closer view

Apollo came with individual lamp irons and detailed smokebox handles. There were holes for the lifting eyes in the front frames and the inside supports for the smoke deflectors were modelled.

Hornby R2171 Apollo – the cab area

What seems to me like a majority of the boiler pipes and fitting on Apollo are modelled with separate plastic mouldings. Inside the cab a number of the handles and instruments are again separate mouldings, the handles often picked out with paint. The cab roof itself comes with a sliding ventilator.

What about my own Special Edition Duke of Gloucester?

Hornby R3191 Duke of Gloucester – the cab area

I have made a start on personalising my own model. I have picked out some of the operating handles in red and I have changed the overhead warning stickers to the 1960’s variety using Pressfix Transfers from the HMRS range.

HornbyR3191 Duke of Gloucester - a closer view with straightened hand rail

My previous post drew attention to improving the mechanical performance of the Duke of Gloucester model. However as noted by a number of you the visual appearance of the boiler handrail was not good – I would do something about it.

No going back

I should have slid out the handrail first - but but I didn't!

For whatever reason the handrail knob by the whistle was fixed in at a jaunty angle about 0.5mm too high. I tried pushing from inside the body and then twisting to break the bond between the metal handle and plastic body. All I succeeded in doing was pulling the head off the knob, and bending the handrail wire (which is why it would have been better to slide it out of the way to start with).

There was nothing left for it but to take the pliers and pull out the offending knob – no I have never wanted to be a dentist.

The tools - and replacement knob

I had one spare hand rail knob left over from a Mainline locomotive. Whilst not an exact match I thought that it could be made to fit the enlarged hole left by the misaligned Hornby knob.

Oh dear

I used a 0.5mm drill bit to clean up and realign the hole for the shaft of the hand rail knob. I then used a 1/16 inch drill as a countersink to hide the base of the Mainline knob.

The plastic of the body is very soft and you can do plenty of damage just by rotating the drill bits by hand – so no need to even think of using a power drill.

Phew – back together

A touch of matt black paint around the hand rail knob and no one would ever know!
There is I believe a significant difference in price between the Railroad Duke of Gloucester and the Special Edition. Yes – one comes with two etched name plates. Hornby also I think refer to extra painted detail. Perhaps they mean the silver paint to the hand rail wires? Well the layer of paint has its benefits because any damage caused by handling can easily be covered up.

Nearly very good?

Another view of my Own Special Edition. This is the same view that I used to start my previous Post but now showing the repositioned handrail knob. Hopefully the handrail is an improvement. As to the model – is it fair to compare Hornby Apollo with Duke of Gloucester? I guess it depends on what you think the Hornby advertising is trying to say. I would say that the Duke of Gloucester Special Edition is not in the same league as Apollo – much more Railroad standard. I guess Hornby might say a more detailed model would have to cost more - but how much more? Maybe another clever approach would be to offer the engine with a bigger bag of bits for the serious modeller to fit - a bit like the old Rosebud / Kitmaster models but updated of course?

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