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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