No.96 Hornby Hobbies online and 7036 Taunton Castle – and the rear sandbox.
There has been some correspondence of late about Hornby Hobbies online shop on eBay. Certainly their prices can be enticing and in some cases the longer you wait the lower the asking price.
Never mind I would investigate further and I bought R2986 “A
Date with the Duchy”. It was cheap because 'the packaging was damaged’ and the
whole set was on offer for less than you might expect to pay just for the
engine.
“A Date with the Duchy” set number two.
The set arrived very well packed. However whilst the coaches
looked untouched, the tissue paper around the engine was ripped where the
locomotive had been taken out and run, confirmed by the black marks beneath the
driving wheels. The metal packing pieces to hold the engine in place were
missing (discovered later beneath one of the coaches), as were the two fixing
screws used to hold the keeper plate in place. Without the fixing screws the
engine did not want to run properly and without the packing pieces the engine
had been free to bounce around inside the box and the smoke box dart was
damaged. Hornby were very quick to respond to my concerns and the set was
parcelled up and sent back for a replacement.
“A Date with the Duchy” set number two.
The packaging for set number two was as good as the boxes of
other new items that come through the post. Again the coaches looked untouched
whilst the engine had obviously been removed. This time the packing pieces were
present and correct, although I think the screws were the wrong threads and had
been sourced from perhaps the earlier Castle. The engine looked good, I would
keep the set.
Slidebars – now re-attached
I am guessing that the set had been returned with a problem
and I soon discovered that the slide bar assembly on one side of the locomotive
was loose. I do not know how this was intended to be fixed but some spots of
Super Glue on the end of the slide bars where they poke into the cylinder, and
another on the end where it attaches to the metal underframe seem to have sorted
this problem
.
I am perhaps too fussy about the running quality of ready to
run items. Taunton Castle was a ‘lively’ engine. I would swap the wheels about
and try some different rods. At the same time I would ballast the engine with a
little lead to enhance its haulage capacity. (This was described here
in a previous Blog).
Those of you who have spent any time going inside the new
Hornby Castle will be aware that care has to be taken when ‘threading’ the rear
sand boxes between the under cab pipework. I must have become too confident
because suddenly one of the sand boxes had parted company with the chassis.
Self inflicted injury
Not only had I snapped the plastic fixing, I had also broken
the filler pipe on the top.
Nail varnish remover (acetone) also removes Hornby
paint
First attempts at repairing by reattaching with Super Glue
were a waste of time. I would dig out the remains of the old plastic fixing and
make a new ‘stub’. A little knowledge is dangerous, perhaps I could use nail
varnish remover (acetone) to soften the old plastic. In the event the acetone
removed some of the black paint and the remains of the plastic fixing were ‘dug
out’ with the blade of a tiny screw driver.
The modified sand box and the new fixing
A replacement plastic stub was fashioned from the plastic
back of an old CD case. After it had been tried for size in the chassis block
it was given a wedge shape to match a cut out made in the original sand box.
The two pieces were then welded together with Butanone (MEK). The pipe on top
of the sand box was replaced using a section cut from a brass dressmaker’s pin,
pushed into a 0.5mm hole drilled in the plastic. I used my usual technique of
rotating the drill bit with my fingers.
Repaired
The re-engineered sand box was reattached with super glue
and any remaining bare metal was given a coat of Humbrol satin black.
Re-attached
Another view comparing old and new:
Finished – original left, re-engineered right
Finally a shot of the complete locomotive.
The finished product
I feel I should restate that the problems with the rear sand
box were completely self inflicted.
Taunton Castle is a nice model but they do say that the camera
never lies. It was only after taking the picture that I noticed that there is a
small kink in the footplate over the cylinders. I have paired away ever such a
small bit of plastic in front of the cylinders which might have prevented the
foot plate from lying flat – other than that it is difficult to see what might
be causing the unevenness. I shall have to wait and see if it settles down.
As to Hornby Hobbies on eBay I do believe that it is like
any other ‘outlet’ shop selling returned stock. I would say that generally you
only get what you pay for- and I for one would not be expecting them to be
brand new and unopened. In Hornby’s case I have a theory, the price goes down
every time the item fails to sell and is returned by a buyer.
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