Silver Sidelines

This Post brings a closure to my last two Posts.   Those of you who have read my accounts of rebadging a Hornby Clan and Britannia will know that there was some unfinished business.   Hornby ‘Britannia’ alias ‘Morning Star’ still needed cut outs around its lubricators.   Hornby ‘Clan McLeod’ alias ‘Clan Stewart’ needed its top lamp iron repositioning.  / A reminder, as received TMC Morning Star alias Hornby Britannia R2562 Completed – my 1959 version of 70021 Morning Star with solid rods, lubricator access, large dome, raised sand box covers, front step and rear cab supports Lubricator Cut Outs, one with (right) and R2562 without (left) In the same way that Hornby have engineered the Britannia body shell to cater for different numbers of raised sand box lids, the body moulding has also been set up to make it easy to alter from an engine without lubricator access (the early 1950s engines) to engines with an access hole in through the side of the footplate...

This Post is a continuation of my recent foray into Hornby Super Detail Britannias https://longsheds.blogspot.com/2021/06/no-164-tale-of-two-hornby-super-detail.html Back in 2014 Hornby sold off a lot of Diamond Jubilee boxed sets.   These included 70000 Britannia in ‘Special Duties’ livery.   This was Britannia’s preserved livery as featured in 2012 when Prince Charles was a passenger and included an Early Emblem and the original ‘dangerous’ pattern smoke deflectors.   The model also featured a speedometer drive which Britannia itself gained around 1956.     My Hornby model also had fluted coupling rods which on the prototype had been changed to solid rods in the early 1950s. Hornby R3094 Diamond Jubilee Train Pack In a past Blog Post in 2014 I described overpainting the cab roof of the Special Duties model and backdating the overhead warning plates. https://longsheds.blogspot.com/2014/04/no91-shades-of-green-hornby-britannia.html   My Britan...

I have a fascination for Hornby’s super detail Britannia and Clan models.   This Post looks at some variations that Hornby have not produced. Firstly I am also rather partial to things ‘Great Western’.   When I spotted Hornby super detail Morning Star rebadged by The Model Centre (TMC) I would make a bid for it.   It was a big bid and Morning Star duly arrived. Morning Star I am generally not bothered about details such as counting the number of rivets but on this occasion the position of the Morning Star name plates did not seem right. TMC Morning Star with high level plates There is a useful image on Flickr of Morning Star in 1958 shortly after it had moved from the Western Region to the London Midland Region.   It is still without its speedometer but clearly shows a single front step, raised sand boxes and the correct position of the name plates. https://flic.kr/p/NkD7We I repositioned the plates and repainted the deflectors – a better result I th...

Matters have moved on since my recent Post detailing the arrival of the Diamond Jubilee Britannia (R3094). The donor – Hornby William Wordsworth R2563 Firstly a view of the model that was to provide the tender with the Late Crest. At the time of writing my last post there were issues with William Wordsworth. I would give it a new identity with a tender with an early emblem and at a suitable time I would sell it After recovering the white roof, R2563 Left R3094 Right   Perhaps I should have attempted to strip the white paint off the roof of Britannia R3094? My first attempts at repainting were not altogether successful. As the paint dried the rivet detail began to appear through the new paint as a pattern of white dots. I would start again. This time I over coated the whole of the white roof area with Humbrol matt black paint. When this had dried the central area was given a second coat of matt black and the sides above the windows were coated with Humbrol GWR green. Now near...

I would say that the newly tooled Hornby Britannia is one of the best models of all time.   I would buy one of the Diamond Jubilee sets that have been recently advertised.   I already had a couple of ‘Britannias’ with the modified smoke deflectors.   With R3094 there was the opportunity to acquire a model fitted with the original ‘dangerous deflectors’ with handrails. Hornby R3094 Diamond Jubilee Train Pack What is in the train pack?   I can confirm that you get a model that is supposed to be representative of preserved 70000 ‘Britannia’ as running in 2012.   The locomotive comes with the latest overhead warning symbols, a speed recorder is fitted but the coupling rods are fluted.   There is no air compressor. The tender has an Early Emblem and the axle boxes are picked out in yellow to indicate roller bearings.   Oh yes, the model comes with the cab roof painted white as applied historically to engines hauling the British monarch.   At...