Silver Sidelines

I have been busy buying some more ‘excellent’ items, you know, the ones that drop through the letter box with broken parts or bits missing. The cab wind deflectors which are featured on a lot of Hornby’s newer models seem to be particular problem. Hens Teeth – Genuine Hornby cab wind deflectors Note that the spacing of the fixing spikes is greater than length of the protruding deflector When I spoke recently with the Customer Service Department at Hornby I was informed that the cab deflectors were not spare parts and that replacements are not available. I would have to make my own. Some I made earlier - homemade replacement deflectors I guess the orthodox approach is to buy plastic strip or to use clear plastic packaging. I must have been doing a lot of thinking because whilst shaving I suddenly realised that the clear plastic shield on my disposable razor looked about the right sort of thickness for a Hornby deflector. Wilkinson Disposable Razor ...

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...