New Hornby Collet coaches

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steve howe
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New Hornby Collet coaches

Postby steve howe » Sun Jul 15, 2018 11:22 am

I had a look at some of the new Hornby Collett bow-ended stock recently when one of the club members brought his down to play with. Although his were in BR crimson and cream, they looked very good, the bogies in particular were finely moulded.

I'm wondering if anyone has yet had any experiences of swapping wheelsets for P4? I was loath to start yanking his wheels out, especially when he's not 'P4 supportive' but on close sight and without a Vernier to check, it looked like the distance between the insides of the bogies was a bit tight. Although if the bogie frames are correct, presumably they could be cut off and used cosmetically on etched subframes in the usual way?

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Re6/6
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Re: New Hornby Collet coaches

Postby Re6/6 » Sun Jul 15, 2018 5:02 pm

steve howe wrote: presumably they could be cut off and used cosmetically on etched subframes in the usual way?


No need Steve. The only thing that had to be cut off were the brake shoes. I did a very quick 'drop-in' conversion with Black Beetles and no brass bearings fitted on one of the first issues. I reckon with some care and thought the brake shoes could be re-fitted/replaced. I use it as the test coach for 'high speed' pushing along on Balcombe and it runs like a dream without any springing. It you wanted to fit springing/MJT the frames are first rate and would be good for re-use. They are made from Hornby's usual waxy plastic which will take 'Super Steel' epoxy after thorough keying.

Hope that this helps.

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Last edited by Re6/6 on Mon Jul 16, 2018 6:17 am, edited 1 time in total.
John

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steve howe
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Re: New Hornby Collet coaches

Postby steve howe » Sun Jul 15, 2018 7:16 pm

That's encouraging news, thanks John.

Kernow currently do a four coach pack deal for £99, however I think they may be BR livery only :( (however, in view of the amount of dosh the Club has spent with them recently (large numbers of Cobalt point drivers among other things) I'm hopeful they will do the same deal for the GWR ones. The paint finish is excellent.


Steve

Philip Hall
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Re: New Hornby Collet coaches

Postby Philip Hall » Mon Jul 16, 2018 6:35 pm

I would second John’s comments about the running qualities of current Hornby bogies. Absolutely no need at all to put in suspension, so long as you have concentric wheels that don’t wobble. A useful dodge is the Pendon (I think) idea of having one bogie flop around on its mounting and the other only able to move lengthways with the carriage. A couple of pads either side of the centre bolster is all you need.

As to the brakes, it is usually possible to retain them by two methods. One is to gently squeeze the cross rods so that the brake shoes move further out. The other is to take off the centre moulding, remove the middle part (with the supension bits on) and glue back in place, and then slit the end pieces in half lengthways, including the cross rodding, and glue back in place a bit further apart. The cross rodding can be replaced, depending on how bothered you are.

Within a rake the Hornby close couplings are also very good, so long as you invert them in the mounting boxes (so that they are not so visible) and shorten them so the gangways touch. The end plates on the Hornby gangways should be removed, and the mounting boxes shortened by an appropriate amount on both vehicles so that the gangways just touch, ever so lightly. The coupler heads are then glued into the boxes and retained with a pin drilled right through coupler and box. The final thing to make all this work is a bit more weight inside the vehicle to bring it up to about 180 -190 grams. This is necessary to allow the vehicle to sit on the track as the varying coupling and buffing forces do their stuff. Within the rake it is not necessary to lighten the spring rate of the buffers as the close coupling system will move the vehicles slightly apart as the curves radius decreases. It is quite possible to get close coupled vehicles around reverse curves of around 2’0” radius even in P4, should you be daft enough to want to try it. The quicker way to this result is to buy some spare Roco close coupler heads from (I think ) Howe’s of Oxford. They are slightly shorter. The coupling system was invented by Rowa thirty or more years ago and taken over by Roco when they acquired the range later.

Philip

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steve howe
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Re: New Hornby Collet coaches

Postby steve howe » Mon Jul 16, 2018 8:39 pm

Great news!

Many thanks for that Phil, even if Kernow won't cut me a deal, it still seems worth getting a few to make up a local train, I was planning to put 'proper' corridor connections on, but from your comments I may not even need to do that.

Aren't we getting spoilt? :D

Steve

Philip Hall
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Re: New Hornby Collet coaches

Postby Philip Hall » Mon Jul 16, 2018 9:22 pm

Steve,

Yes, we are getting spoilt. Don't let me put you off proper gangways, it's just a short cut that could be useful. Proper ones do look better. More important is that the buffer heads are too small, and possibly the bases are a tiny bit chunky, but bigger heads (Hubert Carr?) can be fitted in the Hornby bases.

Gerry Beale has written a couple of pieces in MRJ about these carriages and that would prove a useful read.

Philip


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