[Gary]

Thats a bit unfortunate Doug. I do have a very strong suspicion that your package took a bit of a jolt somewhere along the shipping route. Its that time of year when the Post Office employ a lot of amateur part time postmen and I do get more trouble this time of the year than at any other with damaged contents. To be honest it should be returned to Hornby as they would surely want to investigate.

Diecast locomotives are historically at least twice the price of plastic and the masses that Hornby supply to in the UK simply won't pay that sort of money. And its all very well making the comparisons with Marklin but they are in deep trouble with declining sales. The average model needs to sell 20,000 units over its life to recover the tooling costs. In this day and age you are not going to sell 20,000 diecast bodied UK outline locomotives.

The typical white metal kit might sell 1000 units tops if you are lucky and the tooling costs for these are much lower.

Do the US HO manufacturers do metal bodied stuff? Answer no!

I suspect that those who would pay the extra cost are in a very small minority.

Happy modelling
Gary

 

[Gary]

Good review Doug and right to let the pictures do the talking and to focus on the DCC chip installation.

Just some further thoughts on Dennis's point about diecast models.

We live in a world where mail order is making up an ever increasing proportion of sales.

I dread shipping diecast products because its like shipping a small lead weight. When these packages are dropped they land with an almighty thud and if I do get shipping issues it is inevitably something with a high metal content that takes damage (Hornby Dublo, Wills Finecast, etc). Now I do my best with this with the experiance that I have but when parcels get dented as a result of loose packaging diecast products still get damaged.

I now insist on an insured delivery for all diecast locomotive products and put fragile stickers around the outside of the box.

Strange how I don't need to do this for the majority of plastic locomotives!

I do genuinely feel that Doug's model had some bad luck during shipment and it was dropped and landed on its back in some way which weakened the joint. Although the point made by Doug about the DCC chip position is a useful one.

And if nothing else it does indicate that Hornby go to great lengths to make sure the shape of a locomotive is right and that accurate representations of a wide range of examples can be produced. And if this means producing a boiler in several sections then they will take the trouble to do this.

Happy modelling
Gary

 

[Gary]

That may be but I do recall LisaP4 saying that a brass Flying Scotsman had been produced in the past at a cost of some $2000!

And Japanese brass locomotives go for £300-£400 in the UK.

You pays your money and you take your choice to be honest. Metal will always be a lot more than plastic.

Doug has been unlucky but for £75 to £80 the Hornby Flying Scotsman is good value for money with very fine detail although as stated in the review she does require careful handling. Think of the loco as a fine lady and you won't go far wrong!

Happy modelling
Gary

 

[Gary]

Bit of a weird one that.

Sound advice to all consumers who have suffered a serious breakage as a result of what appears to be something outside your control is not to do anything yourself and to allow the retailer (or the manufacturer if they are willing to deal directly) to sort it.

Once you start messing it gets complicated.

Why don't you send just the body back to keep shipping costs down?

Print off the picture and enclose that with the package.

Happy modelling
Gary