Hornby Dublo A4 - Solid Model, Solid Price, Yet Classic Hornby Blunder

A Gresley A4 is basically a must-have for anyone modelling an LNER or Eastern Region through line. My first A4 just so happens to be the one with the tightest Scottish connection, and a die-cast Dublo model at that, product number R30263. And whilst the model is great, it suffers from another classic Hornby blunder. Let's discuss.
Modellbahnunion's reduced A4s (non-affiliate): www.modellbahn...
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#Hornby #LNER

[@AW.Dry_and_Co.]

Fun fact!!! The tender "Union Of South Africa" is currently wearing the very tender LNER No.10000 "Hush Hush" wore from 1929-1937 :]

[@AdiPullen]

Ah you took my fact😢

[@stephendavies6949]

It's impossible to have too many A4s, or Gresley Pacifics in general, to be fair. Lovely loco & a great price. Thanks for sharing.

[@YrinnaRhaizaRibeiroSantos-k6l]

A Stunning model Union

[@Proper_Chuffed]

That is one of the most annoying mishaps, I’ve had lack of socket printing on more than one occasion, standing in the store looking like a twat trying to get signal to Google the decoder type 😂 but indeed a beautiful A4, thanks for sharing mate. I feel it apt to add 60009 to my collection at some point given it bears my countries name 😏

[@gadgetman1701]

yep, had the same issue with Mallard, ordered an 8 pin from roads and rails before the loco arrived, thankfully Richard was happy to swap. god bless Hornby. you can't beat copy and paste

[@andrewsmith6563]

Magnificent work on getting Union of South Africa!

[@warrenlehmkuhleii8472]

Oh, the fun with DCC with the Dublo A4s doesn't stop with the lack of info on the box. I know for a fact some of them do have 8-pin sockets. I don't know how to feel about that to be honest, obviously, 21-pin is better than 8. At the same time, my need for everything to be uniform says that it is wrong for the Great Gathering/Goodby range to have different standards like that. Actually, I shouldn't say I "know that for a fact," the web listings for some of them say 8-pin and one Hornby range announcement said 8-pin, but it wouldn't be the first time Hornby messed up with basic information now, would it? Edit: And that is what I get for not watching the video all the way through first. Edit 2: Actually, I am pretty sure the early one do in fact have 8-pin sockets, I am pretty sure I saw the tender of one opened before. But that was around the start of the transition era.

[@l1a146]

My most recently built A4 aquisition is definately 8 pin. But then I guess the basic design is now probably 20 years old. Which shows how good it was at the time and still stands up today. Im guessing that people are demanding 21 pin decoders these days, so Im thinking that there has been a transition period. Although as you say a small sticker on the back of the box saying 21 pin would be welcome. There is something special about the sound of a cast metal locomotive thumping over point work. I still have some original Dublo A4s from the 50s and they still run beautifully and are incredibly heavy. Detail wise they dont come anywhere near the latest offerings, but have a charm of their own. Although the originals do have metal tenders. When wrenn bought the tooling they moved to plastic tenders from Triang. I think Ive had every incarnation of Hornby A4 model. These new Dublo versions combine that old school dublo diecast presence but with smooth running and detail. 😊

[@DangerAngelous]

0:06 OMINOUS LONG BLACK SHADOW :O

[@NextEevolution]

Is the tender also made of diecast or is it just plastic? I realize buying models off ebay is risky business but as a fan of UK/ European loco designs who lives in the US, it's my go to option. However, you can't imagine how fast I jumped at the chance to buy a Hornby Dublo A4 Dwight D Eisenhower R30265... For £153. The only condition was that it did not come with its original tender, instead coming with a corridor one from another A4. Same lively though and I can't tell the difference. I believe it was well worth it.

[@FlyingScott]

Much like all the Dublo models, the tender is just plastic, although that is less obvious with this faux Bronze Green livery.

[@NextEevolution]

I thought so. And while I love the model, how the diecast body feels and how it runs, I do agree with you on the livelry. I honestly thought it was just my bad lighting that made it look like it was painted in GWR brunswick green

[@1471SirFrederickBanbury]

While I am objectively over critical of the Hornby A4, may I add some quick(ish) fixes that could bring your model to the next level? One of my biggest issues, after the cylinders (which can be fixed, look on RmWeb), is that the buffer beam housing and general area is wrong, being right only for the first 4 A4s, but the true issue here is the thickness of the buffer housings. Had a look? You’ll notice that they are far too thick, and while Kean Maygib used to mass produce proper double acting buffers for the A4, you’ll have to search around for those now unfortunately, though you may be able to get Brassmasters to give you some from their near perfect A4 kit. The second problem is that there is a bunch of what I can only describe as metallic junk on the front of the bogie, chop it off, quick. For the colour, if you grabbed a tin of Phoenix Precision BR green, then dilute it to almost a wash, hand brushing it over the pre-existing paint would be a fast, and easy way to make the colour right, and may even fix the lining if you put in over that. Lastly, I’d highly recommend the Brassmasters detailing kit for the Hornby A4, because it makes an unbelievable difference, considering that it’s not that expensive. After all of that. It should still all add up to be cheaper than the 9f! Give it a try, or at least just look at the Brassmasters site for the difference that little detailing kit makes.

[@justanotherpersononyoutube7130]

Hey Scott. If I may ask, what would the name of the shop you got it from be? I was looking recently and found a shop in Germany that was selling both Union and Dwight for almost the same price as you paid.

[@FlyingScott]

Non-affiliate links are provided in the description, name of the shop is Modellbahnunion.

[@nilsstreisel7994]

I had a go at the dublo 60007 for €200 from modellbanunion but sadly it was an atrociously bad runner and I had to send her back😢

[@miniroll32]

I feel for you. I ordered the same model from them and mine doesn’t even run at all! Only the firebox glow. I don’t know what to do.

[@4994DowntonHall]

Oh dear! I got the same one likewise from them and it runs well. Isn't it funny how 3 of us ended up in the same comment section? (I think they only had a couple in stock as well 😂)

[@pim1234]

People aren't done with Hornby, it's only in your bubble maybe ...

[@FlyingScott]

Bold of you to assume I'm likeable enough for people to be in a bubble with me.

[@DennisLora2001]

❤❤😊😊

[@hymek7096]

Hornby BR green has always been awful. Even mainline got it right 40 years ago. The A4 is probably one of the slightly better ones. Bachmann and accurscale manors are best for the BR greens. Dapol Manors are also awful

[@Samanthasrailadventures]

Bachmann's variation of it always looked a bit dark to my eye but, we all see colour differently, it always looks different for real depending on all sorts of factors even if it's mixed exactly the same it's not always applied the same. Rarely does it stay looking pristine for long either.

[@BRD5024]

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