Hornby Class 87
◆ GAUGE ‘OO’ ◆ MODEL Hornby R3656 Class 87 Virgin red/black ◆ PRICE £169.99 ◆ AVAILABILITY Hornby stockists Web www.hornby.com
he Class 87 has been available in ‘OO’ gauge for decades, with the venerable Lima tooling being updated and reissued by Hornby in 2008. Not surprisingly – despite some good points – that model looked like it belonged to the previous century.
Hornby’s all-new version appeared last year, the first batch portraying the ‘87’ in its early and later British Rail guise, appealing to modellers of the 1970s-1990s era. Another batch has now arrived,
Taimed at the post-privatisation scene, complete with appropriate detail modifications. Our sample sports the popular red/grey Virgin Trains scheme, while a second version is also on offer, representing 87002 in the ultra-stylish Caledonian Sleeper livery (R3751).
GENERAL MUSINGS
It’s impossible to fault the overall look of this model, as it instantly conjures up memories of the real thing, which was a favourite from my ’spotting days. Hornby has managed to capture the rugged, purposeful look of the prototype, adding a high level of finesse to key areas such as the rooftop, cab ends and underframe.
The quality of the moulded bodyshell is superb, with all grilles, fastener heads, handrails and door furniture rendered crisply and accurately. The rooftop area is impressive, with a full array of insulators and equipment, while the cab interiors feature a welcome amount of detail, although some work with a paintbrush – 268 December 2019
and the addition of a driver – would improve things. Behind the bodyside windows lie a convincing representation of the various items of equipment and transformer cabinets of the prototype.
Bogie detail is attractive and authentic, with the distinctive flexicoil spring assemblies being fixed to the bodyshell, allowing the bogies just enough room to cope with second radius curves. The brake shoes sit in line with the wheels, as do the guard irons.
The underslung equipment between the bogies is very impressive, with battery and equipment boxes, compressor, air tanks, cooling pipes and an array of plumbing in place. It’s also satisfying to see the small triangular-framed footsteps featured at each corner of the bufferbeams. Glazing is fitted flush throughout, sporting a striking level of transparency, while the windscreen wipers are a discreet but important highlight.
Period-specific features for these post-privatisation models include a pair of rooftop cab-toshore radio antennae and fire suppression cylinders, while a cosmetic, unsprung pantograph is also installed, of the later ‘high speed’ pattern. It’s delicately rendered in plastic but unsuitable for running in contact with wire.
Additionally, there’s a pair of realistic TDM cables fitted to the front ends, formed from separate black wire. The only omission is the red/white striped stickers on the lower pockets, which is a minor disappointment. The plated-over panels of the original multiple working jumper cables look convincing, with pronounced fastener head detail, as per the prototype.
FEATURES AND ACCESSORIES
Accessories include brake hoses and ETH jumper cables for fitting to the bufferbeams, plus a pair of tension lock couplings (which are not pre-fitted) to slot into the NEM sockets.
For digital control users, the model features an eight-pin DCC socket mounted prominently atop the circuit board and there’s space for a small speaker at one end of the chassis block although, due to the nature of the prototype, there are no sound holes provided in the bodyshell.
The Virgin livery has been applied flawlessly, with all logos and numerals printed to a very high standard. Interestingly, a set of separate nameplates is provided which, although not etched, are slightly more convincing than the printed originals. The instructions suggest fixing these in place with Blu Tack, but PVA glue would be more effective. In fact, a set of etched replacements from Shawplan or Fox Transfers would be much more worthwhile.
At nearly half a kilogram, this model has a decent amount of mass.
This, combined with the powerful five-pole motor, provides plenty of pulling power and, after a brief running-in period, the locomotive runs smoothly and reliably.
Power collection
The quality of the moulded bodyshell is superb, with all grilles, fastener heads, handrails and door furniture rendered crisply and accurately
is via a set of delicate phosphor bronze wiper pickups bearing onto the rear faces of all four wheels (similar to many Hornby steam locomotives). These need to be kept clean of dust and debris and checked regularly to ensure that they remain in contact with the wheels.
Overall, build quality is high and this Virgin-branded version is bound to be popular among enthusiasts who recall the latter days of ‘87’ haulage with fondness.
FINAL THOUGHTS
While AC electric locomotives may not have the same mass market appeal as, say, a Class 37 or ‘Deltic’, the Class 87 still ranks as one of BR’S most successful locomotives. Moreover, Hornby should be applauded for producing such an attractive and accurate model, which is an essential acquisition for anyone interested in the post-1970s WCML scene. (GD)
“Dapol IS to produce an ‘N’ gauge Class 50.”
That’s how the December 2017 issue of Model Rail marked Dapol’s commitment to honour its September 2012 pledge (MR173) to produce the classic English Electric Type 4 Co-co in ‘N’.
The ’50’ was one of several long-awaited models that were put on hold during the summer of 2017 as Dapol reviewed its outstanding ‘N’ gauge products.
Rather than drop the ‘50’, Dapol promised to produce the ‘50’ to a specification that it’s called ‘Next Generation’.
This means that the ‘50’ now includes some of Dapol’s more recent technological developments, including a new, iron-cored five-pole motor and a Next18 decoder interface and it comes in Dapol’s new-style packaging.
This model impresses straight from the box. The shade of BR blue looks right on our review sample (50043) and it’s good to see Dapol nailing this after some inconsistent offerings in the past. It positively bristles with refinements, such as the separately fitted windscreen wipers and jumper cables, and the roof details are well represented.
The ‘50’ checks out in all key dimensions, though it appears that while the length is absolutely accurate over headstocks, the length over buffers is a little short, suggesting that the buffers have been compressed. This is by less than a millimetre at each end and makes no appreciable difference to the appearance.
The bogies are beautifully moulded, although Dapol has had to slightly reduce the wheel diameter. This is in order to allow the bogies to pivot on under-scale train set curves while retaining the Class 50’s distinctive ‘low sitting’ appearance.
As Dapol promised with its ‘next generation’ tag, a look under the body reveals a Next18 DCC decoder socket and an aperture to allow the simple clip-fitting of a speaker. The directional and cab interior lights can be controlled by the small switches on the chassis. Although I only tested 50043 on 12V analogue, I understand that the
Next18 interface enables all these functions to be fully controllable.
My only real criticism of the shape concerns the cab front, which is always a tricky area to get right on any diesel. To me, the nose appears to be a fraction too wide, and this results in the windscreens appearing too flat and not quite correctly
proportioned. It therefore doesn’t quite capture the distinctive end taper of the prototype. This is noticeable on those models with yellow or white around the windows, though the large logo livery, with its black window surrounds, would disguise the issue.
I also think that where the lower bodyside tucks in towards the underframe is represented, it could be a shade more pronounced.
As well as the Tops-numbered unrefurbished variant that we received for review, Dapol also offers unrefurbished models with PRE-TOPS numbers in blue and in refurbished form in BR ‘large logo’ and early Network Southeast liveries. Photographs of these other versions suggest that the high standard of finish on 50043 is maintained on all
Dapol ‘50s’. The only niggle concerning the finish is that the lettering in the headcode box seems under scale.
Dapol’s new ‘50’ is light years ahead of its only mass market predecessor, the long defunct Poole-era Graham Farish model. ‘N’ gauge modellers and ‘50’ aficionados will welcome the superb performance, refined detail and ergonomic design features but I would argue that it falls just short of being the definitive model. (BA)
It positively bristles with refinements, such as the separately fitted windscreen wipers and jumper cables