Bachmann vs Hornby GWR pannier tanks

I know that some Heljan Class 47s have been suffering from disintegrating chassis as well, so much so that some have cracked open their bodies caused by the expansion of the chassis.

Fred X

It's an old problem and I don't know why the manufacturers didn't fix it decades ago.

Hornby's otherwise excellent O-scale LMS Pacific more than seventy years ago, had problems where the mazak crumbled. For its day it was a remarkably good model. Since I got interested in O gauge in the early

1980s I've seen several examples in various states varying from as original (possibly restored) to decay.

Which is now, as of about 6 months or so ago, the same factory that Hornby stuff is made in. So Hornby are now "perfect" too! Excellent, that's cleared that up!

Cheers Richard

It sounds like impurities in the Mazac. The operators of the melting pots for the Mazac often throw foil or the wire ties from the Mazac sacks in when they are melting the metal. Meccano had trouble with this before the war. Once they turned over to war production they had to meet higher standards for Mazac and after the was continued with it. There is quite a bit about this in the Hornby Dublo Companion book.

Paul

OK. But if it's known it shouldn't happen any more.

Would be tempted to say thats a bit sarcastic, but unless Wolf has specific info on the supplier/factory it does seem someone is being a bit of an unfair hornby basher.

These things happen to all companies at some time or other, the important thing is how they deal with it - but of course, lets wait for their investigations to be completed before having an opinion.

Cheers, Simon

Well, if Hornby's product is in fact made in the factory as Bachmann's own stuff, then there should be no problem with recently made product. But it's not easy to determine when something was made. There can be considerable lag time between the actual start of a production run and the arrival of the product on YFHS's shelves. IOW, just because Hornby's

31 class diesels arrived in the shops within the last 6 months doesn't mean they were made in Bachmann's factory. You'd have to ask Hornby about that. They might tell you.

That being said, if the mfr doesn't actually make their own alloys, they are at the mercy of the supplier's quality control, and bad stuff will get through even with the best QC protocols. Nothing's perfect in this world. "There is a crack in everything..."

cheers,

wolf k.

Hornby made two pannier tanks. Both of which were crude models with solid moulded handrails, no daylight under the boiler etc. Basically ancient Triang technology. The tooling for the one with a closed cab was altered to make Duck from the Thomas stories. They continued making the open cab version but it is not up to the standards of the newer models.

Bachmann's pannier tank dates from after the manufacturers started making more accurate models. They acquired it from Mainline and gave it an improved mechanism. The best of Mainline's technology without their poor chassis.

"beamends" wrote

That's not quite true, Hornby is made in the old Sander Kan factory, whilst the bulk of Bachmann is produced in Kader's original factory.

I've no idea whether either or both out-source their mazak castings.

John.

Then perhaps Bachmann and Hornby should specify "weapons-grade" mazak.

Note to self: see if I can fit in a factory visit when in Philly in August.

Guy

No North American factory.

wolf k.