I got one for Christmas from my lovely wife. However, little did she realise the monster she has re-unleashed having been away from the hobby for ages. Finding your Arduino series really interesting. I am awaiting some parts to complete and old Hornby turntable upgrade with a stepper motor. Was opting for an IR controller with feedback LEDs but now I might investigate JMRI... I ended up sending mine back to Hornby as it had pickup issues. They, thankfully, fitted my decoder. 😀
Full marks to your wife, excellent present choice, is she regretting it yet? 😂 This hobby can get addictive. Interested to know how you get on with JMRI and the stepper motor turntable.
It is a very nice looking model but your assessment is spot on. I will have a dedicated siding for mine so handling is kept to a minimum. A tip to save stress on those wires is to stop the tender from uncoupling with a small piece of wire sleeve on the end of the pin, 16/.02 is about the right size.
Great tip with the tender. I couldn't resist buying the 3rd class coaches too 😭 my stress levels are going to go through the roof getting that coupled up.
It pulls 3 blue 3rd class coaches and the 3 yellow coaches fine. The couplings work well with no issues. A bit of extra metal weight inside the chimney and some in the barrel solves low inclines issue. I will run it on a heritage layout which means a free-for-all in eras.
I own this model of the rocket as well and watching you take it out the box had me holding my breath, and believe it or not on perfectly level track it can pull 6 of theses coaches.
Trying to get it out whilst crouching behind a camera and looking through the screen wasn't ideal 😂 Are you thinking of getting the 3rd class blue "coach"? I feel like I should whilst they're available just to complete the set.
Little Wicket Railway I’ve already pre-ordered mine from Hornby before they sell out and you have to go the e-bay extortion route. Although with the running characteristics of the Rocket and the fact that they haven’t sold out yet I’m thinking that there not as popular as the train pack itself.
Thanks for the interesting and informative review. Not for me though - to fragile and fiddly, not to say expensive. As you say may be a good investment in the long run though.
If I were hornby I'd have done it in O gauge, then used it as a start point to launch a small range of O gauge stuff to rival dapol and heljens offerings. Would saved a lot of people getting this only to say how delicate it is and probably landed just as well with the collectors/those who want it as a display piece. But I'm not hornby so they can do their thing, nice model, if almost completely historical make believe in all but a few key aspects. It was painted green after rainhill, no evidence of it ever pulling a passenger in revenue earning service other than that trip on the opening day, by which time it had been modified away from this form anyway. Those coaches as well, a model based on a replica based on replica based on a model of a model that almost certainly wasn't reflective of any coach in service when rocket was in service as a permanent way engine modified and painted green... should really be listed as an era 7 or 8 model to reflect that is it a model of the replica with the replica coaches not a true model of an era one set up.
Interesting info on the history of the loco and coaches. I just can't imagine it in green. I wonder how O gauge would have gone down. Hornby are definitely milking the Rocket stuff with the various wagon packs.
@@LittleWicketRailway the collectors will collect. Can't blame hornby from that point of view really, making products for their collectors to collect in order to own it. We need not buy them as we can hardly justify even the normal rocket pack as something we'll run often or that has a real home on most of our layouts, it's just a very expensive thing that lacks much practicality to have as a toy or as a model so really just becomes an object of affection. Let others do their thing, do ours.
@@LittleWicketRailway as to the O gauge thing, probably would have gone quite well, stick it in with a basic loop of track and it would have sold. Not their first trip into larger scales and not even their first go at rocket in a larger scale since they did that live steam one. It would have been a good size for display, but not to big as to make it impractical to set up the loop and run it if desired. And then as stated it could act as a lead into a bunch of O gauge model releases of other small locos which are very much in vogue as small O gauge is now basically as afforable as big OO in terms of pricing for locos.
I was 'lucky'? enough to get the limited edition. It hasn't been out of its box. Way too delicate and fragile to be functional. So it sits, gathering dust. A beautiful model all the same.
My wife gave me the limited edition Tri-ang branded set as a birthday treat as she knew I’d been looking for an original 1960’s version. Very delicate: diminutive size is the big surprise, but it’s beautiful - and runs amazingly well. Obviously odd alongside my Mallard, Flying Scotsman etc, but that’s not the point. Visitors love it; a great talking point.
I got one for Christmas from my lovely wife. However, little did she realise the monster she has re-unleashed having been away from the hobby for ages. Finding your Arduino series really interesting. I am awaiting some parts to complete and old Hornby turntable upgrade with a stepper motor. Was opting for an IR controller with feedback LEDs but now I might investigate JMRI... I ended up sending mine back to Hornby as it had pickup issues. They, thankfully, fitted my decoder. 😀
Full marks to your wife, excellent present choice, is she regretting it yet? 😂 This hobby can get addictive.
Interested to know how you get on with JMRI and the stepper motor turntable.
It is a very nice looking model but your assessment is spot on. I will have a dedicated siding for mine so handling is kept to a minimum. A tip to save stress on those wires is to stop the tender from uncoupling with a small piece of wire sleeve on the end of the pin, 16/.02 is about the right size.
Great tip with the tender. I couldn't resist buying the 3rd class coaches too 😭 my stress levels are going to go through the roof getting that coupled up.
It pulls 3 blue 3rd class coaches and the 3 yellow coaches fine. The couplings work well with no issues. A bit of extra metal weight inside the chimney and some in the barrel solves low inclines issue. I will run it on a heritage layout which means a free-for-all in eras.
I own this model of the rocket as well and watching you take it out the box had me holding my breath, and believe it or not on perfectly level track it can pull 6 of theses coaches.
Trying to get it out whilst crouching behind a camera and looking through the screen wasn't ideal 😂 Are you thinking of getting the 3rd class blue "coach"? I feel like I should whilst they're available just to complete the set.
Little Wicket Railway I’ve already pre-ordered mine from Hornby before they sell out and you have to go the e-bay extortion route. Although with the running characteristics of the Rocket and the fact that they haven’t sold out yet I’m thinking that there not as popular as the train pack itself.
I'm close to cracking and pre-ordering.
love rocket, but that model is frightening...still I might get the royal mail version.
Well done.
Thanks for the interesting and informative review. Not for me though - to fragile and fiddly, not to say expensive. As you say may be a good investment in the long run though.
Thanks 👍 So fiddly! It hasn't been out of the box since the review sadly. I'm still considering building a small diorama just for it though.
If I were hornby I'd have done it in O gauge, then used it as a start point to launch a small range of O gauge stuff to rival dapol and heljens offerings. Would saved a lot of people getting this only to say how delicate it is and probably landed just as well with the collectors/those who want it as a display piece. But I'm not hornby so they can do their thing, nice model, if almost completely historical make believe in all but a few key aspects.
It was painted green after rainhill, no evidence of it ever pulling a passenger in revenue earning service other than that trip on the opening day, by which time it had been modified away from this form anyway. Those coaches as well, a model based on a replica based on replica based on a model of a model that almost certainly wasn't reflective of any coach in service when rocket was in service as a permanent way engine modified and painted green... should really be listed as an era 7 or 8 model to reflect that is it a model of the replica with the replica coaches not a true model of an era one set up.
Interesting info on the history of the loco and coaches. I just can't imagine it in green.
I wonder how O gauge would have gone down. Hornby are definitely milking the Rocket stuff with the various wagon packs.
@@LittleWicketRailway the collectors will collect. Can't blame hornby from that point of view really, making products for their collectors to collect in order to own it. We need not buy them as we can hardly justify even the normal rocket pack as something we'll run often or that has a real home on most of our layouts, it's just a very expensive thing that lacks much practicality to have as a toy or as a model so really just becomes an object of affection.
Let others do their thing, do ours.
@@LittleWicketRailway as to the O gauge thing, probably would have gone quite well, stick it in with a basic loop of track and it would have sold.
Not their first trip into larger scales and not even their first go at rocket in a larger scale since they did that live steam one. It would have been a good size for display, but not to big as to make it impractical to set up the loop and run it if desired. And then as stated it could act as a lead into a bunch of O gauge model releases of other small locos which are very much in vogue as small O gauge is now basically as afforable as big OO in terms of pricing for locos.
I was 'lucky'? enough to get the limited edition. It hasn't been out of its box. Way too delicate and fragile to be functional. So it sits, gathering dust. A beautiful model all the same.
My wife gave me the limited edition Tri-ang branded set as a birthday treat as she knew I’d been looking for an original 1960’s version. Very delicate: diminutive size is the big surprise, but it’s beautiful - and runs amazingly well. Obviously odd alongside my Mallard, Flying Scotsman etc, but that’s not the point. Visitors love it; a great talking point.
It's a wise investment I think Peter. Are you not temped to just give it a quick run???
Fair comment
Wires & soldering are too thin & fragile! Hornby China commonly has this issue even in Diesel & Electrics...
A wire came off my HST motor the other day for no reason 😟
@@LittleWicketRailway yes they not able to meet even the 1980s value for money quality product.