Last Wednesday's BBC4 documentary about the iconic model hobby manufacturer was fascinating and revealing.
The programme glossed over the fact that "modern" Hornby is, in fact, Triang which bought the name but not much else when Frank Hornby's baby collapsed in 1964. The company has changed ownership several times since but now has no real link with either of its progenitors, except in name.
The programme opened with the new CEO, Lyndon Davies ...
... poached from Oxford Diecast (see below), revealing that the company had lost £30 million in the last five years. It also reported on the re-appointment of Simon Kohler ...
... returning to the company after a falling out with the previous management! There was a reasonable amount of model railway stuff, but the focus of the programme was the launch of a brand new Airfix kit.
The Hellcat is to a scale of 1:24 whereas the traditional plane kits of fbb's youth were (and indeed many are today) much smaller at 1:72.
The programme followed a volunteer who was tasked with assembling and painting the kit's 600 parts in time for its launch at an aircraft modeller's fair. Clearly no longer a boy's toy, the interviews were all with men of varying degrees of maturity and, one would guess, significant amounts of disposable income.
The finished model is truly magnificent and, to use a technical term, "big"!
it retails at £120 (OUCH) and the first production run of 5000 sold out (from Hornby) within weeks of the launch.
Sadly, none of this stuff is made in the UK but manufactured in China.
The programme is available on iPlayer and episode 2 (which looks like being a bit more train orientated) is broadcast this coming Wednesday. It is called "The Battle of the Banners".
Heritage Liveries
A little snippet via Twitterings reveals that the craze for repainting trains and buses in older liveries also extends to planes. British Airways, currently running a TV ad with cameos from loads of "famous people", has applied BEA ...
... and BOAC ...
... liveries to modern aircarft.
Trains : Yet Another Underground Map
This is Luke Carvill ...
... a graphic designer from Birmingham who, according to press reports, has spent three years redesigning the "traditional" London Tube map, but including national rail lines as well.
In essence he has enlarged the central area relative to the whole diagram and wrapped the Overgound "circular" lines round the congested middle bit in a simple sausage shape.
As a result of the map's colouring convention, the sausage looks a bit weedy in the extract above but comes over better in the real thing.
As with previous experimenters, he has given meaningful (?) names and slightly different colours to each section of the Overground.
As with previous experimenters, he has given meaningful (?) names and slightly different colours to each section of the Overground.
He has done the same with the Docklands routes ...
... and attempted to show the operational oddity at West India Quay where southbound Lewisham trains cannot stop. On a very positive note, his scheme shows links between stations that are not always "official" interchanges.
But young Luke's scheme plays fast and loose with geography in a far more cavalier fashion even than the great Harry Beck. The loop in the centre of Croydon's tram system is huge compared with nearby national rail stations!
Likewise the two Watfords are utterly remote (click for an enlargement).
You can find the full map on-line by searching for "Luke Carvill designer" but, in fbb's very subjective view, the total lack of any sort of geographical shape is a big disadvantage - much more troubling than current "official" productions.
At least the Bayswater and Paddingtin proximity perambulations are provided for.
And, joy of joys, the map shows Elep[hant and Castle as two separate stations ...
... unlike the "official" map which shows a normal interchange.
And (Model) Automobiles
fbb can rememberh the excitement when Hornby Dublo introduced a small range of diecast model cars etc. specifically for OO gauge model railways. Until then it was difficult to find suitable scale vehicles to adorn your layout.
The generic double deck bus ...
... and a similar coach were about the limit. The main Dinky Toys range was far too big, fitting better with the old O gauge clockwork sets. Many Dinkys were to indeterminate scale anyway, made to fill a box rather than match model trains.
The newcomers were branded Dublo Dinky ...
... and prices were (just about) within the range of a poverty-stricken teenage railway modeller.
But at seven shillings and nine pence for the Land Rover with windows plus horse box with horse ...
... financial decisions were difficult. You could (nearly) buy four Airfix kits for that!
The newcomers were branded Dublo Dinky ...
But now we have ...
The quality and detail are also excellent with the smaller models priced at about a fiver. A Dublo Dinky tractor at 2/6 in 1962 would have inflated to just over £3 today ...
Their on-line fanzine is called Globe and offers itself with a price tag of ...
And the Bus Bit
East Yorkshire, recently bought by GoAhead, has launched its new livery.
Next Swiss and German blog : Monday 11th March
The traditional City of Oxford Motor Services livery was crimson, a very dark purplish maroon and a light green stripe under the windows, this stripe edged with black beading and the mudguards were also black. So 4 colours, all hand painted, I've been told. This was eventually simplified to just crimson and green, which to my mind looked insipid without the darker contrast, and then it was all NBC poppy red, of course.
ReplyDeletePS - and what about Stagecoach? Blue (sometimes 2 shades), white, tan and red.
ReplyDelete