EXPERT MODELLERS SHOW YOU HOW
HOW TO IMPROVE HORNBY’S BR Mk 1 GUV
Read all about it! George Dent adds a grimy outlook – and a few extra details – to Hornby’s Newspaper van.
George’s 1980s-era newspaper train has been bolstered by this recent Hornby release. New couplers and a few minor detail tweaks have been added.
PHOTOGRAPHY: GEORGE DENT
As someone who grew up with Lima ‘OO’ models, rather than the ubiquitous Hornby train sets of my peers, I can’t help but feel nostalgic when thinking about products from the Italian manufacturer.
I’ve stated it numerous times before, but it says much for Lima’s tooling expertise that many of its models still look good several decades later. Hornby’s resurrection of the ex-Lima BR Mk 1 General Utility Van (GUV) was a welcome addition to the Margate range, and last year’s release of a Rail blue version with Newspapers branding provided an added bonus.
The GUV was one of Lima’s best coaching stock models, with a realistic profile and plenty of finely moulded detail on the sides and – especially – the ends. Hornby’s superior finish quality, with neatly printed legends and numbers, takes things up a notch.
Furthermore, gone are the old Lima ‘pizza cutter’ wheels with huge flanges, in favour of a more refined set that spin freely within the bogie frames.
When our sample of the Hornby Newspaper van arrived, my first instinct was to give it a shabby, weathered finish, reminiscent of blue Mk 1 GUVs during the 1970s and 1980s. A good number of these vans were dedicated to Newspaper traffic, some being converted with gangways and toilet compartments allowing for sorting and bundling while on the move. But others remained mostly untouched, save for the branding on the sides.