Best current donor equivalent to Hornby 0-6-0 / Jinty Chassis?

[Lacathedrale]

Hi chums,

 

I'm in need of a chassis for a loco body I've acquired which is a direct fit for the Hornby Jinty chassis. I understand this is somewhat long in the tooth now, with various models available and even some people suggesting Bachmann equivalents. I'm looking to convert to EM as well, so if there's an obvious replacement chassis kit that may be a better choice depending on how much the donor is. I see the usual Hornby Jinty's are going for about £25-30 on eBay?

 

Cheers!

[Steamport Southport]

Depends on what it's for. I take it that it's not for a Jinty?

 

The Hornby Jinty chassis has been updated numerous times over the years. It bears little in common with the 1970s chassis and none at all with the old Triang or Hornby Dublo chassis previously available (a common misconception from those who haven't bought one since 1965....).

 

The new chassis is usually found under the GWR 2721, LNER J52, LNER J83 and Jinty. All have been available in the Railroad range in recent years.

 

But mention of "kits" and EM suggests you want something proper. Try Comet/Wizard or High Level. Both have Jinty chassis. Or may have something more suitable for what you are really looking for.

 

https://www.wizardmodels.ltd/shop/locomotive/lcp8/

 

https://www.highlevelkits.co.uk/product-page/jinty

 

 

Jason

Edited December 29, 2021 by Steamport Southport
Forgot the links!

[Lacathedrale]

Thank you Jason!. It's a 3D printed body that's to fit ontop of a Jinty.

 

Interesting that Wizard/Comet suggest the chassis can fit under a Bachmann OR a Hornby Jinty - I had no idea those were common, but I guess it makes sense! This will be my first time in a long time building a 4mm chassis - so I'm thinking High-level and Markits wheels...

[41516]

The instructions for the Comet Jinty chassis notes that the frames need to be shortened to fit the Hornby body, so expect similar if you use the HL chassis on something designed for the Hornby chassis.

[The Johnster]

The Hornby Jinty chassis is not correct in terms of axle spacing for a Jinty, due to originally being produced to match the axle spacing of the Black Princess; Rovex were keen to reduce costs by using interchangeable standard parts as far as possible.  It was not correct for any locomotive it was subsequently used under and the various retooled versions of it over the years repeated the error.  It shows up in mismatches between the wheels and splashers of locmotives that may match the axle spacing of a real Jinty but not the Rovex chassis or it's desecendents.

 

This may have an impact on the fit of your printed body on a Rovex-spaced Jinty chassis.  The Hornby (Rovex derived) and Bachmann Jinty chassis have nothing in common, and the axle spacing of the Bachmann chassis is correct for a Jinty.  A 3D print designed to use a Hornby Rovex derivate Jinty chassis should have the splashers positioned to align to the wheels, but the wheels and the splashers will be incorrectly positioned (TTBOMK the Rovex axle spacing is not correct for any UK prototype).  If the print is designed to use the prototype Jinty axle spacing the Rovex derivate chassis will misalign with the splashers, but the Bachmann Jinty, and the Wizard or HL kits, will be suitable.  I would not be able to state that a print designed to fit with a Rovex derivate Jinty mech will have room inside the print to accommodate the Bachmann mech. 

 

It is IMHO advisable to have wheels that align with the splashers even if both are incorreclty positioned if you cannot have correctly positioned and aligned wheels and splashers.  Correctly positioned splashers and incorrectly positioned wheels, or correctly positioned wheels and incorrectly positioned splashers, will be obviously wrong, so to my way of thinking if you can't have both of them in the correct position it is best to have them both equally incorrectly positioned,  It sounds anomalous, but it is better to have two things wrong if you can't have both right, rather than one right and one wrong.

 

I appreciate that a Bachmann donor will be more expensive than a Hornby one, but the Bachmann, as well as having the correct axle spacing for a Jinty and possibly your 3D print, will give much better performance in terms of slow running and smooth stops and starts.

[Steamport Southport]

The Hornby Jinty chassis is not that far off TBH. Haven't got a Hornby Jinty to hand, but I have got a J52 on the top for some bizarre reason.   

 

 

Quick measure of it compared to a Bachmann Jinty.

 

Hornby chassis  31 - 33mm       7' 9" - 8' 3"  

 

Bachmann Jinty  32 - 34mm      8' 0" -  8' 6" which is correct.

 

The Hornby Jinty splasher should be in the right place. Don't forget they only had one splasher visible each side as the others were under the tanks/cab, unlike a saddle or pannier tank.

 

You've also got the fact that the Hornby model has bigger wheels over the flanges. So that bit extra doesn't make the chassis look too short. I would say it's acceptable for it's era which was late 1970s.

 

 

Jason

[robert17649]

I used a Bachmann Jinty chassis for a 1F  I have no idea if the spacing is right as I usually model GE or LNER however careful use of a hub puller drew wheels out to EM  and as the wheels are a tad finer than Hornby little else was needed for it to negotiate my pointwork and it did run slow. The only problem may be getting hold of one.

[Izzy]

If it’s the correct wheelbase (no reason not to be),  then the Bachmann 1F chassis might match the original Hornby/Rovex as the 1F has a shorter one than the Jinty and so fit the printed body better. Depends where the fixing points are I would suppose.

[adb968008]

When I see a Hornby Jinty suggested as a donor chassis, I tend to try use a Bachmann Jinty instead…

Close match but the Bachmann one is better in many ways. Bachmanns Collett goods is also useful donor for projects.  
 

For smaller 0-6-0’s any number of little black goods 0-6-0’s are on special offer every week.. J15, 700, c class etc…shops seem to have oodles of them.

 

That said if its approximation anyway, and both are inaccurate for the body, does it matter ?

Edited January 2, 2022 by adb968008

[SteveyDee68]

For clarity, does the 3D print body specify a new or old Hornby Jinty chassis?

 

If this is a body purchased off an eBay seller*, then if it is the one I am thinking of then I think the maker specifies a ‘modern, China produced chassis as used for the Jinty etc’, which answers your question (because older chassis have a different design of motor placement etc, as mentioned earlier)

 

Best of luck

 

Steve S

 

* Is it a CDC Design 3D printed body shell, by any chance?

[Lacathedrale]

SteveyDee - it is indeed a CDC printed body shell and much like the Golden Arrow O1 kit - suggests a chinese Jinty.

 

I think it's likely to be an approximation given the 8" discrepancy in wheel diameter - but for now I'm going to take what I can get and slowly work backwards into scratchbuilding the specific, esoteric stock I eventually want to run!

 

I'll investigate a Bachmann chassis - £57 for HL chassis, gearbox and motor and another £15 for Gibson wheels does seem a bit like throwing good money after bad, if the locomotive print itself has the wrong wheelbase anyway!

[Lacathedrale]

I note that the Scalefour download 41.9 suggests the chinese Jinty Chassis (albeit printed 1984) suggests the Jinty chassis is just about fine, if the front axle is set to rock by inserting a grub screw as a pivot into the centre of the recess for the unpowered axle, and 'triang adapter bushes' are fitted to take standard axles. Of course, this remains to be seen - but maybe worth getting at least one to try out with?

[Nile]

This chassis from Wizard Models (formally Mainly Trains) is a direct replacement for the Hornby Jinty type chassis.