Class 73.

[Halvarras]

You should find that pick-ups are already present on all 8 wheels - this was another big improvement over the Lima arrangement and was probably judged essential by Hornby for reliable DCC operation. Trouble was, at the outset of the ex-Lima 'Railroad' models Hornby prioritised this over haulage capability and released the first models without traction tyres, so they ran beautifully as 'light engines' but predictably any kind of load got their wheels spinning. Extra weight would help, but only up to a point. The initial Class 66 releases were so afflicted and as a result these models' performance didn't........um........exactly replicate the prodigious haulage capabilities of the real thing! Hornby quickly - and probably reluctantly - realised that traction tyres were necessary after all. But the pick-ups on tyred wheels must still collect power on curves at least......?

[jjb1970]

The Class 73 was one of Lima's best efforts, it was very nicely done for its day and still looks good. The Hornby version has a much better motor bogie IMO, it's not as good as a centre mounted motor all wheel drive arrangement but as motor bogies go it is quiet and smooth.

 

That said, the Dapol model does look better, finer detail, a better mechanism and can be found cheaply. So despite the Hornby/Lima model still being a good model I'd recommend the Dapol version. 

[Halvarras]

I bought a mint Lima Class 73 E6012 a few years ago because it appealed to me (by my reckoning E6012 was the second BR loco to carry the double arrow logo following D1733 and I liked the lower grey band on blue). I already had a pair of 'late '60s' Heljan Class 33s so decided to upgrade E6012 to match by seeking a Hornby version for a chassis swap. I timed the search perfectly because Hattons had a pre-owned pair of Lima bodies on Hornby chassis at £40 each - 73002 & 73105 both in Large Logo Blue. It quickly occurred to me that 73002 could be the chassis swapper and 73105 could be reworked into E6018 with its wrap-around yellow ends, so in went the order. 

E6012 was quickly resolved but E6018 put up a bit of a fight! Careful use of Superstrip on cotton buds removed most of the black around the windscreens - Modelstrip removed the numbers but didn't touch the large logos at all - in the end I had to repaint all of the blue as well as the yellow (Precision paints). I didn't replace the moulded handrails because E6012's livery would have caused a colour match issue (and I was running short of wire anyway) - all I did on that one was repaint the peculiar silver windscreen surrounds in light grey. E6018 received a coat of Railmatch satin varnish from a rattle can.

 

At the time I was working on them Howes were still the suppliers of Heljan spares so I ordered two sets of Class 33 bogie steps for these. The only other physical changes were replacing the short plastic buffers with longer (ex-Lima Class 47) versions, which put the buffer heads in front of the vestibule rubbing plates instead of behind, and recess the warning horns into the cab roof (these have a lug which fits into a small square hole, I drilled small holes either side of this then joined and enlarged them into an oval hole using a 'rat-tail' file - the horns could then be lowered).

 

So one was a quick job and the other not quite as quick as I had envisaged (or hoped!) Now I think E6018's ex-LLB light grey roof should be more mid-grey, so probably not quite finished yet after all.....

 

I can see why this model is regarded as one of Lima's best efforts.