Hornby class 31s

[gromit54]

Has anyone heard if the cracking problem with these locos has been sorted out yet? Mines o.k but heard and seen some shocking photos of this problem on another forum. I'm wanting to get another one but was hanging on till the problem was sorted out.

[Son of Triangman]

Hornby have sorted the problem apparaently but I would wait for a few years yet before buying one as most shops still have stocks of the older models. The mazak metal used by Hornby suffers from impurities which causes the cracking, something went wrong with China QC and a bad batch of metal got through into production. China factory QC can be a bit er um variable at times!

[gromit54]

Thanks for that, I had heard it was a dodgy batch of metal but I've photos of the plastic bodies cracking as well. THink your right , leave it a year or so to get the bad ones out of way. I'd like to think hornby would recall the dodgy ones!

[Son of Triangman]

I think you are very wise to leave them in the shops for now, Hornby don't seem to do recalls alas. There have been bad batches of plastic as well as you have found good sir, the J52, B12, Jinty, 08 and 31 have all suffered with plastic problems. There was a bad batch of main drive gears that went into J52's, B12's, Jinities, and 08's, these gears tend to either crack and split or the teeth tend to strip on the gears.