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Hornby America, Inc. Rivarossi HO scale Big Boy
I WOULD LIKE A 4-8-8-4 BIG BOY IN HO SCALE ONE DAY I WOULD
LIKE TO HAVE ONE WHEN I MAKE RAILROAD BIGGER I LOVE MODEL RAILROADING IN HO
The Union Pacific never allowed their locomotives to look so bad while they were in service.
An interesting model of a famous locomotive. Too bad about the “over weathering”. At the moment I am an armchair modeler, but I have N scale packed up in the basement waiting for that moment I can put it all together. I also have an N scale model of Big Boy.
I have an old Rivarossi Big Boy #4001 (5413) and it sounds like the basic design is the same (only no sound, DC only).
The electrical pickups for the drivers are easily damaged if you get oil on them, the internal spring will be heat-damaged and lose their “spring”. Luckily, Kaydee knuckle-coupler springs can be used as replacements. After the repair I’ve had no stalling issues (it’s possible the unit reviewed has this problem, the article mentions it stalls on yard track).
I’ve replaced the incandescent headlight with a LED (Radio Shack 276-0017 sanded to fit) with a 470 Ohm resistor and a small filter to get rid of the LED blue light (1/2 CTO lighting gel cut from a sample book)
I have an original Rivarossi Big Boy and am disappointed that Hornby-Rivarossi did not upgrade its original tooling to include scale drivers etc. Seems a waste of time producing a model whose vitage is now at least 3 to 4 generations old in terms of railroad modelling techniques and accuracy. In any case, we have sooo many Big Boys on offer nowadays that I would find it difficult to buy this one.
You seem to criticize this Big Boy for having the speaker in the engine while there is ample room for one in the tender. Where did most of the sound come from in the prototype? Seeing a Mallet silently pop out of a tunnel is kind of disappointing when the noisy tender follows it.
An amazing model. Sure would be nice to have one, but…
The other day I was in Austria and I saw Trix also makes H0 Big Boy.
Some €700+ is the price.
My desktop has a picture of Big Boy 4004 toward the end of its life and the weathering is a lot nastier than the model. You can hardly tell the smoke box is silver for all the rust streaks.
I have an older vintage of this Big Boy and it is a great model for those of us that couldn’t afford brass at the time.
I’m not sure if I could justify the difference in what Hornsby gets for the lastest version now with the old tooling compared to what I paid for the old, even allowing for inflation, weathering, DCC and sound. Maybe the weathering masks the comparison to modern plastic locos.
I too am wondering if they plan on releasing other former earlier models such as the B&O 2-10-2? Using RP 25 wheel profiles will allow closer to correct wheel diameters and spacings. As for factory weathering, my opinion is let the modeler do what he thinks is appropriate for the era and location he plans on using the locomotive in. The Big Boy is a great model from them but not up to todays’ standards.
One final comment, locomotive sound belongs in the locomotive not the tender and multible speakers on larger locomotives replicating the sounds from where they would actually come from on the protype.
Weathering looks overdone. Instead of dirt from heavy use, it looks rusty from neglect.
hope they make the big boy’s in the n scale
the ho scale look great
even in the on3 scale may look good to
Impressive model. It wouldn’t fit on my midwestern-themed layout, but it’s good to look at.
How many Big Boys do we need? I know this is a re-release of the first plastic Big Boy model, so I suppose from a manufacturers point of view, why not? Too bad it has not been truely upgraded to todays standards. I wonder if they have any plans to re-release the Cab Forward?
The weathering on the model is not realistic, like the most factory-applied weatherings…
Sorry… Still the old tooling.
This is just putting paint on an old model. Perhaps we are seeing why Rivarossi is now owned by Hornby.
Put 68" drivers with RP 25 flanges on it. Add more separately applied detail, and let us worry about weathering.
I have an Athearn Genesis Big Boy and whilst detailing is really nice the MRC electronics leave a lot to be desired. I hope the new Genesis with QSI electronics will be significantly better. Having said that I also have a Rivarossi FEF-3 - DCC ready version and it is nicely made, is very quiet when running and has responded well to the TCS MC2 decoder that I have in it. I hope Broadway can retool and do a nice Paragon or Hybrid version that’s nicely detailed buy not crazy expensive like some of the Brass or Trix versions are. Comment regarding UP never allowed the 4-8-8-4 to get so dirty is an odd one, recently an issue of Classic Train featuring the Big Boys at night clearly showed how grimmy they did get in day to day service?
I already have an old Rivarossi Big Boy and a TRIX Big Boy without sound.
Having recently bought some sound-equipped locomotives and having appreciated the new world opened by sound, I am very interested in this new release by Rivarossi, given also the very good mechanical qualitiese of this locomotive
Hi I was wanting to know how do you work the sounds in DC? Dose the model just play ramdom sounds? Just was asking before buying.
UP did their best to keep their engines clean, but even they could not keep up totally with the grime that accumulated daily. Having said that, I must admit that they rarely got that bad. And I agree that updating the design and fabrication of this one could have helped a lot. I have both N and HO models of this engine, and there is no improvement in this one over what I already have. It will be cheaper for me to just upgrade with DCC and sound than to buy one already equiped.