O Gauge Mk1 coaches - get thee behind me ebay!
Entry posted by eldavo
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While I don't have an O gauge layout myself the club I belong to does and there are some folks who are very keen on 7mm. Being my normal cheapskate self the prices of O gauge stock (and everything else) scares the whassanames out of me so I have been lured to the dark side, ebay. Many times!
I have a number of O gauge locos including this rather nice M7...
She was a Tuesday afternoon finisher with a largish, though cheap for an O guage loco, starting bid. I took a punt and put a snipe on for the minimum and she was mine!
She arrived in a rather delapidated state from the infamous auction site and had clearly seen better days. Some botched repairs by someone had to be undone meaning I also had to repaint parts of the loco and so she was weathered to look pretty grotty to hide the nasties. Underneath was a very nicely made loco that runs very well.
All she needs is a train. She's not pull/push fitted so a rake of Mk1s in BR(S) green would do the job...
I could have gone out and found some coaches ready made, they come up on ebay fairly regularly and often advertised by members of the Gauge O Guild in their magazine. Too rich for my blood though! There are cheap secondhand Lima options as well but they wouldn't cut the mustard.
The only option left is to build from kits. There have been a number of different kits around and there are at least 3 different manufacturers still in production. The easiest and most expensive option would be to pick up "Just Like The Real Thing" kits and indeed for my 3rd coach I did just that.
Pretty simple to build as the major bodywork components are plastic or resin and the detail levels are high. I bought a BSK kit (corridor brake second/standard) from the companies ebay outlet and saved a couple of quid. Apart from missing a few bits of brass etch, which were supplied next day following a phone call, everything was plain sailing.
The interior is built up on the floor of the coach from various brass and plastic bits held together with super glue.
There's a fair bit of detail including a ton of stuff in the guards compartment. I admitted defeat in trying to assemble the wire mesh document pigeon holes out of fiendishly thin nickelsilver!
The bogies are whitemetal and not particularly clean castings but actually make up into reasonable structures with a bit of movement in the axleboxes to cope with track irregularities. Strangely no brake shoes/blocks.
The underframe is assembled from brass etches and whitemetal castings. Not overly difficult apart from bending the long truss members to form the 'L' shape. It all makes up into a nice coach.
Definitely has presence.
I needed another BSK as most of the Southern Region coach sets had a sequentially numbered pair. In fact I had acquired a set of brass etches from ebay some time before buying the JLTRT kit.
The etches were labeled as Acorn kits "First Class Coaches". I had a full set, body, interior, underframe and bogies. All looked really nice on ebay and when I opened the box. However, on starting to assemble the thing a few bits didn't actually fit and also some of the order of construction seemed to be impossible.
Eventually I found a little statement in the rough instruction sheets along the lines of "if this pre-production kit is a success we may put it into production". Ah!
So this kit has been a challenge. The interior of this coach is all brass except for the fairly crude plastic seating strip. Practically no interior detail at all and in fact there were several internal partitions not provided for. The bogies are again whitemetal and the parts very nearly fitted together though not in the way the instructions might suggest!
The underframe and body are brass as well and with some imagination could be soldered together. Much much cruder than the JLTRT kit.
I did eventually get thing thing assembled but of course there is always a twist. The body is double skinned and you are supposed to sandwich the glazing between the two layers and secure it by running the door handles, grab handles and destination board brackets (brass wire and imagination) through all three and soldering. OK, so if I do that I have to prime and paint it with the glazing in situ? I think not.
Also the roof is supposed to "clip or glue" between the two side skins. I suppose it might if it were the right shape!
Eventually I primed and painted then glazed then soldered the roof. This meant I had to carefully scrape away a small amount of paint to solder then cover up again. Not easy and it's a bit crude.
So can it get sillier than trying to make a decent coach out of a set of prototype etches? You bet.
Another ebay "bargain" that came my way, albeit very cheaply, was an Eames coach body set. This is basically some bits of wood, pre-cut cardboard sides and a shaped laminated cardboard roof. The kit wasn't dated but given that the instructions weren't clear what coach type they made and alluded to "the latest Mk1 coach type" it had to come from the late 50s or early 60s. In fact the kit would make an SO (second/standard open) or possibly a TSO.
No underframe, bogies or castings with this one! Heres the sides, ends and floor gluing with the interior bits laid out. There was a generous, if rather faded, one sheet of instructions. Basically said "It's a coach. Stick it together".
I did just that and primed it...
Then gave it a blast of green...
The bogies are "EasiBuild" plastic jobbies that are very easy to build, cheap and don't look too bad.
Most of the previous work was done a year or so ago and in the last couple of weeks I have finally got round to completing them.
The SO now has a scratch built underframe made from bits of brass, plastic and various spare castings and all 3 coaches have had their handles and end detail added and a final paint and weathering job. Here's how they stand now...
The JLTRT BSK. Going to have to fix that bowed roof!
The Acorn BSK.
Finally the Eames SO.
They are numbered as part of set 881 using Fox transfers. A little more weathering and attention to glazing and they'll be ready for service. First outing will probably be with the club layout Abbotstone at Wycrail in the autumn.
Oh of course I've acquired a semi-assembled kit for a CK (corridor composite) from ebay recently. You guessed it, it's a mess!
Cheers Dave
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