winky84 Posted October 20, 2011 Share Posted October 20, 2011 Hello All, I'm new to RMWeb and have only recently reintroduced myself to the world of railway modelling after a 10 year break and i just thought i'd pop a little thread up about some of my collection and some of the projects i've got on the go and am also considering. I got the bug again when i was in my local model shop in hereford, when i bumped into an old friend from school who asked if i was still "into my trains" as she put it because she had recently split up with her fella and was looking to shift his collection of british OO. She sold me a tender driven Flying Scotsman with 3 Gresley Teaks and an EWS class 92 with 12 EWS LWB wagons at a price not to be refused and it all went downhill from there... Some of the trains i had from my previous days include an APT-P with another power car, which is my pride and joy, a couple of scale length Hornby virgin mk3's, a virgin DVT and various other 'bits' of locos and coaches that were not fully appreciated by my 14-year-old-self, as i had not worked hard to earn the money to pay for them myself! I'm now going through that stage that all blokes do of living out the various ideas and dreams i had when i was was younger, only now i have the time, knowledge and most importantly THE MONEY to see them through! I have been modifying and renovating my APT so now i have 1 power car with 2 motor bogies that have both got all new brushes, springs and traction tyres. the twin motor bogie set up seems to work extremely well, offering noticeably better tractive power, improved conductivity and much better slow speed operation. Cosmetically, The pantograph is present and i have replaced the plastic bus bars which were all damaged with thin copper wire glued in place, which gives a pleasing result. The other power car will now solely be used as a dummy, either with the operational power car in the APT or potentially in one of RTC Derby's test trains that comprised of one of the prototype HST power cars, an APT power car and a couple of the RTC test cars that i am considering modelling. I have recently obtained a selection of spare parts for my APT including bogies and couplings so should i have any breakages, i'm sorted. I have also now got a very tatty driving trailer and a good condition intermediate coach. I would like to get another intermediate so i can lengthen the train to 8 vehicles (Not strictly prototypical i know) or break out the tools and modify them into a fully articulated coach. All the coaches are getting Bachmann disc wheels. My Virgin trains collection has now expanded to a full rake of 8 Hornby scale length mk3's including the TGS, the buffet and 2 first class coaches. some of the running numbers are duplicated but i plan on sorting that with some of the transfer kits i have seen available. As the coaches i got from ebay all have mismatched couplings, i am converting them all to Keen Systems close couplings which i must say i am extremely impressed with. They are all having Bachmann disc wheels fitted too. As far as virgin liveried power goes, i have 2 options - I have an HST power and dummy car which are both currently undergoing conversions to have directional LED Lighting and i also have 90015 "The International Brigades Spain 1936 - 1939" with my DVT bringing up the rear. My 3 Gresley Teaks have now increased to 12, with 4 sleeper cars. They are all the older Hornby ones which i agree are nowhere near as nice as the latest ones Hornby have to offer but are a fraction of the cost. They are all having their roofs painted the same shade of white, their corridor ends painted appropriately, Bachmann disc wheels and keen close couplings. I now also have Mallard to accompany Flying Scotsman. I hope i haven't waffled on too much and that that may be of some interest or even of some help to some of you. If anyone has any suggestions or advice that i may find helpful, it would be appreciated. Regards, Phil Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karhedron Posted October 21, 2011 Share Posted October 21, 2011 Welcome aboard, your story sounds a bit similar to mine. I also have an APT tucked away carefully in the loft. Sadly it does not get to run at the moment as all my modelling is in N gauge (the only way I can fit anything into my house). Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold RedgateModels Posted October 21, 2011 RMweb Gold Share Posted October 21, 2011 You need to talk to Dagworth on here - He's made a full length APT-P set by cutting and shutting several sets .... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
winky84 Posted October 21, 2011 Author Share Posted October 21, 2011 You need to talk to Dagworth on here - He's made a full length APT-P set by cutting and shutting several sets .... would that be the one i have seen on "Ravensclyffe" on youtube? if so, when i win the lottery, i shall employ him to make me one! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold RedgateModels Posted October 21, 2011 RMweb Gold Share Posted October 21, 2011 Yep, the very same. He sold me a spare pair of black window surround driving ends to swap with my original release plain ones. You'll find loads of APT fans on here. Here's a sad pic I took at Shildon in the summer.... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wolf27 Posted October 21, 2011 Share Posted October 21, 2011 ERM 31 by Shane Wilton, on Flickr It will soon look a lot better. It recieved a coat of green primer just after this was taken. cheers Shane Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
B McG Posted October 21, 2011 Share Posted October 21, 2011 Blimey this takes me back three decades. Having the APT bragging rights for all the kids at my school whose dads had the money to purchase it for them for Christmas :-) Unfortunately I was not one of those :-( Booo hiss lol Ebay may be your best hope of expanding the APT set though personally I would trust it for powered engines. Welcome aboard, Bryant Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
winky84 Posted October 22, 2011 Author Share Posted October 22, 2011 Yep, the very same. He sold me a spare pair of black window surround driving ends to swap with my original release plain ones. You'll find loads of APT fans on here. Here's a sad pic I took at Shildon in the summer.... I saw some similar pictures on the web of that power car and nearly cried! mind you, it gave me some fairly perverse ideas of possibilities for my dummy power car... i must say i prefer the black window surround driving trailers to the all yellow ones. they just look more "finished" to me. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Dagworth Posted October 23, 2011 RMweb Gold Share Posted October 23, 2011 You need to talk to Dagworth on here - He's made a full length APT-P set by cutting and shutting several sets .... Five sets to be precise, I had a bloke at one show tell me "If you knew what that was worth you wouldn't be cutting it up"... I've had a PM from Phil, in my reply I've said I'll do a how-to on cutting up APTs over the next few days. Andi Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SNCF stephen Posted October 23, 2011 Share Posted October 23, 2011 Five sets to be precise, I had a bloke at one show tell me "If you knew what that was worth you wouldn't be cutting it up"... I've had a PM from Phil, in my reply I've said I'll do a how-to on cutting up APTs over the next few days. Andi I'll be interested to see that how to guide. I have always been tempted by the Hornby sets on ebay but being strictly into N gauge I find it difficult to justify! Perhaps one day there will be an N gauge APT?!?!? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karhedron Posted October 23, 2011 Share Posted October 23, 2011 Perhaps one day there will be an N gauge APT?!?!? It is a very smooth, streamlined shap. It strikes me as the ideal subject for 3D printing. People have already started producing unusual things like underground trains in N gauge using this technique. I guess it just requires someone with sufficient skill with CAD and the inspiration. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
winky84 Posted October 23, 2011 Author Share Posted October 23, 2011 Here's what i've done in the last hour with Dagworth's guidance... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
doublecee Posted August 30, 2012 Share Posted August 30, 2012 great thread. I would love to expand my APT rig. I currently have two sets for my layout. Here is one of them giving my recently laid express points a bit of a test Id love a full rake. But I dont have the modelling skills to do a cut and shut ;( Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
doublecee Posted August 30, 2012 Share Posted August 30, 2012 It is a very smooth, streamlined shap. It strikes me as the ideal subject for 3D printing. People have already started producing unusual things like underground trains in N gauge using this technique. I guess it just requires someone with sufficient skill with CAD and the inspiration. I work in VFX for Films (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1117804/), and one of my roles is Laser scanning sets and vehicles, as well as props. The data that I produce can also be used for 3D Printing. So, rather than everyone cutting up rare sets, I could just scan the custom carriages and then potentially see if I can get us a good price on printing from my data... This would probably be the most sensible option. A few examples of CG assets I have made for my ownn project using the same technique... Although the scanned data is being used for Animation purposes, the data that comes from the scanner is exactly what we plumb into 3D Printers AND is sub mm accuracte to the nth degree! Worth considering Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest jim s-w Posted August 30, 2012 Share Posted August 30, 2012 Welcome to RMweb Phil Im a APT fan too but sadly cant justify one on my layout Cheers Jim Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Steven B Posted August 31, 2012 RMweb Premium Share Posted August 31, 2012 Both APT-E and APT-P would be ideal candidates for 3d printing in N. The only one I've seen in the smaller scale made use of Mk4 coach bogied and a class 91 chassis for power. Happy modelling. Steven B. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
the_geo Posted December 6, 2012 Share Posted December 6, 2012 Hi, I'm interested in extending my black front APT with some TF and TS'. I would very much appreciate a bit of a "How to..." and some piccys. I've spent a number of evenings trawling the interweb and come across several threads on various forums that point towards what looks like it would be golden info, if the links weren't dead! It looks like there was a "surge" in cut 'n' shut activity around 2007-2009, so it's understandable that some of the websites have expired. Mr Steve and Mr Dagworth seem to be the experts with APT mods...... If anyone has a guide or link to one that i've evidently missed, please share! I agree that extra APT cars would be a good candidate for 3D printing. I have neither the skills nor the gear to do anything constructive in that regard, but would probably buy 4 if anyone was going that way! Geraint Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Removed a/c Posted December 6, 2012 Share Posted December 6, 2012 I too would love and APT but compared to what is available in the current market the old Hornby version to me wouldn't cut it. This would be a great new release in my opinion similar to the recently released Bachmann Midland Pullman. Maybe there will be a Bachmann version on the 2013 list Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Dagworth Posted December 6, 2012 RMweb Gold Share Posted December 6, 2012 Just because I haven't posted it in this topic yet.... As approved by Kit Spackman at a talk at Gloucester club recently :-) Andi Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
the_geo Posted December 6, 2012 Share Posted December 6, 2012 Hi Andi, thanks for the posting I've seen various vids of your 14 car effort on the web and have to say that It's the one that 1st got me curious about extending mine. How did you do it? I get the basic principal of using the roof of a TBF and 2 part floors/chassis of a DTS and TBF, and splicing the windows. The best info that found was here in the archive: http://rmweb.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=11457 That being said, any hints, tips or BTBT would be most welcome. I see that you are in Cheltenham, and i grew up near Malvern, which is pretty close. I now live in Montréal, so have to add on a chunk of extra cost for transatlantic shipping of used APT bits (or use Parent Couriers Inc when they come to visit the grandkids). Suffice to say that I really want to avoid making a b@llocks up! Questions would be: where should I cut the floor? where should I cut the windows? what paint colours match best? what glue & filler worked best for you? what did you do about attaching the TBF roof at what was the double bogie end, to the single bogie floorpan? Temporary or permanent? would I get all of this info just by subscribing to DEMU.org? my plan is to use a twin motor power car with an adjacent dummy power car. A friend with an IT support business gave me a shed load of IDE CD-ROM drives and I've been using the tray motors mounted in the ringfield bogie, to give new life to some 1980s class 43s running 7 cars in push/pull. this works really well and is dirt cheap..... otherwise it's twin eurostar, but there's not many of them over here either Regards Geraint Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Dagworth Posted December 6, 2012 RMweb Gold Share Posted December 6, 2012 THis is the text of the PM I sent to Winky above about how I chopped up vehicles to make the intermediate cars in my set, hope it of help to someone. "APT coaches are a lot easier than would first appear. The most useful thing I can tell you is that there is no need to cut the whole coach in half as the top half of one vehicle remains intact which keeps the wohle vehicle straight and strong. For each intermediate trailer you need one driving trailer and one van trailer. Disassemble both vehicles but dont remove bogies. The ends unclip giving access to body clips inside and there is a central clip as well between the upper body and chassis. Remove all glazing strips. The upper body of the van trailer needs the diagonal strip of plastic that crosses the window position cut out and that is about all that happens to it. The two vehicle chassis' are then cut as appropriate, the four wheel bogie ends of each are discarded and the two wheel bogie ends are joined to become one chassis. There is a position at which both can be cut that leaves the join on a panel line, I will take some photos and put up in the next couple of days which will make this much clearer. Once you have a chassis with a two wheel bogie at each end that is the same length as the upper body of the van trailer the rest is simple. The window strips are cut to be four windows long, and the strips from the driving trailer can be fitted to the end of the new vehicle where the diagonal strip was removed. Once you have done two intermediate vehicles you will have four sets of seating left over, two blue and two pink. These can be cut and matched to give either a complete pink set or blue set depending on the class of vehicle. The most difficult vehicle is the buffet as this has three windows blanked off. For this one I carved the frames off of the window strip and painted out the windows. The interior of the buffet was scratchbuilt from plasticard. Long term plan for the vehicles is a complete rework of the windows as Shane (Wolf27 on here) has had some replacement window strips etched with the correct layouts for all the intermediate vehicles. As I say, give me a couple of days and I'll get some photos of the whole set including the total rebuild of the power car that I did, the power car now contains the guts of a Heljan 27 married to various other bits and pieces and an awful lot of lead but it will happily shift 14 cars as you've seen on the video" Andi. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
the_geo Posted December 7, 2012 Share Posted December 7, 2012 Wow! thanks very much for that! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Dagworth Posted January 2, 2013 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 2, 2013 Just found this while looking through some photos which shows the easiest place to cut APT chassis for cut and shuts of the extra trailers. Andi Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
7APT7 Posted January 8, 2013 Share Posted January 8, 2013 Hi Andi (Dagwoth) I'll be interested to see that how to guide. I have always been tempted by the Hornby sets on ebay I agree, I would love to see Photos and a Step by Step of cutting up Two APT Coaches to make One Off-Centre Coach, with minimal waistage and to do a Buffet version to, with the Buffet which Windows should be filled in etc. I would also love to see a Step by Step on the Motor side, either cleaning it up if its a bit splutary start n stop etc... and how to make the Power Car Dual-Motored which wires go where etc, and the same applies to DC Types and DCC Types. Would this interest anyone else to see on here... being an APT Fan myself so if I can turn my 5 Car Set into a 9-10 Car set including a Buffet car to would love help on the How-To's on accompishing this... Would I be correct in saying I don't need to cut a Roof in two to create the Off-Centre Coach... Jamie Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
7APT7 Posted January 8, 2013 Share Posted January 8, 2013 Hi Andi Is there a reason why the Cut is Off-Centre, I see you have used the Fronts Trailing Cars (Cab Ends) to do your cut... so NOT to use 2x Off-Centre Coaches as I would of expected to it have been...? But One Cab Trailer and One Off-Centre Coach to be the Donor Can you explain a little, if you can...? Jamie Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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