RMweb Premium acg5324 Posted April 6, 2012 RMweb Premium Share Posted April 6, 2012 My new layout project is an n scale model of Kensington Olympia circa 1980. As a result I will be needing several carflats for the Motorail terminal. The original plan was to use old style Farish Mk1 undergrames and modify them accordingly however as they are so bad detail wise I decided to take the plunge and use the new 'Blue Riband' MK1's. For some reason most of the Mk1's supplied in blue/grey livery are fitted with B1 bogies, as I will be running the two Brighton to Manchester services ( see my website www.1S76.com ) I needed many more fitted with Commonwealth bogies. The Southern Region green BCK is fitted with Commonwealth bogies so four of these were acquired to use the underframes, the bogies transfered to other Mk1's which donated their B1 bogies. On dismantling the new Mk1's a big problem arose. The close coupling system is mounted above the underframe and below the seating unit it also has a big mounting screw and takes up too much room to hide beneath a planked deck. The next course of action was to use the older style bogies fitted with couplers but this meant alterations to the buffer beams and bogie mounts. What I then looked at was cutting the coupler and mount off the close coupling system and attaching that to the new style bogies. Using a short length of 30thou plasticard I superglued the coupler mount to it and then glued the plasticard to the top of the bogie. The coupler height is almost spot on doing it this way. Battery boxes, fuse box? and dynamo removed from the Mk1 underframe along with the surplus parts of the close coupling system above the underframe. A sheet of Evergreen planked plasticard was cut for the deck and glued down. I will be making a jig to produce the siderails. Decals will be from Fox transfers. These will be the first four carflats, I expect to make a second batch which will include some dual braked versions. Photos to follow shortly as I forgot to upload them! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium acg5324 Posted April 8, 2012 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted April 8, 2012 The dismantled Mk1 Chassis showing the close coupling mechanism Modified bogie Chassis underframe with removed battery boxes etc and modified bogies. Quick pose with a car load. Decking added to the Mk1 underframe. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Revolution Mike Posted April 10, 2012 RMweb Gold Share Posted April 10, 2012 Nice work! As alternatives you can use the Ultima underframe detailing kits if you have old Farish Mk1s lying around and TPM does a very nice Commonwealth bogie if you want to avoid having to find particular Farish variants. I'll be interested to see how you get on with Olympia - it is something I have often thought would look good in N or 2mm. Cheers, Mike Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Steven B Posted April 10, 2012 RMweb Premium Share Posted April 10, 2012 Didn't Ultima do a kit for the Mk1 based carflat? Happy modelling. Steven B. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Etched Pixels Posted May 7, 2012 Share Posted May 7, 2012 Yep and it's still available. The plasticard one looks a nice job though, needs the ends and rails and gubbins and should look really smart. Only worry I would have is that it doesn't distort. I have some ex Lima coach ones I did that way and one of them warped horribly over time until it looked like a transporter unit for giant bananas. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium acg5324 Posted May 9, 2012 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted May 9, 2012 Thanks for the comments, currently making a jig up from card to make the side rails for the 4 carflats now available. This will be made from soldered wire..........then on to the end ramps etc. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
cornish trains jez Posted May 29, 2012 Share Posted May 29, 2012 Looks great mate. I'll be watching this one with interest as I am currently building a Cornish layout and a motorail train would add some interest. Best regards, Jeremy Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium acg5324 Posted June 14, 2012 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted June 14, 2012 After some time a bit of progress with this. I have produced a card jig for soldering up the side rails for the carflats. The siderails are made from brass wire folded at either end to form the first and last stanchions. The intermediate ones are then soldered to the side rail and then cut to length. the whole lot is then superglued to the Mk1 underframe. First one off the production line is shown with a stanchion missing as it fell off! It will be replaced. As usual superglue and me don't mix and it took an age to get the siderails to stick. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium acg5324 Posted June 27, 2012 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted June 27, 2012 More progress with Carflat number 1 nearly finished, spray painted in Railmatch rail blue, decals are by Fox (Motorail) and the TOPS panels are custom made by www.precisionlabels.com using there TOPS panel template. I have actually ordered 3 FVX ( dual braked ) and 1 set of FVV vacuum braked TOPS panels. They are so tiny you need an electron microscope to read them! Yet to do hand brakes and paint the timber flooring plus weathering. The first of many...........................well four for the time being! This is the underside showing the as yet unpainted air tank Car load includes 2 x 1/150 Tomytec models plus in 1/160 scale a Herpa Manta GTE ( Vauxhall Cavalier Sportshatch ) and a Fleishmann Opel Ascona ( Vauxhall Cavalier Mk1 ) ] Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium acg5324 Posted July 18, 2012 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted July 18, 2012 ...........And then there were 4! 3 x FVX dual braked and 1 x FVV vacuum braked. All are still awaiting handbrakes which I will probably pinch off a wagon kit or find a suitable part from the NGS store. This shows all four vehicles, cars are from Tomytec, Herpa, Fleischmann and Kato. FVX and FVV. FVV with TOPS panel in a different location. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
37114 Posted July 18, 2012 Share Posted July 18, 2012 Excellent modelling, I like the transfers might have to redo my 4mm ones, I used ones scanned from magazine photos and they don't look as good as yours. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium acg5324 Posted July 20, 2012 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted July 20, 2012 Finally got the handbrakes fitted, these have come from plastic n gauge wagon chassis kits. Finally a close up of the custom made TOPS panels from precision labels, remember these are 2mm scale. Excellent service from them. Motorail signs from Fox transfers. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
cornish trains jez Posted July 20, 2012 Share Posted July 20, 2012 They look absolutely fantastic mate! Will look great with a rake of Mk1's and a class 50! Best regards, Jeremy Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
grahame Posted July 20, 2012 Share Posted July 20, 2012 A nice bit of bashing - the finished models look very good. G. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BernardTPM Posted July 20, 2012 Share Posted July 20, 2012 Very effective conversions - wonder if they may be in the Bachmann catalogue next year? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
37114 Posted July 21, 2012 Share Posted July 21, 2012 Very effective conversions - wonder if they may be in the Bachmann catalogue next year? Almost certainly, as a number of rmweb members have scratchbuilt them in the last year, so the law of sod dictates this will be the case! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium acg5324 Posted July 22, 2012 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted July 22, 2012 Many thanks for the comments, Waiting for the GF Sleepers and FK's to come along and make up the Motorail train. I also just need to sell my existing layout to make room for Kensington Olympia to be built!!!! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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