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Class 87

Bomp

Entry posted by Bomp

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Trying a new format and a new venture in one.

 

I have a Lima 87 and a second hand Heljan 86.

 

I was initially going to cut the roof out of the 86 and put it on the 87, but then I checked the body shells, and it seems that they are the same. Certainly the same enough for my eye - which is along the lines of "if it looks right, it is right". So I plan instead to cut the cabs off each and swap them round. I'll use the 87 body and 86 cabs to practise and do the other way round for real. As it stands, I think I can do both cuts/joins at the inner door handrail recess, so it'll just be the roof to fill and sand back. I just happened to have some nameplates from a previous plan to do just a repaint. But that plan is about 20 years old, so it's bound to have changed by now.

 

The photo shows the kit I have so far.

 

blogentry-2099-0-67843000-1406240310_thumb.jpg

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Dagworth
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Have a look at the body sides of the Heljan 86, and compare to the Lima 87 and to prototype photos. The grills should be in a recessed panel, as successfully captured by Lima all those years ago, and not in a panel that is recessed on one side of the body and proud of the roof edge on the other side, as so awfully captured by Heljan. If I was you I would be looking at rebuilding the roof detail that Lima got wrong on the Lima body and consigning the Heljan body to the dustbin (or eBay - which is what I did with mine, got about 25 quid for it!)

 

Andi 

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ClikC

The Lima roof is compremised to allow the use of the diamond shape pantograph from one of their HO european electric models (the pantograph base on UK locomotives is/ was a standard size, to allow pans to be swapped/ changed as required). I agree with Dagworth, don't use the Heljan body, just the roof area between the cabs.

 

I did this mod many moons ago:

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/gallery/album/1070-class-87/

The bogies are Hornby class 90 spares, IIRC you need 4 bogies, as the wheelbase of the Hornby 90 is too short. You cut the 90 bogies in un-equal halfs, chuck the short bits and stick the long bits together, turning 4 bogies into 2 the correct size.

 

Alas, still don't have a fix for the cab windows of the 87 (ithe sides are too in-set into the body, and needs to be pulled out, probably with plasticard and some nice etches for new detail), which is what urks me most about the Lima model. Still, their effort was still a lot better than heljans 86...

 

ClikC

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NickL2008

As mentioned, Limas 87 only has problems with the proportions and rendering of the roof area, as its all pretty much wrong, And the detail is wrong as well, Its a simple case of extending where the pantograph is, as well as adding the "+" aerials and the grab handles above the "vents" (?) , agree with ClikC that the front window frames are just shallow "lumps" and could benefit from etches to make the front more refined

 

NL

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Bomp

The Lima roof is compremised to allow the use of the diamond shape pantograph from one of their HO european electric models (the pantograph base on UK locomotives is/ was a standard size, to allow pans to be swapped/ changed as required). I agree with Dagworth, don't use the Heljan body, just the roof area between the cabs.

 

I did this mod many moons ago:

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/gallery/album/1070-class-87/

The bogies are Hornby class 90 spares, IIRC you need 4 bogies, as the wheelbase of the Hornby 90 is too short. You cut the 90 bogies in un-equal halfs, chuck the short bits and stick the long bits together, turning 4 bogies into 2 the correct size.

 

Alas, still don't have a fix for the cab windows of the 87 (ithe sides are too in-set into the body, and needs to be pulled out, probably with plasticard and some nice etches for new detail), which is what urks me most about the Lima model. Still, their effort was still a lot better than heljans 86...

 

ClikC

I've looked at this post in great detail, it's where I got the idea for chopping the roof out.  I'm still dithering about which surgery to go for - I honestly can't see the differences mentioned in the replies on here.  So I'll look again, very closely.

 

It may be, though, that I go for what appears to be an easier swap (cabs) and have a look at the completed loco.  I'm not saying the differences aren't there or don't matter, but if I can't see them and I'm content with what I have (at least until I get to know the AC electrics as I'd like) then I may just go with good enough for me for now.

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