In the June 06 issue of the British 1:87 Society newsletter (Issue 46) Tim Stevens details how he bashed a OO Hornby Terrier into its larger brother the E1. The article was very much up my street, being a southern modeler through and through and having a couple of Hornby terriers lying about. Tim?????s conversion was a little on the basic side for my tastes and after studying photos and drawings for a while I was able to come up with some simple modifications to improve the conversion.

The E1 was essentially a big terrier. This helps us enormously as the wheelbase and basic dimensions of the tanks etc of the terrier are pretty close for a 1:87 scale E1. The major differences are boiler diameter, cab height and length, buffer beams and chimney. There?????s not much I can do about the boiler without resorting to a massive scratch build job, so I was ok leaving it a tiny bit over scale. The cab, buffer beams, front splashers and chimney were all pretty simple to put right though.

The chimney can simply be cut in two and shortened to the correct length. The cab needs around 3mm removed from the bottom and re-fitting to bring it down to scale height. The rear of the cab is too short in length and height, and the coal rails are of a different pattern. I made a replacement rear to the cab out of plasticard, re-using the terrier toolbox which is the correct height for the larger E1 box in 1:87. New bufferbeams were constructed from plasticard as the ???over the top????? terrier type is incorrect for the E1 (and the buffers would be at the wrong height for 1:87. New splasher fronts were created from plasticard to approximate the type used on the E1. These are not perfect as the boiler is slightly over scale, so compromise has to be made somewhere. The numberplate and works plate were removed from teh smokebox door as I cant see any evidence that the class ever recieved either.

The loco is seen below in its first coat of primer, with much filling and fettling left to do. The cab front and roof is currently not glued down to allow access for painting and adding crew etc. Looks like Ill need to remove the original Hornby printing though, I was hoping that I'd get away with it these days with modern printing and all, any suggestions for removing Hornby lining?

I?????m fairly happy with the conversion, scale wise its pretty close and it certainly looks like an E1 to me. I?????m looking forward to getting the thing finished, I?????m thinking early ???British Railways????? lettering as # 32151.