Given that my attention has turned to Class 33s, it seems right to get something posted here about my plans for them.

For my early period I am going for a pair of locos to share the engineers duties with my 73s, the first will be 33116 'Hertfordshire Rail Tours' in BR Blue, the other will be 33026 in Dutch.

Both will be fitted with the correct style of fuel tanks, have the bogie springs modified into the correct position, and have all of the unpainted details painted. I also have a feeling that I remember Heljans model of 33116 having some kind of livery error so if this is the case it will be corrected (edit, at the very least it needs to have the solebar painting blue given that it looks like Heljan didnt bother painting it themselves....) The printed D numbers and BR logos look a bit crudely done as well, so hopefully the 33 isn't along the lines of the 58 in being a pig to respray... 33026 will be converted from a dutch 33/1 though I suspect this is more one for the future. Along with the detailing they will also need the roof grill painting, along with the rest of the unpainted details finishing.

More long term I hope that some decent detailing parts appear on the market, as a replacement for the roof and side grills is definitely needed, the latter in particular is crying out for a very fine stainless steel mesh!

For my 2003 running I have a pair in Fraggonset (33108 and 33202) Both have been fitted with the correct fuel tanks, modified springs, oldShawplan roof grill and some detail painting. As with the 1998 fleet at some point I want to replace the etched grill with something more accurate, and replace the side grills.

The main reason for doing all this is that my DRS 33 is in the surplus pile, and prior to its appearance in the classifieds it needs to be converted back to OO and fitted with coupling boxes (hence buying 33116 and taking the appropriate parts from that.)