The next step on my class 50 detailing project was to correct the exhaust ports at the no2 end, working from this photo by Keith Wright http://newimages.fotopic.net/?iid=y11i0f&noresize=1&nostamp=1&quality=70 which shows that the exhausts should be offset to the side of where Hornby put them. So thats the roof pretty much finished....

Again I removed the original detail using course wet & dry taped to some plasticard offcuts and glued the new etch into place, before drilling out the holes afterwards.

Next up was the fan, a 10 part etch which needed to be glued together.

Once finished its a direct fit on the Hornby mechanism, while I havent decided if I will keep the fan working yet (given how the fan drive can be a cause of poor running) I am quite tempted to replace the mech with a small motor and have it driven off the decoder. With the ultra fine scale mesh the fan is a lot easier to see than with the clunky moulding Hornby used. Now it needs painting red (with yellow tips), while I also plan to paint the white base of the fan unit black to disguise it a bit better.

Here's a before and after photo showing the comparison between the scale fan and the Hornby one.

Next job is going to be modifying the ends, The plan is to fit Shawplan windscreens, windscreen wipers and scratch built washer jets. After reading through some of Jim SW's posts on the subject of the nose radius, I think I will be leaving that as it is.

Unfortunatly before I can do any of this I need to get hold of some nail polish remover and strip the remains of the dodgy weathering and the NSE stripes so that they dont show through once its been resprayed into Large Logo

Now that I am part way through the project I have turned my attention to what I will do with the rest of the fleet. The roof fan and grill makes such a massive change that this will have to be done to all future locos, however I think on the next one I am going to try and keep the Hornby baseplate with the hole diameter expanded to match the new grill rather than messing around with the brass base. Windscreens are another definite given how bad the originals were.

Exhaust ports are a bit more tricky, while the model is very wrong in that area it is not so noticeable....

Next up for work is probably going to be either my NSE Dauntless or GW150 Elgar. The latter is the likley candidate given that its currently without a chassis while it waits for Hornby to sort out the replacements...

I have set about starting to modify it to better match its mid 80s condition for the old layout, removing the NRN roof pods (very useful addition to the scrap box) although it does look like it will need the tops of the head code boxes repsrayed to get rid of the step down where they used to be...