I started making models of the green diesel era about 12 months ago. Having done classes 24, 31 and 15 my friend Mark kept telling me I needed a class 37. Initially I resisted, on the grounds that a 37 was a bit big for the current layout. Then two things happened; I found a picture of a class 37 from the appropriate area and time which I really liked and I decided to build a layout based on a through station for which the class 37 would be entirely appropriate. Finally, James started a thread on this forum entitled "Brush type 2 rebirth" in which he puts a Hornby mech in a Lima body, and in that thread he made some comments about his class 37 which got me thinking. (It also gave me some ideas for another class 31, but that's a different story).

I had a Lima class 37/4 body, and I aquired a Bachmann class 37 chassis sans body, and decided to merge the two. My model was to be D6723 in GSYP as running in March 1967.

The basic Lima body is dimensionally correct, but mine was finished as a 37/4, and I found a considerable number of detail differences between a 37/4 and an original EE type 3 with split headcodes, so the inapropriate detailing was removed and the body redetailed.

For me, the main weaknesses in the Lima body are:

-The tumblehome, which isn't pronounced enough

-The cab front windows

-The ride height, which is too high.

Putting the Lima body on the Bachmann chassis allowed me to correct the ride height and tumblehome. I discarded the entire Lima mechanism, including the moulded floor, except the bufferbeams, which were cut off the floor an reattached to the body, New bulkheads were fitted at the backs of the cabs, which allow the body to sit at the correct height on the Bachmann chassis. The chassis was modified by removing the extensions at each end, and removing the circuit board on top of the chassis and rewiring it conventionally (I don't use DCC).

I reworked the tumblehome on the Lima body by scoring along the insides of the body at the point where the tumblehome starts to curve in, and gently bending the bottom of the sides to make a more pronounced tumblehome. (I got this idea from James) I made up a card former with the correct angle to check the bend, Once I was satisfied with the revised tumblehome, I reinforced the bend by running solvent down the score line inside the body, and reinforcing it with strips of 40thou plastic card. The Bachmann chassis is narrower than the old Lima one, so the modified body fits to the chassis without further change to the chassis. This does however reveal that the Bachmann bogies are too wide across the sideframes, so I need to narrow these.

I reworked the cab front windows by cutting out the moulded frames, using the resultant aperture as a template to make up new glazing, and fitted new A1 etched windscreens. The new glazing has been put aside until after painting.

The redetailed body has been sprayed in grey primer, and put aside to allow the paint to harden and to give me time to study it to see if it requires any further detailing, or if any work already done requires further attention.

Finally, a couple of pictures of work so far:

The next stages are the narrowing of the bogies, rebuilding the fuel tanks, and painting the model.