I've rebuilt the Class 310 into a blue-grey 312, with a new TS and PMS. Roof vents and end buffers are from ABS, pantograph from Dapol and the end is from N-Train.
The PMS has the transformer and resistor banks salvaged from an old Class 325 chassis moulding and other components from Mk2 underframes. It's not quite there yet but looks OK for now. A little tidying up is needed on the ends and they need glazing...working up the courage!
Brings back happy memories of my spotting days as a
Currently progressing across the workbench is a 3-car Class 310 EMU in Regional Railways livery. The basis is the venerable Farish Mk2 coach, with cast ends from Bob Davis of N Train and my own vinyl sides.
The MBS was fun to build - the Dapol Stone Faively pantograph and roof bits from a Farish 90 shell make all the difference.
Here's the complete BTDS shell...
I still need to knock up some underframes using bits from the original Mk2 and whatever I can find in by "bits bo
Having completed a 4-car Hull Trains Class 222 in N Gauge, I thought that there might be some demand from the 4mm fraternity for a bigger version.
I purchased a rather shabby 3-car trainset example from eBay and set about the conversion. Essentially, it is almost identical to the N Gauge version - remove the roof air-con pods, repaint the roof and ends and stick on the sides.
The vinyls were totally re-drawn from the N Gauge versions, making use of the opportunity for extra detail that O
Just a quick update to say that the overlays also fit perfectly on the Dapol Voyager. I've only been able to test the driving car at this stage but it's a pretty safe bet the centre cars will be OK too.
As GF have announced they are not doing the 222 ( a wise move, given that all the cars are different - the tooling costs would be horrific), I have decided to have a go myself.
A Farish Voyager was duly purchased and dismantled. As it turns out, apart from the different window arrangements, the front ends are virtually identical apart from the light clusters and buffer skirting.
When removing the chassis from the driving ends, make sure you unclip the front skirting first, otherwise you'
I've just taken on a 6x2 N Gauge roundy-roundy layout, courtesy of eBay. It appears to be suffering from long-term storage but looks pretty sound and in need of some TLC to make presentable again. I'm fed up with photographing ERG stuff against a plain background and would like something a little more scenic.
The main concern has to be the eye-watering radius of the curves, which totally preclude anything six-axled running round. A re-design may be required, so I'd be open to suggestions!
Another couple on units have received the T-reatment now.
Class 377 Electrostar running as a 3-car set
Class 151 DMU
Another view of the 151 and 377. The 151 would benefit from the front end being angled back but is ideally suited to this slab-sided donor unit.
I've been sent a T Gauge Hankyu 9000 EMU to have a play with and attempt to Anglicise, using scaled down N Gauge ERG artwork - never one to refuse a challenge!
The coach in the background is a Dapol N gauge MkIII, BTW...
2-HAP vinyls added to the donor unit. The only modification done here is to unclip the roof air-con pods. With a little judicious painting of the roof and a couple of file-strokes to the ends, the potential is obvious.
At around £40 for a 4-car unit,
I've recently been backdating a couple of the new Dapol Sprinters into something a little more suited for the Sectorisation-era layout that is starting to reach fruition.
As the green around the nose shows, this is a former Central trains 153 that has been revinyled but needs a little touching up here and there. Where's my silver-grey?
A 156 in Regional Railways Central "Express" livery. This really suits these units - the chromed window surrounds makes the livery look far smarter
I've now got some paint and "First Draft" vinyls on the 201 and she's starting to really look the part.
I've used Games Workshop Snot green (dark) and Scorpion green (Light) for the stripes and BR diesel roof grey for the bufferbeams and underframe. The silencer is currently gunmetal, tough far too clean and will be rusted down in due course.
The loco still needs glazing, varnishing and end pipes adding. The side vinyls are too light and will be tweaked for production.
I've finally been able to progress with Valve Design's superb little class 201 bodyshell. it has had considerable smoothing off done, along with a couple of coats of silver and recycled Dapol 66 bufferbeams.
Starting to look the part - the fun part will be the IR Intcity livery - expect some vinyl cheating to follow!
And I'm not talking about a taste for Guiness...still prefer a good quality bitter, I'm afraid. Whilst researching the Irish Rail coaches for the ERG range, I'm really starting to see the appeal of the traction scene over the water and increasing numbers of my former "demo" coaches are now sporting Orange...so far three each of Mark 2d and 3.
I reallylike the look of the De Deitrich Enterprise stock, with the GM-style Driving trailer and the new IR mark 4 coaches with the platypus-esque DVT
...actually, I've never been but, it seems, there is a growing following for Irish N Gauge. I have had a few requests in the past to produce overlays for IR coaches and thought "why not?"
Given that a lot of IR stock is of UK design, such as the Mark 2 and Mark 3 coaches, these have been fairly easy to replicate, thanks to some superb web resources like Fotopic. As I already produce the Class 442, modifying the artwork for the hauled IR Mark 3s is fairly easy and the finished coach really lo
The second draft of the 59 stock is a lot better and bodes well for the future. I've been pretty busy with some other bits following some requests, viz the Class 158 in EMT livery in both N and OO, OO Turbostar in Transpennine livery (a real pig to do), and more N Gauge Renaissance coaches.
The Renaissance stock has given me a few ideas for other "international" releases in N. Unfortunately, I can't get onto my FTP site at present to do some much needed updates.
It's supposed to chu
Those of you who were at the N Gauge Show last month might recall that Bob of N-Train had made some interesting bodyshells for London Transport 1959 stock. I have finally got around to the rather fiddly process of producing some vinyl overlays to try to bring these to life a little.
This is the absolute first draft and has a few dimensional errors that will be corrected in due course.
