As models are becoming ever more detailed, and different detail variations are captured by the manufacturers, modelling the particular prototype you want, and as correct as it can be, can be increasingly difficult, especially when classes have significant variations in details throughout their lives or production.

 

For me this was the case with the Hornby Castle. I had originally wanted 5051 Earl Bathurst single chimney with a Hawksworth Tender, and 7029 Clun Castle double chimney with a Collet tender, thereby capturing most of the key variations captured in the Hornby Model. 7029 was a straightforward renumber of Hornby Ince Castle. 5051 would be a renumber of 5053 Earl Cairns, but with a need to eventually modify the front Cylinder Cover and fit under-cab sand boxes (have parts, not done yet!).

 

As a holiday treat, I purchased an Ince Castle from the excellent Hearns Hobbies in Melbourne which was to become my 7029. It was beautiful and was carefully packed up. BUT I failed to ask/remind them to return the transit brackets to the model. After 25 hours in my hand luggage home to the UK via Singapore, the cab roof corner was distinctly cracked, having been pushed against the hard plastic front of the split tray packaging (and with the new fully 'vacuum formed' packaging, there is even more scope for damage if the model is packed very slightly out of alignment!). I arrived back in the UK with a lovely model but with a deformed cab. Even regluing the corner and sanding/patch painting the join, it irked me, and was not going to be the pride of my Castle fleet, as I am that picky!

Damage to the front corner of the cab roof.

 

I secured another Ince Castle to become 7029 Clun Castle, and then pondered what to do with my damaged loco. Then the idea came to me, would it be possible to swap cabs and create 5043 Earl of Mount Edgcumbe, as preserved at Tyseley?

 

Why swap cabs? Hornby make three different cabs for the Castle capturing the main differences that Swindon introduced over the years:

1.     larger front windows and windscreen wipers, and straight handrail under the cab side window and beading on the cab front (visible as slightly recessed cab front relative to the corner of the cab)

2.     Smaller front cab windows without wipers, straight handrail under cab side window and beading on the cab side (just printed no relief)

3.     As 2 but with L-shaped handrail representing the later build GWR and BR castles

 

It should be noted that 5043 has cab type 1. When Hornby produced this model a few years back (R3301), they wrongly fitted cab type 3. They also used somewhat garish orange lining (rather than orangy-red linking on original releases) – orange might be more correct as per prototype colours, but at the thickness Hornby’s factory printed it, it looked awfully toy like. They also hashed the Earl nameplates – they are a tighter radius than normal castle plates, having been cast for the Dukedogs, and as such the plinths are thicker in the middle than the edges when fitted to a castle. Hornby’s rendition saw the change in thickness distributed across both the nameplate AND plinth and imho looked stupid. So I felt there was potential to build the ‘ultimate’ Hornby 5043, and also use what I feel are better decorated parts from the Sanda Kan-made Castle release (2009-2012)

 

Playing around with my slightly damaged Ince body proved that it was possible to remove the cab without damaging the finish of the parts, or the integrity of the components themselves. Having done this, I then ordered a second Earl Cairns as a donor model, which would provide the correct cab and Hawksworth Tender for 5043 (replacing the Type 3 cab and collett tender as supplied with Ince Castle). Separating the cab from Earl Cairns was a more nerve racking experience, as being a brand new pristine model, I had everything to loose (unlike Ince which was already damaged). It was literally a case of unbox, test, and out with the screwdrivers and modelling knife on a £130 loco, severing major components, all in a matter of minutes!

Brand New £130 R2822 Earl Cairns, out of the box, prior to testing and then immediate dismantling of cab and body! The first time I've been so brutal with an out of the box model!

 

Here's how it was done (as usual, I hold no responsibility for loss or damage to models for following these instructions, proceed at your own risk! There is a chance that later models may differ in assembly and strength or amount of glue used):

 

Dismantling

A sharp knife running along the inside underside of the cab floor, between the floor and the small white metal weights underneath, was enough to brake the glue join on top of the weights, and also the glue join of the rear dragbox/cab buffing plate

 

Then squeeze in blade between the inside of the firebox and the rim around the cab front to break the glue joint. Locations shown here.

 

Ensuring the rear end of the cab was not caught in the buffing plate, it was then possible to lever the cab back and upwards, thereby breaking the glue join at the top of the firebox.

 

Care is needed not to damage the cab handrails and other fine detail here. Ideally handrails should not be removed from the cab as this may damage the fine stanchions that secure them to the cab side sheet. The bottom of the handrail should be a dry fit in the lugs on the running plate.

Cabs off. Note the glue remains on the top of the ballast weights under the cab on, on the top of the running plate below the cab sides, and also in the groove between the weights and the buffing plate at the rear of the body. All these areas need careful cleaning to ensure the replacement cab fits properly (see below).

 

Having done this, I needed to significantly clean the remaining glue off both the cab and boiler/running plate surfaces. This was to ensure there was a clean surface to accept the swapped cab. Some glue comes off easily, some needs scraping, some needs rather forceful cutting/prizing off with a blade. All without damaging the paintwork! This cleaning up was the hardest and longest part of the process.

 

The bottom side of the cab floor needs cleaning of any glue remains, along with careful cleaning of the bottom edge of the cab sides, taking care not to cut into the plastic or damage the paintwork. In separating the cab from the body, a blade should be pushed along the cab floor between the join with the ballast weight tops.

 

The tops of the cab ballast weights need to be cleaned, and the groove to the rear of the weights in front of the cab/tender buffing plate. This will ensure the new cab sits flat on the running plate with no unsightly gaps. The outside of the rim at the front of the cab (this sits inside the firebox) also needs cleaning of all glue remains to ensure the cab will fit in the donor boiler.

 

The inside of the firebox, and the rear edge (in black) also have to be carefully scraped to remove glue and paint residue. In dismantling, a blade should be run along the inside vertical faces of the firebox between the firebox and the lip of the cab front that fits inside. If possible also squeeze a blade along the top of the firebox inside, but due to size/length of boiler, this is not easy. This picture also shows the amount of scraping in the channel just in front of the buffing plate. Significant quantities of glue were put here in the factory, but the smallest remains can prevent the rear of the cab and running plate sitting true. Great care needed to scrape out here without damaging the external surfaces.

 

Reassembly

I decided to reassemble with PVA to enable adjustment, and indeed removal and clean up if things went wrong, without damaging the paintwork. My original idea was to further tack in place with super glue after things set, but this has proven unnecessary (see later). PVA will also allow the cab swap to be reversed if necessary.

 

I first glued the cab to the running plate, being careful to slot the cab handrails into their locating holes, and ensure the rear edge of the cab was properly located into the (scrupulously cleaned) groove between the buffing plate and the under-cab ballast weight. The cab front lip was then tucked under the firebox (but NOT glued) The cab/running plate were then taped together to dry for 24hr.

Tape securing the cab bottom to running plate while drying

 

Once dry, the cab was gently levered back and glue applied inside the firebox, and the cab lip refitted under the firebox. The loco body was reattached to the chassis. The cab was then levered back slightly to ensure the right hand handrail is correctly seated in the small hole under the cab front window that holds it in place. Using a ruler/set square on a totally flat surface, the cab then needs to be aligned such that it is sitting vertically. DO NOT just push it as far forward into the firebox as it will go, as there is a chance you will end up with a forward leaning cab – the boiler/cab interface is not perfect and there is some play and a small gap exists that in the factory may have been plugged with glue. So take care.

 

Once the cab was squared off, the firebox position was held steady with masking tape, and the whole thing left to dry.

 

 

Cab vertical alignment drying. Tape was placed to hold the boiler in place on the chassis while the cab/boiler interface dries. levering the cab back and forward changes the height of the running plate, so taping in this way ensures everything is held true.

 

Main work was now complete!

 

There was some minor detail changes for 5043 including moving the lubricator from in front of the steam pipe to the rear (and repainting it from black to green). Final touches included fitting etched nameplates from Fox Transfers and cab plates. The cab plates I backed with paper to increase the thickeness a bit (but leaving a gap in the paper to go round the cab-side rivets which I did not want to cut off). Plates were edged out with Humbrol RC Green 405. For the front numberplates, I used Fox decals, as I find unpainted etched steel plates don’t stand out enough on the layout in poor lighting.

 

I did this cab conversion twice (as the two different pictured locos show). Once using my damaged cab from Ince, fitted to the single chimney boiler from Earl Cairns. I created 7027 Thornbury Castle with Collet Tender (but its now being restored with a Hawksworth tender…. Oh well Rule 1, and there are enough GWR tender swaps in preservation). This was my prototype re-assembly, and I’m happy to live with the slightly imperfect cab roof. Having proved the concept, I embarked on 5043 which has finally been completed after a gap of 2 years due to insufficient modelling time and patience!

 

Aside from the repaired cab roof corner on 7027 and filled lubricator holes on LHS smokebox (somewhat visible), and for 5043 a touched up running plate where I moved the lubricator, these models are as decorated by Hornby. 7027 will also receive the long RHS lubricator pipe cover off (another!) scrap Ince Castle body, but in terms of detail, it is similar to 7037 as produced by Hornby in 2010 (although I will need to correct the middle cylinder cover and rear sand boxes). The cab and plates are still secured with its PVA, and with extra paper padding in the packaging and modified hard tray window, this model has accompanied me in hand baggage on a number of international trips with no detrimental impact!

 

 

5043 is, I believe, totally unique in terms of detail combination (double chimney and large window cab) using Sanda Kan made Hornby parts and their lovely decoration and finish.

5043 Earl of Mount Edgcumbe

 

Thanks for reading. Hope it inspires others’ to go a step further than simple renumbering and tender swaps!

 

 

p.s. In the course of messing around with the bodies, a couple of the ATC conduit brackets popped off. Thankfully they fell to my workbench, but were very fiddly to reattach (with super glue and positioned with blu tak to avoid them pinging out of my tweezers) – they really are TINY, and along with the Dapol Western lifting eyes, might be the smallest parts on an OO RTR model ever!

 

ATC Conduit brackets, positioned between 1 and 2cm on a steel rule. The whole part is about 1.75mm long

 

 

5043 with the Vintage Trains Support Coach (by Bachmann, split from the Shakespeare Express train pack)

 

The magnificent Castle Cab, couldn't resist this picture, captured at a prototypical ground angle, just before I refitted the running plate.