dj_crisp

A perfect Christmas Card! Merry Christmas! And I've been practicing on the eating too much in the run up to the big day :) Have a great one! Will

I think I can see the difference.... you've changed the couplings.

Thanks. If you're interested I'll probably be cluttering up my workbench thread with 101 projects in the new year :) I've been debating whether to standardise on Bachmann or lima shells, and was going to go with Bachmann. Highlighting the arc of the front of the roof has made me realise why the Bachmann one looks better head on so will pick on a lima victim to see if I can mod the front.

Yeah I always find it a bit daunting hacking any model about! I like to pick up non runners or paint disasters for hacking projects as at least I feel I can't make them any worse! Well that's the theory. I'm part way through a lima body/Bachmann mashup and the biggest problem I found is the Bachmann DTCL chassis is very bendy. I think the design uses the clips on the body to straighten the chassis with help from the circuit board.... I saw no way of replicating these and as I don't use the original circuit boards I just stuck some spare brass square rods I had spare along the inside to straighten the chassis. Then the body is stuck on by my new favourite method of using sticky black tac. Tbh I have problems with both Bachmann 108s and 101s with bendy chassis. If its of interest I just found a photo of a Lima with shawplan frames Vs Bachmann without when I was toying with the idea of not hacking the Bachmann one about. I decided to keep the destination frame to avoid a repaint and changed the rest. I'm think I may just take a smidge off the front of the lima roof profile to flatten it ever so slightly to match Bachmanns which I think matches the prototype better. The rest of the roof looks ok to me..... although I Hadn't noticed it before!!

Cheers Rich! I'm doing a bit of armchair modelling 37 wise... just being lazy and waiting to see if Bachmann do one for me 😀

I have... just added my efforts on the other thread ;) Well worth the effort IMO

Go on Rich... Im sure you want to add wires. (Mostly because you're way ahead of me and I'd like to see if the effort is worth it :) ) FWIW I've just had a load of 0.2mm wire arrive from China for this task

An interesting topic and I'm just about to attack a few more 101s so stumbled across this. I'll be interested in seeing anyone doing a back dated met Camm! Front window wise I've come to the conclusion that both Bachmann and Lima/Hornby are wrong. They're quite a bit wider than the models are. Thankfully Shawplan produce frames which are great and I've just persuaded Brian to produce laserglaze so it's easier to get a good finish. Here's a shot of the frames & glazing on the left on a Bachmann shell. (I didn't respray the yellow as I can't do lining that straight... as my black window surrounds show!) I think Lima scores better on the side windows which look slightly deeper and do look lighter. Quite superb really considering their age. However the Bachmann side windows don't offend me that much. I hadn't noticed the roof profile before so will have to check that out before I embark on my next 101 projects. An interesting comparison!

I have fond memories of my lima 37s but times move on and I don't own any anymore. It's probably just a case of a bit of saturation of models causing a dip in prices. Maybe also some overstocking by individual shops as there's more offers around atm extending beyond Bachmann. Accurascale definitely have the better marketing of the two manufacturers and perhaps the model of pre-ordering works better to maintain prices and assess demand. Maybe it's as simple as people are just enjoying their older models more too. I know i am.... and I have too many anyway so will be moving alot of mine on and I'm not looking to replace. I get the feeling I'm not alone. Although i wouldnt mind a Bachmann 37/6 ;) Specifically some St Blazey ones....

It might not work as well with locos as they tend to be heavier but my method of fixing Dapol 122 bodies to Bachmann chassis is simply the sticky black tack stuff that I also use to get rid of light bleed. Failing that glue n glaze is quite good as the bond is easy to break.

This is looking rather nice!

A 119 will look very nice on Oldshaw :) I'm sure you want to have a go! I think I'm going to distract myself with some other projects till I decide how to progress on this one.

Maybe it's time I learn some CAD and get some sides etched. I have a DC kits 120 stashed and just had a look at that one. Windows are smaller but they are perhaps a little large too. It's less noticeable though and hard to tell on blue grey. My understanding is the 120 has similar sides as the 119 just with a different cab? Then there's the small matter of getting dimensions !

Totally agree. The front looks brilliant

Thanks Rich. That's a great summary on the 119. The WW etches window frames are the same size as the Dapol cab window frames. Not sure if I'm going to progress this project at this stage! Been just looking at a possibility of a 114 from the remaining etches. The DTCL looks similar but the DMBS looks quite different!

I treat western region as anything west of Paddington.. 😀 Interesting that you think the windows are a bit deep as that was the conclusion I was coming to as I have a WW set too. But I haven't measured anything though and only roughly lined them up with a Dapol cab. I'll have proper look soon.

It's a good club to be in! I'm slowly working my way through the WR heavyweights. The 115 is proving harder to do than I first thought which is down to me trying to keep the original Bachmann livery... and one day I have ambitions to have a bash at a 119/120. I have etched sides for a 119 to marry up to a Dapol Derby cab but I think the etch was designed to be used with Lima bodies so is a bit different in height. One to solve in the future!

It'll be good to see your 158 working! I'm after some nice 11mm solid disc wheels in EM to do my 2nd gen DMUs... which reminds me I need to pester a certain manufacturer we both know to produce some! I'm sorry to say the Hornby 153 is my most disliked model still in production. I just can't get over everything being basically wrong and being unable to fix it! It annoys me as they had an opportunity to produce something great as the finish is fantastic. And I don't think a 153/150 is that far a stretch on the Newquay branch... any old stuff seems to end up there 😊

Here's a link to a flickr photo I was aware of... the modern hybrid!

Nice! I have some (I think) hurst Dapol class 153 etches if you want to improve the 153. Mostly the side windows tbh but the gangways look so much better if you can get rid of the originals and fit Bachmann or even Lima ones. You can guess I gave up on doing a 153/155 as soon as I heard rumours of a new tooled 153 in OO 😁 Although I'm yet to know who's doing it I'm hopeful they can draw curves as the roofline is very subtle.

I think my layout will do likewise now as i have some plans. Also the garage being flipping cold will slow quite a few projects down! I doubt my coupling method is that neat... just set at bufferbeam level so that the buffers and gangways hide them as best as possible!

I now really think Bachmann will announce a 116! I've nearly finished my version of the last Class 116 set in BR Blue (Please see Railcar.co.uk for an excellent write up of the prototype! ) The DMBS is pretty much the same approach as described for my NSE 116 - this time being a full respray i could be less careful with removing the guards grille! Hopefully it's hidden! The DMS also has replaced grab rails which I haven't bothered to do on my other models to avoid messing the original paint. You may also notice that in a proper moment of madness (while having a beer) i decided to remove the window frames on this set.... yeah it was (not) fun... but strangely relaxing (the beer(s) helped). The fun bit on the DMS is for a change I added some deliberate damage, which in it's last years was painted over in yellow. I'm also quite pleased with the effect of thinning the front windows and using shawplans glazing... and also added the T702 set number in the secondmans window, which is just a printout stuff on some clear plastikard. On all of the units the interior lighting circuits have been completely replaced and I can now control separate Head/Tail/Cab/Interior & destination lights on DCC for each coach, which does mean this unit soaks up 3 decoders but i prefer it that way and quite happy to be rid of Bachmanns huge coupling. So a 3 car set kind of needs a centre car! This case a TC converted from a TCL & DMS body; The other side; I think I've put up some in progress shots of this previously but now it's been put together and some blue paint slapped on. Talking of which I did these at the same time as my 121 & 122 and really didn't like the finish.... so they'll all been t-cut and then sprayed with satin/gloss varnish mix. Hopefully it looks passable! In the end i abandoned my attempt using Dapol inserts and went with just Bachmann shells (if anyone wants the abandoned effort please me know - it's not one of my best efforts tbh). So it's a combination of a Bachmann TCL and DMS bodies than have been chopped and joined to have the right window combination. This also means the interior needs modifying to remove the TCL toilet and add in the extra compartments. It all took a lot of sanding and filling! Adding the York Models corridor connectors really helps make this look like a complete unit; One mod to do is add data panels (when i can get some) and then lightly weather the ends. I can't take a photo of the complete 3 car unit on my shelf as it's not long enough..... so here's a finishing shot of a pair And that wraps up finished models in 2023 for me (i only varnish when the weather is ok as i spray outdoors) . If anyones interested I'll add some in progress updates in the future rather than just finished stuff Happy Modelling ! Will

Or yellow with red tips..... bit that could be a preservation approach. But I liked it so painted some of mine that way.

This looks like an interesting approach. I was kind of asking how you'd do it with an eye on ideas for mine which hasn't been successful enough. Thanks! Will

I look forward to seeing some photos! But especially lined up with a coach ;) I never understood with why my Vitrains 47 looked off until I got a new Bach 47.... then I realised that while there is a smidge of a difference body height wise the bogies of the Vi's aren't big enough. So lowering Vi's helped make it look better on its own it doesn't look as good with a coach. All sort of makes sense to me now. So I suspect something is going on with Heljans as the photos seen so far don't look right... but that could easily be the camera tricking me.