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Dapol Class 22

DLPG

By DLPG,
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berth44

berth44

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I've started my 'mods' on the '22'. One bogie 'frame' was removed only, and the the bit that holds it to the chassis cut off. This has been further trimmed and holes drilled in as 'oil ports' as this part is permanently 'superglued' back onto the bogie (between the wheels,I can see no reason in the future to remove this) A trial run was done and all is OK.

Next the bogie frame itself, off came the 4 springs, these were separate parts, obviously to allow a 'skinny springs' to be fitted, but each of them broke as I prised them off,not a worry as I was inserting a 'pin' (paper clip) to form the new one. I cut off the part with the 'spring' so all I was left was the small bottom part. I drilled right through this and inserted the new 'pin' right through until it came through the bottom nut on the moulded part.

A suitable spring was found in my 'spare box',trimmed to what I thought was OK,this in turn fits over the pin and it was secured with a drop of superglue, I then pushed into the frame part to match it's position on 'my photo'. This was done successfully with the 4 parts. I then I cut through the centre bogie spring and removed the bottom part only, I used a smaller drill bit to drill through these parts and inserted 'handrail wire', (??)this allowed me to make the gap wider on this part and to be 'lower' than the springs.

By carefully bending the upper and lower middle springs with small pliers (the bottom part bent while I still had it in my hand) this allowed for the two parts, upper and lower to be joined with 'superglue',and as it has been cut, the'springs' are now two separate parts, if you look close at photos you will notice this. The bottom part of this centre spring is not quite the right shape,it should be a tad 'deeper' (closer to the rail)that will be formed from Plasticard and this will finish my 'mods' to the frames,the whole thing being painted in 'Railmatch Frame Dirt'

Lastly, I've now got to find a way to fix the bogie in place 'for ever'' as the 'clips' no longer exist to fit this part. I added strips of 2mm Plasticard at each end of the bogie,frame to frame. This allows for the bogie to fit 'tightly',so that it can be centred and the height adjusted to suit before it is fixed in place.

As it stands at the moment the gap is more than halved between the loco and body and it looks way better for it,much more prototypical, as per the 'real thing'. There is a 'screw' head that secures the coupling, this may have to be removed,filed or replaced with a 'flat head screw' and the washer removed, otherwise this 'prototypical' bogie height more or less touches the head of the small screw ,again this is no problem,the coupling on one end will be removed anyway,as for the other end?, we'll cross that bridge!

M fellow '22RS' I 'm off in search of some Plasticard to secure this, the first bogie to the loco before doing the other one,and see if I can find some brakes as well.....and a 'crew' while I'm at it......Dave

 

P/s, I got the cabs out and 'fixed' the gaps up front, It was not the cabs, but that's another story!!

Edited by berth44
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Captain Kernow

Captain Kernow

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So hopefully this will explain what I did

 

Trevor, that's very helpful, and thanks for posting those photos. You seem to be doing a lot of other work on your loco - forgive me if I've missed this on a blog or elsewhere, but would you mind summarising what you have done, and why, please?

 

Thanks.

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SRman

SRman

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The 'hinged' effect on your valances looks very effective, Trevor. I was pondering doing something similar to my Kernow weathered 22 when it arrives; now you have shown what to do that makes it all the easier to do.

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Flood

Flood

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I've now finished my Class 22 and I've added four photos into the gallery.

Just going to post one photo here as I am particularly pleased with the result. As well as the weathering I painted the kick plates in gunmetal as they seem to have dulled to this colour when shown in colour photos in the early '70s.

1357128835_Class22weathered(4).JPG.6636a5663e565609b8cf78c0c8b55348.JPG

All in all I think that this is a very good model which only needs a quick repaint to make it excellent. Mine also runs like a dream and is pretty quiet as well.

A big thank you from me to Dapol for giving us all the opportunity to buy this model ready to run. The only problem I have now is that I fancy another one but if Dapol are going to make a later front end version I will wait for that to be made in the next few years.

Edited by Flood
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berth44

berth44

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First up,hello Nick,it would be much better if I posted photos,I know that,it would save a lot of "blah blah", but as I can't find it,or it's been flogged, I hope you all don't mind my 'explaining?'

Anyhoo, as I really can't explain this 'procedure' without photos (I could...but,it would make the above,'just a page!!') so, all I can say is a few bits of 'Plasticard' did the job and that one bogie has successfully been 'fixed' in place,centralised and past your eyes! 'the gap' has now been reduced to be as near to the body as I can get it!

I had been looking at way of still being able to remove the bogie frame if required, I did achieve this, but I thought "why",so I found a set of brake blocks,fitted the 'lifting lugs' lined the thing up again,and once it was right,I secured it with a couple of drops of 'super glue'

The bogie has been painted out in 'Railmatch,frame dirt',the new 'spings' highlighted a wee bit with a lighter rust colour. I removed the 'weathering' from the axle box covers with a bit of 'spirit' on a cotton bud bringing them back to black and painted a 'red stripe' on each.( the 'wires that are aparent on each bogie, not the speedo drive, show signs in my photo of being 'red and green',anybody know why??)

I could not fix the gaps between the body 'up front' for the life of me, I removed this,cut that, but it still sat 'wonky', so in my opinion it was bent!!...........live with it?,no way! There was no drastic solution, I simply used 'stretched sprue' superglued to the 'chassis',on all 4 corners, filed,sanded and painted,now there are no gaps!

Lastly for today,I got the cabs out,found a crew,stuck their bums to the seats and removed the drivers side window,inserting another in the 'down' position,that's it till I start on the other bogie,but this time I know what I'm doing!!....Dave

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Bending01

Bending01

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Hi Flood

 

Your repaint looks very impressive! Was this a total repaint or just judicious weathering etc? I, personally, am not totally convinced that the Dapol "BR Blue" looks right (someone else mentions this elsewhere on this thread) and will probably re-paint my N Gauge Dapol BR blue locos etc but am interested in the easiest route to achieving my own view of realism.

 

PS - I'm not opening up the "What is standard BR Blue?" debate again. I appreciate that it was different works to works etc etc. I just find the Bachmann rendition better from my point of view.

 

Look forward to buying this in N eventually!

 

Thanks

Tony

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Flood

Flood

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Tony

 

It was a complete repaint as I made a few little alterations at the same time. The rivets on the front and cab side windows were filed off and the boiler exhaust port was modified. Another point noted previously in this thread was the cab door windows incorrectly having silver surrounds.

 

I far prefer Pressfix numbers and BR signs to the ones printed anyway so these are always changed regardless of which manufacturer has produced the model.

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berth44

berth44

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I admit that I originally was not totally pleased with this model myself, and yes,I'm doing stuff to it,,but I never once thought of consigning it to the 'back bench!', nothing goes there!

Was it that bad a model really?, I don't think so!, we are too spoiled and expect too much nowadays,a model cannot be 100% perfect, we'd love it to be that way for sure, but in reality they are so close to being 'perfect' that it now only requires a 'tweak' or two by 'individuals' who would like to make it so,( I admit to being one of those,but do not call me a 'rivet counter!!') otherwise, the majority of us will be completely satisfied by what an individual manufacturer has gone and done for us, that loco you only dreamed of owning, well,you can now buy one straight off the shelf!!, if it's not out yet,it soon will be!!

It's just a fantastic hobby,we have never had it so good,and if I borrow a wee lyric from a Beatles song, "it's getting better all the time"......................Dave

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Flood

Flood

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This will be very popular, Dave, judging by what conversations I've had with a few folk. Thanks for posting that!

 

Out of interest, will the way the windscreen rivets are done be modified from the first production version?

 

Plus the cab side windows as well. To be honest the removal of the rivets by modellers may well be easier (and cheaper) than changing the moulds. I'm sure Dapol Dave will be able to clarify this.

 

I won't be needing a non headcode box version but well done to Dapol for giving the early to mid '60s era modellers the opportunity to own a Class 22.

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berth44

berth44

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I'm thinking I'd be after one as well, I like 'variety' and it's in my 'era',it's not unusual for the two types of loco,'headcodes and discs' to be together,but no doubt it will require the same work done to it.

I'm now onto 'fixing the height' of the 'second' bogie on my model. I'm quite satisfied with my number one 'effort'. It may only be a couple of mil,but it makes a huge 'visual' difference to the model.

I have found better 'springs' to replace the small Dapol ones fitted to represent the suspension, I'll probably replace those that I've fitted to the first bogie as well,these springs are way better! ( sourced from a packet of 'working' 3 link couplings)

I've cut off the relevent suspensions parts from the bogie, (almost the top of my finger as well, I hate new blades!!)drilled the holes required for the new 'pins', and I'm now building up the 'Plasticard' that will secure the bogie to the frame.

I have 'found' one of my cameras,(not my 'good one' unfortunately),so if I can find the cables etc, I'll see if I can get my 'child' to get some photos onto my computer,and hopefully onto this site......happy modelling guys...Dave.

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berth44

berth44

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G'day Trevor, in response to your reply,I understand where you are coming from,fair comment for sure!, but as we know, this 'ere hobby (and others like it, I do model ships as well) can be very (very!) frustrating at times and you feel like just throwing the thing against a wall.... or something worse!, then you think "why am I doing this, why did I buy it?" and you want to give up,but, as you say Trevor, leaving it and 'walking away' is sometimes a very good idea!,(I have so many unfinished projects!!) but in my house, the kettles never far off the boil, it's great what a cup of coffee (or two) can do!!.........Dave

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