Jonathan's Modern Image Workbench (3D-printed class 323 EMU, class 156s, 3-car 144s, a 141, 4-car class 465s)

[JDW]

The answer to that I'm afraid is a bit 'how long is a piece of string'. I just had a quick look on Ebay, to buy a new motor bogie, trailing bogie and chassis from one of the regulars who dismantles models and sells the bits would be around £80, which (in my view) is excessive. The individual parts could likely be bought much cheaper from spares outlets such as Lendons or Peter's Spares, but that would depend on them being available. It might be a case of buying what you can when you can.

 

Considering that you could buy a whole Lima unit for around the same price, I wouldn't be spending £80 on a Hornby chassis. For me, around £40 is what I'd 'value' a new chassis at as a good balance between getting a unit that's worth more back in service and not going over the top. But what I consider right and what sellers consider right is not necessarily the same thing! I've no idea if Hornby might be able to supply one complete direct.

 

Last resort of course would be to look for a cheapish (around the £100-mark) Hornby unit and use that for parts - i.e. swap both chassis over, better wheels all round! Selling on the remaining bodies and Lima unpowered chassis on Ebay to recoup a little of that would bering the overall cost down but I'd guess you'd still have spent around £70 overall. And of course if you do that, depending what livery yours is, if its Provincial you might as well then have just bought and used the new one! 

[JDW]

Not much happening of late, I did a bit today on the 466, and during the week built a Gaugemaster supermarket. Scenery on the layout is progressing but nothing really worthy of pictures, some big items being put in place so I can start to build up around them.

 

 

I decided to sort out the interiors of the 466, so a bit of hacking and slicing produced one non-toilet and one toilet centre car interior. Essentially the cab bulkhead was removed, and a section from a spare moulding spliced in.

 

 

Looking at the spare bits I have, I could bodge together a third centre car, so might do that to use them up. 

 

I also did more on the chassis. I cut off the faring, and after lots of filing started to build it back up with filler and plasticard. 

 

 

I also dug out this from the back corner of the fiddle yard and fitted new pivots. It was the first thing I ever built, after an article and drawings in ModelRail.  Far from perfect, and a few bits have gone missing over the years. Sadly the sides I drew and printed have wrinkled. I had one spare in a drawer but the others still look a mess. Might try and re-do them one day.

 

 

 

 

[JDW]

A couple more Ebay purchases arrived today, including another 466 bought cheap(ish) and - like the other ones, stinking of cigarette smoke and with damaged bogies, two of which were hanging out when I removed it from the box. 

 

I notice 3d printed replacements are available on Ebay and bought a pari a while ago - but the brittle nature of 3d prints meant that as I pushed the snug-fitting metal inner into place, one snapped. I suspect the same will happen with the  clips which hold it in the chassis as they won't like flexing to clip in. I might try heating them first in hot water.

 

Anyway, that gave me two non-toilet driving cars, and enough chassis for the full set and left me with two spare toilet cars and one spare chassis. So a few cuts with the rasor saw gave me enough sides and roofs for two more centre coaches. I had to be a bit more creative this time, to make use of the spare sections I had, so couldn't make the joints down door lines. Just new ends needed.

 

 

If I can get hold of another chassis I'll probably put one pair on Ebay when they're done. Or if I see another cheap set buy that and sell on as a 4-car set. 

 

 

I also now have an accumulation of five cab ends. I might keep a few in case I ever decide to do a 325 and pop a pair on Ebay for anyone planning the same. 

 

 

Something else that arrived among a big order of Oxford cars for Aldi's car park and yet more pallisade fencing from Hattons was a Wills engine shed kit, which has proved more work than I expected - lots of parts need cutting from standard Wills sheets, and I have an inability to cut things square with a knife at the best of times. 

 

 

Lots of flash needed removing from the windows too. Anyway, after lots of preparation it's starting to come together, but am starting to wish I'd bought the ready-to-plant alternative I was considering.  Hopefully it'll come good. It will be modernised with new doors and maybe some bricked up windows as another old railway building now used for something else - I'm leaning towards a small engineering facility (think RFS at Kilnhurst) which might provide somewhere to display things like my Sentinels as well as create a nice industrial yard scene.

 

[cheesysmith]

Can you put a picture of the bogies involved up here? Might be able to suggest a replacement 

 

If you are doing the 365 you need the bogies with the has dampener fitted. Bratchell do the type of bogies needed, or very close.

Edited March 18, 2021 by cheesysmith
Spelling

[JDW]

I'll grab some close-ups next time I'm in the loft. 

 

It will be a 465 - I overlooked the fact that 365s don't have the small window at the coach ends, and can't be bothered filling all 12 of them... Its not as if I need either, they're both equally out of my modelling area. It was just a fun project that seemed a good idea, not going to make more work for myself though!

 

I did find myself eyeing upba Bachmann 150 and a Networker cab and thinking 'hmmm' but the 325 will have to wait for now. Too many other things on the go...

[crompton 33]

14 hours ago, 313201 said:

I certainly will be keeping up with the 325 and your other dmu/emu projects as they give me ideas and inspiration for potential projects for me to try something similar someday.

 

When it comes to networker units, I have often wanted to build at least a pair of 365s and 465s, virtually identical except the 365s also had or were at some point fitted with pantographs for 25Kv working too aswell as 750v dc but as there was no overhead on the network southeast tracks the 365s were transferred to the east coast tracks although some have recently seen service up in Scotland.

The 365's are only now with Northern . Most of them are off lease in store.  Talk is they will go to sims Newport for scrap by the end of this year.

[JDW]

Some general maintenance happening today, it seems to build up and up, to the point I was getting pretty frustrated at having so many units not working properly. For some reason both RR and Provinial 150s are always tetchy, yet the 950 runs perfectly all the time. All on clean wheels, clean pic ups, etc. So brought them down from the loft, sat them on the wheel cleaner, and both of them ran perfectly from the off. Took them back upstairs, and both distinctly average again. 

 

On top of that, I'm finding that some stock the lights will only work properly in 14-step mode on DCC (on 28-step they come on and off alternately through the steps, and on 128 they stay off). On stock that's always been fine before. How can that be?! 

 

In good news, I managed to quickly re-solder a broken wire on both the Provincial and Strathclyde 156s. After which, before committing to spending money, I thought I'd double check my diagnosis of the 158 problems. A couple of them run badly, which I suspected was split gears. So decided to swap the wheelsets for some from a newer one. Simple, right? Grabbed a Central one from the shelf, tested it, and the lubricant had dried, so removed the body, rotated the motor by hand, and after a little running in the amp draw dropped and it was back to its perfect-running self. So, body back on, popped it back on the track, and... nothing. Body off, check, poke, prod. Nothing. How?!  Just how! 

 

Equally, fitted a new Lenz decoder into the new de-branded Regional Railways Hornby 153. It ran fine on DC. It still runs fine on DC. It ran fine when I pulgged in the decoder. So I stuck the decoder down, to the underside of the PCB using a sticky pad, nice and firm. And now it won't budge. It'll read back. The lights flicker when read/writing. The motor hums/judders when programming. But put it on the track and it does nothing. 

 

Final DCC moan du jour... On my Sig-na-Track controller, the F2 and F3 and not latching, how do I change them? Can't see anything in the manual. It means I can't switch on one set of cab lights on my new Railtrack 121 without holding down the button. No huge issue, it works fine with the Lenz set on the layout, just can't figure it out! 

[JDW]

No pictures, but a few ebay purchases have arrived, mainly printed card low relief buildings. I'm still a bit stuck what to do behind the station area, in a long thin triangular area, so decided to order a few different cheap low relief structures to have a play about and see what might work. Lots of fencing too, yet more metal security fencing, as well as Wills chain link security fences and concrete post/concrete panel styles, plus some possibly temporary platform fencing along the rear until I decide exactly what that area will be. Not a big thing, but it has had the nice effect of divinding things up into more manageable 'scenes' and dividing railway/non-railway, helping to better visualise the new station area and approach. 

 

Still also having DCC issues, my Lenz set kept throwing up error 98s seemingly at rondom before freezing altogether this afternoon - not something it's done before. And the 153 that was causing an issue, I replaced the decoder, so it runs, but I'm starting to think someone has messed with the light circuits. With them switched on on the decoder, I get them directional in reverse (red on small cab, white on large cab) and nothing in forward. If I switch them off, they stay on constantly the same as in reverse (red on small cab, white on large cab) in both directions. The decoder is in the right way (and I tried it both ways just in case, same effect).

The contacts at the small cab end were also very dirty though its hard to tell what it was - not quite corrosion, but black in places. I scraped it off with a knife and polished with a fibreglass brush, which at least got the lights at that end working. The red ones, anyway! 

The circuit board is also different to my others, with two what look like capacitors on the end. It doesn't look like they're 'bodged' on, they are fitted to proper marked tabs. I have a spare older one, so might try swapping it out for that next time I have the soldering iron out. 

[Wagonmaster]

Strange dcc problems JDW! With the 153 contacts, have you made sure the sprung contacts are actually making contact? Obviously the red and common are. It might also be worthwhile checking through with a multimeter on the continuity setting, with the decoder removed of course. At least you'll be able to see if the wires are going to where they are supposed to!

[Jack374]

I’d echo what Wagonmaster says...153 pickups are notoriously iffy, just like all their other diesels of that era. Odd that it’s only one end too and the others are chassis mounted. If you pull the pickups down a bit they should make better contact. Another good trick is use a CR2032 or similar 3V button cell to check the body-mounted light board, simply hold + against the positive common then test the reds and whites with the negative...it doesn’t matter if you short temporarily, it’s only a teeny button! Experiment with it to find which tab is + if it doesn’t say on the circuitry anywhere. As for the chassis-mounted pads, a multimeter to check for voltage would confirm where the issue is; body or chassis or if both work then the pesky pickups!

 

As for the Lenz setup, Mick @newbryford has had the same issue on Deadman's Lane...I can’t recall the meaning or workaround but the loco stack (stored previously-used addresses) might have been it, or could’ve been something else. Hopefully he’ll be along to confirm or deny.

 

Thanks, Jack.

[newbryford]

16 minutes ago, Jack374 said:

 

 

As for the Lenz setup, Mick @newbryford has had the same issue on Deadman's Lane...I can’t recall the meaning or workaround but the loco stack (stored previously-used addresses) might have been it, or could’ve been something else. Hopefully he’ll be along to confirm or deny.

 

Thanks, Jack.

 

Stack full is Error 31.

I think I've had intermittent 98 - which may have been caused by using an un-updated handset alongside my updated handset and base station.

The recent one was Error 97 -  onboard battery dying. (I replaced the battery on mine last year after seeing 97).

This may have been a result of the set lying idle for many months.

 

List of error codes here:

https://dccwiki.com/Lenz_FAQ/Error_Codes

 

Edited April 12, 2021 by newbryford

[JDW]

Apologies for the slow reply, and thanks to @Wagonmaster, @Jack374 and @newbryford for taking the time to answer. I actually have 9 153s, and this is the only one I've had any issues with. I gave up with it last weekend but will have a look with fresh eyes and a multimeter at the weekend. The 3v battery is a good idea - I had wondered about how to check and completely missed the most obvious solution. As far as I can see the sprung pickups at the cab ends are making good contact. 

 

Now you mention it, I seem to recall a similar issue after I added a new Lenz handset, but that was a decade ago, it hasn't changed since!  It has been idle quite a lot, so there may be a battery issue there somewhere, certainly worth keeping an eye on after so many years. 

[JDW]

I mentioned some card backscene buildings earlier, I also ordered one of these from Ebay. About £17 if I remember right, and took all of a few minutes to click together.

It'll need a few tweaks, but as a base it doesn't look too foreign and a bit of work and detailing should make it look ok. I'll see what it looks like in place before I do much with it though.

 

[JDW]

I picked these up from a friend today, and am rather pleased with them. The 153 needs some work to finish the paint on the chassis, refit glazing and gangways, and I need to make a set of new radio pods for the roof. Unfortunately despite lots of searchig we couldn't find any suitable Arriva logos, so for now it will stay unbranded and have them added later as and when any appear. The 141 looks better than I expected. The front end needs the panel lines drawing on, and I need to source a chassis and glazing. Looking along it, you can tell that there's a slight 'hump back' in the bodies either side of the doors but thankfully it isn't too noticeable from most angles. I'm tempted to do the Serco one too. 

 

 

 

Edited May 16, 2021 by JDW

[Gibbo675]

Hi There,

 

Your 141 certainly looks the business, I shall have to finish my prototype rail-busses although my paintjobs might not be as good as what you have achieved.

 

Gibbo.

[cheesysmith]

Sorry, can only give one like. Although it now makes me want to do one, as i do have the needed bits laying around.

[JDW]

Thanks, I can't take any credit for the painting though!

[Wagonmaster]

The 141's are looking really good! Must get on with mine!

 

Would  Hornby Class 142 Pacer be any good for a chassis? You can always re-motor them with either the Branchlines or High Level Kits motor units for better performance.

[JDW]

It would work, it's built from rearranged Hornby 142 parts after all,  but I'd rather try and use a Realtrack one for better running, and to save the work of re-motoring. The Hornby one sits a little high anyway, and the Peco Leyland National roof sections are also slightly tall, so a Realtrack chassis should bring it back down to a better ride height.

[Ragtag]

10 hours ago, JDW said:

I'm tempted to do the Serco one too. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Flower is on my 'round-to-it' list too, to the point that I sourced the 142 shells, Peco kits and even some MTK cabs.

[d winpenny]

Both looking very good for the arriva dog box have you tried looking a model bus transfers if I recall when the 37s and MK2s were running out of Leeds someone did  an article on them possibly in model rail and they used bus transfers to complete the models 

 

david

[Wagonmaster]

9 hours ago, JDW said:

It would work, it's built from rearranged Hornby 142 parts after all,  but I'd rather try and use a Realtrack one for better running, and to save the work of re-motoring. The Hornby one sits a little high anyway, and the Peco Leyland National roof sections are also slightly tall, so a Realtrack chassis should bring it back down to a better ride height.

 

I deliberately didn't suggest a Realtrack chassis for a few reasons, but it would probably be the best choice.  Firstly is the cost, it seems a very expensive option. There are the inter car connections, if they're like the Class 143/144's plus the associated wiring for the lights. Lastly, are they available yet?

 

I have a Bristol Railbus and a Class 140 that both use the High Level Kits motor conversion and they run very well. I take what you say about the Hornby chassis and ride height.

 

Good suggestion about using bus transfers though!

[Ragtag]

The 142 chassis also has the issue of having to remove the lower parts of the bodyside

[dmu 156]

A 323 would be a great unit to produce, drove them for 17 years , a driver's unit, known as the GTI of the network with 8 asymetric motors on, 4 on each of the outer vehicles and as I can model fully tensioned OLE either live or cosmetic it would be good to see one running around a layout.

[JDW]

Not much progress of late, but the Arriva 153 has been fitted to its chassis, with snowpoughs added and glazing fitted. The chassis still needs new air tanks and BSI couplings fitting before painting, and new radio pods need fitting before the roof gets a coat of dark grey. It also needs new steps under the light clusters, as some are missing.

 

 

 

No real progress on the layout though...