Improving the Heljan EM1 and EM2

[E3109]

I have a number of these locos, I'd like to conduct a critical analysis of them here, and have started to rectify some of the errors with them.

 

All in all, they're basically decent models but not quite there.

 

Positives:

 

The chassis itself appears bulletproof, so bonus points there. Both types of loco run very well and are nice and heavy.

The basic shape of the body is good, although not without errors.

Vac only and MW/dual braked examples of the EM1 produced.

 

However, as is well known there are errors/annoyances, listed below, most of which I want to correct.

 

Just listing the EM1 for now, EM2 to follow.

 

1. Cabside windows are approx 1mm too low (although they measure up to the correct size). The tops of these windows should line up with the bodyside glazing but they don't.

 

2. Windscreens are too square in the corners, and the frames are too pronounced, with rivet detail showing that isn't there.

 

3. Bodyside grilles are metal etches, and are extremely flimsy and will not withstand much handling.

 

4. The relief on the bogie frames is far too two-dimensional and also the frames themselves appear to be too tall. The buffer centres are too high. Also, the buffer beam and the inside rear of the bogie frames are glued on and it's rather a weak spot.

 

5. The pantographs are not equalised, thus they tip over when under the wires.

 

6. The roof is the wrong shape apparently, although I must admit that I can't see this! Additionally some of the roof detail is VERY flimsy, namely the horns and lifting eyes.

 

7. Marker lights incorrect for all but the black version, these were modified early on.

 

I'll add some photos later when I get home.

 

Cheers!

[E3109]

On my way home now, but I have these pics on my device so I'll post for comparison.

Detail of 76039's cab, note the window frames and marker lights. I'll attach a similar shot in model form shortly.

[E3109]

Okay, so here they are. First shot is a cruel close up of the Heljan loco front as it comes. Note how the windscreen surrounds are too thin and too square at the corners, and rivet detail that shouldn't be there (there are rivets, but they're flush).

Also the incorrect marker lights, these are correct for a black loco (and possibly a handful of early green repaints) but not later versions.

The holes either side of the bezels are for clipping marker/tail discs into. These come with the model which is a nice touch, but those holes have to go.

 

Second shot is the easy way of parting the body from the chassis. I just cut four headstone-shaped forms from 0.030" styrene, nothing fancy. Slip them inside until you can feel the mounting points, once all four are in just pull down on the bogie sideframes equally, and it'll come off.

Note, the four sides of the bogie frames aren't too well constructed (glued) so take care with this bit.

There are no retaining screws, which makes it easy. The body is clipped to the chassis very securely, but this method gets around that.

 

Third shot shows the cabside windows in relation to those on the bodyside, as you can see they are too low.

 

So, you get the needle files out. Fourth shot shows before and after, still needs a bit of tidying up but you'll get the picture.

 

Now, the bodyside grilles. These are extremely fragile and will not stand up to rough handling (I found out the hard way!).

A couple of options here, either you can replace them with Evergreen grooved styrene, or perhaps a brass etch but backed with plasticard. I had to do this on one grille, the etch was from a class 83, backed with styrene and then cut down to size. The 83 grille was from one of A1 Models' mixed bags.

However, what I'm doing is trying to toughen up the grilles in situ. Time will tell if it's going to work but the first stage, is to drop diluted PVA into the grilles (photo 5). This seems to need 2-3 applications and the grilles do warp a little, although they seem to settle down as the PVA dries.

I don't know if this will prove to be good enough, however I'm minded to apply some enamel paint in there too, in order to seal it. Note that the grilles are black on the model irrespective of livery, this is incorrect for green or blue versions.

Incidentally surface tension in the PVA mix doesn't help during this process: I considered adding a drop of washing up liquid to the mix but I suspect that may hinder paint adhesion.

 

What I definitely would NOT do, is remove the grilles if you wish to reuse them. They're just too fragile and warp just by lookin' at 'em...

 

I'll update with more soon. Bedtime for me, just finished a night turn.

 

Cheers

E3109

[John76]

E3109

 

Good evening and good luck with your venture.

 

There used to be a similar thread on RMWeb just after the EM1s were released but it was taken down some years ago now. On it a fellow modeller had made a number of adjustments and alterations to his EM1s which when they were weathered made them look a lot better. I myself have a fleet of EM1s and had a go at modifying a couple of them to see how they would turn out.

 

The first one started out as a MU fitted EM1 which was modified to become a vacuum only EM1 76003.

 

The second one started life as a vacuum only EM1 but was modified to become an air braked only MU version 76038.

 

My modelling output at present is virtually nil but from memory here is a list of things that I did: -

 

Replaced the lifting eyes on the roof (made them smaller).

Changed some of the electrical switchgear on the roof to make it more realistic

Changed the pantographs for some modified Sommerfeldt ones

Modified the rain strips on 76038

Painted the cab interiors

Filled in all the unnecessary holes on the front

Used Maskol to cover the lights on the front. Once dry, paint them yellow and drill a small hole through to represent the modified version.

Dropped the overall height of the body by about 1mm by taking the top off the cab interior mouldings

Replaced the buffers on 76038 because the original ones are too small (will do the same on 76003 at some point in the future)

Modified the back of the bogies by moving out the back piece to close the gap between them and then added a representation of the coupling linkage between the two bogies.

 

Personally I never had a problem with the side grills. I removed them and replaced them to respray 76038 (because I thought the Heljan BR Blue was too dark). Once it was back together and started weathering the loco I just painted the grills the same colour as the bogies.

 

Once I get time to get back in to modelling I have thought about having a go at etching and doing something with the front windows as you have suggested. I would also add the lifting eyes and the electrical switchgear to the etch in an effort to make it more robust than what is currently there.

 

Not the best photos but I hope they give you an indication of what I achieved.

 

If you have any questions just ask. I will be watching your own efforts with interest.

 

John

[John76]

PS

 

Here is one I did earlier!

 

A DC Kits resin bodied EM1 sat on modified Hornby class 90 chassis.

 

 

Just needs windscreen wipers to complete.

 

John

[sagaguy]

Did you get the pantographs to work?.

 

                Ray.

[John76]

Did you get the pantographs to work?.

 

                Ray.

 

No they don't but there is no reason why they couldn't.

 

John

[sagaguy]

I can assure they don`t which was a disappointment on such an expensive model.Because i ran mine under Trix catenary,i replaced them with Trix EM1 pantographs & now i can p/up from the catenary or track.

 

                        Ray.

 

                

[E3109]

John, some top notch work there squire. Well done.

 

I was initially confused as to why you went to the trouble of altering an MW-fitted one to represent a vac only one, and vice versa.

Then the penny dropped, 76038 was the former 26050 and thus boiler fitted, 76003 wasn't, thus 76038 has the associated beading and rivets so an identity swap has saved you a lot of work.

Nice touch on the eyebrow gutters, only 3 locos had them I think, 26033/49/50.

 

Are the handrail holes in the same position on the cab front for the VO and AO/XO (MW fitted) types? I've removed the handrails from vac only ones but not brave enough to do this on MW fitted ones yet, unless I know the fixing holes are the same!

 

I may go the whole hog with that anyway, by replacing the somewhat delicate plastic handrails with metal. Seems a bit odd that the Heljan EM2s are wire while the EM1s aren't.

 

Can I ask what Sommerfeldt pans you've used? I bought some Markin (?) HO versions but they appear to be too small, whereas yours look spot on. My layout dictates that the pans need to be at full stretch, so the bigger the better within reason.

 

I too have been looking at a way to represent the linkage between bogies, the daylight between them is excessive as it is and moving back the frames as you've done will alleviate that, a linkage is a bonus.

If you can post a photo of your mod, it would be most appreciated.

 

If you do make an etch for the windscreen surrounds please bear me in mind, in the meantime I'm going to use the tried and tested method of blanking the screen frames off with thin plasticard and then filing out to suit.

 

I take on board your tip that shaving a bit off the cab inserts allows the body to drop a little towards a realistic level, gonna try that tomorrow! Had more than one in bits, and hadn't realised it was the cab inserts that were maintaining the height.

 

I like your DC Kits model, that's turned out really well. Had a few of these back in the day, sold them on during a model railway lull sadly.

 

Incidentally regarding bodyside grilles, I just happened to find an Evergreen sheet in my 'tat store' whose pitch matches the grille pitch pretty closely so I'm going to give that a whirl. It seems you've had more success with these than I have, TBH I don't know why Heljan/Olivia's chose this method when the moulded grilles on the Triang EM2 look absolutely fine.

 

Much obliged for your tips, thank you.

[Michael Edge]

This is the DC kits moulding, properly glazed and fitted with Judith Edge pantographs.

 

 

The moulding is 5% too big (because someone told me do it like that to take account of shrinkage - which is actually zero), it is however as accurate as I could get to in 1984. I wonder if one was moulded in a material which did shrink by 5% we might get to an accurate model?

 

 

 

Two photos of JE pans fitted to a Heljan EM1

 

 

Finally this shows what can be done with a Triang EM2, repainting in lined black disguises the moulded lining quite well (electric blue isn't bad either), this one has kept the Triang pantographs but at least they do work. Such a shame that Triang put the raised lining on this  - probably the best model they ever made - the line is too arrow to put the orange/black/orange lining on but too wide to do it either side. I would like another one of these to rebuild for Wentworth Junction if I can find one at a reasonable price, there is a photo of a brand new EM2 at WJ on a test run from Wath.

I will be producing etched EM1s (and Tommy) at some time in the near future - at least before the new layout is ready.

[E3109]

I like how you've cut away the extra cross brace Michael. Looking to retain original Tri-Ang pans on some of my locos too, albeit modified and I also like that you've replaced the pan head.

That said, I may well keep the rounded head on my Rovex EM2s. Been playing with pantos over the last couple of days and even the old Jouef products can be improved upon as long as the top half is replaced.

The as-supplied Heljan pans are dire, but at least the pan heads can be reused.

 

TBH I found it fairly easy to remove the moulded lines on the EM2, I used a small flat blade screwdriver to get rid of the bulk of it and the rest was fettled with a sharp knife and emery cloth.

 

Anyway, been playing with this today. I've always considered Tommy to be the ugly sister (brother?) of his production sisters but even so, I feel it would be sacrilege if he wasn't present on my layout!

[E3109]

Couple of pics of the old EM2, look closely on the first photo and you can see that there's still a little bit of work to do in removing the last remnants of the lining guide.

This loco is going to be 'under maintenance' in perpetuity, I've been lucky enough to acquire a spare unpowered bogie so I've been busy on both of these in order to depict traction motors, centre pivot plates, and so on.

 

I'm still debating whether to replace the moulded handrails on the Triang loco, seeing as it's a cameo in essence.

I suspect I will though!

[John76]

E3109

 

Great work. I too have an old Triangle EM2 that I have played around with. it too is still work in progress. When I get chance I will post some photos along with an explanation of what I have done..

 

Sorry I haven’t got round to answering your questions. I haven’t forgotten and will try and do it later this week.

 

John

[John76]

In a follow up to my post last week on what I have done to a couple of my EM1s, I thought I would try and offer up a bit more detail. I will do this over a couple of posts concentrating on different areas of the model each time. It’s probably about 4 or 5 years since I did this and when I went back and had a look, I have surprised myself at exactly how much work I had done. What has helped is that I came across another MU fitted EM1 partway through its upgrade. Please note that a lot of this work was copied from the individual who started the previously mentioned topic which was taken down so I can’t take credit for a lot of what I am about to describe here. The first areas I will describe are the bogies and the roof: -

Bogies

 

 

 

As you can see from these photos, I have relocated the back of the bogies to fill the gap between them. The linkage between the two bogies is represented by adding three pieces of square plastic rod, two in one bogie and one in the other, each one above the next. You may also be able to see that there are two ‘cables’ that come out of the rear of each bogie and go up towards the EM1 body. These are just bent pieces of very thin plastic rod, but they did exist on the real thing. To improve the look of the sand boxes on each bogie corner I have also added bent wire to represent the sanding pipes.

 

Finally, I have also replaced the buffers as the originals are too small. In this case they are turned brass buffers from A1 models.

 

Roof

 

 

 

To improve the appearance of this part of the model, I have basically removed everything from the roof except the roof vents, the air horns and the cables / conduit linking the pantographs. The lifting eyes have been replaced with ones made from 60 thou x 10 thou plastic strip. The metalwork supporting the electrical switchgear has been completely rebuilt only retaining the insulators.

 

 

I have also replaced the moulded rain strips above the cab doors with pieces of wire to make them more prominent.

 

Next time I will try and cover the pantographs.

[John76]

PS My Triang EM2 part way through its upgrade.

 

[E3109]

Cracking photos John and your representation of the "+" linkage is spot on.

 

Just to correct one of my previous posts, the pans I got from Ebay are indeed Sommerfeldt ones, rather than Marklin, they actually size up pretty well when I offered them up and it looks as though the ones you used are the same ones as I got.

Mine are red (DB) but obviously that can be sorted. Am I right in assuming that you've changed the pan heads on these, those on the originals I have are not wide enough and from your pics I think you have soldered 'packing brackets' on (for want of a better phrase).

 

Looking forward to your updates, currently busy on an E26000 model in 1969-70 condition and hope to post some photos of it shortly.

 

Cheers, Baz.

[John76]

Cracking photos John and your representation of the "+" linkage is spot on.

 

Just to correct one of my previous posts, the pans I got from Ebay are indeed Sommerfeldt ones, rather than Marklin, they actually size up pretty well when I offered them up and it looks as though the ones you used are the same ones as I got.

Mine are red (DB) but obviously that can be sorted. Am I right in assuming that you've changed the pan heads on these, those on the originals I have are not wide enough and from your pics I think you have soldered 'packing brackets' on (for want of a better phrase).

 

Looking forward to your updates, currently busy on an E26000 model in 1969-70 condition and hope to post some photos of it shortly.

 

Cheers, Baz.

 

If I get chance I will post more detail in future but for now here is a quick update. I have used Judith Edge pantographs in the past and may do again but these are Sommerfeldt 941 pantographs. They start out looking like this: -

 

 

and after modification they would end up looking like the one you see on sat on top of the EM2.

 

 

The only original bits left are the lower pan arms and the pantograph head. The lower arms are set wider apart and what is left of the base has code 75 BH rail soldered to the sides to make it look something like the real thing. I chose to keep the base to allow me to lock the pans down if needed. The upper arms arm fashioned out of 0.45mm wire, and the insulators have been trimmed down to fit onto a new frame made out of various sizes of square plastic rod. The hardest part is putting it back together without damaging the pantograph head.

 

One final comment, it may be necessary to create a small grove in the roof of your EM1 to allow the pantograph to raise and lower unhindered.

 

 

John

[E3109]

Latest tinkering...

The Doyen.

 

 

[John76]

Looking good.

 

Do you have any photos of the front? And any chance of a brief description of what you have done.

 

Looks like you have replaced the original side grills, rounded off the cab corners and replaced the vents on the roof?

 

John

[E3109]

Hi John

 

Yes, I replaced the grilles with some Evergreen sheet, this is because they were longer on 'Tommy' than the production examples, on the corridor side.

 

The original roof vents popped out easily from the inside, I got the dimensions of the replacements from my Triang  EM2 although I'm not totally happy with them as they're too shallow. I'll laminate another layer onto them to beef them up.

 

The cab fronts still need a bit of work (more filler around the screens), I'll post some pics when completed.

 

[E3109]

I brought 3 bodies with me on holiday, ideal for balcony therapy.

 

I wanted some accurate windscreen frames, Michael Edge did these for me at pretty short notice. 

Cheers, Michael.

 

 

[Michael Edge]

Looks like they fitted OK - the "short notice" is mostly chance, depends when I have a test etch to fill up.

[John76]

The windows look good. Very impressed. What prep work did you do and how did you fix them? Do you have an original Heljan EM1 that you can sit at the side as a comparison?

 

Mike. Is there any chance you may be doing some more ‘testing’?

 

John

[Michael Edge]

I have two bogie etches now to assemble and fit under one of the resin moulded bodies, nothing more on the rest of the loco yet. The window frames were an extra item - and before anyone asks, we don't have any more of them at the moment.

[E3109]

10 hours ago, John76 said:

The windows look good. Very impressed. What prep work did you do and how did you fix them? Do you have an original Heljan EM1 that you can sit at the side as a comparison?

 

Mike. Is there any chance you may be doing some more ‘testing’?

 

John

John, one of the locos is depicted before the frames were fitted, but after prep.

Basically I shaved off the moulded frames to be almost flush, and also carved a small 45°-ish chamfer so the glue had somewhere to run.

 

At first I used Uhu but superglue ended up being the better option.

Just cheapo pound shop stuff, nothing special. 

 

You need to bend the wiper arms forward before fitting the screen frames, and bend themback again afterwards. Being metal, the arms are pretty resilient.