Hachette Partworks MK1 Coach Disassembly

[fozzythebear]

Hi People of vast knowledge and experience with these Mk1's.....   I managed to snag a batch off Hachette at the start of this year. Looks like they were selling off the remaining stock, because the web site for "your model railway village" has now gone entirely from their server.  I'm giving them a bit of a makeover and I need to figure out how to get them apart??  I can pull the bogies off them and I found a single screw underneath at the centre of the coach, but can't find any more fastenings anywhere.  Taking that screw out didn't seem to achieve much and I really don't want to destroy them in the process.....

 

Could somebody give me some clues how to actually take them apart without destroying them please.

 

Best Regards.

Jules.

[145 Squadron]

Jules,

 

There are two further coutersunk phillips screws, one in each bogie well on the chassis. Remove these and the coach should separate into chassis and ends, sides and roof which just pulls off the sides.

 

Where you go from there is up to you.....

 

Regards

 

Tony

[Steamport Southport]

Loads of information on these in the old thread. As well as a few detailed models ISTR.

 

https://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/52594-model-railway-partwork-your-model-railway-village/&page=1&_fromLogin=1

 

You might have to wade through a bit of silliness and moaning such as "not available in XYZ yet" though.  

 

 

Jason

[fozzythebear]

Many thanks for your assistance guys!!  How I missed those screws is beyond me. How dim could I be...  (don't answer that) LOL  and thanks for the link..

 

Best Regards,

Jules.

[Hroth]

Interesting to know - I've often thought about taking them apart to paint the inside to stop the sun shining through the sides!

 

[Neil]

I did a bit of work on one a few years ago starting here.

[Keith George]

I have several of these hatchette coaches, most still in their  blister pack.

I want to fit a Replica powered coach chassis to a mark 1 coach, has anyone done this or thought about it?

What would be the practability of doing this.?

 

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Keith

 

[OliverSR]

Recently found this thread as I wanted to take mine to pieces and respray the roofs and get rid of the awful pale grey plastic colour.

Now looking a lot better but running still leaves a lot to be desired. Does anyone have and suggestions to stop these coaches dragging quite to much?

OliverSR

[Butler Henderson]

Suggest use an axle bearing reamer (DCC Concepts ones are readilly available) and/or replacing the wheels.

[Marcyg]

On 26/03/2023 at 21:33, OliverSR said:

Recently found this thread as I wanted to take mine to pieces and respray the roofs and get rid of the awful pale grey plastic colour.

Now looking a lot better but running still leaves a lot to be desired. Does anyone have and suggestions to stop these coaches dragging quite to much?

OliverSR

Ive used a few of these things now, weedkiller train, some NSE coaches and an engineers tool coach. Take the bogies off, and smooth out the section where the coupling cam acts. Theres a bit of a rough section that stops the bogies mooving freely. Secondly, remove the couplings, and file down the top of the 'crank', it rubs on the back of the buffer beam. Thirdly, take the wheels out and throw tham as far away from the model as you can. Theyre split axle, so b2b's cant be adjusted, and theyre really badly machined. I've replaced mine with some 14mm sets from Peters Spares. After that, they run as sweetly as the Bachmann coaches they were copied from

[The Evil Bus Driver]

I've got 3 of these which serve as my 'experimental' rake so if I want to try something out I use them. They'll definitely be getting metal wheels soon and they're fitted with Hunt magnetic couplings and run pretty well. I'm likely to fit Keen systems floating gangway plates within the rake as well as try out a seating moquette transfer as an experiment.  

Not bad for a set of £4 coaches tbh. And they're close enough to Bachmann ones to know if something will work too. 

 

I've seen them on ebay for silly money as well as on exhibition stands going decidedly cheaper. If the experiment works I'll get an additional one and bash it into a Boat Second or Restaurant 1st* (Diagram 72 or 90) using brass sides and cut off the end steps and that erroneous plank above the gangways that still hasn't been got rid of...

 

*I believe the GCR has a knackered one hidden away at Swithland. A real rarity now

Edited April 18, 2023 by The Evil Bus Driver
Typo. Honestly me and my fat fingers

[73c]

48 minutes ago, The Evil Bus Driver said:

I believe the GCR has a knackered one hidden away at Swithland.

3013 is at Swith and I think E3 has been moved there from Rothley but could be wrong on that one.