Airfix carriage upgrades

[halsey]

Hi,

Are there any upgrade kits available to create internals and lighting for these (Airfix) carriages?

As always recommendations based on actual hands on experience would be good.

Thanks in advance for your replies

J

 

 

 

NOTE - Now changed carriages to Airfix Corridor from Airfix Non- Corridor as shown here - partly to move the layouts time frame and also to provide better scope for internal lighting to be visible/show..

 

 

Edited September 22, 2020 by halsey

[The Johnster]

Thought these had interior detail; the contemporary GW E129 B sets from Airfix certainly did. 
 

Parkside/Ratio do a pack of retrofit seating strips  which you cut to length.  Wood or plastic strip can be used to represent the arms in first class.  Lighting kits are available on Amazon which use magnets and reed swicthes to turn them on and off, powered by CR 2023 watch batteries which can be hidden in the brake or toilet compartments; cheap and effective.  I have a couple of auto trailers lit in this way.  Like most model railway led lighting, they are far too bright; real steam era coach lighting was with 18watt filament bulbs and pretty pathetic.  I toned mine down to the required feeble yellow glow with a coat of matt white acrylic over the bulbs; paint the underside of the coach roof white as well to diffuse the light better in the compartment, a prototypical practice.  
 

The BG is another matter. You could certainly light it in the same way, but it would need a guard’s compartment.  Walls from sheet plastic, a parking brake handwheel standard, seat for the guard, vacuum gauge, and vacuum brake ‘setter’ valve painted red.  Light in here brighter than the rest of the coach, and on an independent circuit, so you can have a light in the guard’s compartment but not in the rest of the coach, or the rest of the coach but not in the guard’s compartment, or neither, or both.  Same goes for the guard and van portion of the brake seconds. I

[halsey]

You are right - apologies - the lighting was the more important bit and I felt that would expose the internals which are very basic (so basic I couldn't see them!) but perhaps a little painting will suffice - I'll see when the lights are in.

Thanks for the tip re painting the underside of the roof.

J 

[Steamport Southport]

These have come up a few times. Now made by Dapol. Useful PDF here.

 

https://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/131953-stanier-coaches/

 

Also seats were Red for Third Class. Blue  for First.

 

 

Jason

Edited September 14, 2020 by Steamport Southport

[Ravenser]

23 hours ago, halsey said:

You are right - apologies - the lighting was the more important bit and I felt that would expose the internals which are very basic (so basic I couldn't see them!) but perhaps a little painting will suffice - I'll see when the lights are in.

Thanks for the tip re painting the underside of the roof.

J 

 

Painting and a few figures should sort it out. I've done one Dapol LMS non-gangway

[halsey]

This opens another can of worms - I have no figures on my layout to date as I don't know in what direction to take the plunge - what figures do people buy/like to use??

 

There seems to be such a variety but I do like to standardise on quality and don't mind paying for it (within reason) - I doubt I will ever want more than 100 figures on platforms, in the fields, in the goods yards, in coaches etc so even if £1 each that's OK

[Steamport Southport]

Reasonable priced seated figures.

 

If you only want a few then look at places like Dart Castings/Montys, etc. 

 

https://www.dartcastings.co.uk/montys.php

 

There are also the plastic figures from Dapol and Merit (now sold by Peco as Modelscene). I think Bachmann do a few packs as well.

 

Slaters Huminatures. 24 for £8.

 

https://slatersplastikard.com/accessories/huminiatures/4mmHuminiatures.php

 

https://www.hamodels.net/4mm-figures-oo-gauge.html

 

Those cheap Chinese ones on eBay are fine if you just want to fill carriages. You often can't see them.

 

 

Jason

[lofty1966]

On 14/09/2020 at 09:01, The Johnster said:

Thought these had interior detail; the contemporary GW E129 B sets from Airfix 

Dia E140's even.....

[halsey]

Very UNDERWHELMED by the very expensive Train Tech CL1 lighting strips - I have tried one set and am now feeling a pressure to do all 6 coaches in my stable BUT that's £120 badly spent!

 

True they are very easy to fit and use (I used strong HD double sided tape) but they don't look that good except in almost total darkness 

 

My grumbles are that the light fitting "spread" is preset - and there aren't really enough lights there being only 5 to a 10" strip IMHO it really needs to be double that 

 

The profit margin on these things must be huge - there must be better and cheaper solutions ...........

 

PS & FYI - I decided to change my 6 carriages from non-corridor Airfix to corridor Airfix (hence my sales in classifieds) - I like Airfix due to the much smaller couplings

 

Feeling grumpy - I don't mind spending money (even if its a lot) but must feel/have vfm

 

J

Edited September 22, 2020 by halsey

[The Johnster]

I have lit a couple of auto trailers with Chinese battery powered ‘warm’ leds from Amazon that were cheap.  They come with magnetic reed switches and a 3v watch battery in a holder.  Like all model railway lighting they are far too bright but can be toned down with white matt acrylic, which also diffuses the light better.  Delivery was fast.  
 

The battery holders may be available separately, in which case you can use the very cheap pound shop strings of leds in conjunction.  For compartments, tone som down more than others as there was a ‘bright/dim’ switch.  You might even get away with micro-leds as reading lights, but hiding the wiring will be a issue. 

[halsey]

I tried them out in the dark last night and my feelings were much improved - another suggestion found elsewhere was to paint the inside face of the roof white to get a better effect so I have bitten the bullet and bought the remaining 5 needed and ordered a tin of white spray paint

 

I do still think they are very pricey but the motion sensor feature sold it for me against the competition and I will only ever need 6 

[Il Grifone]

I would have kept both sets, but that's me!

 

£20 a set is indeed expensive (I found them at £16 but they only had two left). I would have used one LED (@ £1 for 100 from China) per compartment and built a battery supply, switched on by traction supply and with a switch off delay rather than motion activated, but I'm not 'Il Grifone' (as in 'scavenge') for nothing.

A certain chain has strips of LED lights (at £2 rather than their name IIRC - thanks Boris!).

[halsey]

11 minutes ago, Il Grifone said:

I would have kept both sets, but that's me!

 

 

I might still keep them as I'm not going to give them away - they are truly the best "used" I've seen - better than the 6 staniers I've just bought which were described as excellent!

[Il Grifone]

I always downgrade the seller's grading. I have been wrong, but it's rare.

Years ago I saw this advice (for coin collecting) to value your item at least one level below what you think. For example 'mint' for a coin collector is just that - freshly minted and untouched.

[halsey]

I will probably keep the 2 unboxed ones (for variety) as they are every bit as good but unboxed items don't seem popular 

[Il Grifone]

It's the collector mania, The box can be 'worth' as much as the model!  

 

There's (presumably seeing the number of them) a thriving market in fake replica boxes.

 

Trains are meant to be played with!   (IMHO)

 

Edited September 25, 2020 by Il Grifone