Gresley 61'6" Sleeper 3rd - Isinglass/Hornby combo

[sjp23480]

I recently received an Isinglass Sleeper 3rd body which I am planning to marry up with a Hornby 61'6" underframe from their Sleeper 1st.

 

Does anyone have any experience of using this combination and any tips/tricks before I start?

 

I saw that @John Tomlinson experienced some bowing with the Isinglass Sleeper 3rd he built, so I am thinking about reinforcing the sides with some brass strip to reinforce it.

 

Many thanks,

Steve

[John Tomlinson]

I don't have experience of what you're setting out to do, but I do have a reservation.

 

Apparently the Hornby Gresley underframe is too wide, made so to accomodate the inadequate turnunder for the tumblehome, which left all the Hornby  61'6' Gresleys looking too slab sided.

 

So you may find that the Isinglass sides don't sit properly to the ends.

 

As you're going to the trouble of having to paint and line the sides, the major part of the effort involved, I wonder if you'd be better assembling them with the proper Isinglass underframe?

 

In terms of the bowing, it is probably just the natural movement of the resin. It wasn't that noticeable unlesss viewed from the ends. Whether or not your sides would do the same is uncertain. Equally uncertain is whether the brass strengthening to which you refer would do the trick if the sides did move.

 

John.

Edited September 4, 2021 by John Tomlinson
typo

[sjp23480]

Thanks @John Tomlinson, after a bit of experimentation last night I found you were right.

 

The Hornby underframe is almost 3.5mm too wide for the Isinglass sides!  Removing sufficient material to compensate will weaken the sides and Hornby floorpan.  Additionally, the Hornby floor pan is moulded with the angles to fit their coach ends, whereas the Isinglass ends are flat.  

 

Thinking.......

 

[John Tomlinson]

15 hours ago, sjp23480 said:

Thanks @John Tomlinson, after a bit of experimentation last night I found you were right.

 

The Hornby underframe is almost 3.5mm too wide for the Isinglass sides!  Removing sufficient material to compensate will weaken the sides and Hornby floorpan.  Additionally, the Hornby floor pan is moulded with the angles to fit their coach ends, whereas the Isinglass ends are flat.  

 

Thinking.......

 

 

There's been a lot of discussion in various threads on here about the Hornby Gresley coaches. I'm not a particularly nit-picking modeller, but even to me they don't look right. Why Hornby did what they did frankly is beyond the wit of man, they could have had a mass best seller had they made a better job! Ironically I think the ancient shorty Gresleys from long ago actually have a better end profile. There are some interesting discussions here on the topic of LNER coaches.  

 

I'd suggest you could do any of  - buy an underframe from Isinglass that fits,

                                                        - make a brass underframe from the like of MJT or Comet

                                                        - make your own from plasticard sheet and two lengths of "I" section.

 

The Isinglass underframe has limited amounts of the detail for the fittings anyway, and you'll probably want to use parts from MJT or Comet to complete whatever.

 

John.

Edited September 6, 2021 by John Tomlinson

[sjp23480]

@John Tomlinson after much fettling (understatement to say the least) I have managed to get the Isinglass sides to fit the Hornby underframe.  Much of the L section at the bottom of the sides has been removed (slitting disk and Dremel) which has weakened the them, so I reinforced them with brass strip.  All very loosely assembled but the Isinglass/Hornby combo seems to compare well with a regular Hornby Gresley.

Will post some pictures.

 

Steve

[sjp23480]

So a few pics of the Isinglass coach, it still needs a lot of work but the next issue is to figure out how to secure the body to the underframe. The interior is cobbled from a couple of Airfix LMS Corridor Composites.