Is there 'owt left of the original?

[kevpeo]

Ello folks, just a thought. Ever started off with a kit/rtr conversion and ended up with very little left of the original! As an example, I did this one a long time ago from the hopelessly short Lima KHA. Splicing two together to get it somewhere near the correct (impressive) length. Chassis is still a bit rubbish though, I may go back to it one day.

Of course that left two short bits of hood and two bogie's, leading to this -

The SNCF IHA coil wagon. Scratchbuilt ends and chassis, so much fun to build I did four! After a bit of practice on these it was onto -

The short version of the Railfreight Metals prototype steel carrier, the BGA. Only some of the Lima hood remains!

 

Edit -I should have put this one on yesterday as it finishes it off nicely as you can barely see any of the original! An early RMC JGA hopper 'converted' from the later Bachman one. The only bit of the doner model visible is some of the hopper doors.

kev.

[Fat Controller]

Glad to see I'm not the only one who's done these conversions, though I didn't try the Railfreight version. It's definitely not easier to scratchbuild these, as the canopy would be a nightmare- I have seen one in a French mag where someone used .005 Plasticard over formers, but life's too short. I used Cambrian Y25 bogies for mine, as they help make the wagons look chunkier, whilst I fitted new end stanchions from Plastruct U-channel- the ones on the Tiphook wagons are massive, as I discovered when stuck on a train opposite Frethun yard one day.

If anyone's looking for the distinctive oblong buffers used on these, and other wagons, they are available from Intercity Models (ref ICA 21).

[Jim Martin]

Those are smashing wagons! The Tiphook, in particular, is hugely impressive: the sheer length of it, as you say, is breathtaking.

 

My IHA scratchbuild (in N gauge) is detailed in my blog: I made the hood by building an "inner body" to which filler was then applied in impressively large quantities and sanded to shape. I plan to make four of those and I'm mulling over the idea of one of the Tiphook wagons for my fledgling collection of ferry wagons. It's a whole lot of sanding, though. The IHA hood took weeks to complete and the Tiphook is much longer...

 

Jim

[Wayne 37901]

Good afternoon,

 

Hope nobody minds me dragging this topic up but I've dug out my conversions again after seeing this.

 

Some nice wagons there, I'm quite taken with the Railfreight Metals BGA. On closer inspection I see that you have given the ends an angled profile as per the prototype and yet the Lima hood as a curved profile to the ends, how did you get the two to match and who's cast Y25 bogies did you use?

 

The end struts of the long KHAs are quite beefy, I was looking at a way of doing them withput carving off all the detail first but I dont know. One job worth doing that has been mentioned already is to use Cambrian bogies for any of the prototypes fitted with fabricated Y25 bogies. They're a much bigger improvement and help to hide some of the underscale look. 

 

Have you a workbench thread at all? Would be nice to see more of your work.

 

Regards

[Fat Controller]

Good afternoon,

 

Hope nobody minds me dragging this topic up but I've dug out my conversions again after seeing this.

 

Some nice wagons there, I'm quite taken with the Railfreight Metals BGA. On closer inspection I see that you have given the ends an angled profile as per the prototype and yet the Lima hood as a curved profile to the ends, how did you get the two to match and who's cast Y25 bogies did you use?

 

The end struts of the long KHAs are quite beefy, I was looking at a way of doing them withput carving off all the detail first but I dont know. One job worth doing that has been mentioned already is to use Cambrian bogies for any of the prototypes fitted with fabricated Y25 bogies. They're a much bigger improvement and help to hide some of the underscale look. 

 

Have you a workbench thread at all? Would be nice to see more of your work.

 

Regards

Wayne,

When I did my Tiphook, I 'simply' filed away the two middle upright stanchions and replaced them with suitably chunky U-section from either Evergreen or Plastruct. They really are very substantial bits of metal, and this makes all the difference.

The Cambrian bogies are now available as 'one-piece' mouldings, which only need bearings and wheels adding- the big weakness of the original design was the 'compensation' system, which used a two-piece bolster, along with a minimal area to attach bolster to sideframe.

[Wayne 37901]

Wayne,

When I did my Tiphook, I 'simply' filed away the two middle upright stanchions and replaced them with suitably chunky U-section from either Evergreen or Plastruct. They really are very substantial bits of metal, and this makes all the difference.

The Cambrian bogies are now available as 'one-piece' mouldings, which only need bearings and wheels adding- the big weakness of the original design was the 'compensation' system, which used a two-piece bolster, along with a minimal area to attach bolster to sideframe.

Hi Brian,

 

I had a thought along those lines but wasn't sure how it would look against the rest of the moulded detail. Dont suppose you have a pic of your model?

 

Yes that is a problem with the earlier Cambrian bogies and to overcome this I used etched brass sub frames. I've done this for all Cambrian wagons with bogies and it makes a big difference.

[Fat Controller]

Hi Brian,

 

I had a thought along those lines but wasn't sure how it would look against the rest of the moulded detail. Dont suppose you have a pic of your model?

 

Yes that is a problem with the earlier Cambrian bogies and to overcome this I used etched brass sub frames. I've done this for all Cambrian wagons with bogies and it makes a big difference.

There was one in Update when I did an article on the modifications a long time ago. I would like to do a photo album on here of some of the odd things I've built, but I'll have to smear the lens with Vaseline so the deficiences don't show too clearly..