m.levin Posted March 17, 2015 Share Posted March 17, 2015 This is the progress of my 141 so far. Sorry for the hijack 7 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gallows Close Posted March 22, 2015 Author Share Posted March 22, 2015 (edited) The class 141 is looking very nice so far - keep it up! Back to the Mark 2's. I'm calling the mk IIc finished, and that marks the end of the cross country set project. The coach has been flush glazed and mounted on a modified Dapol underframe, just a light weathering to go. I'd also like to tone down the roof colour as at the moment it is a bit too shiny. I thought I'd post a YouTube clip of the inspiration for this train, it is the first thing you see on the below video. https://youtu.be/NOCWs1EJeuc And, here is my video response..... https://youtu.be/wwXT69Qz_hs Control must have been short on class 47/4's today - they have turned out a '50! The complete six coach cross country set heads north with a SW/NE working. Thanks for looking in, next up it is the (Leyland) National Front (end), Chris. Edited March 22, 2015 by Gallows Close 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
d winpenny Posted March 22, 2015 Share Posted March 22, 2015 Looking good nice video David 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gallows Close Posted July 29, 2021 Author Share Posted July 29, 2021 (edited) Scraping the Barrel On 30th September 1991 class 108 DMBS 53969 found itself working the 13:24 Leeds to Sheffield service in the company of class 111 DTCL 54061. This hybrid combo was apparently quite long lived. No doubt formed in a hurry at Neville Hill depot in response to the Sprinter crisis of the time, the pairing was recorded first in 1989, and again as late as 1991. After that 53969 was again paired with a class 108 trailer, being withdrawn on 26th November 1991. The class 111 car was transferred away from Neville Hill, first to Cambridge and then to Longsight where it was finally withdrawn in June 2000. (Info <a href="https://www.railcar.co.uk/" ) Here the unit is reproduced in model form. Both cars are from Bachmann, with the class 108 vehicle showing scars from having been fitted with window bars for working the Cumbrian coast, missing a ventilator on the roof and showing a Tyseley set number recording its nomadic career. Damage under the center cab window has been replicated and a generous coat of Neville Hill grime has been applied. The class 111 car has had all the usual treatment and been renumbered from a standard Bachmann car. The vehicle has been rewired to accept a DCC chip of its own to control the lights. Another useful addition to the Kinsley fleet. Edited July 29, 2021 by Gallows Close 9 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavidMcKenzie Posted September 14, 2022 Share Posted September 14, 2022 Just stumbled across this after seeing a cracking photo posted in another thread. Unfortunately all of the old photos are gone now, but enjoyed the linked videos. Top stuff 👍. All the best, Dave 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gallows Close Posted September 14, 2022 Author Share Posted September 14, 2022 Thank you David. I haven’t posted in a while, but I have just about finished a complete rebuild of a very old Dapol class 155. I thought I’d share it now. Best wishes, Chris. 5 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Evil Bus Driver Posted September 18, 2022 Share Posted September 18, 2022 On 24/06/2010 at 14:29, DavidB said: I can't remember the sounds produced by 210 002 - as it had no first class accommodation, it never seemed to operate west of Reading and I only ever saw it from other trains at speed. By contrast, 001 was a regular between Reading and Oxford, and very nice it was too. Having read about it in the magazines, I was expecting it to sound like a baby HST power car with its half-sized Valenta, but there was no turbo scream - instead, it made a deep-throated mumbling while idling and a decent throaty roar while accelerating. The closest modern equivalent to my ear is the MTU engines in the rebuilt HST power cars, although they are smoother-sounding with their 16 cylinders - which is all a bit ironic considering that it was 210 002 that had an MTU engine. Eastwestdivide is spot on about the riding qualities of the power cars - noisy, bouncy and rough, compared to the silky-smooth 317-style ride in the trailers. As a bit of petrolhead (dieselhead?), I therefore always preferred the power car, loving the rough ride while accelerating hard over the junctions at Didcot East and Moreton Cutting. A cracking piece of machinery while it lasted. Love the model of 002 - looking excellent! David Departing Twyford 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Gallows Close Posted November 25, 2022 Author Popular Post Share Posted November 25, 2022 Rebuilding the Dapol Class 155 Starting point. I have owned this model of a class 155 DMU since August 1992. I've always liked it because I rather like the prototype, but it always fell short of its contemporaries. It also could never match up to current models. The prototype was built in 1988 for West Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive at the Leyland Bus factory in Workington, Cumbria and as such is one of the last Leyland Nationals ever built. Production of the Leyland National bus ran from 1972 and ceased in 1985. Manufactured by Dapol the unit has some shortcomings, but in my view it is less wrong (or more right) than the Hornby class 153 model. The class 155 is too deep overall but otherwise seems to check out dimensionally whereas the Hornby class 153 is way too stumpy. The underframe and running gear is woeful on the Dapol model, but the Hornby class 153 scores well here. The question was can the Dapol model be brought up to scratch? Here's what I did. First, the model was stripped back to bare plastic and is here still standing on the awful Dapol bogies. At this point I also tried bogies from a Lima class 156. These looked far too skinny compared to the 'standard' Bachmann BT38 / BP38 so a set of spares were ordered to fit. Power would come from a redundant class 158 drive I had in the spares box. The plastic block underframe was also cut off and new components made from scratch. Underframe done, and now riding on the Bachmann bogies it starts to look much better. To tackle the deep body sides I decided on the following course. The body is approx 2.5mm too deep so by looking at the lower edge it was possible to sand the bottom 2mm down to achieve the distinctive lower 'tuck' where the body meets the underframe. The floor plate on the model was then strengthened with a strip of Evergreen and the distinctive ribs added one by one to the lower edge. New door steps were added as were the airbag bolster planks and jacking points. Then a coat of MetroTrain red was sprayed. Unfortunately the red which came from Precision was too dark, drying maroon rather than red. The whole thing had to be stripped back at this point for the correct shade to be applied. Note how much difference the black band on the modified lower body edge makes. A full compliment of seats was also added to the interior. and on the DMSL a toilet compartment built. The Lokpilot decoder fits snugly in there. On with the transfers. Lettered, numbered and ready for the glazing to go back in. Etched door push buttons and other trimmings have been added and at the rear the connecting wires between the two coaches can be seen. The two wires plug into sockets on the opposite vehicle and are used to power the lights on the non-motored coach. The exhaust stack came from the class 166 that had given up its gangways earlier, and the silencer is scratch made from brass tube. Head and tail lights have also been added from Bachmann Spares and the circuit board can be seen in the aperture where the WIPAC light lenses will be refitted. In service. Just a light weathering still to do. Best wishes, Chris. 17 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium JDW Posted January 20, 2023 RMweb Premium Share Posted January 20, 2023 Excellent, shows what a bit of work can do in making a model that's not very well regarded into something that looks pretty good. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
43179 Posted January 21, 2023 Share Posted January 21, 2023 Fabulous work on the 155 - it’s like proper old skool Rmweb is back 😎 People think the old Dapol model is junk (probably judging it by the 150/2 - which was pretty much a plastic MTK model, and was indeed junk) but the body profile is pretty much there once you sort out the lower edge of it and it’s got some nice panel and rivet detail. Hornbys 153 is all kinds of wrong and it’s main features all are distorted out of recognition - It looks nothing like the real thing at all to my eye . It’s got the right number of wheels and the under frame is nice except the bogies which again don’t really look anything like the real thing. It looks like you chopped the original glazing into bits to keep the ‘hoppers’ and refitted it all nice and flush - how long did that take!!?😲😲😲 Jon 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gallows Close Posted January 21, 2023 Author Share Posted January 21, 2023 (edited) Thanks Jon, There is an awful lot of modelling value in doing up old stuff, and I agree with all you say about the Dapol model. There wasn’t too much fundamentally wrong with it. On 21/01/2023 at 11:57, 43179 said: Fabulous work on the 155 - it’s like proper old skool Rmweb is back 😎 It looks like you chopped the original glazing into bits to keep the ‘hoppers’ and refitted it all nice and flush - how long did that take!!?😲😲😲 Jon if I recall there are 70 individual windows in all (including the cabs) and each took about 5 minutes to cut out, file to fit, edge the outside in black and pick out the hoppers in silver before gluing in with satin varnish. So almost six hours on the windows. I reckon the whole thing too about 60 hours in total. Best wishes, Chris. Edited January 23, 2023 by Gallows Close Typos Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium JDW Posted January 23, 2023 RMweb Premium Share Posted January 23, 2023 60 hours isn't too bad I guess, it's a lot of entertainment for the level of outlay! I used to have a Hornby WYPTE one, and even just adding 'ploughs and a representation of the coupling made a huge difference. I think I added a bit more black around the lights too as even on a clean unit, that recess was generally dirty rather than yellow. But I sold it before I started the conversion of a pair of 153s, which might not be quite as good a shape but at least they run better, and for me they sit better alongside Hornby 153s. Whatever the faults, at least they are all consistent, I think a Dapol 155 and Hornby 153 would look odd side by side. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Gallows Close Posted October 9, 2023 Author Popular Post Share Posted October 9, 2023 (edited) Three Car Class 144 The three car class 144 sets were unique to West Yorkshire PTE. A batch of 23 two car trains were ordered for delivery in 1986, with the last ten of the batch subsequently lengthened to three cars by the addition of a powered coach inserted between the two outer cars during 1987. These additional coaches were designated Motor Second (MS). The MS is not available in ‘OO’ either from Realtrack or EFE rail, however to me it is an essential part of being able to successfully model the West Yorkshire rail scene. Here's what I did to make my own. The starting block was the purchase of two EFE Rail class 144 Pacers in WYPTE red. Firstly the ground rules:- · Minimal repainting – I wanted to preserve the factory paint job as much as possible · Decent performance – Having set up an EFE two car train to run very well, I decided that the three car version must have two powered cars so the MS could run be unpowered · All wheel pick-ups – Through wiring to allow all wheels to collect current · Retain lighting functions – Run the MS from one of the powered cars, and have the other powered car for traction only. The MS vehicle has two doors at each end of the vehicle and eight windows between them making the coach slightly longer overall than the driving cars. The underframe is identical, missing only the cab end steps. Even the distinctive valance is retained at the non-exhaust end. Cut lines were mapped out using tape. The intention here is to have a long part and a short part to make sure that the body side louvres and roof vents were retained in their correct positions on the coach. This meant cutting the short part with three bays (counting the roof panels as a guide) and the long end with seven bays. The cut was made beyond the splice point to allow for error and filing back for a nice flush join. The bus construction of the prototype helps a lot here as the rivet lines are very handy for making sure everything is square. Next the left-hand cab end doors need to be recovered from the two scrap cabs. The left-hand door must be used to make sure the ‘door open’ indicator light is in the correct place when spliced into the MS. The right-hand gangway end window can then be cut out of the two half coaches and the recovered doors spliced in at the right-hand end of each side of the MS. With the doors spliced in the MS body can be joined. File back the rough cut to make the rivet seam on the body side hide the join. I used a pair of window glazing pieces that were surplus inserted across the join to make sure the splice remained true whilst gluing, clamping and allowing 24hrs to set. The two missing door push buttons were recovered from one of the scrap cabs and thinned down before gluing in the correct position. The roof can be modified next. Remove the extra vent and fill in panel lines on the bay at the former toilet end. Here a compromise crept in. At the splice the overlap of the riveted roof panels changes direction – all in all it is not too noticeable. The roof was then painted with ‘Stock Roof Grey’ – the only real painting on the model. Turning to the chassis, the multi-pin coupler from the spare unpowered underframe was cut off and trimmed back to its housing. The underside of the coupler was then thinned down as far as possible, using a file with the same amount of plastic removed from top side of the MS underframe so that the coupling could be glued in place whilst not sitting too high. This has not gone entirely satisfactorily, as it is still a little higher than on the driving coach. There is however play in the system and the connection works as planned. Electrically the track connections need to be made to the new multi-pin coupler. These are the two black wires (top and bottom) on the extreme outer edge of the PCB. Right in the photo. These need to be crossed over to the multi pin in place from parallel as the coupler is effectively reversed at this point. At the other end the LEDs need to be cut off as they no longer serve a function. This must be done to the left of the silver pick-up pads beyond the red line. With that installed the floor panel can be cut. I opted to cut the floor panels almost exactly in half to preserve the screw mounting points for the wheel assembly and the floor securing screw to make sure they were on the same piece. This incidentally also sets the spacing for the coupler. Note the semi-circular bulge where the door step is, this fits perfectly over the screw holding the top cover on the coupling mechanism and gives the correct spacing to ensure close coupling. Nearly there now. Seats and partitions can be added before replacing the overhead light PCB. I blacked out the destination and cab LEDs with a dab of black paint, so that only the interior lights would show with F5 on and the directional destination and cab light would not light. Add transfers, numbering Finally, it can all be assembled again. Then on to the track. Just awaiting final numbering on the driving cars. Best wishes, Chris. Edited October 9, 2023 by Gallows Close Clarity in the 'how to' text. 18 7 1 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rodshaw Posted October 9, 2023 Share Posted October 9, 2023 That's a neat piece of work. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold adb968008 Posted October 9, 2023 RMweb Gold Share Posted October 9, 2023 (edited) Fantastic ! Did you use the motorised chassis, or the unmotorised ? Edited October 9, 2023 by adb968008 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gallows Close Posted October 9, 2023 Author Share Posted October 9, 2023 3 hours ago, rodshaw said: That's a neat piece of work. Thank you very much. Best wishes, Chris. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gallows Close Posted October 9, 2023 Author Share Posted October 9, 2023 51 minutes ago, adb968008 said: Fantastic ! Did you use the motorised chassis, or the unmotorised ? Thank you. The two driving cars have both axles powered. The centre car is unpowered, but through wired to collect current from the track for the two power cars. There is a Lokpilot v.5 in each of the powered cars. Best wishes, Chris. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
CWJ Posted October 11, 2023 Share Posted October 11, 2023 This is my kind of modelling! And very impressive that you were able to cut and file neatly enough to avoid major repainting. I want one. (Although I want it slightly less than I did before you got there first 🙂) Cheers, Will 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gallows Close Posted October 11, 2023 Author Share Posted October 11, 2023 (edited) 3 hours ago, CWJ said: I want one. (Although I want it slightly less than I did before you got there first 🙂) Cheers, Will Being ‘first’ is always a nice feeling, but it also paves the way for someone else to do it better. I hope you do. Best wishes, Chris Edited October 11, 2023 by Gallows Close 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium JDW Posted October 12, 2023 RMweb Premium Share Posted October 12, 2023 Very nice! Having done a Northern one using the Realtrack model, and a WYPTE one using the older DC Kits resin kit, it's nice to see someone else produce a centre car. I'd have been tempted to do one using the new WYPTE one if the price weren't so high. Cutting up a Realtrack one that cost around £100 I can cope with, but I decided buying two £250 models to produce a three car DMU was beyond what I was prepared to pay. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gallows Close Posted October 13, 2023 Author Share Posted October 13, 2023 21 hours ago, JDW said: Very nice! Having done a Northern one using the Realtrack model, and a WYPTE one using the older DC Kits resin kit, it's nice to see someone else produce a centre car. I'd have been tempted to do one using the new WYPTE one if the price weren't so high. Cutting up a Realtrack one that cost around £100 I can cope with, but I decided buying two £250 models to produce a three car DMU was beyond what I was prepared to pay. I’d love to see how you did it. Please feel free to share it here. The cost is of course quite a thing to get over once the realization kicks in that you are going to hack to bits a perfectly good (and brand new) model. My rationale was that I wanted to do it with a Railtrack model but was unable because my order was too late, so this time I ws not prepared to miss out. It is still a bit mad, but the result justifies the initial risk. I’m very happy with how it came out. Best wishes, Chris. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium JDW Posted October 13, 2023 RMweb Premium Share Posted October 13, 2023 I didn't take any decent pics of the work in progress I'm afraid, but (sorry to disappoint!) I did exactly the same. Sliced the coach in the same place as you, rejoined the two halves, even used the same trick with the glazing to line things up, and inserted the doors. Definitely a bonus that the livery on yours matched and you didn't need to repaint it - a fraction of a millimetre out between the bodyside parts on any of the stripes could have meant a repaint! I managed to get away with the same trick to create a Midland Mainline class 170 centre coach without having to match the paint colours to Bachmann's. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Black Hat Posted October 13, 2023 Share Posted October 13, 2023 Id be looking at following in both of your footsteps with this idea. Doing a 3-car 144 looks great but is also challenging. I like the fact that there is a guide, but some more details on how could be really useful - as in where cuts were made and how you get the electrics right. At the moment the livery for my choice of 3-car has not been done as either it would be Realtrack for Northern and so very expensive and hard wiring not not yet done by EFE and so possible to adapt. Still, it could be an option to do sometime so I would be interested to know more. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium JDW Posted October 14, 2023 RMweb Premium Share Posted October 14, 2023 Looking at Chris' model, it seems like the EFE underframe/floor unit might be easier to modify than the Realtrack one, although I also suspect that Chris has made a better job of it than me - I ended up having to ream out a lot of metal from beneath the floor unit and drill a new hole for the wheel assembly mounting screw because of where I decided to cut the two floor sections. If I were doing another, the EFE one looks a better choice from that perspective. The couplings and re-wiring things was immensely fiddly (I'm not great at soldering, and so many small wires in such a small (and delicate) space is a recipe for disaster. What livery are you planning? I wouldn't mind one in the 'circles' red and grey but that would need a complete repaint for the three car version, you couldn't get away with just using the two car and adding the middle coach in for that one! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gallows Close Posted October 20, 2023 Author Share Posted October 20, 2023 On 15/10/2023 at 00:24, JDW said: Looking at Chris' model, it seems like the EFE underframe/floor unit might be easier to modify than the Realtrack one, - I ended up having to ream out a lot of metal from beneath the floor unit and drill a new hole for the wheel assembly mounting screw because of where I decided to cut the two floor sections. I am not familiar with the Realtrack version at all, however the EFE chassis is plastic and easily altered. The only modification the chassis was to remove the cab steps and cut down the valence. The floor of the chassis was thinned down by sanding at the former cab end so that the kinematic coupler could be glued on without being massively too high. The diecast seating section was cut in half for exactly the reasons you stated. There are three holes which need to correspond to the plastic chassis. The centre hole locates the seating section to the chassis, and the two outer holes are to mound the wheel assembly which in turn locate the pick-up springs on the silver pads on the PCB. After that electrical continuity was provided by connecting the two black wires from the 'new' cab end kinematic coupler to the PCB. This is the only mod to the electrics needed. I did this by drilling a hole through the PCB exactly on the track carrying the current and soldering it in place. Because the coupling is reversed at this end, then the wires need to be crossed over to avoid a short. One thing I will not do again is cut off the end of the PCB as I showed in the write up. Somewhere there is a fault which affect the interior lights on the middle car, so in time I'll swap it out for the spare complete one I have and see if that makes a difference. Best wishes, Chris. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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