Hornby Hawksworth Modifications (Brinkly Works!)

[Brinkly]

Hornby Hawksworth - D133 (Corridor Brake Third)

 

Greetings,

 

I thought that I would start an additional thread, keeping the wagon construction and coaching stock separate.

 

When the Hornby Hawksworth coaching stock was released, I like many others, bought a couple to see just how good they really were. As has been said before they are great! Having started with two my fleet has grown to six, included one full brake destined for parcel work on Bodmin and Horrabridge.

 

Shortly after the coach was released Mike Clark, owner of Masokits, produced a detailing etch for the ends of the coach and a sprung bogie, using the Hornby plastic bogies as sides. Having seen the article in MRJ a few years ago showing the improvements, I purchased two detailing etches and two sprung bogie kits.  

 

The chosen victim, D133 Corridor Brake Third in crimson and cream no W1773W. This coach will probably won’t see a huge amount of action on Bodmin, although it will be used as part of a three coach set on Horrabridge, working Plymouth to Launceston services.

 

I started work on this carriage a few years ago, removing one gangway end and completing one of the sprung bogies, but put it away in a cupboard and forgot about it. I found it a couple of months ago and decided to carry on with the work over the weekend. The bogie runs really smoothly, so hopefully once the carriage is completed it should be a good reliable performer and work as a bench mark for future work.

 

First photo shows the victim - W1773W (D133)  

 

End view showing the removed Hornby gangway.

 

Masokits bogie etch - one already constructed. It takes about a hour and a half to get to this stage, although they do go together very nicely.

Exactoscale wasted bearings and Ultrascale coach wheels.

 

Part build bogie - the etch looks really dirty! (Not sure why!) As with most of my soldering now, Carr's 145 degree solder and Yellow flux was used throughout.

 

Plastic sides cut away and stuck to the etched subframe. (This job was a pain! Trying not to damaged the plastic bogie sides was a nightmare, although nothing was damaged, so I must have got something right!)

 

Tomorrow's job...

The fun begins with this lot!

 

It doesn't look like I've done a huge amount today, but I have honest! This is quite time consuming, although I think the end result it will be worth it.

 

Tomorrow should see the ends being completed and with any luck a trail assembly to check the height.

 

Thanks for looking. Please do post any comments/advice, it is always good to hear from other modellers.

 

Kind regards,

 

Nick.

 

[ullypug]

Looking forward to seeing how you get on with this Nick. I've got a couple of Hawksworths lurking in the modelling cupboard and have my eye on the Masokits detailing etches too. 

[Brinkly]

Looking forward to seeing how you get on with this Nick. I've got a couple of Hawksworths lurking in the modelling cupboard and have my eye on the Masokits detailing etches too. 

 

 

Cheers Andrew,

 

Looking at a couple of photos of Mike's own work, they do look good once the detailing has been done, although I wouldn't want to do a 15 coach rake of them!

 

These are Mike's own work, can't remember where I found the pictures now. On the net somewhere.

 

Kind regards,

Nick.

[Brinkly]

Hornby Hawksworth - D133 (Corridor Brake Third) - Part 2

 

Greetings,

As promised yesterday a second update, so three in three weeks!

 

Right today's work focused on completing the bogie conversions, both are now completed. I really like the detail on the Hornby bogie; they really are excellent.

 

The plastic sides were fitted with a small amount of glue.

 

The underside, cut and shut.

 

I can't go any further with the bogies as I don't have any 8ba screws to fit the bogies to the chassis, so that job will have to wait till another day.

 

Once I'd completed the bogies, I moved back to completing the gangway ends. The first job was to fit 1mm brass rod to the gangway jig. The jig has two small 0.5mm holes in the centre, which then acts as a drilling guide. 

 

A small jig attached - please excuse the soldering!

 

This is how the gangways started life... Lots of little bits.

 

And this is how it finished...

There are lots of small details, Pullman adapters, are the 'ears' on the sides, with the brackets further up. This took a good couple of hours to make, but I think the blood, sweat and tears will be worth it. 

 

The last photo shows the two main components; the piece on the left is stuck to the rear of the coach, with the part on the right acting as the gangway end.

 

Hopefully over the coming days I will be able to paint the etched parts and fit to the coach.    

 

Thanks for looking - more to come.

 

Kind regards,

Nick.

 

[chrisf]

Well done, Nick.  Dealing with the gangways on my own Hawksworth is but one of many jobs in the queue and to be honest it is one of many that I have funked thus far.  Seeing yours is a help in overcoming that cowardice!

 

Those gangways are bound to turn out better looking than the strange floppy plastic efforts that Hornby fitted.  I thought that ripping them off my example would act as a spur to providing something better but it's funny how things turn out.

 

Chris

 

[i think I've found all the typos in this post.  As I've been composing it Marianne Faithfull has been warbling "Plaisir d'Amour" on the radio and it was quite distracting!]

[Brinkly]

Hi Chris,

 

Thanks for your post. Once you get going they aren't too bad. The worst bit I found by far was folding the blasted hanging basket brackets (or whatever their called)! They are a sod! Mike provides you with 'spares', so if you make a muck up, you can have another go, which is just as well, because I the two attached here are versions 3 and 4!

 

Kind regards,

Nick.