ECC Wheal Imogen / Rosevean Station: the expansion

[The Fatadder]

a pair of scratch built sea urchin, now fitted with 3d printed buffers.  The next blocker on these is that no one produces the right brake leavers.  The answer seems to be soldering together parts of two different Wizard Models products, so I guess I’d better bring the soldering iron back in from the garage.

[The Fatadder]

Fresh from the Demu stand at Warley yesterday, I’ve finished off the Kernow / Revolution cargo wagon with @railtec-models transfers.  Just need to do a few roof repairs to the paint, varnish and weather before it can enter service now (while the Jon Hall kit will be in line for some upgrades)

[The Fatadder]

Also on the bench yesterday were the next 5 Cavalex CDA, 3 of which (including 375000) gaining new numbers using a custom Railtec sheet (along with the prototype 353224). While all 5 were fitted with Railtec’s St Blazey logos.  The plan had been to crack on with weathering them, but there was too much interest in the stand so it wasn’t really possible.

 

 

I also managed a little more on 37674, picking up Railtec’s Transrail 37 transfers (which include 674s numbers), Phoenix Flint Grey and Signal Yellow.   I had previously found this a pretty good match to Bachman’s yellow, but it’s now changed slightly lighter.  A mix of this and Phoenix’s GBRF yellow gets just enough of an orange hint to match Bachmann’s paint.  It now needs a gentle sanding back with ultra fine wet & dry to remove the brush marks before giving the ends a blast of varnish.  (It will need the nose clips adding as well while I’m at it!)

 

At the show I picked up a pack of Hunt Couplings to experiment with on the GUVs / mk3s.   Looking at it more I think this will be a good route for the coupling between my 153 and 150 hybrid.   Looks like it will be a viable option (and a lot cheaper than the original plan of buying Bachmann 158 couplings).

 

Edited November 26, 2023 by The Fatadder

[The Fatadder]

Earlier in the year back when I was researching my Wales & West DMUs I came across a photo (all be it in Newport) of an interesting unit, half 153 and half 150.  Naturally this was crying out to be modelled.

 

Fast forward and a chance ebay purchase of a chassis that is intended to go under my model of 950001 and I have a spare Bratchell Models chassis for a 150, after sourcing another Bachmann bodyshell the project could go ahead.

 

Modifications to get the body to fit the chassis were not difficult, adding some strips of plastic to the inside of the body for the chassis to sit against.  Hurst models bogie frames were fitted to Stenson Models inners, I am still a little torn about these as they look a little more crude than I would like.  Either sourcing a couple of Bachmann sideframes (or a spot of 3d printing) will be a future improvement I'm sure.

 

The front of the chassis is showing a bit of droop in the plastic moulding, the body still needs some work to add the lower front end parts.  My plan is to add a cross piece inside the body, onto which I will add all of the end detail parts.  This will extend backward far enough to bolt chassis to body.

 

Another area of work remaining will be adding lighting (again as the Bachmann lights are fitted to the chassis rather than the body).  

 

The final area which has seen some work is adding a coupling between the two units, as far as I could see at Warley West Hill do not sell a BSI coupling.  While the Bachmann one from the 158 is both very expensive and has a very big mechanism which would get in the way of the bogies/other details.   For the moment the solution is a magnetic coupling from a Hornby mk3 (seeing as I didnt have any NEM Hunts).  NEM pockets were added under the floor on both models, and the coupling modified to fit in the gap between body and plough. 

 

I dont know how well it will perform on any future continuous run layout, but there is certainly enough lateral movement to cope with the S curve on Wheal Imogen.

 

Eventually the intention is to add a second 153 to the fleet, as I would prefer to be able to run a single unit as well as 2 car sets.  That said other than buying a damaged / non running example for a low price there is no budget for it anytime soon.  (Not to mention the Hornby model is fundamentally flawed dimensionally and feels the sort of thing we would see a new model released for in a year or two.)   To continue to be able to run the 153 as a single car the 150 half will get its own decoder for the lights so that I can very easily split them.

Edited November 30, 2023 by The Fatadder

[WCML100]

A quirky little pairing that - i like it! especially as it is modelled from a real life prototype! 😀

[Talltim]

22 hours ago, The Fatadder said:

Earlier in the year back when I was researching my Wales & West DMUs I came across a photo (all be it in Newport) of an interesting unit, half 153 and half 150.  Naturally this was crying out to be modelled.

 

 

Can you remember where you saw the photo?

[dj_crisp]

22 hours ago, The Fatadder said:

Earlier in the year back when I was researching my Wales & West DMUs I came across a photo (all be it in Newport) of an interesting unit, half 153 and half 150.  Naturally this was crying out to be modelled.

 

Fast forward and a chance ebay purchase of a chassis that is intended to go under my model of 950001 and I have a spare Bratchell Models chassis for a 150, after sourcing another Bachmann bodyshell the project could go ahead.

 

Modifications to get the body to fit the chassis were not difficult, adding some strips of plastic to the inside of the body for the chassis to sit against.  Hurst models bogie frames were fitted to Stenson Models inners, I am still a little torn about these as they look a little more crude than I would like.  Either sourcing a couple of Bachmann sideframes (or a spot of 3d printing) will be a future improvement I'm sure.

 

The front of the chassis is showing a bit of droop in the plastic moulding, the body still needs some work to add the lower front end parts.  My plan is to add a cross piece inside the body, onto which I will add all of the end detail parts.  This will extend backward far enough to bolt chassis to body.

 

Another area of work remaining will be adding lighting (again as the Bachmann lights are fitted to the chassis rather than the body).  

 

The final area which has seen some work is adding a coupling between the two units, as far as I could see at Warley West Hill do not sell a BSI coupling.  While the Bachmann one from the 158 is both very expensive and has a very big mechanism which would get in the way of the bogies/other details.   For the moment the solution is a magnetic coupling from a Hornby mk3 (seeing as I didnt have any NEM Hunts).  NEM pockets were added under the floor on both models, and the coupling modified to fit in the gap between body and plough. 

 

I dont know how well it will perform on any future continuous run layout, but there is certainly enough lateral movement to cope with the S curve on Wheal Imogen.

 

Eventually the intention is to add a second 153 to the fleet, as I would prefer to be able to run a single unit as well as 2 car sets.  That said other than buying a damaged / non running example for a low price there is no budget for it anytime soon.  (Not to mention the Hornby model is fundamentally flawed dimensionally and feels the sort of thing we would see a new model released for in a year or two.)   To continue to be able to run the 153 as a single car the 150 half will get its own decoder for the lights so that I can very easily split them.

 

Nice!

 

I have some (I think) hurst Dapol class 153 etches if you want to improve the 153. Mostly the side windows tbh but the gangways look so much better if you can get rid of the originals and fit Bachmann or even Lima ones.

 

You can guess I gave up on doing a 153/155 as soon as I heard rumours of a new tooled 153 in OO 😁 Although I'm yet to know who's doing it I'm hopeful they can draw curves as the roofline is very subtle.

 

 

[dj_crisp]

25 minutes ago, Talltim said:

Can you remember where you saw the photo?

 

 

Here's a link to a flickr photo I was aware of... the modern hybrid!

[The Fatadder]

1 hour ago, dj_crisp said:

You can guess I gave up on doing a 153/155 as soon as I heard rumours of a new tooled 153 in OO 😁 Although I'm yet to know who's doing it I'm hopeful they can draw curves as the roofline is very subtle.

I cant remember who it was (not that I could say), but I hope its not that far away as it will make a big difference!  As far as upgrades go my plan for the 153 is simply changing the corridor connection once I get round to drawing up a replacement part.

 

1 hour ago, dj_crisp said:

Yes that is the photo I was thinking of, a little bit of a stretch for it to end up on the Newquay branch  I suspect, but its too interesting not to do.  Even more so when it has half Wales and West and half Regional Railways branding.  (although for the moment I dont have that  153 so the whole set will be in Wales and West.

 

I really need to get my P4 wheels swapped so I can get the 158 working again...

[Calnefoxile]

34 minutes ago, The Fatadder said:

I really need to get my P4 wheels swapped so I can get the 158 working again...

 

Which are in my possession 😁

[dj_crisp]

It'll be good to see your 158 working!

 

I'm after some nice 11mm solid disc wheels in EM to do my 2nd gen DMUs... which reminds me I need to pester a certain manufacturer we both know to produce some!

 

I'm sorry to say the Hornby 153 is my most disliked model still in production. I just can't get over everything being basically wrong and being unable to fix it! It annoys me as they had an opportunity to produce something great as the finish is fantastic.

 

And I don't think a 153/150 is that far a stretch on the Newquay branch... any old stuff seems to end up there 😊

[Talltim]

Just do half the 158 and pair it with half a 156...

[The Fatadder]

I had a delivery from Bachmann Spares today, most of which (chassis parts for 47799 and another Mk2f body that will either end up converted to a 2d or the high speed track recording coach) have been put aside as a Christmas present from the mother in law.   However it did also include a set of light guides for a 150/1 and a 150/2 (and as I was £5 under the threshold for free postage I added a set of 08 plates to finish off Laira's 08644)

 

Earlier in the year I bought a 150/2 chassis to power 950001 (freeing up the black beetle I had planned to use to fit to one of my 456 units).  At the time I hadnt realised the subtle differences in the underframe around the cab area on the 150/1.  The next though was to fit the replacement wider light guides and then modify the chassis.  However the new light guide doesnt quite fit onto the 150/2 underframe moulding (I would have bought a 150/1 underframe, but they didnt have the right version available.)   Once again with the 950001 project I massively regret my original decision to "save money" using a Bachmann / Bratchell hybrid.  by the time I then purchased the Bachmann chassis and sort out the wheels I am not far off the price of a second hand Bachmann.....

 

The plan now is that I will cut off the front section of the Bachmann chassis, replicate the front of the underframe (without the steps) and either print or scratch build a replacement for 950001.  With this removed the light guide will fit nicely (while the non powered end will need some sort of replacement lighting board (possibly making use of the spare light guides). 

 

The end of the 150/2 chassis will then be grafted onto the Bratchell chassis under the 150/153 hybrid (along with the final light guide and the other half of the lighting set used on 950001.   Lots more work, not to mention extra expense vs doing it properly the first time round....

There is of course a part of me thinking just buy a complete 150/1 second hand, sell the bodies and keep its chassis.  then use the 150/2 chassis under the hybrid...

[The Fatadder]

progress on 37674, hope to paint the black tomorrow followed by the roof and transfers later in the week.   It can then steal the chassis from 37672 (the body from which will end up on the sales pile)

 

need to rewire the lighting boards as well to sort them for 4 function control as per the last 37/0

 

I’ve also tweaked the coupling on the 150/153 hybrid removing 1mm from the nem socket and the coupling to close the gap between the two units.   I’m holding fire on the modifications to the cab end while I decide whether or not to buy another chassis for 950001 or continue to modify…

Edited December 9, 2023 by The Fatadder

[The Fatadder]

 

More progress on 37674, the roof and black areas are now painted along with one sides grills.  I forgot how tedious this job is!

 

worse still the masking tape lifted a small bit of paint when doing the black, I had issues with the paint mix for the flint grey and I guess it wasn’t quite right.   So I can’t use masking tape when doing the grills for fear of damaging the underlying paint.   
 

fortunately any over paint can be wiped off and incorporated in the weathering.

 

 

I have my other Transrail 37 671 out or comparison.  Which reminded me I ran out of time to fit new underframe tanks pre Showcase (I knew I had another loco to fit them to). I have a set printed so these will be painted and fitted soon.   Tempted to take the sound chip out of 510 and move it into one or other of the transrail locos (along with a better speaker) 

 

The more I work with the new 37 tooling the more I debate selling up my last ten models and fully upgrading.   672 and the DRS pair are certainly on the chopping block early in the new year (along with the bodies for 047 in mainline and 667 in EWS.)   
 

 

065 and 671 have Shawplan windscreens but needs fuel tanks

 

710  and 403 have hybrid windscreens ( Shawplan etch overlaid and new glazing) but need fuel tanks

 

510, 670 and 047 have hybrid windscreens and new fuel tanks.  All the above have Extreme Etchings roof grills.

 

230 has roof grills but Bachmann tanks and ends, if it wasn’t for the cast bogie frame I’d probably replace with a new Dutch loco.  As it is if I see a new Dutch body for sale I’d grab it like a shot.  Loco is definitely on the chopping block. 
 

 672 and the drs pair have Bachmann roof grills, fuel tanks and ends and are all earmarked for disposal.
 

 

It all comes back to how many 37s is too many, the Wheal Imogen fleet has 11 at present.  And operates with 3 or 4 in the fidleyard at any one time. Doubling up to provide for failures does suggest I have too many, so selling two to buy one replacement does have some appeal  (as does loosing a couple of locos to replace with so more sound chips)

[The Fatadder]

The other sides grills have now been painted, along with applying a coat of Klear where the transfers will be applied before work tomorrow morning (allowing for a coat of varnish at lunch given it’s forecast to be dry and mild!)

 

I started preping the lighting boards for modification for 4 function operation, before realising the soldering iron is still in the garage (another job for tomorrow).  After which the body will need further attention to add suitable mounting brackets to fit its new chassis.  
 

 

It won’t be getting its new nameplates until the new year (along with 47799) 

[The Fatadder]

Before work this morning I cracked on with the transfers on 37674, using @railtec-models excellent transfer pack intended for Transrail class 37s.   The big advantage of these is the one piece big T logo (as opposed to the older Fox product which uses 3 layers for the different colours.)  The one piece transfer has enough colour density to sit over the transition between the two greys without any impact. 

 

The pack also includes premade numbers for 37674 (along with 230, 088, 116, 413, 509 and 901), and the Cornish Railways logos for 674's ends (annoyingly after my period).   As ever having a set of spare transfers in the box will always be tempting, I have always wanted 37116 in blue Transrail (though i havent seen a photo of it in the west country.....)   I did at least pay attention and not fit the red stripe on the right hand side....

 

With the main transfers applied the next job was the cantrail stripe, after prepping the first transfer I realised the roof was wrong!   Not entirely sure what ive done here, but I suspect its a case of not checking photos and instead modelling I expect to see.  37674 having a deeper transition between the greys and a lower cantrail stripe than 671/672.    So it was out with the masking tape (cut very narrow to avoid the transfers) to extend the roof paint.   This is now drying and will be followed by adding the remaining transfers (and hopefully varnishing) at lunch.

Edited December 11, 2023 by The Fatadder

[The Fatadder]

Railtec cantrail transfers added, varnish, and glazed. 
 

have to say the SFX glazing looks even worse than the standard version, and pretty terrible next to 671 which has Laserglaze.  It will eventually get retrofitted with Laserglaze I think 

 

I’m now working on fixing body to chassis (made more difficult as I’ve lost one of end fixings after sawing too far removing the nose grill).  I’m now debating the possibility of securing with magnets fitted to the roof and top of chassis block…..

Need to get the modification made to the lighting board (removing one component and rewiring the positive for the high intensity) after which the ends can be glued on and I can check if I’ve removed enough material from above the bufferbeams.

Still debating if I will buy one of MRDs cheap 37s, only thing stopping me is the need to change all 4 nose grills if I were to do a replacement 670 or do 668 in EW &S which are the two most likely candidates.   I am torn as to whether to buy the Intercity kne, repaint the lower band to white and redo as 37510 (all be it this would need rewiring the other way round) 
 

temptation aside, once I get new tanks on 065 it gives me 5 ‘good’ 37 which is enough to run the layout.   37671 was fitted with its new tanks this evening   

[The Fatadder]

37674’s body is now fitting on its chassis, although it still needs to be fitted with some sort of linkage between the original holes on the chassis and the new body’s fixings which are about 5mm inboard.   Lighting will be finished tomorrow morning, followed by gluing on the ends.
 

37671 has finally been finished, earlier Bachmann model with Extreme Etchings windows and roof grill now fitted with my fuel tanks. 

[dj_crisp]

It might not work as well with locos as they tend to be heavier but my method of fixing Dapol 122 bodies to Bachmann chassis is simply the sticky black tack stuff that I also use to get rid of light bleed. Failing that glue n glaze is quite good as the bond is easy to break.

[The Fatadder]

11 minutes ago, dj_crisp said:

It might not work as well with locos as they tend to be heavier but my method of fixing Dapol 122 bodies to Bachmann chassis is simply the sticky black tack stuff that I also use to get rid of light bleed. Failing that glue n glaze is quite good as the bond is easy to break.

Will have to give it a go, 37521’s body is loose on the chassis and lost half the end fixings when doing the grills.  The grey 37/0 was the most successful adding a plate screwed into the new bodies holes and a second hole in line with the chassis holes.  But this didn’t need nose grills so kept everything intact.  674 obviously lost one end fitting so is somewhere in between.

 

 

I’ve now fetched the soldering iron and cracked on with sorting out the lighting boards.  I now have 4 function controls of the lights (but could easily modify it back to get independent control of the high intensity should I ever want it.

 

now for final assembly 

[The Fatadder]

With the lighting boards complete and the ends fitted to the body, the only job left was to wire them up to the loco.

 

The chassis for 37672 was one of the few on which I hadn’t modified for independent control of the tail lights pre Showcase, so this was the first job.  As usual the cab lights were removed with the wiring at one end reused for that set of tails, while the purple wire was directly connected at the other.  The nose wires were then soldered directly to the loco wires, plugs would be useful but as I don’t have any I can’t be bothered.

 

the body is a good fit on the chassis, so for now it’s left loose.  It will no doubt eventually get some form of securing added (I really like the idea of the black tacky stuff).

Though really the number of these I’ve done (with no doubt more to come) I really should have just designed and printed an adjuster plate…

 

Still can’t decide if I will buy a cheap 2022 37, if Bachmann hadn’t done the 37/4 ends so well with the base plate for the ETH socket my thoughts would be easier…..

 

edit: just been on MRD again and a sound Intercity 37 has just reappeared in the sale.  By my logic a standard loco at £122 would then need a £25 decoder to get it working so it’s only another £27 for sound……..

 

It will either become 37417 in EWS (it worked the clay at least once, plus did some turns in Devon and Cornwall on an inspection saloon). 37670 as a replacement for my Kernow one (although I’m erring toward doing a Shawplan conversion on this one), or 37668 in EW&S seeing as there are so many photos of it working on clay.   (There’s also a final outside chance I just replace my current 37510)

 

I do need to do some decoder swapping now.  The current sound pair of 510 and  670 should really have their decoders in 521, 671 or 674.    At the end of the day the best locos will be on scene the most, so they should have the sound…

Edited December 12, 2023 by The Fatadder

[The Fatadder]

debating if I should add words to the fence, I don’t normally bother as the real things are so fine but sometimes overscale is better than not seeing anything 

 

In the mean time, I’m about to start weathering the Cavalex CDA I renumbered at Warley 

[dj_crisp]

Go on Rich... Im sure you want to add wires. (Mostly because you're way ahead of me and I'd like to see if the effort is worth it :) )

 

FWIW I've just had a load of 0.2mm wire arrive from China for this task

 

[The Fatadder]

Do you have a link to what you used?  Is it metal or plastic wire?

 

I have some very fine copper wire that I bought years ago for wiring signals, part of me is thinking about replacing a post every foot or so with a brass one and soldering the wires on.   Blackcombe had wires fitted, they were a pain!   On the mk1 Wheal Imogen (and on Brent) I haven’t bothered so far.