Titivating Bachmann's Retooled Thompson Coaches

[MikeTrice]

Some of you may be aware of a companion topic of mine which looks at methods of improving the original version of the Bachmann Thompson Coaches: http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/121184-titivating-bachmanns-original-thompson-lner-coaches/

The latest versions of the Bachmann Thompsons are much more accurate and highly detailed, albeit dearer, and there is little to fault them. It was while detailing the compartments of the early Bachmann's that I thought it might be fun to attempt some minor changes to the newest models hopefully without destroying the painted finish. This topic presents the results.

There are three main areas that I wanted to address:
1)    Add compartment partition details
2)    Replace painted corridor handrails with N/S wire
3)    Replace torpedo vents with something closer to scale

Before starting it is necessary to dismantle the coach. As with the earlier coaches the body is held to the underframe unit by four tabs each side which can be seen here on the full first. They are easier than the early coaches to separate as the tabs are shallower. I used a couple of strips of 20thou styrene which I slid between the body and underframe and moved lengthwise to pop apart:


Add compartment partition details.
The moulded seats of the Brake Third. Unlike the earlier models these are ready coloured:


As before I produced some artwork to produce labels for the partition details (file attached):


Applied to the third class seats:


And first class:


Replace painted corridor handrails with N/S wire.
The new Thompsons use a painted line to represent the corridor handrail which is not over convincing:


Using a cocktail stick dipped in Brass polish the painted line was polished off from behind:


After cleaning up the polish:


The first class windows are slightly more tricky as the handrail is very close to the Smoking sign however it all went without a problem:

 

Replacement handrail from 0.45mm N/S straight wire:

 

A simple guide cut from styrene was used to space the handrail from the bottom of the coach:

 

An issue is the recess formed for the glazing. With the wire now standing back further from the surface it looks odd from above. Need to give this one some thought:

Replace torpedo vents with something closer to scale.

The moulded vents were twisted off and the resulting stub carefully pared down:

 

A sharp point was then used to indent the centre of the old vent:

 

Finally the indent was opened up to 1.6mm to accept my Shapeways LNER Torpedo Vents:

 

Here is a comparison with the original large Bachmann vents and a scale replacement:

 

Once the new vents were glued in place they were touched in with Vallejo Neutral Grey to which some Flat Green has been added together with a little Burnt Red. Overall I am very happy with the colour match:

 

Conclusion

All that is left is to reassemble the coach and admire. Replacing the vents was relatively straightforward and visually changes the coach, the compartment partition labels are visible from certain angles and easy to apply, the only question mark at present is the distance of the wire corridor handrails from the glazing:

 

 

 

 

Bachmann Thompson Partitions (2017) v1.pdf

[chrisf]

There are some useful ideas here which can be used to improve other coaches.  In my view the hallmark of a decent rtr model is that it is worth improving.

 

Chris

[MikeTrice]

I really had to do something about those corridor handrails. With the window glazing being recessed just fixing a length of N/S as I did leaves a big gap between the back of the window and the handrail resulting in those odd viewing angles. Having thought long and hard it was evident that the handrails needed to be shaped to fit within the recesses.

 

I started by creating a couple of bending jigs out of 20thou styrene:

 

The jig on the left is used to create a basic "staple" the correct length, and the jig on the right is used to flatten the "staple" to form a shallow top hat shape.

 

First off, a length of 0.45mm N/S is bent through 90 degrees with a pair of pliers:

 

This is then slotted into the first jig:

 

The other end's bend can now be formed:

 

After removal and trimming up I have my basic "staple" of a length that just fits in the glazing recess:

 

In fairness I probably could have produced this "staple" using a Bill Bedford handrail jig.

 

With the second jig one end leg of the "staple" is threaded through:

 

And flattened:

 

On removal and reversing the other end is also flattened:

 

The flattening process has left the basic handrail with not well formed corners, so they are tweaked with a pair of pliers:

 

Finally the end tails are bent through 90 degrees:

 

Repeating the process produces a matching set of handrails:

 

A handrail is position and dabs of 5 minute epoxy placed over the ends. As the glue sets they can be tweaked into final position:

 

When viewed from the front both versions of handrail look similar (the new one is on the left):

 

However when viewed from above the new version on the left maintains far better alignment with the "First" sign:

 

 

 

 

 

[MikeTrice]

The First reassembled:

 

Must straighten that second handrail!!!!

 

 

 

 

 

P.S. In hindsight I guess these should have some "No Smoking" signs added where appropriate, something Bachmann seemed to have missed off.

Edited May 10, 2017 by MikeTrice

[jwealleans]

Top-class, Mike. I didn't know that the handrails were chrome, not brass in these vehicles. Got that wrong on my old ones....

[davidw]

Hi all, I'm just wondering if anyone has tried repainting any of these in maroon. If so how did they do it if not any thoughts on how it could be done. The C/C versions I have all the glazing is very well secured, unlike the early mk1 models.