Restoration or vandalism? H/D into the late 20th Century

[45568]

The first announcement was usually in Meccano Magazine, with a brief description and a drawing; then as they were released MM has pictures of them in a layout setting, and finally passing the local HD stockist they would be in a display case, usually priced at many weeks pocket money!

 These were some of the last, and most detailed (expensive) of the Dublo SD6 wagon range. Being a Tri-Ang lad, my dad counselled against purchases of HD wagons because of coupling incompatibility, so I did not buy these at the time. Now, some 50-odd years later, I have tried to bring them up to a (relatively) modern standard. Inspiration came from John Isherwood , cctransuk on here, but whereas John was happy to build new underframes and add etched details, I wished to utilise as much of the original as possible.

First, and possibly the most sacrilegious, the Caustic liquor tanker #4685.

The model was obtained from Ebay and had been heavily coated in a yellowish varnish. Taken apart, the bogies were removed form the underframe and couplings/wheels removed. Both body and chassis components were stripped in caustic soda. I was concerned to try and find a suitable colour paint for ICI blue, but the body came up beautifully after its bath and only required clear varnish coats prior to transfer application. The underframe/bogies were stripped back to bare metal, a Dave Franks coupling hook added, then primed and recoated using Tamiya spray paints. Ladders, stay wires and end stanchions were also sprayed.

 Transfers are from john Isherwood's Cambridge range, and finish the model well.

My next victim was another favourite of mine from the era, 4679 Traffic Services tank wagon. the tank filler moulding is a tribute to the mould designers art, however, other aspects of the body were improved. Both halves were glued together and the join line filled and smoothed. The large moulded number panel was removed. Body and u/frame again totally stripped back using caustic, and repainted using Tamiya spray.

CCT transfers finish the model, I am very pleased with the way a rather battered Ebay purchase has turned out. I have four more to do as time permits, a couple need replacement tank fillers, which are available from Shapeways, to finish an interesting rake.

I hope that the above does not cause too many palpitations..!

Cheers from Oz,

Peter C.

 

[roythebus]

I don't see a problem with modernising and super detailing these old classics. Far better do that and use them on your layout. For those pure Dublo collectors they'd rather have mint boxed originals than tatty models.

 

I've got a couple of Traffic Services tanks and an ICI tank in quite good condition, fitted with Kadees and better wheels.

 

I also have some of the Hornby breakdown train box vans which Wrenn sold off very cheaply in the 1960s, painted bauxite and fitted on Airfix meat van chassis. 

[roythebus]

Just remembered there's a couple of white tankers in my collection as well, I must finish doing those as well!

[Il Grifone]

1 hour ago, roythebus said:

omis

 

I also have some of the Hornby breakdown train box vans which Wrenn sold off very cheaply in the 1960s, painted bauxite and fitted on Airfix meat van chassis. 

 

The body of my breakdown train tool van came from a Wrenn example   (the original had been overpainted and stripping it was only partly successful). This suggests that it could actually be a Meccano production and cleared out by Wrenn. 

[Wolseley]

City of Bradford - a repainted and three-railed Dublo City of London (apologies for the bundles of wire in the background - I took this photo a while ago when I was in the throes of wiring my layout):

 

[Wolseley]

Now the original Dublo Castle looks more realistic than the Ringfield version, as the Ringfield motor is rather bulky and visible, taking up virtually all the space in the cab, but I've always wanted a Ringfield Castle (don't ask me why - I'm not really a Great Western person).

 

As I was running three rail Dublo this meant, if I was concerned with originality, I would have to search for a rare Ludlow castle and, when I found one, pay between five and ten times what I have paid for most of my other locomotives. So, when a rather playworn two rail Cardiff Castle popped up on eBay sans tender, for £27, I bought it and then had to find a tender top (I had a tender chassis complete with plunger pickups in my box of spares) and found one for £5. It's a pretty straightforward job to convert it to three rail.

 

Now it would be irresponsible to restore it as Ludlow Castle, and the Cardiff Castle nameplates were damaged, so I decided to finish it as something else, and it ended up as Isambard Kingdom Brunel. The lining was in a bad way and had to be replaced but the paintwork (except for the cab roof) isn't too bad, but the whole thing needed to be repainted rather than retouched if I were to get a good finish.  The paint that was left was adhering well, so I didn't strip it back to bare metal.  I then ordered transfers and nameplates from Fox Transfers.....

 

I needed to replace the magnet, and one of the motor's bearings was missing, which is probably why it initially made some strange noises at full power (or at least the fullest power I could achieve with the magnet it had).  After I reassembled it, it went perfectly in reverse, but stopped and started when going forwards. I have no idea why that was, but running it at near full speed in reverse for half an hour freed everything up, and it now performs well in both directions.

I ended up adding a few details as well as refinishing the loco. Here's the result:
 

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

Meanwhile, in the House of Heresy...

 

Of all the H-D steam locos it was the 8F that I lusted after in childhood. The only RTR freight heavy in OO, and H-D had done the job on it with plentiful weight for traction. And it looked so well overall.

 

The present RTR OO item is much superior in appearance, but is feeble in performance due to its light weight. Where does the superiority in appearance arise? Mostly in the running gear, all flanged wheels, finer representation of the gear and all the detail on the frames.

 

So, can I wedge the current mechanism into the H-D body? Yes! The resulting compound is not as heavy as the H-D, but is equivalent the Bach 9F and Heljan O2, more than adequate for dragging full train loads of current pinpoint bearing metal wheelset wagons.

[sagaguy]

Ringfield motors are the easiest motors to reverse,remove the brushes,then the end captaking care not to lose the little ball in the bearing.pull the magnet out slightly & rotate it 180 deg.Reassemble & you have a loco that will run in the correct direction providing the centre rail is negative & the track base is positive.

I am of the opinion that once you`ve seen one 2-6-4 tank or a Montrose pulling two coaches,you`ve really seen the lot.I like to convert some locos into something that Meccano never considered,below,my Ivatt duchess with a Delta trailing truck & an etched tender body from Comet models.One day maybe,i shall buy a Duchess & convert it into the Turbo motive.

                          Ray.

[Il Grifone]

A Princess is a better start for the Turbomotive. I have a GBL Princess scheduled to become 6202, as there is not a Dublo version. I was going to put a Tri-ang (or Hornby) 0-6-0T chassis under it fitted with larger wheels and 28:1 Hornby gears, but I'm trying to find the radius of the casings. I estimate 9" but really need the correct value. It is of course another of those projects on hold.

[PatB]

I think there was a long ago RM article on turning the Triang Princess into the Turbomotive, back in the days when such things were a staple of magazine articles. 

[BernardTPM]

I remember that, somewhere around 1970ish. He did one as the Turbomotive and the other as a 'proper' Princess, splicing in extra length at the firebox end, I think.