MOPOK Western Region Dynamometer Car

[Prometheus]

Having been given this kit sans instructions I assembled it largely from photographs on-line. It was an interesting exercise though and the finished product, although not perfect by any means, was better than I thought. The majority of the white metal castings were not usable however and were replaced by items from my bits box [I was lucky enough to have an identical pair of ends in good condition, better buffers and better ventilators].

 

The chassis was another matter altogether though and the central truss rod / sole bar mouldings, being completely un-salvageable, could not be replaced by anything that I had to hand. I remembered then that I had a scrap Hornby Hawksworth coach however and was able to use parts of that and some other castings to complete the underframe area. The Hornby part required some thinning but it fitted nicely eventually and provided a far more detailed, realistic underframe than the original castings might have. All that remains of the original kit are the printed sides, the acetate body shell and the wooden floor. The interior of the coach is scratch built but is, inevitably, almost invisible!

 

 

 

I thought that the body shell captured the characteristic profile of the Hawksworth roof rather well although there was no provision within the kit for the prominent guttering. That I attached with fine microstrip and it also provided a useful barrier for the sides to butt up against when locating them. The sides of the coach are also pretty flat with no major bowing at all, although one end does curve out very slightly because of the width of the end casting being greater than the shell and floor.

 

The body shell - inexplicably - was some way shorter than the printed sides and it was necessary to cut the sides right back to the doors to enable them to fit. Consequently, it was not possible to fit a grab iron at each of the right hand ends. No matter.

 

Excuse the dust in the photos!  

 

Tony

 

 

 

Edited July 20, 2020 by Prometheus

[BernardTPM]

Nice job! That was the only one of three (or was it four?) Mopok Hawkesworths I completed way back when they were new. Weighs a ton, of course, with all those metal bogie, underframe and end castings. I changed era and gauge before I got round to the others.

[Prometheus]

Thanks for the comment. Out of interest, do you have a date for the kit’s release?

 

Using parts of the Hornby underframe has helped considerably with the weight stakes and it’s not too heavy at all now.

 

The flush sides compliment the Hawksworth body well, too, although the prototype’s prominent seams cannot be replicated. Separate handles and grab irons help lift the illusion however.

 

 I’m not at all sure that I could build a rake of these coaches but my hunt for the not dissimilar construction PC Models slip coach continues......

 

Tony

Edited July 21, 2020 by Prometheus

[hmrspaul]

I'm surprised you found the whitemetal castings so poor. Mopok influenced Adrian Swain to go full time (see Chris Leigh's obit elsewhere) and his casting was state of the art at the time. 

I don't know of a listing of Mopok kits - I still have a couple basically unopened but didn't know they did this one. I don't think a list was included in the kits. Perhaps Chris knows of a list somewhere?  Adrian continued the concept with some BR inspired models - I have unopened kits for some suburbans and his packaging was much better!

 

Paul

 

 

[Prometheus]

I have no other experience of these kits Paul so the castings are probably, normally, OK. These were not however, particularly the solebar/truss rod units. They couldn’t be dressed without breaking the fragile truss rod mouldings and the excess flashing / casting on the back required a very large file to remove it. The bogey sides were similarly ‘over’ cast. 

 

Ultimately though, none of this was a problem and the work around was wholly successful. None of the unused castings were binned though, all will eventually  be adapted to find another life.

 

This was an enjoyable build and a challenge worth confronting. It’s just the sort of modelling that I enjoy.

 

Tony

[Departmental]

Could you reveal your source for the lettering on the coach?

[Porcy Mane]

2 hours ago, Departmental said:

Could you reveal your source for the lettering on the coach?

 

Apologies for butting in.

 

The lettering was pre-printed as part of the side. It was one of the few downsides to what was an excellent kit as some of the lettering was much larger than originally applied on the prototype during the 1961 conversion. The bigger lettering as depicted in the kit came much later. I think that was post preservation. I would need to check the book written about the coach to confirm.

 

On 21/07/2020 at 11:29, hmrspaul said:

I don't know of a listing of Mopok kits - I still have a couple basically unopened but didn't know they did this one. I don't think a list was included in the kits.

 

Somewhere I have a Mopok advert from approx 1974/5.

Meanwhile, this slip slip was included with the Dyno car etc which I bought around about 1974. I Also built the Hawksworth BG, GUV, CCT and DBT at the time. My Mate built a few of the Palethorpes sausage vans. Apart from my Dyno car, we still have the rest.

 

Edited August 17, 2020 by Porcy Mane

[BernardTPM]

8 hours ago, Porcy Mane said:

The lettering was pre-printed as part of the side. It was one of the few downsides to what was an excellent kit as some of the lettering was much larger than originally applied on the prototype during the 1961 conversion. The bigger lettering as depicted in the kit came much later. I think that was post preservation.

 

It must have just been coincidence regarding the bigger lettering as at the time the kit was produced the real thing was in the RTC blue/red livery as 'Test Car 4'. It's a pity they didn't do that version as well.

Here's my kit, built mid-'70s as a teenager. Unfortunately after 40 odd years the Evostick is on the way out and the compartment side is bowing off. I think the corridor side has benefitted from being laid against the bottom of the box (with the original tissue the printed sides came in to protect from scuffing). The sheer weight has helped keep it fairly flat.

 

 

[Prometheus]

18 hours ago, Departmental said:

Could you reveal your source for the lettering on the coach?

 

Apologies - I missed this, but thanks to Porcy Mane for replying in my place.

 

Tony

[Halvarras]

I bought the Mopok BR CCT kit in BR blue in the mid 70s without appreciating the multi-material nature of the beast (a poorly trimmed acetate bodyshell and separate pre-printed sides, wooden floor and whitemetal ends/underframe details). I wasn't sure which adhesives to use so I left it for a while until I happened to mention it during a visit to Colin Massingham at his place in Slough (might have been 6/3/76, I took some pics near the station on that date). He briefly disappeared and came back with an MTK CCT aluminium bodyshell and floor, so I ended up with a hybrid model which of course I had to paint and letter (using his transfer sheet, which I still have, along with some Mopok sheets). I think I might still have those pre-printed sides somewhere......

[hmrspaul]

18 hours ago, Porcy Mane said:

 

 

The lettering was pre-printed as part of the side. It was one of the few downsides to what was an excellent kit as some of the lettering was much larger than originally applied on the prototype during the 1961 conversion. The bigger lettering as depicted in the kit came much later. I think that was post preservation. I would need to check the book written about the coach to confirm.

 

Thanks for the list. I believe the reference to a BR Scenery Ferry van is the bogie van based on the GUV design (and not the ferry van modelled by Tri-ang now Hornby) https://paulbartlett.zenfolio.com/brferryscenery They photographed one at Slough in July 1971. 

 

If http://www.cs.rhrp.org.uk/se/CarriageInfo.asp?Ref=84 is correct this wasn't conserved until 1983; years later than the Mopok range. Tony and John usually worked from their own photographs - although I cannot find that Tony photographed this coach. 

PC Models introduced this way of making models, using it for pre-grouping coaches with their complex lining that only the most proficient modellers were reproducing at the time. That artwork doesn't appear to have survived the sale of PC models transfers to the HMRS  (but I could be wrong)

Some of the models suggested to be produced on that list appear to have been produced by Adrian Swain - ABS - after the economic failure of MOPOK etc. 

 

Paul