1970s RTR and Chassis Kits - BR Standard 3MT 2-6-2T

[cctransuk]

Some forty-five years ago, as an impecunious young family man, railway modelling was of necessity a low priority when it came to spending.

 

Chancing on a secondhand Tri-ang BR 2-6-2T, I felt that it could be upgraded at relatively minor expense. Checking the body moulding against a drawing, it was clear that quite an improment could be made by shortening the front footplate behind the bufferbeam, so this was undertaken using, I seem to recall, the front end of a broken Hornby Dublo Standard 2-6-4T.

 

The body was still some 4mm. too long, but the 'stretching' had been introduced by Tri-ang throughout the body, and further length reduction was impracticable. I then fitted the chassis with Romford wheels - (plain mazac on one side) - and added a few more cosmetic details. A repaint, reline and renumber produced a model that had much more the 'feel' of a scale model, for not much expenditure. That model has subsequently been in storage for the intervening forty-five years, but the prospect of, at last, having a layout on which to run it, prompted me to dig it out the other day. Placed on the test track, it ran with surprising readiness, but it's appearance was certainly not suitable for 21st century standards.

 

In the meantime, I had picked up a Kemilway motorising kit for the Kitmaster / Airfix / Dapol BR 4MT 2-6-0 kit - another product of the mid-1970s - which I had vague ideas of using to further update the Tri-ang 2-6-2T. This Kemilway chassis kit was used as the basis for their own whitemetal and brass kit of a BR 3MT 2-6-2T, and so the chassis kit should be suitable for the Tri-ang, I reasoned.

 

Checking the frames against the Tri-ang (still 4mm. too long) body showed distinct promise, so assembly of the Kemilway kit was commenced, and has now reached the rolling chassis stage. I added a set of new Markits wheels and a couple of Comet bar-framed pony trucks to the basic chassis kit, which was an absolute dream to assemble in a Poppy's jig box. Right from the outset, the chassis rolled beautifully - no binding whatsoever, and a mere touch sends it rolling along the test track.

 

It is now my practice, when using the Poppy's jig to assemble frames, to very slightly elongate the holes in the chassis for the bearings of the non-driven axles, so that the rods can be used to easily set the axle centres to match. In this way, the axle bearings are free to take up positions that exactly match those of the coupling rods.

 

The next job will be to assemble the High Level Highflier Plus gearbox to a Mitsumi motor, and then fit that combination into the chassis.

 

 

 

Further progress in a few days - got to go 'up country' tomorrow!

 

John Isherwood.

Edited September 7, 2020 by cctransuk

[Captain Kernow]

Very interested to see how you get on with this one, John. Sounds like a great project.

 

[LNWR18901910]

Let's hope for the best with this model! I even renumbered it as No. 82045 based on the replica of the class.

[cypherman]

Hi,

I recently upgraded several of the Triang 2-6-2's. Not a huge upgrade as I wanted to keep the Triangness about them but enough to make a difference. There is a post about how and what I did on this forum. But here is one of them. They all run as sweet as a nut now. I noticed that the valve gear was out of true in these pictures that was due to the fixing screw coming loose and allowing the back of the rise up. that has now been fixed. What CCTransuk proposes to do goes well beyond what I have done here. I wish him well in his work.

Here is the link to my post about the 3mt.

Edited September 8, 2020 by cypherman

[cctransuk]

 

This project has progressed to a running chassis, that fits snugly into the (now heavily weighted) Tri-ang body.

 

The running, thanks to the Kemilway chassis kit, a High Level Roadrunner + gearbox and a Mitsumi motor, is absolutely silent and very sure-footed.

 

The Tri-ang body lacks any representation of the firebox backhead so, as posted elsewhere, I am looking for the backhead moulding from a Kitmaster / Airfix / Dapol Standard 4MT 2-6-0 kit. If your scrap box has such an item that you are willing to sell, please PM me.

 

I'll try and post some photos soon.

 

John Isherwood.