Graham Farish 81XX Makeover

[RosiesBoss]

On 18 Dec 2021, I was given an old 00-scale Graham Farish 81XX 2-6-2T by one of my fellow club members. He had received it with a job lot of Dublo models and it didn’t fit in with his collection.

 

A quick inspection revealed that it had an intact body, with no “Mazac cancer”. Its motor was strong and operated smoothly. It was somewhat playworn and had been repainted and relettered some time in its life. It bore etched numberplates for 8103. A bit of research revealed it was from the batch of GF models made 1961-71. The prototype 8103 was allocated to Oswestry for much of its service life, so would fit with the rest of my collection.

 

Some aspects were a little crude by today’s standards, but would have been quite acceptable in the 1960s. I considered it a worthy candidate to be given a minor makeover.

 

Improvements made:

·         Slimline tension-lock couplings fitted to pony trucks

·         Plastic pony truck and trailing wheels replaced by finer scale examples

·         Rear of chassis narrowed to make room for scale trailing wheels to pivot around curves

·         Original cylinder block etc. replaced by parts adapted from Hornby 28XX (X2417, X2418, X2649, X2650, X2940, X6968)

·         Driving wheel gauge reduced to 14.3mm back-to-back

·         Whistles fitted (generic  castings from Peter’s Spares)

·         Front lamp brackets and scale couplings added

·         Balancing pipes made and fitted

·         Complete repaint, using Humbrol acrylic GWR green and Tamiya acrylic NATO black plus Humbrol enamels for details

·         Relettered consistent with 8103’s build date of 1938

 

I aimed to refinish it to have a slightly weathered appearance, inspired by this image of 8105: https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/4977976

 

Running trials on the overhauled model revealed that it now runs smoothly at all speeds and has a haulage capacity better than my Dublo Castle class model. It doesn’t look too bad, either.