Modelling the APT in late 1980 ... and also 1984

[25kV]

This is the start of a project to attempt to model the active APT fleet in late 1980, with a secondary aim of being able to recreate the set I rode on in 1984, age 12!  It's also my first attempt at any kind of detailed modelling - I've had grand designs for decades but neither the confidence nor skill to do more than slap enamel paint on to things badly with a brush.

 

Late 1980 was probably "peak APT" - a scruffy, short, yellow-ended set formed of 370001+370004 was running high speed tests with the then brand-new Brecknell Willis high speed pantograph fitted to a single power car; a black-masked 12+2 formation was doing demonstration runs formed of rakes 370005 and 370006 with two power cars; and there were two other full length black-masked trailer rakes kicking about, 370002 and 370007.  002 doesn't seem to have have run under power in its full length form, but 007 tended to get swapped out with 005 or 006 in the 12+2 or 12+1 set.  The other rake, 4-car 370003, had returned to Derby in the middle of the year for overhaul.

 

So I figured I'd start with the scruffy one - which has the advantage of being the shortest set in use at the time: the 3 cars of 370001, one power car, and the 2 cars of 370004.  And if this one works out, maybe I'll move on to something a bit longer...

 

_________________________________________________________________________________

 

Part One - 370001

 

 

In reality this rake was a testbed throughout its working life, was never more than three vehicles long, and never carried passengers.  It was initially formed of three cars, built as DTS 48101, TS 48206 and TBF 48601.  However all three vehicles were equipped with test equipment before turning a wheel in anger - instrument racks, mess and workshop facilities, and even an auxiliary diesel generator in the brake van to power all of the above.  So this rake will form the first part of the project.  

It's worth saying that BR's intention had been to complete testing and have trains in public service by the end of 1980, which would have seen 001's test gear removed, standard seating fitted, and the set extended to its full 6-car length - in the event, in 1981 the set was given its black cab window mask but instead shortened to just two cars with the removal of test car 48206.  It remained the primary test unit and sported a variety of internal layouts over the next few years - of which more below.

 

 

Creating test car 48206 (and improving the Development Coach 48204 in the process)

 

So back to 1980 and let's start with the original test car, 48206.  Externally this vehicle was unchanged - internally, however, it featured equipment racks at the inner end nearest the TBF car, with some seating and a workshop area at the outer end.  Here we must immediately digress and move forward four years to 1984 when a different test car was created from TS 48204.  This vehicle had previously operated in 370003 as a regular TS but was modified to be non-articulated, and ran between 370001's TBF and the adjacent power car.  It too was fitted out with equipment racks at one end, with regular seating retained at the other.  Hornby produces this "Development Coach" as part of its 7-car sets, and also as a separate vehicle - but what's very useful about the model is that while it contains a pretty good likeness of the correct 1984 equipment racks at one end, it also contains a pretty good likeness of 48206's 1980 equipment racks at the other!  I expect this helpful error occurred when Hornby's researchers found images of both vehicles' interiors, which are admittedly very similar, didn't realise that two separate vehicles had existed at different times, and concluded that they were different ends of the same coach.

 

 

_________________________________________________________________________________

 

So back to the project!

 

 

The starting point is Hornby's 370003 DTS and TBF from the 2020 five car set, a regular TS, and two Development Coaches, one of which will end up as a more accurate representation of the 1984 coach, and the other to act as an equipment donor for the rest of the 1980 rake.  (A spare TS is lurking in the background - this is going to form the basis of a model of 'Pilot', the pre-production trailer used for tilt testing.  But let's not get distracted.)

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First step is to dismantle everything, and, since APT vehicles are always the same way around in a rake, I've made a point to label the relevant ends of the test cars - in both cases the end adjacent to the TBF car was where the equipment racks were housed, which minimised the amount of cabling needed from the generator set in the brake van area.

_________________________________________________________________________________

 

Well, here we go - the plunge has been taken!  The first cut is the deepest - both interior mouldings have been cut in half, swapped around, and will form the basis of the new interiors for both vehicles.  Here they're placed roughly in their correct positions for each vehicle, but as you can see, the racks for 48204 need to be at the opposite end of the vehicle, so there's a bit more to do to get things properly settled.  

Next step - removing more seats from 48206, reshaping the ends of 48204's test area, doing something about all that red plastic... and pondering what this Warship is doing here. ;)

 

 

[RedgateModels]

Following 😀

[RedgateModels]

Do you have pics etc of 48204's interior to work with?

 

I've made my own version for my 1980's APT and would like to get the interior right, even if it means doing some 3D printing.

Edited May 24, 2023 by RedgateModels

[25kV]

5 hours ago, RedgateModels said:

Do you have pics etc of 48204's interior to work with?

 

I've made my own version for my 1980's APT and would like to get the interior right, even if it means doing some 3D printing.

 

The best ones of 48204 (1984 test car) I've found are in this gallery on apt-p.com:  https://www.apt-p.com/APTGalleryColourRHobson.htm

In the majority you can just about see through the door to the other end of the coach where the regular seating was retained.  There are also a couple of shots I found from the "Innovation On The Rails" documentary, looking the other way towards the gangway, which can be seen here at 15:56 -

 

 

For the 1978 test car (48206), I've used photos from here: https://www.apt-p.com/TestTrains.htm and also http://www.traintesting.com/APT-P testing.htm which shows the original test cars under construction.

 

[25kV]

Test Car Progress

 

 

After the initial chopping of interiors last time, it's time to make some adjustments to get the various bits to fit in their new locations.  The angled walls previously to the left of the 48204 equipment racks were removed leaving just a stub wall, the left-hand end part of the moulding cut from the remainder of the floor, and re-attached to the right hand side of the rack flooring.  Suitable cuts and holes were added for the bogie pivots, locating pegs and so on to account for differences between the standard TS and the Development Coach mouldings.  Photos of the vehicle suggest that the full complement of seating was retained in the other half of 48204 when converted, though there could be details I'm currently missing that are not visible through the windows!  

_____________________________________________

 

 

It's a different story for the earlier test car, 48206!  Only a handful of seats were retained at the other end of the vehicle, with the rest of the floor space being cleared.  To recreate this, the un-needed seating was cut away, and a new plasticard floor added, again with a hole cut for the bogie pivot.

 

 

One minor detail that no-one else will ever see: 48206 did not have standard APT tables - it had wooden ones with angled corners - a quick snip or two with the side cutters, and behold! 

_____________________________________________

 

 

 

Back to 48204 - a few seconds of footage from a 1986 documentary reveals the layout at the right-hand side of the equipment banks where an angled wall leads from the end of the racks to the end wall, with a narrow doorway in it for access through to the TBF car.  More plasticard recreates this.  At the other end is another angled wall with a doorway arch through to the saloon, which can be seen below (centre top) carved crudely out of a bit more plasticard!  

 

 

Most of the red has now been hidden under a layer of primer, which makes the whole project a lot easier on the eye.

 

Next up, reattaching the test area seats in 48204 (if I'd been a little more careful with my measurements, I could probably have cut the floor sections such that the seats could have stayed in position ... but I was not), painting the "carpet" in the saloons, the floor tiles in the test areas, and everything else!

[RedgateModels]

love how 204 is coming along, when you've done if you could let me know a few key dimensions of the equipment cabinets etc and I'll get busy with MS Builder to make my version for this:

 

[25kV]

3 hours ago, RedgateModels said:

love how 204 is coming along, when you've done if you could let me know a few key dimensions of the equipment cabinets etc and I'll get busy with MS Builder to make my version for this:

 

 

That looks like it's coming along nicely! 

The overall dimensions of the 48204 rack from Hornby's 2020 Development coach, which appears to be reasonably accurate, are 90 x 19.5 x 9 mm.  Each standard rack width works out to about 8.2 mm, and the desks are 20.4 mm each (all including verticals).  The "desk" sections are about 1mm shallower, front to back.

 

 

 

 

I did spot a set of Development Coach racks on eBay a little while ago, being sold separately, so it's possible you might find a set pre-made!  Looking forward to seeing yours

[25kV]

 

Done a spot of painting!  It's not one of my greater skills, but hopefully will give the right impression once reassembled. 

 

 

 

 

This morning's job was to add the workbench in the open area of 48206 - it's built from 1mm plasticard and the dimensions were eyed in from photos of the interior.  In reality it appears to be several kitchen units and a long worktop:

 

 

 

 

Next, much of the silver used to represent the racking in both cars was repainted blue to better reflect the original (my shade is a tad too dark/intense, but it's in the right ballpark):

 

 

 

 

Additional items were the added to the empty shelves and upper rack spaces, using the classic technique of chopping up bits of wooden dowel and plasticard, and crudely covering them in dots and lines with a thin marker.  Could do better.  Here's 48204:

 

 

And here's 48206 with its fleet of log printers:

 

 

 

 

Finally, this evening, I did some experimental soldering (told you all this is a first for me!) to get the infamous lighting capacitor to sit in the gangway opening of 48204, rather than in the seating area, following which it was time to snap the upper body back in and call it done for now...

 

I failed to anticipate the obscuring of LEDs by the equipment banks ... but I'm not expecting to run very many night tests in the near future, so fixing this can be a project for another day.  Meanwhile external lighting at least gives an impression of stuff going on inside:

 

 

 

With the "bonus" fix up of 48204 more or less out of the way, next will be a return to the 1980 project, and restoring 48206's lighting before moving on to the interior modifications of the TBF and DTS of 370001.

[25kV]

Another installment in the truly enthralling saga of the 1980s APT recreation.

 

As promised, test car 48206's lights were reconnected, with slightly more illumination in the equipment area than 48204's yesterday.  Once again I've opted for a capacitor-in-the-gangway solution to the floating oil-barrel issue. 

 

 

Obviously the externals such as renumbering and weathering are still to come - likely to be once the full 001+004 set is completed internally.  Meantime, it's starting to look the part on the inside.

 

 

 

370001 - TBF and DTS

 

It's time to dismantle the remainder of what will become 370001, carefully working around the wiring in the DTS.

 

 

First modification - removing the glazing from the destination window in the TBF.  These become plain holes - air intakes for the diesel generator set that occupied the van space in this vehicle, and provided power for all the test equipment.  The window frames will also need to be removed, but that will require some additional bravery:

 

 

And finally for today, also dismantling a spare Development Coach, whose interior will be providing parts for the other two:

 

 

That green warship from an earlier post seems to be a bit off colour...   Hmmm!

[Wolf27]

10 hours ago, 25kV said:

Another installment in the truly enthralling saga of the 1980s APT recreation.

 

As promised, test car 48206's lights were reconnected, with slightly more illumination in the equipment area than 48204's yesterday.  Once again I've opted for a capacitor-in-the-gangway solution to the floating oil-barrel issue. 

 

 

Obviously the externals such as renumbering and weathering are still to come - likely to be once the full 001+004 set is completed internally.  Meantime, it's starting to look the part on the inside.

 

 

 

370001 - TBF and DTS

 

It's time to dismantle the remainder of what will become 370001, carefully working around the wiring in the DTS.

 

 

First modification - removing the glazing from the destination window in the TBF.  These become plain holes - air intakes for the diesel generator set that occupied the van space in this vehicle, and provided power for all the test equipment.  The window frames will also need to be removed, but that will require some additional bravery:

 

 

And finally for today, also dismantling a spare Development Coach, whose interior will be providing parts for the other two:

 

 

That green warship from an earlier post seems to be a bit off colour...   Hmmm!

I see you are making your own version of  my made up warship! 
 

loving what you are doing by the way.

Edited May 29, 2023 by Wolf27

[25kV]

9 hours ago, Wolf27 said:

I see you are making your own version of  my made up warship! 
 

loving what you are doing by the way.

 

Thanks for the kind words!  I thought someone else must have had a go at the Warship, but (perhaps surprisingly) I only discovered its history a few months ago.   Not strictly APT-in-1980, but as someone with a bit of a penchant for the fictitious, I just thought ... this has to be done!  ;) 

[25kV]

Well ok, it's a Bank Holiday Special. ;)

 

I've got a handful of side projects on the go for when I'm waiting for paint or glue to dry on the APT trailers ... and this one is APT-related. 

 

 

The story goes (at least in the book I read recently) that back in 1971 or so, D832 was acquired by the Railway Technical Centre with a view to using half the loco to test the APT-P's body-mounted traction motor, cardan shaft arrangement, and so on.  Apparently the intention was to add a pantograph and transformer to allow it to move under power - the other half would retain its diesel engine and transmission, thus be self powered in both modes.  However, being a regular C1 profile loco, no tilting would be possible.  In the event it didn't happen - "Trestrol" was constructed instead, which could tilt, and could also test the anti-tilt pantograph system, though wasn't self-powered.

 

Whatever became of D832?  🤔

 

Anyway, this side project aims to illustrate what might have looked like with a H2X (?) prototype power bogie at one end.  The basis is a Mainline warship with a dodgy motor found on eBay (originally in BR blue, but repainted at least once by a previous owner, latterly into green) and dipped in Isopropyl Alcohol (thanks rmweb for many tips on how to get paint off!).  The power bogie is a Hornby spare from Peter's Spares, and the roof well is bits of Hornby 86.

 

 

An opening was made in the roof and the 86 panels installed; the upper grilles at the modified end were filled, and the modified-end bodyside windows converted to grilles (courtesy of an unpainted Hornby 37 body I found in the attic). 

Meanwhile, the underframe had a substantial amount of "metalwork" removed to make room for the APT bogie.  After consulting some "Warships being cut up" photos, I concluded that messing with the Warship's structure in real life would have been quite a challenge, so attempted to reflect this in the model. 

 

The underframe carving substantially weakened the model's structure, as notches needed to be cut for coil springs, which came very close to the bogie opening at that end.  Two birds / one stone - a massive block of plasticard ply was stuck to the underframe prior to notching for the springs, and then the middle opened out to allow the pivot "tower" on top of the bogie to sit through.  (Lesson learned - cut the middle hole before sticking the ply together 🙄 ) 

 

There are undoubtedly various ways I could have dealt with the bogie/underframe mounting, but as it happens, the top of the bogie (excluding the pivot tower) just happened to be the right height to sit under the Warship underframe and bring the loco level.  So I opted to keep the bogie intact (rather than, say, chop the tower and create a new pivot piece on it somehow) and use the excess strengthening as a mount.

 

 

The mounting was created from another bit of plasticard with a pivot hole drilled through - the bolt passes freely through the plasticard, and through the top of the bogie pivot tower to a matching nut glued on the inside, and will be screwed almost fully down when fully assembled. 

 

 

 

 

Not a necessary change, but a notch was made in the body to expose a bit more of the springs and imply an underframe attachment behind the kick plate.  (Full size APT power bogie springs would actually go up into the door area, so just pretend they used shorter ones on this non-tilting machine. 😉  )  The access steps are long gone ... not entirely sure how they'd work on this modification and stay in gauge, so for now I'm going to just ignore. 

 

 

 

 

Springs!  Carved off the power bogie and mounted to the underframe.  Also carved the control rod that links the bogie to the anti-tilt pantograph mechanism off the bogie, as this wouldn't be present or needed on this loco.

 

 

 

 

Finally, a couple of plasticard triangles added to imply structural elements on the modified underframe either side of the bogie, and a quick spray with primer. 

 

 

Next time, in the the APT-Warship saga, we find out whether I have any kind of ability with top-coating!  But coming up next, we may catch up on some more interior redesigning with 370001.

 

[Wolf27]

I see you have gone a different route with yours, with the panto well further back. I’ll have to dig out the photos of mine, without wishing to hijack your topic!

Edited May 29, 2023 by Wolf27
Photo found!

[25kV]

8 minutes ago, Wolf27 said:

I see you have gone a different route with yours, with the panto well further back. I’ll have to dig out the photos of mine, without wishing to hijack your topic!

 

Ideally the pan head would be over the bogie pivot, but with the Warship I figured doing that would likely give the driver a serious lack of headroom!  For a test loco, the compromise seemed acceptable...  :) 

Very interested to see your version!  I may have to hurry and get the painting done now... 

[Michael Hodgson]

On 27/05/2023 at 22:54, 25kV said:

I failed to anticipate the obscuring of LEDs by the equipment banks ... but I'm not expecting to run very many night tests in the near future, so fixing this can be a project for another day.

Did they do much in the way testing at night anyway? 

I've always assumed (perhaps incorrectly) that the test runs were generally done during daylight hours using paths that were otherise empty outside the peak periods.

[25kV]

14 hours ago, Wolf27 said:

I see you have gone a different route with yours, with the panto well further back. I’ll have to dig out the photos of mine, without wishing to hijack your topic!

 

Ooh I see what you did there!  That's pretty awesome - moving the door was inspired, and I see great minds think alike with extra cut-outs for those springs.  Very nicely done!

[25kV]

2 hours ago, Michael Hodgson said:

Did they do much in the way testing at night anyway? 

I've always assumed (perhaps incorrectly) that the test runs were generally done during daylight hours using paths that were otherise empty outside the peak periods.

 

That's a great question.  I've always assumed that some commissioning must have been done at night, owing to the lack of photos of the later units doing anything before they entered service, but I honestly don't know.

 

[Michael Hodgson]

 

 

 

1 hour ago, 25kV said:

 

That's a great question.  I've always assumed that some commissioning must have been done at night, owing to the lack of photos of the later units doing anything before they entered service, but I honestly don't know.

 

Yes, but of course photography at night is more difficult anyway, especially when you had to use film, so you would expect most photography to be during the day.

 

No obvious reason for the technical staff to do much of their work during anti-social hours.  It would be logical for them to have done a little testing in darkness to confirm that there was nothing in the design of stock to go into production that would have presented operational problems, but I'm not aware of anything in the APT that made its lighting system particularly unusual or advanced.  When they weren't using their dedicated test track, I would have thought the main issue would be pathing and not wanting to disrupt existing services with potential failures etc.  Special instructions were issued to LMR signallers that high-speed runs had to be signalled under double block on certain stretches (belled as 4-4-4 like the royal train, some Blue Pullmans and the LNERs famous Mallard run) , and I think its planned departure time was published with that.

[25kV]

Oh look, it's some more APT interiors! 

 

370001 - DTS and TBF clearance

 

Not quite as involved as the main test car of the rake, the driving trailer and trailer brake vehicles have less in the way of equipment racks, and more in the way of a whole lotta empty space. 

 

The first task after dismantling was to reconfigure the interiors of both cars to feature much more of that empty space than before. 

 

 

The TBF (blue mouldings) was essentially gutted.  No seats remained, and the floor was laid with functional vinyl tiles, by the looks of it.  Plain plasticard replaces the seating area.  The DTS is a little more complicated, as a handful of seats were retained to the rear of the mid-saloon bulkhead.  The forward saloon area was cleared and re-floored for test equipment, while the remainder of the rear saloon were retained carpets but lost the seating. 

 

 

One curious feature of the retained seating in the DTS were the original APT tables with raised edges, which I believe were designed to hold meal trays, but which made them somewhat impractical for anything much else.  Other photos I've seen of units in service don't seem to show these, so for the mad fun of it, I cut some slivers of plasticard to represent this design.  There are only four tables, so why not... 

 

Someone will undoubtedly tell me that they saw these on a full length unit in passenger service, but for now I'm going to assume it was a "feature" of 001 and not worry about having to kit out a full train with them.  😉

______________________________

 

Equipment Racks

 

 

Photos reveal that the equipment rack in the TBF (which was apparently for pantograph monitoring) was formed of two racks and a desk a little bit longer than those in the test car.  The configuration of the desk is different to the sections available in the Development Coach interior, however rather than try to carve the exact arrangement of verticals, I've hacked together two sections of "regular" desk to give a reasonable overall impression.

 

The interior diagram of the DTS shows a further desk-and-rack set-up (for C-APT testing - the cab signalling system used by the APT), but to date no photos show this set up in place.  On the assumption that the rack was installed at some point, a further set of racks from the Development Coach have been extracted for use.

______________________________

 

 

A spray of primer on the interior sections and a coat of "electronics rack blue" to cover the silver, and that's a decent-ish start made to these two. 

 

Next up are the workshop units for the big empty space in the TBF, a kitchen area for the DTS, and possibly a representation of the end of the diesel alternator set in the brake van.  Plus a couple of "vent interiors" that will be visible through the missing destination windows of the TBF.

 

[25kV]

Everything PLUS the Kitchen Sink

 

Time to create some interior elements for 370001.  In addition to the C-APT electronics racks, the DTS retained a handful of seats (with the distinctive tray-holder tables mentioned earlier) as a mess area for on-train personnel.  In one corner was a literal kitchen sink! 

 

The first task was to source a suitable plastic shape, and what better than the side window of an unpainted Hornby Class 37 body? 

 

 

After cutting out a suitable chunk, this was inserted into the counter-top plasticard and formed into the short mess-room worktop and cupboards. 

 

Complementing this in the TBF were some workshop units - one of these is just visible in a photo, and the layout diagrams show two, so I've assumed two identical constructions.

 

 

______________________________________________________________

 

And also some painting has gone on... 

 

DTS at the front, now fitted with the kitchen sink and C-APT rack:

 

TBF behind with pantograph monitoring rack and a pair of workbenches:

 

 

And at the back another bonus side project - the donor Development Coach shell has received a spare full set of TS seats, suitably adjusted for the different locating lugs and bogie pivots, making a fictional APT-U car:

 

 

 

Still to come on the interior refit ... a bit of the diesel generator set in the TBF, and the question of seats.  No currently available internal photos show seats by the DTS/TBF racks/desks, but maybe I'll stick a couple at each.  After that, a couple of body modifications to the TBF.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited June 2, 2023 by 25kV
Speeling

[Michael Hodgson]

Excellent work there, pity interiors are difficult to see when they're inside the vehicle.

[25kV]

7 hours ago, Michael Hodgson said:

Excellent work there, pity interiors are difficult to see when they're inside the vehicle.

Many thanks!  I'm going for a sort of Impressionistic approach - hopefully once they're reassembled, you'll get the feeling that there's different stuff going on inside, but not be too upset that you can't read the gauges on the diesel alternator set.

[25kV]

Getting towards end-game with 370001's interior.  The interiors have been slotted back into their respective underframes and wires re-fed through.  I decided to add a couple of seats at the each of the two "bare" equipment racks - I figured that even if there were no permanently fixed seats, staff would bring in portable ones, so some spares from the donor coach have found their way in. 

 

 

48601 - Inside Outside

 

Now we get to the part where the inside and outside meet up.  To power all the test equipment on board 370001, a diesel alternator set was installed in the van compartment of TBF 48601.  To provide an air supply to cool the engine, the two destination windows fitted to the van were removed (including the frames) and vents added behind them.  Some crude bits of plasticard were fashioned to create the insides of the vents as seen "through the hole" from the outside. 

 

 

The two bottom constructions are the vents - very different shapes, roughly matching the profiles of the real openings, at least as seen from the outside. 

 

Additionally (top) a flat panel was mocked up to look like the front face of the generator, such that it might just be glimpsed from the saloon through the windows:

 

 

Unfortunately after sticking it in place I realised that it would also be visible through the guard's door window, and a one-dimensional representation would probably not cut it.  So it's been pulled out again pending some sides being cut and stuck to it!

 

Before the vents could be stuck in place, however, something needed to be done about the external window frames. 

 

 

In reality, when an APT window frame is removed, the remaining opening is almost as large as the outside of the frame, with a smaller opening in secondary skin inside - or at least that's how it looks to the untrained eye.  I don't have the tools to file down a stepped opening like that, so instead chose to file the frame away at an angle leaving a narrower opening on the inside than the outside, which gives almost the right effect.

 

 

Pretend you can't see where the file slipped and scratched the paintwork.  Several times.  😐  The cruelty of enlargements.

 

Then it was time to stick the vents in place:

 

 

Naturally one of them turned out to be too long to fit in the body above the floor, so the end was hacked off.  This will be sealed up again if the internal lights start showing through it!

 

Still to come on the TBF - adding an exhaust for the diesel in the roof.  Not planning to get this wrong, so some more photo consultation will be undertaken before any drills come into contact with any rooflines!

 

48101 - Nose Surgery

 

 

While the scalpel was out, it was time to do some plastic surgery to 48101's nose (yes, it's still 48103, but that'll be fixed eventually).  The raised surround to the horn grille was almost-carefully carved off (this project is my first attempt at detailing anything, so yeah, I hacked out a bit of the nose I wasn't supposed to too!) and sanded flatter.  As built these mouldings sat flush with the nose cone on the real thing, and only over time became slightly raised as the two pieces flexed with use.  Later some were replaced by rivetted-on grilles, or plated over.  As I'm trying to represent the units in early life, the horn grilles would not be as prominent as shown in the model. 

 

And while we're at it, another feature that wasn't added until around 1981 in most cases was the rain strip under the windscreen - none of the units had them fitted while wearing full yellow ends.  So that has been much-more carefully removed.  Hmm.  What happened to the windscreen wiper, one wonders?  🤔  (Genuine question - if you see it, let me know.)

 

 

D832's Alternative Universe

 

And finally, since I know that you're all dying to know how the Weird Warship is coming along, I'd just like to say how nice it was of Mr Bachmann to produce a detailing kit for his Warship model that also fits perfectly into Mr Mainline's model of the same!

 

 

Valance fitted!  At the unmodified end only, though...  At some point I will attempt to fit couplings and pipes and cables and such. 

[25kV]

370001 - TBF 48601

 

It's been a few days and a few dilemmas!  Where were we at?  Oh yes - 001's TBF. 

 

 

The repositioned "diesel alternator" impressionistic plasticard gained a couple of sides, just in case I ever peer in through the guard's door window and somehow end up believing there's a real minature engine in there.  And then it was time to turn to the exterior expression of said device.

 

After studying as many shots of 48601 as I could find, the "correct" position for the engine's exhaust port was marked out on the roof, and then very slowly and carefully drilled out by hand - as in literally turning a drill bit in my fingers, as I didn't trust anything motorised to be slow and careful enough.

 

 

Once through, a length of ballpoint-pen ink-tube was chopped off, which was exactly the right size for the hole, then carefully shaped at the exposed end into a weird shallow "v" which can be discerned in many photos of the real thing.

 

 

(Ignore that number - it's gonna be excised.)

 

With the exhaust in place, it was time to reconnect the lights and clip the body halves back together for now.

 

 

 

 

370001 - DTS 48101 - the nose job continues

 

One curious detail on the Hornby cab front is the recess into which the windscreen frame is set - no such recess exists on the real train, and it's particularly noticeable on the model at the top corners of the windscreen.  Having previously carved off the raised horn cover rim and the rain strip, after a couple of attempts simply to paint the scars out, it became apparent that the cab front was just going to be a mess, so I figured that adding a bit of filler to the worst of the recess corners would not make things worse. 

 

 

So after checking that Railmatch Warning Yellow and Hornby APT Warning Yellow were a pretty darned close match, and sanded down the worst of the alterations, I took the plunge and re-primed the cab.  The side window in the shot above refused point blank to come unstuck - ended up snapping the rims off inside the cab, and scratching it in a vain attempt to pop it out.  😕  So it'll be a bit a bit messy.

 

 

Prior to a bit of buffing down on the join lines, a new coat of yellow - it's a pretty good match.

 

 

 

The black window frames on the Hornby model are a little too bold, so I've repainted them a little thinner.  The edges require a bit of neatening, but it's almost there.  One minor niggle with the repaint is that the already-feint flap marked on the upper nose is now almost invisible.  Pondering whether to try to fix this.

 

 

A minor detail - the inside of the destination blind window was painted grey.  During the period being modelled, 370001 displayed a blank destination. 

 

 

Meanwhile, at Derby Litchurch Lane...

 

 

A bare bodyshell... 

 

 

Not even painted yet! 

 

This is a side project which progresses when I'm otherwise watching paint dry.

 

 

Onslaught

 

Do you want to see progress on the fictional 42 conversion?  

 

 

A coat of blue on the power bogie...

 

 

And another on the loco itself.  A brief illusion of a rail blue repaint, as under the masking is the rest of the RTC scheme:

 

A coat of gloss varnish, which was mostly dry when the wind whipped through the garage and sent the loco tumbling from its perch and into some dry leaves and cobwebs. 

 

I was a bit concerned about the shade of red when I first started applying it.  Rail Red is a very orange colour, but it seemed unreasonably so straight out of the pot.  I consulted many photos and continued to feel uneasy.  🙂  But then having taken several photos of the model (with various white balances), none of which matched reality, I concluded that both rail blue and rail red are unreproducable in photographs.  Mrs kV suggested I find a convenient RTC vehicle to compare to ... I found a reasonable alternative upstairs on the wall.

 

 

Since I trust Newton Replicas to know what shade Rail Red is, I was able to feel somewhat more confident that things were going in the right direction. 

 

Mrs kV is also a dab hand at decals - particularly the unwieldy long ones - so assisted with the placement of the white lining, while I did the easier bits.  Couldn't resist dropping the body onto the chassis for a photo.  The other side is still to do:

 

 

Decals custom made by Railtec!  Yes, the running number would not have been 968832, but I wanted a nod to its old identity. 

 

BUT - here's a dilemma.

 

Having double-checked the redness of Rail Red, it became apparent that the Hornby APT's red band ... is not Rail Red.  And it should be. 

 

 

On the left - the APT-U fictional car from the last update, with a newly applied Rail Red stripe - on the right, the Development Vehicle with its Hornby Red stripe.  The question is ... do I replace all the red stripes on all the APT vehicles?   And all the swooshes at the driving ends?

 

Decisions decisions... 

 

Edited June 10, 2023 by 25kV
Typo

[25kV]

Last week I was left with a dilemma - to repaint all the APT vehicles with the correct "Rail Red" stripe, or to leave them with the factory "some other Red that's less orange" stripe.  Most of the following days involved sitting and staring at 370001's DTS and wondering whether I had the nerve to...

 

 

I guess it's too late now...   🙂   Careful masking and then very "gentle" painting at the crucial corners produced an acceptable result. 

 

 

Of course it meant dismantling all the other "completed" vehicles again.  Still, I'll have to do that for weathering anyway, so no harm done.  The opportunity was taken to remove vehicle numbers from the old red stripe with a bit of T-Cut prior to masking.  Here they're all sporting their new Rail Red stripes.

 

 

And while I was at it, a little bit of T-Cut took "370003" off the nose, in preparation for becoming 370001.  The backing plate for the lights was also painted into "Executive Light Grey", which isn't a perfect match for the APT light grey, but shouldn't matter too much set behind the light prisms.  And yes, waaay too much paint! 

 

 

Coming next - the power car and 370004 to make a complete and authentic late-1980 test unit.

 

 

Furthering The Onslaught

 

While I stared at the APT's red stripes in contemplation, there was a little time to attend to some outstanding tasks on the side-project of D832.  To recap, for those who don't want to scroll back up the thread, D832 was initially acquired by the RTC with plans to install APT-P traction equipment in one end.  In the event, this never happened, but this model is a "what if". 

 

 

After the gloss and transfers, a coat of satin to try to keep everything in place - this time without the loco ending up in a pile of garden debris. 

 

As my model depicts the loco as I imagine it would have looked had it been converted in the early to mid 1970s, I have assumed that the headcode panels would not have immediately been turned into dominos or plated over.  (This is also the reasoning behind the style of RTC livery, with the red running right to the end of the loco without corner lining, as per 84009 at the end of the decade, and mimicking the earlier Mk1 test cars that had "wrap around" bands and lining.)

 

Anyway - headcodes!  Four bits of 1mm plasticard were cut and trimmed to precisely fit into the headcode openings.  Fox Transfers 4mm headcode lettering provides the reporting numbers - IZ22 is an APT-P test train headcode from later years, while 8D32 should be obvious - someone at the RTC had a sense of humour on this particular day.

 

 

The fifth piece was made to test a possible coating to create a "glazed" effect once in the loco.  Unfortunately the lensing effect created by the thickness of the coating made it look like the transfer was peeling up, so that technique was abandoned.

 

Installed into the openings...

 

 

Glazing was achieved by cutting annoyingly small rectangles of clear plastic and then hoping they don't fall out later with minimal gluing.

 

 

While the craft knife was out, I took the opportunity to glaze the two remaining bodyside windows, since the ones that came out of the loco were translucent at best, and black at worst.  Although the side windows are commonly two-pane on Warships, I'd had enough of shaving 0.25mm off bits of invisible stuff by this time, so RDB 968832 has single-pane windows.

 

The remaining parts from the Bachmann detailing kit came in useful, albeit in a slightly cheaty way.  I've repurposed some of the control pipes to represent air brake and reservoir pipes, assuming the loco was converted.  I may swap these for more realistic examples at some point, but for now, a touch of red and yellow paint will assist the illusion.

 

 

One area so far neglected is the roof.  I was not certain how best to create the pantograph - I wanted it to be a two-stage Stone Faiveley, as originally fitted to the APT-P, but not on the anti-tilt mechanism, since this loco would not tilt.  Also given that at this date the pantograph would likely be a prototype of the two-stage Faiveley, it might well have been constructed on the standard AMBR Mk1 footprint.  Since the donor Class 86 roof had the remains of an AMBR Mk1 frame on it (from the 1980s Hornby metal pantograph), I looked at ways of combining the two.

 

A spare two-stage APT pantograph was trimmed of its anti-tilt mountings, while the AMBR frame was sliced off on both sides.  Some grinding of the AMBR inner edges was required to create inserts for the remaining frame of the two-stage, such that when put together the locating rods would still fit into the roof mounting holes.

 

 

A shortened set of Hornby 86 roof insulators was also painted up.

 

 

The result!  Two-stage Faiveley in a regular frame, in a coat of silver grey, plus circuit breaker and transformer feed.

 

 

Loco crew reinstalled - one of the technical crew is riding with the driver, in his lab-coat and orange vest. 😉

 

I think it's probably done, bar the weathering, and as my first attempt at a conversion and detailing, I think it's OK.

 

 

 

Edited June 19, 2023 by 25kV