Converting HST to buffer variant

[West_riding]

Last month a friend gave me a lot of model railway stock including a Virgin Trains HST set. I already had one power car, so the duplicate has been sat in the box waiting a use ever since. Today I decided to convert it into one of the buffer equipped cars used as DVTs in the late 80s and then by Virgin Cross Country in the late 90s, the era I model. My aim was to leave the livery as intact as possible to make this as simple and cheap a conversion as possible. I removed the name and number using a fibreglass pencil and cut off the valance off with the razor saw before building up a bufferbeam with plasticard. The buffers are from the spares box. Next job is to paint the new pieces, add some new number transfers and then weather. Hornby currently charge £89 for an unpowered HST model with buffers- mine was completely free!

[West_riding]

Numbered, painted and weathered