Upgrading the new Bachmann 37

[Daddyman]

I've posted a few pics of my work on Bachmann's new 37 on the dedicated thread, but thought it might be poor form to go on too long on there. So I've started this stand-alone thread. 

 

I mentioned on the Bachmann 37 thread that I was modelling 37022 in 1984 condition - specifically, as it was on the 1st August 1984 when it broke down while hauling the northbound sleeper with ETHEL 3. It was my first ever trip on the WHL. The loco managed only 3 miles from Rannoch, where I got on. 37184, which had been waiting in the station on a southbound PW train, possibly even this one, was summoned and pushed us to Corrour, where I guess it ran round - if there was space in the loop. There seem to have been knock-on effects all day, with 20049 having to be used on the Mallaig service. I was 13 at the time and it was the first time I'd ever experienced a failed loco. The excitement (!) was compounded a few months later when the failure made it into Rail Enthusiast magazine, complete with photo. I've been trying to model 37022, ETHEL 3 and 37184 ever since, first with the Lima model (windscreens cut away and the angle steepened and fitted with Craftsman etch; the full tumblehome cut away and re-set at an angle), then trying to polish Bachmann's first t*#d. I then bought another firm's model of 37027 to renumber, but that wasn't up to scratch, so I decided to use Bachmann's 37034 and remove the skirts. Their 37194 will form the basis for 37184, which has RSH cantrail grilles; it has the added advantage of giving me a set of cast bogies as spares. Given that I'll have to do a full repaint on 37194, I suppose I could have gone for a base model for 022 which had already had the skirts removed and the car headlight, but it didn't occur to me; and anyway, 034 was pretty cheap - £170 from TMC, and friends in high places have supplied me with car headlights (thanks, chaps). 

 

I've shown on the Bachmann thread the mods I've done to cut the skirts away. I'll repeat the shots here, just so that there's a complete record in one place. My doubt with 37034 was whether Bachmann had extended the b.beams the full width behind the skirts - they never used to on skirted locos. Well, they have, but they've also left gouges for the tails of the (skirt-mounted) sprung buffers to recoil into: 

 

Those holes will need filling, but I'm waiting for some buffer-backing plates from Shawplan. But work has progressed on cutting the skirts off, and putting in the beading (a 10-thou plasticard strip - still a little thick at the moment); headcode blanking plates by Shawplan; ploughs modified H@#jan 47:  

The next thing I've been working on is the bufferbeam. Bachmann's air pipes have reasonably good taps on their ends - slightly overscale but nice enough, and I know of none better. However, the hoses themselves dangle at the wrong angle, and indeed get in the way of the ploughs: the hoses on diesel locos curve out from the taps and then hang straight down. I keep the taps and replace the hoses with 0.5 wire. The taps first need drilling out 0.5mm - Bachmann's original hoses are 0.5 and I'll use 0.5 wire to replace them: 

Here are the taps fitted into the b.beam with the 0.5 wire shaped and inserted, but not trimmed to length or crimped at the ends yet: 

Study of prototype photos shows that the red air pipe is fitted to a longish extension pipe and stands some way proud of the b.beam; Bachmann provided no hole for this one. 

Next job is the handbrake chains. These are 40-links-per-inch chain from Branchlines. I cut a length of about 12mm and broach 0.4-ish the links at each end. One gets 0.4 wire threaded through it and is glued behind the actuating lever (I've replaced these with Shawplan on one model and am undecided as to whether to do it across the fleet). The other end gets a thread of 0.193 brass wire (Eileen's!) which is twisted to form a loop and a stalk. The stalk is forced into the bogie side frame, interference fit, so that it can be removed. Here are the chains with the twizzle of 0.193 wire just visible: 

And here is the hole in the bogie frame - just ahead of the step (with a piece of wire threaded through to make it clearer for the photo), with the Bachmann fixing point removed (note that I've also trimmed the tops off the cosmetic bogie-to-body fixing chains - this makes them less likely to foul the body and get knocked off; I first make sure the fixing points on the bogie are properly glued in - 37034 arrived with one missing, and they have a tendency to fall out): 

Next up was closing the gap between fuel tank top and lower bodyside edge. There's been a mania from both camps for supplying the models with a scale 3" gap here. While the prototype varies, there's most often no gap, certainly not a gap the size that's been represented in recent models: 

 

So anyway, the underframe needs separating from the diecast chassis block (screw at each end and 4 clips). The underframe moulding then needs drilling out where the pips holding the fuel tanks are visible. Be careful as some pips are not related to the fuel tanks; there should be 8, shown here not marked by "X"; a 1.5 drill bit is about right: 

What you then get is this. Those impressive pipes on the tank top are precisely what causes the problem - preventing the fuel tanks sitting up to the underframe properly. Plus, they're absolutely invisible - from any angle. Bachmann has literally gone over the top with detail! The long pipe on the underframe, running along the bottom edge of the photo, also mostly invisible when the lid is on, also needs to go, as it interferes with the fuel tanks once they're re-seated. 

The underframe then needs smoothing out, and all detail removing from the top of the tanks. The real-life fixing brackets on the ends of the tanks will need filing down at the same time. Then you end up with this: 

Incidentally, the mounting posts for the light switches on the chassis diecast block might need filing down so that the switches clear the re-seated fuel tanks. I only had a problem on one, but I've made the mod on all of mine just in case. 

 

That's about it. The loco will probably be P4, but Branchlines was out of 14mm wheels when I saw him on Saturday. I may rethink the blanking plates on the headcode boxes as it'll be hard to paint the black surround. Plus, the etchings are slightly large compared to Bachmann's moulding, so it's hard to get them to sit flat. I may just make some replacement blanks (probably from 5-thou brass - easier to file) with no hole and use Railtec transfers for the dots. It would mean I'd lose the Toy-Town (TM) lights, but that's no bad thing... 

Edited September 25, 2023 by Daddyman

[The Fatadder]

Let me check, I think I have probably still got some Branchlines 14s (or Maygib 14.5s) left over now I am no longer doing P4.  Like the idea with the modified Bachmann pipes 

[Daddyman]

7 minutes ago, The Fatadder said:

Let me check, I think I have probably still got some Branchlines 14s (or Maygib 14.5s) left over now I am no longer doing P4.  Like the idea with the modified Bachmann pipes 

Good of you, Rich. Not sure what Maygibs look like, though, so maybe I'll stick to Branchlines if you have them.  

 

Pleased you like the pipes. Just one thing I've learnt: when I only drill into the tap (rather than right through it), and use the Bachmann spigot in the tap as the fixing point into the b.beam, they have a tendency to snap off. So I now drill the taps all the way through, and then drill into the b.beam. However, that only really works once the spigots have snapped off! - the other option is to cut off the spigots, plug the b.beam holes with plastic rod, then drill the taps all the way through, thread the 0.5 wire that forms the pipe right through the tap and out the other end, and then into a 0.5mm hole drilled into the b.beam (what you have to do for the red pipe anyway). Hope that makes sense!  

 

[Daddyman]

On 25/09/2023 at 20:10, Daddyman said:

Study of prototype photos shows that the red air pipe is fitted to a longish extension pipe and stands some way proud of the b.beam

 

 

Actually, Daddyman, study of photos seems to show that they all stand out some distance on an extension pipe - yellow ones too. 

[Southwich]

Great work David - nicely documented on the fuel tanks. Over the last week I have been following your lead and disassembling my locos to sort the fuel tanks out - and have taken the opportunity to start looking at sound upgrades into the tanks - hope you don’t mind the slight hijack below:

 

 

 

Details of the two speakers used from roads and rails are below:
 

Large tank - 25x25x7mm Megabass

Smaller tank - 20x20x7mm Megabass 'Mini' 

 

Currently having superglue drying to seal the speakers before being sanded back and joined back to the chassis of the locos.

 

The plan is to pair these both with an EM1 in the body somewhere - that part is yet to be figured out!

 

Kind regards,

 

Will

[Daddyman]

Interesting, Will. I don't know anything about sound (though am not averse to it)  but your solution looks very well thought-out.

 

I'm more interested in you having been able to separate out the tops of the fuel tanks from their bodies. That never occurred to me! But I think by separating them out like that, you might find that the smoothing you have done makes no difference to how they sit when re-attached to the underframe - it looks like you've smoothed the top separately, without the upper parts of the body? (I could be wrong.) In my experience, it's necessary to do quite a bit to the actual body of the fuel tank too - to those two pipes at the front of the right-hand tank in your last photo, and to the bulge at the back (same tank, same photo) as well as to the fixing brackets. 

[Southwich]

3 hours ago, Daddyman said:

Interesting, Will. I don't know anything about sound (though am not averse to it)  but your solution looks very well thought-out.

 

I'm more interested in you having been able to separate out the tops of the fuel tanks from their bodies. That never occurred to me! But I think by separating them out like that, you might find that the smoothing you have done makes no difference to how they sit when re-attached to the underframe - it looks like you've smoothed the top separately, without the upper parts of the body? (I could be wrong.) In my experience, it's necessary to do quite a bit to the actual body of the fuel tank too - to those two pipes at the front of the right-hand tank in your last photo, and to the bulge at the back (same tank, same photo) as well as to the fixing brackets. 

I drilled out the pillars that join the bottom of the tanks to the top of the tanks and the plastic underframe, which once removed separates the three pieces nicely.
 

I’ve been gluing the tops of the tanks back on this afternoon after fitting the speakers, so will sand back the super glue marks to get it all level before fitting. I’ve taken off the parts of the body of the tank so hoping it should sit nice and flush straight away but will see how it works!

 

Looking forward to more of your progress. 
 

Kind regards,

 

Will

[Daddyman]

Just a view of the bufferbeam area before I start the weathering process this afternoon. In the end I went for the Lanarkshire buffers. These look a good match for 022's buffers, which seemed to have bigger heads than, say, 049 and the other "roundheads". These come on quite chunky bases, which 37s seem to have, so I opted for these over Bachmann buffers with thin Shawplan backing plates. The bases bring the added advantage of hiding the bufferbeam "gouges" meaning that no filling was necessary. The disadvantage, of course, is the lack of springing. 

As can be seen, I've also made some progress on the noses. I still haven't completely talked myself out of turning one horn grille round 90 degrees at the No.1 end. I've been agonising over the headcode blanking plates for a week or so. I've decided to go with the full fronts off the old model. I was finding it quite hard to mate the Shawplan blanking plates with the new model headcode box fronts - there was a size disagreement there, which meant I was going to have to start filing down the Shawplan plates and then reprofiling the corners - not impossible, but sort of defeats the object in having them. I still need to replace the grab handles above the indicator boxes - I saved 3 of the Bachmann ones and these should plug straight back in, but I'll need one replacement. The real challenge, though, will be neatly representing the black surrounds to the marker dots. I'm not entirely convinced that painting them neatly is humanly possible. Perhaps apply some marker dot transfers, varnish over them, and then cut out the grey centres? 

 

I also need to replace the lamp irons which scarpered at the first sign of trouble (and anyway looked rubbish). I have folded up some (very nice) PHD ones but have shilly-shallied over getting the soldering iron out from where I hurled it 4 months ago, traumatised from scratchbuilding this @#%$@# thing in P4: 

 

David 

Edited October 4, 2023 by Daddyman

[cairnsroadworks]

Looking great. Re the marker dots, I use black permanent markers, with no lenses in place and run the pen round the inside. Usually does a neat job. Any residue can be scraped off with a cocktail stick. 

[Daddyman]

Just now, cairnsroadworks said:

Looking great. Re the marker dots, I use black permanent markers, with no lenses in place and run the pen round the inside. Usually does a neat job. Any residue can be scraped off with a cocktail stick. 

Thanks, I was thinking there might need to be some cocktailstickery...  

[Daddyman]

More attention to the noses: I initially tried the PH Designs lamp brackets, but one out of two looked ugly once soldered (doubtless my fault - haven't touched the iron for months), and were extremely fragile (not my fault). This is No.2 end: 

 

 

Then I remembered that my go-to 37 lamp irons in the past were always the Vitrains ones (the firm had to get something right), but I forgot they needed some sanding to get rid of the mould line. Below you see the nose in Humbrol matt white undercoat (to allow colour density when the yellow is applied over bare blue plastic) - and the lamp iron mould lines showing up rather badly. 

 

This is No.1 end so has some points of interest for the 37022 aficionados: this is the end with the bent plough, and I didn't manage to talk myself out of turning the nearside horn grille round 90 degrees. I took one off an old-model 37/5 end and it looked like it matched, but the photo suggests it is perhaps larger, so I may need to replace the other one too from the same source. Neither of these features (bent plough, horn grille) is coming up too well in the photos, however. Also for 37022 aficionados: don't worry, the duct-tape patch over the nose door piercing will come after the yellow is on. 37022 had a black headlight bracket, so I'm leaving that off until the yellow is done. I'll need to have a think about the yellow too - I'll probably avoid the other lot's Lemony Sick It.

 

So here we are - as said, please excuse the mould lines on the lamp irons, and the work still needed on the lip to the nose lower edge.  

 

Also been working on this Kettle Kart - ex-NER D.5 toilet-y composite-y thingy for the LNER period. It's now in LNER brown in the airing cupboard, and I think I've plugged most of the incorrect holes that some twit (OK, me) had drilled in the (brass) roof, and now have them all drilled in the right place... 

 

[Daddyman]

Been a while. Quite a punishing schedule with NER carriages and not much time for 37s. Anyway, I'm beginning to feel I've bitten off more than I can chew with the nose conversion on 37022, but I'll keep chipping away at it and hopefully get it right soon. In the meantime, I got one of MRD's £122 offers in a livery I have no need for! This will become 37406, which stayed on the WHL through much of the 1990s while other ex-WHL members of the class were sullying their wheels in the south. 406 had cast bogies while in this livery, and I'm banking on 37194 coming down in price in January; it will then become my donor for 37184 and will supply cast bogies for 406. 

 

This evening work has focused on:

• closing the gap between the upper edge of the fuel tanks and the lower edge of the bodysides (see upthread)
• the buffer beams (corners filed away to take my own resin ETS castings), and hoses cut off the taps ready for wire replacements 
• modified H@#jan 47 ploughs
• removal of the handbrake chains ready for homemade replacements (see upthread) 
• fitting of supplied bogie and underframe detail  
• work to fit the w@#tern region "cow horn" lamp irons and removal of two of Bachmann's lamp irons  

Still to do is the Shawplan fan grille. 

 

This is what I started with - one broken lamp iron on arrival, but even if I'd stayed with 401 Bachmann's lamp iron is the wrong pattern for a top one. 

 

 

Next job was marking out the position of the cow horns. These seem to be vertically in line with the centre of the marker lights, so I cut a piece of masking tape 3.5mm wide, which was positioned hard up against the h/c box for marking out. The bottom of the elongated slot which will take the lamp iron is 11.25 from the lower edge of the nose [EDIT: I think this positions them very slightly too low - try 11.75 or 12m?]. The hole is then drilled 0.4mm. 

 

 

I'm using Vitrains lamp irons (that is to say, on the same loco, the only thing Vitrains ever got right and the only thing H@#jan ever got right) and these need the 0.4mm hole making in to a slot by "sawing" with the drill bit - 3 slots (two at No.1 end; 1 at No.2) and I didn't break a drill bit... 

 

I've taken the finish around the removed lamp irons down to bare plastic/undercoat as these areas needs to be smooth. They'll then get some gloss white tomorrow to give Railtec rivet transfers the best chance of adhesion; I'll then respray the whole nose - the shot below shows the various light lenses Copydex-ed  up (it's the best masking fluid).  End of play today (oh, and I have a couple of toothbrush bristles waiting to form the nose-top aerial): 

 

Edited December 21, 2023 by Daddyman

[The Fatadder]

Look forward to seeing how it comes out, will be doing the fuel tank modification on my own bargain intercity 37 once I officially get it on Monday.   Before it gets stripes for a full repaint in the new year, will be nice to work on an entire loco rather than just a bodyshell as I have so far.

[Daddyman]

11 hours ago, The Fatadder said:

Look forward to seeing how it comes out, will be doing the fuel tank modification on my own bargain intercity 37 once I officially get it on Monday.   Before it gets stripes for a full repaint in the new year, will be nice to work on an entire loco rather than just a bodyshell as I have so far.

Ah, Monday, yes I see - took me a while to cotton on there. What livery are you going to do it in?

 

On the fuel tanks, the whole job is so much easier with a brand new file, though I couldn't get Will's magic trick to work - the tops wouldn't separate from the bodies.

 

[The Fatadder]

51 minutes ago, Daddyman said:

Ah, Monday, yes I see - took me a while to cotton on there. What livery are you going to do it in?

 

On the fuel tanks, the whole job is so much easier with a brand new file, though I couldn't get Will's magic trick to work - the tops wouldn't separate from the bodies.

 

It will be in EWS I think, though I haven’t decided if I will change the nose grills to do 668 or keep as /4 as 417

 

[Daddyman]

1 hour ago, The Fatadder said:

It will be in EWS I think, though I haven’t decided if I will change the nose grills to do 668 or keep as /4 as 417

 

Won't you get a ghost of the stripes when you strip the paint? I stripped a stripey 47 down to bare plastic some years ago, but you could still see the mark of the stripes through the repaint. 

 

I may do 417 myself one day if Bachmann do EWS on general release. I used to see it a lot on the WHL in the mid-2000s with big scabs of primer and missing fins in the radiator grille. 

[The Fatadder]

18 minutes ago, Daddyman said:

Won't you get a ghost of the stripes when you strip the paint? I stripped a stripey 47 down to bare plastic some years ago, but you could still see the mark of the stripes through the repaint. 

 

I may do 417 myself one day if Bachmann do EWS on general release. I used to see it a lot on the WHL in the mid-2000s with big scabs of primer and missing fins in the radiator grille. 

Worst case I will have to carefully sand it back with fine wet & dry if it’s visible through the primer.   Not an issue I’ve had before, but will keep an eye out for it. 
 

the two I’ve resprayed so far were both ex large logo so this will be the first intercity 37 to be resprayed…

[Daddyman]

All the detailing finished today - at least I think so. 

 

Washing the bogies and wheels in thinners to prevent "gloss bogie syndrome" when all your carefully applied weathering turns shiny after a few weeks' running due to the excess grease: 

 

Excess grease - not too much but not taking any chances: 

 

First coat of weathering on the bogies. Actually looks a bit dull here, but more exciting in real life: Railmatch orange and frame dirt plus Humbrol flesh; once dry this will get a mix of frame dirt plus Humbrol matt black sprayed on, washed off, then sprayed on more selectively: 

 

All underframe detailing done and ready for weathering - these are the new handbrake chains: 

 

Bufferbeam detail all finished (except for the MW socket at one end, which pinged away!) - wire hoses, snowploughs at both ends, ETS fitted and painted both ends; also visible is the gloss white - applied a little too thick so rubbed down with 1500 paper, hence the patchy look, which will all disappear under the yellow topcoat; rivets in place where lamp irons have been removed; rad fan grille fitted. 

 

Might get it done before I go away on Saturday - depends how much the yellow on the ends fights me... Ideally will be yellow tomorrow morning plus underframe, bufferbeam and plough first weathering coat, then all-over filter/fade coat of white tomorrow evening; that would leave Friday for weathering. Pigs might fly...  

Edited December 20, 2023 by Daddyman

[Daddyman]

Well, the yellow didn't fight, so things are on schedule - yellow this morning and u/f weathering, then white filter coat done tonight (especially on the ends). A model always looks awful at this filter stage, but the muck coats tomorrow will bring it back to life. Windows and markers still covered in Copydex.

 

 

I've also been working on backdating some OTAs for my 1980s and 1990s 37s - they'll have to be freight locos as the available passenger stock (Bachmann Mk1s and Hornby Mk3s) are dire. But there are some good-quality WHL freight wagons available now - the PRA, the OAA, the PCA and ones like the VGA and OTA that can be rescued with Will's parts. 

 

Hornby's OTA has 9 stanchion sockets, but in the 1980s on the WHL there were only the flat-top OTAs with 11 pockets or the later ones with shaped tops and 13 stanchions. I've picked up a few cheap ones on ebay recently, including one for £8, which was cheap enough to sacrifice and surrender its stanchion pockets. This is the only way I could see to do it: 

 

So this is the flat-top one with most of the work done - needs the top to the ends dressing and it will receive Stenson spring units. Note that I've scrubbed away Hornby's ToyTown (TM) wood-grain effect on the deck - the plastic is very soft so it's easily done. All that work to add 4 stanchions and the b. things weren't even used on the real thing - which is why they were later removed (from about 2000 I think).  

 

The £8 wagon is looking a bit worse for wear, but it took a bit of experimentation to get the pockets off in one piece without damaging the fins. Still enough pockets left intact for the 13-stanchion one, making two wagons from 3 for about £48, when single wagons are going for £37.50 on ebay. 

 

  

 

Edited December 22, 2023 by Daddyman

[Southwich]

37 looks cracking as always sir!

 

Kind regards,

 

Will

[Daddyman]

Thank you, Will! 

[Daddyman]

Well, it's getting there... But the weathering still looks a bit like someone's pointed an airbrush at it. Needs a bit more life, but it will have to wait till I get back. Snowploughs and noses not attached properly, and I forgot to fit the handbrake chains before weathering.   

[Matt]

Nice job and very useful Daddyman - thx for sharing. I too picked up a second 401 with plans to convert to 405 - had already thought about vi for cow horns but about as far as I got… useful to see your approach. I didn’t appreciate at time of purchase that 401 was pretty much only 37/4 with that headlamp arrangement in tact (and also longest nameplate requiring removal and not just covering over- though “The Saltire Society” together with “Strathclyde Region” must get close?) - I originally thought would be simple renumber!

 

One small thing that jars on this model that I’m surprised you haven’t addressed yet are the cab door handrails. In reality the handrails mount into the side of the frame whereas on the model they have a more elaborate shape to aid assy, mounting to the door surround. I can see correcting this being tricky but was intending to paint out the “extension” in exec grey on mine so that doesn’t stand out in white on this model.  Could be a small tweak to what looks an outstanding job and one I will be delighted if I can get some way to replicating.

 

[Daddyman]

4 hours ago, Matt said:

Nice job and very useful Daddyman - thx for sharing. I too picked up a second 401 with plans to convert to 405 - had already thought about vi for cow horns but about as far as I got… useful to see your approach. I didn’t appreciate at time of purchase that 401 was pretty much only 37/4 with that headlamp arrangement in tact (and also longest nameplate requiring removal and not just covering over- though “The Saltire Society” together with “Strathclyde Region” must get close?) - I originally thought would be simple renumber!

 

One small thing that jars on this model that I’m surprised you haven’t addressed yet are the cab door handrails. In reality the handrails mount into the side of the frame whereas on the model they have a more elaborate shape to aid assy, mounting to the door surround. I can see correcting this being tricky but was intending to paint out the “extension” in exec grey on mine so that doesn’t stand out in white on this model.  Could be a small tweak to what looks an outstanding job and one I will be delighted if I can get some way to replicating.

 

Thanks, Matt - glad it's useful. Yes, there isn't much choice with renumbering unless you change things like lamp irons. By the way, the Saltire Society nameplate is longer than MQS. Not sure if Strathclyde Region will be. However, I did once have a Saltire nameplate from Fox which was too short (quite common, apparently) - these are Shawplan. 

 

You're right about the cab handrails - you caught me napping. On the large-logo locos I've painted the extension blue, but just forgot on this one, so thanks for pointing it out - I knew something was bothering me in that area. I seem to remember people correcting them on the old model, but you'd have to drill into the door surrounds at an angle, which I don't fancy. 

 

A thing to be aware of if you're doing another Mainline-liveried locos is the painting of the large bodyside grille - sometimes it's all just painted black, but 401 and 406 at least had stripes on (some of) the framework and/or fins and/or surround.  

 

 

 

[Matt]

Thanks for the pointers - is helping me get my confidence up to give it a go. Although I’ll have to push on now as I seem to have 401 in triplicate now…

 

interesting re Fox nameplates as I bought a whole load recently and found some were a bit short - i assumed the printing on the model was wrong… on some cases it probably is!  In most cases the nameplates scraped off easily (eg Hornby 60) but some of my old Vi models the printed nameplate won’t budge so is in the too hard pile for now….