Green and blue Class 47s

[Crepello]

I see from the Bachmann/Farish website that these are ''out of stock''; I hope this means we shall soon have new batches with the revised body and chassis in these liveries. I've been waiting ages for these to arrive as I wasn't prepared to fork out for the first version.

[Roy L S]

A much wanted loco for me too but I avoided the first batch. The excessive body-bogie gap issue was not something I could live with, and while I know many have fixed it I didn't want to have to take a knife to a brand new model, so here's hoping...

[NZmodeller]

Hi Guys,

 

I Have a 47 that I lowered but I'm not keen on doing that if there is a new release on the way. A mid 70s blue 47/4 or 47/0 would be nice, or maybe a heavily faded, weathered green one?

 

Peter

[richierich]

I think you'll have to see what Bachmann announce in the 2011 catalogue, usually end of Jan / early Feb before we'll see any information.

[Crepello]

Glad to see some support! Hopefully Colin Allbright will read this!

[scruff]

I couldn't live with the gap either, I'm now eagerly awaiting a plain blue 47 with headlight..

 

Mark

[richierich]

Imagine what ever standard liveries for the OO 47 appear in 2011, its likely to be mirrored in N. Now a Dutch 47 would be interesting

[Dr Al]

I wouldn't write off the first batch so readily.

 

They are very easily modified, and moreover can readily be picked up for £40-50 nearly new - a substantial saving. After all there's no guarantee Bachmann will do repeat runs this year.

 

Conversion takes little more than an hour - I've done 6 now.

 

Cheers,

Alan

[PeterN]

I wouldn't write off the first batch so readily.

 

They are very easily modified, and moreover can readily be picked up for £40-50 nearly new - a substantial saving. After all there's no guarantee Bachmann will do repeat runs this year.

 

Conversion takes little more than an hour - I've done 6 now.

 

Cheers,

Alan

 

I want to convert mine. Could someone point me to where there are instructions? Many thanks.

[Kris]

I want to convert mine. Could someone point me to where there are instructions? Many thanks.

 

Have a look through this post from the old version of RMweb. There is lots of chaff in there but there is also lots of good information regarding conversion and problem solving on this model.

 

 

 

[PeterN]

Have a look through this post from the old version of RMweb. There is lots of chaff in there but there is also lots of good information regarding conversion and problem solving on this model.

 

 

 

 

Many thanks

[Flying Pig]

Have a look through this post from the old version of RMweb.

On that thread Dr Al posted re the problem of the bogie frame being mounted too low:

 

Easy fix - bogie base needs filing to pull up the frame - can be done with no detrimental effect (and perhaps crucially), without the need to cut the frame up and then find a glue that holds the plastic together.

 

To which Paul Cheffus responded

 

One of the things that has put me off buying one and modifying it is trying to glue the sideframes back together (for the same reason I haven't done my 44 yet).

 

Could you explain in detail exactly what you did?

 

The thread seems to have run into the sand before you got a chance to answer that Dr Al - any chance of a description of what you did now please?

[scruff]

I read through the old posts and it sounded like remove the bogie frame, file a little off the bottom of the bogie itself and refit the frame. please check though because I could be wrong and have not done this myself.

 

hope someone comes along soon to confirm/deny this.

 

HTH

 

Mark

[Dr Al]

The thread seems to have run into the sand before you got a chance to answer that Dr Al - any chance of a description of what you did now please?

 

I read through the old posts and it sounded like remove the bogie frame, file a little off the bottom of the bogie itself and refit the frame. please check though because I could be wrong and have not done this myself.

 

Yes.

 

But it's not quite that simple. First, to file the bogie the pickups strips need desoldered (carefully as they are against the plastic so the bogie moulding is easily melted). Then the wheelsets need to be levelled up - if you look the centre wheelsets have some upwards slop. This is bad for wheel drop over turnouts, so the solution is to deepen the slots of the outer two sets until all wheels bear weight. The gearing has enough slop to cope no bother with this. Doing this brings the ride height down by ~20thou or so, which is why I do that first before lowering the body.

 

Then with pickups removed, you can file the bogie base a small amount to remove some material. You want the axles be flush with the bottom of the bogie, not protruding, not recessed. This permits the frame to come up.

 

Both these should be approached cautiously for the first time and done in small steps until perfect. If you take too much off or deepen the slots too much you risk wrecking the bogie.

 

It won't of it's own accord though as the clips still hold it where it was, loose, so to sort this I rub them with the soldering iron - just enough to spread the plastic upwards a touch. The clips will then hold the frame hard against the bottom of the bogie - if you don't do this it's just flop about and sit as it was. File flats on the undersides of the gear guards (don't hack them off as "grahame" did in the original thread - this is an unnecessarily aggresive modification - preserving them will help keep foreign debris out of the geartrain). Doing the mod this way avoids cutting the frame up also, as the plastic used does not take glue well, so is likely to come apart again in the future. This way, no glue is used and the original (modified) clips continue to do their job.

 

When refitting the pickups I fit a third set per bogie bearing on the centre wheels for additional pickup.

 

After all this then lower the body the remainder that's required to complete the modification. Again, don't hack as "grahame" as this is again aggressive and risks the lighting rig not lining up properly. The key is to file a little off the step in sides of the lighting PCBs so they slot a little deeper into the ends of the chassis block. This brings them down with the body so everything remains perfectly aligned, and their tops help support the shell. The 4 metal prongs at the ends of the chassis can be carefully shortened.

 

It's worth noting that ALL these have been done by Bachmann in the revised 47s - the wheel drop issue is much less well noticed, but equally important in my eyes as they tended to clatter through pointwork. I imagine it would also excessively wear insulfrog pointwork in time. Clearly also seen as important in Bachmann's eyes.

 

Sadly I have now converted all my locos so can't do a before/after picture, but can do after, if it's desired by anyone.

 

Cheers,

Alan

[romley midland]

 

 

Sadly I have now converted all my locos so can't do a before/after picture, but can do after, if it's desired by anyone.

 

Cheers,

Alan

 

 

Yes please Alan I would be most grateful if you could,

 

Cheers, Richard

[scruff]

thanks for clearing that up Alan, might be tempted to have a go myself if I can get one at the right price.

 

just one question, which bit needs rubbing with the soldering iron and which direction?

 

Mark

[Dave777]

Ben Ando did an article in Model Rail about lowering the body too. Can't remember if it included the bogie mod (I'm suspecting not), and he acknowledged the work done by others in the article so it may have been a simple re-hash of what has been posted, but it did include a good set of step by step pictures and captions. I'll dig out the reference tonight as it was a most definite 'keep' when I was filletting my old magazines.

 

Edit: It's the Feb 2009 issue, and there was no bogie mod.

[Flying Pig]

Yes.

 

But it's not quite that simple...

Thanks for the detailed explanation, Alan.

[Gialloblu]

Do i understand it correctly that Bachmann corrected this issue in a revised model that is currently available? If so how do they have different refernce numbers - how else would you tell which one you are getting if you are buying mail order?

 

Always wanted a 47 but that bogie gap is RUBBISH

[Dr Al]

Do i understand it correctly that Bachmann corrected this issue in a revised model that is currently available? If so how do they have different refernce numbers - how else would you tell which one you are getting if you are buying mail order?

 

Always wanted a 47 but that bogie gap is RUBBISH

 

It's simple - all the blue and green ones are original batches, original 'sitting high' tooling, the intercity, LLB and Mail red ones are new batch revised tooling.

 

If you don't like the bogie gap there are plenty of well publicised fixes, including my own above! If you're scared of working on a new loco check out ebay for secondhand ones - they regularly come up at less than £50 mint.

 

Cheers,

Alan

[jonathan452]

I see from the Bachmann/Farish website that these are ''out of stock''; I hope this means we shall soon have new batches with the revised body and chassis in these liveries. I've been waiting ages for these to arrive as I wasn't prepared to fork out for the first version.

 

Looks as if your wish has become true looking at the Farish 2011 Announcements Thread.

 

371-825A Class 47 No. D1745 in BR two tone green with illuminatedcentre head code box.

 

371-828A Class 47 No. 47403 ‘The Geordie’ in BR blue.

 

[Crepello]

Looks as if your wish has become true looking at the Farish 2011 Announcements Thread.

 

371-825A Class 47 No. D1745 in BR two tone green with illuminatedcentre head code box.

 

371-828A Class 47 No. 47403 ‘The Geordie’ in BR blue.

 

It has indeed come true! Plus it won't be long--the Farish website today shows June/July. The wallet will take a caning! Let's hope they do a 47/0 or 47/3 for freight work one day too!

[Crepello]

Just found out that 47403 was named 'The Geordie' in Feb 82--just out of the Deltic era, which cuts it out of quite a few post-TOPS years. Oh well, a bit of decal removal due; pity the manufacturers do this sort of thing though.

[Flying Pig]

Reanimating this thread to report that my own mint nearly new example finally got a run on something more than a plain oval at the weekend and I'm pleased to say ran steadily over a mixture of ancient Streamline code 80 and Setrack points, without grounding its sumps or showing any noticeable sign of diving into the flangeways. I may well confine the mods to body-lowering on this one.

[Crepello]

My long-awaited D1745 arrived from Rochester this morning--very nice too but no BR emblem--apparently prototypical for this loco (see Class 47 website). Why oh why do manufacturers think we want a one-off when a decent bog-standard green 47 has been so long coming? Maybe later in the model's life for those who like 'gimmicks' but please, not when the model is new!