Class 156

[Rick_Skateboard]

Hello All.

 

My latest project is this class 156. I wanted a 156 and intended to get a Lima one which I would detail with the Hurst detailing kit. Then I saw one on eBay which already had the kit on it. I'd heard the Hurst kits were hard to get hold of and while I was searching for 156s on eBay I found one with the kit already on it - great, I thought... It turned out the kit had been very badly applied and painted and before long bits started falling off! The previous owner had cut the big boxy moulded chassis apart and made a new floor out of copper (bizarrely), then glued everything to that with evidently unsuitable glue. I decided to take everything apart and start again. I paint stripped all the castings and laid them out on the table, it turns out they've also been attacked with a file at some point. Without having the detailing kit instructions I can't be sure, but I think there must be a lot missing, the bits I have certainly don't make up everything that should be on the underside of a class 156! I'm actually not very impressed buy the castings, they are very chunky and none of them really represent what I see in pictures of the prototype. So I'm now going to scratchbuild/kitbash an underframe using some bits of the castings and whatever else I can find. Here's some pictures of progress so far.

 

This is how it arrived.

The copper floor.

The cleaned up castings.

Bit's I've made.

 

 

I've made a new floor and glued it in, it turned out the frame was broken around the sides of the floor too, so I've made sure it's all strong now. I'm working my way down the side from the bogie, going off photos and trying make things that represent what should be there. So far I've made up a new suspension air tank, exhaust pipe and silencer, engine, alternator, engine air filter housing and associated pipes and shafts. I'm going to try and get most of the big bits in the right places first then add more pipes and cables around them until it looks 'busy' enough like the real thing. Sorry some of the pictures aren't great, they were taken on my phone. It looks a bit of a mess now, but I think it's going to be ok.

 

As usual progress will probably be slow and painful, any comments are welcome.

 

Cheers,

 

Rick