WYPTE Class 155 Conversion from Hornby 153s

[CWJ]

Hello,

 

Not having the skills or courage to upgrade the old Dapol model like Jim Smith-Wright (see the Birmingham New Street topic), I have just started the conversion of a pair of Hornby Class 153s into a 2-car Class 155 unit. This should be an interesting one, as the real Class 153s were of course converted from Class 155s in the first place. The rough plan is:

• Cut out inner cab ends and fit blank ends, re-using the gangways and fitting new exhausts (COMPLETE)
  
• Cut out the windows (three on each car) covered by blanking plates on the 153 (COMPLETE)
  
• Manufacture glazing to match the other windows (the tricky bit!)
  
• Removal/filling of cab side windows and NRN aerials at inner ends, and exhaust ports
  
• Remove 'bufferbeam' skirting and obstacle deflectors at inner ends
  
• Fit the obstactle deflector at the outer ends to the body rather than the bogie, and fit at the correct height along with horns
  
• Fit close couplings (Keen system)
  
• Re-wire one car as an un-motorised 'slave' unit providing pickups to (and taking lighting from) the 'master' car
  
• Modify and detail the interiors
  
• Re-paint in WYPTE red and cream livery, with either Arriva or Northern logos as worn in the late 1990s and early 2000s as below
  

No. 155341 passes Castleton East Junction on 29th October 2006. (Photo: David Ingham/Wikipedia)

 

Firstly, has anyone else attempted this before? If so, are there any pitfalls you can make me aware of?

 

Secondly, if anyone has any spare glazing from a Hornby Class 153...

 

I'll upload some progress photos after work.

 

Cheers,

 

Will

[jamie92208]

Sounds like a good project. As the 12" to the foot railway are talking about whther or not to re-form some 155's perhaps you should sell your project plan to whichever leasing company owns them and charge them a fortune for consultancy. I look forward to seeing the results.

 

Jamie

[CWJ]

Sounds like a good project. As the 12" to the foot railway are talking about whther or not to re-form some 155's perhaps you should sell your project plan to whichever leasing company owns them and charge them a fortune for consultancy. I look forward to seeing the results.

 

Jamie

 

Good plan! I'll even have a 'proof of concept' model...

[CWJ]

Right, as promised, here are some photos of progress to date. Firstly, the donor model:

 

The 'front' end of the Class 153 looks like a 155 already - not much to do here. The obstacle deflector needs raising up and mounting to the body (see photo of the real thing above), and some horns will be added either side of Hornby's excellent BSI coupler.

 

The 'rear' end will be cut away, roughly around the edge of the yellow panel, and a new recessed end piece inserted. I will re-use the excellent gangway moulding, but the coupler, obstacle deflector and 'bufferbeam' skirting will all go into the bits box for another project.

 

Going from left to right, the driver's cab window will be filled in and filed flush with the bodyside, not an easy task due to the profile at the end of the vehicle. The small vent below the door opening button will be removed, as will the steps at this end. The NRN radio aerial will be removed and a replacement flush piece fitted, and most noticeably of all, the small plated-over window will carefully be cut out and re-glazed.

 

The other side will be treated similarly, except that there are two windows to cut out - one full-sized and one smaller. I'm hoping that I'll be able to cut the holes slightly smaller than the plated-over area, leaving a raised rim around the edge just like the other windows.

 

More to follow...

[CWJ]

...continuted:

 

These are the outer cab ends after removal of the details for re-painting. I have filed down the small moulded handrails beneath each window and drilled holes for fine wire replacements. If things look a little messy it's because a few bits of paint came away with the removed parts.

 

The inner ends have been cut away, as they should be slightly recessed on a 155. The gangways have been mounted on some thin Plastikard (about 0.5mm) to locate them the correct distance from the body and to allow them to be mounted low enough. The two holes are for fitting exhaust pipes which I will scratch build - I estimated the location of the fittings from a photo.

 

I know this looks horrific close-up, but considering my usual standards I don't think I've made a bad job of cutting out the two windows. You can see on the top-right where my (new and sharp) drill bit ripped the plastic a little, despite using a hand drill and drilling well within the area I was cutting out. This was taken straight after filing; I will probably rub down the openings with wet-and-dry for a better finish, but once painted and glazed it should look okay. A word of caution to anyone attempting to do this conversion - the large plated-over window is about 1mm to wide for the glazing, hence why I have left a thick column of it on the left of the cut-out.

 

I removed the PCB from this car and also the motor (simply unclip the bogie housing and lift out the motor), but stopped short of re-building the bogie as an underfloor unit which wouldn't intrude on the interior space. I may do this one day as an upgrade, at the same time as fitting interior lighting. The four black wires go to the bogie pick-ups, so I have left these in. On the interior unit there are three brown wires for the lighting (the LEDs are just visible below the cab desk). All seven wires will be connected to the powered car by a miniature plug and socket, so electrically the whole unit will work just like a single Class 153 did before.

 

Finally for today, this cruel close-up demonstrates my inability to file things without filing nearby other things. This is the remains of the exhaust port, which will be filled and sanded smooth. This area is so tiny that I hadn't even noticed the missing rivets or damaged rain strip until I saw the photo. Also visible is the hole left by the NRN aerial, which simply un-clips from the inside of the roof.

 

Please feel free to comment - any guidance would be much appreciated!

 

Cheers,

 

Will

[Steven B]

I've done the same conversion but in N. With the smaller scale you get to use Dapol's dummy clas 153's which saves a few quid.

Here's the results of my efforts:

You can find a bigger image here.

 

I look forward to seeing the model progress.

 

Happy modelling.

 

Steven B.

[CWJ]

I've done the same conversion but in N.

 

Thanks for sharing the photo Steven, I'm really pleased as I haven't seen this conversion done by anyone yet. Your model looks great - if mine looks anything close, I'll be chuffed.

 

On a seperate note, I managed to get some quick photos of the inner ends of a 155 at Leeds station today:

 

I can use this as a guide to building the exhaust pipes (not sure about that perforated guard!) and it also gives an idea of the interior layout.

 

The vehicle with the toilet also has this filler pipe alongside the gangway. I've also just noticed that the solebars stop short of the end of the body - I'll have to check that the model matches this!

 

I'm hoping to get half an hour on the model later tonight - if so, I'll post some progress photos.

 

Cheers,

 

Will

[NickL2008]

Good luck with the Project Will, had a feeling itd only be a matter of time before someone tackled the 155 from the newer Hornby 153s ... my ideas for this project were to use the 153 chassis, and then use the 155 body, as the 155 made by Hornby has the more correct "roundedness" about the roof

 

By the way, Scalelink do a variety of meshes, so might be worth giving them a look perhaps? was suggested them as I was looknig for mesh for my Lima 156 that im currently doing

 

NL

[CWJ]

Thanks Nick, that sounds like a good plan, although the glazing on the Dapol 155 would need to be made 'flusher' (if there is such a word!). To my eyes, this is more distracting than the roof profile. Maybe for the perfect model you could use the roof from the Dapol 155 and the chassis from the new 153, although if we are talking about the ultimate model, it should really have an underfloor motor instead of the intrusive motor bogie

 

Thanks for the Scalelink tip - I may already have some of their stuff at the bottom of my 'kits which never seem to get built' pile.

 

Filed a few more lumps of plastic off my 155 this evening but nothing worthy of photography... I hope to get the body ready for the painting stage tomorrow.

 

Cheers,

 

Will

[NickL2008]

You could see if the Hornby glazing would fit im sure, after all its only glued in on the 153 if youre feeling brave to remove the pint of Cynocrylate Hornby uses ... the roof profile is ok on the 153 but too flat looking.. you could indeed use the 155 roof, but youd need to make a very precise cut along the cant rail level ... hah! yes a Bill Bedford motorising kit to ad as well would finnish the model off nicely, although if theres one suitable for 2nd generation DMUs

 

Looking at Scaelinks' mesh it looks really fine, as mentioned in my blog entry that ive put up tonight I was after some very fine mesh for the engine radiator and the exhaust protector so they seemed to have good stock availiable

 

look forward to more updates, hopefully ill get round to one of these one day

 

NL

[CWJ]

As usual with my 'quick projects', it has now been a whole month since my last update! Lots of progress to report though.

 

Firstly, I spent a therapeutic half hour re-shaping the obstacle deflectors (also described as snowploughs) supplied with the Hornby Class 153. As you will see from the photos above, these have a chunky appearance when viewed sideways-on, so I have tried to file the edges to a point, as you would a knife blade. The treated areas are where the yellow paint has been filed away to reveal the black plastic.

 

Looking from below, the two 'steps' on each side are chamfered at about 45 degrees to give the impression from most angles that the deflector is thinner.

 

Next, the curved ends are treated similarly, using a rocking action with the file. You can also see where the deflector has been removed from the bracket which connects it to the bogie.

 

Finally the rectangular part which surrounds the coupling is filed down, this time at a shallower angle so that the chamfer runs right to the back of the deflector.

 

This will benefit from smoothing with wet and dry, followed by painting and copious weathering.

 

More to follow...

[CWJ]

Now onto something more substantial...

 

The NRN aerial holes at the inner ends of each car have been filled using a piece of styrene sheet (15mm X 12.5mm) formed to a gentle curve around the handle of my knife. This can sit neatly on the little ledge which runs around the inside of the hole, and if you had exactly the right thickness of sheet then you would hardly need any filler to mask the join. If, like me, your sheet is slightly too thin, then you will need to commence the messy process of filling the recess with Milliput or similar. I don't like this stuff; it is difficult to prepare and too stiff for small jobs like this, but is the only thing which will reliably fill a big hole.

 

The same process applies to the cab side windows, but I used the original glazing (with the window frames filed down and the surface abraded to aid adhesion of the filler) to plug the gap. At this stage the filler is only roughly applied (as these photos show all too well...) - final filling will be done with something more refined than Milliput.

 

Starting to look like a 2-car DMU! The NRN aerial holes, roof exhaust ports and cab side windows have now been smoothed with Revell filler putty (first time I've used this, much runnier than expected but this made it very easy to use) and the first coat of white primer has been applied. From this distance, my "home-made" window apetures look ok!

 

The NRN aerial 'holes', now filled. The primer is very effective at showing up little defects, which will be dealt with using a bit more filler.

 

One of the side windows, again needing a bit of filler here and there...

 

...and the other car.

 

I'm quite pleased with how the bodies are looking; I was worried the filling and sanding process would leave them looking much more wobbly than they are.

 

More to follow...

[CWJ]

... a few bits and bobs I have also been working on:

 

The outer cab ends have a multiple working socket on the headstock (just visible in orange on the right), above which is a square yellow box on the Hornby model. This is correct for the 'new' cab on a 153, but not for the original cab and certainly not for a 155, so this is what it looks like when filed flush with the skirting. Once I have re-wired the electrics and sorted out an interior, I will add the obstacle deflectors, couplings, horns and other details, but I don't want to fit them yet as they will be easily damaged. I might build them as a sub-assembly on a plate which is simply glued to the underside of the cab floor.

 

The inner ends of the chassis need to have the yellow skirting removed. I have filed it flat, but later realised (see photos of no. 155344 at Leeds above) that the entire headstock needs to be removed, as the body overhangs the chassis by what appears to be six to nine inches (2 to 3mm).

 

Finally, here are the excellent transfers from Fox. Clockwise from top-left: C3 labels (TOPS with data panels), MetroTrain logos, Regional Railways logos (with white numbers for bodysides and black numbers for cab ends), my home-made Arriva and Northern Rail logos, and some more data panels (I wouldn't have ordered these if I knew they came with the C3 labels!). The home-made transfers were done using clear transfer paper for inkjet printers, and I did a few different sizes so that I could pick the size which looked right. Graphics were easily found on the internet; hopefully I'm not breaking any laws by reproducing them for personal use. I may have another go at these using the laser printer at work, as the inkjet graphics are slightly patchy when viewed close-up.

 

That concludes my update, hopefully it won't be another month before the next one. Please let me know what you think of progress so far, positive or otherwise!

 

Cheers,

 

Will

Edited September 26, 2011 by CWJ

[CWJ]

Just nipped out to the garage to put some filler on those rough patches - going out now, but hope to spray the WYPTE cream later this evening. When I do, I'll put a photo up if anyone's interested.

 

Cheers,

 

Will

[kintbury jon]

Yes please, i'm quite enjoying seeing this progress. Always liked the 155's - never quite worked out why though!

Edited September 30, 2011 by kintbury jon

[CWJ]

Just a quick update - I have filled the small defects in the roof and bodysides, re-sprayed with white primer and all looked well. While the primer was drying I took the opportunity to give the interior a quick coat of light browny-beige, and the inside of the doors orange. These are the colours I remember on 1980s/90s WYPTE units, though not necessarily on the 155s. I have also fitted Kaydee couplers between the two cars, as the Keen close coupling units would not fit in the available floor space.

 

I'll put some photos up in my next post, but in the meantime (and I realise this is a long shot!) if anyone has any photos of the interior of a Class 155 before the recent overhauls then I would be most grateful if you could share them with me.

 

Cheers,

 

Will

[CWJ]

Finally, got round to uploading some photos as promised! Apologies in advance for the quality, they were taken in dim light (and possibly by a dim photographer...):

 

I assembled the bodyshells on the chassis for a photo. The unit has actually been sprayed in WYPTE cream, but it looks grey in the photos. I used Peugeot Panama Beige, which looks about right to my eyes, and hopefully will to yours when I take a proper photo under natural light. Starting to look like a 155 now!

 

The 'difficult end' of each car! Buckeye couplings have been fitted (Kaydee No.5) but electrical connections remain to be added. You can see here how visible the motor bogies are when the original windows are cut out - a future upgrade could be some sort of underfloor drive, or at least a low-profile motor bogie, but I'm keeping it simple for now. I have removed the motor from one bogie.

 

Finally, with extra apologies for the fuzzy picture, I have slapped some paint on the interior so that it looks approximately right if I ever fit interior lighting. Easier to do now than when it's finished. I just estimated the browny-beige colour and orange doors from what few photographs I can find, and my own dim and distant memories.

 

Next big jobs:

- Mask off the cream bodyside stripe and spray the unit in WYPTE red.

- Make an assembly to fit under each cab end consisting of BSI coupler, obstactle deflector and horns

- Connect the lighting and pickups on the dummy car to the PCB on the powered car, via miniature connectors

- Detail the interiors, paint and add people

 

Cheers,

 

Will

[CWJ]

Thanks Richard, it's certainly taking a lot longer than I expected! I'll hopefully get some red paint on it tonight, that should make a big difference.

[CWJ]

Had a productive session on the Class 155 this evening. I started by masking off the cream bodyside stripe, the size of which can be worked out from the various lines of rivets on photographs. I make it 3.5mm high, so four long strips of masking tape were cut, along with four shorter pieces with one rounded end for the cab sides. Unfortunately I forgot to mask off the cab fronts, so overcoating them with yellow paint may be tricky! I'll probably re-prime them in white first. Here's the result:

 

Again, I used a Halfords aerosol; this time one intended for a Fiat. It covered the cream very well indeed, applied in several thin coats. There are a couple of minor blips where the edge of the cream stripe isn't as perfect as it could be, particularly around the door control buttons, but I'm not sure whether it would be best to try and touch them up or just conceal them with weathering.

 

While the red paint was drying, I spent a few minutes fitting electrical sockets to the trailing car. The sockets are above the floor, and glued to it, whereas the bits below are the plugs which are inserted through holes in the floor. These will be soldered to flying leads from the powered car. There are five wires in all - (1) left-hand pickup, (2) right-hand pickup, (3) tail light negative, (4) headlight negative and (5) lighting common positive.

 

I'm quite enjoying this little project, it seems to be going quite well. Still, there's time for it to go wrong yet!

 

Cheers,

 

Will

[CWJ]

Quick update:

 

I called into Halfords yesterday to get some grey paint for the roof. Having used Halfords for all the other colours, I prefer to stick with one paint system for the whole thing. I also got some gloss varnish to give the transfers a good surface to stick to, but Halfords don't do a matt or satin varnish for the top coat. Thankfully I believe it is possible to overcoat these acrylic paints with an enamel varnish (if anyone else knows otherwise, please shout!).

 

My only other acheivement last night was to knock off one of the Kaydee couplers - perhaps a nut and bolt would be a good idea, rather than just glue. I also managed to loosen one of the electrical connectors shown above - it seems a stronger fixing method will be required or they will come loose every time the plug is inserted into the socket. As there isn't enough room for mechanical support, I will probably use a stronger glue, such as 'Araldite'.

 

I hope to do the above tonight, and also solder up the wiring. With a bit of luck, I'll also squirt some white primer on the cab ends ready for yellow paint later in the week. If SWMBO still hasn't found me a job to do, I'll upload some photos.

 

Cheers,

 

Will

Edited October 6, 2011 by CWJ

[jon37]

Looking great ! If you need any more details you can borrow my Arriva/ Northern rail traction manuals !, cheers Jon.

[CWJ]

Looking great ! If you need any more details you can borrow my Arriva/ Northern rail traction manuals !, cheers Jon.

 

Thanks Jon! Do your manuals say how to wire the two cars together? He he...

 

As predicted, I didn't get chance to take any photos last night, but I'll try again tonight. I can exclusively confirm that the front ends are now yellow, which makes a big difference. I've also made some progress on the wiring, and hope to have the unit doing a test run tonight.

 

Cheers,

 

Will

[CWJ]

Had a really good session in the garage last night - here are some photos as promised...

 

Firstly I wired up the sockets on the trailer car. The three brown wires come from the lighting (red, white and common) - note that the current limiting resistors are mounted on the PCB, so don't wire the LEDs up directly to a power source! The four black wires are from the bogies, front and rear, left- and right-hand rail. The existing wires weren't quite long enough to reach the new sockets, so I used a piece of veroboard as a terminal strip. If you wanted to be really tidy you could use the original PCB fixing screws to hold this down. Finally, I used heat shrink tubing to cover the soldered connections onto the sockets - this looks neater, insulates the connections from each other, gives some strength to the joints and makes the shiny soldered bits less visible.

 

Next, the powered car. Extra wires are easily added to the terminals on the end of the PBC - these aren't soldered, just held in place by the black plastic caps. One wire, the lighting common, needs to go directly to a solder pad in the middle of the PCB; this is the longer wire running to the right.

 

The finished connections, with plugs inserted up into the sockets under the floor of the trailing car. This results in an identical electrical circuit to the original Class 153 single car, only with two additional bogies to pick up from. If anyone else is attempting this conversion, I would be happy to provide the exact details - it's dead easy.

 

I attempted a brief test run and am pleased to report that it worked first time! Not very often that happens...

 

And finally:

The yellow ends and grey roof have now been sprayed (yet more Halfords aerosols), and all that remains is black paint on the window surrounds, light clusters and inner vehicle ends.

 

Cheers,

 

Will

[kintbury jon]

Looking nice. I thought that your red coat looked a little on the light size (in the post further up) but it looks fine in the above shot. The electrics look neat too.

[CWJ]

Looking nice. I thought that your red coat looked a little on the light size (in the post further up) but it looks fine in the above shot. The electrics look neat too.

 

Thanks Jon! The red might be a shade brighter than it should be actually, I'll take a nice shot of the finished unit (when it's finished, that is) outside in natural light. As for the electrics, I've seen neater! But it works, which is the main thing

 

Cheers,

 

Will