Airfix Class 31

[47164]

Also don,t forget flush glazing,it's amazing the immeadiate difference it makes to the overall appearance.

[Ray H]

Indeed, that's on the list.

 

I'd welcome any suggestions for tackling the red/white lighting as well.

[James]

I'd welcome any suggestions for tackling the red/white lighting as well.

 

Depends on your era - during the day you may not need any head lamps at all.

[stewartingram]

And in green days red electrics lamps were not used, just oil lamps.

 

Stewart

[Ray H]

And in green days red electrics lamps were not used, just oil lamps.

 

Stewart

 

Does that suggest that what I assume are two lamp positions on each end were for white lights or shouldn't be there at all? I assumed that that the headcode box would be illuminated and the aforesaid mentioned lights were red. Were they a form of parking light or put in but not used/commissioned?

[James]

Does that suggest that what I assume are two lamp positions on each end were for white lights or shouldn't be there at all? I assumed that that the headcode box would be illuminated and the aforesaid mentioned lights were red. Were they a form of parking light or put in but not used/commissioned?

 

The model only has tail lamps - they were used until later on in the locos' lives, exact details have been covered elsewhere on RMweb. Until this time a seperate tail lamp had to be displayed. The headcode would only be illuminated during darkness and possibly in fog or falling snow, so you might as well save yourself the effort! One thing which would help would be to add new lenses to the tail lamp housings.

[stewartingram]

Red lights were fitted below the cab windows. They were not used until late 60's (pedant mode - someone jump in & reveal the date please?) as oil lamps were used on the brackets when required. I believe it was connected to Trade Union issues in some way, as signalmen had to observe the rear of the train carried a lamp, thus proving there hadn't been a breakaway. A physical oil lamp is easier to spot; they were actually quite dim and you could not usually tell if they were lit in daylight.

The front of the loco had the headcode box above the cab. Earlier locos carried 4 folding white discs, body coloured on the rear, with holes to show an electric lamp behind them. Folded up, they were basically invisible being body coloured. Unfolded, to display a code in the same way as oil lamps, they could be seen. Again in practice the lamps were not lit in daylight.

The headcode panel was similar to the old style bus route blinds. Bulbs were fitted behind, but usually used only at night, and very dim (check on a bus, there are still some in use). The headcode varied; in East Anglia we went through 3 different systems.

1 - the 2nd blind showed a letter code corresponding to the old steam loco headcode (or diesel disc code).

2 - blind 1 showed a number, corresponding again to the steam code, Blind 2 was blank. Blind 3/4 showed a route number code.

3 - the standard 4 character code was used, much the same as 3, but blind 2 showed a letter corresponding to a list of destination areas. By this time, blinds 3/4 changed from a route to an individual id for each train.

 

Model lighting, particularly led, is FAR too bright. If you can see it in daylight, that is too bright. Check out some of the pics on my Old B/W photos thread and try to spot an illuminated one!

 

Stewart

[Ray H]

My main reason for thinking of lights is that I have found those on the Bachmann diesel that I have very useful for telling whether the loco will move forward or backwards.

 

I was only thinking of having a relatively dim white LED somewhere behind the roof box and using a similar brightness for the red lights. I presume that I could drill a small pilot hole from outside in the centre of the existing lens, enlarge it slowly from inside (but without drilling all the way through) just enough for a good part of (say) a 3mm LED lens to be visible in daylight and to glow (rather than shine) when lit.

[stewartingram]

Remember what I said about using an oil tail lamp to identify the rear of the TRAIN. Only the last vehicle in ANY train shows a lamp (oil or electric) so a red light on the back of the loco = never able to pull anything!

[Guest Phil]

My main reason for thinking of lights is that I have found those on the Bachmann diesel that I have very useful for telling whether the loco will move forward or backwards.

 

I was only thinking of having a relatively dim white LED somewhere behind the roof box and using a similar brightness for the red lights. I presume that I could drill a small pilot hole from outside in the centre of the existing lens, enlarge it slowly from inside (but without drilling all the way through) just enough for a good part of (say) a 3mm LED lens to be visible in daylight and to glow (rather than shine) when lit.

 

 

As Stuart said. Dim is the statement. Remember that LEDs in nearly all fields of engineering are an "oughties" thing. for the periods you are modellingv these locos had yellow tungsten bulbs throughout, even behind the red glass lenses of the tail lights. I wouldn't like to hazard a guess on when oil tail lamps were usurped by the locos own tail lights, but whatever they were reasonably dim, unless the surroundings were very dark, and for the most part up until the mid to late 1980s there were generally seperate switches and drivers often only used one of the two tail lights.

 

Again as Stuart said, the headcode boxes were fitted with four tungsten (yellow) bulbs, one behind each blind. These were dim, but I wouldn't say they were switched off during the daylight, as much as they were probably too dim to identify as being on - don't forget tunnels !!

 

I'm interested to know what other modellers use to convert white LED light to the more representative dull yellow tungsten effect. I have a Bachmann 45 which really needs the "Colgate white" toned down to a tungsten dull yellow !!

[Blacque Jacque]

There are several things you can do to improve the look of leds.

 

Reduce the current, often leds are far too bright. Doubling the series resistor value will roughly halve the current & make them much more bearable.

 

Use warm white leds where available, not always an option, but they do give a much more realistic representation of tungsten lighting.

 

Yellow leds with a low drive current can also give a reasonable facsimile of tungsten bulbs. Not perfect, but closer than the pure white or blue white which are most common.

 

Dip white leds in transparent colours such as Tamiya clear yellow, or pick up a yellow permanent marker from a stationary shop. This takes much of the blue out & improves the look. Don't be tempted to use black or dark colours as they tend to look purple.

[Ray H]

Thinks. Perhaps the answer is to simply pick out the red lenses as just that i.e. not illuminated but clearly red and use the dimly illuminated roofbox to indicate the direction of travel such that when illuminated that is the front of the train/loco, when not illuminated the train is either travelling the other way or hasn't had the direction selected (or has stalled!).

[Blacque Jacque]

I have done just that on my Class 29, judicious use of a fine point CD marker over the yellow paint has left a vaguely believable red light. It's passable for now until I hack the front end around to put the lights in the right place, after which I'll fit suitably dim leds.

[Dagworth]

for the most part up until the mid to late 1980s there were generally seperate switches and drivers often only used one of the two tail lights.

 

Many locos had a three position switch for tail lights with centre being off and the two other positions being either left or right tail lights. Both tail lights being lit only came in MUCH later (late eighties early nineties). 31s were one of the few classes not to have this arrangement and could be seen with both tails lit.

 

I'm interested to know what other modellers use to convert white LED light to the more representative dull yellow tungsten effect. I have a Bachmann 45 which really needs the "Colgate white" toned down to a tungsten dull yellow !!

 

I've used lighting gel (I work in theatre and rock and roll lighting) to tone down the LEDs in some stuff. You need CT orange filter (Lee 208). Contact your local technical support company and they can probably supply you with a piece for not much money.

 

Andi

[James]

Remember what I said about using an oil tail lamp to identify the rear of the TRAIN. Only the last vehicle in ANY train shows a lamp (oil or electric) so a red light on the back of the loco = never able to pull anything!

 

If a train went passed and the loco also had its tail lamps on, it would be stopped as soon as it was safe to do so!

[45125]

As Stuart said. Dim is the statement. Remember that LEDs in nearly all fields of engineering are an "oughties" thing. for the periods you are modellingv these locos had yellow tungsten bulbs throughout, even behind the red glass lenses of the tail lights. I wouldn't like to hazard a guess on when oil tail lamps were usurped by the locos own tail lights, but whatever they were reasonably dim, unless the surroundings were very dark, and for the most part up until the mid to late 1980s there were generally seperate switches and drivers often only used one of the two tail lights.

 

Again as Stuart said, the headcode boxes were fitted with four tungsten (yellow) bulbs, one behind each blind. These were dim, but I wouldn't say they were switched off during the daylight, as much as they were probably too dim to identify as being on - don't forget tunnels !!

 

I'm interested to know what other modellers use to convert white LED light to the more representative dull yellow tungsten effect. I have a Bachmann 45 which really needs the "Colgate white" toned down to a tungsten dull yellow !!

 

Most headcode boxes actually had/have eight lamps in them, not four.

[Ray H]

If a train went passed and the loco also had its tail lamps on, it would be stopped as soon as it was safe to do so!

 

As an aside, my wife and I visited a friend in a box where he was working as box boy - how old is that term?

 

Every time a train passed he'd say "Tail lamp, complete."

 

To this day, if we're out near trains and stop to watch one pass my wfe invariably utters those same three words.

[Ray H]

I've done a little more research about the wheels.

 

The measured size of the wheels is approx 14.3mm - it varies a shade on the traction tyre fitted wheels. Ultrascale supply said wheel whereas the Gibson wheel is a fraction smaller and a fair bit dearer.

 

The real thing had reduced diameter wheels on the centre axle. I don't need to worry too much about that on the power bogie which only has an apology for a dummy wheel. Does anyone have any suggestions for improving the look of said dummy wheel?

 

Do I need to incorporate reduced diameter wheels on the unpowered bogie (and, if so, what size do they need to be)? Can anyone with a converter Airfix model advise whether the loco would negotiate fiddle yard curves of around 18" radius with all three axles flanged and the same diameter?

[James]

Have a look here, both wheels sizes are quoted.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Rail_Class_31

 

Having wheels the same size on the trailing bogie won't, or shouldn't, affect its ability to run through curves, but if you're fitting new wheels you might as well fit prototypically cirrect wheels.

[Ray H]

Indeed. Ultrascale do the relevant size the diameter of which, by my calculation is 1.2mm smaller than the outer wheels.

 

Is there not a risk that by using a smaller centre wheel, that the wheel will not always ride on the rail and thereof potentially reduces the number of wheels available for power pick-up from six to four? There's no springing on the bogie/axles so I presume the axles rest on the keep plate underneath with the centre wheels probably just hanging there?

 

I should add that I hope to be able to add pick-ups to the outer wheels on the motor bogie which may offset the loss on the other bogie.

[cobach47]

what can be done with some scrap triang parts

[cobach47]

just finished my class 30? brush type two refurb i got for £12 this loco runs so quiet and smooth comes down to a crawl has no trouble with code 100 small radius points

 

i also have two other class 31's both are noisy but i can't find a way of sorting them out . all the locos run on code 100 with no problems.

 

South eastern finecast flushglaze windows are worth getting

[SDuhig]

Read with interest.

Recently restored and part-super-detailed an Airfix Class 31 converting from blue to green.

(A gift from Peter Nolan.. hence the tease...).

Please be aware that I had to replace a bogie as it actually disintegrated in my hand from terminal metal fatigue.

I have managed to pick up a replacement on e-bay.

If anyone is interested my model can be seen here:

https://www.flickr.com/search/?text=model%20class%2031&sort=relevance&user_id=26359504%40N08

 

Steven.