kintbury jon Posted March 17, 2013 Share Posted March 17, 2013 (edited) Morning all. Unable to resist a bargain, I now have a 31-426A 4CEP (the green one with yellow ends). Question is, what to do with it! I have EMUs but they are all in the 80's/90's era. My thoughts at the moment are to either: 1) Convert it to a refurbished CEP with hopper vents (possibly using MJT sides). I have converted a CEP to the protoype 1500 without hopper vents so can't do that! 2) Using suitable body parts (Replica) replace the shells and create a BR type 4EPB. Any thoughts, comments and suggestions welcome! Edited March 28, 2013 by kintbury jon Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Welly Posted March 17, 2013 RMweb Premium Share Posted March 17, 2013 Make a refurbished 4-CEP and paint it Jaffa Cake! 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Red Fox Posted March 17, 2013 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 17, 2013 Something like this..... http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/51508-refurbished-4cep-from-Bachmann-model/ 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Clive Mortimore Posted March 17, 2013 RMweb Premium Share Posted March 17, 2013 Morning all. Unable to resist a bargain, I now have a 31-426A 4CEP (the green one with yellow ends). Question is, what to do with it! I have EMUs but they are all in the 80's/90's era. My thoughts at the moment are to either: 1) Convert it to a refurbished CEP with hopper vents (possibly using MJT sides). I have converted a CEP to the protoype 1500 without hopper vents so can't do that! 2) Using suitable body parts (Replica) replace the shells and create a BR type 4EPB. Any thoughts, comments and suggestions welcome! Hi Jon Using Bachmann coach sides would a 4BEP be possible? As for a 4EPB, use the 2 EPB MBS and use Replica seconds as the TS centre coaches. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kintbury jon Posted March 17, 2013 Author Share Posted March 17, 2013 (edited) Thanks for that Red Fox. I had forgotten about that thread. That would be a lovely model to do though my concerns are how to do the glazing. I'm more than happy to carve up the sides, I did so with 1500. Edited March 17, 2013 by kintbury jon Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kintbury jon Posted March 17, 2013 Author Share Posted March 17, 2013 (edited) A refurbished BEP would be great as I have a greyhound 4CIG that it could run with. Again, concerns over the glazing and the TSRB would be difficult! Agree with the method for the 4EPB, though getting hold of two DMBSO shells may not be easy. Edited March 17, 2013 by kintbury jon Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flood Posted March 17, 2013 Share Posted March 17, 2013 You only need to buy a 2 EPB and as I need one trailer car to make a 3T when the 1100 demu comes out I'll swap my plain blue DMBSO for the trailer car you get in the 2 EPB. Sound like a plan? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kintbury jon Posted March 17, 2013 Author Share Posted March 17, 2013 If I go down the 4EPB route, sounds like a plan! 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kintbury jon Posted March 19, 2013 Author Share Posted March 19, 2013 Well I have opted to go for both! Having sourced a second 4CEP, my plan is to make a refurbished CEP and a 4EPB. I have sourced two DMBSO EPB shells (one from Flood and one from my father) and now need to order a couple of centre cars to go with them. Plan will be to go for one of the refurbished units (415/6) and go for NSE livery. Still looking into the refurbished CEP, butI have made contact with the company that produced davyjcrow with the etched windows on his fantastic NSE 4CEP. Will look to get this thread moved. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kintbury jon Posted March 26, 2013 Author Share Posted March 26, 2013 Right, have made a small start on this. Thanks to a Flood I have a 2EPB DMBSO shell that I have loosely fitted to the end trailer chassis car from a 4CEP. The CEP chassis has been modified at the non-driving end as the EPB body is completely flat across the end. Body will need modifying internally so that the lighting is suitably wired. At the driving end, I have removed the unit number as well as the black triangle. I have also removed the '2' from the 2EPB written at the bottom of the cab. The Bachmann CEP shoegear is different to the shoegear fitted to the EPB. The underframe 'bits' are also different to the EPB but it's going to be an inaccuracy that I can live with. The buckeye coupling will be removed and replaced with a centre buffer at some point. I have a second DMBSO available but will probably not get hold of it for a while as it is at my parents house. I have ordered two suburban coach shells from Bachmann as well as glazing and seating, these being for the two intermediate trailers. By chance I happened to be on ebay and spotted a set of NSE lining transfers for £4 including postage so will probably use those instead of painting the lines. I'd like this to match the Bachmann NSE 2EPB as near as I can so will need to decide whether to go for the lighter shade of blue (so that it matches) or go for a darker shade (that's probably more accurate). On a separate note, I have ordered a set of etched window frames for the 4CEP - 4CEP refurb conversion. Many thanks to davyjcrow for access to his etches. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pete_mcfarlane Posted March 26, 2013 Share Posted March 26, 2013 That's an interesting conversion. A 4EPB will have the same 1957 type underframe gear as the 4-CEP, so you don't need to worry about that. The main change you'll need to make is removing all of the lighting cables from the roof - a 4EPB roof just has ventilators and periscope (and only one periscope as there's a van at each end). 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kintbury jon Posted March 26, 2013 Author Share Posted March 26, 2013 Thanks for that observation. It shouldn't be too hard to sort that out, a file and repaint should do the trick. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kintbury jon Posted March 26, 2013 Author Share Posted March 26, 2013 (edited) I was about to ask whether anyone had a photo of a 415/6 in NSE but without a headlight but have managed to locate a photo myself. 5623 looks like a possibility though it is one of the Kent Coast ones. http://www.flickr.com/photos/80331159@N00/5515550152 Edited March 26, 2013 by kintbury jon Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xerces Fobe2 Posted March 26, 2013 Share Posted March 26, 2013 Here's another option http://www.flickr.com/photos/36034969@N08/4744743825/ XF Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kintbury jon Posted March 26, 2013 Author Share Posted March 26, 2013 An interesting prototype! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kintbury jon Posted March 27, 2013 Author Share Posted March 27, 2013 A bit more progress. I got around to ordering a few bits from Replica Railways yesterday morning. They popped through the post today! 2x Body, Interior, window pack: CEP TSK dismantled and end parts filed so that the body will fit: Body has had buffer area removed. It fits quite tightly on the EMU chassis. Giving half a 4EPB! Still plenty to do. I will need to sand down the lines on the roof of the Replica coaches so that they match a bit better. Plan is to install the lighting unit from the CEP TSK into this coach. For those of you with 2 coach thumpers, i'd have thought an easy option would be to use an intermediate CEP trailer with one of these bodies. Another delivery today was a set of CEP window frames. They look great and I think that these will look great on the CEP conversion. 6 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kintbury jon Posted March 27, 2013 Author Share Posted March 27, 2013 A bit of tinkering with the electrics. Have wired the LED ceiling lights to the chassis and have assembled the two vehicles with a couple of coaches from 1500. Plan will be to blue tack the lighting units to the roof of the centre coaches. Tomorrow i'll work on the other intermediate trailer. 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium zarniwhoop Posted March 28, 2013 RMweb Premium Share Posted March 28, 2013 For those of you with 2 coach thumpers, i'd have thought an easy option would be to use an intermediate CEP trailer with one of these bodies. I've tested that with mine - on d.c. the DEMU lights work fine, and the lights of the trailer worked - but only in one direction. If I reversed the trailer, its lights only worked in the other direction (and again the DEMU lights were fine). It's something I plan to do if I get hold of a cheap CEP (I need a chassis for a 3-D kit, and my future layout will have separate up/down trains so that the headcodes are at the right ends) but it might cause consternation for some people. ken Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin parks Posted March 28, 2013 Share Posted March 28, 2013 Hi Jon, I've just caught up with this most interesting thread. Forgive me, I thought it was a hypothetical discussion on the subject, which it quite clearly is not! With 4 CEPs available new for £89.00 (or they were until recently), its cheaper than buying all the chassis parts. Davyjcrow's refurbished 4 CEP looked absolutely excellent, so I'm sure yours will be too, using his etches. The 4 EPB looks promising too. Perhaps the cantrail-level water strip could be thinned down to match the Bachmann EPB body? I have used stainless steel for such things, as you might know I had some window frames made for a 4 CIG last year. It was tricky to stick them down, they had to curve to the body profile, which was OK if they were stuck with superglue at the top then the bottom once the glue had set. A refinement of that method is, if you are able with factory-painted bodies, is to bed the frames down onto the side with a small amount of solvent, which will tack the frames down to the sides as well if the etched metal is thin enough. Pete Harvey did mine and they were half-etched 8 thou. stainless steel, thus very flexible. All the best, Colin Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kintbury jon Posted March 28, 2013 Author Share Posted March 28, 2013 Thanks Colin, I should probably rename the thread. Taking close up shots has emphathised the differences between the Bachmann and Replica bodies. I think that the cantrail strip will need thinning as it will be painted red and will stand out . I may try and file it down a little first but this may be too difficult. I have worked on the third trailer coach both externally and internally. The three coaches are getting there, all of the rooves have had parts removed. They will be repainted. Half of the air vents have been removed from the Replica coaches to make them look similar to the Bachmann ones. The lighting cables have been removed from the EPB coach. Internal photos of the two trailer coaches. And of the EPB end. Coupled up to the CEP motor coach, the unit is fully lit, though I need to prop up the light for the headcode box at the rear. One thing i'll say, even if it ends up looking like a dog, it will run beautifully! I'll do a bit more work on this but will have to wait a few weeks before I get my hands on the other EPB shell. 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin parks Posted March 29, 2013 Share Posted March 29, 2013 Hi Jon, I am getting quite inspired by this project to have a go at a 4 EPB myself one day. I have Bachmann 4 CEP, but it suffered damage to the glazing when I wrecklessly gave it a spray of dilute balck paint in white spirit. This caused numerous cracks in the windows to appear. It would be possible to re-use the 4 CEP roofs for a conversion. It looks like there is an interesting selection of stock in your fiddle yard. All the best, Colin 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bulleidboy Posted March 30, 2013 Share Posted March 30, 2013 Hi Jon Another possibility for using the 4CEP chassis would be to make a 4EPB using DC Kits parts. Charlie advertises the body parts for the 2EPB and 2HAP on his website (see the Replica page) and is willing to sell those for the 4 car set too. I'm in the process of making one of his 2HAPs but haven't yet decided which chassis to use (like you I couldn't resist the cheap 4CEP). His sides have a small lip at the bottom which is designed to sit on his floor - to use the Bachmann chassis this would need to be filed off and a method of mounting the body so it sits at the correct height needs to be devised. Will let you know if I use the CEP chassis in my project. Mike 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kintbury jon Posted March 30, 2013 Author Share Posted March 30, 2013 (edited) There are quite a few options with the CEP chassis. One could produce a 4 CAP though it would have to be one of the later conversions that had the motor coaches at each end. With the price of the Blue/Grey 2EPB coming down, I have wondered about a possible conversion to a 2HAP. I did consider using just Replica parts. Flood's offer of a spare DMBSO body made me go down the route of using Bachmann bodies for the end coaches though. DC Kits bodies are a good suggestion too. One is limited to what other EMU options there are. 4CEP, 4CAP, 4EPB, 2x 2EPB, 2x 2HAP are the only units I think you can easily do. The position of the motor coach makes it difficult to use it for AC units and more modern DC units (as the motor coaches tended to be in the middle). I suppose a 4REP has its bits in the right place. Colin, I do have a selection of home made EMU bits and bobs. Some of which I my own conversions and others i've bought. I have a couple of 4TC's converted from Lima coaches, a 4REP which is also Lima but is powered by a Bachmann 150 chassis (hauls 12 coaches with no problems!) I also have an MJT 4CIG that I bought off ebay a few years ago and a 455 that I converted from a Bachmann 150 with some Bratchell parts. 1500 in Jaffa Cake was converted from a 4CEP and I have an MLV made up of a Bachmann chassis with a Replica body. I should say, that I will have a set of 31-425 4CEP bodyshells that will be going spare (and probably end up on ebay) so if anyone is interested in them, please PM me. Edited March 30, 2013 by kintbury jon 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kintbury jon Posted March 30, 2013 Author Share Posted March 30, 2013 Moving across to the 4CEP. I have removed the glazing from a set of bodies. Unfortunately I won't be able to reuse them in the refurbished unit as they have sliding vents. Davyjcrow has kindly sent me the drawings and a suggestion as to where I can get new glazing pieces but I would like to know whether there are any alternatives that I can use. Essentially i'm looking for some full size mark one window pieces without any frames moulded on at all. Does anyone know whether they are produced? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Robert Shrives Posted March 30, 2013 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 30, 2013 Hi Ian Allan in Birmingham has 2 EPBs for £60 - 5 on bargain shelf this morning, had been six !! Robert Shrives 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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