Kensington Olympia in n scale

[acg5324]

The range of T track modules is increasing at the club. My two three foot(ish) are in the queue to be built. 

[acg5324]

A small parcel arrived from Harper Collins today….the delivery company left it in the middle of a stack of three recycling boxes!……they left a note to let us know.

So my copies of the Cross Country book have landed.

[Calnefoxile]

14 hours ago, acg5324 said:

A small parcel arrived from Harper Collins today….the delivery company left it in the middle of a stack of three recycling boxes!……they left a note to let us know.

So my copies of the Cross Country book have landed.

Andy,

 

Are these available yet??

 

I'll have to get one.

 

Cheers

 

Neal.

 

[acg5324]

1 hour ago, Calnefoxile said:

Andy,

 

Are these available yet??

 

I'll have to get one.

 

Cheers

 

Neal.

 

Thank you Neal

15th of May

https://www.amberley-books.com/author-community-main-page/g/community-andy-gibbs.html

[acg5324]

Back to the locos……being an ex Southern man class 33s and 73s have always been favourite locos. Class 73s were Bi-mode a very long time before the Govt decided that rather than a proper electrification programme class 800s would be the way forward.

So back to the class 73 or ED!

The Dapol model is the only game in town but as I believe it was their first modern image loco it’s a bit…well a lot….long in the tooth. The body moulding isn’t bad but the mechanism is not brilliant with the only metal in the frames being the motor. I’ve a couple of them to detail up so to start with I’ve added some of the multitude of cables and pipes plus a dropped buckeye head to the leading buffer beam. I think I have about half of what there should be…….there isn’t room for any more!

Some are from the Farish loco buffer beam sets the rest are made from fuse wire…..15amp for those that like to know.

I’ve photographed it unpainted otherwise it’s even more difficult to see.

[PaulCheffus]

2 hours ago, acg5324 said:

Back to the locos……being an ex Southern man class 33s and 73s have always been favourite locos. Class 73s were Bi-mode a very long time before the Govt decided that rather than a proper electrification programme class 800s would be the way forward.

So back to the class 73 or ED!

The Dapol model is the only game in town but as I believe it was their first modern image loco it’s a bit…well a lot….long in the tooth. The body moulding isn’t bad but the mechanism is not brilliant with the only metal in the frames being the motor. I’ve a couple of them to detail up so to start with I’ve added some of the multitude of cables and pipes plus a dropped buckeye head to the leading buffer beam. I think I have about half of what there should be…….there isn’t room for any more!

Some are from the Farish loco buffer beam sets the rest are made from fuse wire…..15amp for those that like to know.

I’ve photographed it unpainted otherwise it’s even more difficult to see.

Hi

 

The original releases of the Dapol 73 had metal chassis blocks (all mine do) which run better than the later all plastic ones.

 

Cheers

 

Paul

[acg5324]

2 hours ago, PaulCheffus said:

Hi

 

The original releases of the Dapol 73 had metal chassis blocks (all mine do) which run better than the later all plastic ones.

 

Cheers

 

Paul

Hi Paul, I have a couple of the old ones with metal frames, I understood they were not very DCC friendly?

[PaulCheffus]

1 hour ago, acg5324 said:

Hi Paul, I have a couple of the old ones with metal frames, I understood they were not very DCC friendly?

Hi

 

Thats true they aren’t but I converted all mine quite easily. I can send you the details tomorrow when I have my laptop booted up if interested.

 

Cheers

 

Paul

[acg5324]

8 hours ago, PaulCheffus said:

Hi

 

Thats true they aren’t but I converted all mine quite easily. I can send you the details tomorrow when I have my laptop booted up if interested.

 

Cheers

 

Paul

Yes please, thanks Paul.

[PaulCheffus]

3 hours ago, acg5324 said:

Yes please, thanks Paul.

Hi

 

PM sent

 

Cheers

 

Paul

[St Enodoc]

20 hours ago, acg5324 said:

Back to the locos……being an ex Southern man class 33s and 73s have always been favourite locos. Class 73s were Bi-mode a very long time before the Govt decided that rather than a proper electrification programme class 800s would be the way forward.

So back to the class 73 or ED!

The Dapol model is the only game in town but as I believe it was their first modern image loco it’s a bit…well a lot….long in the tooth. The body moulding isn’t bad but the mechanism is not brilliant with the only metal in the frames being the motor. I’ve a couple of them to detail up so to start with I’ve added some of the multitude of cables and pipes plus a dropped buckeye head to the leading buffer beam. I think I have about half of what there should be…….there isn’t room for any more!

Some are from the Farish loco buffer beam sets the rest are made from fuse wire…..15amp for those that like to know.

I’ve photographed it unpainted otherwise it’s even more difficult to see.

Blimey, I'm glad I never had to lift that buckeye!

[Csalem]

On 11/04/2022 at 19:30, acg5324 said:

A small parcel arrived from Harper Collins today….the delivery company left it in the middle of a stack of three recycling boxes!……they left a note to let us know.

So my copies of the Cross Country book have landed.

Looking forward to it. Enjoyed the Brighton book.

[Steven B]

8 hours ago, St Enodoc said:

Blimey, I'm glad I never had to lift that buckeye!

 

@acg5324 have a look in the detailing pack that comes with Farish Mk1 coaches - you should find something more to scale!

 

Steven B

[acg5324]

10 hours ago, Steven B said:

 

@acg5324 have a look in the detailing pack that comes with Farish Mk1 coaches - you should find something more to scale!

 

Steven B

It didn’t seem that big when trying to drill a hole in the top to attach a loop.

[EuroMST]

On 13/04/2022 at 21:37, PaulCheffus said:

Hi

 

Thats true they aren’t but I converted all mine quite easily. I can send you the details tomorrow when I have my laptop booted up if interested.

 

Cheers

 

Paul

I have two of the older metal chassis class 73. They both run well. I haven't felt brave enough to try converting them to DCC. I have got some photos someone posted showing how they did it, but it looks beyond my skills! I think it involved making brass contact straps.

[PaulCheffus]

2 hours ago, EuroMST said:

I have two of the older metal chassis class 73. They both run well. I haven't felt brave enough to try converting them to DCC. I have got some photos someone posted showing how they did it, but it looks beyond my skills! I think it involved making brass contact straps.

Hi

 

Those might have been my photos that I have just sent to Andy. They were originally posted on the N Gauge Forum.

 

Cheers

 

Paul

Edited April 15, 2022 by PaulCheffus
More detail

[EuroMST]

24 minutes ago, PaulCheffus said:

Hi

 

Those might have been my photos that I have just sent to Andy. They were originally posted on the N Gauge Forum.

 

Cheers

 

Paul

Hi Paul,

Yes it was you! I just checked. I saved the whole page in case it disappeared. You do may it look straightforward in your post, but still scared me! 😃

[acg5324]

On 14/04/2022 at 20:14, Steven B said:

 

@acg5324 have a look in the detailing pack that comes with Farish Mk1 coaches - you should find something more to scale!

 

Steven B

….and indeed there was……not much done over the weekend as we were busy in the garden but did get the Railtec nameplates fitted on 73101 and the original dropped buckeye removed and the dropped buckeye from the coach pack fitted. I had time to fit the numbers to 73101 but found I didn’t have a set, so the complete set of c73 numbers has been ordered.

Edited April 19, 2022 by acg5324

[acg5324]

Any DCC experts out there to suggest a sound chip and speaker combination for the class 73 and who to get it from?

[St Enodoc]

On 19/04/2022 at 16:27, acg5324 said:

the original dropped buckeye removed and the dropped buckeye from the coach pack fitted.

Phew!

[acg5324]

The numbers arrived this week from Steve at Railtec, excellent service and product as usual……..so BEA is now complete. Very light weathering completed.

[acg5324]

I’m surprised no one spotted the ‘deliberate’ mistake! Can you spot the difference?

[acg5324]

Yes despite lots of photos I still forgot to paint the roof grey. The masking tape also managed to remove the TOPS numbers so I’ve had to make 73101 in two parts.

[Davexoc]

I knew 142 had a grey roof pre-LL, didn't realise 101 did too. Looking at images, it seems they both also had yellow on the inside of the horn trumpets, and red painted works plates and buffer beams. Oh, and don't forget the OHLE warning flashes....

[acg5324]

On 25/04/2022 at 21:09, Davexoc said:

I knew 142 had a grey roof pre-LL, didn't realise 101 did too. Looking at images, it seems they both also had yellow on the inside of the horn trumpets, and red painted works plates and buffer beams. Oh, and don't forget the OHLE warning flashes....

I can ignore the OHLE flashes as they went on later, the yellow horn insides I will add….so little buffer beam is visible with weathering the red paint won’t show.

Here is one of my photos from the naming ceremony.

https://andygibbs.zenfolio.com/p726940309/h39aeda42#h39aeda42