kintbury jon

Hopefully sods law will now come in to play and they'll announce one in March!

Looks an absolute beauty. You have done an excellent job with this. Very impressed!

Only issue with the NSE version is that I can't think of any 205's that were only two coaches. Would be interested knowing when the centre car is due.

Lima Mark 2's turn up a lot of the time. I would suggest you shouldn't pay more than £5 per coach, i've picked them up for as little as £3. I really like them, they are a cheap rake and like all Lima rolling stock, run nicely. Lima did produce a microbuffet numbered E6524 though it is easy enough to add a red stripe to one of your second class coaches should you wish, just make sure you put the buffet at the correct end!

Yes agreed. No fault of the seller in this instance. Bet he's pleased though!

Absolute ebay madness! Railway modeller + free kit = £3.60 Or 'buy' the free kit on it's own for £5.50! http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/OO-METCALFE-SIGNAL-BOX-CARD-KIT-RAILWAY-MODELLER-/260915269262?pt=UK_Trains_Railway_Models&hash=item3cbfc30e8e

Right, my VEP now runs with no traction tyres. I have three small weights fitted around the motor bogie and the only wheel spin occurs when you crank the controller up to full speed in a short space of time (which i'm sure other things would do to!) I have also drilled theough the axle boxes of the trailer bogies from one coach and fitted bearings. Interestingly the trailer coach doesn't appear to roll much more than it did before (maybe the alignment isn't good enough) so i'll probably leave the trailer bogies as they are. Happy with it and am keeping my eyes open for a second one as i'd like to run it an 8 car unit. The work that i've done on mine was fun to do and the results have been satisfying.

Just incase people hadn't realised, spares for the VEP are now available. Have just received an order from abbiegails. 1 pack of 'Wheel set for drive unit vep' (X6310) and 2 packs of 'coach bogie vep r2947' (X6323) I've tinkered around with the trailer bogies so thought i'd buy a few spare ones and plan is to have no traction tyres on the motor coach. Interestingly the axles have one traction tyre on each set as opposed to my VEP that has both tyres on one axle. Price wise the axles were £3.50 for the pair and the trailer bogies were about £1.50 for a pair of them which I decided was worth a punt. Other spares are listed on their website.

Just been looking at a few of the items for sale from this seller (from Harlow). Don't know why, but to me it's got a Ray Mansfield look about it. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/LIMA-CLASS-73-NUMBER-73-136-PLAIN-GREY-LIVERY-PART-BOXED-/110784316261?pt=UK_Trains_Railway_Models&hash=item19cb428365

Not sure whether this has been mentioned before (and the thread is so big it would take me ages to check!) but before my dad took his blue VEP home last weekend, I swapped the traction tyred axle on my NSE one with his non-traction tyred example. On level track it ran much nicer and even though it could not start uphill on a gradient, it was able to ascend if it took a run up. My VEP does have added weight around the motor bogie which I do think helps. I intend to purchase a non traction tyred axle once it becomes available.

Any chance of a photo of this mod?

I'll come and crush your garlic for less than that!

They have : http://www.ehattons.com/StockDetail.aspx?SID=18172 A quick check shows it's sold out at a lot of places though.

Eastwestdivide - that's an interesting shot of the 33 at Clapham. Looks like the combined working of 33+TC and VEP. The second (and maybe third) unit looks like it has the smaller VEP windows.

S.A.C. Martin - Looks like a nice bit of work you've done to get the MJT end on with what looks like a really smooth finish. It will be interesting to see how it compares once painted. I do feel the biggest gripe (for me) is the incorrect position of the double white blanks as they should be at the lower end of the windows, unfortunately the Hornby stickers are incorrect and I think it affects the 'face'. Good luck with the other coach!

Would it also be worth including an etch for the new seating bay in the motor coach?

Many thanks

Sorry to repost this but does anyone know whether there were many in RF metals or was it just the one?

Will have to look into fishing weights. Just to show where i've added the weights: Side on view with the weights removed As you can see they have only been attached with blu-tack for now. The chunky weight is sat on the seating bay. Just looking at the final shot again... I think two chunky weights could be fitted in the spaces marked. I assume i'm right in thinking that there is no point adding weight anywhere else along the chassis?

Can't find a camera at the moment but will see if I can take some photos a bit later. Weighed the VEP motor coach on our kitchen scales and it came in at 305g. Comparisons are: EPB 385g, CEP 413g. I have an MJT 4CIG with a Limby 73 bogie and that is a heavy 468g. I have added a few small weights around the motor bogie area increasing it to 350g. The noticeable difference is that when the motor is the second vehicle, it will now start from a stand and head up my hills. Before this it would not be able to do this, you would have to take a run up from the level track and hope it made it to the top! Interestingly though it cannot do this when in reverse. I do not have any more small chunks of metal to add to it at the moment but plan to get a few bits to secure in the various gaps!

One of my main worries with the VEP was that it wouldn't double head well with the Bachmann units. This has not yet been a problem and it runs well with other units. Mine is still running fairly well though i'm going to have another look to see if I can sneak a bit of extra weight into the power bogie area. Still happy with it, enjoyed the challenge of the modifications (though I strongly agree that it shouldn't have been necessary) and would I like a second one? Yes. (though would like to get a cheap(er) one!)

Though the mechanism is also the same as in the 153 which is a 'new' Hornby product. Compared to the VEP though the 153 is different in that all it has to haul is itself, maybe that's what Hornby forgot to check, whether their motors could haul more than themselves!

Looks really good. Be aware the data panel says it an HST 1st class trailer! I'm sure it will look even better once the windows have been installed.

Is it worth mentioning the solid compartments?

Done a bit of tinkering this evening. I think that with slight modification, the Bachmann motor bogie + motor could be in the VEP motor coach instead of the Limby motor. Unsure of the haulage capability I tested out the 3 VEP trailers with a 4CEP motor coach. Whilst it appeared to be OK on level track, it couldn't push the trailers up one of my hills (the VEP motor can manage this). Therefore i'm not going to pursue this though this may not be an issue for others. The drag on the current trailer bogies is an issue - I do wonder if there are any alternative trailer bogies that could be made to fit. I tried fitting Replica B4's but they ween't a match unfortuately. What with the fact that they do not require couplings or electrical pickups, improved bogies may improve the quality of running (maybe!)