plasticbasher

Thanks Rodger....having a look at those links in a second. Unfortunately these Scots seem to breed. I now have: One rebuilt Scot (the one above). One parallel Scot (Mainline body, Bachmann chassis....always been terrible runner; should never have sold the original Mainline chassis). One Bachmann parallel Royal Scot (owned for years - unlike the other Bachmann chassis, this runs beautifully) One tender-less and partly valve gear-less parallel Scot I took pity on this week (another £15 with the postage...). Mostly working chassis now cobbled together. All in LMS crimson red. I also have a bare Mainline parallel Scot loco body missing its (broken) chassis - it donated several mechanical parts to the one I mention taking pity on above. Tonight it may find itself donating a cab to the rebuilt Royal Scot this thread is really about. Photo's and measurements pending. This is getting out of hand...! In fact I shame faced admit to posting a couple of wanted adverts on this forum to get the fourth loco whole again... ​Cheers, ​plasticbasher

Now sorted! Cheers, plasticbasher

Sorted!!! Cheers, plasticbasher

Wow - this thread I started way back when has turned into something so impressive!! Very impressed by the potential in those 3D ones too. Much get some phones up of my cut'n'shuts up (still unpainted as I'm scared to ruin my work so far). plasticbasher

Thanks Flying Pig and David, Tonight, I've been looking at rebuilt Royal Scot photo's (prototype as well as the Airfix and Hornby models). If I were to replay my recent bargain impulse purchase, looking for a similarly cheap Airfix model might have been the easier starting point as an 'economy' option. Okay it's 1970's tender drive technology, but probably less of a gamble than a Mainline model that could well have a terminally worn chassis. You could always drop a 5 pole Hornby Ringfield unit from a tender drive Railroad Schools or Thomas range tender loco in the Airfix tender. Actually, most later 1990's tender drive Hornby Stanier tender drives (Black 5, 8F, Princess, Duchess) used the Schools drive unit with a pretty decent cast metal representation of a Stanier tender chassis, so just substitute the Airfix tender body for the Hornby one. Anyway, my point is - the more I look, the more I feel the overall look of the Airfix Royal Scot loco is much more convincing than the Mainline / Bachmann one. I did fleeting consider buying an Airfix Scot that was beyond saving just for the cab, because it's also a separate moulding. From memory the Airfix model's cab is just the cab sides, spectacle plate and roof, unlike the Mainline one which also includes sections of footplate. But I've come to my senses - that's spending yet more money and all the ones I saw on eBay were too good to break up just for a cab. And the whole point of this thread is making a better Mainline rebuilt Royal Scot..! So I am going to find my Mainline parallel boiler Scot in the loft (which does look convincing) and put the two side-by-side to work out what surgery would be required to address the cab on the rebuilt Scot (I'm sure the Mainline parallel Scot is more accurate all over - it certainly has the massive and powerful character their rebuilt version lacks). I'll try doing some photo's if time allows tomorrow. Cheers, plasticbasher

Evening Everyone, I think, although I'm not totally sure, I may have answered my own question here (where was the article on modifying a rebuilt Mainline Scot). Google can be a very powerful tool..! I now believe it was: - A magazine article rather than a forum post or blog. - A Mainline rebuilt Patriot, not a Scot. I found it with the help of this very useful online magazine index: http://www.olimpia.com:8084/search Magazine name | Month | Year | Volume | Issue | Number | Story title | Author | Photographer/ Illustrator | Page | Tags Railway Modeller (UK) | June | 1982 | 33 | 380 | Rebuilding rebuilt Patriot | Larry Goddard | Larry Goddard |198 | LMS, construction, England, RWMOD Even though this is not exactly what I had recalled, I do believe this is the article I'm after. I've long since disposed of the box of old model railway magazines I once had, so can't check. So a follow-up request; does anyone have a copy of this magazine? And if so and they have a scanner to hand, would they be kind enough to scan that article and email it to me. I'll PM my email address. Doesn't need to be amazing quality - just readable. In return, if the article is as applicable to a rebuilt Scot as a rebuilt Patriot (my hope), I'll do a blow by blow of my efforts at replicating this modification in this thread. TIA. plasticbasher

And here are some (none to great) pictures... plasticbasher

Hi All, I have a question, but I'll get to it...skip to the bold text if in a hurry..!!! I recently got hold of a rebuilt Royal Scot loco by Mainline in (I believe fictitious, but quite attractive) LMS crimson. It was a non-runner and had several issues. Most of those have now been sorted. Cosmetically, the bent front steps were straightened by dipping in pretty hot water for 10-15 seconds and tweaking back to shape (water was uncomfortably hot but I could keep my hands in it for that time...so I guess about 45-50C). Years of grease and grime was removed from the body-shell after a soak in warm water & washing up liquid and careful scrub with a soft paintbrush. Remarkably, it's actually turned out to be in pretty good condition. On the tender, what I am convinced are small, rusty wood-screws(!!!) holding it together were massively tight and one actually sheared when I took it apart - the original fixing posts are definitely past saving, so I'll have to bodge up a way of holding the tender chassis and tender body together securely, but that's no hardship. I even found a Mainline "steamsound" unit in the tender, but haven't tested it yet (no PP3 battery). I'll ditch that and put some old lead in to weight it anyway. The loco chassis even runs tolerably okay after a complete strip-down and service! A rivet missing from valve gear was sorted with a "thing" I found in my box of tiny nuts, fixings and bolts (it may actually have been a old Hornby valve gear rivet actually) There were a couple of screws missing holding the two halves of the chassis together which I found suitable substitutes for. There are no broken gears, the split axles haven't split and the chassis block doesn't have the typical (and terminal) Mainline / Bachmann problem of excessive wear in the block where the axles wear against the block. Mechanically, apart from the valve gear, dried grease and general filth the main issue was the motor wouldn't spin - I replaced the (incorrect and very stiff) brush springs with some suitable ones found in my "nuts & bolts" box (they are probably Hornby Ringfield ones). All in all £15 well spent in my opinion. The old split chassis Mainline and Bachmann locos are such a gamble I doubt I'd be willing to pay more without cast iron guarantees they are mechanically perfect. Anyway, having come this far I cannot get away from the feeling the cab sits too high relative to the rest of the loco. It makes the firebox and boiler look small, spoiling the "muscular" look of the real thing. I have no scale plans but photo's infer I'm correct. I've a vague recollection that someone, somewhere lowered the cab on one of these (maybe it was a Mainline rebuilt Patriot?) and the whole effect was much more convincing. Google doesn't turn anything up and I was hoping someone could point me in the right direction. From looking carefully, the cab and the first 5mm of footplate in front of the cab is a separate moulding from the rest of the body. Mine feels like it will lift off if I try (I'd have to remove the rearmost handrail knob and detach a pipe on one side. Then I reckon removing a couple on mm from the cab front where it meets the firebox top and tweaking / replacing the footplate would do me (and the amount of patch repainting would be very minimal...) But obviously if someone has done it before I'd love to see what they did before I ruin mine! And yes I know the Airfix rebuilt Scot was a more accurate model than the Mainline one; and Hornby do one now too which is probably leagues better still. But I have one by Mainline and it's polishing up so well for zero cost I'd like to make something of it :-) TIA plasticbasher

Thanks for the comments 37038 and Rob. I've edited the original post above (a missing photo, some typo's, the link to the template maker I used, flagging Rob's excellent warning about bubble wrap etc). 1. "Do you use the bubble wrap to lift the loco out, or is there enough 'give' in the box to grab the loco sides?" The sides are reasonably flexible but I planned to use the bubble wrap to life the loco out. Looks like I will not be using bubble wrap though... 2. Regarding bubble-wrap "...someone suggested pieces of well washed cotton sheets. That is what I intend to use..." Thanks for the warning!! I think I'll copy your idea of cut up old cotton bedsheets. Plasticbasher

I was unsure where to put this post, but as it most relates to rolling stock, this sub-forum seemed the best place; Mod’s please do move if you think differently… Two warnings in advance; making these stock boxes takes a surprisingly long time (the below is the process I have now evolved after some experimentation): 1. I now understand the prices asked for the pre-assembled generic boxes, even though they must be made in a factory. 2. Marking and cutting must be as accurate as possible…inaccuracies get magnified in the final assembled boxes and the lids won’t fit the bases. By way of background. I tend to buy loco’s cheaply and repair / improve them (i.e. they are secondhand, often damaged and usually unboxed). I’ve been storing them in a big plastic crate for a while, but this is really not an ideal situation. The risk of damage is too great, they get dusty if not wrapped and those locos which are essentially a collection of parts tend to “disperse in the abyss”. I looked on eBay and discovered some people sell their empty Bachmann or Hornby boxes – but frankly I was surprised (disappointed?) at the prices they can fetch. Sometimes over £20 each..! Further searching came up with two sellers who sell purpose-designed loco stock boxes. The better looking pre-assembled ones are over £4 each; the others (which you fold up yourself) are only around £1.15 each (sold in packs of ten). However both types store loco’s on their sides, which I really didn’t want (see below). Casting around, I realised I had quite a lot of 1mm card left over from re-framing some pictures several years ago. I’d bought 6 big sheets, but only used three (and still had big pieces of those three). Being tight, I decided to Google for instructions on making “presentation boxes” and found a site where you can enter the sizes you want and it spits out a PDF plan you can print out (http://www.templatemaker.nl/; I used "Box with Lid" right at the bottom of the page). I decided I wanted my stock boxes to store single loco’s (maximum size being adequate for OO gauge Stanier Pacifics or a Gresley P2) and it was important to me the loco’s were stored resting on their wheels - I’ve found resting on their side can damage valve gear and it must stress the body to chassis attachments. The internal dimensions of the box I arrived at were 32cm long, 4.5cm wide and 6cm high. I put those dimensions into the template-maker on the website I’d found, choosing the presentation box with a separate lid design. Then I printed out the resulting templates (base and lid) – they don’t come out full size incidentally unless you want them printing on multiple sheets of paper (I decided to print each design to fit a single sheet of A4 and use it as a reference for marking out the card using a steel rule and pencil. After printing the plans out, I did adjust the design a little before starting: · The flaps at the end of the sides were extended to almost meet in the centre on my revised design to maximise the adhesion area of the flaps when glued to the end of the box. · I decided the lids should come halfway down the sides of the box base (ie. 3cm). So, in addition to 1mm card, here is what you need: · The glue I chose is waterproof Gorilla Glue (a 60ml bottle is probably enough for 50-60 boxes and lids!). Tesco and Asda sell it for about £3.50 a bottle. I’d previously decided PVA wouldn’t be strong enough...personal scepticism rather than experience. Gorilla Glue needs clamping firmly to hold the pieces while it sets and one half of the joint should be damp (not soaking wet…) to maximise curing strength. It sets like a rock, but if you use too much you will have to clean up when everything has cured as it expands a bit like expanding foam as it sets. Be aware this is not superglue, but it contains isocyanates and so you need to ensure the glue has really set before using the box - you can safely remove the clamps after 2 hours, but I am not using the boxes for a week after putting them together in case of any superglue-esque hazing of the contents. Also this glue’s label warns it stains skin – I used disposable gloves when handling pieces of card covered in wet glue. · You really do need that long steel rule (and a shorter one is very handy). · I used a Stanley knife and changed the blades frequently (the cutting needs to be sharp and dead accurate - I used at least 5 blades making 13 boxes, 3 good lids (and several “test” lids that failed the cut). · A huge A2 self-healing cutting mat is definitely recommended - £8 from The Works last time I looked. · The pieces of wood are to protect the card and spread the clamping load while the glue cures. Random off-cuts are fine, but do trim them to about the right size. · I’d recommend using mini F clamps for this job incidentally – old clothes pegs won’t do. Prices vary wildly, but I already had some…the cheap ones would do fine, but they are pretty horrible (get half decent ones if you’re going to do any woodworking another day). · The grease-proof paper is to stop the wood sticking to the box (Gorilla Glue will stick the grease-proof paper, but won’t soak through it). · The pizza cutter is for “pressing” the fold lines (you do not want to cut them, hence I didn’t get one of those crafting rotary cutters). I found I had to tighten the rivet holding the cutting wheel to the handle to ensure it didn’t wander everywhere. I used a vice and clamped the rivet so tight the pizza cutting wheel only turned freely after I oiled it; but it doesn’t wander everywhere now! · The big steel set-square helped marking up when I wasn’t sure if an edge was perpendicular and also help fold up the box neatly. · I also bought some self-adhesive plastic sheet (Fablon “Chalkboard” – ref FAB10008) which can be had for about £6 a roll if you shop around – surprisingly I found Hobbycraft are currently cheaper than the big DIY chains. You can probably find equally good alternatives – I liked the look and could get hold of the Fablon stuff quickly, so that’s the principle reason I chose it. As you will see, I use this to cover the boxes - very tricky to do neatly (no in-progress photo's as you need three pairs of hands!), but once you get the hang of it, they can look almost professional..! Because I was covering the boxes with the self-adhesive plastic sheet, I anticipated the lids may not fit if built strictly to plan, correctly as it turned out. So I made a batch of identical box bases, covered several with the plastic sheet and then measured their outside length and width before adjusting the lid’s plan to suit. I actually had to make three "prototype" lids before I got it right (a snug fit, but not so snug it was too tight). Keep a record of your changes, so you can replicate them once you find a decent fit. Step 1: download, print and adjust the plan Step 2: mark out the card accurately; try to maximise the number of boxes or lids per sheet - you’ll be surprised how much card you use – use leftovers where possible when “prototyping” the lids Step 3: cut out the card accurately (notice the triangular fillets removed from the bottom of each end flap) Step 4: accurately use the pizza cutter to roll along the fold lines firmly (two firm passes at least and be careful as the pizza cutter definitely wants to wander) Step 5: fold the box or lid up – the set square and ruler definitely aid this (doing it by hand produces terrible results). The 1mm card will start to split so fold no more than about 130 degrees (don’t worry, the Fablon will hide and reinforce the folds) Step 6: glue up the ends (too messy for photo's). If using Gorilla Glue, apply glue to one side and spread with your finger - damp the other with water. Use a disposable glove (if you wipe the glue off the glove with a piece of kitchen towel you can reuse the glove several times) Step 7: put greaseproof paper between the wood and the card and clamp securely while the glue sets (adjust everything before final tightening of the clamps) - having wood pieces cut to the same size as the inside width of the box helps a lot, but you’ll develop a knack after the second or third attempt). Step 8: remove clamps after a minimum of two hours. Check your loco’s fit (I plan to arrange bubble-wrap like the photo to make them easier to remove CORRECTION - see bubble-wrap warning in the replies below). Step 9: once everything has cured for 24 hours, wrap in the self-adhesive plastic sheet (surprisingly fiddly…but again you develop the knack). The self-adhesive backing doesn’t really set for a while, so if you are careful you can restart any total disasters. A roll (45cm x 1.5m) doesn’t go far, so try not to have too much wastage Once you’ve made the boxes, make the lids following exactly the same process. Bear in mind you’ll have to add about 2-3mm to the length and 1-2 mm to the width in the plan – experimenting is necessary. Ta da….custom stock boxes..! Just don’t think you’ll get rich making these manually and then selling them to other modellers…it’s a slow process limited by the number of F-clamps you have. I can glue up three bases or lids at once, as I have six mini F clamps. For those weighing up the potential costs, one piece of A1 card (circa £3 I think) makes 10 lids or 6 bases based on dimensions I used. Plasticbasher

Sorry...one thing I forgot to mention. The machine screw I used as a mandrel was specifically chosen as the head was small enough to sit flush on the boss of the wheel centre. The nut likewise. Hopefully the photo's make that clearer. This meant the wheel casting ran true in the drill. But it also needed "shimming" with the sliver of cardboard to keep it central. One piece of cardboard did two wheels, but was pretty frayed by the time the second one was finished. Plasticbasher

Thanks Ben...!

Correction: very first photo actually shows one modified centre wheel (the bottom one) and one unmodified centre wheel (the upper one)

Well the photo's aren't hugely impressive (guess I should have turned the flash off). Ground down gently (took about 10 mins being very careful to grind only the flange off but not hack into the rest of the rim): And then fitting the new rim: Tapped in place with a hammer and then pressed in the vice to fit properly. And a full set of wheels ready for cleaning, painting and fitting: I am hoping they'll really help lift the finished model- when I actually get around to doing it..!! Plasticbasher

Hi All, Apologies if this has been realised and posted previously, but I made a discovery this evening that I felt was well worth sharing.... Tonight I was rooting through my scrap box looking for stuff to sell on eBay and discovered I had the parts to make about 90% of an alternative (better?) 1980's era Hornby Britannia - but with loco drive, not a Ringfield. Which was nice! Anyway, I was looking at the loco driving wheels I found - they probably came from a Black 5 originally and had been stripped of all paint, but at 24.5mm diameter they are perfect for a Britannia (even the balance weights are correct! However the undersized centre wheels typical of Hornby products of the era really irked me. So I decided to look at the cost of scale Britannia wheelsets. I quickly retreated nursing my somewhat scared debit card... I looked again at the 1980's Hornby wheels as they are not really that bad as these things go. The right size for my needs, nicely cast spokes, reasonably fine flanges; a bit wide but not desperately so; and best of all free..! Then I noticed one of the wheel rims was loose (a common problem) and suddenly realised that the undersized centre wheel casting was essentially the same as the casting for the the other wheels, necessary differences aside. That the only thing stopping me making a full-size centre wheel was the cast flange on that wheel. A quick look at a similar era A1 Flying Scotsman shows the same process (remove the flange and press on a full-size wheel tread) would work on a lot of other Hornby products of similar vintage. So here's how I removed the cast flange and added a spare wheel rim; net result is 6 full-size driving wheels. Wheels as re-discovered Here's one I did earlier, showing the wheel as fitted by Hornby on the right and as modified on the left. And what you need for the modification - one centre wheel and a rim from one full-size wheel. How I made a mandrel to hold the wheel as securely as possible in the drill (notice the sliver of cardboard as the screw was sloppy in the wheel rim...the cardboard was just about good enough to hold the wheel central on the "mandrel" to enable even filing: Tightened securely and mounted in the minidrill. My drill is a 12 volt one. I had it running about half speed as I think the casting is alloy and I didn't want to heat it tool much when filing. Next post will cover the rest of the process. Plasticbasher

I've resurrected my conversions and spent some time fettling (gently sanding and blending in) some of the bits of plastic I applied to the bogie cut outs on the body shells) yesterday (photo's to follow). The time it has taken makes me think I should just have started with Shane's etches (when available). They look fantastic...keep the details coming Shane! Cheers, PlasticBasher

Quick question chaps... Having been out of the country for a week or two, I have spent all weekend looking around likely places in NE Kent for a Rocket (I'm after the coach or three) and no where has one...not even the several branches of Smiffs and ASDA I tried - which are usually my best bets for GBL's. Anyone happen to know of a likely stockist in NE Kent...I'm reluctant to give GBL a direct order given experiences some have had here. Cheers, PlasticBasher

Hi Shane, That looks the business and gives me a lot of confidence in your etches (not that I ever doubted they'd be the mutt's proverbials..!). Looks like you have done a lot of work scribing panel lines etc...kudos for that. By actually having something half-finished, you're putting me to shame!

The problem I see with fitting smaller wheels than Hornby did, is you would need to do likewise with the power car: - Not easy if you are retaining the Ringfield mechanism, given the wheels have gears on the back which are probably bigger than the actual wheels should be. - Also the coupling between the power car and the next vehicles has lateral movement, but any vertical movement is limited to "slop". I doubt they'd work too well if constantly at an angle. Bigger wheels may be unprototypical, but they look nicer..! Although I must concede that the photo's of the real thing show it is very low to the track and the model seems to sit a bit higher, even though it's roofline is lower than other stock. I think I'll probably leave mine at 13mm (but finer than the coarse original ones) and let more dedicated people try smaller wheels (plus the extra cost would be too much for me). plasticbasher

Hi Jamie - I think you've misread my post regarding the DVT, so I'll edit it now for clarity. Wow Guy, those wheel are small..! I'd never clocked that. I'm not quite sure what I'll do in that respect; I imagine changing the wheel size that much may be harder than it seems. I'll have a ponder. Thanks Horsetan; that was genuinely interesting. plasticbasher

The Hornby originals are 13mm and that is the size I'll be replacing them with; the larger wheels were a (temporary) error by me. I've got one of these now http://www.alangibso...m/RTR Drill.pdf and plan to fit brass bearings throughout as the bogies are a bit tired and don't roll all that freely. Regarding your questions about: 1. The proposed DVT. It is quite simply the photo posted earlier in this thread (in due course with plain plasticard in-fills for the windows and any doors scribed on). No photo's yet as I've posted a pic of mock-up somewhere above and aside from gluing bits together there's nothing different yet. 2. The proposed power car with cab will be precisely that (check out some of the links on this thread and you'll find some mocked up images and someone else's model of the same thing). This may have to wait as I'm already a bit bored of the repetitive nature of this stage of the project and need to crack on with the stuff that needs to be done before it becomes a chore..! Incidentally, I will also be making a representation of the twin bogie test coach, which appears in the thread I reference in my first post on this thread. I have have enough left-over pieces for this and another DVT at the moment..!! Regarding your queries about paints - well I believe no one does the exact shades anyway, but I've also seen posts saying the original Hornby greys are a mile off (and my models have all faded by differing amounts anyway so it's utterly pointles trying to match the Hornby shades). I plan to take the advice of Shane re. the greys and use: Dark Grey - RC414 Executive Dark Grey Pale Grey - RC422 Intercity Grey Yellow - RC407 BR Yellow Red - RC406 Buffer Beam Red I guess...or the "Virgin" one (no idea what that looks like TBH but I saw it suggested above) White lines - just some plain white paint of some description!! Whether I buy Humbrol or another brand is down to what's available and price at the time... plasticbasher

Hi Jamie - not sure who makes it, but yes it is 2mm square. I'm really pleased with the visual difference... However, I stress I haven't seen if these strips will cause derailments on 2nd radius curves (I have none to hand, but am confident it isn't too likely). Having wheels of the right size with smaller flanges (I can see the huge 1980's Hornby wheel flanges would probably foul) and filing the strips to the profile of the body sides will further reduce the chances of them catching on the bogies. Just finished the major surgery on the 'proposed-but-never-built' DVT....might graft a spare cab on to the ropiest of my power cars too..! If I'm sensible, I'll strip all the paint off all of my bodies and chassis's first though...

A little more progress tonight. I took the driving trailers and generator coaches (which I won't be chopping up) apart and glued the ends on to the bodyshells exactly as per the coaches I've created above. Looking forward to seeing the visual impact of not having a chunk of dark plastic at the corridor ends of each coach! Having spent some time looking at photos of the corridor ends of the real thing, I reckon the Hornby corridor connectors are about 2mm too shallow, possibly to match the extra clearance above each bogie on the models. 2mm is not much, but passengers would be bent over double when walking down the train - now I have seen that I have to change it..!!! I have a few spare corridor connectors and reckon I can probably lengthen all the corridor connectors I need by 2mm at the bottom with some tedious cutting and shutting using my stash of spares. I then thought that, before I remove the bogies (which are a nightmare to remove without causing damage - so I only plan to do this once), I would see the how much of an improvement the 2mm plastic strips I have been adding above the bogies to reduce the excessive daylight have actually made. Note these have not been filed to profile...just poly-cemented on. There are two photo's below; the first is on a piece of straight track and the second on a couple of lengths of Radius 1 Bachman EZ track - Hornby specified APT's were for use on a minimum of their 2nd radius curves). On the curved track (the photo's a bit grainy, as I had to compress the image a lot), you can see the coach with the plastic strips fouls the representation of (??) air suspension bellows on the bogie; but not massively - it looks worse in the photo as I then realised the wheels I fitted to this coach are too big and this has probably exacerbated the issue. The wheels do not foul - even though they are too big!! Overall I'm happy with this so far. plasticbasher

Hi All, Progress through February amounted to less than nothing I did a little more tonight, just to finish up the steps mentioned above really. So: 1. The bracing in the interior of the chassis around the joints was finished. Full strength restored! 2. The ends of the chassis were carefully filed down so they were exactly the right length - less than 0.5mm was removed in all instances and I took care not to cut into the plastic strip. 3. The 2mm x 2mm plastic strip were trimmed to length (basically the length of the chassis plus about 2/3rd of a mm). 4. The plastic strip (again 2mm x 2mm) across the end was added, sitting proud of the end of the chassis by just under 1mm so it sits flush with the coach ends. So now I have 4 coach shells looking much like the below. Next steps are to glued the coach ends to the uppper body-shells and add similar bits of plastic strip for all the other trailer vehicles (I may strip all paint off actually first as removing the paint without hacking into the plastic underneath is a pain). Putting the modified coach side by side with an unmodified one just to compare the amount of daylight above the bogies does make the Hornby original look anaemic. Then I'll need to laboriously file all the plastic strip to match the coaches' body profile.... Thanks, PlasticBasher

Sorry for the total lack of updates from me. Tiresome work has got in the way in a fairly annoying fashion sadly. @7APT7 - the colours Shane quotes are the correct ones. Please note these won't match the (incorrect) Hornby original colours as has been noted elsewhere in this and the other current APT thread on here. @Wolf27 - well Shane I did promise photo's when I bought the etches; I'm only a few years late! I'm thinking I'll get away with the underframes just by 'beefing up' the area above the bogies. I may feel compelled to rub down the (raised) lines indicating the access panels and rescribe them, as they are now too high. They are (correctly) as high as the top of the bogie recesses, but I am now changing that depth by adding the 2mm x 2mm plastic strips. I should really correct the top edges of these access panels to match. That's an awful lot of rather fiddly work though...and like inexpertly applied etched grills on a model diesel, easy to make make look worse than the original mouldings. So I'll probably over look that................