plasticbasher

Hi All, Thanks very much for the responses below; and the very useful photos :-) . More to update later tonight I hope! @Horsetan - I'm not sure if I have the courage to tackle the taper to the cab-sides. I'm sort of hoping Shane (Wolf27) shows how it's done as I see from http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/46425-Hornby-apt-p-and-assorted-others/page-3 (scroll to post #52) that he's looking at this very issue. If the work looks within my 'comfort zone', I might give it a go. That's the kind of thing I'm very good at messing up though so I'll probably have to practice on a spare cab first (I have four sitting sadly in the box!) @7APT7 - that's just me working out ways of using the left-overs up. If you look here http://www.apt-p.com/APTModelSJones.htm you can see models of the power car with cab and the DVT, which would have been used on the production sets (remember our models are of the prototypes and the thinking for the production sets was reported to be a power car at one end and a DVT at the other; I'll try and find a link to where those plans are detailed later). I reckon I can do both the power car and the DVT as well as a model of the one off twin bogie coach with what I have left..! Cheers, PB

Incidentally, concerning the chassis being fractionally longer than the coach boody/roof when the end are glued in place due to my slightly imprecise measuring and cutting. If I did this again, the very first thing I'd do is glue the coach ends on to the body/roof and leave them to set before chopping up the chassis and gluing it together. In that way, using the body/roof as a "jig" would set the length of the chassis precisely as well as keeping it straight. Live and learn..!

This evening's activity (probably the last for a week or more) was as follows: 1. Part the chassis from the bod/roof. Really, really carefully. The grease-proof paper seems to have done it's job, but I was careful with the glue anyway. However one of my chassis was not very well glued, so I'm glad I was cautious about splitting them. 2. Glue ends to bodies. These are the smaller of the two two types of coach end obviously: - I had to open up the holes at the former 4-wheel bogie end of the roof/body with a drill (2 or 2.5mm...not sure, just pulled one out that looked slightly oversize). See pic. - Then I took the paint off the mating surface on both ends of the coach roof/body with some sandpaper - a couple of gentle passes was sufficient. - I then ran a very fine bead of cement along the mating surface on the coach roof/body ends and stuck the ends in place. - The former 4 wheel bogie ends needed some tweaking to precisely line up with the roof; which is why the holes I opened up were oversize and why I fixed first with a little cement. The other end lines up perfectly. - Now I flooded the inside of the both coach ends with some liquid poly and put a generous drop in the top of each pin, checked all was aligned and set them aside to harden. - They will need some careful filing and rubbing back but should look good when done. 3. Reinforce the chassis. This is clearly going to be Part 1 of a 2 step process for me. I'm not doing this the quick and dirty way...well, until I lose patience anyway! - Using the glassfibre pen, rub the paint off the inside of the chassis as shown in the photo so you can have a strong, clean gluing surface. - On some of my coaches the metal weights whad been stuck down with that black "bluetack" that refuses to wash off and would probably weaken the bond if glued over. It came off with the glassfibre pen though! - Cut some 30mm lengths of thick plastic strip. I used some 2mm x 5mm stuff as I had it. - Put the plastic strips in place with a little cement (see the rather over-exposed photo) and really flood with liquid poly to ensure they are secure and the bond is strong. - I ran some liquid poly up the inside of the chassis sides too, but I'll properly brace the joint there in the same way next time. - Place aside to set, but not in a way things that might encourage warping. I was tempted to re-unite the chassis with the body but the fifth photo shows a good reason not to. Some of my chassis are perhaps a third to half a milimetre longer than the roof/body now the ends are firmly secured. Not a problem, this is easily rectified with a little careful filing of the offendinng chassis end. Also, as I found out when taking the photo the ends were a little tacky even after an hour and I almost glued the other end of the chassis to the body/roof! Re. Alistair's final comment about the one off coach with two 4-wheel bogies. I reckon I have enough bits to make two of them if I have three off-cuts for each chassis! Or a few DVT's... I think it's the main APT site that has pictures of plans and mock-ups for the actual production APT's, which were to have a similar format to the Class 91's and DVT's - a power car with cab at at least one end of the vehicle; whatever necessary coaches and a luggage DVT. Hence the power car would not divide the train in two as on the prototypes ("APT-P").

I was using a mitre box and X-Acto..!! Think I should replace my mitre box though as it's been used to do all-sorts over the years, not just slice up some plastic; the grooves are a bit worn now. The cutting got better with practice and I have 4 coaches chopped and the glue hardening. You're right about the other bits; I have loads of stuff left that's got potential, I'll investigate my options! Anyway - here's the vanity shot:

I’ve been inspired by a random purchase of some APT lights on eBay and coming across this very motivating thread http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/46425-Hornby-apt-p-and-assorted-others/ to rejoin RMWeb. I’ve long forgotten my old account details, hence the new user name. A few years ago I got two tired APT’s to add to one I’ve had since childhood, one courtesy a user from here actually. I also pulled together enough bits to fix the broken or missing parts across the 3 sets, a sheet of etched window inserts from Southgate Works (again a very helpful member on here at the time) and an APT lighting kit from eBay; (the guy advertises regularly and makes them himself…without having tested them yet, they look pretty good). I see Dagworth is still around and he provided loads of inspiration for the APT when I was originally planning this all those years ago. I plan to: Create four intermediate coaches. Deal with the excessive gap between body and bogies (finer wheels are a necessity because of that). Generally improve as much as time/skills allow. At the very least a full repaint of the chassis on all vehicles – paint matching and the etched window inserts probably means a full repaint, which is worrying as I can’t paint. Swap motors and trailing bogies around (giving one double-motored power car and one dummy). Some of the simpler remotoring ideas in the thread mentioned above might be copied too… So, nothing finescale or dead accurate, but hopefully better (and longer) than the original..!! This is what I have done so far: Completely, but very carefully, dissemble 4 driving cars and 4 generator coaches. I want to rewheel and fit bearings with this tool from Alan Gibson, hence the bogies came off: http://www.alangibsonworkshop.com/RTR%20Drill.pdf. Removing the bogies without breaking the L-shaped pin attaching them to the body is pretty difficult – more brain, less brutality for the win! Mark and then chop up the chassis exactly as directed by Dagworth and Alastair in the thread mentioned above. Be very careful about following the panel lines; I did and the cut isn’t genuinely square but I am not hugely accomplished at sawing straight lines anyway! At least the gaps on mine are near a panel line and so probably easier to disguise. Take the two chassis halves to be joined together, clean up if necessary and trial fit using the roofbody of the generator car as a “jig”. You need to snip off the end retaining lug from the roof section at what was the 4-wheel bogie end. I decided to glue the chassis together with the roof attached to ensure a straight and true assembly, but did NOT want the roof and chassis permanently stuck together. So I took some pieces of grease-proof paper and folded them over the mating surfaces on the roof/body in the area where the chassis halves will be joined. I’ll only know if this worked when I take everything apart tomorrow! I took the chassis half that was originally part of the generator car and clipped it back onto the roof properly. I them gently squeezed some Humbrol poly cement (the bottle with a fine tube as an applicator is useful here) onto the other chassis half - not too close to the top as I’m not totally convinced by the greaseproof paper - and pushed it carefully into place. A little jiggling to ensure everything is in line and an elastic band was used to secure it whilst everything sets overnight. There were a few gaps so poly cement was used to fill them (there are still gaps near the top, but I’m not risking the chassis being glued to the roof/body). I will heavily reinforce this joint on the inside with plasticard later – I know it isn’t very strong at the moment, but I want everything glued up square before I add strength. To reduce the gap between the bogie and the coach body, I then cut some 50mm lengths of square section 2mm x 2mm plastic-strip, chamfered one end with a file to match the angle of the body. Using a fibreglass pen I took the paint off the bogie well where the strips were to be attached and cemented the strips into place ensuring they sit flush with the body. When I had checked everything was aligned, this was reinforced with some liquid poly solvent to ensure a really strong joint. I don’t want them coming off when filing them to match the profile of the coach sides. The plastic strips are slightly too long as I plan to cement the coach ends (but not the separate corridor connectors) to the roof/body section and blend them in, so when the coach is repainted it looks more like the real thing. A length of the 2mm x 2mm plastic strip will be cemented between the two strips there already, across the end of the chassis (under the Hornby coach ends, but not secured to them) to match this later when the filing and trimming is done. Photo’s hopefully make sense of the text…this is the first; I'll probably post a photo of all 4 later out of vanity!