33C

Quote.............."your gonna need a bigger boiler".........unquote.

Sounds good. You could use a Triang/Hornby L1/2P chassis under your B12 body? I did the above because it was all i had at the time!

Some interesting comments above, e.g. "retro modelling". I like that phrase! I personally love the clunky, old stuff, it's got real metal in it for a start that doesn't disintegrate! Triang solid wheels give a loco "weight" to the eye, the lack of detail is just that, detail! Add it if you want... I like a toy loco to do a job, pull stuff, and look good enough doing it and the fact that some of the motive power i'm using was contemporary with the real thing, and has lasted longer than the prototype gives me a buzz.....also, you can't kill a princess but you can turn her/it into a frog (SNCF?)!! I fancy my next project may be something Indian, an XC 4-6-2 has always appealed after reading Colin Garrett's books.

For a B12 .Take a sharp hacksaw and cut away 30mm (from the magnedhesion magnet hole and 3mm from below the motor retaining screw, all the way to the magnet hole), use a Nellie or L1 pick up plate or a bit of PCB board to make a mount for new pick ups. The middle wheels are substituted for the rear wheels. Punch out the crank pin/screw mount from the middle wheels and drill/needle file the rear wheels to fit it. Rods are cut down to fit. Drill and tap (8BA), a new pony truck screw hole at the rear of the chassis for your chosen pony.

Your C1 is looking nice and the D16 is very neat! Go on, finish 'em, you know you want to......

My first proper conversion was an Airfix Evening star on princess chassis for a Britannia, which was o.k., and then Airfix Schools bodies glued together on a B12 chassis to make an S15, followed by a cut down princess body/chassis and repositioned cylinders with shaped running boards to make a "Crab" with a 2P tender. neither was great but gave good experience. Part ex-ed them for 2 more non-running princesses and away we go......!

Another Pug bash and Jintystein. A Y9 and a J73........

I do like that! I have been meaning to do the L.T.S.R. version but keep getting drawn to the full G.S.W.R. liveried Baltic. Hmmm.......

Funny that, it's because i couldn't find a Jaycraft body that i did this! Make sure you have the right type of 0-6-0 Triang chassis.(flat front, weighted, smoke unit or solid).

Loving your work, and like you, i would look further back in time at the loco designs. The amount of different types from 1845 on is astounding. If you have an idea in your head and a loco in your hand, guaranteed it existed somewhere.

It is a faff but get the boiler lowered enough and sand to a smooth tube and then its just a matter of the curves and hanging the bits on it. The main problem is the valve gear above the running plate so, i just made it dummy so the body lifts of as a whole. I made the tender from scratch but now a Hornby one would save a lot of time.

The "Sir Dinadan" lends itself to an H15 for an easy change or the rebuilt T14. The round top firebox also opens up a world of scottish classes, like the Pickersgill 4-6-0. The Triang Hall itself would make a nice Highland castle class or this........

Here's the first Ratio 2-4-0 i did using the Lima HO 4F tender drive plus the Romford wheels on the loco and a lovely runner she is.

Another quick "Jintystein"or B12 bash, a J19 with dual identity. (I can only see one side at a time on my layout!)

Here's "The Great Bear" mk.2. knocked up over that week off. Got to find a couple of princess bogies for the tender as she's on accommodation bogies for now! And a contrast to the usual Hall class to compliment her....

Try this.......or this.....

I have used the Kitmaster van motor as a tender drive and it works fine. As for the loco wheels, just a light sand and polish of the axles allows them to roll very freely with no modification and only the lightest of lead in the framing to keep the centre of gravity as low as possible. The tenders other 2 axles are dummy if you look closely.... failing that i did experiment with a slimmed down Triang class 31 motor bogie in the Dukedog which wasn't a complete success looks wise!

Not really a Nellie bash, just an experiment to see how L.B.S.C. livery would look on the model after reading about Vivien Thomson's layout.

Puts me in mind of the armoured trains used during the Boer war.

I seem to get a lot of B12's come through my hands, probably more than Princesses lately, so ,as threatened earlier, here are my conversions, done over the last 10 years....L.N.W.R./L.M.S. Claughton, Caledonian 908 class, G.E.R. S69, G.C.R. B2, L.N.E.R. C1, L.S.W.R. T9 Paddlebox and L.N.W.R. "Prince of Wales" class.

Like it! It's a pain to get rid of the offside nameplate isn't it.......!

Whole chassis with modified rear pony, filed down wheel flanges(see above) and original bogie, 2/3 running plate, lower cab-sides, lower firebox, rear dragbox, front upper middle cylinders cover. This is the "spine" i used to build on. That way you keep the mounting points, buffer height and rigidity of the scratchbuilt superstructure, (plasticard and plastic water pipe for boiler). And the smoke-box door!

Forgot i had this princess conversion. An L.N.E.R. class A6.

I use the smoke box door from the Hornby class D 0-4-0T . They are both 19mm and pop straight in with a little bit of filing on the rear lip plus , they are plentiful. (Peters spares, part no. L6996).

Here's the template i use for the Gresley "hush hush", no. 10000 boiler casing. When folded over the princess body, the middle straight line on both sides, will line up with the princess running plate. (I glue one side on to this first to aid the folding). Cut the smoke-box of your donor loco at approx 30 degrees from middle of smoke-box door up to first boiler band and glue front apron to curve down to front framing (a good picture would make this clear). Cut down the cab sides and remove roof, dome and top feed. A chimney is a slice of plastic tube and a bit of filler, shaped to a V. (<0 ) The cab is an easy exercise of straight lines and can be done as one piece for both sides and roof. Once attached to the shroud, the extra length will become apparent. (A dummy boiler backhead can be added for extra rigidity if needed and can be detailed before insertion). If you have a drawing/blueprint, all the better. The pony i lengthen with plasticard dummy side-frames and, to keep it simple, a dummy trailing wheel set, keeping the princess axle as is, so it can go round train set curves. Add the handrail to the front framing. Colour is battleship grey with silver boiler bands (plasticard/sellotape/sticky back plastic). Add an A4 tender and white Letraset letters/numbers and your done, for a fraction over whatever you paid for your donor princess. Incidentally, for older chassis with the deep flanges, i just clamp the bare chassis in the vice and give each wheel's flange, 2/3 strokes all the way round with a coarse file at 90 degrees to the wheel and dress with a wet and dry sanding sponge block to a smooth finish so no more bumping on the sleepers! Whole lot takes about 20 mins. Check out the "Railway Modeller for December 1965 "The streamline era" article. Good luck! (My build thread, in detail, is titled "L.N.E.R. 10000 for a 1000 pence.")