hellotojasonisaacs

I’m still around! Been slowly working on adding Keen couplings to my GNER mk4s. An initial test run was promising until all the wheels stopped turning! Time to add brass bearings and metal wheels. Skirts for the carriage ends and maybe DVT lighting will follow, in time. I’ll add a step by step as to how I did it in due course.

More an occasional flurry of head scratching as to how to chop up the Hornby carriages into something more accurate.

Fair enough- I imagine their might be some strong interest if discussions on Twitter are anything to go by. Latest prints looking great though!

These look amazing! It’s a wonder they’ve never been produced en-masse. Might you sell prints in the future?

They’re looking great. Just what those of us of a certain persuasion have been after, after all these years! I think the coupling arrangement is an excellent solution from. I don’t know if it’s me, the lighting, or both, but the red doors look a touch bright? Either way, when these and the 91s are out, it’ll be a special train. Original GNER for the rails 89 and east coast grey next??!! Oh dear, I’m turning into one of those people getting funny about colours!

They really do look the part now. Intercity and GNER examples particularly so!

2021-2022

Wow! Shame it took so long but these are going to be great!

There seems to be little reaction to this (unless I’ve missed something) so I’ll say it anyway. Stunning. Absolutely stunning. Perhaps the front NEM socket is a bit too pronounced, but it might be a trick of the camera. Cannot wait for my GNER example to arrive with coaches to follow. I do hope Hornby continue to produce these in plentiful supply over the coming years.

Thanks! My first steps into actually doing rather than just thinking

That I’ll be doing to one end in the fullness of time, along with a more scale pantograph!

Yeah for some reason I can’t flip the pictures round?! Thanks though!

Finally stick the lighting board under the pantograph well and push the LEDs into place- red being the inner most lights. A little glue and glaze and that was that. Now to get used to all the functions!

The kit was soldered in place- I decided to use the full set of functions available so each coloured wire where appropriate, including the spare purple wire off the chip. The previous owner of the loco swapped the chassis for a DCC ready one, so soldering was easy. A quick drop onto the rolling road to make sure it all works so far.

So a speculative bid on eBay resulted in me winning an Express Models lighting kit for a class 90. I decided to fit it over the course of a few hours to my GNER version. The first job was to pin down the pantograph as it kept popping up when drilling! As stated in the instructions, start with a 0.8mm bit and work up to 2mm, taking time and care as I went along. Each pair of holes should be 0.5mm apart. Measure several times, drill once etc!

After an extended break from modelling (that employment thing gets in the way somewhat!) I added the buffers. From a class 31 originally but they’re close enough. 2mm holes were drilled deep enough for the buffers to sit properly. Perhaps on reflection, I should have used hollow tubing. Oh well! Just need to add a draw hook which I have somewhere, then I can paint.

Finally, mounted to the chassis and with the body shell on. Waiting in the arrival of appropriate buffers before proceeding now. Will certainly be doing more of these in the future. Eventually this model will go into GNER livery.

Here is the buffer beam with dimensions. I used 0.5mm plastic sheet and 3mm plastic tube to create it. Please note that these dimensions are what worked for me. Please don’t have a go at me if they are different for you!

Cutting the chassis also means the mounting point for the forward lights are lost. I might find a way to reinstate them or just make my own lighting arrangement. Not sure yet. Anyway, the floor will need rebuilding as this is where the buffer beam will be mounted as well as giving strength to the area that was cut away. Space between the chassis and the body will need to be filed away to allow the body to be removed in the future if needed. Ensure the space is straight across and not at an angle. The prototype has cut out sections for the buffer beam to sit. Referring to pictures and my better(!) judgement this was done by carefully sawing in and drilling across.

Now the big one. Deep breath! Cut the bottom of the nose off in line with the bottom of the rest of the body. Take your time, let the razor saw do the work. I did about half the cut on each side before switching sides. A little sanding was needed at the end to smoothen everything off. The same was needed on the chassis. Cutting there will leave a thin black hoop. This is needed for later so leave it on but careful, as it is fragile.

I am going for 43067 during its brief stay with GNER in the early-mid 2000s. As a result I had to cut extra guards windows in the sides and back. I used the scale drawings in modern locomotives illustrated, as well as other pictures for reference. The plastic is very sturdy and quite thick. Take your time and drill lots of holes to save your scalpel blades! A little filing will also be needed.

Being new to the world of kit building and detailing, I wanted to challenge myself and do something different. I had a pair of railroad power cars lying around after a whimsical purchase and nothing to do with them. Therefore I thought to have a go and convert the motorised car to have a buffer beam, whilst the dummy car will be modified for the emergency coupling. See here the donor model. Far too green and great western! After stripping the body of all parts, I removed painted detail using a glass fibre pen.

We live in hope though. More interestingly, it looks like the pantograph will be available as a spare!

There are some new livery samples in the latest Engine Shed blog! https://www.Hornby.com/uk-en/news/the-engine-shed/oh-what-a-year

Forgive my pedantry, but the Mk4 buffets were altered significantly during refurbishment. The existing tooling is only suitable for Intercity and early GNER. A TSOE is also needed. I do agree though about bogies, couplings and the DVT.