Brian Kirby

Glad to hear that you fixed your's Pete, perhaps that was the cause of other total failures ? It does seem to be a rather poor arrangement. Regarding the "T" shaped slots on the buffer beams, are they anything to do with shunter's poles ? 08 shunters seem to have smaller, chunkier "T" slots. I like the 1960s b/w "retro" pic PMP Paul. All this trouble we're all having is quite prototypical, the real Teddy Bears spent most of their BR careers parked up in sidings. Cheers, Brian.

I agree with Pete and Trevor, that replacing the rainstrip will be an easy mod to improve the look even further, save a touch-up of paint. What's gonna be more difficult is cutting back the footplate fore and aft, with those delicate lights in the way. Obviously i've already invalidated my loco's warranty by carving up the chassis and now i hear of another D95xx (Pete's) burning out or failing. (That's four that i've heard of). I managed to get the cab and bonnets off mine, but haven't unearthed the motor yet. Despite my chassis mods, i still haven't worked out how to separate the chassis from the footplate ! There are two big screws in the cab that i loosened, but nothing dropped away. Didn't want to force it. Pardon my ignorance, but what are the "T" shaped slots on the prototype's buffer beams for ? Cheers, Brian.

Here's the "Mk2" version, giving the chassis a simple form of compensation. This is quite a long wheelbase loco and compensation will ensure that all six wheels will be touching the track, thus improving power pick-up, which is vital in a loco with fewer wheels. It will also increase the adhesion, i.e. the pulling power. Starting at the crank end, i deepened the hornblocks and added a plastic rounded rocking beam inside the frames. The 40 thou strips are now relocated above the bearings, but still on the outside to restrict the sideplay. The original keeper plate makes a comeback and is chopped into short pieces to retain the axle. This clips back in. At the other end, i deepen the hornblocks and twist the pick-ups around to become the new wheel springs, again 40 thou strips are relocated above the bearings and a chopped piece of keeper plate clips back in. Here's the completed rebuild with the two short pieces of keeper plate refitted. Cheers, Brian.

Hi Everyone, Well i changed my mind and bought one, alas it arrived with broken front handrails and cab step. Also, i later discovered that both coupling rods were upside down, in other words, the complete wheelset assembly had been put in upside down. Look carefully, notice the crankpin lubricators pointing down ! I checked the running, seemed o.k.-ish, so i decided to keep it, reverse the wheelsets and repair the body. It does look very nice, but the chassis could be improved. First of all i wanted to reduce the excessive sideways slop in the outside axles and the cranks. I didn't want to take the wheels apart, for fear of breaking the thin and delicate coupling rods. I just used strips of black 40 thou (1mm.) plasticard, mounted outside the frames on the outside axles and inside the frames on the middle axle. These strips also now hold the wheels in, so i could dispense with the original keeper plate. I couldn't put strips behind the cranks without binding, so i used fibre washers glued to the axle, inside the frames. This has given an improvement in running, but now i've altered it even further, to become a compensated chassis. More pics to follow. Cheers, Brian.

I've also been looking at Fleet Survey 2 and the small drawing provided does suggest that the bottom of the bonnet is either dead in line with the bufferbeams or else sticks out slightly beyond the buffer beams. The cantilevered footplate tread is actually tucked under the bonnet. It's all a bit border line, i wouldn't worry too much, it is a very odd arrangement. I think that we can all agree that whatever's provided, be it a kit or RTR, there are always going to be minor details that may questioned. On this occasion we can see there are minor faults with both the RTR and the whitemetal kit. None of the faults are terribly serious and both products will produce a decent model. Part of the fun for us "tweakers" is to try and make the model even better. I may even reconsider and buy a Heljan "Teddy Bear", to apply my high-handed correction theories. My main worry was that with both kit and RTR side-by-side, i would be forever comparing the two. Don't be put off buying the Heljan, it will make a decent model. The next test is to see what the pulling power is like. Cheers, Brian.

I agree Ian, looking at my pic, the whitemetal side window is pants and will have to go. It's a bit too curvy on the corners. I was going to cut out the uprights anyway to flushglaze, then paint or draw the uprights back on. Luckily, i haven't painted the thing yet. I'm still doing all those blinking handrails everywhere ! Cutting the glazing to fit inside the front and back windows is going to be fun too. Cheers, Brian.

Here we are chaps, here's the British home grown version, the Dave Alexander kit. Still not finished ! Note the correct relationship between the side window and the rainstrip. Also we can see the correct front end arrangement, the bonnets virtually overhang the buffer beams, the shunter or crew member puts his tootsies into the slot under the bonnet, the footplate overhang is tiny. Another pic looking down, no sign of a great big footplate sticking out. Whitemetal kits are notoriously variable in size and dimensions, but at least this kit from nearly 20 years ago got it right. The faults on the Heljan can all be corrected using the most basic tools and new transfers, but you have just paid ??115. I've decided not to buy one, i'm a happy bunny. Cheers, Brian. (BTW, the kit wasn't without it's faults, i spent ages lowering the body on to the chassis, also the axle bearings were too low down, making it too tall. All o.k. now.)

And another thing . . . . Why does the footplate stick out quite so far at each end of the BR green one ? Is this an addition from private industrial days ? Looks a bit like a pair of bookshelves. Cheers, Brian.

Overall the body looks neat, but i'm afraid along with the already mentioned numbers, the pick-ups look hideous and will have to go. Thus they haven't modelled the leaf springs that should have been there instead. But something still doesn't look right. Bad news chaps, there's a body cock-up, either the side windows are mounted too high or the rainstrip is too low, or both. It is spot-on on my Dave Alexander kit version, so what went wrong here ? Time to dig out those prototype pictures ! I was sorely tempted, but now i'm going off the idea, i'm sticking to my all-British built version (Japanese motor mind you). Cheers, Brian.