LMSfan72

Hi Antony. Can you send me a PM to discuss what you need?

Yes, and the ETH multiple working connector and I have the shark fin aerials ready to go too. Now seeing if I can print hollow WIPACs to fit SMD LEDs behind so they sit between the body and the WIPAC and therefore only need wire clearance on the inside...

The body, with grafted Dapol cab ends fits on a Dapol chassis: and also a Hornby chassis The only problem is putting working lights in. The WIPAC clusters are right in line with the chassis so the Dapol chassis will need cutting back to make room for LEDs

Mine arrived. Ran fine. Filled up the water. Ran again. No “steam” Rang Hornby technical. Reset decoder, reloaded sound profile. Still no “steam”. The manual doesn’t say it but the loco needs to have F1 on for steam as well as sound. Rang them back, new suggestion from workshop is to run it for 5 mins as reports that it takes that long to start with. (I can only imagine that’s for water to soak into a sponge type thing as the ultrasonic bit should be instantaneous). Ran for 20 mins. Nothing. Sucked water back out and going back in the morning. 100% record for Hornby on new locos the last 12 months! Grrr.

Ready for glueing Although I need to fill and strip the cabs first!

Whilst the sleeper is trial fitted. Note that I am keeping the body “deformed” until glued

Meanwhile back in the GBRF yard

This one will become a sleeper version… First task was to strip down a Dapol shell. I then drilled the top marker light… …and cut off the redundant detail learning from the GBRF build i did this whilst the cabs were still attached so it doesn’t force the joins and new body. Next will be the major surgery!

Thnaks Denny, I'll take a look. (I still might have a go at printing it as part of the body)

If anybody can suggest a source for the fan grill - just some brass mesh would likely do - I’d be keen to know!

My impatience got to me so I superglued and filled the body together. I “tacked it” insitu with the cabs screwed on and then removed it and glued and filled. I managed to get the cab interiors out but I’m going to leave the side windows if they are adding strength when I check tomorrow (as I can just mask them!).

I am also considering whether I actually need to glue it! I might just do the roof seam….. all a bit of trial and error experimenting

Whilst pursuing the full body route I reprinted the body with the extra length which is now spot on. I have realised, though, that I will probably need to have the cab windows installed so I can secure the cabs to the chassis and glue the body to them. I think that means I’ll be painting the cabs first.

Zooming in on the photo I think it’s just very fine!!

A print of the roofs only and the body from yesterday. I’ve had the body taped “closed” all day and did a second post cure. Everything has had a coat of primer now. Normally I’d expect the painted print to distort if it can. I’ll see! I am wondering if the vertical louvre grills were corrected by the stl mesh fixer or if it’s so fine I can’t see! I’m printing a separate grill just to see 😄

All my coach models are designed so that the body “locks” into a chassis - or are single piece - to combat any distortion that happens over time. I am concerned that as the 73 is an open shell it may distort. I am being asked if I will sell the prints but because of this risk I am hesitant to do that. I am considering if another option is to print the entire roof and then the side grills/louvres separately so that an existing shell does form the “skeleton” - back to how I was doing it in earlier posts. I will finish a test model and we can see if it distorts!!

It's actually so easy to add that I don't understand why Heljan omitted them. Underneath the ends of the boards are some JST 1.25mm sockets (just like the AUX10 and AUX7 ones). The ones for the W(hite) and R(ed) are used but the Cab and AUX1 (Aux2 at the other end) are not. All the circuitry is in place for those but I think AUX7 and AUX10 might need SW2 jumping (or switches in place) to work. I soldered an LED to a plug wire and plugged it in and, unsurprisingly, AUX1 and AUX2 work. All then needs doing is the LED mounting in behind the light tube. I didn't test the Cab connection but I suspect that they will be the same (they may be switched with the W(hate) LEDs but I didn't check that.

sent you a PM!

Well, the added benefit of not doing the cabs is it fits on the smaller printer so I didn’t have to wait for Mentor! A mere 9 hours to print this. I had translucent resin in it so that’s not ideal for seeing the detail, but, it came out very well I need to stretch it by about 2mm which will also give some cutting/finishing tolerance. the one concern I have is if the body will bow over time - there’s no bracing so I might have to think about a way to hold the centre to the chassis…

I think the roof fairing just behind the cab will be best made from paper or card and stuck in place. Depending on the year, they sometimes have the windows replaced with grills and sometimes don't I think currently they are replaced - that's how I modelled it but easy enough to do either!

It is interesting. 57311 has the light tube in place and the board has connections! I don't think it'll take too much to stick an SMD LED on the back of the light tube and wire to one the outputs. Maybe they removed it for the speaker area!?

Looking really good. They could be related 😀:

Once the printer is free of the Mentor run, I'll be seeing how it comes out!!

So, with help from those in the know I have identified 5 different print versions of the body and different ends, approximate years: 1974 - 1986 as originally converted with round spotlights and window lights 1986 - 1990 similar to above but with some of the MK1 window light windows replaced with the more modern ones 1990 - 2003 the spot lights change to the square modern type 2003 - 2013 most of the other Mk1 windows replaced 2013 - to date the full refurb that I had already done. Minor roof changes happen overtime though The ends stay similar through much of it to 2013 but there were tail/marker light clusters fitted through much of the period from around 1986 - 2013 so I have those options done too!! My trial 1974 version is currently in paint, the 1990 versions printed and the others are slowly coming through (20 hours per print so when it doesn't work I lose a whole day!!)