Trains4U

I think I need to takeanother 2mm or so off the bottom of the door though...

OK, Photos are still a bit crude, but here is what I've done in addition to the changes shown previously: Inside wall of gangway, and gangway step painted black Rubbing plate painted black around the outside Weathered black applied to the buffers All of the yellow front very slightly dulled with Tamiya weathering poweders Tamiya powders (oil black) applied damp to the cable recesses, steps and the distinctive space above the gangway that is always missed bythe carriage washer Powder also applied to door joins and gutter. Gangway exterior has had slightly different colour of warning yellow applied to he outer half of the compression mechanism and has been lightly weathered. Buffers painted weathered black I think it now really looks like a 4-VEP

I suppose my point is that the conversion, whilst is should not be necessary, is relatively straightforward. Far from rubbishing the model, and Hornby (and me) losing lots of sales, I'm hopeful that people will still buy it, knowing that they can achieve a better result with not a lot of effort. - though obviously invalidating any warranty. If done carefully, no painting or filling is required, and there is no fiddly messing around with the lighting circuits and light guides. I've got a lot in stock - I'd sooner find a way of selling them (And maybe more) than potentially having them sat on the shelves and then losing money on them if a price cut occurrs. For me the frontal appearance is the biggest concern - I grew up with them and the appearance of the model just didn't sit right. My irrational impulse to modify overcame the rational cost based fear. I must admit to breaking into a sweat when my saw broke the paint... Now my next task is how to tackle the 1st class compartments - that may be next week, once the Open Day is out of the way.

Youd have to find some mazak in it first...

Lets wait and see what my final version looks like, with the painted gangways and some light weathering of the cab ends. I might offer it as a service, once I perfect the technique. This unit will probably go back on sale with a mark up for the modification (Maybe at £170 - around the RRP)

Be careful not to mistake bravery with stupidity... (I wasn't sure how it was going to turn out!) Though it now looks like an EMU, rather than a class 207 with a gangway stuck on the front. Just for clarity, The body is a one piece moulding. The construction will make it very difficult to disassemble further than body removal. Inside the roofline is a plastic frame (Which has the luggage rack mouldings on it. This is held in by 8 screws and secures the lighting board. Even after the screws come out, the frame cannot be removed as it is wedged in by the many seperate window mouldings, that have been securely glued in place. Getting to the circuit board will be a very difficult task. The gangway clips in to the front face of the model and can be removed with some care. The door joins, door gutter, handle and a recess at the top of the door are moulded into the face of the model. The cable recesses are part of the glazing unit (Clear plastic, painted yellow) as the face of the bodyshell has two apetures in it. The front glazing unit extends the full width tof the front and is securely glued, the top of the glazing plastic is a few mm above the cab windows. To carry out the modification, i cut vertically through the bodyshell and glazing unit until the blade passed through the top of the glazing plastic (Which is below the top level of the gangway) Uning a craft knife, I then scored through the plastic between the two cuts and broke the door away. The LED lighting is on a seperate board on flying leads, which makes this job a whole lot easier as the whole assembly comes away still in place on the door. I then filed a mm or so off the bottom of the door and around the top corners to make it fit into the gangway apeture. The door will need to be glued, as will the gangway, but not until after I've finished painting and weathering. Since taking the pics, I have painted the inside of the gangway, the gangway face and around the underside of the rubbing plate with Railmatch weathered black, which improves the appearance further. The gangway is also moulded in Black plastic, so I scored the join with a craft knife to remove some paint, representing the compression mechanism. (Though not as tidily as I could have done - you can see this in the pictures) I'll try and make a better job of the other end! Watch out when cutting that you don't veer off the vertical. I did, hence the ugly black hole on the right hand side of the door (time to get the filler out...)

Well, my father will kill me if he sees what I've just done to a new £140 4-VEP, that I haven't paid for (yet) But this is the result of 25 mins with a hacksaw blade (A razor saw would have been better) I just need to touch up the scratches on the roofline and weather the cab recesses, door gangway and roofline. It makes the world of difference, the LEDs are still in the right places, but I shouldn't have to do this to a new model really... Spot the difference? (Sorry for the poor quality pics, its a bit late to be getting all my camera kit out)

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/forum/62-trains4u-dcc-fitting-guides/

No it hasn't. You just needto know where to look: (See second pic down) http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/38093-n-gauge-society-exhibition-and-agm/page__view__findpost__p__406996

You'll have to get the jacks out to re-rail that 20 Alex. It looks like it might go over. Two Sub Sector type 5s are just waiting to be outshopped BTW...

The odd thing for me is that I seem to recall during 87 and 88 that the Cardiff-Portsmouth sets were made up of 2x Mk1 SK, Mk2 BFK then another 2 Mk1 SKs. Perhaps I just wasn't paying that much attention, though I did bash them quite a bit during that time (Though to be fair I was 9 or 10 at the time...) I used to live in Fratton, and would spend many a Saturday or school holiday bashing the triangle between Portmouth, Eastleigh and Southampton on thumpers and Cardiff trains. (Before the rubbish electrification ;-) )

Perhaps the Giraffes are made of Platinum...