benachie

Comet also do a generic Stanier cab etch.

Tim,

I agree about the plasticard for strengthening. This is even easier with the my second conversion method as the inside profiles match up.

Alan

Benachie, you have done superb cuts to that Jubilee body. Any tips, what sort of saw / cutter did you use. I need to cut a couple of models (not Jubs !).

 

Brit15

Thank you.

Just a Junior hacksaw! But...

Whichever saw you use, cut well back from the final edge and, with extreme patience, file and sand back to the true join.

Using joins at boiler/firebox bands helps to give a precise finish line and also helps to conceal the joins.

I'm really a soldering man so, if I can do this plastic thing, anybody can!

Alan

Just to clarify my post #46, here are the bits

and placed together

Of course, if you don't have the piece out of "Drake" from fitting a donor LFB, then you could possibly just move the appropriate section 3mm or so forward and fill in the gap at the firebox somehow(!). (Should be 1ft = 4mm but 3mm seems to fit better with the Bachmann moulding.)

Alan

farren,

Thank you.

1. As far as I can see, all post-war Jubilees had smoke box saddles in the "Drake" style.

2. I'm quite happy to ignore the 1mm difference in the bogie wheelbase - I'm not even sure which length Bachmann have gone with.

3. I don't think the frame difference is visible. The old Mainline/Bachmann coupled wheelbase was wrong which is one reason you can't just stick an old body on the new chassis.

I have encountered a few minor problems besides the extensive fettling needed to get the revised boiler/firebox to marry up with the footplate e.g. the handrail knobs on the grafted-in firebox need to be realigned slightly downwards which then shows up the grossly over-reprsented horizontal join on the firebox just above the handrail.

The conversion is awaiting painting. In the meantime, I am working on another SFB to LFB in a slightly different way. The piece that was cut out of "Drake" can be slotted in to another "Drake", replacing the section ahead of the middle firebox band. This makes everything much easier to line up since the cross sections now match, at the expense of having to re-do the washout plugs and add mudhole covers. We shall see!

Alan

.

You know Alan, you've just signed the death warrant on one of my old Jub bodies...... I might just have to do a LFB one as my Crewe North model instead of it being Assam.

 

Looks a very nice clean join indeed. I shall look forward to seeing it when finished.

 

Cheers,

Thank you, Tim.

The boiler-firebox-cab joins are not too difficult but a good deal of work is needed on the bottom edges of the firebox which, remember, is not attached to the footplate. I'm currently upgrading a Fowler tender with better coal rails etc and then I'm hoping to get away without a complete repaint but that may not be possible.

Alan

Hmm, that post might have cost me a lot of money! Excellent work Alan.

Sorry, Jamie.

It's going to end up as 45711 "Courageous" from your neck of the woods.

Alan

Andy,

Great stuff!

Here is where I've got to after much pairing and filing -

And now for the gluing -

Alan

Alan, I (and I'm sure many others) would be very interested in some more details about this. I took the body off a Bachmann Jubilee last night and the sectional construction of the body makes it seem quite feasible. Any techniques for releasing certain parts (e.g. cab from firebox etc.) without resorting to the razor saw?

 

Thanks,

 

Andy

Andy,

You might as well go for the saw - I did - because the backhead is part of the boiler moulding and will need to be cut off and rejoined to the cab anyway. You will then discover that the cab is clipped to the boiler moulding by two inward-facing lugs and will slide upwards when these are pushed apart but I doubt if this can be done without damage until you have these lugs in sight.

I found the handrails impossible to remove without breaking the very fragile stanchions The front join needs to be at the boiler band that is ahead of the top feed. The rear of the replacement long firebox is a little wide but nothing that a careful squeeze can''t cure and there will need to be some cosmetic work around the middle splasher etc which is what I'm working on just now. Hopefully the metal footplate will ensure reasonable strength in the finished conversion.

Alan

I did a workbench on the old and new Jubilee when the latest offering came out. Putting a decent chassis under the old long-firebox body is like gold plating a plastic spoon. It's in the same league as the Hornby 4F..........1980's fourth division....

I am in process of grafting a chunk of boiler + LFB from an old model into one of these cheapo "Drake" SFBs which is not too difficult and keeps most of the improved aspects of the newer model.

Alan

Hope this doesn't elicit a snort of derision but I too bought a Jubile on offer from Hattons for £56 with chip fitted, named Drake btw, problem is I can't make out how to get the tender attached to the loco.

 

Am I missing something obvious, the connection plate on the loco seems to fit over a stud on the tender but how is it held in place, searched through the bag of extra bits that came with the loco but no sign of any thing like a screw e.g. to hold the connecting plate onto the tender, any help much appreciated.

 

I try to model LMS region and whatever the merits behind the much reduced price of this loco to my mind it's a bargain and a very good looking model.

The drawbar is not held by anything. Once the loco and tender are both horizontal, they will not separate.

If you're running on DCC, you probably need to cut off the two capacitors, otherwise it will be rather jerky.

Alan

Hi Meister,

Welcome!

The bush problem was/is only one of many including weird lubricant which stops being glue only above 70F and a useless motor. Any combination of snags can apply to any loco. Even the later models are very slow runners. As I hinted in #276 above, I found the only satisfactory solution to be a complete alternative bogie.

Good luck!

Alan

If you want a LFB Jubilee with decent running qualities, may I suggest that you could put a new chassis under an old Mainline body and detail to taste.

Unfortunately, it's not a straight replacement. You need to hack some plastic out to make room for the rear drivers and provide new mounting points. Even then, the middle drivers do not match their splashers.

Alan

Hi All,

 

If anyone wants to try a quick conversion on a Hornby Brake Third I have uploaded some photos of the real thing. These were in departmental service by this time as by the time I was old enough to have the camera and get the pass these services had been replaced by DMUs or railcars.

The first photo shows the end windows of the 4 compartment driving trailer which had been on the well known and well photographed Craigendoran and Arrochar service on the bottom end of the West Highland. The pipework and control gear had been removed by this time. Second photo is of the same coach showing that the sides were not altered in this 1940 conversion. (but it had lost its Gresley bogies and aquired Fox type from a CCT plus a wagon type handbrake for its departmental role) Third photo is of another LNER brake third but converted by BR (1950?) showing the more extensive changes to the driving end. The drawing in Nick Caplings "Historic carriage Drawings" vol 1 LNER & Constituents shows the coaches converted for the Epping Ongar service in late LNER period These are somewhere in between and have small droplights in the sidepanels and two big windows in the end but not the central one of the BR. As well as the driving trailers the coaches that ran with them had also to be converted by having the control gear rub through.

Two C15s were fitted with push pull gear for the Craigendoran and Arrochar but only one was needed at any one time. Coaches converted consisted of the 4 compartment brake third, the 6 compartment brake composite and a semi corridor lav. composite was piped through.The coaches could be varied according to the traffic. Most usual formation seems to have been lav.composite and 4 comp driving trailer. At least it was the few times I saw it. I have seen a photograph in a book of the loco, the brake composite then the brake third. I have yet to see one of the loco with only the brake composite but I assume that that was the purpose of that conversion, perhaps only used in such deep winter that no photographers were around.

 

best wishes,

 

Ian

Ian,

Your pictures have been most helpful in answering a question that I have asked previously on these pages. It appears (surprisingly) that the Isinglas drawing is incorrect. Can I assume

1. that the square panel centrally below the rear windows is a departmental add-on

2. the St Combs branch conversions were the same as on the Craigendoran-Arrochar?

Alan

I also tried a Mashima 1426 with similar results but I felt that, even when "warmed up" the top speed was too slow so I then fitted a High Level Lo-Rider bogie with excellent results. However, this is definitely not a mod to be undertaken lightly ubless you really like challenges.

Alan

"How on earth can the government subsidise electricity at almost 4 times its current (no pun intended) market price?

Or have I got it completely wrong?"

The government is trying to fulfill promises about how much power will be produced from renewables in the UK.

The FIT is just paying rent on your roof space to help meet targets.

Alan

I needed something easy, low cost and reliable. Attaching a small paper staple to the bottom (dropper) of Bachmann tension lock couplings provides automatic coupling and uncoupling with no unsightly uncoupling ramps or lifts. I agree that if you are a scratch or kit builder or have the time to set up and adjust coupling then some of the ideas above look neater.

 

You have to use Bachmann couplings because they have a non-ferrous (non-magnetic) dropper

I think it would be fair to acknowledge that this is Brian Kirby's idea

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=35605

Alan

Slide a butter knife upsidedown behind the flap and push down to release the folded end...Thats providing Hornby aint changed the boxes since I last looked!

Thanks, Eagle. Too late for me but might help others. Why on earth have they concocted this weird Chinese puzzle? I don't see any advantage.

Alan

My 61243 is beautiful but what a job to get at it. I had to rip the cardboard in the end which can't be right - what did I do wrong?

Alan

Silverstreak,

"Futher to my earlier comment regarding the lower rear coal division plate on the tender of Hornby's B1 61180, having done a little more research I can say that Hornby have got it spot on for the period modelled. Later on in service these lower plates were replaced with a higher type which were positioned slightly further forward as can be seen depicted on the Bachmann B1 tender."

And on the late crest Hornby 61243 - spot on again!

Alan

According to the LNER Society info sheets Diagram 65 = 86141, 86145, 86147 (all converted July 1949), 86072, 86134-86135, 86138 (all converted September 1949)

I believe these were for the GE section. The diagrams 317/320 for Scotland (86983/4,86997 were different (see Isinglas drawing).

Alan

Brilliant, Iain. I've had some for many years for use with Methfix transfers.

Needs a good rub but works perfectly. Thanks.

Alan

I asked this query on the painting etc. forum but got no reply. Hope it also fits here:-

I'm thinking of converting one of the new Hornby Gresley suburban Firsts to a Diagram 188/189 Composite. The renumbering and removal of some of the "1"s is easy enough, but how do I get rid of the "First" signs on the glazing?

Alan

The photo in question claims to have been taken in Peterborough.

 

If what you say is true regarding not all vehicles getting their SC prefix then we really have a minefield to catch out the unwary.

I fear so - a photograph is really essential. But, even if a coach were known to have an SC allocation, it could have taken years for the "SC" to be applied. For example, the caption to the Harris picture claims that 81025 was still in teak in 1955. Perhaps it was never in crimson!

Alan

I think some 4-compartment brakes of the diagram Hornby are doing were converted for push-pull too.

All in Scotland, mostly NSA for running the St. Combs branch.

Alan

There is a photo of 81025 on page 86 of Harris' LNER Standard Gresley Coaches taken in 1955 still showing the E81025E version of the number.

There was a very useful discussion about SC etc allocation here

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/17272-sc-prefixed-coach-numbers/page__hl__%2Bscottish+%2Ballocation__fromsearch__1

As I understand it, the regional allocation had to do with money (responsibilty for repairs) and many coaches that were never ever ouside Scotland never got SC labelling.

Alan