Timara

Makes a whopping great difference doesn't it What gets me is that Hornby could have done it anyway and it wouldn't have caused much of an issue! I'll blame the CAD designer for this faux pas I think! Giving me itchy feet now to finish off the two of mine part-way through this operation........ Cheers,

Thanks James. Second bogie is now complete, so it's now a case of waiting for the windows to arrive from Brian once he's done them. Will add another view of the modified chassis above later..... As it happens, I do plan to do an RfD euro one soon. Also tempted to do the hybrid that was 47565. Only one end got the bufferbeam crib rails cut away. Good job I have a couple of spare #1 end cabs.....

Indeed. Forgot to mention that it's best to chain drill around the area to be removed. I found a 1mm drill was the easiest to work with. As you can probably see in the pic above, the retainer that holds the body securing nut is pared back to the nut itself and then a piece of plasticard added right in front of it. I really ought to start a blog posting of my own to illustrate it better I suppose! The hardest job (for me) was not damaging the weathering/detailing jobs on locos that were otherwise "finished". Only 15 more of these things to go! Cheers, Tim

Sure! Ok, you'll have to excuse the dust on this one - cruelly enlarged! I've chosen one where I've not yet put the fillet of plasticard in to hide the modified body fixing mount (the whole reason the inset has been lost in the first place!). The effect, as I'm sure you'll agree, is well worth the effort. As for the crosshead you refer to, I've got several of this base model and they're not too hard to reprofile at all. A bit of snipping and filing away and its sorted in about 5-10 minutes. A nuisance nonetheless! Cheers, Tim

Hi MD, Only just discovered this thread and it's got me hooked already. Looks like you've just persuaded me to do this to about 30 tenders........ Looking at one of the earlier posts I notice you've highlighted the lack of inset below the smokebox. If it's worth mentioning, I've done this to a few of mine (with the rest of the fleet to go) and it makes a huge difference. I'll add a photo of one of mine if you think it's worth showing. Looking forward to more updates! Cheers, Tim

Hi Tim, If it's worth my mentioning it, I used dilute acrylic matt varnish on Auchinraith and it's still going strong after 3 years, 2 of which on the expo circuit. HTH,

Nick: I can see where you're coming from, but the whole being of the bufferbeam on the Bachmann chassis was so it could take the strain when a decent screw shackle was installed. That and the metal buffers supplied are very nice indeed and have that flat face on them which so many after-market buffers just don't have! It didn't take much to cut the sides away though! The steps aren't a major issue for me, though I'll be interested to see how you've done yours, just in case it's not such a faff to do as I can see it being! T

Had to start somewhere I guess, so here goes. The humble 47, maid of all work. I'm not a massive fan of these locos, but in my modelling period, they're a necessity. For the 4mm modeller, there isn't really a "definitive duff" out there. Close, yes, but not "bang on". I think we can discount the rather heavy and wide Heljan 47, much as people seem to like it. It's wrong in more ways than just the width! As far as the body is concerned, the ViTrains body is just about spot on, with a couple of very minor niggles that can be fixed in no time. I'm not so keen on the chassis though, particularly the fact it rides far too high and the bogie frames (although very crisply moulded) just don't look right. Here's a pic of a Vi bogie above a Bachmann bogie. Neither scream out to me. Almost all the 47s I'll ever require have life-extended modifications, which means that using a cheap Bachmann 57 chassis is a bit of a win. They crop up on ebay from time to time or you can pick one off the Bachmann returns stand at Warley/Ally pally if you must and then either flog the body on ebay or use for weathering techniques. Inspired by Jim Smith'Wright's Bachmann 47 some while back, I've also gone down the route of adding modified Heljan bogie frames to the Bachmann bogies. The improvement is rather marked and definitely worth the effort. Aside from the modifications to the Vi body to allow fitment onto the 57 chassis (more in another topic later) the only major mod has been to the paintwork, in this instance repainting the windscreen surrounds and cab doors in black (they were originally RES grey). Just needs a set of Shawplan laser cut windows (hint Brian) and the handrails fitting on this side. Various other detailing hasn't been done, yet. Hoping to get this one finished fairly soon so that I can get a few more important items of stock finished off......