Daddyman

I'll be in the market for a discarded Scottish headlight if you can get it off in one piece! I have plastic high intensity ones from the Swindon people (can't remember their name) if you need any.

I think it's just how much muck there is accentuating it...

Definitely does! Do you think some didn't?

And skew-whiff horn grille, and bent snowplough. Super photo, thanks! It was busy failing on the sleeper on the WHL on 01/08, and was out of traffic for two weeks, so this must be after mid-August. WJV Anderson has some photos of it on the Oban line in mid-August.

Well, getting the flange at the bottom of the nose right is quite nerve-wracking, and there's still a long way to go: re-seat the fuel tanks, replace the roof fan grille, replace the handbrake chains, fabricate true "fat" 37/0 sandpipes, redo all the b.beam air pipes... Probably other things too (37022 had one horn grille at 90 degrees to the normal at No.1 end: "leave well alone", a voice keeps telling me; "go for it!" says another!). Plus, the models are three times what I used to pay for the 37/0s and 37/4s, so it's still "fraught with many spills and chills". But yes, I take your point. I'm eternally grateful to Bachers for the windscreens - don't mind doing the rest myself. At least this 37 will get you there with some effort, and with no need for lots of Kool-Aid....

Right, that's a bit better. On its way to becoming 37022 on 01/08/84. Bachmann have (correctly, I guess) moulded buffer-backing plates on the skirts, and these intrude a little into where the flange around the cutaway should be - hence the areas along that flange where the paint has been scraped away. (Buffers were all I had to hand.) (Accidentally got the light catching the non-flat front of the Bachmann windscreens!😉)

Very useful - thanks for the advice!

Does anyone know if Shawplan do buffer backing plates? (The squares with bolts at all four corners that attach the buffers to the beam.) "GEDP40062" is listed as "Oleo Oval buffer backplates" - but I'm puzzled by the word "oval". I know I've had some before, but I think they came from old Shawplan.

Wait, I'll check. No, you're definitely wrong on the skirts. With you on the reinforced windows, though.

Hi Daddyman, Got one from TMC for £170 - arrived 5 minutes ago and I've already had the lid off for you. The bufferbeams do extend full width, yes; however, there are gouges in the beams to accommodate the plungers from the sprung buffers fitted to the body. So they'll need to be filled, and buffer-backing plates sourced, but it looks like you'll be able to get rid of the hideous buffer skirts. Good luck!

Thanks - that's what I thought. Is it well regarded at all the TMZ bodyshell? Not sure if Bachmann have retooled since then.

Yes, but not so easy to match Bachmann's (at the time incorrect) BR blue... It's a model I want to sell, and I'm trying to decide if it's worth tarting up and trying to make it accurate, or just sell it as it is. Tending towards the latter course at the moment...

Brilliant, thanks!

Could I ask a question to all the class 45 experts, please? I know nothing about the class! I have a TMZ limited edition from a few years back. As far as I remember, it came unnumbered. I think I bought the body only from TMZ at an exhibition, where they were selling off surplus stock. Some twit (a younger and inferior version of me) has numbered it as 45022, which I think is wrong for the features included in the moulding. But I'm struggling to find any locos that match the features of the model - namely: BR blue Sealed-beam flush fronts with headcode clips adjacent to the marker lights Plated steps at the boiler Unplated vertical grille at the boiler (it's this feature that seems to rule out most prototypes) Trapezoid alternator (?) hatch rather than grille Did any loco actually have all those features? Grateful for any help!

Yes, I saw that - thank you!

I wouldn't bother checking your inbox - there's nothing about when the loco is due.

Mike Clarke (Masokits) was singing the praises of Revell's matt aerosol varnish the other night at our S4 meeting - he showed the results, and very good they were too. I was certainly convinced.

I'd still recommend giving it a try using Bachmann's couplings functionally - see if they work on your curves and gradients. I wasn't suggesting you glue the chassis. But actually, that's not a bad idea. A dab of superglue and the bond could easily be broken later. Or countersink the offending screw? - if you can find one with the same threads. No two Bachmann screws seem to have the same threads.

Interesting... I've never had them uncouple, but then my dad is a retired PW engineer and insisted on getting good, level track on his layout...

I know what you mean about the screw - it gets in the way of how I fit H@#jan snowploughs too. While I jettison most body-fixing screws (my locos are all running round with only one of the four at the fuel tanks) I'm not sure these can be jettisoned - I think the b.beams tend to droop. But worth a try? A thought: presumably you're using three links for aesthetic considerations, or for added realism. However, they aren't actually realistic (Smith's are oversized, and the couplings on a 37 should be screw), so why not fit the supplied Bachmann cosmetic coupling, and either use it as a functional coupling (as I do) or hook your three links onto the Bachmann hook?

Why is all this Tri-ang junk appearing on here? This is supposed to be the thread for the new Bachmann 37.

Do we know if the old noses fit?

I'll swap you some fabricated ones if you like?

Very very nice!

Good point - not really being up on Inverness matters, I didn't realise 260 had cast bogies. So really 260 could be bought as a cast bogie donor with a free large logo body. But then the centre headcode WHL 37s were all a bit "off" - 188's name was rubbish, 191's not much better, 183 had buffer cowls and 264 had no ploughs. Most are RSH too. As Rich says, depends on the period. Off the top of my head I can't remember 401 ever having cast bogies, but 423 certainly had them at some point while in Transrail.