lapford34102 Posted February 24, 2014 Share Posted February 24, 2014 I’ve always regarded the 94XX’s as something of a midlands class and looking through my old Shedbooks found I’d only “copped” a handful and these these were either Bristol or Old Oak locos. But getting one had always appealed to me after seeing Mikkel’s conversion here on gwr.org http://www.gwr.org.uk/pro94xx.html As he rightly points they make for a change even if one wouldn’t exactly be appropriate for Drewry Lane in 50’s guise.The project was something of a armchair exercise as I’d never seen one at what I felt was a reasonable cost. That changed recently when I picked one up for an extremely reasonable price on a Club secondhand stand. Having looked through the bits box found some suitable buffers, bunker window grilles etch and other basic bits so lashed out on a set of plates. Mikkel’s conversion uses the earlier split axle Pannier chassis but I’m using the newer one so rather more hacking is forseen to get it to fit. First step was to carve off the moulded handrails and remove the wire ones on the tank sides and smokebox. The holes were either puttied or filled with scrap plasticcard. The “coal” was carved out and the moulded grilles on the bunker windows removed. All this went fine but left a space that needed filling before a false bunker floor can be fitted. The bunker windows are too deep so they’ll need working on in time. The smokebox is a separate moulding and as a new method of fixing body to chassis will have to be devised I decided to fix smokebox and body together permanently. Glued up and held firmly but gently in the vice it will hopefully be fully set ready for the next stage. Cheers Stu Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
lapford34102 Posted February 25, 2014 Author Share Posted February 25, 2014 Hi, With the return of the soggy weather made more progress. The 94XX is a couple of feet longer than the earlier versions with a foot at either end. To help get the chassis in the right place I added a couple of pieces of plastic card the chassis to give an extra 4mm at both ends, just visible in the photo. Once done the carving up could start. The front half of the running plate has been seriously hacked to fit over the Bachmann chassis. A deep bladed razor saw was the tool of choice here. The tank bottoms which are part of this moulding have lost their front sections and the smokebox saddle removed all bar the front section. I stupidly attached the smokebox to the tanks then have had to remove all the saddle section apart from the front and sides. The Bachmann chassis has a cast section with lower boiler and a slightly narrower section that fits into the saddle of their models - it's the same for the 57XX and the 8750 versions. This now fits into the Lima saddle. When the body and the running place are put back together it's not obvious what's been done. The front of the running plate is simplified and has an un-prototypical slope between the frames,. This was drilled, cut and filed out and plastic card used to create something a little more convincing. Next jobs are to get the body height sorted and decide about the splashers. The body height at the front is pretty good as the running plate rests on the chassis's sandboxes, possibly a tad low but jacking things up is easier than cutting them down. As for the back end I'll have to get creative...! There's daylight under the boiler but the splashers ? I can probably live with it but it might not be too difficult to move them, well see. Hacked about bits, note the extensions on the Bachmann chassis All the bits together, you can sort of see the mod to the front end Daylight but the splashers.... mmmmm! Cheers Stu Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Horsetan Posted February 25, 2014 Share Posted February 25, 2014 That's alright - you can always saw out the splashers and reposition......or scribe out some new ones with the help of a pair of compasses / an Olfa radial cutter. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
34theletterbetweenB&D Posted February 25, 2014 Share Posted February 25, 2014 Correct me if wrong, but isn't the wheelbase of the 94xx identical to the 57xx? Since the Bach 57xx chassis is to scale, I think what that implies is that Lima stretched 'somewhere' in the firebox area of the body to make it fit on their loathsome apology for running gear also used under the J50 (7'3"+9' wheelbase) in order that the small segment of splasher poking out of the cab front lined up with the rear wheel. So your better bet may be to line up the front and centre drivers with the splashers - which spacing they should match - and then perform a little 'excessectomy' shortening on the body to bring the rear splasher into line with the rear wheel. Next question, did they further elastically adjust things in the cab and bunker area to bring in the overall length at the correct dimension? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
lapford34102 Posted February 25, 2014 Author Share Posted February 25, 2014 but isn't the wheelbase of the 94xx identical to the 57xx? Yes it is. According Mikkel's notes on gwr.org the body scales out pretty well but is a tad longer. Now the spacing between the front 2 splashers isn't very far off the 7' 3|" if you measure them. I think they may be shifted forward to use a stock Lima chassis. I need to carefully look at things again but believe the rear sandboxes should line up with the cab steps as they have a hole in them to reach the filler, if so it might be worth using that as a datum and go from there. It's all great fun, isn't it ? Stu Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rovex Posted February 25, 2014 Share Posted February 25, 2014 This is a conversion that I've been meaning to do for ages, so its good to see someone else have a go and using the current Bachmann chassis. I don't have my unconverted 94xx body to hand, but looking at the scale drawings in Russells book it looks like the the front splashers are in more or less the right place - is it possible to move the chassis forward, to line the wheels up with these? I am guessing that the model has been stretched between the second and third sets of wheels (probably for the reason 34C suggests above) because the rear splasher is about the right size. However if the chassis can be moved forward two sets of wheels in line with splashers and one wrong might be more acceptable than two wrong and one right(ish). By the way your right about the rear sandboxes being behind the steps, its quite clear on the photos that accompany the scale drawings. Dean Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
lapford34102 Posted February 26, 2014 Author Share Posted February 26, 2014 An unexpected chance to get on today so a bit more progress. Thank you for all the comments, observations, etc Gents. Played around with model, plan and ruler and have come to the conclusion that the front and middle splashers are pretty much correctly spaced and in the right place. It looks to me as if the suggestion of the rear splashers are incorrect and too far back. Lining up the front two axles puts the rear one more or less where it should be according to plans + pics. Having decided to go with this setup found I needed to hack away at the smokebox and saddle to get the chassis far enough forward. Practically destroyed it before the penny dropped and I realised I was hacking the wrong bit. Bachmann's chassis has a cast piece making up the false boiler bottt hacking the Lima om and the decoder socket mount. The front of it is a rectangular section that fits inside the models smokebox saddle. It's held in by two screws and comes out with upsetting anything else. If I was doing this again I'd put it in a big vice and get a hefty file and reduce it's width and length as far as possible then start on the Lima bit. Photo hopefully shows things. Also drilled the handrail holes and worked on the rear cab face. Created a representation of the bunker "doors" and added the window grilles. Having mounted them makes me wonder if the cab roof is too curved/high. Quite possible to clear the pancake motor in the cab but I'm not going to do a Stefan and start hacking that about. Also made some mounts to get the height right and I'm happy with that. A couple of pics. Cheers Stu Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sylvian Tennant Posted March 2, 2014 Share Posted March 2, 2014 Hi Stu Great work on the 94xx. Can I ask where you got the spectacle plates/window grills from? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
lapford34102 Posted March 2, 2014 Author Share Posted March 2, 2014 Can I ask where you got the spectacle plates/window grills from? Hi, from Mainly Trains http://www.mainlytrains.co.uk/acatalog/exp_mt226.htm HTH Stu Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
terry.ecmr Posted March 2, 2014 Share Posted March 2, 2014 Here a couple of photos of the Lima/Bachmann conversion I did a while ago. Although not perfect I think it makes a pretty good model, especially at 'exhibition normal viewing distance' It has Howes sound fitted with the speaker flat across the cab floor. Terry have a look...... ecmr.webs.com Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
lapford34102 Posted March 2, 2014 Author Share Posted March 2, 2014 Very nice Terry, gives me something to aim for. Stu Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Weaselfish Posted March 15, 2014 Share Posted March 15, 2014 I saw 9410 working on the Earl's Court layout last week at the Leamington model railway exhibition and it looked very good. Terry has also fitted a K's condensing pannier tank body onto the Bachmann chassis with similarly impressive results. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
terry.ecmr Posted March 15, 2014 Share Posted March 15, 2014 I saw 9410 working on the Earl's Court layout last week at the Leamington model railway exhibition and it looked very good. Terry has also fitted a K's condensing pannier tank body onto the Bachmann chassis with similarly impressive results. Many thanks for the kind comments. Picture of the Condensing Pannier attached. More at ecmr.webs.com Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
lapford34102 Posted March 29, 2014 Author Share Posted March 29, 2014 Back at the workbench and now have the handrails done, and there's a lot of them. Thankfully most are straightforward and I even attempted to solder up the long tankside ones with passable results. A bit of tweaking needed, noticed a couple of the fire iron hooks look a bit wafty, but it's getting there. As a project it's going to have to be put to one side for the moment. Recent events have had to take priority and with a couple of shows to do in the coming weeks other jobs are going to have to queue jump. I also had this idea about perhaps trying a Comet chassis underneath but that's something I haven't costed. Cheers Stu Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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