Making BDSO carriages

[James]

Hi all,

 The aul grey matter has been ticking over the past few weeks with the difficulty preordering the MK2BDSO for the hunslets, and it got me thinking. How different is the Mk2b from the MK2c? If you apply the ‘looks close enough if you’re happy with it’ (I think that’s the 2 foot rule, I’m still learning phrases) would respraying a MK2c be ok to fit in with the Mk2b? I know it’s an expensive model to fettle with, but I think for some of us out there who were on sabbaticals when earlier models were release, it may be the only way to get as close to the models without fighting to the death on eBay auctions.

Thanks in advance!

Edited 4 hours ago by James

[Mol_PMB]

My plan is to add a cab to the Mk2c BFK to make the BDFO 813

 

[James]

16 minutes ago, Mol_PMB said:

My plan is to add a cab to the Mk2c BFK to make the BDFO 813

 

A ha! So I’m not the only one thinking of doing this then. Thanks a million!

[Mol_PMB]

813 actually was a Mk2c. So the conversion just involves two cab windows and an alternative passenger interior, plus the repaint. 

 

[James]

Sweet! What would the alternative passenger interior entail? Would removing the interior in the cab area work? And for the cab would you be able to roughly base it off a Mk2b cab? (I managed to get one preordered so I hope to reference it a fair bit to convert elements)

[Mol_PMB]

There were 3 driving trailers built to work with the Hunslets. 811 and 812 were  Mk2b DBSO, then a couple of years later came 813 which was a Mk2c DBFO. My thought was that if I was going to do a conversion, it would be nice to model the one that IRM don’t offer - 813. 
Looking at photos from numerous angles (I put some photo links in the post I linked to above), 813 was almost identical to the Mk2c (large window) BFK - which is still available from Accurascale. The differences are:

1. The cab. Need to add front and side windows, headlights, and a representation of the interior. These seem identical to the cabs on 811 and 812. The cab windows are quite small so the inside is not very visible - something simple would suffice.
2. The seating area. The model and the real thing were both first class but the BFK is compartments and the DBFO is an open saloon. I was thinking of bodging something together from the bits box. 

The other consideration is the bogies, as the Irish models have broad gauge bogies  Somewhere I have a spare set of these because IRM made some spares in the earlier batch of Mk2s. But it wouldn’t be rocket science to widen the bogies. 

 

[Robert Shrives]

You could go for broke and add MK2 D aircon windows on the saloon side as a further unlikely to be made version . I had in mind using one for the 80 class conversion in its early days 

Robert    

[Mol_PMB]

40 minutes ago, Robert Shrives said:

You could go for broke and add MK2 D aircon windows on the saloon side as a further unlikely to be made version . I had in mind using one for the 80 class conversion in its early days 

Robert    

Was 813 further modified later in life then? Any photos?