NIR 80 Class DEMU

[33lima]

About 20 years after my first attempt at these, I've recently started another set for member TrainModel.

 

For reference, I use mostly the pics I took in the early 1990s, of sets in red and cream 'suburban' livery, grey and blue 'intercity' livery, or the latter with 'intercity' branding removed which replaced both when the sectorisation of NIR was abandoned. To my eye, the sets looked best in these liveries. Most of these pics, I've uploaded to Flikr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/33lima/

 

First time around, as described in 'Irish Lines' #3 (https://www.dropbox.com/s/ci3elrw2itkh88t/Irish%20Lines%20-%20Issue%203%20-%201993%20Spring.pdf ) I used Lima Mk2b coaches as a basis. This time I'm using Hornby Mk2a's, which are more readily available than the Lima second class. Tho the latter's 'wraparound' end doors are in the right position, as you need to hack the coach sides, it's little trouble to hack and reposition the doors while you're at it. The Hornby coaches have the sides and ends moulded to the roof and this provides a better basis for re-assembly of the sides after 'cutting and shutting', than the Lima coach, whose sides are moulded to ends and a false floor, with a hard-to-prise-off roof made of brittle plastic which also forms the thick glazing pieces.

 

I used a common-or-garden Stanley knife to slice the sides just under the gutters; repeated steady cuts, freehand but with the gutter acting as a guide. Then a vertical cut at each end, with a razor saw.

 

 

Below is the centre car, with one side re-assembled on the roof/end piece, and the remains of the other side awaiting cutting, sitting above it. Setting the underframe/floor back in place before the liquid poly was completely dry, helped keep things liked up.

 

Edited September 2, 2013 by 33lima

[33lima]

For the project I'm using two Hornby Mk2a open seconds, and one brake first. The latter needs quite a bit of work as the passenger windows are too widely spaced and need that bit more 'cutting and shutting' to get the right layout.

 

Anyway, here's the centre car again, from both sides, showing the 3+4 window layout with the extra door in between. When you're digging a hole in the garden you always seem to end up with a greater volume of soil than came out of the hole. Conversely, when 'cutting and shutting' a coach model, I usually seem to end up with less length than I started, if you see what I mean. As usual, some plasticard sheet filled in the gaps.

 

 

The driving trailer was next. This is similar to the centre car, except for one passenger window less at the end which has the corner cab. It needs a fair bit of surgery to reproduce the asymetrical window layouts at the cab end.

 

 

Next job will be the power car bodyshell, from the Hornby Mk2a brake first. Then I'll do the finishing and detailing on all three vehicles. Next the underframes, where most of the existing components will need removed and replacement fittings added. Interiors I'll probably leave till after that, ahead of the paint jobs.

Edited September 2, 2013 by 33lima

[jhb171achill]

Excellent work! Keep us updated!

[Guest hidden-agenda]

I like this keep the pics coming.

[Dave]

Very nice work, well done. Love your pics on flickr

[Train model]

Wow the first time I have got to see something from start to finish I'm so excited and I'm so lucky fantastic Ivor

[kevrail]

Keep the pics coming and the updates. Great work

[33lima]

Some pics of this weekend's progress, mainly on the 80 class power car.

 

 

Long job, because sides of the donor Hornby Mk2a BFK need more or less completely sliced up and reassembled. Like the centre car and driving trailer, for now this is still sitting on the original floor/underframe unit & bogies. It has had the corridor end cut away and filler applied under the inside of the roof, to permit sanding down to meet the flattened cab front roof.

 

 

Next job will be fitting the cab front itself, at which point it'll begin to look like something resembling the prototype instead of a refugee from the breaker's yard, which is always a morale-boosting point in the project!

[jhb171achill]

Excellent job!

[RedRich]

Excellent job!

 

I'll second that. Nothing like a bit of kit bashing.

 

Rich,

[Blaine]

Will look better than the MIR conversion kit too, never liked the powercar cabs on them

[Kirley]

Coming on well, enjoying this build.

[jhb171achill]

You'd think an 80 would look an easy enough thing to build. Yet I have rarely seen a convincing model of one. It begs for Murphy Models treatment, maybe?

 

However, there's an exception to every rule, and this is it - even at this stage, this model looks very good indeed!

[heirflick]

i echo what the lads have said - fantastic work!

[33lima]

Thanks for the positive feedback, guys!

 

Here are some pics of the power car after the most recent session. Apart from the cab front, not a lot appears to have happened, but appearances are deceptive.

 

I cut a rectangle of 30 (?) thou plasticard to a rectangle slightly bigger than the opening at the cab front, lined up the lower edge, and liquid poly'ed it to the front. Then trimmed it back, and began the laborious process of filing and sanding down the front of the roof, until I decided the slope and profile was about right.

 

Some strips of plasticard were added across the inside of the lower cab front, for re-inforcement, well below the window, so the glazing would be reasonably flush when fitted.

 

The roof ventilators were then cut off, and the roof itself sanded smooth.

 

The cab front windows were then cut out carefully with a #1 modelling knife, with pics and one of my previous 80 Class models as a reference.

 

Finally, the sides were sanded down with coarser then finer sandpaper, exposing the areas which would need a bit of filler. This will be the next job, then surface detail will be restored - door lines scribed and their fittings added, roof fittings, steps, grills etc. Long way still to go but she's getting there.

 

Edited September 14, 2013 by 33lima

[Kirley]

Thanks for the update, I'm getting more and more tempted to have a go at one of these.

[Ral2011]

Great and very inspiring!

[33lima]

All three cars have now had roof detail removed, filler applied where needed and sanded down, ready for door lines to be scribed and then surface detail added/restored.

 

I couldn't resist setting the bodyshells onto the as-yet untouched underframes and plonking them onto a bit of track, even tho the power car cab end sits a bit high. I'll post some more pics of the individual cars once the detailing has been applied and before undercoating, which will be with car aerosol grey primer. I suspect that I will need to ream out the inside of the window frames for the flush-glazing to fit properly, I must check that out before spraying.

 

[Hunslet 102]

Great job Ivor,the model is really taking the form of an 80 class,looking forward to the completed build

[Blaine]

A pair of Lima 73 bogies will finish the power car off a treat

[UP6936]

Quick Question,

I have seen photos of some 80 class units with a downward facing horn placed on the cab front. Do you know if this was only certain units, and if so, why did some have this, as it seems a bit odd?

[33lima]

A pair of Lima 73 bogies will finish the power car off a treat

 

Was planning on casting some cosmetic sideframes from a Lima Class 33, which I think are the same (BR B6, IIRC)

 

Bangor, May 1991

Edited September 16, 2013 by 33lima

[33lima]

Quick Question,

I have seen photos of some 80 class units with a downward facing horn placed on the cab front. Do you know if this was only certain units, and if so, why did some have this, as it seems a bit odd?

 

Don't recall seeing this. The MPDs started with a pair of horns under the buffer beam but in the mid-1960s, these moved to the cab fronts, side-by-side, pointing down & mounted just above the window. They had moved to the roof by the 70 Class, even for the driving trailers.

 

MPD power car:

70 Class driving trailer:

 

Even in their final guise, as Sandite trains, the 80 Class, while some cabfront fittings had changed, still have the horns are still 'up top', from what I've seen. I think 8094 has had the 'bannana treatment' since i took this pic and is resplended in eye-watering yellow overall.

 

Central Station, 11 March 2013:

Edited September 16, 2013 by 33lima

[jhb171achill]

It has indeed been banana'd (tangoed?)

[Hunslet 102]

Quick Question,

I have seen photos of some 80 class units with a downward facing horn placed on the cab front. Do you know if this was only certain units, and if so, why did some have this, as it seems a bit odd?

 

Power car No 82 had the downward facing horn on the cab front in the early 80s.There is a good photo of it on the front cover of Rail-runabout by Sam Somerville in this guise in the then new grey/maroon livery.It also had the downward horn while in the previous maroon/blue livery,so the horn was not changed during its repaint.The horn was in the usual place on the cab roof when 82 first arrived in 1974,and later photo's in the blue/grey livery show the horns back on the roof.How long the horns were on the cab front for and the reason for it,I don't know.

[Gordon71]

Power car No 82 had the downward facing horn on the cab front in the early 80s.There is a good photo of it on the front cover of Rail-runabout by Sam Somerville in this guise in the then new grey/maroon livery.It also had the downward horn while in the previous maroon/blue livery,so the horn was not changed during its repaint.The horn was in the usual place on the cab roof when 82 first arrived in 1974,and later photo's in the blue/grey livery show the horns back on the roof.How long the horns were on the cab front for and the reason for it,I don't know.

 

..............................................................................................

 

82 had the horns down also when it was in NIR Suburban Livery

[Ral2011]

What kind of filler do you use?

[33lima]

Used Milliput (two-part) putty for inside the power car cab roof, happened to have the stuff handy. Externally, now using some Squadron 'White Putty' which (in it's former 'Green Stuff' incarnation) was my preferred medium from years gone by; this seems more suitable for 'light' filling where adhesion (but not so much hardness/strength) is needed.

[33lima]

Right, here's an update on progress, which has been slow, as it's been down to the nitty-gritty, starting with the power car.

 

The pics below show the current state of play. Basically, construction of the power car's bodyshell is complete, apart from drilling for and fitting wire jumper cables to the cab front and (florist's) wire handrails (which were plastic strip on my 1990s models, but I'm taking the opportunity to try and improve on these a tad).

 

 

'Fiddly' isn't the word, to describe the work. Door handles and hinges had either been mostly sanded back during construction or were hinged in the wrong place (in the case of the end doors, as the Mk2a coach I'm using for a base lacks the later 'wrap around' doors. Every one of these had to be smoothed over and replaced with tiny pieces cut from different sizes of plasticard strip and carefully lined up and glued in place. A couple of frames for the half-windows needed rebuilt from thin strip. Thicker strip restored the footboards, which had also been sanded smooth during building work.

 

On to the roof. Headlight was a shaped biro offcut with a plasticard 'sleeve' on the forward section and horns were cut and shaped from plastic kit sprue (I managed to make these a bit finer than my last effort). Engine compartment top panel was 30 thou plasticard with a train radio antenna (?) and behind that the offset exhaust, both formed from more of the same material. Behind that again, a square was scribed to represent mesh and framed by thin plasticard strips, to produce the fan cover.

 

Roof vents had been removed with a sharp knife before the roof itself was sanded smooth. Four of the removed vents were now replaced in a staggered double file, in what I judged from photos to be the the correct positions. These were flanked fore and aft with small plasticard rectangles and each vent filed and sanded to produce something approximating the correct appearance (a low, flat-topped disc with a small 'ramp' or fairing front and rear of it). Few people who model the 80 Class seem to bother with such detail (or modify much or any of the underframe detail on trailers or even powercar) but as they say, 'every little helps'.

 

To the rear of the roof, a rectangle of thin plasticard produced the base for the twin 'mushroom' vents, each made from two rectangles of plasticard: a smaller one of thinner stuff below and the bigger one, overlapping all around, on top.

 

Om the right-hand side of the body, an insert of scribed plasticard with strips for the cross-framing formed the front grill. The rear grill was scribed in place and then framed with thin strip; it's not perfect but it's a better job and sits flatter than my original efforts.

 

Detail was then added to the cab front. Headlights were little discs cut from a plasticard rod after the front face of each disc had been reamed out with the tip of a modelling knife to produce a dished effect. Outside these, left and right, two little plasticard squares formed the red tail lights (I'm building early 1990s configuration, here). Lamp irons, low down each side, were just little plastic strips. Jumper sockets were sanded and scribed on plastic rod then cut free, tidied and glued in place. The tops of the jumper cables were made the same way, but from the same brown plastic kit sprue I used for the horns. Jumper sockets were also added to the read on the RH side of the corridor connection but these were flatter, low-profile versions, as they are much less visible.

 

 

In the pics she's sitting in the original floor unit so is still 'up by the bows'. This will be replaced and suitable details provided, of course, and front buffer bean will also get a decent amount of detail. Rear buffers will be cut off as only the cab ends had these on 80 Class cars.

 

Thank goodness the driving trailer and centre car bodyshells will be a lot easier to get to this point! As with the bodies, it's the detailing of the power car that accounts for the major part of the work on this stage of the project.

 

Getting there!

Edited September 22, 2013 by 33lima

[patrick]

Nice work. Thanks for sharing.

[Glenderg]

Absolutely superb bit of work, and the build commentary shows the level of detail you're aiming for, and it shows. Looking forward to seeing the project advance to primer stage! R.

[Train model]

Fantastic you need a holiday after all that

[Aussie Phil]

This is an amazing build and one I look forward to seeing progress. There is some real skill on show in this thread.

[jhb171achill]

Very good work indeed!

[33lima]

Thanks for the positive feedback, guys!

 

Here's a couple more pics showing the wire bits added. Apart from the lifting lugs on the engine roof panel, all are just fitted loosely, pending painting and lining. The jumper cables are a little thick and I think I'll replace them with a finer wire, anyhow.

 

 

As for lining, I think I'll use the same stuff I applied to the original models, Model Technics 'Trimline':

 

http://www.modeltechnics.com/trimline.htm

 

I may experiment with white decal sheet and computer-printing my own decals as Model Irish Railways are unfortumately no longer in business and making NIR intercity/corporate white/yellow/black/white lining decals. The Trimline is a bit thick but it's strong, looks good and is easy to apply.

 

Finally, a Hornby Mk2a BFK 'before and after':

 

Edited September 22, 2013 by 33lima