NIR 80 Class DEMU

[Kirley]

Progressing well, looking forward to the next instalment.

[33lima]

Last pics before a short break (unless I get some primer on later today). Not much is different but the cab front jumper cables have been replaced with finer wire, the sockets on the other side have been shaved and sanded down to make them slightly smaller, and tho not visible here, the plasticard strip vertical grab handles beside the passenger doors, two each side, have been removed and replaced with wire ones. All the wire bits (except the lifting lugs) are still just roughly push-fit so they can be removed for painting and finishing, hence the wonky wiper.

 

[Dave]

Coming along nicely, looks really well. Well done

[Dunluce Castle]

Absolutely superb work, captures the 80 class perfectly in my eyes, well done, can't wait for the next instalment.

[Ral2011]

Thank you very much for your tip, this filler is much better than the one I used before.

[33lima]

Latest pics are of the bodyshells of the power car and driving trailer, after first applications of grey primer. As with the power car, the driving trailer needed much surface detail to be restored or added, including horns, roof and cab front lights, footsteps, door handles and hinges, new roof ventilators, etc. As usual the primer showed up some spots where a bit of tidying will be needed but not too much. Wire handrails will be removed for final painting.

 

 

Next step will be the same work on the centre car, then probably the underframes.

[Train model]

Great to have you back looking fantastic

[Dunluce Castle]

Superb work, very neat and tidy, well done.

[enniscorthyman]

Sure is looking good.Cant wait to see it finished.

[Kirley]

Good to see you back after your break in the sun. The primer coat shows what a good job you have done with more to come.

[33lima]

OK, time for an update on the latest progress.

 

The driving trailer and centre car have now been primed, fitted with wire handrails and (on the cab front) jumper cables and wiper. I was unhappy with the alignment of the roof vents on the centre car and with the original, somewhat over-sized roof headlight on the driving cab, so I removed and replaced both. A corridor connection cover was cut from 20-30 thou plasticard and fitted to the cab-end component.

 

 

Work on the trailer underframes has also been completed, short of putting some buffer-beam detail onto the cab end. Most existing components were cut off, as was the cab-end bogie's coupling. Air tanks and strapping were added from plasticard sheet and tube, as were such brakegear (?) components as available pics show, which seem different between driving and centre trailers (driving trailer detail shown).

 

 

I'm quite pleased with the way these are shaping up. Next step will be a final coat of primer then Ford Polar Grey carspray, as the base colour for the 1990s blue and grey 'corporate' livery. Then adding some buffer beam detail to the driving trailer cab end and starting work on the power car chassis. Getting there!

[Kirley]

Really like the underframe detailing, the end result will be something to see.

[heirflick]

beautiful work

[Train model]

What a wonderful job

[Dunluce Castle]

Wow, absolutely superb work, really can't wait to see this finished.

Under frame detail is very nice.

Nelson

[33lima]

OK last job tonight, fitting buffer beam detail to the cab end of the driving trailer.

 

Referring to pics, three 'C'-shaped loops were cut from some green florist's wire. Using a suitable drill in a pin vice, I made three suitable holes in the buffer bean in about the right places, pushed the long end of the 'C' into the hole, and secured with a dab of superglue in behind the buffer beam. The cab front jumper cables are also visible in this view; these, like the wire handrails, are just roughly pushed into place, as they will need removed before final painting. Likewise, the dangling wiper, which is just a couple of pieces of thinner florist's wire superglued together and pushed into a suitable hole drilled above the driver's front window.

 

 

The buckeye coupling was made from two 'G'-shaped pieces of 30 thou plasticard, laminated together then glued in place, with some reinforcement from strip, top and bottom. I'll tidy it up a bit after the glue has thoroughly dried, tomorrow.

 

 

Before that I had moved the car's cylindrical air tank closer to the rear bogie, removing a small box-like underframe fitting to make room, as the tank was previously somewhat too far towards the middle of the car. I had also made some modifications to the area at the corner of the body right under the steps, cutting away some plastic the better to reproduce the Mk2b wraparound door profile. Despite such work, on balance, I still think the Hornby Mk2a is a somewhat better basis for an 80 Class 'cut & shut' job than a Lima Mk2b, tho there's not much in it; and in both cases, the work required can be deceptive. This can be reduced a bit by modelling the trailers which didn't have centre doors, as I did for one of my own sets; but these were comparatively rare, so the centre-door cars are the more representative choice.

Edited October 25, 2013 by 33lima

[Dunluce Castle]

Nice job, well done

[33lima]

Right another update after the last session today.

 

After a certain amount of mulling over the options, I choose to fit a Hornby short wheel base ringfield unit from an HST power car (also fitted to the likes of the DMU and Class 25, with different clip-on bogie frames). These, and spares/replacements for them, are readily available. They have trailing bogie pickup, can (I understand) be DCC fitted if required, and are easy to service. First task was to strip and thoroughly service the motor and trailing bogies and check they ran well.

 

Contemplating the HST power car chassis they came from, I decided against adapting this. It's way too short but I could have done a cut and shut job with an extension piece in the middle, having removed the underframe components. However, the chassis was fractionally wider than the Hornby Mk2 coach bodyframe, so I would have had to thin it lengthwise, too, a tedious job but also one difficult to get a nice straight edge to and/or a good enough fit, I thought.

 

So instead, I decided to adapt the underframe/floor unit for the Mk2 coach, itself. First, I marked out the cutouts in the floor for the HST bogies, using the HST chassis as a template. The fore and aft edges of the cutout area were drilled through with a closely-spaced set of holes in the required arc. The sides were scribed repeatedly till they could be sliced through. The original bogies were then removed (they are riveted in place) along with the floor cutouts.

 

The solebars around the cutouts were re-inforced with plasticard. Next, again using the HST chassis as a template, I added more plasticard sections, to form the 'roof' (trailing bogie end) and 'shoulders' (motor bogie end). Under these rest the pegs, either side of the bogie frames, which support the bogies and determine ride height. A certain amount of trimming and testing was needed to get everything fitting and moving as it should.

 

The wire linking the power and trailing bogies will need extending, as it is too taut, due to the extra chassis length. I also need to re-work the underframe components, to simulate the appearance of those fitted to the 80 Class power cars. That will likely be the next job, along with fitting buffers and other details to the cab front buffer beam.

 

 

I haven't yet decided what I'm going to do with the HST bogie frames. Looking again at the Class 33/73 frames I had intended to use to make castings, while the general shape of the frame itself is right, there are many detail differences. I may settle for making some slight cosmetic modifications to the HST frames, which may be just a little short in wheelbase but even as they are, are otherwise a much better job than the Hymek power bogie I used in my original 1990s models.

 

anyhow, the three-car set is now at last beginning to look like an 80 Class DEMU!

 

Edited October 20, 2013 by 33lima

[jhb171achill]

This is SERIOUSLY good quality stuff......

[popeye]

Totally super job so far. It's a lot of work and looking forward to more pic's. I might try one myself sometime.

[33lima]

Bodyshell and underframe construction is now basically complete. Latest job was the detailing of the power car underframe/chassis. This uses the Hornby Mk2a donor coach's underframe, modified extensively to accept the Hornby HST power and trailing bogies.

 

One battery box and a smaller fitting were in the right places so these were left in situ. Everything else was cut off. The motor bogie's brush retaining strips, as the bogie turned, were catching on the top of the mounting 'platform' supporting the bogie and the platforms were raised with an extra thickness of plasticard, to stop this. I noticed that I had forgotten to fit a door handle and grab handle to the door behind the forward engine compartment grill so these were fitted, and a dab of filler was worked into a small but I thought unsightly crevice under the front end of the engine compartment roof panel.

 

A battery box similarly removed from one of the trailers was glued in place on the opposite side to the existing one, just ahead of the trailing bogie, as the power car has two such boxes here, one each side.

 

A fuel tank was constructed from 30-40 thou plasticard and detailed, including adding steps to the forward ends. On the LH side between this tank and the battery box behind it, there is a curved container of some sort and I cut this from a biro barrel cut longitudnally in just over half, with thin plasticard strapping added. Likewise an (air?) tank with strapping was added on the RH side, just behind the front bogie.

 

Plasticard sheet was used to form a solid version of the Mk1-type underframe the heavy 80 Class power cars needed, with some strips added to give it a bit of depth; tho its main function is to prevent too much daylight showing at low viewing angles and to add a bit of rigidity. Lugs cut from 40 thou were added up inside the front buffer beam, to engage pegs glued inside the lower cab front. This, and the existing attachment points and screws, will provide a solid structure when things are back together.

 

 

Moving onto the front buffer beam, the beam itself was deepened with a strip of thick plasticard. Buffers were fitted which had been cut from the trailers (only cab ends have buffers, in the 80 Class). The visible moulding lines on the buffers were sanded down and the faces buffed. The power cars have a sort of buffing plate which I guess is there to facilitate coupling to driving trailers or cars with corridor connections, for multiple working of sets; this and its mounting were cut from plasticard and fitted. A buckeye coupling was formed from two 'G on a stem'-shaped pieces of card and fitted, as per the driving trailer. Likewise per the driving trailer's buffer beam, florist's wire, cut & bent to shape, was used to simulate the three pipes drooping from the buffer beam.

 

 

All I have done with the HST bogies so far is remove the push-fit airtank/coupling unit from the motor bogie, cut away the prominent steps from the trailing bogie, and add plasticard strip cross members front and rear, to relieve the rather flat appearance in that area. I may leave them like that. I'll need to add a coupling or loop to the rear of the trailing bogie. Already I think she's looking better in every department than her 1992 predecessor, which you can see in the background.

 

Next job will be adapting the interior units.

 

Edited October 25, 2013 by 33lima

[Train model]

Can't wait to see them

[Dunluce Castle]

Wow, they are beautiful, your work is that of a professionals, really can't what to see them finished. (PM sent on RMweb)

Edited October 25, 2013 by Dunluce Castle

[scahalane]

Very nice finish, well done.

[RedRich]

This has been a fantastic thread and the step by step process of the build accompanied by the photos makes it really interesting, it is very straight forward and precise. The model looks fantastic and fully captures the shape and look of the prototype.

 

Rich,

[heirflick]

beautiful workmanship

[33lima]

OK, the first interior/seating unit has just been built. I started with the driving trailer, adapting the seating unit that came with the donor Hornby Mk2a TSO coach.

 

Courtesy of Google, I recently stumbled on this article by Shane McQuillan, which described his effort at an 80 Class set, from the May & June 1984 'Practical Model Railways':

 

http://www.preservedthumpers.co.uk/nir80model.html

 

I had been vaguely aware of this model back in 1992 when I built my own, but what I didn't know until I found this article was that it includes works drawings. While these lack underframe detail, they show interior layouts, so they came in quite handy!

 

I have little patience with making interior detail and have 'left it till later' in several of my models. Not this time though. So it was out with the junior hacksaw, (battered) mitre box and Stanley knife and off I went.

 

First, I removed the tables in each seating bay by making a hacksaw cut in from the base each side, as far as the central aisle. The tables were then folded up and removed and the gaps tidied up.

 

 

The interior units have a central vestibule and feature double toilets at one end, and no corner driver's cab of course. So the next job was to cut up the unit into sections, re-assembling these to recreate seating bays and a single toilet which all line up with the different window layout on the 80 Class car.

 

 

Finally, I added the driver's cab partitions and seat from plasticard, and a basic representation of the driver's desk, on a new plasticard floor extension. The real unit has 2+3 seating but I didn't mess with the donor unit's equally-divided seating (3+3 or 2+2?).

 

The new unit was glued in place on the chassis/underframe unit. Before doing this, I had to replace the coach's metal ballast weight. This is a rectangular bar which sits in a recess in the chassis/underframe unit, but it sits proud of the recess and fouled the reconstructed seating unit, as the latter's corresponding recess was no longer in the right place. So I replaced the weight...with three pennies!

 

 

One down, two to go...!

[Dunluce Castle]

More brilliant work, very nice indeed, will there be passengers? (PM sent)

 

Edit: brilliant link, very informative.

Edited October 26, 2013 by Dunluce Castle

[kevrail]

I have been following this thread and have been amazed at the detail but it just gets better as it progresses. What a fantastic project. Well done & keep up the posts they are excellent and enjoyable

[Hunslet 102]

Superb work Ivor and a great tutorial,keep up the good work

[Kirley]

Thanks Ivor for your latest edition and also the link to the Shane McQuillan's article

[Train model]

Drove up from Galway yesterday to see how it was going and I can only say in all honesty the pictures do justice it's out of this world

the detail is so good.I went and had a good look at the ones 20 years older and they look as if they just came out of a box I cannot praise you enough Ivor again thank you for all your hard work.

[Dunluce Castle]

They look superb, an absolute credit to you Lima33 for producing such beautiful models of what was an amazing DEMU.

[Dunluce Castle]

Here's some inspiration for you, if you don't mind.

[josefstadt]

Excellent footage Nelson. I certainly did enjoy it. The sound effects of the 80 accelerating away from the signal stop are so much better than those from the C4Ks!

 

And, of course, thanks to 33lima for posting the details of how he built those superb models. A fantastic thread.

Edited November 2, 2013 by josefstadt