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Post by astock5000 on May 17, 2020 21:09:47 GMT
I've recently begun building my second A stock kit (first one is still not finished but the plan now is to complete them together). Of course I was aware from the first set, as well as from posts on this forum some years back, that the DM bodyshells had been produced slightly short and the chassis needed filing down to fit.
With the new unit I discovered that has now been fixed and the new bodyshells are the same length as the trailers. Unfortunately however, the chassis have come out longer somehow and this extra length is spread throughout, meaning that on all four cars the chassis require extensive trimming well into the ends of the solebars - which would have been a more serious issue if it wasn't for the correction to the DM bodies.
It appears it will be fine after a bit of work, though some adjustment to the end pieces may be necessary. I'm curious as to whether this can be a common issue with white metal chassis though. As it has affected all four then it may have been one particular batch?
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metman
Global Moderator
5056 05/12/1961-23/04/2012 RIP
Posts: 7,400
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Post by metman on May 20, 2020 7:27:17 GMT
I’ve built 4 units of A stock please see my threads going back to a few years ago (might be quite a few!).
The chassis did need a little trimming back then too. I think it was just the situation at the time.
Please feel free to put up some photos of the works to date if you can. What era are you making them too?
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Post by astock5000 on May 20, 2020 21:15:34 GMT
I was aware of your threads and they did indeed prove helpful - in fact with the bodyshells I pretty much followed them as a guide and so didn't feel it necessary to post images until the cars were nearer to completion. However since you asked here's a couple of images of the unpowered DM from the first unit - to be car 5063: i.ibb.co/MPFC2Zq/20200520-180232-1a.jpgi.ibb.co/92CyTmD/20200520-180416-1a.jpgThis set was more of a joint project with my father, with me mainly working on the bodies, whereas I've been building the second myself. It has sat almost ready for paint for several years since the project stalled, though it needs a bit of a clean up and rework in some areas, particularly the couplings. I came up with a neater solution than the white metal ones supplied with the kit, by using a bar coupling mounted on the ends of the chassis. i.ibb.co/2gDZLJd/20200520-175756-1a.jpgThe real stock had a beam in roughly this position so it looks reasonable, and testing showed it to work well except that they're vulnerable to the 'pin' falling out. I'm hoping to solve this by using something with a flatter head so another piece of plasticard can be stuck below, holding it in place more securely. You may also have noticed the wedgelock is missing from the cab end, the plan has always been to allow for running in an 8-car formation but I was unsure how best to fit a discreet coupling system between units so left these off until it was clear they wouldn't foul anything. I might have to go with a bar attached to the bogies, which could sit below the height of the wedgelocks. 5063 doesn't really need such an arrangement as the other unit is A end (yep, it's 5000) but I'll probably fit it just in case. I almost have the bodies of the second unit up to the level of the first now, and am now gradually trimming back the chassis and preparing them for assembly. Era will be 2000s, so after the barrier fittings and the blue numbers on the cab roof domes were applied. Despite the other stock I'll run alongside being more recent I'd say they will likely be early 2000s specifically, simply due to it looking a lot less hassle to recreate the traditional train radio aerial compared to the Connect version! |
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metman
Global Moderator
5056 05/12/1961-23/04/2012 RIP
Posts: 7,400
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Post by metman on May 23, 2020 7:36:23 GMT
Looking good! Yes the connect aerials are a pain! Glad my earlier exploits helped. The couplers look good I did something similar but found there wasn’t play on curves so moved the bar to the headstocks on the bogies.
Good luck with it all.
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