AJS’s Warship Class Shelf Queen Competition entry

Discussion in '2020 Shelf Queen Competition' started by AJS is a Red, Jun 28, 2020.

  1. AJS is a Red

    AJS is a Red Full Member

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    Hi all.

    For my first go at a Platform 1 competition I am going to carry out an overhaul of one of my old Lima 00 gauge locos.

    Here’s the victim.....



    This is my old Lima Warship class loco ‘Dragon’. It has been recovered from my parents loft and been barely run in last 30 years. Despite missing the rear non-motorised bogie, it isn’t in too bad nick.

    The plan is to give take this old workhorse into the loco works for a good overhaul. This will involve a new paint job, some detailing as these old Lima locos were lacking in that aspect and if time allows I will also try and complete a DCC conversation.

    My first couple of jobs are to carry out some research into the Warship class locos and try and find the missing rear bogie.

    This will be my first go at painting / detailing a loco, so should be interesting. If it goes well, I have an old Lima Deltic waiting in the wings to be updated.

    All the best

    Andrew.
     
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  2. gormo

    gormo Staff Member Administrator

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    G`day Andrew,
    These old Lima locos are rock solid. They lack the detail you mentioned, but mechanically they are easy to work on and reliable performers.
    The pancake motors can also be replaced with CD motors for much smoother running characteristics.
    Good luck with your overhaul and the competition.
    :cheers::tophat:Gormo
     
  3. AJS is a Red

    AJS is a Red Full Member

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    Thanks Gormo.
     
  4. AJS is a Red

    AJS is a Red Full Member

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    Now that I have decided on the victim for my competition entry, it's time to start some research into the Warship Class Diesel Hydraulic loco..... By coincidence, last week my Dad gave me his old British Railways Locomotives book he bought in the mid 1960s when he started his apprenticeship at Crewe loco works. Came in useful.


    I have decided to rename my Warship and gave my 5 year old Son the task of picking the new name. Luckily Dad's book has the full list of class 42s built and as my lad is a fan of Marvel superheros, one name stood out; no. 804 'Avenger'.


    So Avenger it is then.

    Next job as part of my research is to choose the colour scheme for Avenger.

    Kind regards

    Andrew.
     
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  5. AJS is a Red

    AJS is a Red Full Member

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    I have decided to avoid BR blue as the colour scheme for Avenger as I fancied a change and given the period I will ultimately be modelling is the British Railways transition period, I decided to go for the Brunswick Green with small yellow front paint scheme. Here is a photo of D804 Avenger in said colour scheme:



    All the best, Andrew.
     
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  6. AJS is a Red

    AJS is a Red Full Member

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    Hi all.

    So it begins..... Started to get the supplies needed to complete this overhaul. First up, BR green spray paint. I don’t have an airbrush so have gone for a Humbrol spray can. These are pretty good, I’ve used them previously on a 1/48 Spitfire Airfix kit I built a few years back.

    I’ve also got some decals and etched Avenger nameplates on their way as well.


    I also managed to find the missing non-motorised bogie, which is a bonus.


    Next on the shopping list is parts for the additional detailing, this is where I’m looking for advice from you good Platform 1 folk... I’ve tried looking at a few websites (shawplan for example) but I’m not that sure what I’m looking for. I’ve found some brass roof fans / vents, but not sure what the correct names are for the parts fitted to the buffer beam on a Warship loco. I was hoping there would be a detail pack available but I haven’t found anything yet.

    Any advice would be welcome.

    All the best

    Andrew
     
  7. gormo

    gormo Staff Member Administrator

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    G`day Andrew,
    It may be wise to try and get some good close up photos ( as close as possible ?) of the front ends of these locos and then consider making the parts yourself.
    For example....a guitar string makes a pretty good vacuum hose....:scratchchin: and of course there are all different shapes and sizes available in plasticard for making small detail parts.
    Couplings should be available online and so on.........not an easy task but it could be rewarding once you`ve finished.
    :cheers::tophat:Gormo
     
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  8. York Paul

    York Paul Staff Member Moderator

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    Generally speaking Andrew in a Warship loco the pipes from left to right are the electrical jumper connection which is the long pipe looped under the left buffer, then under that with the white handle is the air control pipe, then the vacuum pipe which is next to the draw hook, then to the right with the chunky shut off valve on top is the steam heat pipe then its the other air control brake pipe and finally the other side electrical jumper cable.
     
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  9. AJS is a Red

    AJS is a Red Full Member

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    Thanks Gormo. :cheers: I’ll have a think about the scratch build or recycling options. As you say could be rewarding. Thankfully there are plenty of photos available of the Warship class, particularly due to the 2 locos that were preserved.

    Andrew
     
  10. AJS is a Red

    AJS is a Red Full Member

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    Thanks Paul, really helpful. I’ll do some more research now I know what to look for.

    Andrew
     
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  11. York Paul

    York Paul Staff Member Moderator

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    Happy to help Andrew, you will find a few good front end colour pics of Warship locos on Flickr, I use this site a lot in my own research and find it amazingly useful. My word of caution is beware of copying examples of restored locos as in preservation things often get done differently with modifications etc, I was once studying how the rear grab rails looked on a BR 2A tender which I was modeling to go with 75030 and copied the example on the tender paired with 75079 only to discover the restorers had installed a prefab grab bar instead. No criticism of course but things do get changed around a bit in modern times.
     
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  12. AJS is a Red

    AJS is a Red Full Member

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    This week has been a bit of a mixed bag with regards to my 00 gauge Warship class overhaul.....

    It started off in a bad way when the etched nameplate 'Avenger' arrived, unfortunately they sent the wrong loco nameplate: D600 Active :facepalm:. I checked the order and it was correct. Thankfully the supplier was really good about it and is sending me the correct part :tophat:.

    It was only good news from then on.....

    I decided that the first step in the overhaul was to get the 35 year old (at least) loco running again. So I stripped the motor down as far as I could, removed the plastic gears and cleaning them one by one as they were gunned up with grease and fluff (a painstaking exercise I can tell you!). The photo below shows the state of the gears before cleaning:


    and after....


    I removed and cleaned the brushes, thankfully they were in good nick so did not need to be replaced. Next job was to give the commutator a good clean.


    Then onto cleaning the wheels and copper pick ups.


    I had to do a bit of soldering to resecure the rear bogie pick up wire to the motor. Then came the moment of truth, would the old loco run? Thankfully I am happy to report that the old girl ran beautifully - much better than I expected, ran quietly and smoothly, even at really slow speed. Bodes well for a good DCC conversion. I will hang fire on converting to a replacement CD motor as I think it is running so well.

    Here is the loco in current colour scheme as D814 'Dragon'.

     
  13. AJS is a Red

    AJS is a Red Full Member

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    Just wanted to post up a little update on my competition entry.....

    The correct nameplates arrived last Friday and look really good:


    Some more supplies arrived over the weekend with plasticcard and a pack of 4mm scale coupling for detailing the buffer beam.

    With most of the material in place it was time to make a start with the bodywork. After disassembling the body and chassis I removed the old Lima large D shaped coupler from the motorised bogie. I will be detailing this end of the loco and fitting one of the newer, smaller coupling hooks to the rear.


    I’ve managed to carefully remove the cab interior so that I can fit in a driver and I may also go for interior aux lighting when I fit the decoder later.

     
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  14. York Paul

    York Paul Staff Member Moderator

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    The diesel loco colour is Loco Green not Brunswick Green which is a much more bluish green hue. Loco Green is the BR equivalent to Bronze Green which the British Army used for peacetime livery on their vehicles and artillery, Land Rover Green was the same as used on early Series 1 Land Rovers.
     
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  15. Toto

    Toto I'm best ignored Staff Member Founder Administrator

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    Nice work so far. Just goes to show what you can do in terms of improvements etc. Very good to watch. Keep up the great work. :thumbs::cheers:
     
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  16. AJS is a Red

    AJS is a Red Full Member

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    Evening all. I’ve managed to do a bit more on my Warship tonight.....

    As I’ve removed the old D shaped coupler, I needed to add material to the chassis to match the real thing. I achieved this by building up a couple of layers of plasticcard, then sanding to get an acceptable shape. Doesn’t look too bad.


    I then drilled holes in the buffer beam to accept the new coupling and vacuum hoses that I’m going to scratch build.


    Work’s really busy at the moment so progress is going to be restricted to the evenings after the kids are in bed, I’ll keep chipping away.

    All the best

    Andrew.
     
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  17. Kimbo

    Kimbo Staff Member Moderator

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    Looking good Andrew. Plasticard is a great medium to work with for scratch building, easy to drill, cut, file to shape and glue together..
    Kim
     
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  18. gormo

    gormo Staff Member Administrator

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    Well done Andrew,
    It`s a pleasure to watch you work through these repairs and improvements...:thumbs:
    :cheers::tophat:Gormo
     
  19. AJS is a Red

    AJS is a Red Full Member

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    Thanks Gormo, I’m really enjoying breathing new life into this old loco.

    Andrew
     
  20. AJS is a Red

    AJS is a Red Full Member

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    Thanks Kim. This is the first time I’ve used plasticcard, you’re right it is great to work with. I normally use card for making buildings, but wanted to use something more hard wearing for the loco overhaul.

    Andrew
     
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