Completing my 5 BEL Brighton Belle.

With some helpful information supplied by fellow member 'SR Man', I have finally been able to complete a full 5BEL train, rather than the 1960's 2 car unit I originally bought. It was obvious from the start that finding the 3 middle car set (a limited edition) was unlikely, but SR Man suggested looking for the 3 1930's cars, which were sold individually, and modifying the car names, numbers and other slight details. I was indeed fortunate in finding these 3 cars, new in boxes (not cheap!), and with white, not grey roofs as with motor and brake cars, so all needed spraying to match! On attaching the cars into a train, these 3 car interior lights did not function, only motor and brake cars, so it would appear Hornby have not used the same pin connections on the centre cars as the end ones! I decided to remove the circuit board and two LED's in all 5 cars, together with the fibre optics to the individual table lamps as these are rather ineffective anyway, replacing with 'Warm white' LED carriage lighting strips in each carriage roof (5 metre roll is cheap enough!), and reassigning the coupling connector pins. The motor car decoder circuit board is a poor affair, visible through the windows of the car, so that went in the bin, hard-wiring the decoder and fitting it in the toilet compartment so nothing is visible from outside the car. At this point, I decided to go the whole hog, and make front and rear destination code boards illuminated, using dual red/white 3mm LED's wired to the directional functions on the decoder. Further additions were Pullman interior stickers, inter-carriage bellows connectors and a number of passengers, rounding things off with the Hornby supplied "Brighton Belle" carriage name boards. It's been quite an involved (and fiddly when you have "Sausage fingers!) job, but in my opinion, worth it. Hopefully other members will think the same,- just have to get around to weathering it all now!

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This pic is more of a 'shot in the dark', hopefully showing lighting a little better.
Keith.

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Well, what can I say except thanks for the kind comments from everyone, and I'm somewhat gobsmacked at having been made "Picture of the week"! Because I tend to use my iPhone for the photo's, they are perhaps not quite as good as they could be if I used my Canon 60D, but at least the file sizes are more manageable from a posting point of view, and get transferred straight onto my iMac for posting,- I'm not technical enough to get to grips with file size reducing software.......I fall into the category of "All the gear, but no idea!"
I do enjoy a bit of a challenge at adding internal and external lighting to loco's and rolling stock though, might as well try to use some of the extra functions that DCC decoders have inbuilt, and I'm not afraid of doing an internal "Cut and Shut" job on a brand new £100+ loco if it means I can make something a bit different and hopefully better,- nothing ventured, nothing gained I reckon.
Anyway, thanks again everyone.
Keith.

 

I know it might sound drastic, Tom, but sometimes manufacturers just don't get things quite right, and still on occasion, are not allowing room for sound decoders and/or speakers/stay-alives etc. so bits of alloy castings or whatever need to be chopped off to make space. You would think by now, that these requirements would be taken into consideration at the design stage,- DJM and to some extent Dapol are getting their act together, but (for example), recent models like the Bachmann E4 needs the decoder socket and mounting casting removed to make enough space for sound installation, and not sure what Hornby were thinking with the "Brighton Belle" motor car, where the decoder circuit board (about 4" long) is visible through the carriage windows!....that's just not good enough in my opinion, especially considering Hornby's RRP of a penny short of £190 for a 2 coach EMU. Tender loco's and most diesels are better thought out in the main, but we shouldn't have to become 'Microsurgeons' (or butchers!) to fit sound or other add-ons into expensive models, at the price, it ought to be just a "Plug-and-Play" fit.
Just my personal opinion (Rant), and others may agree to differ, but it could be made a lot easier for modellers at the design stage.
Keith.

 

If anyone else reads the "Hornby Magazine" (I take the digital download version), they may have seen the first of a series of articles in the April edition on constructing from scratch the 'GT3' gas turbine prototype locomotive. I've never attempted anything like this, and it seems there is, as yet, no actual kit available, just parts obtained from a number of sources. I doubt any manufacturer (even Heljan, who have done a number of prototype loco's, or Bachmann's "Deltic") would bother with this project, which is why, I suppose, it's something that appeals to me. (Nothing like jumping in at the deep end!). I shall follow the series of articles with interest, and consider the possibility of building one. I'm not aware of the actual loco ever having run on Southern metals, but that wouldn't put me off, after all, I doubt 'Kestrel', 'Falcon', 'DP2' 'Deltic' etc also ever saw Southern metals, but I have all of those models, and anyway, it's my railway, so I'll run what I like, so there!

Keith.

 

I'd already been on the website and priced up the body. When you get your magazine and see the article, you'll see that the author doesn't rate using the black five chassis as it's not correct, just the nearest available, and there is an etched brass chassis now available for this model. I won't spoil your read by mentioning any more details, but I intend to follow the series of articles, then decide whether or not to build the model. I am very interested though, so 'watch this space', as they say.
Keith.