O gauge Hymek extreme scratching.

A couple of Hymek update pictures. D7044 has been dressed on both cab ends with windscreen wiper fixing points to be drilled and front glazing to be cut, once done this loco can be masked up for painting. I've decided to scrap the Markits wheels this loco sits on as I'm not at all comfortable with the less than satisfactory screw fit set up these wheels are designed from, I shall replace with Slaters 3' 9" ones and drill out the four quartered holes as per the original.

And just to show how far this job has come and the amount of work involved here is a comparison to my other BBT Hymek which was to have been D7100, my honest advice is don't waste your time doing this conversion because once it is finished the model is still 2mm too short in scale and the cab roof has too flat an arc... kit bash a Heljan bodyshell instead if you can get one for the right money.

 

Yup sure is Andy... a foreshortening of loco length by 2mm could be the very thing space conscious models need if they are tight for room The real let down is the shallow curve of the cab roof and the flatish angle on the centre line of the cab windows.

 

I won't be building another one of these that's definite, it is way to intense to make any reasonable headway but highly satisfying to complete.

 

I have to admit it has been a big challenge and its not quite over yet, I'm going to redesign the bogie pivot stretchers and rewheel with Slater's, I'm also going to replace the gearing supplied by PRMRP as its just too chunky for the available space inside the bogie frame. Other than that it's turned out ok... even Jo Coultas says he wants to buy it ... I just haven't told him how much yet.

 

Just took a few pics for Kimbo of the state of play with this long term Hymek BBT conversion project, this pictures show the body modifications undertaken. There is only a little more fine tidy up of bodywork to be done and the making of bogie mounts, the loco still has the original PRMRP Markits wheels which I would swap for Slater's one which would mean some wiring alterations for current collection. Anyway here are the pics.

 

The side view showing modification of the swage line and the flattening of the cab front below windows. The forward cab roof profile is a tad shallow but under paint I'm sure this will be ok.

 

By far the greatest amount of work was concentrating on changing the shape of the windscreens from the original Triang interpretation to something akin to what they should be, all doable and the original BBT plastic is quite forgiving however the later Russian Novo plastic is quite brittle. I think Triang purposfully altered the window shape because when they introduced the Big Blue Train in 1966 the design copywrite from Beyer Peacock was active as the forward future design image for all new BR traction at that time.

 

So put the body on the rails and it looks fine, this is not I project I shall be doing any time soon because I've just way too much other stuff I want to prioritize with, regarding the bogies I fitted a Peter Harvey Designs cab footstep etch and Timken bearing covers... a much neater solution than the original white metal offerings that came in the conversion pack. When i think back it is actually frightening how much of the original plastic that was cut away and discarded... I literally ended up with two sides and cabs. I've also got new cab desks and bulkheads from JLTRT to fit and I suppose it could be an option to replace the cabs with resin ones from MM1 but then its like the Lima 4F upgrade a sensible balance has to be attained somewhere, after all I did this project originally as a challenge.

Here is the other cab end on the workbench.