A1 Models 009 Diesels

A while ago whilst browsing Mick Thornton's pictures of Sussex Downs Group Open Day I spotted this picture of a body kit for the Bachmann Plymouth. The kit is only £6.95 and it's available from MG Sharp and Parkside Dundas. it looks like it should be a good introduction to soldered kit construction, and saves me from scratch building something on my Plymouth chassis.  Martin of the Mog Trains Blog has been building one too.

A1 Models now make a second version of the diesel, and a boxcab loco for the Kato tram chassis, both of which are £7.95. Over on ngrm-online "Snowdon Ranger" has detailed how he has built all three kits in his workbench thread.  He's also build the test etch for their next release - a centre cab diesel which was inspired by his conversion two of their original kits which recently featured in the 009 News.

At Warley I bought the second version of the Bachmann Plymouth conversion kit and some brass rod and tube to make an exhaust for it. It'll be the first brass kit I've built and I'll let you know how I get on.

To do list

Stephen over at Fairlight Works posted a to-do list for his newly acquired O16.5 layout Cranbrook Town. I've decided to post one too so I can keep track of what I'm doing and hopefully get some of it done.

Narrow Gauge

Removeable roof by Fairlight Works, CC

Finish building drewery bash diesel
Fix roof onto coach using the method show on the right.
Scratchbuild some small bogie coaches
Buy paint and paint coaches
Build slate wagons
Build open wagon
Improve open coach (and possibly re-paint)
Buy and build A1 models diesel

Pizza Layout
Edging
Build a cottage
Scenery
Make a base, so that it can be rotated.

Standard Gauge
Weather wagons
Detail class 73
Get some wood and build a baseboard for the small layout I was planning.
Decide on a what stock I want to run
Order a KQA pocket wagon?
Buy and build a C-Rail tanktainer (or possibly more than one) (Parkside sell them)

Narrow gauge diesel progress

I've made some progress with the Drewry bash diesel. I took the kit, chassis, some plasticard and some tools away with me at Christmas. However I forgot to take pack the glue so nothing got stuck together. I spent some time cutting and filing off moulded handrails and other details that I didn't want. I also had a bit more of a think about how the cab is going to look. My plan is to build a locomotive with two bonnets, as this will make the locomotive roughly the right length for the Bo-Bo chassis. The Drewry has only one bonnet and has larger windows at the back of the cab so I couldn't fit a second bonnet and keep use all parts of the cab. I considered cutting down the second bonnet so that it was lower than the windows, which would give the driver better visibility, however this wasn't the look I wanted and I couldn't see how I could do this with the Drewery bonnet sides. The only thing for it was to clone the cab front in plasicard. I started work but still haven't finished the windows yet. When I got back I glued the larger bonnet together and used some milliput on mounting hole for the horn and a couple of places where there are dents in the moulding. Next task is to finish the cab and then work out how to make the second bonnet end.

Vans and Coaches

I've a couple of old Egger-Bahn vans with the bogies missing. The goods van (left) also has a corner of the roof missing. I'm planning to switch the roofs and remove the balcony from the luggage van. I'll extend the chassis slightly and add a scratch built open section. It will then be glazed, painted and used as part of an engineering train.

I'm also building a Parkside Dundas Glyn Valley Tramway style 4 wheel coach (DM28). I got halfway through and realised that if I wasn't the interior painted I'd need to buy some paint. The plan is to scratch build a couple of coaches to make up a short passenger train that I can run round the pizza and on any future layouts.

Diesel Plan

Here's a quick mockup of the Bo-Bo diesel Drewry kitbash that I'm planning. My version of the kit has an extra bonnet side piece in so I should be able to make this with only the parts in the kit, styrene sheet and some other bits. I want to give it Lyd2 style lights - hopefully working. One thing I've not worked out yet is how to fix it to the chassis.

Bo-Bo diesel

With the Life Like GP38 I recently bought and some bits from an Airfix/Dapol Drewry shunter I'm planning on building an Eastern European influenced loco. I'm planning on an off centre cab design.

To make sure I have a sensible loading gauge I'm planning on using using the height and width of the Lyd2 as a guide. Working from the measurements of the Lyd2 here gives me a maximum of 28.9mm wide and 42.7mm high.