Duchess and coach refit

[David53]

Hello there

Today I received, as a gift from my soon to be wife, four LMS coaches to go with the Duchess of Sutherland she got me last year.

Things that need doing. The body of the coaches are are warped outwards at the bottom edge. I can fix this with pins to hold the sides in place from the inside or could I apply some heat to them and brace them while they cool? Obviously I don’t want to make them any worse.

The Pickups on one of them are interesting. At least they are not something I have seen before. I’m not sure of the efficacy so any experienced voices would be helpful. I do plan on installing lights to all the carriages. Two of the carriages are 3rd class and guard. So the guard section is a useful position for the regulator and stay alive capacitor. As the racks are planned to be permanent I can run wires between the pickup coach and the rest.

The Duchess came with a small patch of paint missing so I need to do a respray. I can mask off a lot of areas but are there transfers available for the yellow strips, letters and numbers?

Regards

David

[Lysander]

Decals for re-numbering, lettering and lining-out cab be obtained from 'Pressfix'. Give it a Google and you'll find a trader who has some. They are easy to apply My own HD Duchess was redone with them, although the ling lining along the running plate was done with a mapping pen. The decals are OK.



Tony

[stuartp]

For the bowed sides try clamping them to a couple of bits of wood (12" rulers will do) with clothes pegs to splint them, then dunk in very hot water. Leave to cool. I confess I've never tried it to straighten an RTR coach but it works well bending styrene sheet to shape for coach roofs etc (taped around something round and waterproof).

Another vote for Pressfix transfers. They're unlikely to match the printed Hornby ones exactly so be prepared to replace everything on one side.

[captrees]

I have a lot of these carriages, but couldn't find any that are bowed like yours. I have one with lights like yours too, and don't find it very good, flickering, more off than on if anything. Most likely it needs fiddling with, as does my track, and might improve with some attention.



If you are going to put lights in your carriages, I can think of no other ways than what stuartp suggests, because you will need to be able to pull them apart. Otherwise superglue or araldite and clamping would hold them.

I'm assuming yours are the 57foot coaches? They run really well, with good couplings, and are much less prone to derailing or uncoupling through my twisty bits. They are easy to pull apart too, and put passengers in. If they came with plastic wheels, as some of mine did, they run better replaced with steel ones.

[David53]

Hello there

Thanks for the tips, pointers and advice. All duly noted and planned for.

I will be adding passengers as well as lighting. The lighting will have a plug and socket cable between the carriages to aid maintenance etc.

I do have a dining car but it is an airfix unit I think. It doesn’t quite match the styling or colour of the hornby cars. Are there other rolling stock of the hornby type that could compliment the 1st/3rd and 3rd/brake cars I have? I’m looking to pull 5 cars 6 tops.

Regards

David

[End2end]

The lighting will have a plug and socket cable between the carriages to aid maintenance etc.

You might find it better to light all coaches from their own pick ups rather than daisy-chaining / linking them.
If only one coach picks up the power for lighting the whole rake and it hits a dirty part of track the whole rake's lighting will go out.
Also I would assume a stay alive capacitor would need to be rather large to feed power to a whole rake.

I recently bought a pre-made lighting circuit board with all the electronics attached (much smaller than my own efforts) that comes with a capacitor you can wire as you see fit. I haven't wired it up as of yet and unfortunately they are out of stock at the moment.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2x-039-OO-03 ... 7675.l2557

You will also need axle pick up springs or wipers - https://www.dccconcepts.com/product-cat ... d-pickups/
Thanks
End2end

[David53]

Hello there

Thanks for the heads up. Probably simpler in the long run to make each car independent. Luckily I’m handy with a soldering iron and doing my own PCBs. So I’ll be able to make up the regulator and stay alive cap circuit my self. The pick ups look great so I’ll probably invest in those.

This will at least give me something to do until I get the roof space sorted for my layout.

Regards

David

[End2end]

Oops, I forgot to mention electrically conductive paint as well if using pick up springs.
I tried using tin foil instead but it was useless.

Here's my own home made efforts including wiring diagram and pictures. (and the tin foil failure if you read further on the thread.)
https://www.newrailwaymodellers.co.uk/F ... n&start=15

The conductive paint I used, instead of the tin foil.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/175366046745 ... Sw2oVhqVNU
Thanks
End2end

[David53]

Hello there

Nice thread re your adding lights. The conductive paint sounds like the stuff you get for fixing car rear window de misting lines. Smart idea!

Added the paint to my basket for later

I’ll be having a go at straightening the car walls this week. Then on to adding the lighting.

Regards

David

[End2end]

Thanks for your comments David53.
But...
Oops.
I've only just noticed something that I totally missed.
You'll need to change the wheelsets in your coaches whether using pick up springs or wipers, to metal wheelsets to pick up the power from the track.
As they are Hornby coaches I would assume that the wheelsets are either 12.6mm or 14.1mm in size.
Wheelsets are available...
14.1mm
https://uk.hornby.com/products/141mm-di ... k-10-r8218
https://uk.hornby.com/products/141mm-co ... k-10-r8264
https://uk.hornby.com/products/141mm-di ... k-10-r8234
12.6mm
https://uk.hornby.com/products/126mm-di ... k-10-r8097
https://uk.hornby.com/products/126mm-sp ... eels-r8100
https://uk.hornby.com/products/126mm-di ... k-10-r8096

The price of wheels has risen over the last 5 years or so, so they are possibly cheaper elsewhere.
With that said, If you'd like and to save you some money I can send you some of the conductive paint I bought.
Enough for at least the 4 coaches.
Call it an unsolicited Christmas pressie.

If you'd like some PM your address and I'll get it sent out on Monday.
Thanks
End2end

[David53]

Thanks for the links. All duly noted. I’ll probably go the conductive paint method for now because those wheels aren’t cheap

I tried straightening one of the carriages. It didn’t go well. Initially the sides straightened but the whole carriage went slightly banana shaped looking from the side. I tried again and…… It went very badly. Ho hum.

I’ll ping you later as regards the paint thank you.

Regards

David

[End2end]

I'll take it you're still pondering about the paint.
Thanks
End2end

[GeraldH]

Peters Spares do replacement metal wheels with one wheel live to the axle which can make pickup for lighting easier. These older Hornby coaches have the 12.6mm wheels as I recall. Sadly I've not had any luck straightening out warped plastic bodies with hot water either. My last attempt ruined a loco body .