Monday, March 07, 2011

Class 26 diesel

Class 26 bitsTime for a new project, and one for me this time !

We need more locos for Flockburgh and as it happens, I have a few kits stashed away. First out of the box is this, a Bruce Smetham Class 33 Diesel body. It's cast in resin and as well as the body, there are some pretty horrible lumps for the bogie sides and tanks. My experience of Bruce's kits is that the under footplate bits were done on a bad day and escaped as seconds. Certainly I wouldn't expect him to put out anything that's more air bubble than resin !

Now, I don't need a Class 33 for a layout set in Scotland. My plan is to turn it into a Class 26. This is a conversion we used to do (well, other people, not me) in the old days in 4mm scale. Once upon a time you couldn't just buy everything off the shelf you know !

To make the model work, I've bought a set of BullAnt bogies which have the right wheel diameter and a wheelbase only 0.5mm too long. Near enough for me, especially if it saves me a construction job.

2 comments:

Chris Ford said...

Hmm... watching with interest.

Bruce Smetham said...

I see that you had one of the very early class 33's judging by the colour of the resin.

Later batches have vastly improved whitemetal bogie sideframes and steps.

You will love the class 37 which should be at the AGM.

Bruce Smetham