The Penguins 7mm thread.

[The Penguin Of Doom]

Hi all.

After giving up on posting updates of my projects on another forum, (I see no reason why a forum should benefit from hosting my work whilst attempting to stifle my viewpoint by moderation), I am left with more opportunity to log in elsewhere and since this forum seems to host its fair share of 7mm stuff, I thought I'd commence a thread here to show what I've been up to and what is planned in the future.

In a nutshell, I'm not really a 7mm modeller by choice, however, we decided at my local group, (The Hessle Model Railway Group), to build a 7mm layout which has developed into a small Scottish terminus based loosely around the Far North Line and the West Highland Line and as such, some of the small Sulzers are de rigeur for such a layout.

We wanted to keep costs as low as possible and so whilst I personally think the JLTRT kits are great, I do not really have the finances to chuck at the models. A compromise was met by a number of calls to Howes who supplied a class 33 body by Heljan which has lent itself to an, (all be it much larger), interpretation of the conversions many of us will have done to the old Lima OO model from the 80's. We were also lucky to be exhibiting at the Warley show some years back and thus, were able to visit the Heljan stand before opening time and grab a bargain in an engineering sample of the, (then), forthcoming class 26.

Anywho, enough of the waffle, here are some pictures of my finished class 27.....



I hope you enjoy my pictures, if there is any interest, I'll post a few more of how I did it as well as some of the less involved class 26s' I did too.

In the future, I will be building a couple of Mk1's and also attempting two more Mk2a's, a previous attempt, some of you may have seen elsewhere.

Cheers.

Sean.

 

[Heather Kay]

Nicely done, Sean. I like the idea of converting a 33 to a 27, as I recall doing that many moons ago to a OO Lima 33. Back in those days it was the only way to get a BRCW/Sulzer Type 2 of any kind, something the modellers of more recent times seem to forget when they bemoan Manufaturer A not producing the short-lived livery carried by such-and-such locomotive.

 

[The Penguin Of Doom]

Thanks Heather.

I have to agree that as modellers, we are somewhat spoilt nowadays and it is all too easy to get involved in the wishlist mindset and expect things handed on a plate. That said, those who do not have the necessary time, (or skills perhaps), are well provided for in most areas which can only be a positive.

For me though, I'm only happy in this hobby if I'm hacking away at an item of stock with the feint whiff of plastic weld lingering in the air.....

Yes, I had a go at the Lima 33 to 27 conversion back in the day and, as always, as soon as the last coat of varnish went on, Lima went and announced their all new 26/27! Aint it always the way eh?

Cheers.

Sean.

 

[40126]

Hi Sean

I for one, would like to see all the Sulzer action please. & ALL pics of the layout, would be rude not to.

Steve

 

[BrushType4]

I'm looking forward to seeing your Mk2 coach building. I've been collecting big big coaches to one day convert.

 

[mike knowles]

Whilst Sean, the master of plastic butchery, has done a (superb) job on the bodywork of the 27 plus also those on a couple of 26’s, he has left it up to me to sort out the oily bits underneath. So with his permission I’ll describe what has been done.
As has been said we wanted to keep costs as low as possible and in addition to the spare bodyshell etc., we have also managed to obtain a spare chassis block via Howes.
The idea to further save money was to take one of the bogies from the 26 we had purchased at Warley and fit it to the spare chassis block and use PRMRP bogies as non-powered trailing bogies at the other end. Note for our layout the locos are only required to haul a maximum of 3 coaches so we didn’t consider traction would be a problem.
The photo below shows one of the PRMRP bogies under construction.



The next two photos show the method of attaching the bogie to the Heljan chassis. Basically this was done using the bogie support piece as Heljan use to mount their own bogies. This was obtained as a spare on a fret containing several items available via Howes. The plastic stub on the support piece was passed through the hole in the PRMRP bogie and a suitably sized nut “self-tapped” onto it to secure it. A washer was soldered to the top of the bogie etch set the ride height at the correct level. This enabled the bogie to be mounted without modifying the chassis, I was quite pleased with this solution! Pickups were added on one side (the wheels on the other side being “live” on the axle and hence the bogie etch.








And finally with the cosmetic Heljan bogie sideframes attached.



One thing we wanted to add to the locos was sound but again the cost of a Loksound XL sound decoder at
about £200 made us wince a bit (after all we are from Yorkshire!) However given that we only had one motor to deal with we thought we may be able to get away with using the standard “OO” decoder. Initial trials were conducted with a cheapo Hornby (non-sound) decoder and proved successful so an order was placed with DC Kits for one of Legomanbiffos sound decoders, this has been tested and again is working fine. It has now been coupled to a 40mmx 38mm speaker housed in an enclosure made from Wills sheeting as below and sits above the trailing bogie facing upwards, it sounds really impressive now. See photos below of the speaker and housing.






Finally some photos of the completed chassis.





When I get time I'll start a separate thread detailing construction of the layout.

 

[The Penguin Of Doom]

Hi all.

Thanks for the positive comments and also, thanks Mike for posting the update on the chassis.

So, since one or two have asked, below is a series of pictures of the transformation, all self explanatory.....





























..... More to follow.

Cheers.

Sean.

 

[The Penguin Of Doom]

Continuing from the above post.....




Cheers.

Sean.

 

[Jordan]

A bit of trivia re the original Lima 33 to McRats conversion....
This was first done & published by Chris Ellis in the old Airfix Model Trains magazine, that he was Editor of. August 1980 issue if my Inner Nerd remembers correctly.
He converted a Lima 33 to a 26 - slightly "cheap & cheerful" in some ways, such as embossed paper for the cantrail grilles, & buffer heads from card cut in a paper hole puncher - but it looked the part. That model actually went to Lima UK, who then saw the potential, & voila... after everyone had copied Chris, they released the 26 & 27 in OO.
Around that time, the late John Allison also converted a Lima O 33 to a 27. I think he used cast bogie sides done by Derek Mundy(?) which were better than the dire Lima option but still too short for scale....

sorry... trivia mode /off. Neat job Sean!!

 

[Heather Kay]

I think my conversion used Craftsman detailing packs and some oval buffers from somewhere or other. I've still got it somewhere - and an unopened Lima 27!

 

[The Penguin Of Doom]

Thanks for the info Jordan, I always find anecdotes like this interesting.

Heather, my conversion kit was a Craftsman too. I seem to recall that you did nothing with the roof other than the headcode boxes, (on a 27). I thought it might be a little obvious if I left the roof as per the 33 so thought I'd better make the alterations.....

Cheers.

Sean.

 

[micknich2003]

Sean, I didn't know you was into 7mm scale, anyway a nice bit of work.

 

[The Penguin Of Doom]

Sean, I didn't know you was into 7mm scale, anyway a nice bit of work.

Mick.

I didn't realise you posted on this forum. Glad to catch up with you.

Cheers.

Sean.

 

[Rippers]

Nice work Sean - proper old school converions aswell as detailling.

Giving me inspiration for making a start on reworking my Heljan 26........ once I have buildt up enough strenght to lift it out of the box and onto the workbench! ................ heavy little beast!

 

[Phill Dyson]

Couldn't agree more Rippers...'Proper Old School Modeling'. Creativity on a budget is far more appealing to me than the latest 'State of the Art' kits

 

[The Penguin Of Doom]

Again, thanks everyone for the positive comments.

I guess I am a little "old school" in my outlook, (not just with model railways either!) Another word I like is "inspiration", it gives me enormous pleasure to know that someone has looked at what I do and been given the confidence to have a go too. It works both ways and I too find inspiration in the wealth of skills displayed on the many forums we now have available at our finger tips.

Rippers, you are quite right, these Sulzers might be small in stature, but they weigh a tonne! Just to prompt you to get building that strength up, here's a few pictures of 26 038 and 26 041 I converted around the same time as the 27.....



The 26s still need a little work doing on the chassis, (around the fuel tanks), which is the domain of Mike Knowles and I'm sure he will post progress as appropriate.

Hope you like them.

Cheers.

Sean.

 

[40126]

Very nice

Steve

 

[Rippers]

I was there at the Heljan stand at the NEC that year with you guys when you got that bright green (unpainted) test model 26 - didnt you get a class 20 as well?

It will be interesting to see the layout that yo uhave planned for such too - plus those 4mm ones (Bridlington if memory serves?)

 

[The Penguin Of Doom]

I was there at the Heljan stand at the NEC that year with you guys when you got that bright green (unpainted) test model 26 - didnt you get a class 20 as well?

It will be interesting to see the layout that yo uhave planned for such too - plus those 4mm ones (Bridlington if memory serves?)

Hi Rippers.

I'm scared now, you know far too much about me!

You are however correct, our club is building a layout based around Bridlington although not supposed to be the town itself. We have called it Cayton Bay on this basis but those who know Brid will definately recognise the buildings.

As for Warley, yep, that was me with the Green 26, (the chassis of which is seen above). My pal did pick up a class 20, but stupidly put it down and turned away for a nanosecond and so someone else grabbed the bargain! You snooze, you loose I think the saying goes. Understandable though as there were some fantastic bargains to be had that day. Mike bought a 37 also which may, (or may not), make an appearance on the forum once work has commenced on it.

Cheers.

Sean.

 

[Rippers]

Hi Rippers.

I'm scared now, you know far too much about me!

You are however correct, our club is building a layout based around Bridlington although not supposed to be the town itself. We have called it Cayton Bay on this basis but those who know Brid will definately recognise the buildings.

Cheers.

Sean.

Yep - I do a good impression of someone who you dont see when they are stood next to you!..... its what growing up on Bransholme does for you!

Bridlington is a great idea for a layout - a multi road through station with goodyards, coach sidings and engine shed close by................you have to wonder why so many folk have freelanced such schemes over the years when this one was there waiting to be done!.

Yours will be the third layout I know of it (there are - or rather were until recently two under construction by modellers in Brid itself).