Class 33 Fuel Tanks/Modifications etc.......

[CME & Bottlewasher]

Hi All :wave:

I hope that one - or more - of you knowledgable fellows can help with this question....

Did 33/0's ever have any external fuel-tank mods made to them, i.e. during refits/mods in the late 1960's....???

I think that I may already know the answer :scratch: yet I would love to know more....as I never seem to have a photo of the same loco showing both sides in the same time-frame (late 1960's). I have photographed 33's on the Mid Hants etc. yet it aint always easy to photograph both sides and in preservartion they may not be the same as when in service etc...

I am fairly sure that when viewing either side of a 33/0 - prior to roof mods/mods etc. - that one fuel tank was - when viewed side on - a full 'rectangle' with the opposite side haveing a fuel tank having a cut out ('L' shape) at the top - 2/3rds of the way along.......

ATB,

CME :wave:

 

[CME & Bottlewasher]

Class 33 Fuel Tanks/Modifications Did Heljan Get it Wrong?

............Further research would indicate, as far as I can tell, that, for the 33/0's at least, one fuel-tank is a long rectangle and on the other - side - is a rectangle with a 'cut out' in the top R/H corner on in other words an 'L' shape......

......Any photos to prove me wrong would be gratefully received before I start hacking pits of plastic out of my models .....

It would seem though that the 7mm Heljan 33 has two fully rectangular fuel tanks.....right or wrong...I have yet to find out, yet their 4mm versions had them with one rectangular tank and one with a cut out and all the photos I have seen of 33/0's indeed seem have a mixed pair of tanks....
Heljan say that they went for two fully rectangular tanks as it kept tooling costs down, so would it seem that the 7mm modeller has been short changed yet again, when looks at cost vs detail vs correct details etc??? Yet their main drawing of a '33' shows the correct tanks etc.....yet good oled Lima did it wrong too - inversly - both of their tanks (on both sides) had cut outs at least it was cheap though :scratch:

One point of note in the recent MR mag is that it would appear that on the 7mm Heljan 33 the battery boxes and fuel-tanks are the wrong way around......or was it that the body was replaced the wrong way around after the body off photo???:scratch: :scratch:

CME :wave:

 

[Jordan]

Class 33 Fuel Tanks/Modifications Did Heljan Get it Wrong?

Heljan say that they went for two fully rectangular tanks as it kept tooling costs down, so would it seem that the 7mm modeller has been short changed yet again, when looks at cost vs detail vs correct details etc???

Might it partly be to do with the way the tanks are moulded in 7mm and 4mm..?
If I understand correctly, HJ's 7mm locos have the tanks in two halves, one either side of the loco. Are the 4mm versions one moulding that includes both sides, thus making it easier to have the variations you describe? If so, then in both cases they are using just one tool, as things stand, regardless of accuracy.

 

[Phill Dyson]

I think the best you can do is get some good side views of members of the same sub class if you can't find pics of the same loco in your period  :scratch:
Phill  :wave:

 

[Pugsley]

I'm not sure of the precise details, but the tanks were modified with cut-outs at some point.  I think there's something about this on RMweb, if you can find it.

 

[CME & Bottlewasher]

Class 33 Fuel Tanks/Modifications Did Heljan Get it Wrong?

Might it partly be to do with the way the tanks are moulded in 7mm and 4mm..?
If I understand correctly, HJ's 7mm locos have the tanks in two halves, one either side of the loco. Are the 4mm versions one moulding that includes both sides, thus making it easier to have the variations you describe? If so, then in both cases they are using just one tool, as things stand, regardless of accuracy.

Hi Jordan :wave:

Yes you are quite right the Heljan 7mm tanks etc. seem to be moulded in three parts.....so three tools (or may be two as the centre section maybe a common part for several models) still a shame though as the cheaper model gets the better deal.....It also appears that many of the tank assys for the 7mm Heljans are over wide (using the same centre section?).

ATB,

CME :wave:

 

[CME & Bottlewasher]

I think the best you can do is get some good side views of members of the same sub class if you can't find pics of the same loco in your period  :scratch:
Phill  :wave:

Hi Phill :wave:

Thanks

I seem to reacll that the 33's had their tanks moded in the mid 1980's yet no one (yet) seems to know why, perhaps I may get some info from Mr. Marsden :scratch:

ATB,

CME :wave:

 

[CME & Bottlewasher]

I'm not sure of the precise details, but the tanks were modified with cut-outs at some point.  I think there's something about this on RMweb, if you can find it.

Hi Pugsley :wave:

Thanks

I thought though that it was 'tuther way around, that the '33's were built with the cut-out tanks and then moded to what looked like larger - fully rectangular - tanks (perhaps for longer range etc.?).

My real confusion is, were both sides of the earlier 33's, with cut-out tanks, or was one side a cut-out and one a larger fully rectangular tank :scratch:

ATB,

CME :wave:

 

[CME & Bottlewasher]

Hi Phill :wave: (I coc!ed up the Post  :vista: :vista: )

.....I seem to recall that the 33's had their tanks moded - to fully rectangular - in the mid 1980's yet no one (yet) seems to know why, perhaps I may get some info from Mr. Marsden :scratch:.......

I now believe that all of the 'earlier' classes of 33 had a cut-out in at least one of their tanks (should be both yet works visits/repairs/partial updates/mods make such a bit of a minefield :scratch, I have poured over many, many photos and I still cant tell - photo quality/shadow/lighting etc. - if, on the earlier 33's one tank/side had a tank with a cut-out, and one had a fully rectangular tank or if both sides had cut-outs to the/both tanks

ATB,

CME :wave:

 

[CME & Bottlewasher]

Hi all :wave:

Through some helpful friends of Brian Daniels I have found some more info....

With a photo of 33111 (33/1) at Swanage and whilst in service in the 1980's (with some verbal help from one of the guys who restored such etc..) it looks as though 33111 has always had twin cut-out unmoded tanks. So that loco is BFYE, with a fully moded roof/exhaust and original unmoded tanks phew!!........

So - hopefully - we can safely presume that all 'early' (GSGE/GSYE/GFYE) 33's had these cut-out unmoded tanks fitted

Still leaves lottsa work for me on the Limas though :

I hope this helps others upon the path.

ATVB,

CME :wave: