S.A.C. Martin wrote:Compare the B3/3 to photographs of B1s and it becomes apparent.
I have and the chimney whilst perhaps not directly a B1 chimney it is most certainly a B1 style (also O1, L1, K1 style) which has heritage in the GNR design of loco chimney.
Like this
GN-style.jpg (2.46 KiB) Viewed 6498 times
Not like this
Pseudo-GC-style.jpg (2.83 KiB) Viewed 6498 times
These thumbnails are for the A5 chimney research I did about 3 years ago so are only indicative of the fundamental form. The B3/3 chimney is certainly more squat than this and probably a bit shorter than the B1 chimney. I'll check my info this evening but I seem to recall that the B3/3 boiler was pitched higher than the B1 so it is entirely logical that the shorter chimney was required to fit inside the loading gauge.
The cab modification that you have come up with, using the A2 leftovers, is very clever.
Cheers...Morgan
Last edited by 45609 on Mon Sep 22, 2014 1:10 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Thanks for the illustrations, they are most helpful. The boiler is definitely pitched higher than the B1's - hence the sorter, squatter (and also wider) chimney. Do you think removing the GCR upper cap and replacing with a GN style to the same width would result in a more accurate chimney? The base of the GCR chimney and its profile up to the cab matches the Isinglass drawing rather better than the original Bachmann B1 chimney.
The A2 cab modification came about purely by accident one day last year - I had been working on the A2/1 and knocked a spare A2 cab onto the B3/3 drawing alongside. The rest is history...! Thank you for your comments. I will go away and think on the chimney for a bit.
More mocking up from last night. Enjoying this build, loads to do but rather satisfying to put it all together. I hope to have completed the proper front end and finished modifying the cab and boiler by the end of next week.
Looking good so far! However, I see that the A4 nose section's valances seem to sit a bit higher than the P2's. Do you have any ideas how to lower the A4 valances?
The front end isn't actually at the right height - the valances will line up if I had screwed the front end down.
However, there's lot to do yet - the actual front end to plug in is a resin casting I have been working on (a combination of Hornby A4 front with the sides cut away and correct profile P2 sides almalgamated into the casting). I also have to remove the top half of the boiler ahead of the dome to fit A4 style casing. The cab side sheets have now been extended which will make things a lot easier.
The tender is now in black and the overall effect is starting to come together. Wheels on the loco will be removed for painting this evening, now I've finished the cylinders and valve gear (pics to follow once the whole chassis is back together).
I am starting to feel quite happy about my bodging at the minute. Working P2 with Walschaerts valve gear, and work on the streamlined P2 body shell getting closer to completion. Couple more weeks should do it.
Thanks Earl. I'd had making a streamlined P2 in mind for a very long time. I collected the pieces together from an old Kay's P2 I bought a few years back which is providing the template for my conversions. I hope to be able to at least present something that looks the part, if not a rather close model of the streamlined ones. If the resin casting process goes well, I intend to supplement my plain black P2 with a full apple green model of 2001 in streamlined form as well.
I've delighted in running the thing back and forth today on my layout. The valve gear is working a treat and I'm very happy with the body mods thus far. Cab and front end to be tackled this week and hopefully I can also make a casting of the double chimney as well to make things easier on other modellers if they so wish to follow my mostly crude but hopefully effective route.
I am very impressed with Graeme's work to make 2002 and am watching his thread eagerly each day for further updates as they arise.
Looking good Simon, if Hornby don't do a streamlined one, the need there head read, but now that got this far, will you be going the whole hog and doing P2's in BR, Express blue, Purple and BR Green .
Though it would be nice for ease of parts (certainly the tender is worth getting on a lot of the GBL models) I can't help but feel that might be one step too far with the almost-but-not-quite-actually-copyright infringement of the series. You will notice I am using a GBL tender for my P2/3 conversion mind...
