1455 .......an update

Despite being busy working on the Creamery extension progress has been continuing on 1455.
The photo below shows the conversion almost complete and though it looks rough, once cleaned up and primed it will look different again.  
When I first started to do mods. like this I would look at the mess created, loose heart and ask myself, "what have I done" ?  It's a bit like home improvement really as you have to make a mess before you can make things better.  I was lucky to find a photo of 1455 at Hereford which was it's home shed.  So I am more or less certain that my model is accurate.  If you are lucky enough to own or come across Model Railway Journals No1 and No.2  then you will find an excellent two part article by Iain Rice with many useful photos and general arrangement drawings covering both prototype and his own conversion of the Airfix model.
There is also a general drawing of the class in January 1997 edition of The Railway Modeller and as a bonus one for an autocoach as well.  Whilst not 100 % accurate they do give the main dimensions.  Further information can be found on the following websites...........

http://www.gwsr.com/news/features/steam-locomotive-features/14xx-autotanks.aspx


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GWR_1400_Class

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This rather cruel enlargement shows some of the detail that has been added which includes;  New whistles and shield, safety valve,  cast tank fillers and vents.  New chimney,  smoke box door and dart, handrails and lamp irons   Both buffer beams have riveted overlays,  sprung buffers, vacuum and steam pipes.  The auto train control linkage can be seen behind the coupling nestled between the brake gear.  The roof has been thinned down, the original tool boxes cut away and replaced with ones made from styrene.  You can also see that they have been moved further forward to suit my chosen member of the prototype.

I suppose you could say that I have gone to extreme lengths carrying out so much work but you must remember that this model dates from the 70's and the standard of current RTR has improved so much since then. 

The roof has not yet been secured in place as the sliding vent is going to be modelled in the open position,  a crew and glazing are also yet to be fitted.  The original pipework along the running plate has been thinned down by gently scraping it with the edge of a craft knife.  The bunker hooks are pieces of scrap etch formed to shape around a suitably sized drill shank.  The biggest modification was the removal of the top feed and it's pipes which makes a huge difference to the look of the model.

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The cab has been fitted with a floor a bunker back and  cast backhead.  The original plastic coal load has been removed and a styrene blank fitted ready for a load of the real thing.  Looking at the photo I think that I will thin down the cab side sheets and door tops as they look rather chunky, mind you when the roof is in place you hardly notice.

 Painting has been carried out with a simple black aerosol and a start has been made on weathering the chassis.  Once the BR Lion on a wheel emblem and No.plates have been fitted the rest of the model will be weathered then protected with a coat of matt varnish. 
During running trials 1455 proved a little light footed and was prone to slipping when lifting four six wheel milk tanks out of the creamery siding.  Some lead sheet in the side tanks and boiler have corrected that problem and she is now settling down handling both milk traffic and local passenger services. 
Parts for the conversion have come from a number of sources, and most with the exception of the buffer beam overlays can be obtained from Mainly Trains, either separately or has a detailing kit.
Ref. MT222.
The last installment will follow soon..........................