Deltic Conversion or is it an upgrade

Modern Deltic... Conversion or is it an upgrade?

The Lima Model and its short comings...
	The Lima Deltic model has a long history and the old bodyshell tooling reflects this. The major problem with this model is the adjustment in proportions to suit a readily available motor bogie when the model was first tooled. This legacy leaves modellers with a model that is under-length by approximately 10mm and riding on incorrect bogies. The reduction in length was not taken from one or two obvious sections of the model but proportionally from the whole of the model. When compared with published drawings, 2mm is missing from the central exhaust area, about 1.5 - 2mm from each engine room section and 2mm from each bonnet and cab area. The reduction in size is proportional but makes a simple lengthening project very difficult without brass overlays. The deficiencies can be described summarised thus: Incorrect / inaccurate bogie side frames and wheel-base The bonnet is profiled incorrectly at the front, it should be raked forward slightly and the curves emphasised a little more Less than scale length Lacking modern fittings on all but their most recent releases The level of detail on the model matches its early 1980s vintage, with coarse mouldings for lamp irons and headboard brackets. Lima has not tooled in the sealed cab quarter lights on all but their most recent releases. A1 Models have designed and released a fairly complex enhancement kit to upgrade the Lima Deltic to about 95% accuracy. This kit is designed to correct most of the errors including the serious errors in the area around the central exhaust panel and engine room. By using brass overlays for the central and engine room sections, the locomotive can be lengthened with engine room windows, panels and shoulder grilles all corrected for size and position. Parts are included to assist with correcting the bonnet area but unfortunately the cab cannot be remedied as easily as the rest. Unlike any other brass overlay project, this one is complex because much care is needed during re-construction to keep the model level, straight and true in all planes. The opportunity has been taken to provide enhanced detail so the kit includes all that you need to fit cooling fans, grilles, and bonnet side grilles in a see through form. Finishing each hole with a half moon file. Buy one that tapers at the end, this will help with most filing jobs involving a circular hole. Test fit the panels to check your progress. The A1 Models components are superbly etched in brass, complete with see through bonnet, shoulder and cooling fan grilles. This project is not for the faint of heart. I have constructed three of them and can pass on some thoughts on technique. I did discover that a slightly distorted model could be corrected using this kit. Remember that many second hand Lima models have suffered some distortion after prolonged exposure to strong sunlight. Kit contents: 2 replacement body sides – available with or without small ventilation grilles 4 shoulder grilles 4 fan grilles, cooling fans and fittings 2 bonnet grilles exhaust panel and fittings 2 fan grille panels 2 pair of bonnet doors headcode box detail 2 bonnet hatches boiler ports and plates bodyside grilles 4 airhorns 4 plug in buffer heads in turned brass A number of parts are available separately such as handrail wire, nameplates and bufferbeam fittings. A1 Models is investigating stainless steel fittings for the model to include window frames for cab windows and engine room.
The conversion - how many cuts?
	The bodyshell is cut in three places as a part of lengthening the bodyshell. It is key to the project that the three cuts are made absolutely dead square: use a mitre saw to achieve this. The first cut is made dead in the middle, the others separate the bonnet fronts from the bodyshell. Talk about cutting off ones nose to spite the face? When gluing the central bodyside parts to the donor model, ensure you have a box or fiddle arrangement to keep everything square. If one side is fitted out of true to the opposite, you will find that you have a body with a kink! Go to the expense of buying Lima Class 37 bogies – the improvement in the appearance is really worth it. You will find the service from East Kent Models is excellent. Take particular care over the choice of glue, this conversion is better executed with epoxy adhesives rather than impact adhesive or superglue. You need time to adjust the larger parts to ensure you end up with a true bodyshell. The cuts required to enable the lengthening process to take place now leave an interesting problem; the key job is to ensure that the model is put back together square and without any distortion to the bodyshell. To provide strength to the completed bodyshell, it is essential to reinforce across the joins with 60thou styrene, cut so it will not foul the inner chassis frame when re-assembled. That gap is larger than one might expect. Amazing how far out the model is in terms of overall length. The strengthening blocks fixed to the inside of the bodyshell are visible through the gap. This unsightly gap will disappear forever under the exhaust panel. Measure the centre line carefully before fitting the panel – everything else depends on this measurement. Lots of clothes pegs pinched from the laundry basket hold the first side firmly to the model. It is critical that the brass sits tight against the bodyshell at the top corners and adjacent to the cab doors and tumblehome. Here, the brass must blend in with the plastic body as closely as possible without evidence of a join.

	Once the sides are in place and suitable reinforcing has been done to the inside of the middle join, it is possible to dry run fit the roof panels, to check for size. Formed roof panels ready for fitting. By this time, the clamps can be removed, the glue will be sufficiently hard to allow further work to continue. Before attempting to fit the next panels, pay attention to any excess glue that may prevent them from fitting properly - remove it as you check the fit with dry runs. Bonnets are extended by 60thou styrene spliced into the gap. The use of 60thou styrene means that the loss of material from the saw cut is taken into account. The excess styrene is cut from the inside of the bodyshell to make room for other equipment. An etched brass grille will replace the moulded one damaged by the modification to the bonnet.
The finished result
	Small details make this a modern Deltic, such as square headlughts, the orange cantrail stripe, and in the case of Gordon Highlander - who can mistake the Porterbrook purple livery as heritage? My model of Royal Scots Grey in 1999 condition - this model could be enhanced further if stainless steel window frames had been available from A1 Models at the time of building. The characteristics that set this model apart from a 1960s scene is the high intensity headlight (Replica Railways), cab-shore radiotelephone aerial and orange cant rail stripe. The model is modified to run on Lima Class 37 bogies. The images below are of my second Deltic model, the very attractive Porterbrook purple 9016, Gordon Highlander. Kit supplied by: A1 Models 111 Anston Avenue, Worksop, Nottinghamshire. S81 7JF 01909 473488 About this site \| Contact us \| Links & Contacts \| Site Map Events \| Publications \| Articles and Bibliography \| News \| Image gallery Opinion & Analysis \| FAQs \| Core page \| Exit