Bachmann Bulleid Coaches (new models)

shipbadger
Posts: 163
Joined: Sun Jul 20, 2008 3:00 pm

Bachmann Bulleid Coaches (new models)

Postby shipbadger » Mon Oct 31, 2022 4:00 pm

After waiting what seemed to be a long time the new Bulleid coaches from Bachmann have arrived. There are reviews elsewhere so I will confine myself to matters relating to their conversion to P4. The bogies have plenty of width between the sideframes for P4 wheels. I found it easiest to remove the bogies to work on them. On one of my two coaches the retaining screws were very tight, don't think that you can use a flat blade or an ill fitting screwdriver or the head will rapidly chew up. To my surprise bearing in mind the country of origin a No 0 Pozidrive fitted better that the equivalent Philips screwdriver. The old wheels come out easily and test fitting the new ones showed that some material needs to be removed from the brake blocks, the front face of which can remain intact so no loss of appearance will occur. I used one of those diamond encrusted ball ended cutters as often sold in Lidl, Aldi or tool stands at shows, in a minidrill. I only used a scalpel for cleaning up after, if you use one to remove material from the brake shoes the moulding looks rather flimsy so a new blade and care will be required. Inserting the new wheels was initially a bit of a faff as there is a metal pressing for current collection which doess not flex as the plastic sideframes do. I discovered that a pair of fine tweezers used to grab the frame and the metal pressing meant both could be moved to allow the axle into the bearing. Grab the sideframe and metal pressing just outboard of the axlebox.

Just as with the Hornby 'shorties' a number 17 and a number 18 Kadee provided an appropriate coupling between the two coach set. The 'fake pipe' coupling provided by Bachmann is far too long. The next task is to work out how to fit AJ couplings at the outer ends.

Finally I also bought a Rapido SECR van at the weekend, again some attention to the brake shoes is required but another simple conversion.

Tony Comber

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