for those who did not read the magazine -
Bachmann’s re-visited
The first thing I do is remove the couplers and the faces (you can sell these for good price to re-coup some of your outlay)
I then remove the body and put the screws safe. I cut the t ribs off one end(see pic) ,as when you put a new buffer beam on these will not fit (yes unrealistic but just making an easy job- you could glue the bits onto new beam if you wish)
I then with a Stanley knife slice some of the rib from the underside at the location of the mounts for the wheel bearing irons (see pic)
Next job is remove the bearing mounts and keep the tiny screws safe, drop the wheels out and pull the wheels off the original axles (63.5mm long).
I buy 4mm steel rod from b&q at £2.13 per meter, cut this into new axles apx 85mm long (can do this when trialling re-assembly for best length to suit) and shove the wheels on , tapping each one till you get your desired back to back, they are normally pretty firm and won’t need fixing.
The buffers (re-usable I feel) and coupling hooks are lightly super glued into their sockets, I find a swift punch with a cross head screwdriver and hammer from behind, whilst resting on vice, helps them release easily and they can then be pulled out by hand (couplings are a bit too fat to re-use- I intend using Williams).
Next task (but not essential) is to fill in the former holes for buffers, all I do is put sellotape over the buffer beam and using a cocktail stick fill in from behind with epoxy resin (pound shop)
After that’s fully dry, using the centre of the coupler loop mount holes as a guide, I take a hacksaw and starting from each end first, saw the who chassis in two. I then also drill new mounting holes 10mm inside the former holes for later re-fitting to the body. You also need to cut the outer bits of each end of the former buffer beam.
I spray the body with primer. Poundland stuff is a darker grey; Wilkinson’s gives lighter shade at £3.99 but does go further too!
You can either then make a new buffer beam 10mm deep 100mm wide with holes to suit buffers of your choice or make coupling slot to suit your choice too. I have recently commissioned model engineers laser to produce some readymade beams in steel for this purpose (2.37 each) and have holes for Williams buffers and couplings as well as 2mm holes for attaching to original beam. once your new buffer beam is in place you will have to drill through the holes for the buffers to pass through the original buffer beam.
The next job is re-fit the wheel bearing metals to the two chassis halves; you can sit the wheels with their axles into these, while you line them up and re-screw the two chassis halves back to the body. At this point you now have a gap at the centre of the original buffer beam, so now you want to offer up your new beam (I have used plasticard before and glued into place) if you make the beam with mounting holes you can bolt this in place, making the whole assembly fully removable for adjustment or future re-paints etc.
All that’s left is to re-fit the buffers and your coupling hooks and you have a g3 wagon. (I found filing the coupling hook to be a nice fit the most taxing job, you also need to file the edge of the link, so it drops into the gedge on the hook, you then turn it, and so the fatter end of the link is in the gedge.
You can if you wish remove the whole chassis and paint black, if it came with a grey chassis.
I bought my wagons at around £30.00 each, spent apx 6.50 on each on coupling hooks, 45p on axles and say £1.00 on paint, I also managed to recover around £6.00 for the faces and coupler loops, so a finished wagon is still under £35.00, I know these are toy-ish but very robust, ideal for letting the kids touch and keeping your precious stuff out of sight! The conversion can also been easily done totally in a few hours and again may add to the rake of your wagon fleet and encourage new members to learn that gauge 3 can be achieved at a modest price.
