[flygopher]

Hi there,

I want to add lights to coaches of my Lima Midland Mainline HST set.
But it seems all parts are glued together and hard to take the roof out.
I don't want to break them.

Anyone here got experiences of taking those intercity coaches apart without
damaging them too much?

Thanks!

 

[flygopher]

The set is this one.
Please look at the picture.

Hopefully the link works.

 

[Martin71]

Hi

I cant help you with the coaches except to say have a good look on the under side for screws. Make sure to move bogie's left to right as they may be hidden under them! Failing that look for de-tens on the side of the coach wall. To do this insert a thin flat blade screw driver in an lever out about 2-3mm. They are small and lock into a recess or slot on the body of the coach.

There is a review on here about coach lighting and see below a new product available for lighting. Took about 1/2 hour to solder in LED's and Cap!

Hole spacing 5mm available from DCC Concepts.

Hope that may help you a little.

martin

 

[flygopher]

The lighting kit looks interesting. But I guess they are expensive.
I use vero boards which are a lot cheaper than any purposed made ones for
railway and vero boards are professional ones.

Although I tried again, but the coaches were definately glued together very tightly.
I think I am going to give up adding lights to those coaches.

Thanks a lot anyway.

 

[SRman]

Lima Mark 3 coaches (as in your HST) do come apart and aren't usually glued. The glazing and roof are all one piece which fits very tightly into the body shell (sides, false ends and base). You need to squeeze the glazing inwards window by window and put a piece of card or plasticard into the gap to prevent thewindows springing back into place. Once you have all of the windows pushed free of the top ledge of the window apertures you can start easing the roof/window moulding upwards. I can't remember for sure whether you need to unclip the ends of the coaches to assist in releasing the roof/windows but *I think* that this isn't necessary.

I did this many years ago when I wanted to repaint the interiors of an HST set. I also recall breaking one roof at the roof tank moulding. Fortunately it was a neat break that glued back together with no gaps and aquick lick of paint hid it. I am going from memory here, so I may be a little hazy on details. Have a good look at the coaches and see of you can spot the gaps where the joins are.

 

[Brian Considine]

QUOTE (flygopher @ 16 Apr 2008, 23:09) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>The lighting kit looks interesting. But I guess they are expensive.
I use vero boards which are a lot cheaper than any purposed made ones for

I think you will be very pleasantly surprised when the price is available - I've used veroboard in a similar way & it is IMHO very time consuming.

 

[Martin71]

Hi

It depends on how you define expensive. If you include your labor to do the job maybe 12-15 pounds but for parts I guess about

3-5 GBP for what you see above. I bought them from DCC Concepts fitted the LED's and flicker free kit myself.

martin

 

[Richard Johnson]

QUOTE (Martin71 @ 18 Apr 2008, 17:16) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>It depends on how you define expensive. <snip>

Time saved by these new PCBs + improvement in ease of doing the job + overall neatness of the job are all extreme...

**Roughly 6.50~7 pounds per coach all up.... (when bough in a six pack @ $A99). Thats more LEDs than you'll need, lots of resistors , 8x PCBs, 6x flickerfree devices etc etc.... only thing still needed is pickups.

However, as its a flickerfree device only ONE set of pickups per coach is needed, saving even more time - and enough phosphor bronze wire for 20 + coaches is about 3 quid extra.

Yes, PCBs will be available separately soon in a ten pack.

Any questions except "how to do it" off list please - I'm sailing a bit close to the forum rules answering cost questions on my own products on list, and I don't want to annoy the moderators

Richard
DCCconcepts

 

[dwb]

QUOTE only ONE set of pickups per coach is needed, saving even more time

and a less drag on the wheels too!

David

 

[flygopher]

QUOTE (SRman @ 17 Apr 2008, 08:17) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Lima Mark 3 coaches (as in your HST) do come apart and aren't usually glued. The glazing and roof are all one piece which fits very tightly into the body shell (sides, false ends and base). You need to squeeze the glazing inwards window by window and put a piece of card or plasticard into the gap to prevent thewindows springing back into place. Once you have all of the windows pushed free of the top ledge of the window apertures you can start easing the roof/window moulding upwards. I can't remember for sure whether you need to unclip the ends of the coaches to assist in releasing the roof/windows but *I think* that this isn't necessary.

I did this many years ago when I wanted to repaint the interiors of an HST set. I also recall breaking one roof at the roof tank moulding. Fortunately it was a neat break that glued back together with no gaps and aquick lick of paint hid it. I am going from memory here, so I may be a little hazy on details. Have a good look at the coaches and see of you can spot the gaps where the joins are.
I was excited to read your message and tried again. Although my coaches are indeed MK 3, but the glazing doesn't seem to be pushable at all. I ended up with a cracked window and stopped. I think I will give up. Thanks a lot for your information. I think my set was produced in 1999 and they decided to make it hard for DIY fans like me. This set is the most expensive one of my collection and I really like it hence don't want to break it. Thanks a lot anyway.

For the lights, in fact people like me enjoy the process of making it more than the result. So I'd rather spend more time to solder tiny LEDs one by one in the vero board. That's the real joyful thing. Although money is not main concern, my experience is that 10 pounds can equip me four coaches. 3mm standard LED will cost only 0.15p each and the vero board is only 3 pounds for a 150 by 100 one, which is enough for more than 10 coaches. I use average 8 LEDs for each coach. Resistors cost almost nothing.

But I will definately try the package because of flickerfree sets which I don't really bother to produce by myself

 

[SRman]

No problems! It was a long time ago that I did mine, and even then I damaged one in the process - the parts were a VERY tight fit. They can always be a project for the future when :
a) they are older and less "valuable" to you; and/or

you are more experienced and more inclined to try again.

It's all a learning process with much trial and error (and I have made heaps of mistakes in the past). We all gain in skills but, often, a different set of skills to each other as we go along in this wonderful hobby of ours.

(Sorry - that sounds a bit like a sermon, doesn't it?!).

Enjoy!

 

[hairyhandedfool]

The Lima mk3 windows are hard to remove, as they squeeze down the side of the seating, the idea is to push card down the side of the body near the roof by pulling the side out rather than pushing the windows in. Beware though as the roof is prone to damage when you do it. start in the middle of the coach, as this area has more play in it, and work along both ways on both sides, the roof should then lift out. I suggest you try on a spare coach if you have one.