Seacommander Posted July 1, 2020 Share Posted July 1, 2020 I am wondering whether the Hornby Bideford body will fit onto the chassis of my R2218 Wilton Super Detail model without any major modification. Bideford (including its spell as an oil burning conversion) was my grandfather's favourite Bulleid 'light pacific' during his years as a driver on the Southern and I thought it would be a fitting tribute to have this loco on my layout. Thanks in advance for any help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bulleidboy Posted July 1, 2020 Share Posted July 1, 2020 It probably will. Sorry to say "probably", but Wilton is a pre-DCC era loco and Bideford is post DCC and actually DCC Ready. The body interiors are different - well they are with the Hornby Merchant Navy Class of the same era's. There will be more space in the Bideford body as it will have been designed to take the DCC socket and decoder, so it should fit on the Wilton chassis - the other way round may be difficult without serious cutting. Other than cost, is there a reason for changing the body rather than buying Bideford? There is a Bideford body on ebay - lots of pictures, but none of the inside! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Going Spare Posted July 1, 2020 Share Posted July 1, 2020 Comparing the air-smoothed West Country/Battle of Britain service sheets 249 - 249F (which do not cover locos as recent as R3638 Bideford, but do include DCC-ready versions), there do not appear to me to be any reasons why the later body would not fit the early chassis. When changing the bodies, do not forget to detach the speedometer drive beforehand. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Modelnut19 Posted July 1, 2020 Share Posted July 1, 2020 Just be careful with the copper coloured pipes by the side of the cab. They tend to be very easy to break! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seacommander Posted July 2, 2020 Author Share Posted July 2, 2020 Thanks for all of your thoughts and suggestions.Bulleidboy - yes cost is a primary reason; for one of the simplest body mouldings and application of separate details I have never ceased to be amazed at the price Hornby attached to the unrebuilt light pacifics. Also my loco stock is probably as numerous as I would wish. Thanks for pointing out the Bideford body on Ebay; I had already seen it and have gone ahead and purchased it. I would, however, be very tempted by a RTR Leader if it was ever released but I suspect it might be a little too specialised for the likes of Hornby and Bachmann. Going Spare & Modelnut 19 - thanks for the cautionary notes. I will let you know how the changeover went. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bulleidboy Posted July 2, 2020 Share Posted July 2, 2020 Hi Seacommander - I hope the swap goes well. As I thought and Going Spare has confirmed, the new body onto the old chassis should be fine - the other way round would not work as a straight replacement. I look forward to hearing all went well. BB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
olly Posted July 2, 2020 Share Posted July 2, 2020 there should be no problem with changing the body over as there is lots of room inside the west country class .DCC or not Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seacommander Posted July 7, 2020 Author Share Posted July 7, 2020 Hi Seacommander - I hope the swap goes well. As I thought and Going Spare has confirmed, the new body onto the old chassis should be fine - the other way round would not work as a straight replacement. I look forward to hearing all went well. BB The change over went well Bulleidboy. Just two minor points - the size of the thread that takes the body fixing screw at the front of the loco under the smokebox is different between the old and new bodies - no problem in this case because the new body was supplied with a screw. Secondly I had to transfer the speedo dirive - just need to exercise some controlled but fairly concerted effort to remove it from the old body to avoid any damage to either the body or the drive. I secured the drive in the socket on the new body with a small dab of superglue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ColinB Posted July 7, 2020 Share Posted July 7, 2020 The old bodies were BA thread, the new ones are either self tappers or metric threads. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Going Spare Posted July 7, 2020 Share Posted July 7, 2020 Only Chinese bodies were involved in the swap so both should be metric threads, although it is interesting to hear the size has changed even though the part number of the pack that contains it hasn't! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bulleidboy Posted July 7, 2020 Share Posted July 7, 2020 I am pleased to hear that the swap all went well. My original concern was that having bought a Merchant Navy Body at a model railway show, I then bought a DCC Ready chassis, and also, of course, a tender. The body would not fit without some drastic surgery - so I bought a later body and it went straight on. It worked out slightly cheaper than buying a complete loco, but I just wanted to see how it would all go together. BB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2e0dtoeric Posted July 8, 2020 Share Posted July 8, 2020 Slightly off-topic - the o/p mentioned that he was looking for the Bulleid 'Leader' loco, the steam engine that looks like deisel - if he looks up KR models, they are planning on making some, to go with the GT3 and the shunter I don't recall the name of. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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