The requirement for a Westcountry came from the need for modern SR steam stock with decent route availability and the fact that so many 3mm modellers would tell me that Triang's Bulleid loco was a Merchant Navy (although I have one numbered 34066 and it doesn't look wrong).
Into the library (which is still stored in boxes 8 months after moving house!) and out with the two books which would help me - Bulleid Pacifics at Work by Colonel H C B Rogers and A Pictorial Record of Southern Locomotives by J H Russell.
I leafed through Rogers quite happily and the basic fact that I learnt is that the Merchant Navy loco is only 18" longer than a Westcountry and careful study with a ruler on the plans showed that these inches were lost between the mid and rear drivers (3"), the rear driver and the pony truck (12") and the pony truck wheel diameter (6" drop in diameter - or 3" space saving).
An appropriate visit to the office copier produced a drawing to play with, but this was incorrectly scaled due to wrong calculation so I moved to Russell armed with a ruler and calculator and proceeded to measure up.
Imagine my surprise when the first drawing I measured up was CORRECT for the Triang body, but measuring up another drawing made the MN about 5mm too long as expected.
Careful reading of the book revealed drawings SR81B and SR87D were in fact Merchant Navy drawings labelled as WC drawings - the wheel spacings gave this away after about an hour of head scratching and I saw my way forwards with the correct drawings.
So here are the findings.
It is no surprise that the mid and rear drivers are 0.75mm out, but I am not ready for the surgery to correct this one! The rear pony wheel is too big - not a problem to change that one to a correct wheel, but the body shell caught me out totally.
I was expecting to trim out little segments at both ends, yet all the measurements from the cylinders to the rear were correct and after a lot of strange theories that failed to yield in-accuracy, the most strangest measurement of them all gave the answer.
The distance from the smokebox door to the buffer-beam was both 16mm in the book, and on the MN where it should have been 12mm, so 4mm was all at the front!
That is THE big difference, believe it or not.
Anyone who knows me is aware of the cosmetic surgery that I will undertake to produce a model so here goes.
The best way of losing this 4mm is to cut vertically into the flat step behind the sloped part of the buffer beam - if you rest the razor-saw against the protruding smoke deflector part above the smokebox and cut into part of the side deflectors on the way down, you can cut off the buffer beam and a 4mm lump of flat step which can be filed off and stuck back on - correct length ..... but beware - modify the underside too, as one of the bogie wheels is now coming very close to the buffer beam!
The side smoke deflectors now need to be reprofiled to correct shape - read Russell, measure, make a template and go careful as you have one go or you fit new deflectors!
Below is a picture of the converted West Country (on the left), with 34066 Spitfire (on the right).
Can you spot the difference.
I only really notice it when they're side by side!
Now for the fun parts.
Any avid Bulleid follower will know that the MNs were initially troublesome and a number of changes were incorporated in the WCs and BBs as they were built, and the boiler was the most interesting of the lot.
Legend has it that all Bulleids started life with a 280psi boiler and these (in both classes) were fitted with 3 safety valves in front of the dome. Along came the 250psi boiler in 1952 with 2 safety valves BEHIND the dome - and now the complication starts.
These appear to have been changed over at major shop visits only, so there is no easy way of knowing when the 250psi appeared.
The rule of thumb from studying every photo under the sun is:
Front skirts - when built, the WCs had a small piece of skirting from the buffer beam back to the cylinders. These appeared to be removed from about 1951, so chose your date.
Rivets - the rivet patterns differ between MNs and WCs, so sand them off. I'm too lazy to put them back on in the right place, but I don't intend my locos to stand still much, if at all, so you won't see them anyway, will you!
Dome cover - I haven't found one that protrudes like this one does, but some evidence suggests that some circular covers did exist, but also some rectangular ones too!
Safety valves - leave as is, or fill in at make new ones depending on rule of thumb.
Roof hatches - WCs had their whistles under a panel to the right of the dome cover, so mark a new cover and sand off the old protruding ones.
Wash-out holes - WCs had 5, whereas MNs had 6 - due to incorrect position on the model, I would fill and re-drill correctly.
Underframe - cut off that awful moulding at the rear and fit some proper steam pipes and mechanical parts - as for the front steps, only fit if you have removed or changed the front coupling as the new steps will be removed at the first corner!
So there is your loco West-Country-fied - now all you need to do is to convert the tender.
The quickest version is the 5500 gallon version - just remove the 3 air tanks and replace with 4 smaller ones, and square off the downward curve on the coal space leading from the roof-part down to the coal space sides - and it's done!
I personally suggest further surgery down to the 4500 gallon version, as these were better looking - look at photos for your favourite loco and make your own decision.
So there you have it!
No more axle weight restrictions and every excuse to run a Triang Bulleid with two coaches and say this is perfectly acceptable - it's all down to a little bit of delicate cutting, and I even expect that some of you chaps will be so careful as not to need a repaint.
Now where did I put that razor-saw ............
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March 1999