The completed E1 model in HO, which started off as a Dapol 'Terrier'. It has not yet had couplers fitted. The wagon is one of the original Lima HO models refitted with Kadee RP25 wheels. Note lamp irons and wire smokebox door handle.
A simple conversion to provide basic British HO motive power
The Dapol 00 gauge 'Terrier' [now produced by Hornby] offers at least two HO conversion possibilities, and maybe more.
The most obvious is the SR E1, which Stroudley made as an enlarged version of the 'Terrier' for freight service, though in earlier days they also did passenger turns. The Dapol 'Terrier' is an excellent performer, and therefore makes a good candidate to become a reliable HO loco.
As any true scale fanatic will tell you, the only really 100% way to make an E1 in HO would be to scratch-build, but by chopping the 00 'Terrier' slightly you get very close. It is actually about one scale foot short in length and wheelbase (which you are stuck with of course), but you would only tell this by measuring. To keep painting to a minimum get either the BR, SR, or LBSC finish 'Terrier' depending on your favoured period. This will help, in particular, with the earlier eras as most of the lettering and lining remains untouched and it is easier to make good the altered areas of paintwork than paint, line, and letter the model all over again.
The completed E1 model in HO, which started off as a Dapol 'Terrier'. It has not yet had couplers fitted. The wagon
is one of the original Lima HO models refitted with Kadee RP25 wheels. Note lamp irons and wire smokebox door handle.
Work in progress. The boiler fittings are removed and filled in, the bunker and running plate are lengthened, there
is a new toolbox, and the boiler handrails are repositioned.
The original SR weight diagram is an aid to checking dimensions for the model.
Model complete and ready to paint, though dome and chimney were replaced after photo was taken with slightly larger
versions cut down from original fittings. Note air tank and cast safety valves.
Top view shows regulator linkage and top layout.
Having got hold of the 'Terrier', work in the following sequence:
(1) Remove safety valves and set aside.
(2) Remove the ejector pipe and set aside.
(3) Remove the small screws under the rear chassis and unclip the bunker/cab mouldings.
(4) Remove the leading handrail knobs on the boiler, drill new locating holes at the firebox end, re-locate the handrail knobs, and push the handrails back to the new position - further to the rear than on the 'Terrier'.
(5) Rub down any mould lines visible on the boiler top.
(6) Remove the smokebox door. Insert smokebox extension and make wire door handle. Remove the whistle.
(7) Cut off the plastic injector pipes - they can be replaced with wire.
(8) Cut off the chimney and file and sand the area smooth, and cut off the buffers flush with the buffer beam and set aside.
(9) Cut off the dome if the early type of safety valves are not used. If they are, leave the dome and refit the safety valves to it after sanding them thinner.
(10) Blank off the dome hole with plastic card glued underneath and fill the hole, and any other unused locating holes, with plastic filler or Milliput, and sand smooth when set.
(11) Cut off the front footplate ahead of the sandboxes and the rear end of the footplate 6mm in from the buffer beam.
(12) Cut 1.5mm plastic card (40 thou) Microstrip inserts, 4mm wide at the front and 2mm wide at the rear to extend the footplate length. Carve the edges to match the valance shape, and cement the footplate ends/buffer beams back in position. You now have the chassis extended to length.
(13) Cut front extensions to the sandboxes from 4mm wide 40 thou plastic card and cement these on the sandbox fronts to lengthen them. Add 'wings' from thin plastic card to fair the sandboxes to the smokebox.
(14) Disassemble the cab, remove the Westinghouse air brake, and the bunker/cab rear.
(15) Cut 3mm off bottom of cab, filing a new higher arc to clear the firebox moulding in the cab.
(16) Remove the reversing handle (if you have not already done so) cut it down from the bottom, and glue back in position.
(17) Return the rear ballast weight and glue it down as the screw holes are now out of line due to the extended footplate.
(18) Glue in the bunker rear, and modify the toolbox to slightly different dimensions (see plan and photos).
(20) Cut down coal rails to three, make good the gap, and glue in place, or make new coal rails from plastic card strip.
(21) Add new chimney, dome and safety valves, taking positions from plan. These have to be modified from the originals or use castings sold at model shops.
(22) Return ejector pipe (if fitted to your choice of loco), glue buffers back on buffer beam, and replace Westinghouse pump, with feed pipes from fuse wire.
(23) Add the regulator lever rodding on the smokebox top from fuse wire.
(24) Add lamp irons from wire, and brake pipes on buffer beams.
(25) An air tank is needed below the bunker with its ends visible. We used a fuel drum for this, with just the ends cut off and glued on the chassis side frames to give the effect.
This work will take several evenings. The biggest problem we found was finding a suitable dome and chimney and we altered these even after starting the model. Originally we used odd spares, but they looked too small, so we ended up filing down the spare dome that Dapol supply with the 'Terrier' and cutting down the original chimney. The other work is routine 'kit bashing' which won't be outside the scope of a modeller of average experience.
Our model was finished as one of the surviving E1s of the 1960-61 period which puts it nicely in line with the green version of the Fleischmann 'Warship'. The BR totem was retained, the lining was painted out, and a new number came from SMS decal sheets. All you need to finish off is a crew in the cab, coal in the bunker, and the couplers of your choice. On SMP Code 75 bullhead rail, 16.5mm gauge, or Peco Streamline Fine Scale Code 75, you will get the same sort of true scale/gauge effect that you get with an EM or P4 model, except that you are in step with the rest of Europe in the matter of scale.