Heljan Catfish and how to convert to S7

[richard carr]

I bought a Heljan Catfish wagon from Tower models, I thought these looked really good, but as I model in S7 the big question is always how easy is it to convert one.

Here's the wagon before conversion











There is quite a bit of detail, more than I expected, the paint finish as always is excellent.

When it comes to the conversion though it didn't initially look too good, the wheels are trapped in place by the brakes, but the good news was that with a bit of poking around with a craft knife the cross beam will come out from one end and the brakes themselves will come out of the wagon. Once they are out the wheels can be popped out and replacement peartree wheels can be fitted. The peartree bearing fits in the Heljan bearing as on the VAA and OBA. The bearing isn't as deep so the peartree one needs to be shortened.





You need to take a fair bit off and the easiest way is to put the bearing on the axle and file it all down in one.

Here's the wagon with the brakes removed.





You need to file a lot off the brake blocks to stop them fouling the wheels but once you have the brakes just clip back in again and everything works ok.
It took about an hour and 30 minutes to get this one done and I imagine the next ones won't take much more than 30 minutes now I know what I'm doing.

Here's the finished wagon with an MMP for comparison

 

[john lewsey]

Hi Richard that looks pretty good to me
John

 

[SimonT]

Richard,
the bearings are interesting. On the VBA and OAA the Peartree bearings go fully in. There was a difference in the width between bearing faces on the two wagons with the VBA chassis assembled so that it was narrower between bearing faces; I filled the rims of the Peartree bearings to generate the clearance. QA?
Simon

 

[richard carr]

Simon

Yes on the VBA, OAA wagons the heljan bearings are deeper and the peartree ones can just slot in, you also don't need to do anything with the disc brakes.
On the cat fish the Heljan bearing isn't anywhere near as deep and you need to file the peartree bearing and axle back a good bit to get them to fit.

Richard

 

[mickoo]

Good stuff,

But I'm interested in this poking into one of your views


Is that a dummy traction motor and wheel set and the brake linkage looks familiar, Deltic maybe?

 

[richard carr]

No its a 37 bogie, waiting to be installed in the final JLTRT 37 I'm making.