Hattons Barclay brake modifications...

The Hatton's Barclay is a lovely model that runs well straight out of the box, nicely detailed and I've used as the basis for a few conversions that have since become kits through Planet Industrials...

The only criticism is that it's a bit of a hotch potch of features, not really representative of most prototypes. However, this gives the more discerning modeller a little enjoyable research and work to do, and one thing I've noticed but until now not tackled is the variation in the brake arrangements. The Hatton's model has the brake shoes acting on the trailing face of the wheel treads, whereas plenty of examples had them acting on the front face. This isn't a difficult modification and is vitally quite effective because of the removal of the actuating linkages under the cab.

First the brake shoes are prised off the chassis, as well as the front sand pipe. The brakes are then trimmed down, cutting the actuator bar from the rear ones. The locating pips need trimming down, as we'll be superglueing them direct to the chassis block. The old rear ones are now cut down to the top of the shoe, and thinning the face that will touch the cylinder. This is then slotted, carefully, between the front wheel and the cylinder with glue on the thinned edge. The rear wheels use the old front wheel shoes, these are positioned carefully, again secured with superglue. Once in place, the linkage from the underside of the chassis has it's guides (that pin into the bottom plate) cut off, and is reversed. I trimmed down the pins on the clip end to ease the fitting. Once it place it was superglued to add a little strength to the assembly. Final step will be to touch in with black before weathering. These photos show the first steps, I will share a comparison photo with my other models when it's painted and finished. I hope this has encouraged you to take a fresh look at your 'out of the box' models and see what small changes you can effect to improve their realism. More soon...