Hallo everyone

Recently introduced myself on the general board, I've since bought lots of track and rolling stock! Am now embarking on my first mods.

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It occurred to me that Harvey, an un-powered 'dummy' was actually pushed around by a motorised carriage. Picked one up cheap on ebay and I think the opportunity to convert Harvey (or rather his motor unit) into a DMU or EMU is too great to pass up. Progress so far...

First job was to find some carriages to make up the rest of the set. In a job lot of carriages I bought from eBay a few weeks ago I got a whole load (12 or so?) of Annies and Clarabels. I noted just two of the Clarabel coaches were longer than the others - conveniently the same length as Harvey's motor carriage. They will do nicely!

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Sadly they have both had their couplers snapped off, so first job is to replace those.

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The motor carriage has an unusually powerful motor compared to the other Trackmaster locomotives I've got so far, and a really large weight. I almost regret turning it over to this purpose, I think I could also connect it up to a long passenger train (perhaps half way down), to provide a boost to the engine pulling it around the garden layout.

As you can see, I've replaced the front coupler too, so it has loops at both ends rather than a loop and a hook. It originally had an unusually heavy hook so it would stay permanently attached to the dummy Harvey.

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And that's it so far - now need to clean, prime, and paint these. Does anyone have any advice on which paints work best without chipping etc. I imagine most paints won't take too well to the polished surfaces, so any prep tips appreciated.

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At the moment I'm leaning towards a Humbrol Spray Brunswick green for the bodies and a matt grey for the roof.

I've not yet decided on which real-world set I should base it on, but I'm presently leaning towards the British Rail 201, which had a motor baggage car, meaning most of the leading car had no windows - just like the Harvey power car.

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Wondering how to model the leading end - windows, lights, jumpers, destination code board etc.

All advice and thoughts welcome!<img src="/assets/files/placeholder.png" alt="(missing)"><img src="/assets/files/placeholder.png" alt="(missing)"><img src="/assets/files/placeholder.png" alt="(missing)"><img src="/assets/files/placeholder.png" alt="(missing)"><img src="/assets/files/placeholder.png" alt="(missing)"><img src="/assets/files/placeholder.png" alt="(missing)">