Building a DC Kits 308 EMU.

[hairyhandedfool]

Having built Bratchell models 319 EMU kits and DC Kits 150 DMU kits, I turned to a DC Kits class 308 EMU. Having just received the parts, I was left with my jaw an inch lower than normal. The number of parts is incredible. Already having wheels and motors, I ordered the seating kit and pantograph as extras, but even so the kit arrived like this:

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll50/hairyhandedfool/308brass.jpg
http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll50/hairyhandedfool/308brass2.jpg
http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll50/hairyhandedfool/308seats.jpg
http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll50/hairyhandedfool/308kit.jpg

The sides are in one of the bags, but the pics don't show the roof and floor sections or the pantograph.

This will take me some time to build but I'll try to keep you updated.

[hairyhandedfool]

The kit is for a 4-car set comprising of a Driving Trailer Composite (BDTC), a Motor Brake Standard (MBS), a Trailer Composite (TC) and Driving Trailer Standard (DTS). I chose to seperate the kit into its seperate coaches and then build one coach at a time. First up is the BDTC.

The front end has been fitted with the wiper blades, lamp brackets and multiple working wires. Buffers and rubbing plate have been addded to the buffer beam. The kit suggests that the Buffer beam be seperated from the cab front but I saw no benefit in this.
http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll50/hairyhandedfool/308BDTCfrontend.jpg

The underframe parts were fitted next, and some of the cabinets had to be placed slightly further up the chassis than suggested as they did not fit as the instruction imply. The bogies went together far easier than I anticipated.
http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll50/hairyhandedfool/308BDTCunderframe.jpg

The roof was the easiest bit, it was cut to length and the little air pods placed approximately in the right places. the left hand roof in the picture is how it started.
http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll50/hairyhandedfool/308roof.jpg

The sides are split into three pieces (presumably for ease of use with other kits) and etched door handles and grab rails were added. Unfortunately there are no pics of these.

[hairyhandedfool]

Due to a problem with my PC there are no pictures at the moment, but I have built the BDTC vehilcle and it just awaits a few final touches, I found the building of the sides quite tricky though. The seating went in quite nicely and bulkheads were made from plasticard

The next vehicle on the 'bench' is the Motor Brake Standard (MBS). The chassis has been built up from various brass and plastic parts in much the same fashion as the BDTC above. One of the model's motors has been placed in this vehicle, although the recess provided in the chassis is deep enough for the motor I believe that it is not wide enough to allow for tight corners and so opened the sides out with a rotory tool.

The roof has been cut to length and air vents have been added. at one end the roof is lower and flat to allow for a pantograph to be fitted. I used the somefelt pantograph which was supplied as an extra to the kit. No holes are provided for the pantograph or its associated equipment, so five holes were drilled for the pantograph and four for the insulators in the kit. One end piece has had is roof section cut off to allow for the lower pantograph end.

[hairyhandedfool]

Still with no pics I will press on and update you with the progress so far. The MBS has been finished with the sides glued to the chassis and roof as on the BDTC, and the TC (Trailer Composite) has been built in a similar fashion to the MBS (but without the pantograph), but with less underframe detail than the previous vehicles. The final Vehicle, the DTS (Driving Trailer Standard) is in a state of build at the moment with all the door handles and roof vents applied and the few chassis parts for this vehicle constructed. soon this vehicle will be finished.

I am taking photos during the build and hope at some stage to add them but the problem on my laptop is between the DC jack and the motherboard and *could* cost £387 to replace!!!