One of the projects I really enjoyed last year was chopping up a Hornby class 110 body shell to convert it into a class 100 (see here and here).  Theres something nice if not a little old-fashioned about taking a razor saw to an old body shell and making something new.

From an RTR point of view Hornby’s 110 was always a bit of an odd choice due to its sphere of operation being so limited. Theres a lot more logic in Bachmanns approach of doing a 108 however to those of us who like fiddling with models the 110 is quite a hidden gem of potential.  Due to its profile (which Hornby kind of messed up a bit) and the position of the door windows relative to the main ones its far more versatile than the 108.  Some classes of DMU that are possible from the 110 starting point are

• Class 100 (see above)
• Class 103 – ok with a fair bit of work but see here
• Class 104 – the obvious conversion, and the one you tend to see most
• Class 107 – I know this had been done as a limited edition but that was just a reliveried 108, the profile and window positions are wrong so if you want something a bit more accurate, then the 110 is where to start
• Class 114 – For the same reasons as above, stretching a 110 is going to give you a better result than stretching a 108.

Of those it was the 114 that appealed and by good fortune Tysley inherited some in 1987.  Thus a 114 is a good candidate for either a Brum-Nottingham or a Brum-Cambridge service.

There are other ways of course, a complete kit from DC kits or a conversion kit for the Lima 117 from Craftsman but I picked up a cheap set of 110 bodies and thought id go this way.

The above image shows the way that the DMBS was cut up to convert it to a 114.  The cab and one set of doors are scrap while the new section comes from the TS and the cab is DC kits.  The profile of the cab needs adjusting on a bit of sandpaper to match the class 114 profile.

DMBS top and DTC below reassembled. Sections marked as A are new, sections marked as B are original and C are orignal but reversed.  Next stage will be to remove the roof vents, fill the joins that need filling and adjust the profile.