A most awkward and troublesome kit. I can understand now why I spent those years in the early 1980`s trying to make all those 4mm etched Jidenco loco kits, it was to prepare the way for making this model in 7mm.............

 

I had previously seen a few made by others and felt there was some potential for the kit and I had always fancied a 1930`s GWR diesel railcar also known as a `flying banana`.
I knew it was likely to be a challenge and I had never worked with resin in a kit before, particularly resin and brass etch and the joining of the two together !!!!

 

At least it is a complete kit with wheels, motor and seating.......

 

Well, It certainly was`nt going to require sprung axles so a start with making a working powered bogie was the first step.

 

 

The first surprise was that the etched holes were far too big for the bearings supplied. Luckily some left over bearings from the previous JM loco kit were a better fit.

 

The motor suppled needs a worm gear attached to both shaft ends to power both axles, not an over easy task to get set up without motor and gear `growl`

 

 

The bogies comprise of an inner frame to which the outer framing forms the dummy side frames. At this early stage I was aware that the one side insulated axles would give me a `` live`` frame which is a potential area of concern with DCC, but not impossible.

 

 

By carefull adjustment and gentle running in I ended up with a fairly quiet powered bogie as per the instructions.

 

 

The outer framework needed tidying up with files and extra rivet details were added using pictorial reference. The white metal castings were of reasonable quality and were superglued in place.

 

 

 

The brackets are to be a nut and bolt attachment to the main chassis frame.

 

 

 

Pickups are phospher bronze strip with a round brass contact point soldered on.

 

 

 

 

The chassis as designed proved to be too weak and prone to bending. Because the body work is 75% resin along its entire length, the chassis needed strengthening. Also, the ride height of the bogies was far too high and the chassis needed lowering over the bogie centres by at least 5mm.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As already mentioned the body is made up of resin ends and roof with etched brass sides and internal dividers.

 

The ends are reasonably square and robust.

 

 

But...... the roof sections have warped badly ( 1985 KIT) .

 

 

I used several immersions in very very hot water and some judiscious tweeking to straighten them out.

 

 

A dry run indicated potential weaknesses in the construction.

 

 

And so I used brass rod spigots as a strengthening method.

 

 

The etched sides were rolled to the same profile as the resin ends and attached to the resin roof and ends with superglue.

 

 

However, the resin roof sections over the next week gradually returned to their bowed shape and began to detach from the etched sides.

 

 

 

 

There is not much of a surface area between the brass sides and the edge of the resin roof sections to make an effective bonding surface.

 

 

So my solution was to drill holes in the top edge of the brass sides and push through some interference fit brass rods, which would be soldered to the brass sides and fixed by Araldite to the inside of the resin roof sections.

 

 

 

 

 

With the sides now securely fixed I could think about fitting the central and end doors which are recessed into the sides. Here , the kit is a shambles, with poor draughtmanship and etching. The kit suggests keeping the sides fairly flat when in reality they are curved at the lower edges , as are the doors.

 

 

This all required a lot of filling and shaping with Green Stuff filler. The roof joins also needed filling and carefull sanding to maintain the correct profile. I used thin guaged wire to tidy up the roof above the central sliding doors. I also went to a lot of effort to solder on a moulding strip along the top, middle and bottom of the sides to improve the look of the model and match the moulding on the resin ends.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There is a great deal of work to be done in tidying up the sides and roof. Once this was done I moved on to detailing the roof.

 

 

The kit provides white metal roof vents and these need to be seated on square bases which I fabricated from plasticard.

 

I also spent time in fitting the ATW cable,added in the 1930`s, and conduit to add some much needed roof detail.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

She was now beginning to look like a reasonable model.

 

 

 

 

Some final detailing added...... guard irons to bogies which I fabricated from some angle strip.

 

 

I tried to track down some decent brass horns but in the end had to tidy up what was supplied in the kit.

 

 

The seats over the diesel engines are higher, so all this I fabricated from plasticard to keep the weight down as I felt by this time she was getting very heavy for a single motored model.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have organised the model to have a removable chassis with seating attached.

 

 

 

 

After a thorough clean up, I proceeded to the painting stage. My usual preference is to prime with Phoenix/Precision two part primer.

 

 

For this project however, I needed a primer that was a little thicker and for this I always use Teroson available from C&L. Expensive perhaps but always reliable.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I also use Tamiya masking tape products, particularly their tapes with attached plastic sheeting.

 

This project would need a lot of masking !!!!

 

 

 

 

Here she is basking in the sunshine outside my `erecting shed` in her first coat of GWR cream.

 

 

I have learnt the hard way , that you need to leave each finished coat of paint at least a five day week before re-masking for the next.

 

 

You also need to use quality masking products.

 

For this project I needed to mask for the GWR Cream, Chocolate, White and Black, so that took one month in summer !!!

 

 

In the 1930`s some of these Railcars had either a two shades of white roof, or as in this model a central black painted section.

 

 

 

 

 

Then it was out with the lining pen and transfers..........

 

Don`t you just hate being watched while you work?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well having purchased HMRS GWR coach pressfix decals I was annoyed that there are not enough to complete two sides of a railcar !!!!!

 

 

 

 

I used plasticard strip to fabricate the wooden slatted blinds that you can just make out in photos.

 

 

I also used plasticard for the white sun shades on the driving end windows.

 

 

I prefer to use Yorkmodels Acrylic Clear glazing sheets..... expensive but very easy to scribe, snap and shape. Affixed to the model with Glu`n Glaze.

 

 

A final coat of satin varnish and more plasticard fabrication for the roller blinds fitted to the windows in the 1930`s.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have now fitted her with DCC Sound.