Entry posted by Jon020
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I thought that it was about time that I provided a brief update covering my limited progress since my last post.
I started trying to knock up some marker light (tail light) housings to add to the bases already added. My first attempts involved some 0.8mm wire inserted into a short length of thinned 2mm dia plastic rod, which was then inserted into the chuck of my mini drill (and used lathe like) to turn it down to the required shape using a sharp blade. First attempts all failed, so a different approach was attempted after other RMwebbers offered suggestions of trying fibre optic cable, the sheath of which could be thinned down. I seriously looked into this, and would attempt this if I planned to use working lights, but I’d already decided to keep this light-free due to the perceived difficulty of changing the solid plastic headcode panel to an illuminated one… and the fitting of light units was a skill that I thought I’d leave to another day… this novice can only try and self-learn so much in one go.
Second attempt: I took the roundest cross section rod I could find and inserted a 2†length of it into the mini drill chuck… supporting just the rod, rather than the wire the rod was inserted into (per last time) was much more successful in keeping the rod central with the drill rotating. First of all, a 0.7mm hole was carefully drilled through the centre of the rod (for the light); then with the rod rotating at speed, I used a fine file and fine-grade “sandpaper†to cut a chamfer into the end to approximately 2/3 of the remaining outside diameter towards the hole. Some later sanding back made this a bit blunter per prototype photographs. Now the tricky bit: With a sharp blade, I sliced into the spinning rod about 1.5mm behind the front face to cut it off as cleanly as possible. That was the plan… and several of the attempts worked… some didn’t. It didn’t matter – I had plenty of rod length to finally get 4 reasonable ones. Then, I glued a short length of 0.6mm wire (loose fit) into the back end of the housing… sitting just back from the front edge of the housing, protruding about 3 or 4mm aft. The front will represent the base for the “lens†to be painted in later, and the aft section allowed an anchor to the 0.6mm hole then drilled through the lamp bases on the loco… and then pushed home, orientated and glued in place. A very small (and I mean small) piece of chamfered plasticard was then carefully glued in place above the marker lens to simulate the lens housing hinge; a drop of glue to the bottom of the housing was used to simulate the catch. Hopefully, with a layer of primer, it’ll look ok… time will tell.
After a short break “up northâ€, I decided to try and get on a bit more with this model recognising that work travel will soon be getting in the way of evening building. I therefore decided to have a go at the buffer shanks.
The Bachmann examples aren’t bad (if you’re going to do an early green loco), but for later models, they are a bit slim. They were changed on the locos in the 60s (can’t remember when – must check Steve Strange’s Deltic De-Mythology again). There are a number of options to choose here, but I went for Hornby Class 50 units (Abbiegails). These were disassembled and the shanks cut back a bit (rear half turned down a bit using the mini drill and scalpel blade again. The existing shanks were cut off close to the body and filed back to flush with the cowlings, then drilled out and filed out to accept the buffer shank. Before fitting, the new shank was fitted with extreme-etch checker plate footstep and buffer fitting blanking plates, then inserted true and carefully glued in place from behind.
The next task was to take a quick break from the nose ends and have a look at the central roof section. The aforementioned book (a great resource for any Deltic modellers) revealed that both 55020 and 55021 didn’t go into service with the original boiler exhaust; they had the bifurcated exhaust from new. Therefore, the ob-round blanking plate forward of the exhaust towards the No. 2 end (No. 1 exhaust?) wouldn’t be there. As I’ve decided to do another Nimbus – as a replacement for my original conversion (anyone looking for a OO Nimbus?) I needed to remove that plate – which was duly filed and sanded back… quite trick in the confines afforded. The other exhausts and ports were sanded back partially and topped off with extreme etch parts.
Aren’t close up photos cruel!
Then, going back to the nose ends, I decided to fit the exhauster access panel (No. 1 end)… carefully removing this from its etch sprue – very carefully sanding this back – the edge piece is very fine. This was glued in place with careful alignment against the original location of the fire pull surround and cab data panel.
I decided to give the bonnet top doors a go. These are three part etches. The lower part needs to be carefully shaped (a bit) to follow the remaining curve of the bonnet top)… glued in place. Some slow-set super glue would be useful here to allow repositioning – I must get some! The rear catch then needs to have the triangular ends bent up – check prototype pictures and you’ll see what I mean. I my add a little wire between the two pieces – but haven’t attempted this yet – it’d be a very small piece to not loose!
The two upper pieces must also be carefully removed from their carrier and profiled to shape… then glued in place, trying to leave a fine gap between them and aligning the hinge bars. Some cleaning up before painting will probably be necessary.
I next gave the lower headcode brackets a go. These extreme etch offerings are really quite small and fold up nicely to represent the quite intricate shape of the brackets which can take a long board between then dropped into the slot from above. A small hole was drilled in the from end to take the bracket’s tab and carefully glued in place, having previously applied some zap-a-gap to the inside of the etch to hold it together – applied with a cut down cocktail stick (sharp blade to sharpen end such that it produces a brush-like tip to apply ultra fine applications of glue). I think that these look very nice… after painting will reveal any mistakes I’ve made (hopefully not many – gulp)
(All - see top photo)
Whilst I need to get some more etches from Brian, the ones I’ve fitted so far were quite straightforward… although a small instruction sheet may be of use to some of the more complex ones – but I’ve had no problems so far.
I need to crack on and get some more cutting done as I’d forgotten about the sanding covers on the body side and the water filler blanking panel… which I’ll tackle soon. I’m enjoying the results of fitting the new pieces… although the preparation to get to this point has been found to take longer than originally thought… but this project is seeing me trying to work out what to do… hopefully the next one will be quicker.
Oh, and I found a use for my Model Rail bits box ;-)
Comments, as always, welcomed.
[Edit - added exhauster panel photo]
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