Entry posted by Pugsley
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With the oil terminal on the forthcoming layout, I decided it would be a good idea to have a Railfreight Petroleum 37 or two on the roster for bringing the oil trains in. A search of fotopic found this photo of 37890 at Guildford in 1991:
http://crumb.fotopic.net/p49489748.html
Given that it's not a million miles from where the layout is set and the year is spot on, 37890 was decided upon. Research indicated that the Bachmann model of 37672, one of the first releases of the all-new refurb 37, was the ideal starting point as the grilles are the same (37891 was another possible candidate).
The work required is minimal, two bodyside windows need their frames shaving off and the apertures filling. Other, smaller, apertures also need to be filled. I'm adding the new Shawplan/Extreme Etchings parts to mine to change the cooler group fan grille and windscreen surrounds. I'll also be swapping the buffers for Hornby parts as the Bachmann ones are too spindly and I'll also be putting a Replica high-intensity headlight on the front to replace the undernourished Bachmann one. Horns from NNK complete the body modifications.
The chassis requires minimal work, the bogie sideframes need to be cut away and remounted slightly higher, the ride height seems OK. The loco will also be converted to EM with Black Beetle wheels.
A repaint will follow, although it's pretty straightforward as the model was already in Transrail grey.
Progress so far:
The windsceen etch is attached by with cyano adhesive. The etch is very thin, so doesn't need to be recessed into the shell - the windcreen panel is obviously a separate panel on the real thing as well. The next job here is to file the plastic back to the same profile as the etch for the flushglazing, which will be fitted after painting.
The fan grille comes in two parts, the mesh surround and the securing ring, much as the real thing. The Bachmann etched grille needs to be removed, and the moulded outer surround carefully removed. I gently shaved it off with a scalpel and finished off with a fine file.
The area where the ring was will need to be painted to match the roof - Railmatch acrylic Exec Dark Grey is a good enough match for this. Carefully line the mesh up with the hole - it goes to the edge of where the moulded surround used to be, taking care to get the mesh square.
Once in the correct position, put a small drop of cyano on one of the four 'corners' and wait for it to dry. Once this is secure, small drops can be placed in the three remaining 'corners' to secure the mesh fully.
The securing ring is very fragile and is best pre-rolled to the roof profile before fitting. I did this with a bit of 8mm tube on a pad of folded kitchen roll. As before, I ran a thin film of cyano along the central rib of the ring and put it in position, making sure it was square. Once this has dried, a thin film of glue an be run along the outer edges of the sides, with an old scalpel blade, and the grille pressed into place.
This shows the apertures that need to be filled, the window is the biggest and all of the remaining footsteps around the engine room access door. This is the same both sides.
I've got a day off today, so hopefully more updates later!
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