big jim's workbench...onto figures and buildings

[big jim]

Changed the bar between the SGT coaches, made it and the laser barrel shorter

 

 

 

And back to the TRU to paint the front cameras etc, refitted the glazing, sharpie'd the door rubbers, white handrails etc

 

[big jim]

And the other end, slightly different to the one I'd already done

 

 

A work colleague pointed out there are cameras in the snowploughs at that end so I added them with a small square of plastistruct

 

And painted up

 

The black band on the lower end is also different on the 2nd end

 

Both cab ends practically finished, unit wise just need to refit the windows on the 2nd coach, then i can add it to the decal pile

[Pete Harvey]

To be perfectly honest Jim your model looks better than Nigel Burkin's rendition.

 

Well done that man. 

[big jim]

To be perfectly honest Jim your model looks better than Nigel Burkin's rendition.

 

Well done that man.

You will notice how I've not taken pics of the side directly on though!

[luke the train spotter]

Looks amazing.

[Pete Harvey]

You will notice how I've not taken pics of the side directly on though!

 

No I stand by my comment Jim your 950 looks better & more realistic than Nigel's model you have done a great job.

 

We have talked before about your skills set and difficulties with modeling and you have done a great job with this model.

[big jim]

The coupling bar between the SGT coaches didn't work, not quite enough swing left to right so I think I'll probably revert to small tension locks instead

 

Anyway had a look at the laser barrel again, V3 this time, mounted on a backing plate

 

But this time with 8 individual strands of .7mm fibre optics treading though holes in the barrel

 

Heat shrink over it (still to be shrunk)

 

Then experimented with a red led armband I bought for £1 and stripped down

 

And voila

 

And placed loosely on the coach

 

 

So it works and looks good, just need to get it to work properly fitted up, I've ordered a function only decoder off eBay (cheap laisdcc one) so will use one function to light the LED and another to light up the coach interior with a spare Hornby light bar I have, (so that means I've now got to model the interior of this coach) Thankfully it's a lot simpler layout than Mentor!

Edited September 29, 2017 by big jim

[luke the train spotter]

That looks great! So much detail goes into your work and that is something I have never seen modelled before.

[big jim]

Thanks, I've not really gone into 'big detail' before but I am enjoying doing the yellow stuff, I can't think of much more rolling stock wise I want to model so I think I'm going to concentrate on detailing up some of the stuff I've already done

 

I've got the NMT to Holyhead on Thursday so I'm gonna grab some interior shots and draw up some plans to do all those coaches

[luke the train spotter]

Sounds good. Just an idea but would it be worth doing a panoramic photo of the interior of the coach then printing it off to scale size before adding all the separately fitted details such as computer screens?

[big jim]

Bit of time in the shed earlier, back to the SGT

 

First up was fitting contacts to the bogies

 

And wired up

 

Quick test with a Hornby light bar

 

Then added a function only decoder, one function for the lights and the other will be for the led for the laser drum

 

Of course lights means interior!

 

Got to add the seats to the desk and a few to also the other side of the partition wall, rather than make them as I did with mentor I've bought some 1:75th scale ones off eBay which hopefully should do the job

 

And with the lights on

 

 

At the other end of the coach I've made a box that will hold the decoder and red led, I've taken the wire off the lighting bar for now and will add a micro connector to it so I can remove the body from the chassis if required

 

The real coach has an equipment box at this end but it's a lot smaller, to small to scale down and be able to fit a decoder inside!

 

The box will also have the laser barrel attached for the same reason of being able to remove the body but also the bottom of the body was damaged by my cack handedness when I tried to get a previous superglued on barrel off so I cut it away and fitted the 'filler' to the box instead of the body into which the barrel will be mounted

 

 

 

I've ordered a prewired 12v red led so will finish the box and barrel fitment when that arrives and I wire it in as well as painting the inside

 

Oh yeah, while thinking of what DCC address to assign to the coach I came up with 567 as it looks a bit like SGT on the lenz handset screen!!

Edited October 8, 2017 by big jim

[big jim]

Various connectors, led's and gubbins arrived today to get the SGT a bit more done

 

12v red led and micro connectors

 

The red led attached to function 1 for the laser barrel

 

And the lighting bar working off function 2

 

Led shoved up some heat shrink along with the fibre optics from the barrel

 

Laser glazed the coach as well

 

Much better looking

 

Cut a hole in the end of the carriage for the barrel

 

Glued in place

 

And lit up, also added the micro connectors to the lighting bar wires, the female version on the bar itself so I can remove the body if needed

 

And put together

 

I have prototypically only lit one half of the coach, I cut the lighting bar down a bit and blanked out one of the leds too

 

And in the train

 

Next bit is the seats and tables when they arrive from china then paint it up

[big jim]

One for the DCC experts out there, can I adjust the brightness of the 2 functions on this coach via CVs, I'd like the red laser brighter and the coach lights dimmer if possible, any advice on what CVs to play with

[sdw7300]

One for the DCC experts out there, can I adjust the brightness of the 2 functions on this coach via CVs, I'd like the red laser brighter and the coach lights dimmer if possible, any advice on what CVs to play with

Hi Jim. I’ve always changed the resistors to adjust the brightness of LED’s but looking at the manual for the Laisdcc decoder (I think that’s what you’re using), CV64 allows you to dim lights. See page 8 of the manual http://laisdcc.com/LaisDcc_Decoders_Manual.pdf.

 

But it looks like CV64 controls the brightness of all 4 functions so might not allow individually adjust.

 

HTH

[big jim]

I'll give that cv a tweak and see what happens, thanks

 

I've bought some more plasticard today to do the NMT interior, got some pics last week (although I am on it tomorrow as well) and I plan to make a start on it at the weekend

 

Of course that now means I'll have to also do the inside of the UTU, PLP and TRC coaches too, I'm not going to over complicate the NMT with DCC decoders in the coaches, just light them from the track voltage

 

I got some tiny powerful magnets last week that I plan to use to hold the roof's down on the Lima mk3s as laserglazing them has meant I've had to cut the mounting lugs off roof, at least if the roofs are easily removable I can showcase the detailed insides should anyone want to see them

Edited October 11, 2017 by big jim

[big jim]

Me and my bright ideas!!

 

Let's do the interior of the NMT he says........

 

bits arrived today to make a start, took the roof off the first coach to have a look only to realise that with the laser glaze fitted I can't get the standard Lima interior out of the coach

 

Ended up having to push the glazing out from the inside which of course meant the PH designs etched window frames came with them too, luckily only attached using glue and glaze so a simple removal but leaving the bodyshell looking rough, was going to be a pain to patch paint so I though what the hell lets start again

 

I've ended up dunking the coach and separated etches In the IPA to strip it back to bare plastic/metal to start again from scratch, will have to fit the laserglaze to it before I repaint it though, mask it off both sides with low tack masking tape

 

Regards the interior(s) I'm going to make it narrow enough to refit with the glazing in situ

 

As I say other bits arrived today as well, I've got a set of DCC concepts wiper pickups so i can get power to the interior lighting, some surface mount LEDs on a tiny pcb which will mount in the underframe of 993 and 994 to act as 'milepost lights' (similarly I'll add some to the UTU when I get round to that)

 

Unfortunaly work is getting in the way of modelling at the moment, having to drive the real NMT instead of playing with the model one, still lots of chances of prototype interior pics to be had!

[big jim]

I had a look at the other NMT coaches regards the interiors, I think I may get away with just having to strip the one I already have as others I'd yet to glaze or I'd not put the Lima interiors back in to them and they look pretty decent so it would be a shame to strip them for the sake of it

 

So looking at the inside of 993 and 994 coaches, they are virtually identical apart from 994 has a store room one end and 993 has equipment racks the whole of the centre of the same end, both have desks in the centre with workstations

 

I've made the bases 2.7cm wide with outriggers at both ends so it slides in between the windows and doesn't move left to right

 

Drawn out

 

Just desktop and chairs to add

 

And in situ with desks, have to get some thin strip to put vertically on the equipment racks to represent individual computer modules

[steve shorrock]

Looking good Jim

[big jim]

The tiny chairs arrived today from China

 

Added to the NMT interior and other bits finished off such as the computer racks and cabinets

 

And primed up

 

 

Did the SGT interior too

 

Stripped the next coach interior, only had to take a couple of windows out and reglue a couple of frames

 

The 2nd almost matching coach was a bit more troublesome, actually snapped the bodyshell around the windows trying to get the interior out so I ended up plastic welding it back in place and changing the metal etch blank for a piece of plasticard with gaps filled with putty (idea nicked from newbryford!)

 

Also primed the window frames to go back on 977993 coach

 

Going to top coat them on the board then glue them in place with glue and glaze once the laserglaze is in place in the coach

 

Marked up the interiors for the NMT genny coaches, they are practically similar again, just a slightly different seating arrangement which given the width of the base I have to work from I may not be able to replicate

 

 

I also hand painted the yellow on 977993 but I may have to rub it down once dry as it's gone on a bit rough, it's not too bad but not brilliant

Edited October 22, 2017 by big jim

[big jim]

Finished off the 2 Genny coach interiors, slightly different seating arrangement on them

 

Major painting session coming up soon!

 

With this one to add to it, this is the conference car, former test coach 10, this one is a Hornby coach so does not have a removable roof, shame as this is the most intricate of the coaches, luckily there is a full compliment of windows down one side of the coach so once illuminated you should be able to see the detail inside (I flipping hope you can after 3 hours of work!)

 

Seating area, office, serving hatch/kitchen area

 

Conference area

 

As a whole

 

And primed, there are some clear 'glass' panels to add when it's dry

 

Then the last thing I looked at was coach 993 that if stripped down to repaint and reglaze, with the laserglaze in place I was looking at refitting the frames with glue and glaze but Now they are fitted im thinking of leaving the frames off as it doesn't look too bad without?

 

So as I say an interior painting afternoon is needed and also a wiring afternoon to get the coaches illuminated, both internally and depending on the vehicle externally too

[luke the train spotter]

Always impressed with your skills and progress and dedicated attention to detail.

[big jim]

Thanks, enjoying doing the extra bits on the NMT, adds another dimension to it

 

Painted the interiors

 

One of them in place

 

Then had a look at 977993

 

Stripped down the chassis

 

Got some DCC concepts pick ups

 

And fitted them to the bogies of the coach, put one on each bogie to get good pick up

 

But That's for later on when I fit the decoder to the coach, going to fit a decoder to each coach

 

Before I do that I needed to do a bit of work to the chassis, cut part of the skirting off

 

Added a piece of channel in its place

 

 

Into which I've fitted 2 12v surface mount LEDs

 

Powered up from the track so a bit bright, will be dimmer when powered through the decoder

 

Similarly the interior lights powered from the track for now

 

 

 

Got some Bachmann passengers to add, need to give them hi-viz gear though

 

Hopefully I can get some very fine wire to get the decoder in place this week and get it wired up properly, this coach will have interior lights and track inspection lights, maybe pantograph lights too (but I've never seen them lit on the real thing)

 

977994 will have interior lights and milepost marker lights below the solebar, The other coaches will just have interior lights fitted

[ess1uk]

Great work there Jim

[luke the train spotter]

Amazing! I have seen that coach on a network rail train before I and I'd love to model it. Great to see someone else modelling it.

Edited November 1, 2017 by luke the train spotter

[JDW]

Excellent work on the interiors Jim, and interesting to see the what the interiors of the coaches actually look like too.