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So apparently, I'm now heartless and cruel...

Skinnylinny

Entry posted by Skinnylinny

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Listeners who are listening may have seen my cunning plan blog entry about hacking about a Tomix Annie and Clarabel into decent representations of typical UK four-wheeled coaches. I was hoping for a fairly simple job - cut/file off the noses and faces, repaint and plonk on the layout. When they arrived, they were too tall, too wide, and wouldn't negotiate my curves without falling over. I hemmed and hawed before deciding to carry out my first "proper" piece of model bodging. Cue buying a saw and filler from work, and after repainting a body shell crudely in maroon to see what it would look like (placed on a hacked-about Peco chassis) I discovered that height-wise, the bodyshell is not actually that bad. The Tomix chassis raises the body quite a bit above "correct" height. This is how it looked:

 

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Hmmm, not bad at all. Just need to worry about the width now. CAUTION: What follows is a very detailed blow-by-blow account of how I did this - it was my first attempt as a complete beginner. With my newly-bought saw, I cut a long slit down the middle of each end (very roughly - the saw blade was very flexible (note to self: buy a better saw)) then hacked my way down the middle of the floor. A bit of tidying up of this, then I trimmed back the ends until I reached the edges of the middle panel at one end, then removed the corresponding amount from the other end with a scalpel and filing.

 

Once everything lined up nicely(-ish) I glued the two body halves together again with liquid poly, then carefully applied filler along the cracks. Being very careful with how it was applied, I managed to not destroy the beading detail on one end, although the other (smooth) end looked a little less neat - it was my first time dealing with filler!

 

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A little more filing and smoothing after the filler had set (in the bathroom, on the windowsill after complaints from my flatmates (that White Putty stuff has a fearsome smell and even worse warnings on the back of the tube!) led to this before-and-after shot with a somewhat worried-looking Annie seeing her eventual fate. (This is why I am apparently heartless! :P )

 

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A lick of paint (well, several light coats to cover the white-orange contrast of the filler) makes a huge difference, and I'll leave you with two views of the opposite ends of what used to be Clarabel:

 

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7 Comments

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Skinnylinny

I'll paint the inside - might add some interior detail too. I quite like the panelled end though! Ad if I wanted the ends to match, I'd have to add end windows, too... (although I could fill those in, they're a nice reminder of the origins of the coach :) ) I also have ideas now for a chassis based around two spliced Peco 15-foot brake van chassis (with footboards also hiding the lack of underframe detail), although I need to come up with a viable coupling method still...

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devondynosoar118

Lol! I would use Deluxe glazing fluid for the windows once interior work is complete. Was your filler a "milliput" style 2 part epoxy? If so I would recommend a single pack car body filler, used for covering small blemishes and usually sold in a small tube with a little spatula. Its easier to use and a bit less pongy!

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Skinnylinny

The coaches do actually come with moulded "semi-flush" glazing, which I'm trying to keep (although I managed to crack one of the pieces cutting it off the roof). However, glazing fluid is something that sounds interesting, as it would allow me to build the interior before glazing without having to leave space for thick clear plastic sheet... Also, the "White Putty" I used was a one-part filler, but stinks and apparently contains toluene. Actually using it wasn't difficult, just completely different from anything else I've done before in modelling...

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kiwinewt

Just got my set from Japan. For the kids sake I have to keep them as Annie and Clarabel... Doesn't mean I have to run them without seats and people though... Just done a bodge job with plasticard creating seats for Annie and soon be doing the same for Clarabel...

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Skinnylinny

kiwinewt: Do you not find that they clout your platforms? I had this issue, quite apart from the appearance. Would have been nice to have a Thomas set to run around, but I figured that I'd rather not have a scale 2-foot gap between the train and the platform, so decided to reduce them to a scale-ish size. Also, I suppose it reduces the liability of visitors to make the usual "Oh, you play with Thomas the Tank Engine toys?" comments - the layout is in my room, and my flatmates have permission to let people into my room if they show visitors around the flat, on the strict proviso that *nothing* on the model shelf or workbench is touched.

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