Well, in between the showers I got the brown paint on - thanks to Brian at Shawplan for letting me pop round on Friday and pick up some stocks. Why is is I always spend at least an hour chatting???
anyway here's a pic
Next is to see if I can paint the black raised areas then flood the cream in the recesses, but that's not until the brown is well and truly dry.
Sorry Moz, I used grey primer ......
I recently installed a copy of Photoshop Elements (bought as a present for SWMBO ages ago but never installed) and as I'd fitted a bigger Stay Alive capacitor to the Zimo sound chip I tought I'd have a go at doing an "X-ray" cutaway type shot to show just where everything fits.
Thanks to Andy Y for his guidance I managed a half decent image
Need to practice a LOT more with the magnetic lasso tool, I got a bit bored with it towards the rear of the tender. It would have been nice to h
So with some cardboard and UHU glue the new floor and partitions were fashioned
After a few coats of white paint it's ready to add a few interior details
The GWR coach cream was airbrushed on last night, so while that hardens in readiness for the brown (yes, I know camping coaches were green and cream, but the SK that www.railholiday.co.uk have is brown and cream) I thought that some form of rudimentary buffers needed to be sourced.
The coaches bought from Blackrat of this parish both came without the standard Lima offerings, so from my bit box we have some 8mm lengths of Chuppa Chups lolly stick (kids are useful after all!) and common all ga
Armed with nothing more than a few paperclips, scraps of card and Post-It notes two bunk beds have been fabricated for the other two bedrooms
and here they are in place
a couple of ladders might be an idea, wonder if OO Britannia tender ladders will fit .....
Keen eyes will also spot the livery change to choc and cream, if I have the transfers I'll brand it as a BR FK W13227
After getting the body and chassis together the next step was to sort out the tender coupling/drag box area. I filed 1mm off the sides of the chassis at the rear and then cyano'd a 1mm piece of plastikard over the top. A suitable hole drilled in this allowed a shoulder screw to hold the chassis in place and also provide the pivot for the Britannia tender coupling.
frame extensions were then fabricated to fill the gaps and a new plate was cut from 10 'thou brass as the Bachmann one did n
sad I know, but I made a list of things to do to finish the loco - 14 things, so that's two weeks if I only do one a day - eeeek!
so here was the kitchen table workbench last night
The chassis is ready for primer, as is the front bogie having cut off the front section of the Hornby lump and drilling to take a self tapper to hold a Bachmann small coupling in place.
The bodyshell is almost done, I still need to add the screen/window that does behind the driver's seat. I
At long last the eBay seller has come back on line and I was able to order the sofas for the living room. I've not had to wait that long for the real thing
anyhoo, a couple of snaps of them in place in front of the TV ready for occupants
Just waiting now for Black Cat Tech to finish getting married/moving house (bless) and then I'll fit one of his lovely universal lighting kits to the roof
All the detailing done, bits missing from the second hand chassis fabricated and so, good weather permitting, some paint should fall on the loco body this weekend.
Plates are on the way from Narrow Planet (thanks Steve!) so hopefully next week I should have some pics of the loco in ex-works condition before I try to weather it
In between fitting window sill and skirting to the bathroom I managed to get some satin black on the body
Buffer beam to repaint and get the methfix numbers on next methinks
OK, took a bit of time with the rotary tool to hack away the underside of the boiler to make room for the new motor, but it's back together
As you can see, the motor is pretty visible, I'm going to paint it matt black first to see how it looks, failing that some new thin false sides can be fitted to hide it above footplate level at least.
Old Lenz Standard decoder has been found and pressed into service. Hopefully now a mainstay of the Fourgig East operating fleet. Just not ve
Last night I got the roof drilled and the fixing strip drilled and tapped 8BA to take the threaded roof lamps. Next I got on with the end detailing - steps one end and brake gear the other, plus all the lamp irons etc
I also applied some Squadron White filler to the edge of the roof - the kit was second hand and whoever had cut the roof from the sprue had been a bit over zealous and the edge was ragged to say the least (sorry Ian if it was you ) hopefully it will clean up ok, if n
Bit of a jump forward, but all the detailing is now done on the body and this morning I masked off the windows and got a few coats of grey primer on
Now baking off in the sun. Should get the bits that will be yellow masked off and the brown on later
Last night I managed to get the LEDs and push buttons fitted to the pcb and then fitted the front panel.
The front panel was tricky and takes time to get anything like right. A bit disappointing that the legend for the rotary controls does not line up fully. Something not quite right in the print methinks.
Anyway, here it it ready for the next stage which is completing the electronics.
I have another 8F to do a sound fitting so I thought i'd show how I fit the excellent ABS-230 speaker in the tender
First remove the weight and prise off the plastic supports. using a razor saw cut down the rear weight fixing pillar flush. Drill some holes in front and behind the centre wheels. Cement in two small fillets of 1mm plastikard to seal the bottom of what will be the output chamber for the speaker - a couple of nicks in the corners will allow the pickup wires to pass through.
Well I am steadily gathering parts together. Big thanks to Lord Flashheart for donating TWO spare drive bogies - I now have loads of possibilities should I need more traction
I've also taken delivery of some A1 Models air horns and some lovely sprung buffers from NMRS-Models.
The cleaning up of the bodyshell is continuing and I'm thinking of how to attach the roof now that the fixing holes have been filled in - I would prefer to retain the removable roof rather than bond it in place as
