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Silver Machine (Once upon a time!) The story of a resurrected Airfix Brake Van

46444

Entry posted by 46444

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Well fans of Ozzy and Hawkwind will be familiar with the title. Once more this has nothing to do this 1970's rock outfit. (He says listening to this song ;) )

 

Recently a mate of mine was given a box of old Hornby/Lima locos and rolling stock (Tat ;))including a Hornby Ivatt 2MT 2-6-0 and a Lima GWR Railcar which had seen better days. More of these in future instalments ;). Some of the tat was kit built including few Cooper Craft GWR wagons and a rare SILVER and BLACK Airfix BR Brake van. It looked like it belonged to the LMS 10000 test train-except for the thick gloss paint. However, as with many things in life looking beneath the surface revealed a suitable project to add to the ever expanding work bench.

 

I was already building an Airfix brake van and fancied doing an unfitted version. A soak in Mr Muscle oven cleaner removed the silver/black livery and work commenced. Both of these brakes were treated the same.

 

Firstly the moulded handrails were removed and holes drilled or wire replacements. The same applied for lamp irons which were bent up from scrap etch or staples trimmed. The door and window frames in the verander were thinned down as well. The step boards were filed from behind to help them sit more closely and the stays were thinned down as well.

 

It is well documented that Airfix got the chimney and roof vents in the wrong place. I corrected this using some spare Cambrian vents and aluminium tubing.

 

The buffer heads where replaced with turned H & A Models ones and both brakes run on Bachmann wheels I had to hand.

 

I soldered the horizontal handrail to the two verticals by tinning the ends of the horizontal piece, positioning it and holding it in place with Blu-tac before soldering in to place. Believe it or not it was the first time I did this. No burnt fingers or melted plastic (I placed a small piece card behind the vertical handrails)

 

After a coat of primer the chassis was finished with Tamiya Nato black. I pre-shaded the brakes as well. Colours used include Tamiya JN Grey, Dark Earth and Hull Red. Vallejo acrylics were also used .

 

Then they both received a coat of Johnsons Klear ready for decals. I will use Crystal-Clear for the windows. I'll update on these soon.

 

I'm pleased with the results so far and it goes to show how well the Airfix Brake Van kit can scrub up.

 

blogentry-7584-0-71303200-1349383207_thumb.jpg

 

blogentry-7584-0-51009500-1349383277_thumb.jpg

 

Also I received this confirmation from Narrow Planet that the custom nameplates for the Sentinels will be with me soon. Now do I keep the Sentinels black or respray them green?

 

blogentry-7584-0-82336400-1349383509.png

 

Also the Hornby Ivatt 2MT has had a thorough going over. It is awaiting a new chimney and buffers and I will post a photo soon! :) Finescale it is not!

 

Cheers,

 

Mark

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Guest Max Stafford

Guest Max Stafford

Posted

Those vans have turned out well and it really does show that this fifty year old kit has 'still got it'!

 

Lovely work.

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  • RMweb Gold
bcnPete
  • RMweb Gold

Agreed!

 

Never realised it was 50 years until Max mentioned it. Guess these will sit nicely against the Airfix tank wagons you have been working on.

 

Very nice work Mark and shows that small details of buffers, lamp irons and handrails etc can bring an older kit in line with todays r-t-r offerings.

 

Nice paint jobs too :yes:

 

Bring that kettle on ;)

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D869

Hi Mark - nice work. Always like to see old (but good) models upgraded to modern standards.

 

Regards, Andy

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BlackRat

They scrub up well.

 

I still have loads of unmade Airfix kits and they are as good as anything produced today (Dapol! ;) )perhaps they lack a little finesse, but thet go together well and pay dividends for a little tarting up.

 

Nice vans there!

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jwealleans

You're not wrong about that kit and the older ones are better to build as the nasty bendy plastic Dapol use these days isn't as easy to work with.

 

If you fancy a bit of variety they're also dead easy to backdate to an LNER version. I've done one and Mikemeg has (I think) four completed ones on his workbench thread.

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  • RMweb Gold
46444
  • RMweb Gold

Thanks to everyone for there replies. I'm planning on doing some more work on them this evening-applying numbers/lettering etc.

 

Hi Mark - nice work. Always like to see old (but good) models upgraded to modern standards.

 

Regards, Andy

 

Thanks Andy, Wait till you see the Ivatt! :)

 

 

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  • RMweb Gold
46444
  • RMweb Gold

 

Bring that kettle on ;)

 

Sadly the missing parts of the jigsaw never turned up today in the post.

 

Nevertheless it will be worth the wait! :)

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davidbroad

Where are the vacuum pipes on the fitted one? It's actually a very good model, especially the duckets and the windows which give that "See through" almost greenhouse like end view. I made a hybrid Airfix superstructure on a mainlne chassis for my garden line as the Airfix chassis just isn't robust enough for serious running.

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  • RMweb Gold
46444
  • RMweb Gold

Good point David re: the vacuum pipes. They will appear in due course and once I've got the decals sorted.

 

Cheers,

 

Mark

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