Greenmodelmonkey

I would recommend using white primer first before painting rods yellow and if you can mask off I would spray with Halfords white primer. I would follow up with yellow Matt enamel so that if things don't go well it can be removed with thinners or white spirit without damaging the white acrylic primer coat. Then have another go. I am assuming the painter is going to use brushes not an airbrush.

Well was it worth the wait and is the sound version good?

Careful though as i doubt if he will fit through the door (see my previous post about breaking door hinges and my Modelu figure is much thinner than big jim). I expect cab will have to be dismantled first to get most figures in without damaging the doors.

Dead easy as mine just disintegrated if you put any pressure on it. The rungs are held into ladder uprights by osmosis, or could be just the paint as they are not bonded in any way. The very tiny pins at either end of ladder and towards the top of ladder upright are pushed into brackets protruding from the body. These are held in a similar way. Just give ladder a slight wiggle and it will break the paint bond and should all start to disintegrate like mine did. It's almost I possible to reassemble once in bits (trust me I know!). Nice ladder poor assembly process.

Try this link which takes you to a kind chap who provides a very good article on how he has dismantled the loco right down to getting inside the cab (if you dare of course)... https://albionyard.wordpress.com/2016/11/23/wordless-wednesday-dapols-08/

Outstanding haha!

Hmmm... think he may will have to go back to engine shed for a rest and I will look for a replacement driver Still not happy that he broke the door hinge as he got into the cab. However I did get the Station Master to have a look and he said said hinge was very fragile in the first place and suggested others should be made aware of this. He also mentioned the door did not shut anyway as there is some mould flash which was not trimmed flush with door frame on this side of the loco during production phase. He said he had seen this before on the other locos purchased at same time from same batch. He said the other door shuts OK as there is no flash to prevent it from closing.

Very good idea thanks!

Errrr... know what you mean .....just checked his height and he is a scale 6'4" but his mate is 5'10" (the Station Master from 'Modelu'also). Hmmm.. 3D scanning does produce accurate renditions in all dimensions (I might have a word Modelu to see if print could be made a little shorter than the original chap was likely to have been in real life..). Failing that I could reduce him by a foot if I cut off his feet.

There is good news and bad news.... The good news I now have a driver in the cab the bad news is that the lower door hinge broke when he clambered in...

Yes thats how I did it to start with as there is nowhere to grip the roof due to the side handrails, think they may have dropped a clanger on roof removal. Far easier if you gently push in the body but make sure you don't push on the metal door grab handles located on the sides otherwise you risk pushing them into the body to far.

Has anyone had difficulty in taking the roof off as the only safe way to remove mine was to gently (or "gentry" as instruction say) squeeze sides of the loco body then pull roof upwards rather than squeezing the roof as the instructions state. When I eventually got the roof off I realised the clips were on the body with location lips facing outwards and location onto the roof sides so squeezing the roof makes it tighter to get roof off. I did get roof off by following instructions but realise it only came off because I was pulling so hard in order to overcome the clips which were being squeezed even tighter, gently squeezing did nothing. Has anyone found roof difficult to remove like me?

In the latest BRM magazine which reviews the new Dapol Class it looked as though the reason for the brass bushes is becoming more apparent.... It's a probably due to 3D parts on the side frames such as springs and axle boxes being underscale (i.e. no to scale depth) and bushes used to put connecting rods in the correct 'out board' position (something which will be lost if bushes are removed) I also suggest the side frames are not in the right place compared to the real thing (don't forget this is made for 32mm gauge not Scale 7 which could add a further 1mm to chassis width). Having said that I have no complaints as it's a stunning model and realise that we can't have everything absolutely correct at the price so there will be compromises which can be overcome in many ways as suggest on this forum. Keep up the good work all as its very interesting!

Yes agreed make the most of loco as it's taken out of the box with non evasive mods. I have just painted a nice 7mm scale 3D printed figure from 'Modelu' (not strictly a diesel driver but looked the best for the 1960's era and was probably a typical pose used now and again). Link to a very interesting new site and the chap I painted... http://www.modelu3d.co.uk/product/ws065-loco-crew-standing-with-hands-in-pockets/ For info primed him with white primer from Halfords first and used humbrol enamels for rest. I will upload photo of my chap latter.

I use..... https://www.amazon.co.uk/LITRE-Pharmaceutical-Isopropyl-Alcohol-Isopropanol/dp/B00WL8NHEA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1481301551&sr=8-1&keywords=ipa+isopropyl

Its fine for metal and plastics. No need not strip down just degrease bushes/washers with a cotton bud soaked in isopropyl then use chemical black solution you manage need to run in black solution with cotton bud several time to get depth of colour or use a black permanent marker (I find Sharpie pens are the best) then lightly oil using oil Dapol recomend in their instruction sheets. If you were worried about possible damage then suggest try on paints chassis underneath just to show its OK.

Be careful about the wear if you are thinking of removing brass bushes as die cast material against 'like-for-like' diecast material will wear quicker than if bushes were left in (or suggest put a thinner brass washer in place of the bush to minimise the risk). I will only change if I was to convert to S7 so will leave alone as I don't want to risk spoiling the loco.

If you decided to use C&L chairs then I can't see the point in sanding bottom of chairs really as reduction could be made on sleeper height only or use C&L sleepers which will then match Peco height height anyway there is about a 0,5 mm difference between Peco chair heights and C&L and Exactoscale chairs (Peco chair height is underscale to prototype by ~ 0,5mm or nearly a scale inch).

Peco chairs are crudely formed and not same as those on flexitrack chairs. Photo of chairs on Peco site are not a real photo of actual items. Also holes are provided to secure chairs to sleepers using pins which is just an old fasioned way of fixing to wooden sleepers. C&L chairs are more protypical but not perfect, Exactoscale are the Rolls-Royce standard but yoy still have to cut and modifiychairs for pointwork. In my recent experince buildings C&L point has become quiet expensive (in my opinion its far cheaper to buy and modifiy a Peco point than to scratch build).

C&L Finescale sell 7mm Ambis tiebars great product and very impressed with use of paxolin to create stretcher, highly recommended!

Suggest taking a look at post number 50 in the following link on this website to see what you can do with a peco 0 gauge point to make it operate more effectively and visually more prototypical after simple modifications. It also shows a comparison between a scratch built point using C&L and Exactoscale components but using Peco Code 125 rail as it fits these components better than the C&L bullhead rail.... http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/111464-gwr-scale-track-components/ The topic as whole is aimed at my experince in trying to build a GWR point, the issues I encountered and how I overcame them to produce both a finescale a scratch built version, a modified Peco point and how I achieved this. Hope you find it interesting!

Thought it would be easier to show photos of my points on this thread to help... Scratch Built 'USING Peco Code 124 RAIL' v Peco Modified (Note: Ambis stretchers not shown in these photos, they are being reworked, and yes I still have the odd angled sleepers, so no need to comment on this as I know... LoL) Hope the photos show what can be done to improve a Peco O gauge point to make it look more prototypical. When painted and weathered it should will look the part even further. It was quicker to modify than to scratch build (and cheaper) and I do still have a preference for my scratch built version. Again if you don't know the prototype in detail and are not as concerned about fidelity then it is good enough for most (I hope!). Hope you find photos interesting as a comparison.... IMG_0084_edited-1.jpg IMG_0083_edited-1.jpg IMG_0078.JPG IMG_0082_edited-1.jpg Attached Thumbnails IMG_0080_edited-2.jpg