74009

Hi all, It's a long, long time since I posted an update on this - progress has been very slow for an assortment of reasons, but I'm hoping to get back to it in earnest soon - maybe I can beat KR Models! Below is a link to a short video of the unit on test, at the Chatham and district Model Railway Club. Stuart https://www.flickr.com/photos/74009/53570214438/in/dateposted-public/

Hi Mike / Darius, In this case the hole positions are not marked at all so it's just a case of drilling through the full thickness (and it's particularly thick!) brass. When the new drills arrive I'm thinking about preparing by supporting the back of the etch on an anvil or something then tapping it firmly from the front with a hammer on a sharp object to create a divot to work from. I can't remember where the drill bits came from - they were just 'in a box'. The new ones I've ordered are a mixture of steel and tungsten carbide, and some have the 3mm shank. Best regards Stuart

After what seems like a whole weekend of filling, filing and sanding, the fit of the roofing is now like this. I think that's about as good as I'm going to get it, although it will be much easier to see if there are any major issues once a coat of primer has been applied. I started drilling out for the door handles but, with the brass being so hard and thick, I snapped 3 drills and achieved a total of 2 holes. More drills, of a couple of different types, on order; fortunately the number of doors isn't huge. I'll also fit all the roof detail before priming - drilling here will be much easier as the aluminium is very soft - plus the holes will be bigger.

Hi all, A long overdue return to the 4DD. I had set it to one side temporarily, awaiting inspiration, because I was struggling with the roof sections - I'd tried curving brass to the right diameter and also made some attempts with plastikard but all methods failed. A couple of other projects therefore came in between (a class 119 DMU, now finished, and a prototype HST 252001 - this is not finished, but I'm past all the difficult bits and I'll put a thread up about that soon). Recently I was rummaging through a drawer of assorted bits and pieces looking for something to use as a floor and I came across some thin pressed aluminium roof sections. They were in a box of things I'd been given by an elderly friend when he'd decommissioned his model railway a couple of years back - they were quite pliable and I wondered whether they might solve my 4DD problems. I carefully marked a couple out and cut them from end to end, retaining only the central section, then shaped them to match the profile of the DD. Once in place I secured them with rubber bands and then poured a puddle of epoxy resin inside which has completely sealed up everything, roof, sides and ends. They have actually fitted pretty well - a couple of gaps to fill and sand, but the whole structure is nice and rigid now so I'll do the same with the centre cars. I've also fitted a Replica Railways powered chassis into one of the centre cars, which you can see in the middle picture. For this particular application the workings of it are actually a tiny bit high and are visible through the lower deck windows, but I'm going to see if I can get away with it with some compartment walls and seats shaped to fit over it. If that's not possible I can easily remove it and find another motorisation method. I'm challenging myself to get this finished by the end of February, as I want to enter it in a competition on 28th.

My No1 choice for the next release would be Pinza in early 1978 condition - it was shortly ex-works and was bulled up to work the 'Man of Kent' railtour on 26th March 1978. It could even be supplied with the headboard and flags :) Another good choice would be D9000 in its late 90s condition when it regularly worked the Birmingham - Ramsgate for Virgin trains.

Hi Fran, Congratulations on the Deltics - they really are amazing. I'm looking at renumbering my late 70s 'MELD' to represent 'PINZA', and in your earlier post demonstrating removing the printed numbers, you mentioned "a mix of 99.9% IPA and a 6% water dilution". Does this mean mostly IPA with a little (6%) of water in it or the other way around, mostly water with 6% IPA added? Thanks and best regards Stuart

This is the current state of play, with the cab fronts fitted and frames added around the opening cab window and the headcode. I quite liked the way that MTK dealt with the inset guard's doors - very easy to form and fit. I'm considering now how I'm going to motorise this as it's pretty heavy - I'm hoping to be able to use a Replica motorised chassis if I can get one to fit.

Thanks Mike. Many years ago I was offered a job as a full time modelmaker by a shop that I used to do the occasional commission for. At the time it wasn't the right thing for me and I also thought that if I was going to do that, it might be something to do independently rather than for an employer. Maybe it'll be something to fall back on if I get made redundant, as I do tend to get things done quite quickly and doing it full time would increase output further. As well as what's listed above I've also made good progress with models of the prototype HST 252001, an S.R. 'Z' class and a Craftsman Models class 119 DMU. I'll put a thread up soon about the HST. Stuart

Because of all the forming and hammering that's gone on, the top edges of the sides aren't entirely straight. To help with this I clamped and soldered an H shaped brass beam along the whole length. As well as adding strength there are two other benefits in doing this; firstly, I can cut a strip of plasticard of the correct width to slot into the sides of the H so that it forms a natural arch - this will be fairly strong and once it's in place I can glue it in and use it as a base to build up the roof on. The H strip can be clearly seen on the middle vehicle in the picture. The other side of the H will be above the upper deck windows so I can locate the glazing strip in this and put some kind of long bar below the lower deck windows to stand the bottom of the glazing strip on. By cutting the glazing strip to the correct size, it will clip in between the two locating bars and this will press it tightly around the curve inside, giving a flush glazed appearance to the curved upper windows without the glazing always trying to pop off and straighten out.

The end is slightly inset because I've got a thinner piece to us as an overlay which has the vertical ribs etched onto it. This will cover up my untidy soldering and if I use epoxy resin I'll have time to make sure that all the corners are nice and neat.

So, having got sidetracked with some other projects I'm finally back to the 4DD project, and there's been some progress. I soldered up one of the trailer coach bodies and it actually went together quite nicely.

Hi Halvarras, they were both fairly fast with their original Lima 33 motors. Both now have 6v CD motors and Zimo chips - with these chips you can regulate the maximum voltage sent to the motor using CV57 (60 = 6v, 55 = 5½v etc.) - so the top speed can be easily controlled using that CV without losing controllability across the rest of the speed range. I'd like to see a RTR class 74 - it was going to be done by DJ Models but sadly that never came to fruition. I suppose Hornby might consider it - they already have the 71 so they could use the same chassis and update the bodyshell.

Thanks Oliver. Yes there are plenty more MTK kits around here - the 4DD should be next to be finished and then I'm going to embark on a 6-car TransPennine DMU. Stuart

Hi OliverSR - if you do decide to re-home the Sheba I'd be interested in taking on the challenge Stuart

Having a bit of a sort out recently and I unearthed 71010 and 74009, which I built from MTK kits about 35 years ago. They each had a Lima 33 chassis so I've replaced the Lima armatures with CD motors and fitted 'Peter's Spares' wheels. Both now running nicely on DCC.