big jim's workbench...onto figures and buildings

[Scott]

Nice pics of your build Jim, I've picked up a few pointers for when mine starts! I came on here to see if anyone had put pictures of their build on but so far I've only seen yours.

[big jim]

Having a new kitchen in this week so after 5 days of total disruption including plumbers, electricians, kitchen fitter, Plasterer's I decided a few hours away from the house work was in order, up to my ears in woodwork so I decided to do a bit more on Mentor

 

Look no kitchen...

 

So to the shed, which by this time next week will have electricity when the electrician comes back to wire it, and the garage up

 

I masked off the top of the yellow and filled various gaps in the roof area with squadron putty

 

And rubbed it back once dry

 

Then gave the roof a coat of grey, ok I've got to add all the detail and pantograph etc but I wanted it to look like I'd done something for my time!

 

Also added black to the ends and fitted the Hornby gangway to one end

 

As I say detail to add to the top, pantograph to order from Pete (when I have some spare cash, bloody kitchen!) then maybe have a look at doing something with the interior

 

Hopefully mentor may be in derby RTC tomorrow, if so I'll try and grab a few pics while I'm on the shunt

[big jim]

Was thinking how to add the roof detail to mentor when I had a brain wave, raided the eldest's LEGO box and came out with these angled parts which when placed upside down with the hole filled and a tiny bit snipped off the back will make handy camera housings

 

[big jim]

Done a bit more on mentor

 

Filled the back of the LEGO blocks in with squadron putty

 

Strips of evergreen

 

And plastic rod

 

Jumper boxes

 

 

Lego piece in place and the generator exhaust

 

I had a couple of Dapol catenary masts in the shed from my old layout which I'm not going to be using on the new one so I thought I'd nick a few bits off them

 

Namely the insulators which I've fitted to the non pantograph end of the coach

 

Then I decided to swap the bogies for some Bachmann commonwealth type (not sure if they are prototypical but they look better than the Hornby ones)

 

 

Spot the problem!

 

So a quick hack about of the old bogies left me with the mounting pin!

 

Which once filed and smoothed I'll glue to the Bachmann bogies

 

Buffer height is quite close so once I run it down a touch it should be pretty close

 

Certainly coming on now, pantograph is ready with Pete harvey, just waiting for my cheque to clear!

 

Another nice addition to the test train (I can leave the genny van out of the mentor consist as it has its own)

[big jim]

 

Compare the pic above, chances of finding that this morning!

[big jim]

Patch painted the roof parts on Mentor and also replaced the water filler pipes for something a little bit thinner

 

 

 

 

Last week I found an O gauge modern loco detailing etch I bought about 12 years ago following a brief dalliance into O gauge, there are a lot of useful bits and bobs on there that will come in useful ever for OO gauge including some very fine mesh which will be ideal for the safety grilles over the roof windows and cover for the exhaust, hopefully I may get a bit of time to continue with it over the weekend

[newbryford]

 

Then I decided to swap the bogies for some Bachmann commonwealth type (not sure if they are prototypical but they look better than the Hornby ones)

 

 

Hi Jim,

MENTOR rides on B4s

 

Cheers,

Mick

[big jim]

Yeah, noticed that the other day, I've got a couple of spare Hornby coaches in my stock box that may have those bogies so I may do a swap (will still need to adapt them though)

 

One other thing I've noticed is body shell bows ever so slightly in the centre so when I try and fit the body to the chassis it isn't sitting right in the centre, it's not helped by the existing internal seating unit not fitting any more due to the low roof so to cure it I am going to have to make a new 'floor' from plasticard to push the sides out slightly (literally a MM or so) therefore if I'm going to do that I may as well detail the inside up too, I was going to put tinted windows on it but i think it would look good with work stations on view

 

I have also bought some tiny pre wired square surface mount LEDs that I'm planning on using on the roof as the pantograph spotlights

[big jim]

Bit more on Mentor

 

This is the I gauge detailing kit I found, also some class 47 cab kits

 

 

So, looking at bits I could use elsewhere, coupling hook plate

 

Turned around and glued to the Lego block

 

Touch of paint, and voila, the camera housing

 

Lifting lug plates? Now covers for the multi cable housing

 

Piece of mesh grille, bent around a paintbrush to make a heat cover for the exhaust

 

Fixed in place with glue and glaze so will dry clear

 

I then made a false floor which I glued to the chassis

 

And added some angle to the inside of the body shell, in patches as there are bits of original glazing I can't get off the body shell

 

The body now sits at the right height on the chassis and the floor slightly bends out the bowed in sides, the next job on that side of things is to make an interior as per the prototype

 

Mentor was in work today sat under the pantograph calibration tower so I managed to get a few photos of the pantograph and associated gubbins from roof height for when I fit that up, never thought to go inside and get some pics and a basic sketch of the internal layout

[big jim]

Mentor is now on new bogies, taken from under a Hornby ex airfix mk2 with metal wheels added

 

 

Also found a pic of a nice little train to model with mentor in the consist

 

https://flic.kr/p/WqAq4x

[virginhst539]

Reading this just makes me want to start mine, fantastic work

[big jim]

The pantograph arrived today from Pete so I'm going to crack in with that tomorrow with any luck

 

Also in work tonight I had Mentor in my train formation so I've got a load of pictures of the inside to begin modelling that too

[LongRail]

Jim,

I know you said you would not be able to publish the internal photos of mentor but do you think you could sketch out the layout

[virginhst539]

I'm sure they would have no problem with posting pics of the finished model interior. Pictures of the onboard equipment on the other hand might be a different story

[big jim]

That's the plan, not like I'm going to model each individual

bit of equipment (I'm not newbryford!)

 

It's going to be 'an approximation' of the layout

[newbryford]

That's the plan, not like I'm going to model each individual

bit of equipment (I'm not newbryford!)

 

It's going to be 'an approximation' of the layout

 

You haven't seen inside my yellow stuff - that's why it has tinted windows....

 

Mick

[big jim]

Lightweight!

[LongRail]

I was thinking more selfishly if you could sketch out the layout it would help us others who are modelling mentor.

[big jim]

Just follow this lot....

 

Basic floor plan drawn out in the chassis using the windows as a guide, the real coach is an old bsk and looking at my pics there are support columns throughout the coach which I recon were basically the rear compartment walls before stripping so I divided the coach up into blocks which were 24mm wide

 

Started with the toilet cubicle

 

Then the raised observation area in the centre

 

And the bigger one at the genny end

 

Then the kitchen area complete with sink

 

Then the worktop and lower desk

 

Desk at the business end, the 2 uprights line up with the wall between the windows hence why I think they must have been part of the old partition walls

 

Then 2 more uprights, again in line with the wall between the windows

 

Back to the middle for an equipment rack

 

 

Computer monitors at the desk

 

A bit of extra strengthening between the uprights and flatscreen tv on the bulkhead

 

Also added a thin sliver of plasticard around the tops of the high level seating areas

 

And in place

 

 

 

 

Really pleased with the evenings work, just need to prime and paint the interior now then next job is the pantograph then it's fitting LEDs and a decoder to it, I may send it off to Jason in north wales for that, get him to do the job properly and tidily

[LongRail]

Thanks Jim, very useful.

 

From the first picture it appeared to have two double beds in the middle with pillows on     but having seen the build up it all becomes clear 

[big jim]

snuck out to the shed again tonight and cracked on with a bit more of the inside

 

first up made 4 rotating chairs for the workstation, the real ones are fixed on runners that move back and forth

 

then made a pair of seats for in front of the flatscreen TV

 

 

 

and a similar one for the kitchen end

 

then the observation seats

 

 

 

overall view

 

going back through my pics i noticed i'd added a lip where there shouldnt have been one on the edge of the observation platform so i removed it and fitted handrails and guard rail as per the prototype

 

bit of plastistrip around the equipment box, ive actually dropped a ball with the box as its too big, there should be a narrow walkway both ends of it behind the raised area, i did look at changing it but decided against it

 

then i masked off the chassis and gave it a dusting of primer

 

 

 

 

 

and at that point i left it to dry for the night

 

i will get the pantograph started at some point!

[CovDriver]

That is looking the dog's danglies I'm really impressed at the level of detail that your putting into this vehicle.

 

Cheers

 

 

Col 

[big jim]

its tempting me to do the NMT interior next!

[deltic9014]

Wow! That's really good work. I'd love to see the NMT interior when you get on to it.

[luke the train spotter]

Very good! Really nice progress with it. I would have never guessed that this amazing project started off as a mk1. The interior of your coach reminds me of the interior of rapidos apte.