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Jonathan's Modern Image Workbench (3D-printed class 323 EMU, class 156s, 3-car 144s, a 141, 4-car class 465s)


JDW
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If I stole one, I'd take it back again! It says something that I can get a smoother gearchange out of a 1950s half-cab than some of the changes on the Streetlites. Certainly in Aberdeen, our passengers noticed and commented on it - which reflected bad on the drivers, many of whom got quite stressed out about people thinking it was them driving badly.

Then to top it off they moved the mirrors from sticking forwards (where they were designed to be) to by the door (where they weren't) which meant that from my driving position I couldn't actually see it as it was directly behind the cab door frame. The answer from upstairs? "Just lean back or forwards". They didn't like it when I suggested putting a pot plant on their desk and "just look around it" when they wanted to see their computer screen. Aaaaanyways...

 

Yes, hopefully the 323 bodies will be here later this week. The rest should be available in the next month or so the chap said. I've no idea why I bought it, it was very much an impulse buy, just always liked them. Might have to build a couple of barrier vehicles to haul it behind a loco and think of some remotely plausible excuse. A WYPTE 321/9 would be nice too, I've always resisted, but this might be the start of a slippery EMU slope! What next, a 333?

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12 minutes ago, 313201 said:

Hi Cheesysmith & JDW

 

I used to be a bus driver myself and last drove a bus in service over 12 years ago, only ever driven single deckers as there was no requirement for double deck vehicles on routes I used to drive here in the Wirral. 

 

Anyway onto railway talk, I would certainly be interested to follow your progress on the EMUs if you build them.  I have not seen much in terms of EMU construction threads recently except for a Merseyrail Class 508 in blue & grey livery.

 

Hi and Welcome, 313201! You're not missing owt, lightweight single deckers are not drivers' buses. Though to be fair, the shorter length Enviro200/Enviro200MMCs and even Streetlites seem better than the max length ones the big groups tend to buy. 

 

EMUs are not my thing - even if I wanted to, I couldn't really erect overhead lines, as I'd have to stretch over them on the main line to reach hand operated points in the yard and to uncouple. Just always liked the 323s. Might end up building it without a motor just as a display model. I look forward to it arriving and will post some pics as it progresses.

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Arrgh Wrightbus Streetlites - we have several where I work, all the version with the front wheel in front of the entrance door.  Dreadful things to drive, they rattle, the steering is hard work and you’ve got to thrash them to make decent progress.  We don’t call them Wrightbus, but a similar sounding word that starts with S.  I can understand how they came about though, ideal for the current world of short term contracts. 
 

Sorry to digress, back to the modelling.

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I'm sure we could fill pages with thoughts on Streetlites. People used to complain about Darts, and I've driven a few poor ones, but at least you didn't have the electronics actively making life harder. We only ever had them on loan, one we had, the throttle was more like an on/off switch, but at least you could use your skill as a driver to control it. 

 

Back to trains though. I'm hoping to be able to get hold of some replacement radio pods for the resurrected EMT 153, but thought I'd try making some. My skill level doesn't extend to an exact replica, but two squares of plasticard with a few lines cut in using a razor saw got me a representation that's better than a square hole in the roof. I need to mix a shade of grey to match the roof though. 

 

1771791939_20200622_210700_HDR2.jpg.494e0465854ffd08f060d1710fc31ccb.jpg

 

Disappointingly, I can't get this chassis to run. All the wires appeae to be in the right places, all soldered joints seem to be connected. But it is completely dead. After umming and ahhing I'll maybe return to it at some point and try again. It'd help if I could remove the power bogie, but the mounting seems rather flimsy and I don't want to pull any harder than I already tried. I've tried squeezing the peg together with pliers but it doesn't want to give.

If the motor works I could always just hard wire in a decoder the old fashioned way and get rid of the circuit board. Does anyone know which of the three spring contact connections is which under the cabs for the lights though? 

And a final question, does anyone do EMT style number transfers? Hopefully I can get away with just changing the last digit!

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https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/A1-MODELS-4MM-DETAILING-PARTS-Radio-Roof-Pods-with-grounding-plates-2-sets/143635116654?hash=item217151f26e:g:DH4AAOSwIOhe66KK

 

Might be worth a try for the radio pods.

 

As to the motor bogie, squeezing the prongs at the top whilst pulling is the way to dismantle.

 

As to the lights, no idea, not even sure if it uses the odd Hornby common return. Might be a question for the electrics section.

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Ah, thanks. I didn't realise they did ones with the baseplate. They don't look that much more detailed than my bits of plasticard though, which is disappointing - the Hornby moudings have a lot more rivet detail on them. 

 

I've squeezed and pulled in all manner of combinations - it doesn't want to give up the fight! Doesn't help that the circuit board gets in the way though as the wires are so short, it's hard to move it far enough out of the way. 

 

In therory the wiring is simple, attach F0, F1 and blue wire to the existing three contacts - just a case of fathoming which is which!

 

I really ought to get on with the rest of the 156s though, and get the chassis painted while the weather is nice.

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After much pulling and tweaking and prodding I managed to get the power bogie out of the 153 to reveal a broken wire between the circuit board and motor, in the most awkward place. After much frustration and half a dozen attempts, I managed to re-solder it and thankfully, it runs fine now. 

 

Another job I've managed to get around to is fitting new bodyside windows to 37517, a Lima body on a ViTrains chassis. Thin clear plastic was cut from some packaging, a black marker run around the edge,  and secured with a smidge of adhesive. 

 

20200623_204908_HDR.jpg.4176d374d52a3835a058907dde9b63af.jpg

 

I'll add some snowploughs while I'm at it I think, and might have a go at removing the nameplate too. I might also change the shape of the yellow end to the style it later carried, without the angled orange. 

 

Finally I painted some Hurst gangway door covers and fitted them to the 156s that were still missing them

 

20200623_210530_HDR.jpg.cd1b151912130c3b4eea995a8f557cb2.jpg

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I might have mentioned it before, but I hate anything to do with painting or decals. I entrust such things to people who have more experience in such things. Spraying a chassis black is fine, but anything that requires a bit of finesse or a good finish, and I'm hopeless. I have many and varied skills, but that will never be one of them. So with that in mind, I decided that I was going to remumber 60014 to 60050 with Loadhaul logos. 

 

The EWS 'sticker' is pretty thick, so I guessed that a fibreglass pencil might be better than using solvents. I tried it out on the cabside number then the remains of the Metals logo by the secondman's door. Success...

 

20200624_200403_HDR.jpg.e584a24828f7fac8ffaaabfaed712bb4.jpg

 

...and as predicted, the big logo took some work...

 

20200624_200355_HDR.jpg.e046490760ff5f607795e25ec31bc276.jpg

 

...but after a lot of rubbing, progress started to happen.

 

20200624_200733_HDR.jpg.814cd5906b696bf277327b4d45b638da.jpg

 

After some more rubbing, my initial prediction of the outcome turned out to be spot on. In one small place I rubbed through the light grey, but ploughed on determined to be more careful. Most of it came off fine - but just a little more pressure for the stubborn areas, gently does it, and... more light grey was rubbed off. 

 

20200624_203205_HDR.jpg.be5fad6475a926595d6f2b5d9d2390f8.jpg

 

Most of it will be covered by the new logo, apart from the botton couple of milimetres, where of course it is worst. 

 

But anyway, lesson learned, be even more careful next time. No point dwelling on it, so I flipped it over and removed the Metals logo successfully again, and the numb-... Ah. Oh. 

 

20200624_203635_HDR.jpg.bde496c4bc06b71b805a1c94b6a5b19a.jpg

 

As the enthusiasm of transfers arriving is replaced by realism, I'm remembering why I don't do stuff like this now.

 

 

Edited by JDW
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After yesterday's series of disappointments, its clear that the lower grey on the 60 is going to have to be repainted. Thankfully (hopefully) Railmatch does an aerosol in the right shade, so a can has been ordered and should hopefully see things looking better again. At least today's attempt to remove the logo on the other side went better, with no damage to the underlying paint. 

 

20200625_170016_HDR.jpg.3e7ff9acceadd6aa463c5c93868fbcc0.jpg

 

I did find that the paint took on a yellow hue though, as a result of the yellow dust from the logo. If I were doing it again I'd either use more than one fibreglass pencil, or try to clean in between layers. 

 

I used the same technique to remove the nameplate from 37517, a loco I've always thought was spoiled by the ugly plate. Predictably it rubbed through the Lima paint to reveal the orange underneath, in this case I was less worries, as it's an older model and also I had some suitable black paint, so I quickly masked off the bodysides and logos, and quickly had things looking right again

 

20200625_181947_HDR.jpg.78274a99f7cbdba53fbd87058398dd88.jpg

 

Still got the nameplate to remove from the 60. I was hoping the replacement would cover it, but since I'm repainting the lower half anyway it will be removed. 

 

This evening's plan is to find and fit some snowploughs to the 37 chassis. 

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Just a quick update on, well, not a lot really! 

37517 back on its wheels, with snowploughs attached. It's turning into a bit of a mix of parts - Lima body, ViTrains chassis, Bachmann ploughs. I'm not a big fan of the look of the Bachmann ploughs but they were what I had to hand.

 

The chassis was acquired second hand with one coupling mount broken, so after a lot of filing to clear the bogie, the ploughs were mounted directly onto the buffer beam at that end. 

 

20200626_231632_HDR.jpg.97b72d6930ea3331c11df983d6834db2.jpg

 

I thought I had some ViTrains buffer beam detailing parts somewhere, but haven't found them yet.

 

At the other, brackets were made from plastic strip and the outer sections of a Lima plough mounted to the chassis. Even with ploughs mounted rigidly like this, there is still plenty of room for the coupling to swing. I have yet to test it on a full train but can't foresee a problem. If successful, I might re-mount the ploughs on my ViTrains 37s on the chassis similarly. 

 

20200626_231526_HDR.jpg.abbc145b76496bee5ca5f4fa07219798.jpg

 

Removing the nameplates and fitting ploughs has taken it from a loco I often overlooked in favour of similar 37713 to one that looks much nicer and will likely get much more use!

 

 

 

 

Edited by JDW
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Progress on, well, anything has been very slow of late. Nothing happening layout-wise as I'm still waiting on an order of Peco points from Rails before much else can happen. I'm pretty sure the website said they were in stock when I ordered, but communication since has revealed some are not - maybe other people ordered at the same time, who knows, its frustrating but not the end of the world. 

 

Some actual work had to be done this week and last, which was a nice 'holiday' from hobbies, but a few parcels arrived. One set of aerosol paints from Howes (who mixed up one of the cans, but full credit to them for sorting it out very quickly) and some tins from Phoenix. WYPTE red and cream will allow progress on the 141 again, and some Provincial light blue allowed me to repaint the stripe on 142023 to a more accurate colour, as well as completing the stripe around the door recesses and inner end.

 

Before:

20200703_145840_HDR.jpg.29ba65506d16b956ef7de05801db0b91.jpg

 

After:

20200703_145757_HDR.jpg.7070fc3900f4969e0344a493f151389f.jpg

 

One end has a Kadee, as it normally runs as a 5-car unit with my unpowered DC Kits WYPTE 144. The other has the Hornby class 153 BSI moulding, as do most of my DMUs. I recently bought a few more, which will replace the dummy couplings on some of the 158s: 

 

20200627_164028_HDR.jpg.50da5048ca5ef267aaae94950d87d016.jpg

 

It's only a small change but better than the buckeye type they had. The only problem is that they are only available as a set with the 153 snowploughs, of which I now have about a dozen spare pairs! Still not bad value at a few Pounds per pack though.

 

Hopefully the 323 parts will be here in the next few days too.

 

Edit to add... I noticed the windows on the 158 after I took the pic, and re-fitted them properly!

Edited by JDW
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16 hours ago, JDW said:

The other has the Hornby class 153 BSI moulding,

 

 

Hi Jonathan,

 

Where are your sourcing the BSI's?  I've been searching for what seems an age and cant find any!  Needing at least 7 sets!

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2 hours ago, Half-full said:

Hi Jonathan,

 

Where are your sourcing the BSI's?  I've been searching for what seems an age and cant find any!  Needing at least 7 sets!

 

They often pop up on Ebay (just search under Class 153 in model railways), the last few sets I obrained were from Lendons in Cardiff, whose website I found from a link on the Bargain Hunters thread a few weeks back (I bought the last of their stock as an add-on to an order for something else, they might have had more arrive now though).

 

Fitting them to things like 142s and 158s has left me with a stockpile of snowploughs to last a lifetime though! It would be great if they were available separately, but probably wouldn't be cost effective to sell in pairs by themselves. 

 

If you're using them on Lima/Hornby 156s, I've found that by drilling a hole in the middle of the square box that is supposed to represent a coupler, you can just push the mounting peg (like an NEM coupling) on the Hornby BSI in and secure with plastic weld. It sits in pretty much the right place, maybe just a tad too far back compared to the gangway, but gives a nice secure fit. 

 

On Hornby 142s, I remove the peg on the back of the BSI and file the back flat, and file the moulded coupling on the chassis flat to give a surface to mount to, checking the length and filing a bit more off if needed before glueing in place. Same on a DC Kits 144. 

 

On Bachmann 158s, the mounting peg is only just long enough to reach the chassis with the face of the BSI far enough forwards. I've used a large blob of UHU contact adhesive to secure them to the chassis but not sure how well that will work or if a better more secure method might be needed. 

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9 minutes ago, JDW said:

 

They often pop up on Ebay (just search under Class 153 in model railways), the last few sets I obrained were from Lendons in Cardiff, whose website I found from a link on the Bargain Hunters thread a few weeks back (I bought the last of their stock as an add-on to an order for something else, they might have had more arrive now though).

 

Fitting them to things like 142s and 158s has left me with a stockpile of snowploughs to last a lifetime though! It would be great if they were available separately, but probably wouldn't be cost effective to sell in pairs by themselves. 

 

If you're using them on Lima/Hornby 156s, I've found that by drilling a hole in the middle of the square box that is supposed to represent a coupler, you can just push the mounting peg (like an NEM coupling) on the Hornby BSI in and secure with plastic weld. It sits in pretty much the right place, maybe just a tad too far back compared to the gangway, but gives a nice secure fit. 

 

On Hornby 142s, I remove the peg on the back of the BSI and file the back flat, and file the moulded coupling on the chassis flat to give a surface to mount to, checking the length and filing a bit more off if needed before glueing in place. Same on a DC Kits 144. 

 

On Bachmann 158s, the mounting peg is only just long enough to reach the chassis with the face of the BSI far enough forwards. I've used a large blob of UHU contact adhesive to secure them to the chassis but not sure how well that will work or if a better more secure method might be needed. 

Thanks for the fitting tips!  Its 142/155 (with 153 UFs)/156 & 158's I'll be using them on.

 

Lendons is my go to spares guru, they are OOS at the mo, and unable to pre-order.  None with Peters Spares or eBay at the mo, I'll keep looking though!

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1 hour ago, Half-full said:

Thanks for the fitting tips!  Its 142/155 (with 153 UFs)/156 & 158's I'll be using them on.

 

Lendons is my go to spares guru, they are OOS at the mo, and unable to pre-order.  None with Peters Spares or eBay at the mo, I'll keep looking though!

 

No worries.

 

Yeah Ebay seems odd, they appear in batches every now and again from certain sellers. They do seem rather popular, not sure if people buy for the poughs or the BSIs though.

 

Will you be using a Dapol/Hornby 155 with 153 underframes for your 155 or a pair of 153s?

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1 hour ago, JDW said:

 

No worries.

 

Yeah Ebay seems odd, they appear in batches every now and again from certain sellers. They do seem rather popular, not sure if people buy for the poughs or the BSIs though.

 

Will you be using a Dapol/Hornby 155 with 153 underframes for your 155 or a pair of 153s?

Its the Dapol/Hornby 155 Im using, already taken the bottom of the shell off for the underframe to sit correctly.   A repaint in WYPTE Metro livery follows!

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6 minutes ago, Half-full said:

Its the Dapol/Hornby 155 Im using, already taken the bottom of the shell off for the underframe to sit correctly.   A repaint in WYPTE Metro livery follows!

 

Will you be sharing your progress on here?

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25 minutes ago, JDW said:

 

Will you be sharing your progress on here?

Most probably!  The majority of my projects are in boxes in my brother house, after my own house move, the b*gger is self-isolating, being in an at risk category, so will be a while before I can get started again.

 

Have a number of units to work on... 4 x Pacers (new motors/wheels/1 set to be repainted), 155 (new underframes/motor/wheels/repaint), 156 (new underframe/motor/wheels), 158 (needs motor replaced)!

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Ahhh, yes, one of the benefits of lockdown has been that I've spent it holed up at my parents place in England rather than alone at my place in Scotland, so have been able to get on with a lot more as the layout is in their loft. 

 

I'd considered re-motoring the 142s but decided it's not worth it at the minute. The two older ones work quite well. They are both through-wired so 4-wheel pick up o both sides, and have had the inner wheel sets replaced by nre Hornby ones which has improved the running no end. The two newer (Northern Spirit) ones run as a pair. One is as-bought, one powered and one unpowered car, with pickups connected through the coupling and traction tyres, the other is an upowered set with new Hornby wheels. The powered set can just manage to haul it, but struggles on a slight gradient. 

Of the older twin-motored ones, the RR one usually runs with a DC Kits 3-car (resin) 144, and again can haul it but struggles slightly on a very slight uphil gradient.

 

Although they're not the best models ever, 'playing' with them, improving and detailing them did improve my confidence when it came to doing work on more complicated/expensive models. Especially as lots of the mods (barring re-motoring!) are pretty simple. 

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Yet more disaster in my attempts to re-brand the 60. Having had good results in the oast despite what others have found, I used a Railmatch aerosol to respray the lower grey. After a week of damp wet cool weather, the can was warm, the shell was warm, the weather outside was good, a light breeze. So I was a bit surprised, to say the least, when this happened:

 

20200712_134347_HDR.jpg.0fa85e513f529f43bacd1f154d5ff446.jpg

 

20200712_134400_HDR.jpg.6d1dc370545bc6cca55723d41724c0ae.jpg

 

I have no idea how or why, I did nothing I haven't done before, with various brands of paint. I ran over it while the paint was still soft with a very fine sponge sanding block to smooth it off, and after some trial, the can seemed to start spraying better, so with lots of light passes and some more smoothing off, I did eventually manage to achieve what looks like a smooth enough finish, but I guess the proof will be when it comes to applying the gloss varnish and transfers...

 

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18 hours ago, JDW said:

Yet more disaster in my attempts to re-brand the 60. Having had good results in the oast despite what others have found, I used a Railmatch aerosol to respray the lower grey. After a week of damp wet cool weather, the can was warm, the shell was warm, the weather outside was good, a light breeze. So I was a bit surprised, to say the least, when this happened:

 

20200712_134347_HDR.jpg.0fa85e513f529f43bacd1f154d5ff446.jpg

 

20200712_134400_HDR.jpg.6d1dc370545bc6cca55723d41724c0ae.jpg

 

I have no idea how or why, I did nothing I haven't done before, with various brands of paint. I ran over it while the paint was still soft with a very fine sponge sanding block to smooth it off, and after some trial, the can seemed to start spraying better, so with lots of light passes and some more smoothing off, I did eventually manage to achieve what looks like a smooth enough finish, but I guess the proof will be when it comes to applying the gloss varnish and transfers...

 

Hi Jonathan,

 

Railmatch spray cans are not a patch on the ones that Halfords manufacture in both terms of performance of the spray action and also the finish of the paint. I find that sometimes the finish of the undercoat is better than the finish coat for the above reasons.

 

Gibbo.

Edited by Gibbo675
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4 hours ago, Gibbo675 said:

Hi James,

Railmatch spray cans are not a patch on the ones that Halfords manufacture in both terms of performance of the spray action and also the finish of the paint. I find that sometimes the finish of the undercoat is better than the finish coat for the above reasons.

Gibbo.

 

I totally agree, but who is this James fella? James Makin's thread is over there --->

(It's easy to spot, it's the one with the good workmanship and excellent painting and weathering skills...) 

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9 hours ago, JDW said:

 

I totally agree, but who is this James fella? James Makin's thread is over there --->

(It's easy to spot, it's the one with the good workmanship and excellent painting and weathering skills...) 

Hi Jonathan,

 

I must have been having a bit of a moment there, the only positive being getting the "J" right.

 

Apologies for suffering from numbtyitis.

 

Gibbo.

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