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Rich Papper
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Welcome to my (attempt at a) Workbench

 

I'm still not entirely sure I justify having one of these as a separate thread, I'm very much a bumbling amateur. I'm usually the person you're behind at the Squires stand at a show trying to figure out what the tools actually are without injuring myself too severely. I have an exhibition layout (Oxford Road) which really wasn't designed to exhibit but holds together somehow, and a home layout (Catford) in the early stages of construction with the enthusiastic support of my 1 year old son. I tend to model the 80s and 90s Network South East, but I have been known to wander. I have a large fleet of steam that belonged to my father, and more recently came a bit up to date putting together bits of the NR HST set to amuse the boy.

 

But I do keep finding myself doing things that don't really apply to either layout, or some random pieces of rolling stock that could be on both, hence this thread. I hope it isn't too laughable. Please do ask any questions and I will try to come up with an answer that makes it look like I did it deliberately.

 

So: first thing. Working on some Lima DMU conversions at the moment, details to follow. Realised I had large numbers of replacement wheels to paint both to weather and to add conductive paint for pickups. I have very unsteady hands so came up with the following solution:

 

1254464503_RM_WB01.JPG.a53020539fb1f2a7a981ee44d614613c.JPG

 

OK, kind of hard to tell. Imagine a potter's wheel with a magnet on it. I mounted a polo shaped neodynium magnet on a motor with a gearbox giving about 60rpm. 9v battery and a switch. Fixed to block of wood with hole for paint pot and couple of lengths of old rail as a drying rack. Wheel is held in place by the magnet, turn it on, apply brush to one point and paint whole wheel without getting it all over the tread, my hands, clothes, the cat etc. Seems to be working quite well so far. Particularly good with the silver conductive paint as it takes about 3 coats to work. More on the wheels and pickups when I get onto DMUs later.

 

709492206_RM_WB02.JPG.f8094c12ca9bf5231bd6c2c48bd4587f.JPG1643218321_RM_WB03.JPG.8aa2fc86ee3dd3571def6bf675f8a75c.JPG

 

 

More as it happens.

 

Rich

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Hi Rich.

 

The wheel painter jig is ingenious. I must have said hello to you at some point as I always buying a box full of "bits" from the Squires stand at various shows.

 

Happy modelling.

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That's a very nice jig you've come up with. My favourite trick is spinning the wheels in situ as I give them a quick blast with the airbrush, but you do end up needing to use a cotton bud with meths to clean the tread, and the paint is thinned for the airbrush so it probably isn't as resilient as 'full fat' paint used in your technique.

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Good Evening,

Well, I promised more on DMUs so I'll start with the 115. I am currently only modelling half a four car set having been inspired by this excellent picture on Martin Loader's brilliant Honda Wanderer site. I strongly recommend a visit if you've never seen it, but it is quite addictive. It showed half a 115 set running with a 121, and made me feel very happy when I saw it because I was sure I had been on something of that ilk at the time when the depots were throwing out any combination of anything to keep the service going. And I had a load of Lima bits floating around so why not.

 

Apologies for the number of photos, but better than my waffle. Some already featured on the Oxford Road thread, but to keep it all together and bring it up to date:

 

DMBS was straightforward enough - has an extra bay of seats and a smaller brake section than the Lima 117, so an extra window bay added from a scrap bodyshell and the brake doors moved back a bit. Also made the first window behind the drivers cab the same size as the others as this is the wrong size on the Lima moulding. On most liveries I wouldn't bother, but the angled upsweeps at the end of the NSE don't fit otherwise. TS coach was a multiple cut and shut using sections of 2 donor Lima 117 TCL coaches. I chose to retain the door furniture (despite it being a bit inaccurate, so cut each section as a zig-zag around the opening face of the door. Picture shows this better. With various reversals it was possible to do it in 5 sections. Then all you have to do is stick them back together straight - how hard can that be?

 

1704636333_RM_WB04.JPG.7fe87a1c29e3a7f3424c4bb6260398ad.JPG

 

Much fiddling later. I ran a strip of plastruct along just under the window line to keep things square. I also found that mounting it on the scrap chassis was a good way of aligning things.

 

113164904_RM_WB05.jpg.9c18d6746b8d1a9c7c5491ae6a504efa.jpg

 

Then much filler, sanding etc. Roof vents are castings from MJT. There might be some slightly more accurate ones out there, but these are pretty close.

 

540411852_RM_WB06.JPG.1e1164deb2cf04f89b25899c498ca1ba.JPG

 

More filling and sanding. Tend to use green Squadron filler for the most part (well ventilated - it's got nasty stuff in), but also became a big fan of Deluxe Materials Plastic Putty for this.

 

1879452955_RM_WB07.JPG.cfa88006bfef932a461c5e34cb2c295c.JPG

 

1559825655_RM_WB08.JPG.a973c0f7e6c287408d9e1c04c4144d48.JPG

 

 

Then on with the paint. Should have bought shares in masking tape for this. Painting a lot of NSE at the moment and it takes metres of the stuff to do each vehicle. Different people tend to approach it in different ways, I go white, yellow, grey, blue, red, black. In the shed for some red. Recently wired the shed with some armoured cable to save me trailing an extension lead across the garden - very happy with man-cave 2 now.

 

207009222_RM_WB11.JPG.b44cdc40742ebf8ddbd083fd3404bd03.JPG

 

So on to today. This is the DMBS as of this morning. Still quite a few jobs to do. Wheels are being painted using jig above. New wheels being fitted - excellent product from Peters Spares who have invested in some modern standard Lima accessories. Proper modern profile wheels to peculiar Lima axle length, and reasonable price. These have DCC Concepts pickup springs being added to provide power to head and tail lights and interior lighting.

 

1641405666_RM_WB12.JPG.0526c68bbb5733be16289e89165e1f2e.JPG

 

1898171240_RM_WB13.JPG.9468be3c6aefbfdd9c9becb5cc2ac63e.JPG

 

 

TS looks like this. Still a few livery jobs to do before gloss varnish, transfers, weathering. Need to paint in the door and grab handles. A few little bits to neaten up here and there. Bogies will be weathered when all electrical pickup bits have been fitted. Then of course an enormous amount of Shawplan Laserglaze to fit. Might test my patience!

 

407619430_RM_WB14.JPG.fe88f0ced8d7bbb3f6508ae2b71dc2ec.JPG

 

More later.

Rich

 

PS Should say that huge amount of thanks needs to go to those who put their research and ideas on here. Couldn't have got this far without the likes of Tom Curtis, Clive Mortimore, Paul Wade and others. Thanks guys.

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So next onto the 121 that will power the 115 above. Hornby offering this time to take advantage of the slightly more modern motor. I have upgraded various Lima DMUs with the Hornby motor bogie and they seem to run OK. I make a few adjustments to the start voltage (more trial and error than anything else - I understand about 10% of what DCC can do at best) to make them a bit easier to shunt around on Oxford Road.

 

So stripped the bodyshell and filler for the grooves in the roof.

 

2074009789_RM_WB15.JPG.ae156672436612a47aefb48ab9466157.JPG

 

Then the same filling, sanding, priming, paint as the one above and reached this stage this morning:

 

2032313435_RM_WB16.JPG.e61dbbc8345eacab745c6539844a1c39.JPG

 

Decided to model one of those that gained the black window frames, rather than the full black square around the cab windows. Much head scratching of how to do this - Sharpie permanent marker in the end. Also still needs a few tweaks, varnish, transfers, weathering. Chassis has been resurrected from the scrap box so is already weathered, but needs more detail added. Will get new buffers, steps etc. I tend not to fit end pipes to 121s as I like their flexibility of having a coupling at each end to add to any train - very much like the real thing.

 

Have done the wiring on this one though. Fitted head and tail lights from Black Cat (can be found on ebay) - very easy to use and much easier to wire than individual LEDs. Will need a short length of fibre optic to make the lens, but this will be fitted after weathering. Interior lights are from an LED strip again from ebay - I bought 5m of this stuff for £5 so enough to do the whole fleet. Can be easily cut into short lengths. Pics of both ends. Shows the interior painting too.

 

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Brightness of the lights is a matter for debate. Obviously the real thing had 60s style filament bulbs that were little better than a candle. I've found under most exhibition lighting they don't look too bright, and at home my son likes watching them disappear or reappear from tunnels so I'm not too worried.

 

Rich

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Those reprints look really superb. Top quality work!

Very kind, thank you. Nothing fancy in the methods. Picked up a deal from Eileen's Emporium at Warley about 10 years ago, small compressor and basic double action airbrush for £100. Have since added an extraction booth (same source, about £40), and a face mask from Screwfix for about £10. Usually use Railmatch paints, but early NSE like these has to be Phoenix as Railmatch don't do the lighter blue. I tend to use the same manufacturer for each job just in case they react in any weird way. Biggest boon I've found in recent years is Phoenix pre-thinned airbrush ready varnish. Really like this as always had trouble thinning varnish consistently before. Moving it all into the shed really helped too (no fumes near pregnant wife or baby) as I don't have to pack it all up again every time.

 

Rich

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Results of this afternoon's fiddling while Thing 1 was at nursery.

 

First. The state of the chassis of the class 121 DTS. Began life as a Lima powered 117 DMBS. Bogies off, all mouldings of engine below solebar off, buffers off (one buffer beam was broken off anyway). Then add new buffers from Wizard Models, coupling hooks from Lanarkshire Models, underframe gubbins suitable for a DTS from the spares box - mostly chopped up Lima, Bachmann or DC Kits, bogie mounts from a scrap Bachmann chassis and various bits of plasticard to fill the gaps. Could I just have picked up a Lima TS second hand. Yes (and with hindsight I am wondering) - but I already had all these bits, so I can kid myself that this didn't actually cost anything.

 

RM_WB20.JPG.41d2042fa32ec96e5cb214f7da802370.JPG

 

Next. Haven't been able to find DMU buffer beam detailing kits for ages. I think they were made by Craftsman? So how hard can it be to knock some up out of bits of brass and wire. Well, very, for me, but burns heal. I think they'll look OK when painted in and weathered. And the buffers on the right are level - had to check when I saw the photo - I hate closeups.

 

RM_WB19.JPG.397c7971881c810e991d935dd935a3fd.JPG

 

Finally. Door handles and grab handles. Quite a lot to paint on a suburban unit. Thank goodness for paint pens.

 

RM_WB21.JPG.b7bf7634499f2ba224a115e62b4d7a77.JPG

 

More when it occurs. Thank you all for kind messages.

Rich

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Results of this afternoon's fiddling while Thing 1 was at nursery.

 

First. The state of the chassis of the class 121 DTS. Began life as a Lima powered 117 DMBS. Bogies off, all mouldings of engine below solebar off, buffers off (one buffer beam was broken off anyway). Then add new buffers from Wizard Models, coupling hooks from Lanarkshire Models, underframe gubbins suitable for a DTS from the spares box - mostly chopped up Lima, Bachmann or DC Kits, bogie mounts from a scrap Bachmann chassis and various bits of plasticard to fill the gaps. Could I just have picked up a Lima TS second hand. Yes (and with hindsight I am wondering) - but I already had all these bits, so I can kid myself that this didn't actually cost anything.

 

attachicon.gifRM_WB20.JPG

 

Next. Haven't been able to find DMU buffer beam detailing kits for ages. I think they were made by Craftsman? So how hard can it be to knock some up out of bits of brass and wire. Well, very, for me, but burns heal. I think they'll look OK when painted in and weathered. And the buffers on the right are level - had to check when I saw the photo - I hate closeups.

 

attachicon.gifRM_WB19.JPG

 

Finally. Door handles and grab handles. Quite a lot to paint on a suburban unit. Thank goodness for paint pens.

 

attachicon.gifRM_WB21.JPG

 

More when it occurs. Thank you all for kind messages.

Rich

Proper modelling!  Brilliant

 

Looking forward to more updates

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Good Evening All. Some more fumblings during my enforced idleness. First some bits on painting.

I have modified, detailed and built a fair few DMUs over the years, but my attempts at weathering have not been up to much. I have tended just to give things a misting of brown and leave it at that. The result being that they look better than not doing it, but I've found myself wanting to have a go at a few more techniques so this pile of DMUs seemed a good place to start. I picked up a copy of 'The Art of Weathering' by Martyn Welch and have tried a few of the techniques he mentions. It is a really good book, but there are a few bits I have tweaked. It was written in the early 90s and a few of the Humrol colours are no longer available. There are some new products around though - like the Tensocrom range of filter shades. I also have a copy of the Model Rail DVD 'Weathering Expert', and have searched through here inspired by James Makin's excellent workbench among others.

 

So onto the mess. First up the bogies. Could debate at length which are the best representation of DMU bogies, but I had Lima ones so I'm using them. The left hand picture below shows the effects using techniques in Martyn's book. Mainly an airbrush mix of Humbrol Metalcote Gunmetal (27004), and Light Grey (64). Then a misting of Leather (62) for the brake dust. The effect seemed a little too light looking at the pictures I had so decided to tone down the axleboxes in particular with Tensocrom Oil and Smoke shades as recommended in the Model Rail DVD.

 

RM_WB22.JPG.05ceeee9c37b30028a4fca98679ead0c.JPG

 

Similar fun had on the underframes with a few extra details picked out. For the exhaust pipes I painted them in the Leather shade, then while wet stippled some talcum powder to give it a little texture. When this was dry I ran some Tensocrom Smoke over it to tone it down a bit further. I have also drybrushed some Humbrol Matt Black (62) and Metalcote Gunmetal around some of the darker / oilier areas.

 

RM_WB23.JPG.326319e3cdfc766ffb4331957e7804ce.JPG

 

Final jobs around the buffers. Something I've only recently started doing and then wondered why I hadn't been doing it for years - painting the buffer shanks in silver. This really makes a difference - not sure why I've never got around to it before. Humbrol Chrome Silver Metallic (191) in this case. Then a blob of grease on the bufferhead. A mix of Matt Black and Gunmetal blobbed on with a cotton bud.

 

RM_WB24.JPG.d0976fe9511f76bc4f724d922261d28f.JPG

 

Fairly happy so far, may tweak when they'e all back together but would welcome any comments / suggestions.

 

Rich

 

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OK, electrical pickup - the 115 in this case. So you've seen the wheels in one of the posts above, and now the bogies are done the next phase. Easier to show than explain.

 

So bogies upside down and a strip of Phosphor Bronze added with superglue. Had to be a bit careful here to make sure all were handed the right way.

 

RM_WB25.JPG.8800e775489b2c46c3a71a28d4d2351d.JPG

 

Wheels then get added in and tails of the DCC Concepts pickup springs soldered on.

 

RM_WB26.JPG.bb61232adda225510a7282bb0617f8ea.JPG

 

Have then drilled a hole very carefully through the centre of the bogie mount. Decoder wire is thin enough that it is possible to do without unduly weakening the clip - one of the reasons for reusing the Lima bogies is their resilience to my son's handling.

 

RM_WB27.JPG.57ff8948874b1936d4c13a9f4ba53c28.JPG

 

Easier to see from underneath.

 

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Reunited with the chassis of the 115 DMBS and TS. (apologies for mess!)

 

RM_WB29.JPG.1f7bcc7fe180a510cc052d8d34c4e359.JPG

 

Initial tests with multimeter seem to suggest all is good. Next I'll have to see how they go with a decoder and some lights. Not that I have any idea where a decoder is going to go in that TS yet....

 

Rich

 

PS Forgot to say - couplings. Settled on mounting a NEM pocket on the top which allows using either a Bachmann short cranked coupling or a Kadee no.19. Had lots of the Bachmann so using them for now.

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Rich,That's all looking very convincing. Looking forward to seeing this assembled!Keep up the good work.GuyP.S. Did I miss you at Showcase this year?

Hi Guy. Missed it unfortunately. First one I've missed in 15 years. Absolutely gutted as the layout lineup was fantastic - genuinely second to none. Very glad to hear it went so well. My appendix burst a few days beforehand - not an experience I can recommend! Still can't drive or lift anything. DMU bits keeping me sane.

 

Rich

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Hi Guy. Missed it unfortunately. First one I've missed in 15 years. Absolutely gutted as the layout lineup was fantastic - genuinely second to none. Very glad to hear it went so well. My appendix burst a few days beforehand - not an experience I can recommend! Still can't drive or lift anything. DMU bits keeping me sane.

 

Rich

Sorry to hear that but glad you are on the mend.

 

Keep posting pics - I'm genuinely fascinated in your 115/121 hybrid project.

 

Guy

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Good Evening Folks. A small update this evening as have been a bit bedeviled with DCC gremlins the last couple of days. Another unit has jumped the queue ahead of the 115 as I am having a few issues with the pickups. Multimeter shows full track voltage wherever I put them on the layout, but in motion they are a bit too - for want of a better word - flickery. The current rarely drops out altogether, but seems to fluctuate between about 11.2V and 14.5V. With an LED strip connected you'd never know - even without any kind of smoothing circuitry or capacitor - but the DCC chips I've tried (Digitrax, Hattons, Bachmann) all seem to agree that they really don't like it. So having a think.

 

In the mean time, L211 - the class 101 DMCL / class 121 DTS hybrid. This is the one with the DTS chassis shown above that has been cobbled together from all sorts of bits in the spares box - most usefully the Bachmann bogies as these seem to offer more reliable pickup than my attempts at the moment. Various pictures have been shown above already but just to update:

 

Attaching pickup wires from bogies together. Also routing wires from head and tail lights. Mentioned these are from Black Cat (here) - quite impressed with these. There is a small recess at the back where the Lima power bogie used to be. I mounted a false floor below the original guides, and the Silver Fox seating section from the conversion kit has a little more space beneath than the Lima moulding so that's where the decoder needs to be.

 

RM_WB30.JPG.a1f084c01be762baaa9f40257deed9f5.JPG

 

Then decoder in. Had a Hornby Sapphire spare. Smallest one I had, but still a squeeze. Someone once said DCC was only 2 wires - in an early Model Rail magazine I remember reading in the 1990s. Whoever that person was - I will find you...

 

RM_WB31.JPG.e0d24702fff72b19d8ea55a5e25adf4f.JPG

 

And finally onto the layout on test. Bodies only resting on to see the effect. Transfers, matt varnish, weathering, glazing next for them.

 

RM_WB32.JPG.0b2ff89ae1aff0ef6db275bf75db6f1c.JPG

 

RM_WB33.JPG.ba219517f0f01a18d51d58135eebeabe.JPG

 

 

Unfortunately here ran into another gremlin. Set works perfectly with power car leading - will go anywhere, all lights working etc. Hit reverse and the head and tail lights reverse, it moves about three inches and then shorts out the whole layout. Been through it with a multimeter twice but can see nothing wrong so have put a question in the help area of the forum. This is where I lose patience with DCC - I know everything is correctly connected, but I have absolutely no clue whatsoever why or how it can work perfectly one way and not the other. Will sleep on it and hope someone (probably everyone!) out there knows more about this than me.

 

Rich

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Results of this afternoon's fiddling while Thing 1 was at nursery.

 

First. The state of the chassis of the class 121 DTS. Began life as a Lima powered 117 DMBS. Bogies off, all mouldings of engine below solebar off, buffers off (one buffer beam was broken off anyway). Then add new buffers from Wizard Models, coupling hooks from Lanarkshire Models, underframe gubbins suitable for a DTS from the spares box - mostly chopped up Lima, Bachmann or DC Kits, bogie mounts from a scrap Bachmann chassis and various bits of plasticard to fill the gaps. Could I just have picked up a Lima TS second hand. Yes (and with hindsight I am wondering) - but I already had all these bits, so I can kid myself that this didn't actually cost anything.

 

attachicon.gifRM_WB20.JPG

 

Next. Haven't been able to find DMU buffer beam detailing kits for ages. I think they were made by Craftsman? So how hard can it be to knock some up out of bits of brass and wire. Well, very, for me, but burns heal. I think they'll look OK when painted in and weathered. And the buffers on the right are level - had to check when I saw the photo - I hate closeups.

 

attachicon.gifRM_WB19.JPG

 

Finally. Door handles and grab handles. Quite a lot to paint on a suburban unit. Thank goodness for paint pens.

 

attachicon.gifRM_WB21.JPG

 

More when it occurs. Thank you all for kind messages.

Rich

Fantastic work and a stunning build. Especially the bufferbeam detailing. Love this... :) 

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Good Evening.

 

While waiting for some transfers to arrive (still not the custom ones - a bit stuck there - bubble car is going to be 55031 looking like this, but need some very small unofficial names, unusual blue set number and smaller than usual NSE logo - any suggestions?), have decided to move on with 101 set since I was feeling buoyed up by L211 finally working (turns out it was the Hornby chip in the DTS), and all the bits were in front of me. 

 

So, it appeared painted on the Oxford Road thread a while ago and got as far as gloss varnish.

1226338837_RM_OR(38).JPG.ce69987cfde6ab2bb60020abe408d96b.JPG

 

This is the one that started me moving with a bit of DMU modelling after quite a while. I was at the DEMU show last year looking at Paul Wade's excellent display of NSE stock - most of which from Tonbridge West Yard. Much of it is Lima, and it all looks great. Then when the Bachmann 101 rocked in at £250 and baby number 2 spelled the end of disposable income, a £35 second hand Lima 101 was picked up at the Bristol show. Lima version of NSE livery was stripped off, picked up a very cheap Hornby 101 chassis from ebay for the DMBS and on with the paint job in the usual style.

 

Following my teeth grinding with the 115 bogies mentioned above, I decided for the DMCL to use more traditional double pickups as below. The Hattons chip seems much happier with this. Slightly more friction, but the powered chassis I found for this is one of the ones without traction tyres so wasn't likely to be pulling anything other than this anyway so detailed both end bufferbeams so I wouldn't forget! There is just about space to get both wires through the centre of the Lima bogie mount.

 

RM_WB34.JPG.2a2a6aa654e5e37bb379d1d6c99fce85.JPG

 

Then onto the lights. This 101 has the centre high intensity headlight. As yet, this isn't done by Black Cat so I took one of the circuit boards and glued an 0805 surface mount LED in the middle of it. Luckily these can be purchased pre-wired from Layouts4U as I would not have a prayer of wiring one of these. The only trick was to glue it (5 min epoxy from the poundshop - seriously good - get packs of 8 superglue and spray glue too) to a small fillet of plasticard first so as not to cause any shorts on the original circuit board. Picture probably explains better - original from Black Cat above, my modifications below.

 

RM_WB35.JPG.89fb1d93c4de601077c834f2313857ca.JPG

 

And attached.

 

RM_WB36.JPG.f197b1ee008eb1e987b86205bb294b86.JPG

 

And with body on.

 

RM_WB37.JPG.8c7f594d9dcc1da89647b4e557a6b075.JPG

 

Doesn't look so bright in this picture but it is, and I do need to paint the inside of the cab in black to avoid light bleed. The boards are actually designed for 117 or 121 and the 101's lights are slightly further apart, but I will add lenses using a short length of fibre optic (Layouts4U again) when they'e all painted and they will be clear enough.

 

And with L211 for comparison.

 

RM_WB38.JPG.3551e64e80a70b595622722f2f921008.JPG

 

RM_WB39.JPG.1eece044a048090f049a8598f593cee9.JPG

 

 

Some will have spotted that I opened up the destination blind on one of them. Still thinking about how to do this, and whether to do it to the others. There will be a DMU depot here at some point in the future, currently thinking of basing it on the old one at Marylebone. Will eventually get around to building it. If I did it now Thomas and Friends would move in anyway.

 

Transfers next - my favourite bit - makes them look more real somehow.

 

Rich

 

PS I do paint other colours. Not often.

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Small, incredibly time consuming, but significant progress this evening: transfers. One of my favourite bits, but it really takes forever and hands are not quite as responsive as they used to be. 

 

Class 101 has become L207, and the 101/121DTS hybrid is L211. Transfers are a mixture of sources, some of which I've had a very long time. To the photos:

 

Front ends. Admit I had underestimated what a gigantic pain that cantrail lining would be on the fronts of the 101s. Modelmaster transfers in this case. Much time spent fighting to get them straight and then look at the real thing and they've all been painted by hand and no two are alike. One of the best tips from 'The Art of Weathering' - 'model what you see, not what you think you see'. The real ones were often wonky, so are mine.

 

RM_WB43.JPG.c4ad31e4fc18ec8aeebe05acdbeeacbd.JPG

 

Inner ends. 101 DMBS and DMBC have overhead flashes on the windows for some reason, so these will go on after a couple of coats of matt varnish to the rest. None of the pictures I can find of 101s in NSE have the 'C1' lettering on the inner ends, but 117s often do. Anyone know why? Have assumed it was something to do with shorter vehicles but may be wrong.

 

RM_WB44.JPG.bfbda664c17b98d6e78a51fd622e3e83.JPG

 

Side detail of L207s DMBS.

 

RM_WB40.JPG.5f10a7a1a327083a66c562acd3800f98.JPG

 

And yes, that Thames logo (Replica Railways transfer) really is shoehorned in at the end, but then the real ones were (see here). Painful closeup. In retrospect, if I had taken the moulded handrails off and fitted wire ones I might have bought myself another 0.5mm.

 

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Numbers. With all these repaints I was going to get one of the custom transfer people to knock me up some ready made sets to save time, but I've had difficulty getting in contact with one of them that I've used before (8 months no reply - I think I've found an alternative company now - fingers crossed). However, at Warley about 20 years ago I picked up a load of Fox NSE transfers in a bargain box at a stand (I think Howes) for about 50p each. Still using them all this time later - literally a number at a time in some cases. I think they look OK - most people won't be looking as closely as this picture and there's more varnish and weathering to go yet. Not sure if there is a shelf life for waterslide transfers or I've just been lucky.

 

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121DTS has a couple of differences, most noticable it has the earlier version of NSE with the angled corners and the red double arrows. Did have a bit of a moment with this one. It is well documented that the door furniture (handles and bump stops) are in the wrong place on the Lima model. Yep, but time, patience and resilience to a nearly 2 year old meant I left them alone this time. Got the stripes in the right place, OK the bump stops are in the white, not the bottom of the blue, can live with it. Then came to put on the NSE logo and text. Oops. Ended up cutting this transfer into five pieces, nipping bits out of them with a scalpel and then applying with Micro Sol and Micro Set. Think I got away with it.

 

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Matt varnish next I think. Not sure after that. Progress might slow slightly as I am hoping to get back to work next week.

 

Rich

 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • Tempfix

Good Evening 

 

A bit of a gap, but as expected going back to work has eaten up valuable modelling time. Have put one layer of matt varnish on those above, but my airbrush decided to cough on one end of the 101 so I've had to wait for it to dry completely before I can very carefully take the file to it. Not a complete disaster I think, has just blobbed on the yellow wrap around of one cab corner. Will likely be lost under weathering anyway. Really need to be careful with weathering bodies as I always seem to put too much on.

 

So back to the other pile of stripey bodies - 115/121 combination. The 115 has received the NSE flashes and vehicle numbers. None of the photos I can find of the DMBS or TS seem to have the full NSE branding on the side. This seems to have been applied to the TCL, and I haven't done that for various reasons as above (might one day). I also couldn't find any pictures where the inner ends of the 115 had cantrail stripes. I'd be surprised if they didn't, but none that I've found of this one have so I left them off.

 

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Am still most impressed with the TS. Really wasn't expecting it to look this good so far. I know there are all sorts of things wrong with the Lima moulding, but I've never attempted this ambitious a cut-and-shut before. It opens up possibilities - I'm now looking at some Hornby 110 bodies and wondering if they could be a 119....

 

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Very nice NSE route transfers from Replica. Have used many of the Thames before, but this is the first Chiltern. Of course they come on a sheet with all the others so not sure what I am going to do with the Thameslink, Kent Coast or whatever else. Will probably go in the transfers box for the next 20 years unless anyone out there wants a few?

 

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Most excited about the 121 at the moment. Having sent more than a few requests to my previous source of custom transfers, I investigated Precision Labels for the first time. Outstanding - but don't be afraid of the detail on the website. I read through the page about different kinds of printer and layers of ink and so on and didn't understand a word. I used the 'contact' bit of the website and received an email back from John later that day. I replied to clarify a couple of details and received a paypal link almost immediately. I paid and 48 hours later they dropped through the door in the post. Have been puzzling over how to do these bits for about 8 months - very happy!

 

First was the NSE logo. Hadn't realised before, but the one on a 121 is smaller than all the others as the van side is shorter as a result of the second cab door. I also inquired about the weight limit. Probably not readable on here but that white smudge down there does say 'Load 1 and a half tonnes evenly distributed'.

 

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Than the front end. I'm aiming at this, and needed the L131 in NSE blue (not sure whether this was deliberate or the original faded, but I haven't seen any others) and of course the name 'Rachel' which is VERY small. Does look a bit pixelated in this closeup, but this picture is significantly bigger than the real thing. He also included the data sticker and some destination blinds.

 

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More when time allows.

 

Of course I might make a complete hash of all the laserglaze and wreck it yet!

 

Rich

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  • 3 months later...
  • Tempfix

Well here we are - welcome back to the home of the forever unfinished DMU!

 

Some progress to report, but also some massive frustrations that have slowed things down a bit (to the point of painting a Hornby 08 for my son as a diversion).

 

The 101 is the closest to being finished and I'm hoping to be together in the next couple of weeks. Glazing is all back in, and I have most of the wiring in place for the destination blinds. Seemed like a good idea at the time having them lit up - not so sure now. Managed to source some flat LEDs about the right size, but have had trouble finding the right resistor to stop them lighting the whole of the front of the bodyshell up like the surface of the sun. More to report soon I hope on this one.

 

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Not much to report on the hybrid 101/121 unit. The 101 end has followed the one above so is virtually there, the 121DTS has been slowed down by my ham-fisted attempts at the Shawplan laserglaze. Did a few test ones and was happy, then did one side using Deluxe Glue and Glaze to hold them in, took about three hours to do one side, stepped back - looks terrible. All salvageable, but a massive pain in the backside.

 

Not as much of a pain as the 115 though. Phoenix ready thinned varnish. Never had any issues with the gloss stuff (despite gluing my airbrush together a few times as a result of not cleaning it well enough), but have fallen out in a big way with the matt version. Did an enormous amount of stirring (not a complete lemon - have been painting in OO for 20 years), did the 101 fine, the hybrid fine, the bubble car fine, got to the 115 and disaster. No idea why but has dried really chalky across both vehicles. Much swearing. Tried various suggestions found on here - very fine wet/dry, sanding sticks, running over it with thinners and cotton bud, but no luck. As a last resort before stripping it I wondered if another layer of gloss would lift it a bit - it's going to be weathered anyway, most were filthy and I had nothing to lose at this point. Went for something I've never used before - Humbrol clear acrylic varnish in a glass bottle. I'd bought it as someone suggested using it to fit the laserglaze. Just as a trial I brush painted the exhaust end of the DMBS, results below (left, compared to TS right)

 

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This is after three hours drying. Seems a lot better. Not exactly back to full colour density, and not a mirror smooth finish, but the transfers are already on so I don't really need one. Will give it a week to totally harden on the end, then might go over a side. Couldn't fathom how it looks better or what it is doing. Nothing left to lose though.

 

Rich

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