Rich Papper's Workbench - PHOTOS RESTORED

[Rich Papper]

Thumper giving me some grief tonight. Took the masking off yesterday and realised that I had miss-measured or misjudged the angle of the blue upsweep. Not sure how, but have been doing fiddly corrections tonight with cocktail stick and brush. New territory for me this - pretty much everything else I have painted NSE on has been DMU stock, the vast majority with a Derby style cab. The two sides of the Thumper power car don't match, let alone matching the other end! Does seem to be some variation here. From all the pictures I've managed to scour up it seems that the power car ends have slightly wider red and white upsweeps than the DTC end. Not sure whether this is due to the position of windows at one end or engine grilles at the other. Either way needed tweaking.

 

 

Rich

Edited October 11, 2018 by Rich Papper

[Rich Papper]

Getting there. A bit of snagging to do, then varnish, then try to find transfers for it. Chassis work ongoing.

 

Rich

[Temeraire]

Hi Rich

 

Thumper is looking good but looks like you've painted the roof shiny black like I did to start with? It looks much better if you paint with Railmatch Roof dirt, and I've done the same to my 4-TC as well as the thumper. I got the transfers from DC kits although it wasn't a dedicated set, they made them up from several bits from different sheets I think. Making up the coach numbers from individual numbers was fun!

[Rich Papper]

Hi Rich

 

Thumper is looking good but looks like you've painted the roof shiny black like I did to start with? It looks much better if you paint with Railmatch Roof dirt, and I've done the same to my 4-TC as well as the thumper. I got the transfers from DC kits although it wasn't a dedicated set, they made them up from several bits from different sheets I think. Making up the coach numbers from individual numbers was fun!

 

Excellent ideas, thanks for that Ian. To be honest the roof did look odd when I unmasked the rest. I have some Railmatch roof dirt, so will give it a layer or two at the weekend. My 4TC is blue and grey with NSE markings, so not sure on best colour for that. Have ordered transfers too. Don't mind making up numbers from individual figures. Quite therapeutic after the day job!

 

Rich

[Rich Papper]

A random diversion on the workbench this evening - and this one is a pretty big diversion for me!

 

 

A friend of my sisters found this in their parents loft and wondered if it would work for their kids. I know it looks pretty rough, but nothing like it did! There was a pile of 3 rail track, two tinplate coaches and a pile of random bits of metal I've yet to identify. Rust and corrosion everywhere, paint falling off. So onto RMWeb and some searches to see what could be done (and then onto eBay to see how much it would cost to cover my tracks if it went wrong!!). Much tweaking, polishing, scrubbing, oiling and fettling later and it goes! Managed to get it lapping all the salvageable track pretty happily with the coaches so their kids will be able to play with it. Can't see how they could possibly hurt it - looks pretty bomb proof. I've never had anything of this age apart and after about 30 years in a slightly damp cardboard box I got it moving. Looks like it could be painted up if need be.

 

Best bit is the mechanism though. Glorious piece of engineering. Even my rudimentary understanding of physics can see how this works.

 

 

Fun to play, will wrap and send back. Back to everything else!

 

Rich

[Rich Papper]

Hello All. Been a while since I did anything rolling stock related, but getting fed up with the half finished pile and the bit of the home layout I'm on at the moment needs some thinking about so have come back to this.

 

 

Laserglaze for the Lima 117 DMU. Except it's not a 117 anymore as I've chopped it about into a 115, coach above being a TS. So tools at the ready: file edges, test fit (repeat about 10x), do edges with sharpie (really can't emphasise enough how much better it looks with this), then try to get it in a level plane in the aperture, then drop the tiniest drop of runny varnish imaginable on a corner of the frame from the inside with a cocktail stick and let capillary action draw it around the edge. Taken about an hour tonight to do 10 windows - which is faster than I remember. But a 115 has a lot of windows so don't wait up.

Rich

 

[Rich Papper]

Good Evening

Some progress on the DMU front. Got the 115 TS laserglazed. Four evenings work but am happy with how it has turned out. Just the DMBS to do now and then need to allow some time before I think reglazing anything else is a good idea again! Body then fitted with LED strip as with others shown previously.

 

 

Then shoehorn everything back together and cross fingers. First run last night didn't go according to plan - much fiddly soldering and could then get nothing to work. Turned out to be the pickups - the axle springs just don't seem to give a reliable enough contact for DCC. Could just be the wheelsets, or the way I have made the axle live using silver paint. The multimeter shows a connection with relatively low resistance, and if you wire in the lights straight to the track they stay lit, but include a chip and the slight flicker is just a little too much for it. Talking of chips - not a lot of places to hide on on the TS. You can just about see it hanging underneath in the picture below. This will be the only one of my recent DMUs not to have a basic Hattons decoder. This Digitrax one will fit just neatly between the battery boxes, but haven't stuck it yet until I sort the pickups.

 

 

I'll probably revert to what I did on the 101 already seen - twin wiper contacts on each bogie. It does increase the friction, but these usually only work in ratios of one powered car to a maximum of two trailers, so seem to manage OK.

 

Also, finally this week, Birthday present turned up. Seen below running in.

 

 

Very NSE I'm sure you'll agree, but I've just always liked them and I love the noise one at my local railway (GWSR) makes. You'll also notice from the picture above that, in addition to turning up over a fortnight after a certain northern retailer said it would, it is also missing it's fuel tanks. They were in the box, with three of the four plastic tabs that hold them on sheared off. Decided to just fix it myself as wouldn't trust the retailer in question to open a packet of crisps by now. Still, do rather like it. #Rule 1.

 

Rich

[Rich Papper]

Good Evening All.

Quick update with some photos tonight. Been playing with a bubble car as a break from making scenery decisions. Been working on L131 for a while now and putting off doing the wiring as it means two destination indicators. First an interior view showing the lighting strip - not much needed in a bubble car. Saloon end destination blind fitted as described earlier in thread.

 

Then one of many tests just to make sure everything is still working.

 

Then a bit of attention to the buffer beam. Was going to leave it with couplings both ends, but most of the other DMU sets have one end detailed so thought it should match. Bits made from copper tube, various wire offcuts and staples for the lamp irons. A bit of a mess at the moment but will look better painted. Shown here in the company of the class 121 DTS of L211 and the driving end of the 115. Various stages of completion from left to right.

 

Only now I look at it do I see the destination blind! Don't worry - only blu-tacked in for now until I paint the inside of the lower cab black to deal with the light bleed and fit the lenses for the lights. A small bit of progress, but keeping me happy.

Have a good evening.

Rich

Edited October 17, 2022 by Rich Papper
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[NickL2008]

Hi Rich,

 

Good job with the 115, Ive been meaning to do one for ages! im currently revamping a 117, must admit your idea for the illuminated destination blinds was a good idea and certainly adds to the old Lima model. One suggestion perhaps to finish it off, the bogies could do with replacing with Hornbys class 110 bogies as the Lima ones are undernourished, great work otherwise though

 

NL

[dj_crisp]

Hiya!

 

Just catching up with your thread... some excellent DMUs! ! Really like your approach to destination blinds which I'm definitely going to have a go at myself

 

I'll admit to rather liking a heritage NSE DMU... must get round to finishing mine off. Please keep inspiring me

 

Cheers

Will 

[Rich Papper]

20 hours ago, NickL2008 said:

Hi Rich,

 

Good job with the 115, Ive been meaning to do one for ages! im currently revamping a 117, must admit your idea for the illuminated destination blinds was a good idea and certainly adds to the old Lima model. One suggestion perhaps to finish it off, the bogies could do with replacing with Hornbys class 110 bogies as the Lima ones are undernourished, great work otherwise though

 

NL

 

Very kind, thank you. The bit I wrote about how to is on page 2 I think. Apologies - not sure how to link back within a thread! I had thought about the Hornby 110 bogies too. I have a small pile from previous disasters projects. Decided to stick with the Lima ones purely for durability for now. My son is a big fan and despite being surprisingly dexterous for a three year old, hasn't really appreciated the idea of 'value' yet!

 

thanks again.

Rich

[Rich Papper]

1 hour ago, dj_crisp said:

Hiya!

 

Just catching up with your thread... some excellent DMUs! ! Really like your approach to destination blinds which I'm definitely going to have a go at myself

 

I'll admit to rather liking a heritage NSE DMU... must get round to finishing mine off. Please keep inspiring me

 

Cheers

Will 

 

Thank you. Give me a shout when you do. I think I knocked up the text as a Word file, more than happy to share it with anyone if it helps. I do have a couple more in the pipeline to satisfy my memories of the Thames Valley in the 1980s, but need to clear the half done pile first.

Rich

[Rich Papper]

Good Evening,

A few more DMU antics this weekend, and can finally move L131 off the 'in progress' heap. Managed to shoehorn all the DCC bits and pieces in without breaking anything and sneak a bit of extra weight here and there and with a few CV tweaks it runs perfectly on a basic Hattons chip.

 

Saloon end retains the coupling to form part of a 117 set or the 115 half set mentioned earlier. The outline style of black window surround rather than big black square gave me some headaches - in the end did it with a sharpie pen.

 

Van end has some buffer beam detailing made from various wire bits. Some tweaks needed to exhaust pipes I think. A bit too fat and a bit too rusty. Will think on it. Also need to think about the wipers. paint in black or add brass ones to match others?

 

Fairly happy when comparing to the original photos that inspired me on this one from the Railcar site: here and here. The latter of these is how I remember Paddington as a kid - along with a very powerful smell of Diesel! Can't really recreate the atmosphere, but..

 

And yet again have failed to get the destination blinds to show up properly in a photo so went and found the big camera and fiddled around with all sorts of settings I don't understand until I managed this:

 

Sort of visible. If not you'll have to take my word for it - it was worth the effort honest!

Have a good evening.
Rich

Edited October 17, 2022 by Rich Papper
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[Rich Papper]

Good Evening All,

A bit more DMU fettling this weekend. 115 that started as a Lima 117, various chops and fiddles. I know you can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear but it keeps me off the streets! First the bogies pickup problems mentioned earlier int his thread. Picture below shows on the left my plan to use the DCC Concepts pickup springs. Very clever, very low friction, I just couldn't get them working well enough on a wheelset that wasn't live axle to begin with. I think I'll come back to them on some wheelsets I know are at a later date - possibly useful under some Bachmann Mk1s. On the right is a more traditional alternative. More friction, but better results.

 

Small drill through the middle of the bogie tower and then thread the wires through.

 

All connected and happily working the Black Cat Technology head and tail lights correctly (great product, currently on ebay here). Decoder (basic Hattons) is tucked where the ballast weight used to be. Have added a couple of motorcycle wheel balancing weights that  give about the same amount of weight in half the space. Can always add more in the van space if needed, but not sure it will be.

 

Then, having had enough of soldering fumes, onto the bodyshell. Laserglaze all in. Glad I bought an extra pack to cater for the 115 having more windows than a 117. I actually managed to do one whole side of the DMBS in one sitting. An improvement, but not one big enough to make me want to do more soon! One on the left has had black pen around the edge and varnish applied with cocktail stick to inside to attach, right hand two are just loose fit at this point.

 

Then some excellent Replica Railways no smoking signs. Very clever product, printed in reverse for the inside of the window. Available here. Did worry about alignment, but checks of reference pictures showed that whoever fitted the real ones clearly didn't! Original inspiration picture from Martin Loader's excellent site here.

 

Interior lights and destination blind next.

 

Rich

Edited October 17, 2022 by Rich Papper
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[Rich Papper]

Hello All,

Well finally I'm there, the 115 is done. All remaining bits fettled into place in the same way as those above, so I now have a three car set (2x115 and 121) as spotted on Martin Loader's excellent site. Although have fitted buffer detailing at each outer end, it does still mean that I can still run the 121 with something else, and can run the 115 cars with the Bachmann NSE 108 I have floating around somewhere as Chiltern did for some reason in the 1980s (think it was something to do with increasing the number of toilets). So:

 

 

Happy with them for now, but may tweak the exhausts on the DMBS if I find a way of making them look better. So that is all seven of the NSE liveries I was after in this batch, along with L207 and L211.

 

 

I had originally thought it would be quicker to do them in a batch. Looking at the dates of the posts where I started it would seem not to be the case! In fairness I have had another baby since. Well, not personally, but I was there.

 

Thumper next if I can find any decals for it.

Rich

Edited October 17, 2022 by Rich Papper
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[Rich Papper]

Apologies for the gap on here for anyone following. Modern (!) stuff hasn't really moved forward since my last DMU binge. Still looking for transfers for the Thumper. Hopefully get things turning over again when I start getting Oxford Road ready for it's next exhibition adventure in September. Only thing on the workbench at the moment other than that is this:

 

 

No prizes for guessing, yes it is getting a face. Bargain - Hornby 'Battlezone' version. I know it is a terrible model, but it's for a 3 year old and cost £5 unboxed new!

 

Rich

Edited October 17, 2022 by Rich Papper
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[Rich Papper]

Some progress at last! Layout is taking most of the time at the moment as I struggle to get some track and a station moving forward, but some rolling stock has made an appearance. 

 

Diesel is done. Very happy boy. Whole thing for less than £10 - even DCC'd.

 

Then, just to prove serious things are still afoot, the Thumper has made it back to the workbench. Really would like to get this to Oxford Road's next exhibition so need to get it moving. Grilles painted this evening.

 

More on this soon I hope.

Rich

 

[Rich Papper]

A little more progress on the Thumper over the last few days. Been working on a way of electrically connecting the vehicles through the new centre coach. I will say at the outset that at some point Ian (Temaraire) advised me to get hold of a spare Bachmann 4CEP centre coach chassis for this, but I had already started with the Replica one. For the record, Ian you were absolutely right - this was a monumental pain in the backside! Nothing at all wrong with the Replica coach, love Replica and have many more bits for future projects, I've just made life harder for myself by wanting electrical continuity between the three coaches. It does work, but if anyone else is contemplating this, get a 4CEP centre coach chassis for the Replica body if you can!

 

So, Replica chassis with Symoba close coupling cams:

 

Then, just visible in the above, solder wires to one end of a spare 4CEP drawbar:

 

Repeat at both ends of centre coach and connect together. Not very in focus, but close up of connection to Bachmann trailer coach. Rubbing plates are about half a mm apart when propelling, and about 1mm when motor coach is pulling.

 

Three car set has done multiple laps of all parts of layout without incident. Seen here in station. Centre coach body is on as bufferbeam is part of the body rather than the chassis and I needed to know where the rubbing plate was in relation to the other two chassis. Various Lima bits in background just forming a test train - due to be dismantled for some future project.

 

These couplings are captive in the Symoba cams on the centre car, but unit can just as easily be separated and use its original coupling bar as a two car unit if need be. Just awaiting a few more transfers for the tops now.

 

I know these run as fixed sets, as opposed to all my other DMUs that are very much mix and match, but there is something nice about the way the fixed couplings allow the set to move off 'as one' without the coupling slack being taken as it does so. I suspect the new Bachmann 117 will be similar to this, but not sure it will be enough to convince me to couple the DMUs in fixed sets.

 

Back to the scenery.

Rich

Edited August 30, 2019 by Rich Papper

[Rich Papper]

Good Morning

A little more progress on the Thumper over the last few days. Having managed to fight my way to the end of the shed and get it a bit tidier, the underframe and bogies are having various weathering colours applied. Of all the pictures I can find it would seem that the 205s did not seem to attract quite the same range of dirt underneath as the DMUs I'm used to. Could be something to do with the engine being inside? Wiser folk than me will know. Humbrol metalcote gumetal (27004), grey (64), matt black (33) and dark earth (29) in various quantities. Also shows view of my paint bench in the shed. Extraction booth (badly needs new filter) has a pipe through the shed wall. Cheapest compressor imaginable. Will replace when it breaks but so far proving remarkably resilient. Tip here: the brown I only needed a small bit of to mixed it up in a plastic medicine cup. NHS advice these days is that all kids have vitamins for everything. Every bottle we buy comes with a little plastic cup which we don't use as we ram a calpol stopper in the top and use the calpol syringe because it makes less mess. End result is I have a massive pile of cups. They seem immune to all the solvents I've thrown in them.

 

Thumper itself has received transfers - an excellent set from John at Precision Labels - highly recommended. Especially for the set numbers over the cab windows - really didn't want to make those up individually. Has had one coat of matt varnish. Will refit all the pipes and give it one more. Weathering to the body will be minimal, but will do the roof.

 

Another faff of getting to this stage is all the door furniture painting. Same with first generation DMUs. Top tip here: paint pens. Those below have a fine enough nib to do door handles, grab handles and bump stops. Have to be light with the first coat of varnish, but having done so are as resilient as anything else.

 

Hopefully start getting it back together soon. Not looking forward to refitting all the pipes...

 

Rich

Edited October 17, 2022 by Rich Papper
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[Rich Papper]

Good Evening All

A little more Thumpering this evening. Trying to get it done before show next weekend, but with work and logistics of Thing 1 starting school I'm not even getting in the same room until about 10pm and the alarm is set for 5:30 every morning! 

Pipes and hoses back on the front ends. I had forgotten how much difficulty I had getting the Bachmann ones off for the repaint, even after a soak in IPA that took all the paint off. Some were reusable, fortunately I had some spare Replica bits to fill in the gaps. Looks a bit of a dogs breakfast at the moment, but will look better when they are all painted with the appropriate splodges of yellow and red and a spot of weathering. Now I look at the closeup one of the sets of pipes on the DTC (right) is definately in the wrong place! Incidentally, triangle is deliberately off-set with light. Many seem to be like this - seems the lights were not fitted in the exact centre of the cab. Those that gained a later repaint got a smaller triangle to compensate too.

 

The inner ends will be less noticable as it is semi-permanently coupled, but did want to reinstate what I could, and add similar to the new centre car. Unfortunately these pipes really didn't want to come off and I broke all but one, so have replaced with brass wire. Painted and weathered should be OK.

 

Transfers look better for the coat of matt varnish. Colour is a good match. Good highlight of another problem though. NSE liveried thumpers seem to have either white or black handrails - seemingly at random. The photos I've been working from of 205009 have them in white. I confess I did think I'd leave them black, but I had forgotten that the Connex livery I started with had them in dark blue! Might as well paint them in then!

 

Underframe looking better for some weathering and nearly finished. Colours as mentioned in previous post plus starting to add some Tensocrom filter shades - 'oil' and 'fuel'. Will also drybrush more of the gunmetal around the bogies. Really like the motor bogies.

 

Hopefully time to do the spot painting tomorrow, then a couple of days drying before a final varnish, then a bit of roof weathering, then windows in and off we go. Then all I have to do is get the layout together for the show!

 

Rich

 

Edited October 17, 2022 by Rich Papper
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[JDW]

Some nice work here Rich, I'm especially liking the DMUs further up-thread.

[Rich Papper]

On 18/09/2019 at 23:56, JDW said:

Some nice work here Rich, I'm especially liking the DMUs further up-thread.

 

Thank you. All trial and error of course. I do feel I'm a little out of my comfort zone with this DEMU. May come back to a DMU next but secretly I long for a wagon!

Rich

[Rich Papper]

Good Evening All,

After what seems like a mammoth haul for something that was basically add one coach and respray, I have a 3H thumper.

 

Next job was to sort the hoses out on the front and get them and the handrails painted. A little filling needed here and there too to compensate for having stuck one in the wrong place.

 

Bodies then headed to the shed for a last blast of matt varnish. Handles are just kitchen roll tubes.

 

Been using this varnish on recent jobs. Gives a fantastic finish, but the can is a bit of a worry. Shaking it has caused the little ball inside to bulge out the bottom end of the can from the inside. I don't think I'm strong enough to have over-shaken it, and it's never happened with any other aerosol I've used. Also the nozzle gunks up and I've had to get some replacements off ebay as nothing else seems to fit it. I'm assuming this is just because it's varnish and pretty sticky. Saves gumming up the airbrush though.

 

Windows in, and then more Replica no smoking signs. Fortunately only the centre coach to do as the Bachmann glazing already has them, but still 40 on here. Cruel close up of paint pen work.

 

Relationship between the body and the chassis requires slight adjustment if using the Replica bits. The Replica body sits slightly lower towards the footstep on the chassis than the Bachmann vehicles, so for uniformity have filed out a bit of the top of the body retaining clips on the chassis, and added a similar depth fillet of plasticard at the bottom, so it sits a little higher. Unmodified chassis shown above.

 

Then all back together, and finally...

 

 

Pretty happy with that. There are a few gremlins. Lights are a little flickery in the centre coach, should be easily fixable. Less easily fixable is the headcode LED on the motor coach. Annoyingly I seem to have snagged it while taking bodies on and off. It lights up the red but not the white. Can live with it for now, and not time to fix it before Oxford Road heads to the Lydney Show this weekend anyway - need to get the layout ready.

 

Have a good evening all.

Rich

 

 

Edited October 17, 2022 by Rich Papper
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[Rich Papper]

Good Evening All

Got to a tricky bit with the home layout so needed a break from thinking about it, and what with Oxford Road due out again in the new year I feel the need to have something different to take with me again. Time for a new bit of DMU bodgery. I'd quite like a 119. There's a Silver Fox one (but doesn't look quite right to me and can't afford it), there's some bits due to come out for the bodies from DC Kits (but they've been due out for a long time and the windows are the wrong size - good for a 114 though - I've done a DC one of them), and there's some etched overlays from Worseley Works (but again don't look quite right to me and I'm much happier fettling plastic than brass). Now I'm not suggesting for one moment that I can make anything that looks better, but it'll be fun having a go.

 

So to the 'random bits of DMU' box. Some Hornby 110 bodyshells. Picked up from ebay for very little as all were in various states of disrepair or had bits missing. Disassembled and paint stripped with IPA.

 

Then chisel scalpel blade and sanding sticks to take off the roof vents and all molded side detail including the window frames. Still in comfort zone so far as did this to make a 104.

 

Then start chopping. Measure 20x, cut once. Wide masking tape to mark lines - get as straight as possible and then follow them for cut with fine razor saw. Tidy up with a big flat fie and find a Derby style cab and this pile of bits looks like it might one day be a 119 DMSL.

 

A lot of filing, sticking, filling etc to go before it looks like anything realistic, but it's a start. TSLRB looks slightly easier, DMBC might be more filler than plastic! Still a few bits on the thinking pile. Inner ends don't match anything I've done before. Not flat like 114-117, but not as angled as the 110 donor shells. I'm thinking something akin to a Mk1 shape. Will play with some more offcuts to see.

 

Could take a while this one. Apparently it's Christmas and my children want stuff.

Rich

[Rich Papper]

Good Evening All,

A little mid-week solvent headache has moved the 119 project a little further forward. First up the ends. Not something I'd needed to tackle with anything before. Most of the others I've done have happened to be flat. The 119 is nearer to a Mk1 profile at the end, so the 110 ends on the Hornby bodyshells were totally the wrong shape. I picked up some Southern Pride ones wondering if I could modify them, but it would have been more work than scratch building something. So two pieces cut oversize by drawing around one of the cut body sections, laminate together with mek-pak and leave overnight. Then file to correct profile. Not sure where I picked up the idea of using a black and a white bit to make it easier to file accurately, but whoever's idea it was it worked well. At present they are too big, will attach and then filler and file to shape.

 

The DMSL bodyshell is now together. Having learned from the 115, I did half the joins last night and half tonight to allow them to harden. It will need a lit of filing an filling before painting, but the general shape is what I was expecting even if the number of joins the DMBC will need is starting to frighten me a bit! It will be left overnight to harden, then tomorrow I'll add a little araldite inside the roof dome as the profile of the 108 cab roof doesn't match the 110 one. I'm pretty sure there is enough plastic there to match them, but it would be too weak a join without. Some serious optical illusion issues with the black bodyshell parts. It really looked like the gaps between windows where I've used the bit in the middle was off, but much checking with vernier gauge has proved it to be my wonky eyesight. Should blend when painted.

 

Inside showing reinforcements. Again thoughts turning to the DMBC...

 

I feel a little bit better now one bodyshell is together. TSLRB centre coach should be easier than this as I don't need to match a cab with different profile.

 

More fun as it happens.

Rich

 

Edited December 17, 2019 by Rich Papper
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