Jons Workbench

[43179]

Good afternoon - I've done some blogs in the past but I think a normal workbench topic might suit this project better,
Im working on a pair of EMU barrier vehicles that will be in EWS livery - The prototypes are converted from former Newspaper sorting vans - which themselves were conversions from GUVs , rebuilt with gangways and a toilet , plus a fair amount of other detail differences on the roof and the underframe.
So this is one of a pair of bog standard Bachmann GUVs

and it will become one of these:
http://www.departmen...om/photo/977948

the coach comes apart fairly easily - theres a screw behind each bufferbeam plus clips that locase the chassis moulding into the glazing - so just spread the bodysides and the body coms off. Unlike other Bachmann Mk1s the GUVs ends and bodysides are all one piece.


theres 12 little clips that you can see to push in to get the roof off - but i spotted white fingerprints on the roof , it had been superglued as well! some carefull work with a razorblade separated the roof eventually!!


the new coach ends and gangways are from DC Kits - each vehicle will have the new coach ends fitted to both ends , but only one end has a gangway fitted . The opposite end to this is where the EMU coupling is fitted and on the real things gangways are removed and the doorway plated over.


All the raised detail is removed from the end of the coach in order to fit the DC kits parts - theres also some raised details that needs to come off the sides of the sides too - I'm not sure what those bits are - but I do know the the door bumpers have to be kept so work round them carefully!


Here's the new end fitted - I used slow curing super glue to give me time to position the end correctly - once the end was aligned properly it was given a squirt of accelerator to cure the glue .


GUVs are a completely different body profile to mk1 passenger stock - a fair bit has to be removed from the DC kits end and roof once its in place in order to match the GUV.


Now to look at the roof - back soon

tfn

Jon

Edited May 29, 2015 by 43179

[CWJ]

Looking good, Jon. Always nice to see something different in modern image. No fault of yours, but do the original GUV models sit a little too high on their bogies? Comparing them with the photo of the real barrier vehicle, there should only be a small gap between the tops of the wheels and the solebars.

 

Cheers,

 

Will

[43179]

Evening will - I'm hoping these vehicles will persuade their new owner to buy a Hornby Vep - Yes - any of Bachmanns coaches that come with B4 bogies always appear to ride with too large a gap between the bogie and the solebar - Ive never checked to see it this makes the overall ride height too high though . Does anyone know?

The barrier vehicles will eventually have the bogies changed for Replica B5s to be accurate to the prototypes -and hopefully they will allow me to reduce that gap without too much surgery as well.

 

tfn

 

Jon

Edited December 11, 2011 by 43179

[43179]

With the new ends fitted to the bodyshell - the roofs now need to be extended to give them the correct overhang as seen on the real things. All the roof vents have to be removed as well - these will be replace plater.

Ive cut about 20mm off the end of each roof and then glued a thin piece of plasticard underneath to support a new roof section

 

using a spare roof I've cut four sections about 25mm long - each section has to be profiled at one end - this picy shows a new section and now it compares with the original roof .

This profiled roof secton needs to overhang the new DC Kits end very slightly - and has to be thinned down from underneath so you just have a fine strip of the roof overhanging the end of the vehicle

 

and the finished section glued onto the existing roof looks like this

this is the end of the vehicle that has the EMU coupling - so no gangway , and all the rased detail on the dc kits moulding is removed too.

 

hourrs and hours and hours and hours and hours and hours of filing - and both roofs are done.

phew!

 

tfn

 

Jon

[43179]

Hello -

This mornings job has been adding the toilets. - all the parts of the Bachmann Guv are marked A at one end and B at the other - I guess so they assemble them the right way round in the factory. The 'A' end is where the toilet is added - the real things have a small extra window added for this - plus a small vent just to the left of the window - Ive used a Hurst etch I had in my bits box for the vent. The size and position of the extra window was done by guesswork - luckily theres two little grilles below it in the bodyside that can be used as reference.

 

 

Ive now added the new roof vents, which are MJT scalloped dome vents - lucky for me theres only 4 on each roof.

At the same end as the new toilet theres also two extra rainstrips , these are have been added with microstrip.

Ive had to take all the wire handrails off as it will be impossible to mask the EWS stripe with them in place - unfortunately being heavily glued in , they all got bent out of shape when removed, so ill have to make new ones.

 

tfn

 

Jon

Edited December 12, 2011 by 43179

[43179]

Good morning

Almost ready to paint now -

Ive added the details to the ends and glued on the gangways. Below is the standard coupling end of both vehicles - one shows the alarm gear which is a Southern Pride etch with some little bits of plasticard added - I'll be adding the 'butterflies' to this later. The alarm gear on these is at the same end as the toilet.

The Extra vents added to the ends are from a Shawplan class 37 etch that I chopped into bits.

 

The EMU coupling end of the vehicles is a bit more sparse - I added 'surface detail' rivets to the plated over doors - but since taking the picture I took them off again , as the real things are so small they would barely be visible. The right hand model just has the bumps (dont know what theyre called) left over from where the alarm gear has been removed -

 

Theres steps and handrails that I've drilled holes for , and these will go on after the painting is done. The pipework for the toilet tanks also has to be made and added to the ends later too.

 

tfn

 

Jon

Edited December 18, 2011 by 43179

[43179]

Fast Forward to this morning and both the barrier vehicles now have a coat of faded EWS Maroon - I've just finished building up the new bogies (Replica B5s) and have balanced the models on them for the photos - the ride height looks much better than with the original Bachmann B4s.

The underframes are fitted with new battery boxes from Replica - these are to replace the small boxes on the GUV - the bigger battery boxes were fitted with the GUVs were converted to sorting vans. While I had the paints out , Ive sprayed the steps on the chassis warning yellow as they should be.

Normally if I'm painting EWS stock I'd spray the gold first - but due to the position of the door bumpers on these models , it would not be possible to mask the gold stripe easily - so in this case maroons first , then I can butt the edge of the masking tape up to the door bumpers and use them as a guide for the gold stripe.

 

tfn

 

Jon

[Pete Harvey]

Looking very good Jon.

 

Pete

[Jon020]

An interesting read Jon. I've a pair of these bodies that I used to practice spraying on... didn't realise they were Bachmann... thought they were Lima. The mods look very convincing... and an interesting subject that I don't think Ive seen modelled before. well done... and, as always, thanks for sharing.

Jon

[43179]

Good evening -

Thats a coincidence Jon - I use a GUV bodyshell to test my paint on as well - its currently Pullman umber...

 

Have now done the gold stripe and orange cantrail stripe . The former has to be done quite accurately so that it ends up at the correct distance from the bottom of the toilet windows that I added earlier.

 

next up I have some work to do on the glazing.

 

Tfn

 

Jon

[Jon020]

You painted the gold over the maroon... wow; how many coats did that take. What paints are you using (knowing full well that this is where I came unstuck)... and are you airbrushing? Looking very good by the way.

Jon

[43179]

Good evening - Yes Jon - the gold over the red - sort of ....

 

I should really have taken some photos of the painting process to explaing things a bit better - I had to paint the vehicles 'wrong way round' , ie dark colors first , because otherwise I'd be trying to lay masking tape over all the bump stops - thats just down to how this particular livery happens to sit on these vehicles.

I tend to spary colors in whatever order suits masking them in the easiest/most accurate way.

 

Spraying the gold directly onto the dark maroon would take a few coats to cover, would probably flood the detail , and give a 'thick edge when the masking is removed.

what I do instead is mask up then airbrush a thin coat even of gloss white - it doesnt need to completely obliterate the maroon just enough to be a foundation for a lighter color - I then spray the gold straight on the top. I did the same for the orange warning stripes as well as these were masked at the same time as the gold band , and given the gloss white at the same time.

 

The result is nice rich bright colors but no thick edges , as this cruel close up shows (hopefully)

 

tfn

 

Jon

.

[43179]

Sorry Jon - forgot to answer your other question - all the paints on these models are Precision Enamels - although for 'basic colors i just go for humbrol - they do a nice glossy yellow for example . The only problem ive had with paint is using Humbrol gloss white, which ive found 'yellows' over time

 

tfn

 

Jon

[lyneux]

Looking good Jon! Nice tip with the "reverse sequence" painting.

[Timara]

Jon,

 

Seeing these has really made me want to do an NLA in either RES or yellow stripe red. Saying that, there's always one of these which look rather fun and funky. Whether I'd see one still in 1996 is another matter entirely!

 

I'll sort those QSA scans out for you of my former fotopic images this coming week.....

 

Cheers,

[43179]

Cheers Tim - Just having a look at that link you sent me there - did you see this beast , a couple of pictures earlier :

 

http://PaulBartlett.zenfolio.com/brnpccs/e3dfa79b5

 

interesting windows , and weathering too - i love the contrast between the wheels and the bogies , and the rust on the buffer shanks. Hard to tell from that photo when it last turned a wheel in anger..

 

tfn

 

Jon

[Timara]

It's a bit of a beast that! One to try on a repainted Bachmann GUV methinks.

 

Regarding the QSAs, so that I know which pair I've got on camera, how can I identify each of them? I've found a handful of shots on WotW, but it's still one of those minefields I've told myself never to try and cross!

[43179]

Right - I think ive got the distinguising features sorted now - the pairs are :

 

977942 Horizontal window bars (but none on droplights) , EMU coupling at non toilet end - toilet window painted out , Maroon axleboxes

977943 Horizontal window bars (but none on droplights EMU coupling toilet end - toilet window still visible , Yellow axleboxes

 

and

 

977948 Vertical window bars EMU coupling at toilet end - toilet window still visible - large window painted out nearest the toilet end (not sure if it always had window painted out this as a barrier though) , Yellow axleboxes.

977949 Vertical window bars EMU coupling at toilet end - both large windows painted out on one side - one large window painted out on t'other , Yellow axleboxes

 

assuming the vehicles are kept in their pairs as above - theyre quite easy to tell apart - '48 and '49 always run with the toilets facing each other , as thats the only way they can be coupled .

 

tfn

 

Jon

[Timara]

Okay, going on the above, I've got both sets on camera for sure. Is it just the two sets or are there more? If not, then I can identify mine as follows.

 

977843 with toilet to the right had graff on it and a repainted EWS maroon lower bodyside that covers most of the graff. The other side of it appears to have recessed bodyside windows, which is rather odd.

 

The shot of 47790 of mine you have is therefore 848 and 849. As to which is which, I haven't a clue (yet) until I scan the image in again and see what is visible on it. I'm guessing not, but we'll see.....

 

Going on the above, which pair will you be doing yours as?

[43179]

_

Edited December 19, 2011 by 43179

[43179]

Afternoon Tim - Merry birthday btw! -

one of mine has to be '42 - thats the only one I know of that has the non toilet end fitted with the emu coupling -

the other one would be suitable for 43 48 or 49. If the vehicles are strictly kept in pairs - then id have to make it 43 - but if not , one of the other would be nice - to have some variety with the filled in windows.

There are some other pairs - but for slightly different uses - with a few cosmetic differences - such as this one:

http://www.departmen...om/photo/977944

 

but according to departmentals.com theres just the two pairs of barriers for EMUs specifically.

 

Some photos of more wrong way round painting -

This is a pullman coach masked up , to spray the cream over the Umber - doing it this way round means the masking tape can butt up to the window frames and door bumpers, to keep it all nice and straight - If i sprayed the colors round the other way I woudl have to try and mask over the top of the bumpers and window frames - that would stop the edge of the tape from being straight

 

Heres the white sprayed on first - that i mentioned in an earlier post - it doesnt need to completely obliterate the darker color.

 

and then finally - this is how it comes out

 

tfn

 

Jon

Edited December 19, 2011 by 43179

[Jon020]

Jon,

Thanks for the instructional entries... a good trick.... and one I'll try to remember. Thanks also for the referecne to Precision; you know I came unstuck here, but it seems to work well over the humbrol base coats (again, as you've mentioned before). i presume you're airbrushing; what airbrush do you have... it seems to give a very pleasing result.

Jon

[Scott]

What kind of masking tape have you used? I recently got the red Precision paints tape but both rolls have warped really badly after just sitting in my drawer rendering them useles!

[43179]

Good evening

Scott - I use Tamiya masking tape for everything - it is a paper based sort of stuff , as opposed to the Precision tape that is plasticy. The Tamiya tape comes in a variety of widths and each roll comes in a handy little plastic case/dispenser thing that keeps it clean and. protects the edges.

 

Jon - I have two Badger 175 crescendo airbrushes, which are dual action - I keep one with a medium needle in and one with a fine needle ready for weathering. I also have a Badger 200 single action that I keep set up for acrylics/varnish.

Ive stuck with these brushes because badger spares are easily obtained - I use Shesto online for mine

 

tfn

 

Jon

[Scott]

thanks Jon!