Nile's Mostly Freelance Bodging Bench - Pre-Grouping Locos

[Nile]

And now to finish off the brake van. The ends of the body,made of clear plastic, are held in place with minimal amounts of glue. It didn't take much effort to remove them. As the paint on them is a bit thin and lets the light through, I painted the insides black, then grey. While the body was in bits I removed the two pillars inside.

 

 

I attached the body to the chassis with a few spots of canopy glue (similar to PVA). This is the view through the end windows now.

 

 

The finished (for now) model.

 

 

I just need a Midland loco for the other end of the train.

Edited October 15, 2023 by Nile

[Nile]

Onto the next loco. This time it's a suburban tank engine.

This is what I will be using.

 

 

When Bachmann announced this model I thought it had potential, and thought about what I could do with it. This one isn't the only idea I've had!

The good news is that it comes apart easily in a way that makes modifying it easy.

 

 

I've posted more photos like this in the Bachmann section.

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/53404-Bachmann-announce-ly-2-4-2t/page-17&do=findComment&comment=1283871

 

Next, the modding begins.

Edited October 15, 2023 by Nile

[Nile]

Starting at the front, I've removed the handrail and numberplate from the smokebox door, as well as the retaining clips around it. I will be fitting handles to the centre of the door, the first part has been fitted. The two handrail knobs are for the handrail that will curve around the top of the door. They look a bit wonky here, but should look ok when it's all painted black.

As the chimney is fixed to the smokebox, I decided to modify rather than replace. I filed away the lip to get a stove-pipe look. I've glued a thin strip of styrene around the top to form a small lip.

 

 

 Onto the cab top. I filed the openings in the sides into a semi-circular shape, which looked good to me. I then glued a strip of styrene onto the edges.

 

 

 

 

I also glued styrene strips to the edges of the tank and bunker sides. These will be painted as part of the lining.

 

Edited October 15, 2023 by Nile

[Nile]

Before moving on to the painting, I made a few more mods. I wanted to make the dome a bit shorter, so I made a horizontal cut in it with a razor saw. After cleaning up the parts, sticking them back together, filling and filing, I'd lost about 2mm from its height. I filed away the vents from the corners of the cab roof. These were needed for the water pick-up system, which this loco now doesn't have. Lastly I removed the coal rails from the bunker. These may end up on another model.

The parts were painted separately, matt black and oxide red. They were put together only for the photo.

 

 

Klear was applied to get a nice glossy finish, ready for transfers.

 

Edited October 15, 2023 by Nile

[Corbs]

This is brilliant! May I ask - is your process to apply klear to matt/satin paint, then apply the transfers to that, then dull it down with dullcote or similar?

[Mikkel]

This is clever modelling and a very appealing idea. Fictional railways can sometimes seem a little far fetched or overly quaint, but your approach of taking prototype models and changing them just enough to make them different really works, I think. It all seems very believable.

 

Must be a liberating feeling to be able to pick and choose the locos you like, and then crafting them even more to your taste!

Edited March 21, 2014 by Mikkel

[Nile]

This is brilliant! May I ask - is your process to apply klear to matt/satin paint, then apply the transfers to that, then dull it down with dullcote or similar?

Yes Corbs, that's the idea. I usually apply another coat of Klear over the transfers, so seal them in. But that may be overkill. Dullcote certainly dulls things down (see the 0-6-0 above), so much so that I applied some Humbrol Satin varnish to most of the compound to give it a bit of a shine.

 

Thanks for all the likes and nice comments. There's plenty more to come.

[Corbs]

Cool, thanks. Looking forward to seeing more, have you got coaching stock in mind?

[Nile]

I'm sure I'll get around to some coaches eventually. As well as loads of Ratio kits, I've built up a stash of Triang clerestories. I've even got some French coaches that might prove useful.

Before then I've got lots of part done projects in boxes that I'd like to make some progress on. Stay tuned!

[Nile]

Something that I forgot to mention in a previous post was that I painted the inside walls of the cab top with Polly Scale Aged White paint. This gives a nice off-white appearance. You can just about see it in the photos.

Onto the transfers, or decals as the maker calls them. These are from Microscale no.90106, Railroad gothic letters and numbers yellow. It has plenty of numbers and letters in five different sizes. The loco is named after one of the suburbs it serves.

The boiler bands are from another Microscale sheet, no.91102, black stripes. I cut away the carrier film either side of the stripe, leaving a long thin decal that was a bit tricky to handle. The carrier film wouldn't normally be a problem on a flat surface, but the combination of curved boiler and raised boiler band make a difficult surface to conform to. Plenty of setting solution helped keep things under control and allows the decals to be moved around until they look straight. I used both Micro Set and Micro Sol here. The model is still in separate parts, making the task easier.The parts were put together for another photo.

 

 

Edited October 15, 2023 by Nile

[Nile]

Some detailing work in the cab.

The screw reverser had to go, it being the last thing you'd want on a small tank engine. I replaced it with a piece of styrene strip painted red, to represent a lever. 

I thought the hand brake column was rather in the way in  its original position, so I moved it to the back of the cab. I drilled a small hole in the floor to locate it securely.

 

 

 

Edited October 15, 2023 by Nile

[Nile]

Moving forward from the cab, I've changed the safety valves into the ramsbottom  type. I filed the top off the existing ones, inserted a bit of brass rod between them, and shaped some square nickel silver rod to go on top. The new bits were painted steel. It looks ok from a normal viewing distance.

 

 

Handrails. I accidentally used the old ones on another model (doh!), so I made new ones from 0.5mm brass rod.

 

 

They were painted to match the adjacent body colour. The smokebox door handles have also been fitted.

 

 

Nearly there now, just a final coat of varnish needed.

Edited October 15, 2023 by Nile

[Nile]

After a final coat of satin varnish I put all the bits back where they should be. I haven't replaced the coal, but as it's not fixed in place I can do that later.

 

 

A side by side comparison with the original loco (another one)

 

 

I've also got a BR one, and more plans for these locos. But that's for the future.

Edited October 15, 2023 by Nile

[Corbs]

Fantastic. It's been mentioned before that freelance 'main line' is not seen so much these days. I really like it. Are you planning to make a sister loco to No.34?

[Nile]

The other LMS loco (in the photo) will be heading into the workshop eventually. I'm thinking about converting it to a 4-4-2, maybe, we shall see.

The next loco due up has a tender.

 

PINNED ! How did that happen?

Edited March 27, 2014 by Nile

[Tiptonian]

PINNED ! How did that happen?

 

Could it be because it is an informative, high quality thread? Enjoying it very much. Many thanks!

[Nile]

Thanks Tiptonian, and others reading this. I'm glad you are enjoying it.

 

And now it's time for another

 

Wagon Interlude

 

This wagon dates from the 1970s and came from a Hornby trainset, with GWR no.101. Although I may own older models, this is the one I've owned the longest. Like many models from this era the body is ok but the chassis wasn't. A few years ago I replaced the chassis with bits from the kits box. I can't remember their origin, Cambrian maybe? The buffers at each end are different, so they may be from other sources.

This shows the new chassis. I've added some lead for weight.

 

 

I recently revisited this model and tried some painting and weathering to reduce the plasticy finish of the body. I first sprayed it with Dullcote. I painted the inside with matt black, then thin washes of dark brown. I also applied the wash to the outside.

 

 

As this is supposed to carry sand, I then applied washes of a lighter brown (Revell Dark Earth), including the chassis. This is what I've ended up with. It still needs links fitting to the coupling hooks.

 

 

Meanwhile I'm also working on a diorama/small layout type thing that I can display these models on.

 

Still ballasting, but slowly getting there.

 

Also on my workbench is this.

 

 

The next model definitely runs on rails.  

Edited October 15, 2023 by Nile

[Mr Brunel]

That's a BAC TSR-2, isn't it? 1/72 or 1/48?

 

(Your rail-based models are also stunning, I might add)!

[M.Riddell]

I'll take a stab and guess it's either the Pit-Road or Great Wall Hobby 1/144 scale kit?

 

Mike.

Edited March 29, 2014 by M.Riddell

[Nile]

Well done Mike, it's the GWH 1/144 kit. Until I spotted it at Southern Expo two weeks ago I didn't know there was a 1/144 scale kit. Very nice it is too.

[Nile]

Onto the next loco. This is another of those projects that I started last year and ended up in a box unfinished. Looking at it again recently I'm glad I didn't finish it back then, as I wasn't happy with the way it looked.

The donor model was a Hornby T9 with wide cab and 6 wheel tender. I'd made some mods and repainted it.

 

The main mods were to the cab, dome and safety valves. The cab side cut-out was re-profiled and the roof shortened. The dome has had the safety valves removed and the hole filled in. New Ramsbottom safety valves fitted, probably a Gibson part.

The problem is that the smokebox looks wrong (too long). I wasn't happy with the tender either. Here it is with the tender from no.256.

 

It looks better than the original tender, which is a bit longer.

 

 

So I thought about how I could improve things.....

Edited October 15, 2023 by Nile

[Nile]

I needed to see if I could dismantle it into its component parts. Unlike Bachmann's models, Hornby's are mostly glued together, like a plastic kit. Fortunately the glue isn't very strong, so with a bit of effort they will come apart. The footplate came off quite easily. The key piece is the handrail, being in one piece. Despite being painted, it came out without difficulty. This allowed the smokebox to be removed from the boiler.

I wanted to cut the front off of the smokebox, but also retain the chimney. Now that it was apart I could see that the chimney was a separate part, but it was firmly glued in place. I applied some super glue remover around the joint and eventually worked it loose. This is the result.

 

 

The smokebox door was also removed.

 

 

I then cut the front off with a razor saw.

 

 

This left a hole on top that needed to be filled. I used parts of the now surplus front to make a filler piece and support. The door was glued back on.

 

 

The base of the chimney had a tube designed to fit into a hole. Rather that make a new hole in the smokebox, I removed the tube and filed the chimney base smooth.

 

 

When the glue had dried, I filled and filed the unwanted holes in the smokebox.

 

Edited October 15, 2023 by Nile

[Nile]

I re-connected the smokebox to the boiler, temporarily, before gluing the chimney on, making sure it was straight.

Once set, I removed the smokebox and gave it a coat of matt black.

 

 

I then re-assembled the loco to see what it now looked like. the parts mostly just clipped together. It will be dismantled again for more work.

 

 

 

 

 

 

An improvement, me thinks.

 

Edited October 15, 2023 by Nile

[Jack P]

Followed!

[Nile]

Ever get the feeling you are being watched?    

Welcome along Jack.  

 

In other news, a box of goodies arrived from Shapeways. Which is causing a bit of a distraction. I shall try to post another update tomorrow.

Thanks for watching.