JonKing's Workbench - modifying and detailing 4mm diesels

[JonKing]

Having started a previous topic for my modification / respray of a Hornby 56 to represent 56301 (see http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/100877-56301-ex-fastline-class-56/?p=1945140) I have decided to create a more general workbench topic rather than a "loco specific" topic.

 

Next in line will be 47830 in ubranded FGW livery as photographed by me at North Stafford Junction in April 2007, this loco has a particular interest to me as growing up in Devon I remember it working some of the last loco hauled FGW 47s diagrams in the early 2000s.

 

 

I tend to only embroil myself in one modelling project at a time (as I can get easily distracted!) and also make use of what spares I have, suitably modified to match the prototype I am modelling, rather than buy in new parts. For this build I will be using a spare Heljan 47 body that has been gathering dust for some years and also a spare Heljan 47 chassis that I found whilst moving house!

 

 

The body I am using is correct for 47830 as it has a flush front at No.2 end as per the prototype (for non D&E people, on a diesel No.1 end is the cooler group end and No.2 the end furthest from the cooler group) and also a very similar boiler port. A lot of work will also be required however, including:

 

1. Shawplan glazing, Fans / Grilles and Buffer Beam Details
2. Despite the body having the correct cutaway buffer beam details, the buffer beams themselves are the Heljan cowled version which will need modifying.
3. Fuel tanks need completely rebuilding.
4. I have no handrails so will need to manufacture new ones.
5. A complete respray!

I will post further as this one progresses.

[class"66"]

Wil follow this buddy...

[JonKing]

Unfortunately work has not progressed to much on 47830 (well it was almost finished, however I was not too happy with the final finish so a appointment with some super strip awaits!).

 

I have however made use of the chassis from 47830 for another loco, here is an "in progress" shot. (apologies in advance for the grainy, over exposed and blown out iphone photos!) Can anyone guess what it is yet!:

 

 

It is of course 47769 in virgin livery, a favourite of mine in the early 00s when I would go down to Totnes station during sixth form lunch break to watch the VT 47s on cross country services. I was very tempted to do this loco is current condition (i.e painted out "virgin" markings and elephant trunk multi working connectors) as this would probably be one of the few locos where you could prototypically use most of the ETS and multi working connectors that come on the Heljan sprue. In the end I opted for 2004 condition:

 

 

Lurking in the background is 47760, this is a re-spray of a Bachmann RES47:

 

 

Notwithstanding the Heljan 47 being too wide by 1mm I have to admit that I probably prefer it over the Bachmann 47 as it seems to dismantle and go together much easier, trying to refit the glazing in a Bachmann 47 being a particular PITA!. Nameplates on order for both 47s.

 

Another recent addition to the fleet is 37695, quite a straightforward modification of a Bachmann EWS 37/4 with the gold stripe re-sprayed, renumbered and hurst sandite fillers fitted. The nose ends have also been modified with extra lamp brackets and headboard brackets. The prototype ran around with small "First" locos on the nose for some time and I am tempted to replicate these if I can find suitable transfers.

 

 

 

[JonKing]

Progress has been slightly slow recently due to the arrival of my first son on 13th January, however I have found some time to get some long standing projects off my workbench. First up is 47287 in unbranded RFD livery, I have always been a fan of slightly odd ball locos and 47287 in unbranded RFD livery with the remains of RFD lettering to the lower bodyside was just too tempting!. This is a photo of the prototype I was aiming for: http://class47.co.uk/c47_zoom_v3.php?img=1196051176200

Starting off with a Bachmann RFD 47 as a base the logos, livery elements and numbering were removed, due to the stubborness of the Bachmann printed decals damage to the paintwork was inevitable so the rail grey and RFD flint grey had to be resprayed (again apologies for the grainy iPhone pics, I must build a photo plank)

 

Next step was to replicate the damaged paintwork where the depot plaques had been removed (these areas were usually badly damaged when the plaques were removed as a build up of moisture behind them damaged the underlying paintwork which in turn resulted in significant rust patches on removal). I did this by using an etched depot plaque as a template to cut a depot plaque sized hole in some masking tape, this was then applied to the model and various browns stipled onto the model, the edges were then touched in with rail grey to represent flaked paint at the edges.

 

 

The main body was then faded with a wash of white / pale grey to give a streaky weather beaten effect, I find that it is very easy to overdo this effect so prefer to build up thin washes over time rather than rush. After the wash had completely dried (i.e after a number of days) an airbrush was used to spray streaks of matt black and dark grey on the bodyside, this was then wiped off using a rag soaked in thinners to give a thin streaking effect over the bodyside and also build up a layer of dirt in the bodyside step recesses and around the engine room door. I then sprayed the bodyside with gloss varnish and left to dry ready for transfers, whilst this is not the conventional order of doing things I needed to do it this way in order to replicate the scarring where the "Railfreight Distribution" lettering had been removed.

 

 

Once the varnish had dried I applied the transfers, a mixture of custom precision labels decals for the numbering and fox transfers for the Railfreight Distribution lettering (I had attempted to use custom RFD transfers for the scarring however they did not work exactly as I intended). Once the Railfreight Distribution transfers had been applied I dried the body to remove any water from the application process and immediatiately dusted the lower bodysides with brake dust coloured weathering powder, paying particular attention to prototype photos, then before the Railfreight Distribution transfers had fully set I removed them to reveal fresh paintwork beneath the transfers contrasting with the surrounding weathering, a further quick dusting toned down the effect and the loco was then varnished with matt varnish.

 

 

Other minor modifications include buffer beam pipes and long range fuel tanks salvaged from a Heljan 47 (the Bachmann chassis I was using had standard tanks). Overall I am quite happy with how this one turned out despite not usually a fan of doing heavily weathered locos as heavy weathering is very difficult to scale down and look realistic at 4mm scale.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[drgj]

Some nice work here. I also just do light weathering as the locos I remember in the 70s were usually quite clean looking. Class 40s were often ex works so looked brand new! The exception were the  locos based at Bath road, Bristol which were really dirty.

 

I wish I had done one workbench thread instead of spreading my stuff around.

 

Dave

[JonKing]

 

Some nice work here. I also just do light weathering as the locos I remember in the 70s were usually quite clean looking. Class 40s were often ex works so looked brand new! The exception were the  locos based at Bath road, Bristol which were really dirty.

 

I wish I had done one workbench thread instead of spreading my stuff around.

 

Thanks Dave, I find light weathering certainly looks more realistic, there is definitely a line to be drawn with weathering when a little bit more can become too much.

 

I find having one workbench thread makes it much easier for me to track whats going on, I dont really get many views when compared to others however my main aim is to hopefully inspire people to have a go themselves so if this thread inspires at least one person to crack open the weathering powders and take the plunge them i'm happy!

 

Another couple of "slow burn" projects which have now been finished are a pair of DB Schenker Tugs. First up is 60054 in DB Schenker Red, this was a straightforward repaint and weather from a Tata steel silver 60 (for some reason I am not keen on the silver 60 liveries, thinking they look a bit plain). Showing that the camera is cruel I hadn't noticed the droop in the cant rail stripe at the corner of the cab until now!: One thing to watch out for with the DBS "Super 60s" is that the original NRN roof pods have been replaced with smaller GSMR units, I chose 60054 as for at least some time this loco retained its NRN roof pods whilst in DBS livery meaning the Hornby base model didn't need to be modified.

 

 

Next up is 60065 in DBS patched EWS livery as shown here http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=498982&nseq=59this respray was a bit of "wrecks to riches" job. I picked up the base model from a second hand stall at a fairly reasonable price due to it being in quite poor condition. The original had been resprayed into triple grey livery and weathered, unfortunately the paint was very thick (taking 5 sessions of superstrip to get clean) and the grilles were either damaged or missing as were the horns and the middle bars from one of the cab side windows. Grilles, horns and other damaged items were replaced using parts from my spares box, the loco was then resprayed into EWS livery with custom transfers from Precision Labels for the livery elements. On a positive note when I dismantled the loco I actually found out it was a sound chipped version which made it an absolute bargain!

 

The prototype loco appears to be a bit of a patchwork of different parts from different locos with some of the frames to the cabside windows being black (presumably salvaged from a triple grey example) and one of the four headlight covers being yellow, all of this has been replicated on the loco.

 

 

 

 

[rob D2]

Nice job !

I remember when it was named at Oxford and was all shiny.

 

I'm going to try and do 37516 as well -I'll be pleased if it's half as good as yours !

Any tips and I can I ask is the roof just rail black too ?

[JonKing]

Hi Rob, thanks for the feedback and sorry for the late reply (hopefully it's in time for your model of 516!).

 

I painted the roof on my model black, the same as the body sides, I beleive this is prototypically correct however if not it doesn't really matter due to the heavy weathering on the prototype making the roof look black anyway - one tip would be not to use any of the proprietary "roof dirt" shades when weathering the roof, as these are more grey than black they look quite odd on a black loco.

 

I painted the entire body load haul orange initially, this enabled the Orange ends and cant rail stripe to be masked, the cant rail stripe is thicker thank on most liveries so easier to do with a thin strip of masking tape. Having uses a white undercoat I also used a fibre glass pencil in a vertical motion to distress the Orange on the nose sides to give a worn / faded appearance.

 

Also make sure you add the correct nose grills (shawplan), cant rail grill ribs, sandite fillers and oleo buffers for the prototypical look!

 

Hopefully that helps, anything else please ask.

 

Jon

[37403]

Excellent stuff, only just come across this bench.

Do you have a layout which your stock will run on? What else do you have waiting in the wings?

[rob D2]

Hi Rob, thanks for the feedback and sorry for the late reply (hopefully it's in time for your model of 516!).

I painted the roof on my model black, the same as the body sides, I beleive this is prototypically correct however if not it doesn't really matter due to the heavy weathering on the prototype making the roof look black anyway - one tip would be not to use any of the proprietary "roof dirt" shades when weathering the roof, as these are more grey than black they look quite odd on a black loco.

I painted the entire body load haul orange initially, this enabled the Orange ends and cant rail stripe to be masked, the cant rail stripe is thicker thank on most liveries so easier to do with a thin strip of masking tape. Having uses a white undercoat I also used a fibre glass pencil in a vertical motion to distress the Orange on the nose sides to give a worn / faded appearance.

Also make sure you add the correct nose grills (shawplan), cant rail grill ribs, sandite fillers and oleo buffers for the prototypical look!

Hopefully that helps, anything else please ask.

Jon

I don't think mine will be as accurate as yours - I've got a 37692 body so it has the grill reinforcement bars, and I've got some spare Bachmann flush fronts which are a bit prouder than this one . Where are the sandite fillers please ?

 

I reckon if it looks ok from 3 feet I'll be happy - it'll be a summer thing anyway as I've got to have a bash at sister Dora first

[JonKing]

Excellent stuff, only just come across this bench.

Do you have a layout which your stock will run on? What else do you have waiting in the wings?

 

Thanks, unfortunately I dont have a layout yet. I have a number of ideas for layouts, current is a model based on Rugby DED however I never actually get round to building any. I may have to settle for a photo plank so that I can display / photo my models properly. 

 

Next on the modelling table is a twin jib plasser crane (almost finished) and 3no, LWCW pool 47s (47004, 47016 and 47224) however progress is very slow - my 8 week old son tends to occupy all of my non-work time at the moment!

 

 

 

I don't think mine will be as accurate as yours - I've got a 37692 body so it has the grill reinforcement bars, and I've got some spare Bachmann flush fronts which are a bit prouder than this one . Where are the sandite fillers please ?

 

I reckon if it looks ok from 3 feet I'll be happy - it'll be a summer thing anyway as I've got to have a bash at sister Dora first

 

 

Using 692 as a base will make your cant-rail grilles much neater, dont forget to fill the horn recesses on the roof however!. The Sandite filler is just behind the no.2 end (non-cooler group) bodyside grille on the drivers side - if you google photos of 37516 in WCRC livery it is more evident than on the black loadhaul livery.

 

Funnily enough I did a model of 37116 some time ago but in its earlier tinsley namer guise with buffer beam cowls:

 

 

Goes well with my other Tinsley namer 37s comet and mirage: