Deffo no more second hand

[teeinox]

21 hours ago, Torper said:

I love these Hornby Dublo "super detail" coaches and have quite a few hidden away in a cupboard.  One was in rather poor condition with some rust on a small part of the body work, so I decided to see if I could bring it up to a more modern standard.  So I dis-assembled the coach it and then, using the printed handrails and door handles as a template, drilled new holes for eventual replacements before rubbing the rust affected part of the body down to bare metal.  However I then decided to remove all the paint which I did by dunking the coach in an ultrasonic bath for 50 minutes.  I've now primed it and will proceed to paint it crimson and cream before adding new handrails and door handles.  I'll be interested to see how it turns out.

 

DT

You're a braver man than I!

 

Hope you post a photo of the result.  One of things I like about the maroon coaches is the gloss finish - it looks magnificent.  But to my mind, the Western region chocolate and cream gloss do not look so good.  Despite my addiction to early 1960s Western Region (thus my Warship locos), I only have one HD coach in chocolate and cream.

 

So what finish do you have in mind for the crimson and cream?

Edited September 15, 2022 by teeinox

[Helmdon]

On 04/09/2022 at 11:14, teeinox said:

I have 15 locomotives, of which 11 were bought second-hand, 5 from major on-line vendors, 1 from a model shop long gone, 1 from an exhibition, and 4 from eBay.  I have been happy with all my purchases, with one exception.  That was the locomotive I bought at the exhibition.  Carried away by impulse, I overpaid for something flawed: I should have walked away.  So I now have some rules.  First, I don’t buy on impulse; it has to be something I really want.  Secondly, I do my research on the problems and issues; this site is great for that.  Thirdly, I check prices.  The eBay “sold” listing is a great guide.  Whatever prices are being proposed, what they are actually sold for is a reality check to guide my bidding.  And finally, “if in doubt, don’t”.  Every time I have broken that one, I have paid the price.

 

Besides locomotives, I have bought plenty of rolling stock on eBay.  Sometimes I have bought pristine examples, but at a keen price because I knew what the going price was.  And I am happy to buy wrecks, as long as the body and paintwork are in reasonable condition.  I expect to do repairs; wheels to be replaced, replacement gangway connectors to be made, glazing to be sorted, and couplings to be replaced.   But I have never had a write-off, and it can be a lot of fun: real modelling!

 

So, Hattons happened to have a bargain sale, which featured “Eclipse”, a Bachmann Class 42 I coveted.  It was on sale for a month or so at £70, with no takers.  Not surprising for a locomotive dating from 1998, in a box describes as “fair”, and it not being photographed out of the box.  But in the bargain sale, the price dropped to £52, and in reading the small print, the bodywork was described as “pristine”, though there was no mention of performance.  So the question was whether to trust Hattons and take the risk.  Given the price, I thought it worth a punt, and “Eclipse” was mine.

 

Opening the box, what did I find?  It was pristine, except the British Railways logo had been removed.  Why?  Who knows!  At one end a front fairing had been fitted but not secured, the coupling consequently removed, and pipework added, badly.  All this was soon sorted.  However, one of the sprung buffers had been fixed in the retracted position.  I haven’t been able to move it: I fear superglue at work.

 

Given the age of the locomotive, before trial running, I took it apart and lubricated and greased all I could.  Lucky I did.  I was not the first to disassemble it.  When a previous owner had done so, the wheels had been put back in a way that bent and distorted the current collectors.  No problem:  nifty work with tweezers restored them and all the greasy dust was removed, too.  Result?  The locomotive ran perfectly.

 

I bought “Eclipse” because I wanted to convert it into one of the early Warships which started their careers with discs and a GWR-type three figure reporting number.  There used to be a kit for this, but there doesn’t appear to be one now, and to buy just the reporting number frame with number transfers, plus a headboard for “The Mayflower” would have cost over £25.  Therefore this had to be a DIY job.  Creativity with Plasticard and Photoshop produced the frame, and my Heljan Class 28 yielded some spare discs.  So the cost was just £2.50 for paint.

 

She also had to be renamed and renumbered because “Eclipse” never had discs.  The alternative to buying transfers for the numbers was to alter them by (a very steady) hand.  “Eclipse” is D816.  I decided that the “6” could be altered to “0”, so “Eclipse”, graced with Shawplan’s finest nameplates, became D810 “Cockade”.  And here she is, ready to haul a string of ex-GWR coaches, for we have stepped back in time to 1959!

 

 

I have grown rather fond of her in the way one does of a “rescue” dog.  She is no longer a neglected bog-standard Bachmann Class 42.  She now has a unique and special place in my collection.  But I could only have contemplated doing this with a bargain second-hand purchase!  So, for me, deffo second-hand!

 

P.S.  The Collett “sunshine” coach she is hauling was a rescue job, too!

love it. One of my projects for this winter is an old Hornby early emblem B17 Leeds Utd which I got from Hattons for about £50 during lockdown. Badly renamed and numbered but runs well. With the new Fox Transfers, some T-cut and Clear it will re-emerge as Sunderland, for no particular reason other than that was my Granddad's team and I'm not really into football.

[teeinox]

On 16/09/2022 at 19:49, Helmdon said:

love it. One of my projects for this winter is an old Hornby early emblem B17 Leeds Utd which I got from Hattons for about £50 during lockdown. Badly renamed and numbered but runs well. With the new Fox Transfers, some T-cut and Clear it will re-emerge as Sunderland, for no particular reason other than that was my Granddad's team and I'm not really into football.

Absolutely.  Hope the renovation of this elderly model goes well.

[Torper]

On 15/09/2022 at 19:02, teeinox said:

You're a braver man than I!

 

Hope you post a photo of the result.  One of things I like about the maroon coaches is the gloss finish - it looks magnificent.  But to my mind, the Western region chocolate and cream gloss do not look so good.  Despite my addiction to early 1960s Western Region (thus my Warship locos), I only have one HD coach in chocolate and cream.

 

So what finish do you have in mind for the crimson and cream?

 

Well, I've started.  To recap, I got a composite corridor coach which had several patches of rust.  First I took it to bits - removing to roof was not easy.  Then, as I want to super super detail it I used the existing printed detail as a guide to drilling holes for hinges, handrails and door knobs, all to be added after painting and lining, and attempted to score lines to delineate the doors. I then dunked the coach body in my trusty ultrasonic bath which duly removed all the paint.  Next step was to rub down all the rust patches which I did using sandpaper.  At this point I entertained some friends who are all keen "finescale" modellers and showed them the gleaming tinplate bodyshell without revealing its identity.  It was much admired, expecially the fineness of the window ventilators - at least as good as any kit I've ever built.  Everyone was a bit surprised to be told it was actually a 60-year old commercial RTR bodyshell!  Anyway, in the hope that further rust could be avoided I sprayed the body with a couple of coats of rattlecan zinc primer, and a coat of Halfords grey primer.  And that's where I am now.  Next step is to get the airbrush out and spray it crimson and cream using some very old (ie before safety regulations came in) Cherry paints which give a deep high gloss finish.  I may detail these adventures in another thread.

 

 

DT

Edited September 28, 2022 by Torper