Southeastern Electrostar conversion project - Underframe detail

[tjf4375]

No worries at all Andy, I agree it's not cheap. Feel free to PM if it's something you're interested in at any time. As an alternative, James Makin did offer me some leftover castings that he had from his Electrostar conversion project, for a much lower price (about £10). I was very tempted as these are superb and look the part - worth sending him a message to see if he still has them. Could be just what you need for a 3-car unit?

 

All the best,

Tim

 

[tjf4375]

Hi all, hope everyone's keeping well! After a couple of weeks of faffing about, I've finally managed to finish applying the underframe detail to the Electrostar, and I think this project is now pretty much complete. I am proud of myself purely because I hardly ever finish anything, and have a flat full of unfinished projects, many of which will probably never get done in my lifetime 😂

As a few members have shown an interest in possibly purchasing a set of these, I've taken some photos of them in place so hopefully you can see whether it's something you're interested in forking out for. Unfortunately it's not cheap - around £70 a set at the moment, and I've had to order two sets due to some errors I made on the first run 🤦‍♂️

Also I should point out some detail has been added to these - namely mesh grilles for the aircon units, which are cut from Class 57 roof grilles, and can be ordered here: https://rainbowrailways.co.uk/product/class-57-roof-grills-oo-gauge/ and also some pipework in a couple of places. Also warning decals have been added, courtesy of RailTec transfers, who very kindly put together a sheet from existing artwork they had, and which are absolutely perfect.

Hope the pics are of interest and comments and feedback welcome as always!

 

[tjf4375]

Happy New Year to all, and hope you had a relaxing and peaceful break!

 

Just a very quick update for now. With a couple of stock projects out of the way, I'm hoping to turn my attention back to the scenic side of things for a while. Having said that, there is a new addition to the fleet which has been in the works for a while - 73201, which many of you will be familiar with, is GBRf's rail blue liveried 73, and named 'Broadlands'. As it seems to feature quite a lot in their diagrams I thought it would be a nice addition to the fleet. Although I really like the current 'railroad plus' versions of the 73 from Hornby, they don't come in this rail blue livery, so I was persuaded to bite the bullet and buy one of the Dapol models. The first one I bought was from the initial release, and aside from the awful 'purple' shade of blue, it was also a non-runner. So that went back, and I bought a brand new one from Rails of Sheffield. With a superb set of transfers from Railtec, I've renumbered and applied a bit of light weathering, and here she is ready for service! 

 

On the scenic side of things, I've been working a lot on the north end of the station, beyond the bridge, where the junction is. I'd like to be adding some vegetation to the area where the mainlines divide, but I've realised that anything I do here will have to wait until that big BT building is completed at the back! So I've finally started to tackle it. Thankfully there is a planning application online, so I was able to find some drawings. And it is a huge structure. I've contracted it slightly to fit in to the space I have, but even then it is enormous. I've decided to build up the main structure using MDF floor plates, and threaded rods to keep everything aligned. Once that's all fixed in, I'll be attaching more detailed facade panels to the front and sides, and there will be lighting as well. A couple of pics attached of early progress.

 

As always, thanks for looking and any feedback or comments welcome!

[WCML100]

Looking great!