More Swindon And Derby DMUs

[Brian Kirby]

Thanks Keefer and Rich, by coincidence I was just about to re-activate this thread, after messing around with all that kinky EMU stuff in the Modified RTR section! I'm pleased you spotted the silver tops to the door windows, some pics just suggest it's reflected light, it looks more convincing in the flesh. The old SE Finecast Flushglaze are a bit old hat now, and suffer from the vacuum formed bubble shape, but still give a fairly decent look for a 'layout' model without top window vents, i've still got a few packs to use up. The modern Shawplan glazing is very good, better for a 'showcase' model under close scrutiny, but four times the cost per vehicle, plus with the HD Suburban type the packs are tailored primarily for Class 117, Brian of Shawplan had to sell me FIVE packs to cover all aspects of a Derby 116 unit.. Both types sometimes require a certain amount of filing around the window surround, so both techniques require great care, but there is another way of doing things, which costs pennies . . . . .

 

 

Plus here's another way of correcting the dodgy windows in a Bachmann Mk2 (1964) FK.      BK

 

 

 

[MJI]

5 packs

 

I had to get 4

 

2 x brake

1 x DMS conversion (bit naughty)

And for the TS he chucked in a couple of spare sheets.

[Brian Kirby]

My two pictures above need some explanation, the blue-grey coach is fitted here with hand cut 1mm clear acrylic, using a small guillotine to chop out the correct height in strips, then chopped lengthwise for each aperture. A small pair of scissors can snip off the corners, and these are shaped with a sharp coarse file, it might take a bit longer, but it either costs pennies or nothing at all if you re-cycle clear packaging (remember my chocolate cake wrappers?)! This particular coach will now have the window vanes drawn on with a bow pen. The point is, this technique can be used for the single pane windows on a High-Density DMU (Classes 115 to 118, 125 and 127), at very low cost.

 

    The second photo showing the Bachmann maroon FKs is a bit more bonkers, these blank windows are the originals with the incorrectly-positioned detail ground off, and then with the finish restored as a plain blank window, which again can have the new detail drawn on, to give a nice flush effect. I did a blue-grey one the same way, a few years ago. On reflection, this method takes ages, it would probably have been easier to replace them with the same 1mm acrylic, but they do plug-in nicely.

 

Meanwhile, back to the DMUs, this DC Kits Class 120 has been sitting around, waiting to be finished off. I've already painted and lettered the bodies, before i'd even finished the three chassis, which is definitely putting the "cart before the horse". These cars will use Replica Mk1 windows, with 1mm removed from the bottom of each, like on my Inter-City 126s. One test window can be seen fitted to the rearmost car. Incidentally, the green 126 car in the background, has suffered bad collision damage, paint work was badly chipped and windows fell out, so is back in works (with two more cars) for a re-fit. On test the other day, the power car started smoking badly, and nearly burst into flames, I suspect oil on the commutator, it stunk the room out!    BK

 

[timbowilts]

So now you are doing prototypical smoke and smells, Brian.

 

Tim T

[Brian Kirby]

So now you are doing prototypical smoke and smells, Brian.

 

Tim T

It's certainly prototypical, especially if you're modelling the Class 127 units.        BK

[leopardml2341]

All you need now is 'rattling windows'

[gobbler]

Just caught up on this thread

 

Fantastic work

 

A couple of q's if I may (have started to scratch build a wickham 109 a year ot two ago and had to put a stop on all my modelling activities. But now I'm getting back in the saddle). I've read this fascinating thread but i may have missed a couple of things.

 

1. What do you use for the carriage consatina connectors?

2. How did you go the lining?

 

Thanks in advance

 

Scott

[Brian Kirby]

Hi Scott,

      The gangways between cars are the classic folded paper type, they've been around since the 1950s or 60s, i'm sure someone still stocks ready-made ones, failing that you can always fold up your own. The lining is paint applied with a bow pen, which takes a bit of practice, getting the width of line and consistency of the paint right.     BK