Snowwolflair

Just in from the transfer company. I think they have been put on a fan heater as it was a close color. There are still a few adjustments, and these transfers are not fixed so the edges are showing, but they are looking good.

96 windows later, they are all in. I now need to let the glue cure. I ended up using the canopy glue "Glue 'n' Glaze by Deluxe Materials. The advantage of this glue is that on the acrylic windows any smudges, when dry, can be removed with a sharp cocktail stick. A few more areas to paint and I will be ready for transfers, which are being printed next week.

Laser cut windows. The acrylic has a plastic film on both faces to protect them from the fumes caused by the laser and they get peeled off as the windows are glued in place. 96 windows is going to take a while

A bit less reflection of room lights on this shot.

Non Fuming Cyano is best as it dries hard and leaves no trace. Its' also thin enough to feed by capillary action. I have also used cockpit adhesive which is a PVA variant. The best way to get a curve is to roll it on a soft surface, just as you do with brass. But I have a lot of work to do before I get to that stage.

The windows are quite complicated and need quite a few stages to make. the idea is that the last thing I will do is curl them slightly, however, before that I have to fully detail them and prepare the opening so they just drop in clean and they are done. The wipers are scribe lines and then washed with paint. This has the effect and wont get damaged in the future.

If I go down the etch route I will make my own. Almost all commercial etches are far too thick as "to true scale" the wipers arms will be the thickness of a human hair. 0.12mm Rotring Etch ink can be drawn with a 0.1 or 0.2 tip and you don't have the problem of them catching and breaking off later.

Yes, but not sure how yet. As they are so fine I may draw them onto the screen using a Rotring pen an a varnish layer. I have to figure out the screens first

Now for the tricky bit. I have painted the roofs and the top of the nose. As you will see I have still a millimeter or two of the yellow to cover, however, I will not paint this until I have fitted the front windows. The windows will need to be back painted transparency as they are like modern car windows glued in place with a black border. You will see there are molding lines to the full extent of the windows as the windows are much wider that the openings. Just to complicate matters the windows are curved in two dimensions.

Last draft of the transfer set arrived this morning. Once I have checked them I will be committing to have them printed. I will put a post up soon on the final cost per set of 5 coached made up of two ends and three middle coaches. There are enough spares and duplicates to give everyone a good chance of getting a very good result and there are variations as the originals have changed over time. The Hull logos are substitutions for the sides and all the Hull numbers are included. (This print is degraded to avoid copying)

First draft of the artwork for the transfer set. There are a number of additions including the First Hull logos etc, however we are almost there. The image is degraded to avoid it being copied

A few more steps. Its amazing how many thin coats it takes to get a solid yellow. The yellow area is oversize as there is a common masking line over the yellow and blue and to attempt to pre-mask it and hope to get it straight would be almost impossible.

Transfer artwork update.

The Grand Central livery does not need a transfer set as the black and Orange are better painted and the logos and detail transfer are available already as transfer sets from the usual suppliers. The transfer set i'm getting made will do a complete train for either First Great Western or First Hull. I live in Windsor and see the FGW Adelantes at Slough and Paddington station most days.

There are three sizes of windows, Side. doors and cab front. There are also small drivers windows but they are solid and will be gloss black paint. I am planning to cut all the windows from 1mm perspex using a laser. It helps that the 3D printing is very accurate so I only have to get three templates correct and the laser will make as many as I want. I may make window sets available with the transfers I am getting printed to anyone who is interested. Im making a list of interested members who should PM me. Ideally I will fit the windows with non fuming cyanoacrylate for strength. the alternative is model aircraft cockpit glue that dries transparent.

A quick update on the electrical couplings. Once the silicone is firm I have wrapped the assembly in a heat shrink tube. this makes it very robust and stable.

Plugs arrived today from China so I have wired in the Dapol Voyager light clusters. A bit of paint to hide the resistors and some detail painting and the Chassis is complete.

This next stage just takes time a patience. I'm blocking in white where I will need to paint bright colors, Yellow and Barbie Pink. There is still a bit of tidying up to do which I do with a cocktail stick dipped in Polycell brush cleaner. Again this paint will need to cure before the next stage as I will need to use masking tape and I cannot risk the tape damaging the paint below it. One advantage of having the side CAD profile is I have been able to cut a very accurate curve template.

After a lot of burnishing with a fiberglass pen and more than a few layers of primer the top coat has a nice shine. These now need the paint to cure and that can take several weeks, before any further paint is applied. I will need to mask the end panels and paint them white then yellow. I could have done this before the blue was applied, however the sprayed blue paint surface gives a better under surface for the yellow panels.

The seating units are BR Lines MK3 1st and 2nd class seating modules cut up to give the correct seating configuration (or as close as I can get). BR Lines are always very helpful and you would be amazed at what they have squirreled away. Here is the Great Central seating layout which is almost identical, and with photos a good idea of layout can be worked out. I still need to paint the tables and the edges to the seats, however, once I have wired the plugs for the head and tail lights the chassis set will be substantially complete. My next task will be to surface the body shells for painting, not an easy task with a FUD print.