LMSfan72

Happy with snowplough now This is the chassis mounted one. The bogie mounted one looks good too, just waiting for the paint to dry on that….. … speaking of which, I will have to retouch the yellow front after all this fiddling about!

Fan looking ok through the grill I think

Snowplough shape ok. Work to do on the mounts and supports so that the edges of the plough remain sharp

Cable and fan and grill Since I am doing the version for use with the mk5 coaches I also needed to do the Dellner coupling. Cut down version of the Accurascale magnetic one in the retracted position:

.... oh, and I keep forgetting the snowploughs!

I'm trying, this weekend, to finish detailing the Sleeper version. I've printed a locator for the original circuit board and installed that for the operational lighting, I am printing nose cables and a radiator fan and have a new grill attempt! I'm also shrinking the aerials on the cab so some touch up required there too. I'm aiming to have a presentable finished loco by the end of next week! In parallel I've got to do the same for the GBRF one, albeit with a different operational lighting configuration, and am hoping that @railtec-models will be able to help out with the body side lettering. I'll add photos as I go!

Good job!!😀

I only lit one end of the sleeper because I am using the standard Dapol electronics and I wanted day and night options. I forgot to paint the insides of the WIPACs to prevent light bleed. I may remove them and do that at some point!

Working out the wiring runs for the lights. I used a tower for the top marker but wired SMDs in the WIPAC clusters:

I have decided to clear out my development models for space. If anyone is interested in some of them please PM me (I am not giving them away but before I put them on eBay I thought I'd give followers the chance) - I have 10 in total, all painted of which 8 are in full livery. They will all need bogies and buffers to complete and I can add in bushings for certain bogies if you know what you want to use.

Both ends now done. Here are the pictures of the mods inside: bridged the pads by the switches

Here is 57311 with one end done for the lighting. I’ll include “inside” shots when I do the other end. In summary, I: - bridged the pads where switches could be fitted. This enables power feeds to the cab connectors and AUX7 and AUX10 connectors - removed the tail lights by unplugging them and removing the SMDs - added new dual SMDs to the tail light positions wiring them into AUX1 and the R connectors with new plugs - printed a chassis mount to take the top light. Plugged that into the cab socket - cut the headlight light tube and added another SMD led to the night position. Used black tack to secure the SMDs and act as shrouds (might improve that). Plugged this into AUX7/(AUX10 depending on end)

Although I think I skipped the interior as I didn’t like mine! I’ll be keen to see how it turns out

I think that’s what I did too. I used the ESU 150 sound file.

Waiting for transfers to arrive and paint to harden

I blew it over with a very light coat of Lifecolour rail blue!

Last nights painting had mixed results: I mixed up a match for the sleeper but ran out with a little to do and then mixed too dark. Working out how to bring it back…… The GBRF I am pleased with - better than Hornby’s but the gold not as strong as Accurascale’s and the Mentor’s are really good

So true! I ended up creating a whole new body and using Dapol cabs grafted on before adding the WIPACs and everything else for both the sleeper and GBRF 9s

Sleeper: GBRF:

Best colours I could find! I’m amazed how little pigment was in the GBRF Orange. Now that the blue is on I can see how patchy the other is!

Maybe this is what an Accurascale advert could have been like!

Until I can come up with something better I have just cut up the old roof grills:

….. meanwhile… 3 different versions of RTC Mentor in paint! 1974 at the back, 1986 in the middle and 1990 at the front:

So, after a lot of fiddling with lights and printing some more details, here we have: GBRF in the paint shop and the sleeper in full primer (complete with finger marks due to my impatience!): The shark fin base is as thin as I could go and the aerial mast base is slight oversize I think, but, it looks the part!

Good news - I can now mount the LEDs inside the WIPAC. Dual led on the inboard light and single on the outboard. Some black paint inside should reduce light bleed. I just have to remember to mask when painting!!