LMSfan72

Drilled out the holes on 37025 and a bit of paint really brings out the detail...

Spotted a couple of extra roof details to add:

Here we go, finished coach fresh from the detailing shop:

I have wired in the bogies and all the lights to a Zimo function only decoder. I made up a resistor board that I can access under the fuel tanks - I will make the chassis centre section removable with a screw.

The decoder and a stay alive went into the generator end. Really getting there now!

I have test run it all on the track to check the couplings and bogies are all free. I was concerned about buffer lock but using number 19 Kadee coupling on the loco work. When I put the rake together I will probably use a rigid connector. All that remains is to fix in the coach ends (they need a little fettling as they are too tight a fit) and then final paint details and decals.

All the lights wired up and plugged into the test rig decoder.

We have

• an interior lighting strip,
• the tube lights on each side,
• eight spot/flood lights at the 4 corners of the bogies

Just the bogies to wire in then the decoder. I need to work out what clearance there is above the bogie wires between the floor and the interior....

The interior ready to go in...

..Next I'll glaze it and then wire in the flood light LEDs..

Installed the side lights...

Now, turning my attention to the lights.... I want to model operating "tube" lights as on the prototype. The only way I could think of doing this was to create a strip of SMD LEDs close together. Looking at the length, it seems to be 6 LEDs end to end. I plan to solder them together in 2 strings of 3, each string with a 470 ohm resistor. I think this will work nicely with them wired in parallel on a single function of the DCC decoder.

I made myself a little jig to help solder the LEDs together and once removed from the jig I then painted them white and "filled" the gaps with glue'n'glaze..

Testing shows they still shine brightly, so, fealing quite happy so far!

Here's colour comparison with Hornby 72631 PLPR1...

...and a quick shot of 999602 mocked up on it's bogies....

I then did a bit of mix and match on the body colour. After the grey Halfords primer I then airbrushed white Vallejo surface primer to get it back to white. Mid coat was then Vallejo chrome yellow. A couple of coats of that. That colour is a pretty good match for the prototype I think (this shade of Vallejo is RAL1003). However, I wanted to match my Hornby coaches as best I could, so, I find a top coat from a rattle can of Halfords Rover Inca Yellow gets me pretty close... I'll get a picture side by side when it's dry!

I disassembled the Thompson bogies and cut most of the detail away from them. I then flatted the sides back (the great thing about these is that the pickup frame acts as the bearing so if you go too far and this it so that the axle hole appears they should still work) so that they were about 1mm thick.

I then took the printed sides and glues them to the outside. I used glue'n'glazre rather than superglue so if I find the positions a bit wrong I can get them off and re-position....

...and reassembled...

I airbrushed the interior before glueing the two halves together (I actually cut some access squares in the bottom of the body halves where the centre chassis will go - it struck me that I struggled with light bleed on some others so I thought I'd try an help to minimise that as well as getting a uniform interior). I suspect the light pigment and thin paint might not do a great deal though!

Then I glued it and primed to see what needed finishing. Not much, really!

Soooooo pleased with this print. This is the 3 pieces just pushed together, straight out of the cure machine with no finishing. You can barely see the join at all...

So, I have been thinking about the interior and lighting and came up with a plan. I was so impressed with the pick-ups on the Bachmann Mk2F coaches that I thought I'd see what similar designs Bachmann had. I picked up a pair of Bachmann Thompson bogies, 36-006B, which has the same pick up design. Since I will need to change the bogie sides anyway the style is less relevant. The wheels are quite a lot bigger so a redesign to now include a chassis and bogie mounts is required. I will also have to devise coupling arrangements so I will try and go with Keen Systems like I did on Mentor. At the same time, then, I'll do the interior and add the corridor ends.....

A picture with the lights on. The camera doesn't do the purple justice!

Now, having invested in the more expensive Bachmann donor, and succeeded in getting the lights fitted I have decided to go the whole hog and fit sound to this one!

I got one of the "new" (to me anyway) Loksound 5 Fx function only decoders so I thought I'd try that. I have no idea what a DBSO sounds like so I just downloaded the ESU Class 77 (European Class 66) sound project for free from ESU and decided to modify that. I am using the compressor sounds to represent the generator and the horns and miscellaneous noises but I have removed the drive sound and fans so it doesn't have the Class 66 engine noises. I then mapped the various light functions....

I couldn't work out why the lights didn't seem to follow the function settings until I realised I was likely pulling too much current with multiple lights on. Fortunately, the decoder lets me reduce the brightness of the functions individually so by tuning these so that the cab, markers, tail lights all are toned right down drawing much less current I found  can have all of my combinations working nicely. I haven't fitted compartment lighting, which appears to be a good thing!

I thought I'd try without a stay-alive first. I am seriously impressed with the combination of the Bachmann pick-ups and the decoder on initial testing - I don't think I need a stay-alive at all.

I still need to refit other body details and some handrails on the driver door as well as the chassis tanks before decals, snowplough etc... but, I am really happy

(Then I need to gather my energy to finish 9707, 9714, 9701 and 9702 (or maybe 9703)....... only 9701 or 9714 will be a Bachmann the others will be Hornby.)

So, having proven that this was going to work I decided to build 9708 with all the working lights on a Bachmann MK2F chassis.... 

Stripping the glazing was an absolutely shocker, I think if I was to do another Bachmann I'd try and mask the windows rather than remove them. I also found that my normal method of stripping the body with Dettol softened the plastic on these a little which made it easy to mark. So, not perfect from a donor perspective but it does have great pick-ups on the bogies!

I chopped the body and, since I had pre-printed the trial cab that I was going to use, painted it before fitting the cab end. This was going to be a test of how well my door lines masked the join.

Before I glued it together I fitted windscreen wipers, grill and driver as well as resistors and a "plug" to the inside of the cab. This would be easier than doing it when glued into the body:

Once the cab was fitted I could trial fit to the chassis. I found I need to cut away a little at the front to fit:

The cab and body joins were pretty acceptable:

The glazing isn't perfect - I may try some more varnish to it, we will see....

The final instalment.......

The woven flatscreen came:

SO, I came up with some 3D printed surrounds:

Then glued some of the flatscreen to the back of the surrounds, trimmed the net back to match the profile, sprayed them black and glued some windscreen wipers to the back of it and installed them on the coach:

Ideally the weave would be a little tighter - this is 1mm I think - but I couldn't find any. 

I have to say, overall, I'm delighted with this build!

Decals are on, raised window lights are glazed with Glue'n'Glaze (worked surprisingly well for the size of the windows!) and on to the track.... I have some fibreglass woven flyscreen on order to try and make some anti-debris screens for those windows. Metal gauge didn't work for me..... then that should be it!

I was trawling through more pictures and realised that the prototype currently has more roof equipment installed. I could find pictures showing parts of it but I couldn't find a good plan view. So, with a bit if imagination I have had a go!

If people want to PM me I can make them available 

I can make them available if you want to PM me

I used a newly printed cab to try this out, and painted it up so I might just replace a previous one if it works....

I then started by getting:

3 white 2mm tower LEDs

2 red 2mm tower LEDs

6 UV/purple 1206 SMD LEDs

The cab already has the holes printed in for the driving lights.

I soldered some fine enamelled wire to the SMD LEDs.

Then I carefully drilled small holes through the bracketry. I threaded the top UV lights through:

...and tested them:

The camera doesn't do the colour justice but they looked good to me!

Then I formed the tower LEDs into a clusted and painted all but the ends black and soldered the legs into a structure. I built a small board to just let me connect them up:

With it all working quite nicely, I added the other UV LEDs, glued them in position and painted the surrounds black. Whilst I had the fine paint brush out I painted the junction boxes too....

.... having built a few, I thought I'd go back and add some lights,..........coming next!

I used a Hormby Mk2F BSO as the donor....

1.       I removed any obvious burrs from the prints with a small file or sanding stick...I also made sure I was happy with the surface finsih on the cab sides by light sanding and filling as necessary

2.       disassemble the donor, removing glazing strips and removed unnecessary parts from underneath the chassis.

3.       Cut the interior end off to allow the cab to fit

4.       I cut the body to accept the 3D printed cab. Note the cutting pictures below

5.       Then I fetteld the cab and body to get a nice clean join at all faces and glued the cab in position

6.       Fill and prime and sand until happy

7.       Add the roof detail, referring to pictures of the prototype as necessary

NOTE: I use a bit of wet’n’dry to mimic the exhaust on 9701 (9702 does not have it)

8.       Blank the windows (note, you can use the original glazing by painting out the relevant window or use printed window blanks and cut the appropriate gaps in the glazing)

9.       A test fit the body back to the chassis. NOTE:

a.      I was careful not force the cab end over the chassis. It was slightly tight to fit the end to the cab, so I carefully filed the inside of the cab corner bottoms to fit around the chassis

b.      without the glazing it will not clip on, but, the main body hasn’t altered so it will when assembled

10.   Fill, prime, sand and paint the body

11.   Modify the donor glazing to allow it to be refitted.

12.   Use glue’n’glaze to glaze the cab

13.   Put the body to one side and modify the chassis:

14.   Clean up the chassis and glue fit the air reservoir (cylindrical tank) and fuel tank (9701 only)

15.   Reassemble!

16. Add additional details and transfers