97406

A new Duff has just been outshopped, looking like it hasn't just been outshopped!

I built just such a diorama last year under lockdown. It’s powered (DC) and serves as a backdrop for the locos I was starting to amass. One thing lockdown made me realise is that it is work and interacting with people for too long during the day that wears me down, but I recharge whilst alone and modelling helps (I’m a textbook introvert, most of the time). The lockdown served as a blueprint for retirement, and now my task is to work out how I can retire as soon as possible, but manage a reasonable income, through whatever means. I can reflect many others’ comments on here that being stressed, through work does not make me want to do any creative pursuits after. Instead I prefer to disappear into the countryside on my bike for a bit of greenery and nature.

Well, here's what I ended up doing currently work in progress on the workbench, and jolly satisfying it is too. I will almost definitely treat myself to the new Bachmann 47 in due course, but it will be at a point when one is in stock somewhere and I have the cash to spend. Pre ordering an expensive loco means I can't guarantee having the funds when they arrive as stuff happens.

That’s a damn good idea. A top tip no less

You have a point. I missed that off my post above, but there was a little black in the mix too. Though on reflection…..black! https://youtu.be/wj84tfS7ag4

I used a mix of bauxite and frame dirt in varying proportions. I then found a mislaid pot of sleeper grime that also got put in the mix later on. All Railmatch acrylics.

I've used Halfords etch primer on my Shawplan class 40 screens. The interesting thing is that I rubbed down to the bare metal in parts when I was sanding the filler (superglue + activator), with 1000 grade wet and dry. I overpainted with acrylic and it stuck fast! This implies that cleaning is the key here. Next time, I'll clean the brass parts in a solution of washing soda first. I recall doing this in my youth on the bodysides of a Craftsman 25/3 conversion kit, using just normal car primer afterwards, and it survived masking for the two tone green livery, using sellotape, believe it or not at the time. I wouldn't recommend using sellotape these days, though.

So the race is on....will I do a Teeside Steelmaster first, or will Accurascale (cough, hint, hint.....)

I got back into the hobby last year and most of the fleet I’ve accumulated over the past year and a half have been secondhand. The only poor performer is a Heljan Teddy Bear, all the others are good’uns. It’s not practical to buy new all the time when feeding one’s locomotive addiction over a shortish time. Plus most get altered in some way, so are in bits for a while at least.

The proof is in the pudding, so to speak. It is looking like the Shawplan screens will get rolled out to the rest of my 37 and 40 fleet, now. At least my existing fleet will look good by my new Accurascale acquisitions. https://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/163953-shawplan-extreme-etch-class-3740-windscreen-advice/&do=findComment&comment=4549668 Anyhow enough of my thread hijack now!

Thanks, it turned out well. No, I didn't file the windscreen surrounds, just sanded it back to the plastic and sat the assembled screen and backplate on the front. The radius of the back plate is a touch smaller than the roof, and the superglue just flowed into the gap, and it goes off almost straight away due to the activator. It only needed a light sanding to get the rounded corner right. The other end also has the backplate fitted, but I was a little generous with the solder and the representation of the weld seam got lost. It is still an improvement on the Bachmann screens, even on the retooled version, and the change will be rolled out to my 2 retooled 40s and 3 Bachmann 37s. Look forward to seeing your 37s completed.

Shawplan windscreens and backplates fitted to the eponymous 97406

I've finally managed to get the backplate and screens installed satisfactorily on a loco. In a nutshell: The Bachmann moulded glazing bars were removed and I filed out the aperture in readiness for the etch to be overlaid. It is important to leave a small lip on the top of the bonnet. I cut the bottom part of the backplate off and the 2 thin glazing bar backings to create an inverted ‘U’ shape. I assembled the screen and backplate flat and soldered around the sides and the top (this is easier done from the front using a flux first, and letting the solder get drawn in by capilliary action). Don’t worry about getting solder all over it as the next step remedies this.. I removed excess solder with some desoldering braid, then sanded with 600 and 1000 grit wet and dry and primed the assembly to identify and remove any imperfections. It took a few goes (and the odd bit of filler on some) to get it right. I then inverted the screens on a flat surface and folded them using downward pressure with a craft knife blade using the etched guide in the backplate and the windscreen dividing bars as a guide. The screens can now be overlaid over the cab front and the aperture in the cab front filed out so there is room for the glazing to be fitted from behind at the end of the process I glued the assembly over the front of the cab I then used superglue and activator all around the screens applied with a thin wire. This makes the superglue act as a filler and the method is very precise with a little practice. It took 2 applications. I rubbed down the superglue fillets and painted Finally the wipers were refitted and the Laserglaze sanded and filed until the windows fitted as flushly as possible. They were stuck in using gloss acrylic varnish.

“East Midland Strains”, to bring things up to date.

Well, I have been experimenting with a set of Shawplan screens with the backplate, and the Bachmann 37 screens are noticably shallower than the retooled 40. The outer windows of the retooled 40 are ever-so-slightly wide of the mark too, but not by much. The 40 to the right in the pic is a Frankenstein’s monster, mainly Lima, but with Bachmann 37 cabs, and the screens are definitely shallower. It will be getting the Shawplan screens with the backing plate (currently on order from Brian). Using a spare body and a set that I had in, I found the best way for me is to cut the lower part of the backing plate off and solder the screens to said plate and sit the whole assembly on the top of the bonnet (the existing moulded bars will be removed and the aperture widened). I’ll glue and fill using Superglue and activator a la Barrowmore’s class 40s. Will post a pic when done, and there’s a chance that the Bachmann retools may get done too.

A full yellow end can make the shade of blue look different to the same shade of blue with a small yellow warning panel. I for one do like the early BR blue liveries with the small panels. Especially the few Hymeks and Westerns that were turned out in that style. A shame in a way that the style didn’t get adopted as standard, my nostalgia for the standard Banger Blue livery notwithstanding.

I went to primary school in from 1974 and we were taught metric. However my parents used imperial, so I was well versed in both sets of units. I now cherrypick the measurement system for different things, so I visualise distance in miles, but elevation better in metres. Cyclists and runners that measure distances in km are just cheating and making it seem like they’ve gone further (). I’ve made stuff using a combination of mm and inches before, as it’s easier to measure a whole number of inches for some dimensions. ETA the point I was going to make…. As far as I remember bridge height road signs were alway in ft and inches, and gradient signs were ratios when I were a lad.

For me, the general guide when it used to come to thrash involved larger English Electrics and smaller Sulzers. I was lucky to witness plenty of 40s and 25s when I was a kid, so that may have influenced that view. Not that I dislike 47s. A nice piece of design, even though the banger blue ones used to make me groan when they turned up at the time!

A better pic of the buckets. Shawplan in the middle. What I think looks better with your work in progress is the backing plate. Also Bachmann provided an indication of the rubber grommets on the glazing itself, which makes the windows a touch too small. I have since acquired a set of Shawplan screens with backing plates, along with bits of Lima 40 and a spare Bachmann 37 body (better cab and nose shape than the Lima 40), so they will all get assembled at some point. The other 40s and 37s look close enough to me for now at least!

I was going to do all my 37s and 40s, but just stuck to doing the older 40s after overlaying a set of Shawplan etches on my Bachmann 40143 (was 40142). The match was very close shape wise, and the glazing arguably more flush on the Bachmann windscreens than was practical with the Shawplan etch. The earlier Bachmann 40s are out by some degree so got Shawplan etches, and Lima bodies (D200, the centre headcode 40160 in this pic). Here’s a Vitrains 37 with Shawplan windscreens, though I was unaware of the backing plates at the time I did this (and my 40s). I got some better horns and weathered it after this pic was taken. Look forward to seeing how your 37 turns out. Excuse the edits, I was having fun trying to post off my iPad, so went up and finished things off on the big computer upstairs.

To be fair, the latest Bachmann 37 and 40’s front windscreen compares very well to the Shawplan etch. However the Accurascale 37 has the grommets and the subtle recess around the windscreens, so it is the next level and I have one on order (and paid for), so it will be a nice treat when it comes. I went for the Large Logo splitbox one.

They’re great. The 37 benefits from the Shawplan windscreens and the 47 for its time was brilliant, though the glazing is very prismatic. All great fun to rectify if you have the time and inclination, though.