Pugsley

Brush cleaning

Progress on the 455 has also reached a bit of a milestone, in as much as the MS is now substantially complete and I've fixed the first of my own design 'etchy bits' to a model B) It's still looking quite bare under there, but I'm expecting the underframe box masters from my co-conspirator in the next couple of weeks so a bit of resin casting after that should see the undergubbins of the MS attached. The trailer vehicles are coming on, but I've yet to decide exactly what bogies I'm going to use, I don't fancy removing the damper from all of the trailing bogies in the same way that I have with the motor bogies. I have some Dapol Sprinter sideframes that look reasonable, so will probably end up using those in the end. It's a bit chicken and egg at the moment - I feel I should be getting on with the layout, but on the other hand I need some stock to run on it...

A somewhat obtuse title, I suppose, but what the heck, I'm suffering from lack of imagination due to the heat Work continues on the heavyweight conversion, with the bogie mods done and the headlights replaced. These are Replica items, drilled through with a 2mm drill and stuck to the shell with Plastic Weld once the original moulded lights were shaved off carefully. It makes a massive difference to the appearance of the loco IMO, especially as the 'face' is one of the first things looked at and it's often really noticeable, although not always - it took me a while to work out why the Heljan Kestrel didn't look quite right, but that's something for another time....

Cheers Wayne - I look forward to seeing your tractors at some point. Well done for remembering 098, no I never finished it and it's still around here in bits somewhere. It's now going to become 37359 in Petroleum colours, again for working into the oil terminal.

That really shows just how diddy they are! You've done a lovely job of that kit and the interior detailing was well worth it. B) B)

Thanks James. I won't be doing much to the chassis beyond modifying the bogies, this is supposed to be a 'quick and easy' project. Jo - They're all pretty interesting and an absolute minefield - lots of research required if you want to model a particular example - I'm not sure if Bachmann have covered all the grille permutations yet with the standard releases.

I've bought LEDs from them as well, they provide very good service and I had my order within a couple of days - pretty good for shipping from Germany!

With the oil terminal on the forthcoming layout, I decided it would be a good idea to have a Railfreight Petroleum 37 or two on the roster for bringing the oil trains in. A search of fotopic found this photo of 37890 at Guildford in 1991: http://crumb.fotopic.net/p49489748.html Given that it's not a million miles from where the layout is set and the year is spot on, 37890 was decided upon. Research indicated that the Bachmann model of 37672, one of the first releases of the all-new refurb 37, was the ideal starting point as the grilles are the same (37891 was another possible candidate). The work required is minimal, two bodyside windows need their frames shaving off and the apertures filling. Other, smaller, apertures also need to be filled. I'm adding the new Shawplan/Extreme Etchings parts to mine to change the cooler group fan grille and windscreen surrounds. I'll also be swapping the buffers for Hornby parts as the Bachmann ones are too spindly and I'll also be putting a Replica high-intensity headlight on the front to replace the undernourished Bachmann one. Horns from NNK complete the body modifications. The chassis requires minimal work, the bogie sideframes need to be cut away and remounted slightly higher, the ride height seems OK. The loco will also be converted to EM with Black Beetle wheels. A repaint will follow, although it's pretty straightforward as the model was already in Transrail grey. Progress so far: The windsceen etch is attached by with cyano adhesive. The etch is very thin, so doesn't need to be recessed into the shell - the windcreen panel is obviously a separate panel on the real thing as well. The next job here is to file the plastic back to the same profile as the etch for the flushglazing, which will be fitted after painting. The fan grille comes in two parts, the mesh surround and the securing ring, much as the real thing. The Bachmann etched grille needs to be removed, and the moulded outer surround carefully removed. I gently shaved it off with a scalpel and finished off with a fine file. The area where the ring was will need to be painted to match the roof - Railmatch acrylic Exec Dark Grey is a good enough match for this. Carefully line the mesh up with the hole - it goes to the edge of where the moulded surround used to be, taking care to get the mesh square. Once in the correct position, put a small drop of cyano on one of the four 'corners' and wait for it to dry. Once this is secure, small drops can be placed in the three remaining 'corners' to secure the mesh fully. The securing ring is very fragile and is best pre-rolled to the roof profile before fitting. I did this with a bit of 8mm tube on a pad of folded kitchen roll. As before, I ran a thin film of cyano along the central rib of the ring and put it in position, making sure it was square. Once this has dried, a thin film of glue an be run along the outer edges of the sides, with an old scalpel blade, and the grille pressed into place. This shows the apertures that need to be filled, the window is the biggest and all of the remaining footsteps around the engine room access door. This is the same both sides. I've got a day off today, so hopefully more updates later!

I'm so glad I'm now not the only one who's done that! Any pics of it next to it's big brother?

That's very cool B) B) You've got an impressive array of pipework there for something so diddy!

That's looking really nice James B) B)

I've got examples of both the Cambrian and S Kits examples for fitting to some TTAs for the new layout. I reckon I might get a load of plastic strip and make my own for the rest of them.

That looks really good Will, you should be proud of it B) B) Don't worry about the near disaster, the same thing happens to me quite often, but things are very rarely beyond redemption. I like your springs as well - have you considered using thinner strip to provide a little more relief?

It was a fertiliser depot, run at one point by Amesbury Transport. I'll see if I can find out from a mate of mine when it closed.

To be really pedantic,which I am, it's the River Parrett

Smart B) B)

Can't say too much about this one at the present time, but this picture is for Howard - see, I have been doing something

That's looking lovely so far James B)

I'm not familiar with the prototype, but they both look the part to me B) I prefer the scruffier one as well.

I've had much the same experience with their matt varnish, although my tin of the stuff congealed to a rubbery blob for some unknown reason.

I've put the bogie work on the 37 to one side for a minute as I wanted to do some actual modelling instead of sitting at a computer drawing things. After a gentle prod by another member, I've remembered that there has been a little progress on my tamper since the last update on RMweb 3, here: http://www.rmweb.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?p=653897#p653897 It's made a visit to the paintshop: I've replaced the etched handrails in the kit with some formed from 0.33mm wire - they look more convincing than the square etched ones. There is plenty more to do on this, but I wanted to get the main body colour on first, as some of the parts that need to be added are very fine, particularly the pipes up the sides, and I thought it best to get the main coat on first. Buffers (Hornby Class 50 buffers) are just poked into their holes temporarily at the moment. It's pleasing to view it from the side, as it shows the real difference between my model and the standard kit. The biggest difference being in this area: Structurally, it's complete, most of the parts to be added now is all the plumbing and there is a lot of it to do! I won't be making terribly rapid progress with this, more picking it up from time to time and doing bits when I get fed up with drawing.

Yes, it is very expensive then! I had a feeling that you were somewhere in the 5 figures range - it sounds very good though. Your friend could have a lucrative sideline to the jewelry business if he can run the machine 24/7

That's a very impressive madcap scheme and very cool. I think it'll keep you both out of trouble for a very long time indeed

That does sound interesting, how expensive is very expensive? You could use the technology already shown in this topic to do the same, but with the added intermediate step of creating a mould from your printed master and then using that to create the wax forms for lost wax casting.

I guess that in turn depends on whether the part you're building is structural or cosmetic. In the case of the bogie sideframes, If they were to be structural in the same sense as the real ones, then they would definitely have to be metal. If your inner bogie structure was made from etched parts and the sideframes were purely cosmetic, then it doesn't matter, IMO. I agree that separate springs would look better, but if it was me designing it, then the sideframes would be structural in the same way as the real thing, and the springs would work like the real thing as well! Simon - Nice work on the 3d modelling BTW B) B)