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SRman

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Blog Entries posted by SRman

  1. SRman
    So far I have managed one Parkside wagon kit per day for two days, and started the third one today, albeit rather later in the day, so it is only half completed.
     
    The GWR Mink van has its body shell and underframe with wheels fitted, but no brake gear or buffers yet. the roof is only sitting loosely until I put some lead sheet in for weight.
     

  2. SRman
    Work on building the Parkside Dundas GWR 10 ton 5-plank wagon has commenced. There are still some components to fit, but progress on the kit was again rapid (like the Mink D I did yesterday).
     

     
    Adding weight to open wagons is always problematic if one wishes to leave the interior detail visible. I am using some lead ball bearings here, glued on with a liquid contact cement. A few of the balls have stuck in the wrong places but I will clear them out before long. There is still not sufficient weight in this wagon, so I will have to fill a few more spaces in the underframe. I left the end areas clear so I could do my usual NEM coupling arrangement, using two spacers of 40 thou plasticard and the Parkside adapters (actually included with this particular kit). The Hornby fishtails fit better than Bachmann ones, which tend to be bit loose.To fix that problem, since most of my couplings are Bachmann ones, is to add a small blob of mastic in the fishtail slot.
     

     
    Obvious items still to add include the tarpaulin bar, the door bumpers, handbrake levers, and the tiebar between the axleguards (actually moulded on the kit but they broke when I was cutting the parts off the sprues, so I will replace them with some microstrip).
  3. SRman
    The transfers have now all been added and weathering improved/added to. There were a couple of minor setbacks: the matt varnish on the roof dried a lot glossier than the satin varnish on the sides, and one of the numbers dissolved in the satin varnish (I was probably too rough with the brush!).
     
    I have reapplied the missing number and added blue star coupling codes on the ends. I revarnished the roof area using a Testors lacquer, which tends to dissolve any paint layers beneath it if one dwells on the spot too long, leaving one or two spots that need re-weathering.
     
    For the first photo my phone camera somehow decided to turn the flash on (I always leave it turned off) so, while it is not a good photo as such, it does cruelly highlight any errors or omissions in my modelling. In this case it has picked out the bright yellow plastic interior of the body, so it looks like I'm going to have to source some cab interiors and paint the insides of the body too.
     

     
    These next shots show it in a better light (no pun intended but it works!!) and I think it has come up looking OK.
     

     

     

     
    Looking at the front end, I need to do a little weathering around the doors and seams, flooding a little black wash into them to eliminate the slightly plasticky look.
  4. SRman
    Continuing progress with the Bratchell Models class 455/9: the body shells have now had a couple of coats of grey primer, then a couple of coats of flame red (all from automotive aerosols) to approximate the final base colour for the South West Trains suburban livery. The driving ends remain unattached (except for a couple of spots of Blu-tack!) and unpainted at this stage.
     
    The bogies have been assembled, although the motor bogie sideframes remain to be cut down and fitted. I have adjusted the ride heights: I found that Hornby's valve gear spacer washers worked well, with one thick and one thin washer added to each of the trailer bogie mounts.
     

     

     

  5. SRman
    Inspired by Simon0r's two SECR 6-wheel brake vans converted from Parkside's MR 20 ton vans using LNER 10' wheelbase chassis (see http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/112617-buildingbodging-some-secr-brake-vans/), I have attempted my own version of the bodge.
     
    I only wanted to do one van, but as the conversion uses axleboxes cut from a second LNER wagon chassis, I had to order two of the LNER chassis, leaving me with a spare pair of axleboxes for possible future use. Simon cut four planks out of the MR van sides from the centre, but I wanted to retain the moulded rivet and bracket details, so cut two planks from either side of the centre section. Unlike Simon, I used the original MR chassis/floor moulding, shortened by a similar amount as the sides. In fact, I got it about half a millimetre longer, so bodged that by adding a section of microstrip at the non-verandah end of each side.
     
    I also wanted to do the earlier single verandah version (which would later be modified to two verandahs, but after the time period I wanted to represent). To this end, I cut the end door top and side but left the bottom in place at one end of each side, and shortened the roof to match.
     
    I filed a recess inside the solebars in the middle, and also filed the solebar thickness down for the extra axleboxes, so they could sit aligned with the outer axleboxes with the full thickness of the solebars intact. Once glued to the floor unit, it all becomes quite strong. I used Romford 12mm spoked wheels, which have no clearance problems with the chassis cross-members, although I prefer the appearance of the slightly larger wheels Simon used. I may try out some Hornby or Bachmann wheels gauge the effect later.
     
    Pictures of my progress to date follow.
     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    The roof is not glued on in any of these shots. I have added some lead weight to the floor and some rectangular fillets of plastic to fill the gaps between the solebar ends and the insides of the headstocks/buffer beams.
     
    A quick test revealed that the wheelbase is so short it will go around any of the tightest curves I can throw at it ... or throw it at. Whatever!
  6. SRman
    The Hornby BIL has now had the final coat of yellow on its ends, this time with a hint of orange added to closely match BR's warning panel yellow shade. My initial attempt failed as I mixed too much orange in! I started again with the paint mixing before I was happy enough with it to actually apply it to the model.
     

     
    I have also applied a wash of the new Humbrol weathering washes grey to the roofs.
     
    Next, I have to retouch the jumper cables and add unit numbers, plus amen the coach numbers.
     
    The Heljan 33 also received this new colour mix on its cable ends and sockets. That also will need the jumper cables retouched.
  7. SRman
    I have just started on some more pre-grouping brake vans, this time from Smallbrook Studios (http://www.smallbrookstudio.co.uk/). These are all resin kits and come complete with Dapol OO wheels, white metal buffers, NEM coupling pockets on self-centering mounts with (changeable) tension lock couplings, and all the handrail wire, microstrip, styrene and other bits and pieces to makea complete model, except for paint and transfers. The instructions seem reasonably clear and a re backed up with diagrams.
     
    The resin parts are all packed individually in separate resealable plastic bags, all contained within a larger resealable bag.
     
    I purchased four of these kits from Smallbrook and their Michael Rayner was extremely courteous and helpful, even when I asked question s that were already actually answered on his website (the scrolling wasn't working using Google Chrome so I didn't realise the info was there!).
     
    I have taken a couple of quick snapshots, showing two of the kits partially assembled but unpainted and a third one in its component pieces.
     
    From left to right: LSWR 18 ton road van to D. 1542; 20 ton LSWR goods brake to D. 1549; and the almost identical Metropolitan Railway 20 ton van (in pieces). The latter comes with optional duckets as they were removed in later life. Not shown is the LSWR 10 ton goods brake to D. 1541 that I also bought.
     

     

     
    I don't envisage these kits taking long to finish properly but at the same time, I won't be racing through them as I did with the SR Z class locomotive - I was on school holidays then!
  8. SRman
    Last weekend I bought a cheap Hornby N15 at our local swap meeting. It was missing its dome but it ran sweetly and all other bits were present, including the Hornby bag of bits. It was the NRM model of 30777 Sir Lamiel, in BR late crest livery. I have memories of a ride behind Sir Lamiel on the Scarborough Spa Express back in 1984, when it was in SR green as 777.
     
    After scouring eBay and the spares suppliers like Peters Spares (and others) and not finding any spare domes or even spare or damaged bodies, then the various component suppliers (247 Developments, Craftsman and so on) , I have to build my own dome.
     
    I have made a start using Milliput. It is slightly undersized and a little crude at the moment but I will add a bit of filler and file it back to shape once set. It's a start!
     

     

     
    Edit: Another photo added, this time with 30799 for comparison. It occurred to me that I should compare the domes of two Maunsell locomotives rather than using the Urie Arthur.
     

  9. SRman
    Only a little more progress to report on both the ex-LSWR G16 tank and on the Ayjay Models 'Tin' 2 HAL kit.
     
    I have painted the bogie wheels to better match the rest (i.e. got rid of those shiny silver tyre rims!) and given the whole locomotive a second coat of black. It is now too black as this really hides any detail (an also any inaccuracies!!). The chassis needs a small adjustment as the mounting gives the body a very slight lean to one side.
     

     
    I have finally got around to glazing the Ayjay Models 'Tin' HAL Which features in some earlier blog entries. I use Micro Krystal Klear glazing liquid as a glue to stick clear plastic/acetate in. If any gets on the glazing itself, it can be washed off with water while wet and dries clear so any that does get missed on the glazing barely shows anyway. The first photo shows the unit in service with its newly added windscreens - the glue is still wet on the left-hand one. The other photos are more general views. I have not yet painted the seats, so that's the next job on the agenda.
     

     

     

  10. SRman
    After a long pause, I have done a little more work on the Bratchell class 455/9 unit, having received a message from Adam of Electra Railway Graphics that he is nearly finished with the South West Trains vinyls for the unit. I have long been putting off painting the window frames, but recently bought a Sharpie permanent marker pen in silver with a view to trying it out on the frames. So far, I think it has been very successful: marking out the raised frames took me around 45 minutes to do the lot, and the paint/ink medium seems to dry quickly and can stand a bit of handling.
     

    Painting the Window Frames - 1 by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr
  11. SRman
    After several soldering sessions over some days, I have been adding lighting strips to each coach in turn of my Underground S Stock train from Bachmann and the LT Museum.
     
    I have tried a few different resistances to lower the brightness, which mostly failed to dim them. I also tried a different lighting strip with a slightly warmer colour and lower light output in the third car, but that too wasn't satisfactory. The results are shown in the photos below, with the first showing the car with the warmer lighting (actually a composite shot put together from three photos with different focal points):
     

     

     
    I had a bit of a session with the soldering iron again today, adding a 470k Ohm resistor to each of the S Stock cars in turn, plus wiring the final driving motor car for the lights. Car #3 has had its warm white lights replaced by cool white to match the remaining five cars.
     
    The first photo in this second group shows two of the cars (nos 3 and 4 in the train) for comparison of the before and after; the one on the right has the extra resistor in the line.
     
    The other two photos show the entire 6-car train with "tamed" lighting fitted. I am much happier with the result now.
     

     

     

     
    This last photo in the dark shows that there is still a bit of light show-through in the car bodies, so a coat of paint along the insides may be in order for the future.
     

     

    I suppose the next job will be to paint the seats, now that the interiors can be seen so clearly, and perhaps tidy up one or two stray wires.
  12. SRman
    Some years ago, I decided to try and improve the running qualities of one of my Lima class 73 models by replacing the Lima armature with a ModelTorque motor (available from the manufacturer just a couple of kilometres up the road from me at the time - sadly no longer available since the passing of the man responsible for them). This was almost a drop-in replacement but promised much better, smoother and more responsive running. It still used the Lima gearing and did deliver what was promised, although the Lima gearing did it no favours, but it would go from a crawl to around 350 mph. The top speed was later tamed a little with a diode pack supplied by the manufacturer. At this time I was still using analogue DC.
     
    It was still totally dependent on the Lima brass wheels and dodgy electrical pickups, however. That remained the achilles heel for running qualities. Hard-wiring a Bachmann decoder allowed much finer tuning for the motor speeds and also tamed the acceleration and deceleration using the inertia/momentum settings, but still those brass weheels and poor electrical characteristics prevented reliable running, with the occasional prod from a large finger being needed.
     
    A partial solution has since become available in the form of a Hornby dummy bogie from Peter's Spares. The Hornby bogie not only has better wheels but also picks up from both sides of the bogie, where the Lima one only picked up from one side. Fitting the bogie required the hole in the chassis for the original Lima one to be enlarged a little, using a round file. The Hornby bogie could then be clipped in, after first threading the two wires through. When I originally rewired the Lima chassis for DCC, I followed the convention of using a red wire for the right-hand track feed from the power bogie (which is always the number 2 end of the Lima/Hornby models). Hornby have very kindly marked one of the two black wires from the new bogie with a red patch - this also goes to the right-hand side of the bogie. I simply soldered the red-patch wire to my existing red connections, and the black wires together, then tested for short-circuits before putting the loco on the programming track and double-checking that all was well.
     
    Doing this modification means that I have electrical pickup from four decent quality wheels on the dummy bogie, and two (on one side only) through the Lima brass driven wheels. I could wire up extra pickups for the remaining two wheels on the motor bogie but these also have traction tyres, so the benefit would be marginal, to say the least. Anyway, the running, while not perfect, has improved considerably, to the point where 73 142, Broadlands, can now rejoin the main fleet and not be parked languishing at the back of the drawer.
     
    In the photos, the motor bogie looks like it has a standard Lima 'pancake' motor, whereas, in fact, the ModelTorque motor is installed from the other side, away from the camera. The first photo shows the new bogie clipped in place after opening out the hole, with the two wires floating loose, and the original Lima clip arrangement also detached, awaiting removal.
     

     
    The second photo shows everything soldered in place and all joints covered with heat-shrink tubing. I had to use a short stretch of red decoder wire to extend the reach of the Hornby wire to the original wiring.
     

     
    I'll post a short video to demonstrate the improved running in a short time - I'll edit this post to include it.
     
    EDIT: OK, video delayed - it ran smoothly enough until I got the camera out, then the main drive gear started slipping! I'll try again when the glue has set properly.
     
    2nd EDIT: I finally got the video, edited it and then uploaded it to YouTube (even that took ages, for some reason).
     

     

    I may have to consider putting a newer, better decoder ... I'm not even certain that the existing one has BEMF facilities, it's that old!
  13. SRman
    Every so often, when I show photos of my layout progress, someone will observe and comment on the cream coloured, raw resin 2-car unit sitting on some track in the background on the upper level. This is a Bulleid-style, BR-built 2 HAP unit, utilising resin body shells and seat units from Ayjay Models (bought through Radley Models), sitting on Hornby 2 BIL chassis bought cheaply when Kernow Model Rail Centre had the Southern Railway liveried examples on sale.
     
    I have finally started cleaning up the body shells and seat units with files, and primed and painted them. I have also cut off the moulded on jumper cables on the cab fronts, although these are not too badly done by Ayjay. I still prefer to use finer wire for the cables.
     
    This unit is going into BR blue with full yellow ends. I would prefer the full blue and grey, which suited these trains quite well, but for the time period I wish to represent, blue fits better, drab as it is. The yellow is not yet the final shade as I have used Humbrol #69 for the base coats. I'll use proper BR warning panel yellow for the final coat. I have painted a wood colour for the interior walls and partitions (not sure if they were wood or plastic finishes on this batch of HAPs), and a light green for the cab interiors, but haven't done the seat colours yet. I thought perhaps a mid-grey for the second class seating (BR's 'Trojan" pattern) but am debating what colour for the first class upholstery: blue, black or orange, maybe?
     
    I am still to add the handrails for the cab fronts and guard's doors, as well as the jumper cables. I may replace the moulded on horns with brass or white metal versions I have in stock. The kit comes with both horns and a whistle moulded on, so the modeller just has to cut off the bits he (or she) does not want.
     
    Anyway, enough waffle; here are the photos as it goes until now. Please note that I have perched the freshly painted bodies on the wrong chassis for the last two photos in this sequence!
     

     

     

     

     

    The seat units had to be modified a little to fit the Hornby chassis. This mostly involved a milling wheel on the Dremel tool to grind away the clearances, but also included a couple of holes drilled to clear the projecting components of the Lenz decoder sitting under the seats of the DMBS.
     

     

     

    And finally, one photo with the body shells on the correct chassis!
     

     

    Once the Bachmann BR Standard-style 2 HAPs become available, I look forward to mixing the types together in multiple. The Hornby mechanism makes this a lot easier than if I had used the original resin chassis and Black Beetle or Tenshodo SPUD motors.
  14. SRman
    Normally after spray painting an item, I would brush paint the final coats of paint to fill in any holes or gaps in the spray coats. However, because I want to model the Sturgeon A in a heavily weathered and slightly battered condition, I didn't bother with more black paint, instead going straight to the greys (Humbrol #66 and #79) and browns (Humbrol #29, so far) in washes and dry brushed streaks.
     
    The initial results are shown in the next two photos.
     

     

     
     
    While I should have added the transfers before weathering commenced, it doesn't matter too much with this build, as there are more layers of weathering to go on. This is the stage it is at at the time of typing this post. Still to do: more rust is needed on the metal parts (of the real thing - they are all plastic in the kit!), more shades of grey and brown for the insides and outsides of the wooden planked bits, and more weathering on the floor, before adding the rail load I have earmarked for this wagon.
     

  15. SRman
    Further to yesterday's entry, I have now fiddled with the CV settings on the Dapol/Kernow Western, with a view to dimming the excessively bright lighting in both headcode panels and cabs.
     
    I downloaded the full manual from TCS's website and eventually deciphered it to work out what changes were necessary to the CVs in the EU621 decoder fitted to D1030 Western Musketeer. I set the following values, using the TCS Constant Dim level 2 setting):
     
    CV49 (forward direction headcode/headlights, forward direction only) to 66
    CV50 (reverse direction headcode/headlights, reverse direction only) to 82
     
    ... and the following values, using the TCS Constant Dim level 1 setting)
     
    CV51 (cab light, no2 or B end, both directions) to 44
    CV52 (cab light, no1 or A end, both directions) to 44
     
    The lights are now much more acceptable to me, and there is less obvious light bleeding around the headcode panels. Compare these two photos to the previous entry.
     

     

  16. SRman
    I have now added the first vinyls to the Bachmann SouthWest Trains class 450 (ex-Silverlink class 350/1). I was a bit stuck for the right shade of blue to match the SWT blue on the vinyls so as a preliminary undercoat for any exposed edges, the inner end and the roof I used a Revell dark matt blue, then followed it with some Precision Paints First Group 'Barbie' blue, which has turned out to be an almost perfect match for the vinyls.
     
    I also pre-painted the leading end of the roof with red and orange to roughly correspond with the Stagecoach 'swoops' so that the holes in the roof vinyl overlay for those colours where the vents go through would match.
     
    I have applied the first vinyls to just the one side at the moment so I could assess which edges need to be pre-painted on the other coaches.The instructions say to apply the roof flashes first so I did that carefully, then added the unit numbers on the cab end, over the windscreens. While I was at it, I added a destination over the relevant windscreen.
     

     

     
    There are a few small air bubbles present and I may try the previous method used for Electra Graphics to smooth the vinyl over any raised detail, that is, I'll try the hair dryer heat on it to see if I can improve things a little. Overall though the effect is quite good. From normal viewing distance I think it looks great.
     
    One other thing I will be altering though is that front end sweep of the orange and red: the ERG version is set too low so will be cutting it off at the corner and hand-painting the remainder. The red stripe should intersect the lower part of the tail light and there should be a band of blue across the bottom of the cab front (already painted earlier when I did the roof, in fact!).
  17. SRman
    I have spent some time over the last two days fitting a lighting kit to a Bachmann class 20. The wiring up was complicated by the fact that it has sound fitted (reblown by Howes), a bass enhanced speaker and a pair of wires leading to a two-pin socket which allows a second, de-motored class 20 with a larger bass reflex speaker to be semi-permanently attached.
     
    The lights include separately wired marker and tail lights at each end plus a cab light. The sound decoder is an ESU LokSound with only four external functions for five lights. I wired the nose-end marker lights (i.e. the headcode disc lights) and cab-end tail lights together, auto-reversing with just the tail lights at the nose end, so that's two functions used.
     
     
    The marker lights at the cab-end are wired to the aux 1 output, F11 on the decoder.
     
    The cab light is wired to the aux 2 output, F12 on the decoder.
     
    To run with the nose end leading there is no choice in having the tail lights showing at the cab end if the leading marker lights are lit. Other than that, leaving F0 on but hitting reverse so the cab-end is leading results in the nose-end tail lights coming on; pressing F11 turns on the cab-end marker lights. Turning F0 off leaves the marker lights on F11 turned on but means there are no tail lights showing, for use when in multiple or hauling a train.
     
    Overall, I believe I have achieved the maximum versatility/best compromise from having five lights on four available functions.
     
    The class 20 has been lightly weathered and actually has a cab swapped from another disc headcode model where I had modified the side windows from the original Bachmann recessed sliding ones to being flush mounted but fixed. It was renumbered to D8058 with the earlier style numbers (as per a photo of the real locomotive).
     
    The lighting kit came from an eBay seller under the name of Stickswipe, who was also very helpful.
     

     

     

     

     

  18. SRman
    In response to a request from Mallard60022, after fitting a decoder to a Bachmann Lord Nelson with split chassis, here is a step by step guide to how I did it, using my second LN as the example (I didn't take any photos for the first one!). This one is no. 850, Lord Nelson, renamed and renumbered from no. 864
     
    Some of the photos are a bit blurred as I was trying to hold the model and operate the phone camera at the same time, but I think the results are sufficiently clear to show what I was doing or what I am talking about.
     
    To start with, remove the body from the chassis. This is retained by one screw under the cab and with a tab on the chassis slotting into the body under the smokebox at the front.
     

    Bachmann LN Decoder Fitting - 3 cropped by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr
     

    Bachmann LN Decoder Fitting - 4 cropped by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr
     

    Next I removed the two remaining screws holding the chassis wheel keeper plate / spring and brake block detail (I'll refer to this as the base plate from here on), after springing out the brake rodding (note that I actually took the screws out before lifting the body off - this doesn't affect the process).
     

    Bachmann LN Decoder Fitting - 2 by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr
     

    After this, I removed the cylinders, which are simply a force fit on metal extensions from the chassis. Then I levered the motion supports off; these are also simply a force fit, like the cylinders.
     

    Bachmann LN Decoder Fitting - 5 cropped by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr
     

    Bachmann LN Decoder Fitting - 6 by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr
     

    There are three screws holding the chassis halves together. One of them also holds the solder tags on to the front end of the chassis. Before we remove the base plate / axle retainer, I prefer to remove the front screw, pull out the plastic plug from the other side and release the two solder tags. I didn't do this on the first conversion and ended up breaking one of the wires coming up from the bogie.
     
    You might wish to mark which tag is on which side, perhaps with an ink marker pen. This will assist identification for reassembly and connection of the decoder wires later.
     
    If you have a later release LN from Bachmann, these tags may not be present as Bachmann quietly dropped the extra pickups from the specification. In that case, you may wish to add some brass or copper tags later when reassembling the chassis, to ease the job of connecting the decoder track wires.
     
    44291315681_dcf79eb8b6_b.jpg
    Bachmann LN Decoder Fitting - 7 cropped by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr
     
    Now lever the front end of the base plate up, just behind the bogie, lifting it and moving it backwards slightly to unhook the rear part that hooks over the chassis end.
     

    Bachmann LN Decoder Fitting - 7 cropped by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr
     

    Bachmann LN Decoder Fitting - 8 by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr
     

    This leaves the wheels, axles and valve gear free to be lifted out of the chassis.
     

    Bachmann LN Decoder Fitting - 9 by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr
     

    The remaining two screws can be undone to allow the split chassis halves to be separated. Watch out for the plastic spacers: two white rectangular ones at the bottom and two black plastic washers around the upper two plastic plugs (that the screws go into). Also ensure you don't lose the plastic gear.
     

    Bachmann LN Decoder Fitting - 10 by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr
     

    Bachmann LN Decoder Fitting - 11 by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr
     

    I actually use a little black-tack (or mastic material) to retain the spacers in their places so they don't get lost and don't shift when reassembling the chassis.
     

    Bachmann LN Decoder Fitting - 13 by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr
     
    The motor just lifts out, but keep an eye on the two black plastic cup washers that go over the end bearings. Also, make sure the thrust bearing stays put (it is wedged into the chassis where the worm gear touches it). Note also that the motor has a small red spot marking the bottom which was connected to the right-hand chassis side - this brush will get the orange wire from the decoder. As an extra precaution, I chose to wrap the motor in insulating tape but this is not really necessary.
     
    Remove the two copper/brass (or whatever!) springs that bore on the brush tags.
     

    Bachmann LN Decoder Fitting - 14 by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr
     

    Bachmann LN Decoder Fitting - 15 by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr
     
    Now prepare the decoder. This one is a TCS M1, which is very compact yet able to handle over 1 amp loads. These give reasonable running qualities at good prices and are covered by TCS' 'goof-proof' warranty, which means that if something goes wrong with this installation, they will replace it with no quibbles. I bared and tinned the grey and orange wires. Don't forget to thread on some heat-shrink tubing before soldering the wires to the motor brushes: orange to the red tagged brush, grey to the other one.
     
    Slide the heat-shrink tubes over the bare wire ends and brush tags and apply heat.
     

    Bachmann LN Decoder Fitting - 16 by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr
     

    Bachmann LN Decoder Fitting - 17 by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr
     

    Bachmann LN Decoder Fitting - 18 by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr
     
    Now resite the motor in the chassis half. The decoder wires are only just long enough and are routed through the gap between chassis halves.
     

    Bachmann LN Decoder Fitting - 19 by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr
     
    The chassis halves can be reunited, ensuring all the plastic spacers are in place (a bit of black-tack stops them moving or dropping out during handling, as mentioned earlier). I replaced two of the screws but not the one at the smokebox end (yet). I did temporarily push the plastic plug into the smokebox end hole to align the spacer washer.
     
    Next I replaced the wheel sets in the chassis and clipped the motion supports and cylinders back in.
     

    Bachmann LN Decoder Fitting - 20 by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr
     

    Bachmann LN Decoder Fitting - 21 by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr
     
    Next I clipped the base plate back in, hooking it onto the rear of the chassis first then sliding it up and pushing it home at the front, and replaced the two screws.
     

    Bachmann LN Decoder Fitting - 22 cropped by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr
     
    Now for the final connections. I shortened the black and red wires from the decoder, stripped the ends and tinned them. Note that I have also cut short the function wires (white, yellow and blue - green and purple additionally if using a TCS M4 decoder as I did with Lord Anson) and "tied" them up with a section of heat-shrink tubing. If you are going to fit lights or firebox glows, or other extra functions, these are the wires you will need in addition - that's beyond the scope of this essay.
     

    Bachmann LN Decoder Fitting - 23 cropped by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr
     
    Solder those red and black wires to the solder tags attached to the bogie pickup wires. Make sure you identify the right-hand wire (as you look from the back towards the front of the loco) and solder the red wire to that. The black wire goes to the left-hand tag.
     
    Now you can pull the black plug back out of the chassis at the smokebox end, insert it through the left-hand solder tag and then through the chassis. Insert the screw through the right-hand tag then screw it into the plug through the chassis.
     
    Finally, add a section of double-sided tape to stick the decoder to the very front of the chassis.
     

    Bachmann LN Decoder Fitting - 24 cropped by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr
     
    Now test on the programming track. Mine read back properly so I reprogrammed the decoder to number 850, tweaked the inertia and momentum settings (CV3 = 20, CV4 = 15 as a starting point for my tastes - yours may be quite different), then gave it a track test. Again all was well, so it was back to the workbench to refit the body.
    Note: I also used the opportunity to lubricate the motor bearings and gears while everything was accessible earlier.
     
    Here is Lord Nelson hauling a test goods train under DCC control.
     

    Bachmann LN Decoder Fitting - 25 by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr
     

    Bachmann LN Decoder Fitting - 26 by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr
     
    I hope this helps somebody and hasn't been too boring or laboured.
     
    Edit: I have had to reload all the images into Flickr after suspending my Photobucket account. I hope I have got the right photos in the right places.
  19. SRman
    I wasn't entirely satisfied with the way the headcodes looked on my Dapol Western. You may recall that I mounted some Heljan class 53 headcodes inside the Dapol headcode boxes but the font is not right on those.
     
    I have now redone the headcodes, using Heljan headcodes supplied with their Western diesels. These were mounted on bits of 20 thou plasticard, approximately 17mm x 6mm which were then stuck inside the headcode boxes using a little Black-Tack (actually Homelux Bath Seal). The font typeface and size are both better than the class 53 ones but don't suit the size of the internal aperture quite so well.
     
    While I had the headcode light boxes out of the locomotive, I polished the outer 'glass' faces a little with some T-cut, to remove the sprayed on weathering (mine is a Kernow special).
     
    I'm still not entirely convinced by the end result but I still prefer it to externally stuck-on bits of paper or vinyl.
     

     

     
    Also visible in the background is the lit up signal box, now with an extra resistor in series with the first, and a light coat of Humbrol primrose over the plasticard light baffle (which actually seems to have produced a slight greenish tinge).
  20. SRman
    Quite a while ago, I started building a Bratchell Models class 455/8 unit - the first batch with the really ugly front end! Most of the build has been covered in my layout thread in the main forums but it really belongs here on the workbench blog. The unit has actually been running on the layout for some time.
     
    I started the handrails on the leading DTS car using handrail knobs but this looked much too coarse when compared to photos of the real things. On the trailing DTS, I used shaped wire handrails with an intermediate support made from plastic rod, and this looked much better. I have now revised the leading car to match. By way of explanation, even though it is an EMU, for DCC purposes I need to designate a front and rear for the train, so the number 1, or leading, car is the one immediately ahead of the MS car with the Replica motorised chassis installed. The trailing, or number 4 car is the one behind the TS car, which itself is also behind the MS car. Formation is DTS(#1)+MS+TS+DTS(#4).
     
    In the meantime, I had fitted the jumper cables and receptacles (adapted from Blacksmith Models EPB jumpers) to the leading DTS but not the trailing one. That also has now been updated to match.
     
    Turned brass horns were also fitted.
     
    DTS #1 has some seats installed but none of the other coaches has an interior fitted yet.
     

  21. SRman
    As I am recovering from the back problems of the last week or so, I have now been able to start a few simple modelling projects - or continue with existing ones. I can only spend short times sitting at the workbench for now but things are improving rapidly.
     
    Besides the class 350 conversion to class 450 mentioned elsewhere, I have finally, after much thought, come up with a way to level the LCDR brake van - it was previously sitting a little high at the compensated end. The solution was actually quite simple. The compensated unit rocks on a single piece of wire threaded through the cradle mounted on the underside of the wagon and the separate cradle carrying the 'W' irons and the wheels and springs. I removed the wire (it was only lightly glued in place), and removed the wheel/axle/'W' iron cradle assembly. I then used a drill the same size as the wire and hole in the wagon mounted assembly and drilled the holes upwards towards the floor, elongating them into slots by a little less than 1mm - this was by trial and error to get the ride height just right.
     
    Once that was done I reinserted the wire through the two assemblies and all was well.
     
    The other thing I did was to give the whole body a quick spray of grey undercoat, followed later by a thin coat of Humbrol blue-grey #79 as a base coat, to be followed by more thin coats of the same colour, before the final coat or two of the proper SECR grey can be applied.
     
    I still have to sort out the brakes and brake gear. I have found the diagrams in the instructions almost incomprehensible, together with the brass 'wooden' brake shoes being too thin to be convincing, so I am going to rethink the brake blocks altogether, probably using plasticard, before I nut out the brake rigging.
     
    Here are the progress shots; please remember that the colours are by no means final.
     

     

  22. SRman
    Encouraged by how smoothly the DCC conversion of 31 327 went, I decided to do 31 004. This one also ran very smoothly on DC so I thought it would go just as well as 31 327. WRONG!!
     
    The actual hard-wiring went more smoothly because I knew exactly what I was doing this time. I pulled the Digitrax decoder out of 31 327 and plugged it in to 31 004. It ran like a dog! It stuttered and stopped and refused to complete even one circuit without stalling. I thoroughly cleaned the wheels, oiled the mech, cleaned the wheels again, making sure I got the backs as well, checked the pickups and tried again. It was better but not brilliant, so I tried a Gaugemaster decoder (demonstrating the wisdom of using the JST-compatible decoders!) with BEMF but that was no better (probably slightly worse), so I put the old Digitrax one back in. The Gaugemaster decoder worked a treat in 31 327 though.
     
    After much persuasion (both physical and verbal!), 31 004 has been trundling around the layout for an hour and a half now. Hopefully this will free it up somewhat.
     
    I took a few photos of the hard-wiring process this time so you can see what s involved.
     

     

     

     
    Incidentally, I removed that capacitor between the brushes on both models after the photos were taken.
     
    And here is 31 004 in service. I detailed it with the separate handrails on the fronts some years ago. 31 327 was easier in some ways because it only had two handrails at each end whereas 31 004 has four, albeit they are all straight ones. It now just needs the red circle coupling codes added above each buffer (these early 31s had electro-magnetic control), some pipework on the buffer beam at the end without a coupling, and a lot more weathering added.
     

     

     

  23. SRman
    My 14mm 10-spoke bogie wheels arrived today from Mainly Trains in England, so I wasted no time in fitting them and testing again. Before I show the pic of it with the new wheels, though, I took a photo the other day before decoder fitting but after adding the motor and works back in and temporarily hooking up the wires for testing on analogue (12V DC). This also shows the various mods and add-on bits.
     

     
    And now, with the body on, decoder fitted and the new bogie wheels. The capuchon has now been filed off the chimney and a small amount of filler added to the ridge on the cab roof where there was a slight gap in the casting.
     

     
    I did intend taking a pic of the bogie springing arrangement but forgot to do that before screwing the bogie back on. Haulage power is good but I reckon it'll be even better when I add some lead sheet to the insides of the side tanks!
  24. SRman
    After three days of ice packs on my face and pain killers I have had to have a root canal job on a tooth. Now that I'm recovering and feeling human again, I have pushed the G16 project a little further.
     
    I have put a temporary wheelset on the bogie and given the body a preliminary coat of black.
     
    On reading the potted history of the class in the instructions, I have realised that I need to remove the capuchon from the chimney - a few strokes of a file will fix this. I am almost ready to fit some of the small parts like the steps at the front of the footplate and te cab roof ventilator. Also before the final coats of paint go on, I need to add the wires/pipes that go diagonally from the fronts of the tanks to a position just behind those bulges over the cylinders, and add some lamp irons. The sprung LSWR buffers I have for it will go on after spray painting has been completed.
     
    At this point it seems to be moving freely so I can consider putting the motor and intermediate gear back in.
     

  25. SRman
    I have now fully glazed the windows, after earlier drilling and filing out the solid engine room side window apertures. I flush-glazed the windscreens a couple of years ago but I think I will have to redo one of them. I also painted the body at that time but have now finished off most of the details. An added refinement was to fit Bachmann sprung buffers. I still need to tidy a couple of rough patches on the light stripe along one side, and then give it a good coat of varnish, followed by a decent weathering.
     
    The major operation was to fit the resin sideframes to the bogies. The kit was designed to fit the Lima Class 20 chassis but the Bachmann side frame attachments are slightly further apart lengthways which meant that the bogies became rather flimsy and delicate after the operation. One in particular broke off one end, which meant the clip-fitting mechanism didn't hold the frame assembly to the main structure of the bogie - because the coupling is attached to the frame, put a load behind it and it would fall off! I overcame this with a sort of cat's cradle of wire reinforcements and araldite which have proved quite successful, as the locomotive can now haul a train of wagons facing either way without dropping a bogie frame onto the track and derailing or just stopping dead!
     
    I then added some 60 thou plasticard ends and bottom to the fuel tanks to give a more solid appearance, then coated the lot with matt black.
     
    The photos show the result to date, although the camera flash has highlighted all the plastic filings still lodged in the side radiator grilles - I'll have to brush those out later!
     

     

     
     
    The red thing in one of the engine room windows is the TCS MC2 decoder..
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