luke_stevens

It was difficult to get these both in focus! They have been sprayed primer black from bottom, top and front, then sprayed with (NATO) black top, bottom and front, then LifeColour UA719 Frame dirt from top and front. This gives some "forced" depth I've then hand painted the axle boxes with Lifecolour UA 731 Dirty Black and the end of the springs with UA 701 Rust Dark Shadow. All the hand painting with the Lifecolour is done with thinned paint: I put a few drops of paint to a pallet, then some Lifecolour thinner and mix a wash and apply. I then comeback with some more paint and apply it directly and it thins out. The steps were hand painted primer black and then Nato black. The whole chassis is the sprayed with the same Frame dirt and the Battery boxes fitted. Despite the way it looks the chassis isn't banana shaped. The L-angle isn't stuck as straight as I'd wanted (as described above) In the same way the corridor connections are primed black, then Nato black then dirty black. When I was spraying the Frame dirt I gave the bottom part of the end a little paint. Despite the way it looks the body is not on the underframe at an angle: the buffer beam is a little askew but the buffers are even. Very nearly done! next step is to give it all a couple of coats of Vallejo Polyurethane Varnish Gloss, to give a wear resistant coat and then to follow up with a matt coat. L

Small things. Added the foot boards with superglue that were made from spare fret and sanded to size so that they would easily fit between the body framing whilst not gluing everything solid. 4 of the 5 best buffers have been fitted, with the super glue adding a little collet to their ends. I had, briefly considered adding a buffer backing plate, but decided agains it, as I did for some of the detail on the solebar. Last night I put together the corridor connections and added them. Today I added the end plates. Not sue if a BR version would still say "SR" on them but "SR" seemed to be regularly used as "Southern Region" so I might as well... Needs coat of paint... L

Siphon say hello to GBL. GBL say hello to Siphon... The Siphon needs its replacement printed bogies weathered so the will be done at the same time as the GBL's bogies. There is still work to do on the GBL's underframe; fitting step boards, fitting buffers, making and fitting corridor connections and a weathered black spray coat.

Much to my relief the sides glued straight (enough!) But to fit on to the chassis the lower framing needed a chamfer. Couldn't get a photo to show the trimming I did so a drawing. It was done using a medium-fine sanding stick along the length of the body. The ends will need some detail painting / tidying up. (Yes one of the roof ventilators is tilted and one other is broken off...) First true assembly.

I made a mistake. On the Siphon the chassis had been made of 1.5mm mdf but this chassis is of 2.5mm mdf. I didn't realise so had ordered 1.5mm L-angle for the solebar, but as soon as I tried to align it I realised. Because it isn't tall enough it became difficult to ensure it was level which became a little messy. In the end I got it right but I'll be more aware next time and order some 2.5mm! A is the last model, B is what I did for this, C is what I should have done... I've jumped on quite a bit for this photo. As the main body frames support the sides it's not possible to just stick the glazing piece in place. For most of the windows it doesn't matter too much but for the double windows not on doors, the body framing runs between the windows so the glazing can't extend beyond the window area. To fit the windows I used a thin skim of UHU applied carefully with a cocktail stick to both the body side and the glazing. On the first side I applied a little super glue to each window side but I didn't bother for the second one. I've also brush painted the inside walls near the window in prime matt black. To put the body together I used the same aliphatic glue applied with a paint stirrer to the framing, then carefully pushed the sides in place and clamped in place using 3 small clamp (purchased for just this purpose) and 2 steel rulers. To ensue I could keep everything under control I did one side at a time.

On further inspection the was still silvering under the number decals so I applied so Micro Sol (the stronger of the two decal setting solutions) and tamped the decals down. Looks better, at least to me! To prepare the L angle for use I cleaned with a scratch brush, then wiped and soaked in vinegar (to acid etch), then cleaned with a cream cleaner, finally I washed & dried them. Rathe than dipping in the blackening solution I applied it with a cotton ear bud (q-tip), then wiped and rinsed. Once dry I measured the length needed for the sole bar, tripped with a cutting disk, blackened the cut ends. The L-angle has a little curve so I had the be careful to attach it so that it was pulled straight by the underframe. I used medium set super glue. As I did for the Siphon I'm going to use some of the remaining wood fret to replicate the steps on the solebar. Here I've used a little jig to cut them to length but I'm not going to attach them until The body is finished so I can be completely certain that the line up with the doors and the body framing...

The first (and only) decals! This time I read the instructions for the Cambridge Custom Transfers and placed the trimmed decal on the panel below where I wanted it, then applied water with a fine brush to the decal and the area it was to go. Occasionally prodding with the brush the decal started to come lose after about 1min and I nudged it into place. When I was happy I blotted the decan with the brush and a piece of make-up sponge the applied a little Microscale Micro Sol, waited a bit and used the sponge again to press the decal down. I repeated the Micro Sol / sponge routine a couple of times until I was happy then left the decal to dry. It's not clear quite how the battery boxes, which is what I think these are, look, so best guess and approximation were the name of the day. I made a quick sketch from photos and made the planking from 0.060" by 0.010" styrene strip I then made the strapping and hinges (?) from 0.030" by 0.010" and 0.010" by 0.010" styrene strip, leaving them long to help me position them. When cured I trimmed them back.

Checking I realised that there was no way the the decal would smoothly fit on the exceeding rough wood finish. The number should go on the third full plank from the bottom... Now sanded back to (and beyond) primer coat, and hand painted with the Railmatch acrylic paint: much better! And daylight make to paint look better too. Fresh bottle of black one shot primer https://www.scalemodelshop.co.uk/60ml-black-one-shot-primer-ammo-mig-2023-p10093/. Still traces of cured paint so paint strained before spraying, as I always do. First coat of black primer on the trucks has been followed but a coat of Nato Black https://acrylicosvallejo.com/en/product/model-air-en/nato-black-71251/ . Note the little bit of masking so that paint doesn't get into the axle holes. And the same with the ends and roof. I haven't worked on the underframe yet as I want to prep, cut and attach the L-angle, then fit step boards, etc before painting. Luke

My delivery arrived today so things are moving forward. The Liquid Gravity I already had but the absolute best thing for gluing is the Deluxe Rocket Hot. It's an incredibly runny glue, water-like in its runniness. The only downside it that the bottle of glue goes off pretty quickly so doesn't expect it to last ages. The Liquid Gravity doesn't pore that smoothly but I found that if you repeatedly squeeze the bottle you can "puff" the lead into place. And if you spill it it will go everywhere... When you're finished, it's out with he dustpan & brush to clear the escaping lead, and then wash your hands thoroughly! Looking at the initial green primer coat I realised it had been more effective than I'd thought, so rather than do another coat I moved on to the first Railmatch Acrylic 2314 BR SR Stock Green https://howesmodels.co.uk/product/br-sr-stock-green-acrylic/. The Railmatch will need thinning and I used the Hornby Acrylic thinner and that seem to work fine. I may need to give it another coat but I'll want to check in daylight. Luke

I missed the post this morning so the black primer and other parts are sitting at the delivery office waiting to be delivered tomorrow... In the meanwhile I've started on the green base coat for the sides. It's one cote and some careful brush detail painting (verticals and deep laser etching). The sides will get another coat of green primer before the correct BR SR Green, but that may not be for a week as I'm away some of next week. Luke

Before bed last night I did some selective brush painting of primer along the verticals, in paint shadows and on the sloping surfaces. The this afternoon I used a fine sanding stick to clean up / smooth down some of the roughness that was now filled. I then brush painted the sloping surfaces again and several hours later gave the sides another 2 coats of primer. They now look pretty much ready for the green primer tomorrow... And as I had more paint to hand than I needed I masked up and gave the ends & roof a first grey coat. Eventually the ends will be black and the roof grey but will then weather to "BR Steam roof and end grime" Luke

Shorter up-date. I'm leaving the body priming for the moment as I'm waiting for the supper runny superglue so I can add some liquid lead as weight for the model. But I'm still working on the sides. Looking more like a police identity parade than I'd expected I'm going to be working from left to right. The Cambridge Custom Transfers https://www.cctrans.org.uk/products.htm sheet BL.127 to 2.5mm / TT included 117 set of numbers, including one of the GBL's that went into BR Southen Region Green. 3 coats of grey primer. Tomorrow evening may do a further coat and / or some hand brushing of primer into the gap between the vertical bracings. I'll also see if it need and further sanding down. Luke

No, I only spotted it on the way to work today. Looking again it is only the sound-fitted versions so I suspect they just haven't been removed from the website. Sad, as I would be more likely to order a cl 31 now! Luke

I've noticed that the Heljan TT120 class 31 are (back) on the Gaugemaster website. I'm sure they weren't there last time I looked. https://www.gaugemasterretail.com/brands/Heljan.html?scale=457 I wonder if this is new or an error? Luke

There isn't an issue as such with the roof vents but the holes they are designed for live up exactly with one of the roof ridge timber. The spigot of the ventilator is about 1mm sq so I needed to carefully hand drill through the roof timber without the drill bit wandering off into the card roof. To help with this I gently rotated tip of a new scalpel blade to give a starting point for the drill. This only went wrong once and the knife plunged through the roof: smooth it out and super glue applied to inside then outside... It was more difficult to get them vertical and square than I'd hoped, but it looks ok along the coach. And I couldn't just leave the ends alone. Using some prototype photos and those I took of the Hornby model I added two circular panels for the weight and rout restriction, I also added a rectangular plate for the coach length. The were made from card fret from the roof. The prototypes had a long hand rail on the left side and a short one on the right with steps up to roof level. Thsi is where I branch from reality: as I am intending on this vehicle being used in the mid-60's with the possibility of overhead catenary I patched where the steps would have been and left off the handrails. I left the top bar as I wasn't sure if t was part of the door mechanism. It was again made from wood fret but sanded on the viewer side to make it look much thinner whilst retaining it's strength. I think the body will be ready for its first coat of primer tomorrow, as will the sides. The underframe s going to have to wait for the brass angle for the solebar and the new bottle of black primer! Luke

With brass a roof is rolled but with card rolling doesn't have quite the same effect: it is more of a pushing to shape with a curved surface on a soft surface. Tools: mouse pad picked up on a day trip, large diameter brass tube for a general curve and several smaller tubes to get the finer curve of the edge of the roof. Before this photo I've given the roof the initial curve. As we'll see later Osborn's have detailed one face of the roof card so the is the inside face. Main roll with some edge roll (note polished buffer faces.) Just about finished roof curve. It won't be possible to get a full and accurate curve but with card close enough will be fine. The wonderfully detailed card roof provided. Tool and glue for attachment. I started but applying a little super glue to one corner of one end of the roof and checking, checking, checking that it was properly lined up, unlike to siphon... Once I was happy and the glue had gone off it glued the far corner of the same end and waited for the super glue to set. The I went back and applied a drop of super glue to each roof joist (?) and held it firm. (Pause for a cup of tea). The I used the small brush to paint a thick layer of aliphatic glue along the card where the roof joists would meet, and pushed firmly into the mouse mat until the glue held firm. Finally I went back with the super glue and applied a drop at the end of each roof joist and held it firm against the mouse mat. Not perfect but sufficient at this stage. Inside edge of the side glued second Just about there! The roof will stabilise and firm up once it's been painted, but I'll need to work on the roof vents first... Luke

And there I was worrying about breaking the stretcher bard between the axle boxes on the bogies... Then I had a look at some photos and realised that, for the GBL at least, they weren't there in the first place! So several swift swipes on the scalpel later I no longer have to worry about the. But while I'm at it what else is prominent on the bogies? I'm still undecided about brake shoes. But I wasn't undecided about foot boards. So out with some spare fret, sanded so it look thinner than it is and cut to size to fit between the axle boxes at the bottom os the springs. 4 drops of medium super glue and repeat 4 times ad we're done. I am aware that some of the foot boards are not as parallel to the ground as they should be... I suspect that I either trimmed the spring hangers a bit too much or I just stuck the springs a bit tilted. I've also realised that the axle boxes project out much further than the springs... I may extend but I may not... Luke

Yes! It is an interesting struggle! As a 4mm/3.5mm modeller I keep thing "well I could add..." but the items would either be too small or too fiddly or just ugly if I tried to add them. As an example there is quite a bit of detail on the coach ends but beyond the corridor connecting I don't think I'm going to add anything... maybe... Luke

Sub-assemblies all put together for the fist time! I ran into an issue at both end that I hadn't realised was going to happen. The ends are a little taller than the body so I should, have left a space at where I attached the buffer beam. I didn't and have had to gently file to get a tight fit. It is not particularly obvious in the photo so I've done a pencil sketch where what should be happening is clearer. Luke

There is nothing new under the sun and I know that idea has been around for decades, but I think it is the heat shrink tubing that makes the difference. It is very fiddly cutting the very small pieces to be even but it is worth it. I'm sure that I could come up with different shape buffer casings too, with time and thought. One thing that isn't shown in the photos is that I also very gently files the surface to the buffer head to give it a more domed look as is appropriate for buffers. Luke

As I said at the start this kit is a sample which didn't comes with buffers. Well that's not going to stop me so I dug out some small nails (tacks?) to use as the buffer head and shank, but I still needed to have something for the buffer casing. In the end I used a small piece of 1.2mm shrink tubing with a 1.6mm piece on top, shrunk with a match. With more practice I could get it to look even more buffer casing but this is perfectly sufficient for me at the moment. The buffer beam came with a couple of holes laser etched which I very carefully opened out to the 1mm diameter needed for the shaft of the nail. I also drilled 1mm holes in the underframe to hold and support the buffers. You'll notice that I haven't trimmed the tails of the nails: I checked again the wheels and realised they didn't effect clearance so could stay. Using a small amount of aliphatic glue applied to the back of the spring section I glued the spring and axle box combs to the bogie sideframes. I didn't apply glue to the back of the axle box as I'd have most likely have gummed up the axle... I will add a tiny drop of super glue to the bottom edge of the axle boxes once the other glue is dry. I'm not sure I've got the axle box & spring correctly lined up on the sideframe as they seem to be all different. I may have made a mistake... I have a dedicated glue applier. a cheap pin-vice with a piece of 0.33m brass wire. It gets cleaned or trimmed after each use. I've also found a roll of cheap masking tape that is past it's best is ideal as pallet for aliphatic reis, super glue or epoxy resin mixing. When finished wrap it on itself and dispose. I've also attached the ends, being very careful to ensure that the cut outs on the end match the cut-outs on the internal framing. The end is taller than the internal frame. I assume this intentional but will know for certain when this evening gluing dries/ cure and I can test reassemble. Luke

A reasonable assumption. Things would be less sophisticated before the 2008 Olympics and more sophisticated afterwards. Of course Paul could create a "Beijiao News" station... Luke

Now that the underframe is in a reasonable condition it's time to move onto the bogies. First an admission: I'd got confused as to whether I was meant to be using the "second" bogie bearing pieces, which I why I trimmed the underframe so drastically. Now that I know what I am doing (!) I realise that I was a little over the top... The injection moulded plastic coupler holders needs to be clipped together and then used to hold the aliphatic resin glue and the U shaped coupler support pieces in place. Later I tapped the coupler pieces out so that I could sand down the top surface (NOT the bottom as that would change the coupling height) to give some clearance between the coupler holder and the underframe. Since these photos I have sanded the top of the boxes further and glued them in with superglue. There is more tweaking required... Over trimmed chassis frame. I suspect I could have got away with just a slight "dishing" on the insides of the frame... Ignore the protruding screw thread, it will be removed before completion... Luke

Paul and the team work really hard to ensure there is always something going on. There will be train on the up China Main, the down China Main, the bi-directional and a lot of stuff happening on the industrial. It is very rare to not have anything entering, leavening or on the layout. When thta does happen is usually because there is an "issue" and then the viewers can see the operating team getting very frustrated and talking to each other loudly, using old Anglo-Saxon language... But this happens less and less now :) There are also lots of cameo's that Paul has built to keep the viewer interest. Luke

You should have it playing quietly in thd background when a viewer us directly in front of the scene. Luke