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Thank you everyone for your kind comments. I've just fitted the 128th and final window frame without getting glue on the paint, so hopefully it's an easy job from now on. The interiors and chassis are already finished - all I have left to do is the grab rails / handrails, glazing then fit the pantographs and headcodes - plus repair one multiple working hose that I snapped off during the rubber band process. More pics soon. Stuart

And finally, this is the first of the 309 vehicles to have the frames fitted.

The thing I was most worried about, given the amount of work that had gone into the Network SouthEast livery, was how I was going to stick the etched window frames on to the bodies without getting glue on the paintwork. Those who have followed this thread from the start will know that I have two extra TSOs which were substituted because of a differing door position following the removal of the toilets from these vehicles when the 309s were refurbished. One of these I'm going to insert as a CEP trailer into the preserved 'Hastings' unit, and this gave me a handy test-bed - ruining the paint on something that's only a single colour wouldn't be such a problem. I'll describe the process I used in some detail in case anyone else needs to do something similar, because it was straightforward and worked very well. I'm not saying it's easy though - great care is required and it certainly can't be rushed. What I decided to do was make a grid out of elastic bands, slide the window frames underneath it then introduce the tiniest amount of the extra-runny superglue, the one that always goes everywhere, and allow capillary action to draw the glue under the frames. In fact I'd thought about this before I got the frames drawn up and etched and they're designed in such a way that, compared to the Worsley etch, there's just the tiniest lip / overhang along each edge of the two parts, which gives you somewhere to introduce the glue from the inside. I also made the corner radii slightly tighter than the Worsley shape so that the frame etches would sit 'full face' on the coach sides just in the four corners. Finally, it was clear that the transverse bar across the windows was going to be very helpful as glue could be put here without too much danger of it going astray. The positioning of the transverse bar on the coach sides matches the positioning on the 'sealed' version of the two frame etches shown above. This is actually very handy, as the divide is slightly higher on the opening version so when fitting those, which are very much in the majority, it leaves a very small lip visible on the outside. The first image below shows the initial arrangement of rubber bands. Once these have been positioned, each frame can be carefully slid underneath them from the bottom. (Before doing this, gently roll each frame from the inside so that it matches the gentle curve of a Mk1 bodyside. This isn't entirely prototypical but I can't see a sensible alternative). Once they're all in place, final positioning adjustment can be made - it's critical to get them all exactly right. I found the easiest way was to position the coach under a magnifying glass, then gently move the frames around with a wooden cocktail stick. It only takes a few minutes to get them all in the perfect position. When happy, put 5-6 drops of extra-runny superglue into the lid of a small paint pot. Use one of those little microbrush applicators to pick up a small amount of the glue and carefully touch it on the exposed lip visible on the outside of the coach, along the bottom of the horizontal glazing bar. Don't touch the glue anywhere else at the moment because if it gets to the sides of the frames it will capillary under the rubber bands, which will be a disaster. Just before you do each one, satisfy yourself that the positioning is still perfect - this is the advantage of the first touch of glue being from the outside, as you can still see what you're doing. When the glue has been applied to all of the horizontal bars, give it a moment to make sure it's set and then carefully remove all of the small rubber bands, but leave the big horizontal ones in place. With the small bands gone, you'll be able to get inside the body to apply a tiny bit of glue as before, along the tops and bottoms (but not the sides) of the frames. Once this is done, remove the rubber bands and introduce a little more glue, again from the inside, to the sides of the apertures. The second image below, which is about 5 times larger than real life, shows the final result - I think they look really good and give a depth that would not be available by using paint or a sharpie.

To remove the frames from the etch, my final process has been to lay it on a hard steel ruler and heavily score the tabs with a largish craft knife until it cuts through. This is heavy going and results in significant discomfort in the fingers - I could only do about 20 - 30 per session. I tried assorted snips / jewellers' shears etc, but to no avail. It's important to hold the frames carefully whilst cutting them in order to avoid distortion. Once removed from the fret, I'm grinding the remains of the tab away using the flat stone attachment in the Dremel, mounted horizontally in its stand. For the main window frames this is working well, but the small hopper inserts are just so delicate that I'm really struggling to get them off the sheet and grind the tabs without bending / snapping them. At the moment I'm on about 4 successes from 15 attempts, at which rate I won't have enough to do the job. However, to be honest it's hard to see even under the magnifying glass whether they're fitted or not - with the naked eye it's almost impossible to tell and on the layout there's no chance so I'm not too worried. Of course anybody who'd never seen the original etches wouldn't know that those bits had even been there!

The window etches are very fine and delicate, but because they're stainless steel they are in fact really hard and it's quite a job to cut them from the sheet and remove the tabs - particularly for the small hopper inserts. These are the two types of large window - the opening version on the left, and the sealed up version on the right. The sealed ones only appear in the corridor alongside the first class compartments.

For the headcodes I simply found a 'face-on' photograph, cut the headcode part out of it, adjusted to the required size then printed them out.

So, a long overdue update on this project - which is in fact nearly finished, maybe a week to go. Last time I posted, the model was in the early stages of painting and the etched stainless steel window frames had just arrived. As far as the painting goes, this is now basically complete. It was actually quite difficult - NSE livery is never easy, especially the later version with the curved upsweeps, and I had continued problems with the paint not adhering well to previous layers and being removed by masking tape. However, after a battle, I got the paintwork to standard that I was happy with then gave it a couple of coats of gloss varnish, to seal it all up and to provide a good surface for the transfers. The black cab-end window surrounds were particularly awkward as they're inset and it was difficult to do it neatly. In the end I used some black lines from a transfer sheet to draw a box around each window, then painted up to that. The other tricky thing was the thin yellow line around the edge of the corridor connector. After a few aborted attempts to paint it on and / or use transfers, I decided to paint it onto the unused Worsley Works etches of the corridor connector front, then stick it to the 3D printed cab end. This almost worked very well - the problem is that the corridor connector on the cab-end is about 2mm higher than the Worsley Works etch - so the effect is similar to the problem that arises with MJT VEP / CIG ends. You can see the effect very clearly in the second image, at the bottom end of the connectors. What I'm going to do is make up some more connector ends to the same dimensions as the 3D printed ones, paint them up and replace the ones that are on there; I only stuck them very lightly so it'll be easy to substitute them.

Sorry for the long gap in updates on this - there has been good progress (in fact they're almost finished) so there will be a proper update soon. I'm starting to think about the Bulleid 4DD again too.

Hi all, Thank you for your help with this. In the end I tried some Zimo MX600R decoders, with CV57 adjusted appropriately. CV57 needs to be set to 10x the required max voltage - so for a 6 volt motor, CV57 = 60. The results have been astonishingly good - slow speed running is amazing and it's hard to believe that it's just a standard Hornby or Lima 'pancake' drive chain, fitted with a new motor costing around £1.50. This has certainly removed the need to re-engineer all the multiple unit kits I built in the 1980s / 90s. Best regards Stuart

Thanks TWG - that's something I didn't know and very useful. Best regards Stuart

Hi Iain / Nigel, Thank you very much - that's all most helpful. Best regards Stuart

Hi all, I've been experimenting with reviving a few older models that have ringfield motors using the motors from CD / DVD drives. Results have been very good indeed, with very smooth, controllable operation and plenty of power. I've got some multiple unit kits that I built years ago so this is a good way of markedly improving their performance without wholesale re-engineering. Many of these motors are designed for 9v or even 6v - so for use under plain DC I added a suitable resistor. My question is this - when a DCC chip is controlling a motor's speed, does it do so by varying the output voltage, or does it always supply nominally 12v but 'chopped' into a part-wave? Or are there chips of either type? I'm thinking that in the former case I can probably adjust CV settings so that the maximum voltage supplied is 6v or 9v as appropriate - but in the latter case I'd probably still need to add a resistor. Thanks and best regards Stuart

An exciting development today in that the etches for the window frames arrived about 3 weeks earlier than expected. Don't look too closely at the paintwork because it's not finished yet - but I think the frames will transform the appearance of the whole thing. Just need to secure them without getting glue on the paintwork The apparent extra bar along the top of the window frame is just a reflection - at the moment the paint has been gloss varnished ready for the transfers.

I wonder how many layers of paint there must have been in total. I don't remember then as far back as Maroon - I do have some super-8 cine of them running in Blue / Grey though.

Hi Barclay, Yes I did think that about the red line too Yes they do run quite fast. Nearer the beginning of this thread (8th August post) there's a video of them undertaking a test run on the layout of the Chatham and District Model Railway Club. Even though they're unpainted, they look (and sound) good at speed. I travelled on the final 309 run from Liverpool St. to Clacton many years ago - that was a super-fast one too!

Yes indeed they did look rather elegant in maroon. Trouble is these are refurbished units so it has to be Jaffa livery or later. If I was keeping them I'd go with Jaffa. I do have some unrefurbished sets to build too but these will be blue & grey, which is how I remember them most.

So, when I removed all the masking tape and Maskol, this was the initial result. On the whole ok, but some tidying up to do. The big problem was that the red in particlar hadn't adhered all that well and in places the Maskol had pulled it off. Particularly visible on the rear left vehicle. This actually wasn't as much of a disaster as it looks - it was quite easy to cut some more bits of masking tape to cover the white and touch in the damage with a paintbrush. Once gloss varnished it doesn't really notice and there will be a coat of satin varnish too once the transfers are on. I think the failure of the red paint to adhere was probably because I thinned it too much before spraying - so what I was effectively left with was red pigment suspended in thinners and no actual paint carrier. The varnish has sealed it up though so all is good now. I'm currently working on painting the roof, black areas of the cab ends and the red guttering - once that's done I'll put up some more pics. After that I'm down to interiors, transfers, varnish, the window frames and glazing - then I can get back to that Bulleid Double Decker!

Thanks Bucoops It is indeed a pair of HST power cars - but not just any HST, it's a Genesis Kits 252 001 - building that will guarantee an announcement by Hornby, Heljan or Bachmann. I'll put a short thread up about that at a later date.

I tried a number of different ways to achieve the curved upsweeps. Initially I tried flexible masking tape for the thin white line but this wasn't very successful. It was possible to get the tape into the right shape, but over the next few minutes it gradually tried to straighten itself by increasing the radius of the curve. I then started experimenting with cutting the required shapes out of bigger pieces of tape. For this I used a tool I got on line from a company in Romania. It was tricky, but with practice I found that I could cut out what I needed. For the thin white line between the red and the grey I found that the Japanese masking tape in the image, although not advertised as flexible, could nevertheless be persuaded to take the required curve. The white masking tape along the top edge in the final image is the flexible tape, which turned out not to be much cop for straight lines either. The adhesive is quite gooey and messy and I won't be using it again.

First bodyside colour on was the red, followed by the grey. Bonus points for spotting what else I'm building in the first image. Masking is tricky, especially for the curved upsweeps - more on this on the next post.

I found this official NSE diagram of the paint scheme for a 4 CEP, giving thicknesses for all the various stripes along with the radii of the curves. I reckon a 309 would have been the same - they were closely related units - so I went with the same dimensions.

Something else that was mentioned earlier was the change to the fenestration of the TSO during refurbishment, when the toilets were removed and the positions of that window and the end door reversed to allow for 4 more seats in the saloon. The replacement etches have arrived from Allen at Worsley Works now so those two vehicles are constructed and waiting to be painted. Paintwork has been troublesome - Network SouthEast livery is never easy - but there's a light at the end of the tunnel now. First colour to go on was the cab-end yellow. This transformed the appearance of the cabs and began to reveal what the completed units would look like.

One of my friends is a graphic designer used to working with Adobe Illustrator files, and he was able to increase the size by 1.6% pretty quickly. At the same time he re-arranged the sheet to remove the elements that weren't required (refurbished CEP guards van area etc.) to allow for more frames of the various required types on the fret. The file was agreed with the etching company in mid-November and the expected delivery time was 6 weeks, so hopefully the new etches will arrive in early January. I'm considering how best to stick them on without risking getting glue on the paintwork - they're incredibly fine. Many thanks to David Crow for his generosity in making his CEP artwork available for updating to what was needed for the 309.

Hi all, It's been a while since I updated this thread, so here goes. Progress has been a bit slow and has mostly been concentrated on the paintwork and interiors, plus the unpainted window frames. As I mentioned earlier, I had some very nice etched stainless steel window frames designed for a Bachmann 4 CEP by another member of RMWeb, David Crow, but they were just a tiny bit too small to fit the Worsley Works brass etches. I contacted David through this forum and he very kindly sent me his original artwork, so that I could amend it slightly to suit. Some very careful measuring of the CEP window frames I had and the Worsley sides indicated that increasing the size of the frames by just 1.6% in all directions would be enough to make them fit. Images below of the CEP frames and what the drawing looks like.

I've just obtained some of these too, but a different selection of parts as I'm intending to try and make a 4-PEP out of them. It'll mean scratch building the cab ends and cutting the shells in different places, but I'm always up for a challenge. I'll post a thread on here about it when I get started, but there are a few things ahead of it on the workbench. Marc - great looking model! If you want the vehicles coupled closer together you could remove the couplings from the bogies altogether and couple the underframes together instead. That's how I always do multiple units - example here: Best regards Stuart