CazRail's Workbench: A bit of this, a bit of that.

[CazRail]

Finally got round to doing more on my Lima class 156. First job was to de-band and re-paint the rail grey. Then it was on to the underframes, with the boxy detailing cut out and replaced with 3D printed alternative. Once all back together, I added First North Western branding and post 1998 overheads warning stickers. 

 

 

On the to-do list now is new pick-ups, re-wire, new decoder and install a lightning kit.

[Departmental203]

Nice work on the 156 there, it's still a good model as it is IMO but is severely let down by that underframe!!

 

What lighting kit do you intend to use? I have one that's been sitting on the 'bench for about a year now, need to get on with it!

 

Thanks, Jules

[CazRail]

On 16/03/2022 at 19:39, Departmental203 said:

Nice work on the 156 there, it's still a good model as it is IMO but is severely let down by that underframe!!

 

What lighting kit do you intend to use? I have one that's been sitting on the 'bench for about a year now, need to get on with it!

 

Thanks, Jules

The lighting kit came from a seller called 'stickswipe' on ebay, makes various lighting kits. He doesn't seem to have any 156 ones on there at the moment though.

[CazRail]

Further more on the class 156 project...

 

To sum this model up, here's a list of work that's been completed on this model:

 

- remove headlight lenses.

- paint edges around headlights and headlight lenses black to improve overall look.

- replace the Lima 3-pole motor components with Strathpeffer Junction CD motor kit.

- replace non-powered bogies with Hornby class 156 bogies, with improved performance and added pickups.

- fit head and tail lights using a kit from eBay, seller 'Stickswipe'.

- cut out all the boxy underfloor detailing and replace with 3D printed alternative bought from eBay.

- complete re-wire, including connection to dummy car.

- re-spray the lower rail grey colour with Railmatch Rail Grey.

- re-brand from Regional Railways to First North Western, and add post-1998 OHLE warning signs.

 

 

 

 

Something I'd like to do in future is to completely replace the motor bogie with a Hornby class 153 one, which will hopefully improve running and reduce the Lima gear noise.

 

But for now, it's another DMU in my fleet, and to be fair, stands up pretty well to the 150s, 153s and 158s it'll run alongside. 

 

All the very best 

Caz

[CazRail]

Unit wise, next on my 'Wanted' list is a class 158 in North Western Trains dark blue with gold stars. The Bachmann model released 20+ years ago is the only option off the shelf, but is of course of the old tooling, and I would prefer one of the new tooling for my fleet. So, I see myself with two options:

 

1. Wait potentially forever for Bachmann to produce one or for the likes of Rainbow Railways to release a re-sprayed version, or:
2.  Buy myself a donor and re-spray one myself.

I've almost decided that I'll go down the route of my own re-paint, and I've already began to explore how I would achieve the golden stars. I'm currently thinking gold on first, mask off the general area of the gold bits with Tamiya tape, then cut the mask using a sharp blade. I'm thinking I'd get the star shape consistent by creating a template in either card or plastic sheet.

Another dilemma will be which branding do I go for? North Western Trains or First North Western? At present, I'm thinking different on both sides, but I will see. FNW would match it in with the fleet I have better.

 

Also, my current 158 needs a re-number and re-branding to make it more relevant to my region. As it's 158849 in Regional Railways livery, I have a couple of options. Both would make it a Wales & Borders unit, with either Wales & Borders branding or Alphaline. I'll need to do more research into this one, but it's undoubtedly a quicker project and will probably be complete before I begin the NWT 158.

 

So there's my current thoughts on where I go next, hopefully I'll have something to show you soon.

[Departmental203]

On 12/04/2022 at 00:50, CazRail said:

Unit wise, next on my 'Wanted' list is a class 158 in North Western Trains dark blue with gold stars. The Bachmann model released 20+ years ago is the only option off the shelf, but is of course of the old tooling, and I would prefer one of the new tooling for my fleet. So, I see myself with two options:

 

1. Wait potentially forever for Bachmann to produce one or for the likes of Rainbow Railways to release a re-sprayed version, or:
2.  Buy myself a donor and re-spray one myself.

I've almost decided that I'll go down the route of my own re-paint, and I've already began to explore how I would achieve the golden stars. I'm currently thinking gold on first, mask off the general area of the gold bits with Tamiya tape, then cut the mask using a sharp blade. I'm thinking I'd get the star shape consistent by creating a template in either card or plastic sheet.

Another dilemma will be which branding do I go for? North Western Trains or First North Western? At present, I'm thinking different on both sides, but I will see. FNW would match it in with the fleet I have better.

 

Also, my current 158 needs a re-number and re-branding to make it more relevant to my region. As it's 158849 in Regional Railways livery, I have a couple of options. Both would make it a Wales & Borders unit, with either Wales & Borders branding or Alphaline. I'll need to do more research into this one, but it's undoubtedly a quicker project and will probably be complete before I begin the NWT 158.

 

So there's my current thoughts on where I go next, hopefully I'll have something to show you soon.

 

For the gold stars I'd probably go with 2 options, the first one being to contact Rainbow Railways to see if they can provide you with decals for the livery. Personally, I've had no problems when I wanted (and commisioned) some custom wagon decals from them and the whole process took something around 6 weeks (well it was only a few markings!!).

 

The second option is to probably mask up the stars using some masking tape and then paint them on. I've seen it done on an N gauge Class 142 "Pacer" with amazing results. I know that RMWeb has been a bit funny with the new server update so photos might not be avalible but the NWT Pacer project is found here:

 

Well the final thing I can say is good luck!💪 It will certainly be a unique model to add to the collection and although I can't say I'm a big fan of the livery it does look fairly striking!

 

Jules

 

[CazRail]

Thanks for the feedback, Jules. I'm looking forward to doing this re-spray, it'll definitely test my skill with the gold stars, but hopefully will come out ok.

Cheers 

Caz

[Departmental203]

On 08/05/2022 at 18:51, CazRail said:

Thanks for the feedback, Jules. I'm looking forward to doing this re-spray, it'll definitely test my skill with the gold stars, but hopefully will come out ok.

Cheers 

Caz

 

Well I'll be looking forward to its progress Caz! Only advice I can give you here is take your time with the masking. I'm no airbrush user but the advice has helped me out big time!

 

Jules

[CazRail]

Cheers Jules.

 

Whilst Im plucking up the courage to paint up another 158, I've started a short project to re-number and part-repaint an EWS 37.

 

This time, itll be 37670, which I plan to portray in it's 2008 condition of battered EWS livery.

 

The donor is a 37411 'Ty Hafan':

 

First job was to mask off the gold stripe, and lightly sand the numbers and lettering. 

 

The gold will then be re-sprayed, as I did when I created 37408 'Loch Rannoch'.

 

A mod I had to make was to remove the ETH cable receptacles on the noses, which was then filled using Tamiya putty. This will then be patch-painted.

 

To create the rain-lashed finish to the paintwork, I'll be employing the same technique I used to weather 37055 and 37114 earlier in the topic, using Oilbrusher paint and blend it with a soft brush. In doing that, parts of the loco will be masked up to represent the parts of the loco that were touched up before reinstatement by DB Schenker in 2008.

Edited May 10, 2022 by CazRail

[CazRail]

Today's endeavours on 37670, has seen the loco have It's gold stripe re-sprayed...

 

then the loco gained it's identity...

 

 

then had it's painted 'faded'.

 

 

I've masked certain parts of the loco to show the bits DB Schenker had patched up before the loco was reinstated. I'm quite happy with this, and think the weathering will tie it all together nicely.

 

Time to allow the Oilbrusher paint to dry now, before I attack the loco with my airbrush. 

 

Oh, and Ive ordered the nameplates. 

 

Regards 

Caz.

[CazRail]

Almost finished with 37670, now only nameplates and it's running to sort out.

 

[CazRail]

A quick Saturday update...

 

This morning, I took delivery of a couple of things, first beint the "St Blazey T&RSD" nameplates for 37670. Provided by Fox Transfers and are very nice, they were fitted to the loco this morning. 

I think the nameplates 'complete' the overall look of the loco. 

 

Secondly, and more impressively, two Zimo MS450P22 decoders loaded with class 20/3 soundfile arrived from Digitrains, having just ordered them just before 4pm yesterday. About 5 minutes after I placed the order, they phoned me to offer a different sound file which is more suited to the 20/3s. That's what I call customer service! Really impressed. 

 

So now my DRS choppers are chipped up and sounding great.

[CazRail]

New project time! 

Having sourced a bargain donor, I'm now able to commence preperations for another re- spray project.

 

This time, the subject if North Western Trains/First North Western class 158.

 

Having already got a Bachmann class 150 in said livery, I've begun by creating templates of the golden stars which feature at the outer ends and inner ends of the units. To acheive this, I used masking tape to trace the pattern out, transferred it to some scrap plasticard, then cut them out.

 

The first template made, posed next to the original on the 150.

 

The same template, positioned approximately where it needs to go on a 158.

 

The three templates necessary for the livery (the full star can be flipped to mirror it).

 

Also, by luck, I was looking at what Vallejo paints are available, and if I could use them for the blue and gold, and came up trumps with Vallejo Game Air 72.763 'Dessert Yellow' and 72.720 'Imperial Blue'. A more than decent match. Happy days! 

 

Looking forward to this little project, I certainly need it, and have had it on the drawing board for some time.

 

Best

Caz

 

[CazRail]

Orange for the cantrail and yellow front ends painted. Decided to go for Halfords Rover Inca Yellow for the front ends rather than air brushing.

 

[CazRail]

So finished the main paint work on one coach today, next one to mask and spray tonight, using the first as a reference...

 

Gold on...

 

Masked up...

 

Blue on...

 

Quite pleased to be fair, a couple of little touch-ups.

[CazRail]

And this evening, whilst I had Argentina v Scotland on in the background, I completed the paintwork on the second coach...

 

I need to alter the middle left hand stars on each coach, as I overlooked the fact that they're different shape from the 150s, other than that I'm really happy with how they've turned out.

Edited July 16, 2022 by CazRail

[CazRail]

Small update to where the project sits...

 

- Gloss acrylic resin varnish applied.

- Branding and overheads warning stickers applied.

- Door rubbers(black lining transfers) started.

[JDW]

Excellent, great to see someone doing something a bit different with DMUs. I look forward to seeing the 158 finished.

 

I hope you won't mind me pointing it out, but since you've gone to the trouble of doing the rest of the work: on the RRNW/First North Western 156, the yellow should cover the front lip of the roof too, unlike the Sprinter livery where there's a black strip at roof level on the front end. It's only a small change but makes quite a difference.

[JackB95]

That's bloody gorgeous mate!

[CazRail]

On 18/07/2022 at 02:01, JDW said:

Excellent, great to see someone doing something a bit different with DMUs. I look forward to seeing the 158 finished.

 

I hope you won't mind me pointing it out, but since you've gone to the trouble of doing the rest of the work: on the RRNW/First North Western 156, the yellow should cover the front lip of the roof too, unlike the Sprinter livery where there's a black strip at roof level on the front end. It's only a small change but makes quite a difference.

Cheers, JDW. Hopefully won't be too long before it's finished, got numbers and small details ordered from Railtec and a couple of other bits to complete before a final coat or two of satin varnish.

Also thanks for the advice for the FNW 156, something I hadn't picked up on, but now you've pointed it out, I can't un-see it! Something to rectify the next time it comes out to play.

 

12 hours ago, JackB95 said:

That's bloody gorgeous mate!

Diolch, sir! Looking forward to the reassembly.

Edited July 19, 2022 by CazRail

[CazRail]

So my numbers arrived from Railtec this morning, the usual great service from them. 

 

So I present to you, 158752...

 

 

Painted using mostly Vallejo Game Air paints, and finished using Vallejo Satin Acrylic Resin Varnsh. Yellow fronts painted using Halfords' Rover Inca Yellow rattle can, orange using Vallejo Model Air Orange. 

 

Now you watch Bachmann go and announce one in the next quarter line-up 🤬😂

[JackB95]

A beautiful model mate, and it looks bloody gorgeous. Crisp gold lines make it even better.

 

Bravo sir.

[CazRail]

1 hour ago, JackB95 said:

A beautiful model mate, and it looks bloody gorgeous. Crisp gold lines make it even better.

 

Bravo sir.

Diolch, met! Very happy with how it's turned out, definitely my favourite unit in my fleet at the minute. 

[Chris56057]

Excellent job there, always liked that livery on the 158's.

[CazRail]

In-between other projects, my Revolution IWA vans still need weathering. 

 

Started to distress the 'CARGOWAGGON' letting on one van, bu painting some of it in Citadel Corax White...

 

 

hopefully this will show through the 'muck', and provide some variation between the wagons. I'll probably do the same to a couple of others to varying degrees.