Adventures in the land of fully sprung diesels

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Horsetan
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Re: Adventures in the land of fully sprung diesels

Postby Horsetan » Wed Mar 21, 2012 12:31 am

jjnewitt wrote:.....Time to get those bogie drawings finished.....


Could I put in an advance order for a Hymek set, a Prototype Deltic, and Class 40 and 50, please? :)
That would be an ecumenical matter.

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jjnewitt
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Re: Adventures in the land of fully sprung diesels

Postby jjnewitt » Wed Mar 21, 2012 11:11 pm

Thanks Mike. She's taken a lot of effort to get to where she is. It's nice that she's finaly (very nearly) done. The next one will be quicker when I get around to it!

I'm going to start with the class 37 bogie Horsetan and see how things go. It's going to be a steep learning curve I think! However the bogie should be suitable for the class 50 and of course the production Deltics. Your prototype Deltic unfortunately had bogies with their own unique (as far as I've found) wheelbase just to be annoying! The Hymek is a possibility if things go well as I woundn't mind another one. The Heljan model is lovely and still stands comparison with any other RTR diesel around.

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Re: Adventures in the land of fully sprung diesels

Postby Horsetan » Sat Mar 24, 2012 10:43 pm

jjnewitt wrote:.....The Hymek is a possibility if things go well as I wouldn't mind another one......


*sits back and waits expectantly* ;)
That would be an ecumenical matter.

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Re: Adventures in the land of fully sprung diesels

Postby jjnewitt » Thu May 24, 2012 10:29 pm

Recently I've been doing some more work of the Teddy Bear and Hymek. The coupling rods on the Swindon Type 1 have been bothering me for a while and I had hoped that someone would bring out an etch for some, anyway it though it was about time to do something about them. In the end I concocted a pair from two sets of Bill Bedford Class 08 coupling rod etches. The etches are designed for the drop in Ultrascale conversion wheelset for the Bachmann model and as such are designed for a crankpin that's a smidgen over 2mm in diameter where as the Class 14 wheels use the more conventional 1.5mm type. This obviously necesitated a bit more work but nothing a few short lengths of 1.5mm inside diameter tubing couldn't fix. The pictures should give a good idea of the work involved.

Firstly a jig was needed in order to set the new rods to the same axle centres as the Heljan pressed ones. This was cobbled together from a piece of brass strip, some brass tubing, an engineers square and some 2mm diameter tapered axle setting jigs using the Heljan rods to set everything. The 2mm axle axle setting jigs are from Ultrascale, they are 42p each and are sold as 2mm diameter pin point axles.

Class 14 Rods 1.JPG


The holes in the Bill Bedford rods were opened out to be a tight fit on some 1.5mm inside diameter 2mm outside diameter tubing and after much head scratching the etches were cut into bits. Each of the bosses were soldered together along with the tube over a short length of 1.5mm diameter silver steel using 145 C solder.

Class 14 Rods 2.JPG


Each of the new coupling rods consisted of six parts which were then soldered together on the jig using 179 C solder. With aluminium soldering claps holding everything in place there was no problem with joints melting.

Class 14 Rods 3.JPG


The replacement set still need a little work, especially with a file around the top of the bosses in the area of the oil filler corks, but I think they look much better than the ones originally suplied.

Class 14 Rods 4.JPG


The Hymek has recieved some detailing work and I'm trying to put in a big effort to get her finished. The bogies have gained some new sandpipes and other piping. The little cross of pipes directly beneath the sandboxes were proving to be a bit tricky until I had the idea of making them from two pieces of wire bent into L shapes and soldered together. Wish I'd thought of the that for the sandpipes on D6904. Guard irons were made up from bit of leftover Masokits etch.

Hymek Bogie Detail.JPG


The other major job on the Hymek is a new roof fan and grill. The components are Shawplan. The fan on the real thing was set quite a way down inside the body, due mainly to the fact it's off centre, so after having drilled a nice hole in the roof a tunnel had to be made so the fan could be placed where it should be. Several layers of plasticard were glued together and then filled and sanded to fit the profile of the roof. This seemed to take an age to get right. A hole was then drilled out of the plasicard sandwich and then it was glued to the roof with Araldite. Once hardened the hole was attacked with a file to tidy things up leaving a tiny ledge all the way around at the top to glue the grill to. Ideally the grill should be recessed slightly but I haven't figured out a way of skiming the top off of the ledge without damaging the roof so the grill, which is a fantastic fit by the way, will have to be flush with the roof.

Hymek Fan Detail.JPG


Lastly something rather exciting has arrived in the post! There apear to be one or two little issues on first inpection but I haven't had chance to run the Vernier Caliper over them yet. Any major problems will no doubt come out in the build.

Class 37 Bogie Etches.JPG
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craig_whilding

Re: Adventures in the land of fully sprung diesels

Postby craig_whilding » Fri May 25, 2012 12:13 am

Ah class 14 coupling rods.. I etched two sets based on the works drawings. Unfortunately I went a bit extreme as they were about 10 layers of 0.25mm thick!

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index. ... ntry208884
I did post a closeup of the rods but I can't remember where now.. The main point though is the central rod is much thicker in height and width than the two outer rods and its quite noticable on the prototype. The crankshaft also has a massive boss compared to the rest.
Edit: found it! http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index. ... ntry396678

The other thing you may want to do is change your brakes on the cl14 to the double shoe type they were delivered with (same ones as on the 08s) though they were quickly changed for the type Heljan modelled (same as some of the bigger diesels I believe) after they kept cracking the shoes.

Etches look great, let me know if you can supply any sometime. I intend to buy some of the tubes you use on the weekend for bogie pivots.

Hadn't realised the Hymek grille was out, will have to buy one of those!

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Re: Adventures in the land of fully sprung diesels

Postby iak » Fri May 25, 2012 9:12 am

All this bouncy diesel stuff is getting very interesting.
And to see that the Ultrascale drop ins are used is even better :D
Fascinating stuff...
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Re: Adventures in the land of fully sprung diesels

Postby jjnewitt » Fri May 25, 2012 10:21 pm

Hi Craig,

I was sure I'd read about some class 14 rods somewhere but couldn't for the life of me remeber where! Looking (properly) at the prototype I can see why you needed so many laminations, that boss on the crankshaft is really heavy duty! I spent so much time scratching my head trying to work out how I was going to put these Bill Bedford rods together that I forgot to pay attention to what they should look like. I've got some bits left over from the etch so I can make the crankshaft boss thicker though clearance behind those steps might be an issue. I'll see what I can do about the heights of the three rods, now you've mentioned it the difference is quite apparent and will bug me if I don't do something about it. I'll also have a look at the brakes. Does anyone know if there's any Class 08 brakes avaliable from somewhere, perhaps as an etch?

Supplying the etches wont be a problem but I'll check to see if they're buildable first. They should be fine but I'm quite good at overlooking things! :) The etch has been designed to use the same 5/8" diameter tube for the bolster as I've used before. K&S stock number 143.

The Hymek grill has, I think, been around for a while. At least it hasn't got an EE at the beginning of the code so I assume it's older? The fan is pretty basic but it's ok. The bit of etch on the top of the boss on mine came from the new Class 37 grill and fan etch. It was spare as I decided to reuse the Bachmann fan "pin" with the etched fan on D6904. I think my Hymek grill came from Howes.

Hi iak,

Ultrascale drop ins have many uses other than the one intended for! :) I've got a Bachmann Class 66 conversion set that will probably find it's way onto one of my class 37 bogies. You may have to reduce the width of the boss at the back of them and look out for split axles arrangements, which seem to be more prevalent than I'd thought, but they're perfectly usable.

craig_whilding

Re: Adventures in the land of fully sprung diesels

Postby craig_whilding » Fri May 25, 2012 11:20 pm

Outer rods - 4" x 1.5"
Middle - 5.5" x 1 5/8"

That main boss is 7" wide.

I was going to try and 3D print a master for the horblocks at some stage as you can see them behind the wheels on the prototype.

Terry Bendall
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Re: Adventures in the land of fully sprung diesels

Postby Terry Bendall » Sat May 26, 2012 5:59 am

Looks very good Justin and even if the rods on the class 14 are not quite correct, it is still a great improvement.

Terry Bendall

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Re: Adventures in the land of fully sprung diesels

Postby jjnewitt » Sat May 26, 2012 10:21 pm

Thanks for those dimensions Craig, they're very useful. I measured the rods I've done and they're 1.2mm high which will do for the front and back. If I solder strips of 0.010" nickel silver to the top and bottom of the middle section that should take care of that. I need to check the back to back dimensions on those steps to see if I can add more to that crackshaft boss, need to find where they've disapeared to first though!

Thanks Terry. Hopefully with a little bit more work they'll look even better!

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Re: Adventures in the land of fully sprung diesels

Postby Horsetan » Sun May 27, 2012 8:39 pm

I'm drooling over the Hymek bogie already. :P
That would be an ecumenical matter.

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Re: Adventures in the land of fully sprung diesels

Postby jjnewitt » Sun Jun 03, 2012 7:30 pm

Horsetan wrote:I'm drooling over the Hymek bogie already. :P


You might want to get a napkin or something Ivan. ;)

More progress has been made with the Hymek. Everything has been painted and the detailing work is very nearly done on the chassis. There's still a few pipe ends to sort around the tanks and the question of the bogie steps to address. I did try attacking the Heljan mouldings in an attept to improve them but I wasn't really happy with the results. I think I need to talk very nicely to Mr Pete Harvey and see if he'll do some of his lovely etches. Detailing at the ends include the protective plate behind the coupling hook and the little step on the right hand side under the buffer. The pipes at the ends are Heljan mouldings though I did replace the actual pipe bit on the air control pipes with 0.6mm phb wire, the originals were a very funny shape. The gauges on the tanks are peices of plasticard rod plugged into holes drilled into the moulding.

Hymek 1.JPG

I seem to have a growing "thing" about flat dull matt paintwork in places where the prototype wasn't flat, dull or matt. I'm aware of the effect distace has on gloss paintwork and of course that dust, muck and the general grime that we call "weathering" is mostly matt but an ex works loco is glossly and anything other than this doesn't seem quite right somehow. Unless the paintwork is old or has been destroyed by cleaning agents it is still shiny under the layers of dirt and will look shiny where the wethering is thin or has been cleaned off. So in an attept to do something about the matt paintwork I attacked it with T-cut. I'd read somewhere that applying T-cut with a cotton bud and gently polishing it would do wonders for the paint finish on Heljan's models. So I did exactly that and the results weren't exactly great being very uneven. In the end I got out the elbow grease and to try and even things out I gave her a good polishing (a bit too good in a couple of places)! The results were pretty good though of course almost all the transfers disapeared. Strangely some seemed to be rather more robust than others. The crests didn't really want to come off at all, so I tip-toed around them, I'm sure some of the others simply fell off when I showed them the bottle of T-cut! Replacing the little plates that were printed on along the bottom of the body could be a challenge. The paintwork was rather "soft" afterwards so needed a coat of varish. I used an acrylic laquer I had which didn't really give great coverage so the finish isn't as good as I'd hoped it would be. The paintwork came up a treat with the T-cut though. I really must raid the piggy bank and buy an airbrush. I'm not sure I can live without one for much longer!

Hymek 2.JPG

The paint finish on the Teddy Bear was pretty much the same as that on the Hymek before I attacked it. I still need to finish sorting out the coupling rods. I checked the back to back on the steps and unfortunately there's no space for any more width on the main boss, the clerances as it is are miniscule. There's more room behind the crossheads on my Mitchell Manor! The Teddy Bear looks almost German without the buffer beams attached. They are off to be repainted after having the holes filled in and the buffers replaced.

Hymek 3.JPG

More soon.
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Re: Adventures in the land of fully sprung diesels

Postby Philip Hall » Sun Jun 03, 2012 8:29 pm

I have had some interesting results trying to polish paintwork. The greatest glossy finish seems to come from using T cut and tissue/cotton buds, but a more subdued effect can be had by using a polishing mop in a mini drill, at a medium to low speed, without the T cut. You have to take it easy, as the paint can get a bit hot if you keep going for too long, but with care a nice sheen can be achieved on most matt paintwork. It's also possible to vary this as you work over a surface to give interesting reflections which seem to break up the flatness of tank/tender sides or, in this case, the sides of a diesel. It doesn't show so much on a photo but is more obvious to the eye. It's important the paint is absolutely dry, which in the case of a factory finish it will be of course, and leaving off the T cut means less risk of polishing off insignia.

Philip

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Re: Adventures in the land of fully sprung diesels

Postby jjnewitt » Tue Jun 05, 2012 9:14 pm

I have a couple of lint free cloths that have for use for with T-cut and which I ended up using on the Hymek. Put a little on with one and then polish with the other, just like it says on the tin. Very rare of me to actually follow instructions. :) While I was messing around with cotton buds I did try polishing the paintwork using one in a mini drill after having applied a little T-cut. This worked really well on flat surfaces but of course snagged on any sharp edges. You'd be amazed at the number of sharp edges there are on a Heljan Hymek!

Teddy Bear Coupling Rods.JPG

The Teddy Bear Rods look much better now. I soldered a strip of 0.010" nickel silver to the top and bottom of the middle section at then filled them to shape. I also sorted out the top of the bosses. Why I didn't think to do that before I soldered them together I'll never know. The varnish on the Hymek needs rubbing down before final detailing so I've got a couple of weeks while I wait for it to dry completely. Now where are my bogie etches...
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craig_whilding

Re: Adventures in the land of fully sprung diesels

Postby craig_whilding » Wed Jun 06, 2012 8:47 am

They look a lot better now, good work :). What is the clearance between the wheels and the chassis btw? I'd done a 3D drawing of the hornblocks on the cl14 and was wondering if they would fit the Heljan.

Bought some tube of the correct diameters at Railex btw so hopefully I can try sorting out a 37 sometime.

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Re: Adventures in the land of fully sprung diesels

Postby jjnewitt » Wed Jun 06, 2012 10:04 pm

Thanks Craig. They do look better now though I'm having a bit of trouble getting the Teddy Bear to accept her new rods. She worked perfectly before I took her to bits now there are issues everywhere not least trying to get the quartering on that crank axle the same as the wheels. Think I got lucky first time! I'll get there in the end though.

The main metal chassis block on the Heljan model is only 9.25mm wide. To this they added 0.6mm wide plastic sideframes with they're useless effort at representing the spring and hornblocks. By the time I'd finished with mine the width over sideframes came out at 15.0mm due to me not thinking properly while making the springing units. They really need to be a bit narrower. By the time I'd carved up the Heljan plastic sideframes to get some depth to the springs and hornblocks and added it to the sideframes I'd made there's very little clearance between the spring detail and the backs of the wheels. Another one of my oversights...!

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Re: Adventures in the land of fully sprung diesels

Postby jjnewitt » Sun Jun 17, 2012 10:05 pm

The etches work! Which is a relief. There were a few modifications that I had to make along the way and I had to learn how to put them together, the instructions supplied left a bit to be desired, but they work. There are bits that worked well, some mistakes and some overambition in places but nothing that couldn't be corrected. The photos are of the second bogie I built to which I made a couple of modifications in light of the experience of building the first. These changes are being included in a revised set of drawings along with one or two other improvements. Work on this is already well underway.

The hornblocks are the now standard High Level 2mm variety. I had the bright idea of actually using the Bachmann drivetrains to set the axle centres instead of a jig. Have no idea why I didn't think of that before! In the original design I intended to etch holes in the sideframes in order to pin the hornblocks in the right place but for some reason they didn't come out on the phototool. Hopefully they'll be there on the next lot.
Class 37 Bogie Etches 1.JPG

The primary suspension is a simple fold up affair that's riveted to the main bogie etch with 1mm brass rod.
Class 37 Bogie Etches 2.JPG

Everything is added to the bogie while it is still attached to the fret. It was always the intention to solder the hornblocks in place while the etch was still in the fret, indeed use is made of the outside of the etch to ensure the hornblocks end up square, and it proved to be best to attach everything else at this stage as well.
Class 37 Bogie Etches 3.JPG

Class 37 Bogie Etches 4.JPG

The bogie was removed from the fret and folded up. The circular bolster flange is a neat fit in a recess in the top of the bogie (this bit was really pleasing!).
Class 37 Bogie Etches 5.JPG

Once soldered in place the bolster flange was cut out to enable the drivetrain to fit. Secondary suspenion bearers were added to the top of the hornblocks. I made these from brass L section as the ones on the etch were too short. My error entirely! Springs are 9 thou guitar wire.
Class 37 Bogie Etches 6.JPG

The bolster plate was araldited in place and then the bit that wasn't needed was cut out using the half etched lines as a guide.
Class 37 Bogie Etches 7.JPG

Secondary suspension pins and coil springs were made and the bogies placed under the chassis. Some packing was added to the bolster plate and under the coil springs to bring things to roughly the right hight. The setting is a little low (intentionally so) and final adjustment will be made when the body is done so that everything can be set in accordance with the buffer centres. This picture illustrates something that I said elsewhere on this forum about bogies needing to be able to pich and roll. This is an extreme case (the ruler that the bogie's partially sitting on is 1mm thick!) but shows the pitch of the bogie in relation to the body. It was rather pleasing that the bogie coped completely with this cliff that I pushed it off and all the wheels remained firmly in contact with the table and the ruler.
Class 37 Bogie Etches 8.JPG

A Bachmann sideframe postioned in front of a bogie which has almost completely disapeared except for the bolster flanges and the secondary suspension (which is supposed to be there). Things have been designed so that when the top of the cosmetic sideframe is lined up with the top of the sprung bogie the axles centres are in the correct position in relation to the axleboxes. This means when attaching them you only have to worry about lining things up in one plane rather than two. Which I didn't on this occasion!
Class 37 Bogie Etches 9.JPG

Even with the process of rewriting your own instructions as you go along and the modifications needed they went together relatively smoothly. It's certainly been a learing experience but an enjoyable one. As I said earlier there are improvments to be made to the etches in light of the build. These should be completed this week then it's back to the etchers for the Mk2 version.
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Horsetan
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Re: Adventures in the land of fully sprung diesels

Postby Horsetan » Mon Jun 18, 2012 9:34 am

^
Very sexy stuff there! 8-)
That would be an ecumenical matter.

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ClikC
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Re: Adventures in the land of fully sprung diesels

Postby ClikC » Mon Jun 18, 2012 10:28 pm

This is what my dreams are made of! Where do i send my money?

Regards

Matt / ClikC
Matt Rogers

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Horsetan
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Re: Adventures in the land of fully sprung diesels

Postby Horsetan » Tue Jun 19, 2012 10:45 am

ClikC wrote:This is what my dreams are made of! ....


In that case, I don't want to see your nightmares! :D :mrgreen: :P
That would be an ecumenical matter.

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Re: Adventures in the land of fully sprung diesels

Postby ClikC » Tue Jun 19, 2012 11:35 am

Horsetan wrote:
ClikC wrote:This is what my dreams are made of! ....


In that case, I don't want to see your nightmares! :D :mrgreen: :P


OO guage Set track ;)
Matt Rogers

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Horsetan
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Re: Adventures in the land of fully sprung diesels

Postby Horsetan » Tue Jun 19, 2012 12:27 pm

ClikC wrote:....OO guage Set track ;)


Yes, that is a nightmare :shock:
That would be an ecumenical matter.

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Re: Adventures in the land of fully sprung diesels

Postby jjnewitt » Tue Jun 19, 2012 5:08 pm

Horsetan wrote:^
Very sexy stuff there! 8-)


Thanks Ivan.

ClikC wrote:This is what my dreams are made of! Where do i send my money?

Regards

Matt / ClikC


I was going to suggest that maybe you lay off the strong cheese? :)

As to the avaliability of the etches...

As some of you are no doubt aware Ian Penberth has developed a range of sprung diesel kits, details of which are avaliable elsewhere on this forum. A kit for the Bachmann class 37 will no doubt be appearing from him in due course. I say this because I don't really want to get into a situation of producing etches for people to find that they don't want them bescause they've gone for an alternative. There's only so many class 37s I need! Also I don't really want the hassle dealing with people who find they have something that they thought was going to be something else so anyone interested should be aware of the options. I don't consider this sprung diesel business a competition and I'm quite happy to leave Mr Penberth to supply people's needs. However his and my take on the sprung diesel bogie are different and if anyone wants a set of my etches then they are welcome.

The etches have been designed to my specification, primarily for my needs, and as such they require some work to provide the finished article. Please be aware that secondary suspension bolster "pins" will need to be constructed from square brass tube and rod and the coil springs will need to be made, some information on these is avaliable in my class 47 bogies thread. Neither of these things are particularly difficult but they do require a little care and attention. It is simply a question of time to get the desired result.

Although they were designed with the Bachmann class 37 in mind the design should be fairly universal in application to locomotives fitted with 6'9"+6'9" bogies. This means they should be able to go under classes 37, Deltic, DP2 and 50, perhaps with a little extra work depending on the model. It should be possible to use them with a Class 60 as well though the secondary suspension might need some playing with. I have a Hornby Class 60 that I want to put a set under at some point so I'll report back at some stage (no promise that's going to be in the imediate future though). As far as which manufacturers products they are compatible with the bogies need the following to work properly:

A minimum of 8.5mm from the axle centre line to the chassis so that there is room for the bolster plate (given that the models are designed for OO steamroller wheels this shouldn't be a problem).
The maximum width of the drivetrain is 11.5mm (the High Level hornblocks can't really be thinned down any more to get more room).

Having said all of the above anyone who wants a set of etches can drop me a PM. As I said in my previous post the revised drawings should be off to the etchers this week.

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Re: Adventures in the land of fully sprung diesels

Postby Horsetan » Wed Jun 20, 2012 12:50 pm

jjnewitt wrote:.....anyone who wants a set of etches can drop me a PM. As I said in my previous post the revised drawings should be off to the etchers this week.



PM sent.
That would be an ecumenical matter.

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jjnewitt
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Re: Adventures in the land of fully sprung diesels

Postby jjnewitt » Tue Aug 14, 2012 10:19 pm

After my 16 ton diversion it's back to the diesels. Some class 14 and 47 detailing for those interested.

Some work has been done on the face of the class 47. The Bachmann model doesn't quite capture the look of the prototype to me. I always think the real thing looks worried or almost startled at times whereas the Bachmann offering looks a bit mean. Shawplan window frames have been added as have new eyebrows and a beefed up rain stip and the handrails have been lowered slightly. The front windows apertures were very carefully opened out so that Lazerglazing was a snug fit before the etched frames were glued on. I've used the cab windows intended for the Heljan model as the ones for the Bachmann model are smaller than the windows. When I spoke to Brain from Shawplan a month or so ago we discussed this and he was minded to produce some cab windows specifically for the etched frames which would be good. It gets expensive needing two lots of Lazerglaze for one loco. The rainstrips were then beefed up using strips cut from 0.010" plasticard and eyebrows made from very thin stips of 0.005" plasticard added last. This Class 47 is destined to become D1738 which was a Brush built engine and so has continuous eyebrows, the Crewe built machines had individual ones for each window. I can't claim any originality for this work as it's all been done before! If anyone hasn't seen Jon020's (Jonathan Hughes) work then have a look at his RMweb blog. Lots of good stuff. By the time he's finished with those springs on the Class 47 bogies though he might as well have made them work for a living! :)
Class 47 1.JPG

Class 47 2.JPG

An unapologetic close up of those lovely Shawplan grills.
Class 47 3.JPG

I didn't really like the colour on the cab of the Class 14 so I decided to strip it and while I was at it I've replaced the rainstrips. The Heljan cab isn't quite right as the arc of the roof meets the sides in line with the top of the windows, it should be a bit above, but in any case the rainstrip is too low and the moulding is also very heavy. I can't work out whether the door and windows are a bit tall on the Heljan model or the arc of the roof is too great or the roof top is too low. It could be any combination of these factors but it's way to much work to contemplate fixing so I can live with it! I used a strip of plasticard 0.015" by 0.020" suitably shaped for the rainstrip which looks a bit more like the real thing. Whilst stripped of paint I also removed the plastic beading that can be found on the inside of the windows. The Heljan cab is actually 'Lazerglazed' and these bits of beading act as stops for the windows. They do have the effect of making the windows look a little bit smaller than they are though. I'll use gloss varish to retain them when it gets to that stage.
Class 14.JPG
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