The straight forward stuff is done and it is now time to put on the thinking cap - nose end lighting????
First thing to understand is that whatever solution that you end up fitting, you have to realise that it is sacrificial in as much as when the cab is fitted to the body, there is no way back for any maintenance as you cannot get into the back of the nose once the desk/floor assembly is glued into place. So the first thing to consider is what type of lighting is best/most reliable - I have gone for SMDs and have my fingers well and truly crossed, more of that later!
Firstly, there was a casualty on the front end of Cab B, one of the 3D printed lamp irons had done a disappearing act and there was no chance of retrieving it from the floor (if that was where it had gone) luckily, I had a couple of packets of Laurie Griffin's diesel lamp irons so the remaining three 3D printed versions were removed and the LG version substituted.
Then it was a case of working out how the route indicator boxes could 'work', obviously the infill from the casting had to be removed so I drilled a 2mm pilot hole right in the middle and was surprised as to the thickness of it. Then I realised that if I cut it out leaving an edge all round, the blinds could be fitted from the front using canopy glue - I have the 'blinds' from Precision Decals and I will be sandwiching them between two 10 thou layers of clear plasticard with the inner layer scratched all over with a fibre glass stick to frost it to act as a diffuser.
My original idea for the white and red running lights was to use 2mm dia. lighthouse LEDs with the protruding end rounded off. but the rear end of the LED fouled the desk/floor module so another solution was needed. The solution also firmed up my mind to use the SMDs. I cut the top off of the lighthouse LEDs flush with the base and the resulting cylinder not only protruded the right distance at the front, but the rear was flush with the inside of the nose casting. I tried the SMD at the end of the red cylinder and there was light bleed showing through the casting, so I then drilled a 2mm dia. hole in an offcut of 20thou black plasticard which I had cut to shape to allow for the desk/floor casting and superglued the SMD over the hole on the rear face. When this was offered up to the hole there was no light bleed anywhere - big sigh of relief. At present, I am using a 1.5K resistor on each light, this is still not giving me the light level that I am after, so there is some more tinkering to do in that department.
one set of SMDs as they appear from the inside of the nose.
and turned over 'facing front' the red light has the yellow lead.
The next job is to prime the nose ends and when dry spray with yellow warning paint, that will allow me to paint the aluminium window surrounds prior to glazing and with the glass in, the light assemblies can be installed followed by the desk/floor unit (with driver at one end) and then the cabs can be fitted. The buffer beam is blue so this will be done with the rest of the body then the buffers which are black will be fitted along with the pipework around the coupling aperture.
I have now received the MX699ks from YouChoos so this will be installed during the work outlined above, especially if things start to go pear shaped along the way, it will provide a good diversion whilst I contemplate a solution.
I mentioned 'fingers crossed' earlier - in jest, however over the last six months or so I have been increasingly suffering from fingers locking - very similar to having cramp and it always happens when I have tools in my hands. Individual 'cramps' only last for a few seconds but the sensations move across my knuckles in a random order and as such, the overall pain lasts for minutes at a time and it always happens at a critical moment. It eventually goes and I am able to continue for a few more hours until the next episode.
More to come shortly.
regards
Mike