Jons workbench

[43179]

Good evening - long time lurker , but I've decided to actually start posting now that I have some modelling to show.
Ive wanted model of 37521 for a long time , and when Bachmann finally came out with something a bit more '37' shaped than their first attempt, I set about making one.
It pre dates Bachmanns own ex split-box tooling - I had to convert the noses and change the nose side grilles myself (521 has no dividing bars on the nose grilles) , plus add all the usual etches from Mr Hanson . As a result of so much re-working to the base model , the finished article is a bit rough , and I've never really been happy with it (except the shade of rail grey , that I mixed myself as neither Precision or Railmatch look right to me)


So , Ive decided to do 521 again , this time in 7mm:



I've 'Refurbished' the bodysides - removing the doors and filling in the bodyside steps with car body filler - it works very well with these kits


the gauge on the water tank has to be plated over - so the original detail is removed (I have a nice little etch from Tom for the blanking plate to fit on this). The circle on the bottom of this tank is on the real thing - don't remove it!


Theres a couple of 'cut outs' that need to be added to the lower edge of the body sides for my particular loco - one small square one to the left of the filled in step:


and one wide one , immediately below the grille


My kit was supplied with the early style rivetted roof - but 37521 has a plain roof - I've scraped everything off with a sharp 1/4" chisel , including the raised boiler port - this'll be plated over using an etch , again from Tom, who's building the Loadhaul 37/5.
To make smoothing the roof off easier, I removed the four lifting points , and have drilled holes to replace them later.


Next up , I have more work to do on the fuel tanks , as the balance pipes are not represented in the kit, or the sand pipes - need to go hunting for more pictures - there's plenty of photos of 37521 currently, but it seems its had quite a few mods once repainted into EWS livery, maybe related to being sandite fitted?

tfn

Jon

 

[Cliff Williams]

We are making Tom work hard right now
Doing the same thing for a 37/4 right now, look forward to seeing what you get up to as well.
Looking good!

 

[Jordan]

Hi & welcome to WT as a Non-Lurker!!

Your 4mm 37 looks a tidy job - bodes well for your 7mm version. Is there a 'back story' as to why it's 37 521 in particular?

 

[BrushType4]

Just the sort of thing to get my modelling mojo back. I'll be following closely.

And welcome to WT

 

[40126]

Just the sort of thing to get my modelling mojo back. I'll be following closely.

Where you been Phil ?.

Steve

 

[tomstaf]

Jon, Looking good. It that roof glued on or just resting in place?

Cheers

Tom

 

[43179]

Good evening all - thanks for reading - Tom - the roof is just resting on at the moment - as there's been quite a few little jobs to do on it .
The reason for choosing 37521 is my family is from the Westcountry (though I was born in Hampshire) so we visited a lot , particularly in the early/mid 1990s . Liskeard was my favourite place to watch trains and '521 always seemed to be there when I visited, shunting CDAs - Liskeard was great, as you could stand right next to the track in the yard/car park , no walls or fences in the way. Being down at track level with a big grey rumbling 37 towering above you was special. Experiencing the sheer size of a loco in that way made a big impression on me as a kid. There's a great clip of the exact location here, just as I remember it:

unfortunately its not 'my' loco, but '669 is still a good'un, and all the other ingredients in that video clip are spot on! That young lad in the shorts could virtually be me!
So , some more bits done today.
As mentioned above - I've not fixed the roof on yet , as I've been added the cantrail drain holes, using a jig that's provided in Toms detail etch


I've had to scribe in the joins between the roof hatches , as they're missing on my roof - I've also drilled to add the little grab handles for each hatch.


Boiler blanking plate - I used the thinnest plasticard I had , as the plate on the real loco is very 'thin'. There's one of these on Toms detail etch - I only remembered when it was too late!

Looking through some of the castings supplied - the Multiple working sockets are missing their chunky mounting plates - the real things stick out beyond the nose of the loco - so I've made a little base out of plastic to bring them forward approximately 1.5mm - seeing as these things are going to be painted bright orange they need to look right!

I've carefully drilled out the parking brake arms in order to fit them with chain , once I find some suitable - everything I have is too small - used for 4mm brake chain.

The buffer castings on 7mm stuff looks so much more chunky and purposeful than in 4mm.
I popped these bits in the ultrasonic cleaner - that got rid of all the paster residue that was left inside the buffer housings. I used some fine strips of crocus tape to remove the casting lines on the sides of the buffer housing as these are quite visible.


The cab seat castings have some big chunks of flash on them, unlike most of the other whitemetal parts in the kit.

I thought they would be a pig to get them cleaned up and looking decent , but some careful work mainly with a piercing saw has got them looking quite good , I even added the little lever underneath as I was quite pleased how they've cleaned up. Will put a little spot of epoxy on the end of the lever to represent the 'knob'. Ill add arm rests soon as well.

I've done two like this for the drivers sides, but if I remember correctly the secondmans seats were sometimes a more basic different design, without the adjuster, or perhaps that's just down to random swap-outs of the seats.

That's all for now! off to wrap presents..

Jon

 

[43179]

Good evening - I had a few moments over the last couple of days to do a bit of work on the cab mouldings - Toms etch includes some replacement headlights, as the kit has the headlights following the profile of the nose - rather than pointing straight ahead, and the recesses for the lights aren't properly defined.


Fairly easy to fix though - I opened out the holes to get rid of the moulded headlight frame and recess:

Luckily , in my scrap box was some evergreen 3/16" tube - its a perfect fit into the holes

I've fixed the tube in place inside the casting with a drop of thin CA - just ensuring the tube sits at the correct angle so the lights will be pointing forward. Job done . On the right is the cab as supplied , and left is the lights as they should be

Ill add the etched headlight frames and lenses after painting.

 

[tomstaf]

Makes a subtle but very important difference Jon

Cheers

Tom

 

[43179]

Hi Tom - yes - beforehand I couldn't stand the sight of the cabs 'cos of those lights -

and hows about this then:



Its really great being able to work on the cabs as separate items .

 

[43179]

Good afternoon - well plans to go out today have been upset as all the trains are disrupted round here - so more time to work on the 37. I was aware ages ago - I think from following Martin/Puglseys 37 build that the cantrail grilles weren't quite right on these kits. To be honest I don't think they look too bad on most of the 37s ive seen built up. As my loco is going to be in sector colors however , the offending grilles are of course going to stand out a mile as they're picked out in dark grey.
Here's the grilles as they come -

they appear to come too far down the bodysides and sit too close to the cluster of three grilles below them - again this is really highlighted on models painted in sector colors.
The number of horizontal bars is correct - however the lower bars shouldn't have a gap below them - they should be just sitting above the bodywork.... well that's my take on the problem, I dunno if i'm right , but here's the real thing:


So , before attaching the roof to the bodysides , I glued in some strips of plasticard into the little space below
the lower bars. The trips need to stick out so they are level with the bodywork and not the bars of the cantrail.
The only plastic strip had was a bit too thick so , - once all were glued in I thinned them down with a file so the roof moulding would sit down on the side mouldings correctly. The Roof and sides are now finally glued together and finished with a little bit of Plastic Padding.

tfn

Jon

 

[Jordan]

Makes a subtle but very important difference Jon

Cheers

Tom

Doesn't it just??

 

[43179]

Drivers seats -
Theres needed modernising a little - so ive added armrests . These were filed to shape from some plastic rod . Ive given them a coat of paint , and before the paint fully dried , worked some weathering powders into them


Jon

 

[43179]

Bulkheads have been painted up - I may make some track circuit clips which would be visible on the bulkhead.

Ive also painted up the control desk/bulkhead - I've tried to make each end slightly different

Ive added toms etched foot plates and (just visible) the hotplate on the secondmans side.

Still a few more bits to add , but I'm happy this bit is nearly done , as I hate using a paintbrush!

Jon

 

[Pugsley]

Bulkheads have been painted up

Looking good so far! I'm not sure how I discovered the cantrail grille discrepancy, someone might have told me, or I noticed it as the build was going on, I can't remember.

I may make some track circuit clips which would be visible on the bulkhead.

I drew the line at that I did think about it for a little while though.

 

[richard carr]

Looks really good, a very clean cab ! All the photos I have seen of the floor of 37s are not black, this from a preserved one at the Epping Ongar railway. Take a look at BRian daniels site

http://www.flickr.com/photos/brianews/sets/72157626899648349/page2/

There are quite a few interior shots here. What we really need are some transfers for No Smoking Danger Max Speed etc

 

[43179]

afternoon - Thanks for the link , there's some dead useful shots there, I wish id seen those when I started - I've done most of the cab details just from memory though it may be wrong for a 37/5 , im more familair with 37/0s

I like that cab floor shot - the different colored panel by the door is a nice detail to copy , I think I'll have a look at doing that. Someones been busy with the expanding foam too - no draughts there then! , oh the luxury!

 

[43179]

Happy new year all-
Another 37 has landed on my workbench though a bit smaller - after working on the O gauge one , picking up a Bachmann 4mm scale 37 everything seems very small and fiddly. I do love getting brand new LTD edition model and instantly taking it to bits and hacking it up.
This one is a Rail exclusive Ltd edition , its been lowered , bogies have been narrowed and the missing speedo/revtel detail had been added , along with towing eyes , and new finer aerials on the noses. Its actually been ages since I last worked on a Bachmann 37 - I forgot how much of a pain they can be (This one banana shaped bogies, poorly fitting body and chassis etc).


Also got one of these:

I like it a lot, and will soon be reducing it to a pile of bits.

Jon

 

[alcazar]

What??? 4mm cutting torch? nooooooooooooooooooo!

What colour is it, btw, my computer renders it as a sort of chestnut?

 

[Steph Dale]

Jeff,
Black window frames so I think it's probably D1000; D1015 had either white or body coloured frames.
Steph