7mm On Heather's Workbench - Easy-Build does it!

[Heather Kay]

A few days ago i was drowning in seats. Today it’s windows. I painted most of these frames a few weeks ago, but on inspection they all needed a second coat for density. I’ll let these dry, then tidy up splodges, and return them to their bags until it’s time to fit them.

I’m currently pending the arrival of the extra transfers, otherwise the coaches would all be getting a nice coat of satin varnish.

 

[Heather Kay]

Transfers arrived, BSK guards now know which are their doors, and so all bodies are in the paint shop for top coat varnish.

Tons to do, still. I’m dreading the end handrail/pipe fitting.

 

[Heather Kay]

Satin varnish done. I’ll let these sit for a while to harden off. The BG had to have another coat. Underframe repainting next.

 

[Heather Kay]

Still inching forward.



The glaziers have moved in.

 

[Heather Kay]

All the glazing is done. I need to put together a snagging list to cover van security bars, corridor handrails, seats, passengers and fitting the roofs and end pipe works.

I like the EZ injection-moulded glazing overall. Getting panels off their runners cleanly without accidental crazing or chipping is hard. I had to spend a while removing and polishing the glazing I did yesterday to get rid of scratches and blemishes - some of which were my own fault. Anyway, onwards and upwards.

 

[Peter Cross]

Very nice. Would a piercing saw have been the answer?

 

[Heather Kay]

Very nice. Would a piercing saw have been the answer?

Potentially. I ended up using a razor saw, which minimised the fracturing. I think it depended to a degree on the moulding. Some panels seemed to be made up of tiny layers in the plastic, which were opened as the sprue was cut away. They stick out like lighthouses at the moment as there’s light from above. Once the roofs are on, the prismatic effects will be minimised.

 

[Steph Dale]

Heather,
If you've got any Clear handy, you can run that around the edges of the glazing before you fit it. It can often help to reduce the thick appearance and should fill in any cracking or unevenness in the surface.

Steph

 

[Heather Kay]

It’s time to start the final internal details. Nice etched security bars go in the BSK van sections. The door ones need to be shaped to clear the door glazing, which protrudes into the body.



Corridor handrails are NS wire. Some is provided in the boxes, but I tend to replace it with my own stock which hasn’t been bent. EZ provide neat etched brackets, which I fitted earlier in the build. Unfortunately, I’ve managed to set some of them at slightly different heights, and there’s nothing worse than wonky handrails.



Where the brackets are on the wonk, I’ve elected to ping them out and fit styrene blocks to hold the wire at about the right distance from the glazing. To help get the blocks in more or less the right place, I’ve concocted this little gauge from scrap styrene. It sits on the top of the body side, allowing me to mark the position inside.

Onwards!

 

[Heather Kay]

Getting there.



End handrails and roof grabs to sort out, but at least the roof actually fitted without too much swearing. Sadly, I’ve spotted a couple of dabs inside windows , so it’ll have to come off again.

 

[Heather Kay]

It’s time to consider populating the four passenger coaches.



I’m not sure about this lot. Whatever town they hail from seems to have some dubious genetics going on, and not only the multiple births! Still, I think a leavening dose of primer and some careful choices of colours might help.

 

[Yorkshire Dave]

B sets, trios and qaud arts.....

To create variations you could always swap some heads around and turn heads - not in The Exorcist style though!

Some wargamers are adept at changing heads and limbs to vary the figure poses.

 

[Heather Kay]

I’m not sure I’ll attempt head transplants. These are fairly ropey resin castings, and they break just looking at them. I’ve already got a bag of poor souls that have lost legs. I think they emanate from Scalelink.

 

[Heather Kay]

Hangings. I’ve been thinking about hangings, or curtains, or drapes, or whatever you want to call them.

I can’t actually find conclusive photographic proof that first class compartments had curtains, beyond the mock-up created for the 1951 Festival of Britain. First Opens had them, and there’s a nicely restored FO on the Bluebell Railway, which has given me a lead as to fabric colour.

I thought it would be fun to make some curtains. I considered various materials, and techniques, but ended up with a good old-fashioned inkjet printer and 80gsm copier paper.



I blew the cobwebs off my pooter, and dredged up how to use one of the several drawing programs from my fragile memory banks. My first idea was to create shapes that looked like drawn back curtains held by a strap. I tried to impart some three dimensionality by using some gradient fills. While it sort of looked okay, it was still a flat piece of paper. As I played with the cut out paper, I realised I was over thinking things. I went back to the digital drawing board.

This time, I placed a colour fill all over the sheet. On that I placed faint outlines of the curtains I needed. I also printed the base colour on the reverse of the sheet.



Cutting out the shape was easy. I rolled and scrunched it up to give it some texture. This also softened the paper slightly, so it was easier to form to shape.



From the spare colour area, I created a hold-back strap, which I glued in place.



Well, I don’t know what you think, but I reckon that looks like a reasonable curtain. I’ll make some more, I think.

 

[Heather Kay]

They’ll do.

 

[Peter Cross]

Nice to see them in various states of tidiness.

 

[Heather Kay]

Accompanied by Test Match Special, I made some more steady progress.



The seats were glued in and all the window stickers applied.



The motley passengers were given a coat of red oxide primer and then treated to some new clothes. They’re a bit less lairy now, and I’m pleased to say I completed the task just as Jimmy Anderson took the last wicket of India in the final test at the Oval, and secured his place in the record books.

If the paint is dry enough, I shall seat the passengers later. Then I can fit the roofs and sort out all the end pipe work.

 

[Heather Kay]

Things always look better with the roof on, and especially so when you put it on the right way round…

(Not this one. I got the SK reversed. Swapping round caused me to break a footstep and push in a window. I didn’t swear much.)

Now to check on the details for toilet fillers and gutters. Once they’re done, end handrails, and a touch of black paint along the gutters.

 

[Heather Kay]

Another view. In spite of areas I should have done better, I'm pleased at how these are turning out.

 

[Heather Kay]

Yeesh! Probably my least favourite job begins - the end handrails/filler pipes. For most Mk1 kits these are always a bit of a compromise, made worse by the requirement to allow the roof to be removed. Still, the BG is done, being the easiest one to do.

The fun really begins with the filler pipes up onto the roofs proper. Decisions about how and where to split wires to facilitate the lid coming off, plus all that complicated 3D bending. I may be some time.