The BCK with working lights, at last!
Another week flies by and this week has been a good one in modelling terms. I managed a couple of evenings of modelling and made good progress on several projects. One thing that has been finished recently is the the lighting on the mk1 BCK, which I fitted with an Express Models lighting kit. When I posted about this last time, there was a significant light bleed between the roof and the coach sides.
BCK on the evening service into Amberleigh
I started off with a solution of taping black insulation tape across the gap in the roof. I waited a few days and really should have known better, but yes it unravelled. After a few more days general pondering on how to fix this I came up with the following solution. Cut a thin strip of plasticard to the length of the coach sides. Then sparingly glue the coach sides back to the roof. Then place the strip of plasticard between the roof and the side and sparing glue down. The trick was then to cover the top of the plasticard and the gap between the roof and the side with glue and glaze. Once this had dried I simply painted it black and hey presto, no light bleeding!!
And this is how I solved it. Glued plasticard into the join between the coach sides and roof, and filled wth glue and glaze before painting black
Is that guy really wearing sunglasses? It's dark outside
As with all projects, you live and learn. I could now add this sort of lighting unit in much quicker time - and I am about to start on a mk1 SK soon. However, there is still one thing which I am not satisfied with, but I am going to live with. When you look through the coach on a close up, you can see the glue marks, which Bachmann used when fitting the glazing. Not Bachmanns fault for sure. But had I realised I would have painted over these. Also I realised the passenger I glued in the seat had sunglasses on, not probably the most realistic thing for a coach that will mainly run at night!!!! Overall though I would highly, highly recommend the Express Models lighting kit and advise anyone to add these to at least some of their coaches. You will not be disappointed with the result.
New 12T engineering wagon to run with an olive green CCT and PMV in departmental use
I also purchased a couple of new wagons this week. Work is slow at the moment and I really want some sound units for some of my DMUs, class 47s and 33s, so I am trying to save not spend money. However, the Hornby OTA is now available and the Model Rail limited edition 12T engineering wagon has been on my list for ages. I am currently building a PMV and CCT, both of which will run in an engineers train on Amberleigh, with the 12T vanfit. This is probably a fictitious train formation, but I think it will look pretty good. The CCT is almost painted and the PMV is almost built, so hopefully this project will not be long until fruition.
The new Hornby OTA wagon
My other significant purchase was the Hornby OTA wagon. I have been keen to get my hands on the Hornby and Bachmann wagons since they were announced, not least since I have been building this wagon from the Cambrian kits every so often for a few years (I have only made 3 though!!). Lapford handled a lot of timber traffic in the 1980s and I have been building these wagons for a train on my layout. Looking at the Hornby version, it just does not look quite right to me, although I am not sure I can really put my finger on why.
A kit built Cambrian OTA A
Part of it is undoubtedly the very light blue livery it is painted in (presumably it is OTA-C), with the underframe all blue as well. It looks very plasticky compared to the Cambrian offering. I am going to take it apart and detail it alongside the second POA wagon and see if it will come up trumps. But I do wonder if it is like the Flangeways mermaid: - a wagon that you wait for ages on, and then are just a little disappointed when it arrives. These are only my views and I wait to be proved wrong. With a bit of detailing it might just turn out well, but I am waiting to be convinced....I might just stick with building the Cambrian kits instead.
A very poor photograph of three Camrbian OTA kits
Other than that all is going well on other projects. The class 121 project is almost ready to properly start, although I am considering a new chassis. The PMV and whale are within touching distance of being built. The large logo 47 is ready for detailing. The CCT is almost ready for transfers and the POA and OTA are hovering above the workdesk, just waiting to be started.......
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