Flying Scotsman 4472

MIR Mk3 restaurant

Well we all had such a great day out behind her on the IRRS rail tour someone had to do it

Decoder and Lights wiring on 083

FINALLY FINISHED

The front of the cab had to be extended down as it was to short

There is no front supplied with the kit so had to make my own

Thank God for the Studio Scale Models etched brass detail kit. Need something to give this model some street cred

We all thought that they would get the front windows right but guess what they didn't and I had to make them bigger

Well after buying a Shapeways 201 several months ago I decided time had come to start the project. Now I knew there was going to be a lot of work in this kit but BOY was I in for a big surprise. Now I know I had a rant at Rich and some of the guys on here for having a go at the DC kits generator van recently but now I put my hands up and say I was wrong to do that. As Rich said its as easy to get it right as to get it wrong. But the Shapeways 201 is nothing only mistake after mistake and for the money well its just not worth it the price on this kit is far to much for what you get, and the amount of work you have to do to get a good looking loco (don't get me started on trying to get a smooth finish). Now guy's don't get me wrong this is not a personal attack at the designer or manufacturer but I paid my money for a kit that I thought was basically paint it and fit it to a class 66 chassis. But this couldn't be further from the truth. When you think of it all they had to do was take the body from a Lima 201 and make one or to changes to it to make it fit a class 66 and then make a cad drawing of it. So to show you how I got on and 6 bottles of valium later and a lot of grey hair here are the pics.

The side grills were to short I had to add etched brass grills that were the right size.

The body height is to short so fine strips of plastic card had to be added

There are no sway lines down the side of the loco so had to add my own

There is no roof grill just a flat piece of plastic where it should be so had to add an etched brass one

The exhaust is the wrong size and has no detail so I took the exhaust of the Bachmann class 66 and extended it

My rake of Gatwicks

NIR 8911 Gen Van with tail lights (THE WINDOWS STILL HAVE TO BE FITTED)

For my new Hunslet I've started a rake of lima MK2's

Here are the first 2

#4 fitted with a flicker firebox light

Repainted PW coach and scratch built plough van

The foremans at it again

The foreman had to get in on the act

Something a little different for you guys here is a step by step guide.

The donor vehicle I'm using is an Oxford diecast Scania 144 with a 45' curtain side trailer

Start off by removing the printed writing. A cotton bud and some nail polish remover will do this

You should be left with a nice clean unit when your finished

Next strip down the cab by taking the screws from underneath

Mask off the grill on the Scania as the truck comes from the factory with a grey grill and most hauliers keep the grey grill as a status symbol

Give the cab a rub down with your glass fibre pen

When you have all that done time for some under coat

Strip the trailer down

I'm going to be making a 45' flat so file down the chassis to give you a smooth surface

45' flats are a few inches wider than their curtain side equivalent so turn the body upside down and draw around it to give you your flat trailer body

Finish of your body with plasticard sides etc

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I finished of the truck with my air brush and some nice yellow paint and some IE decals I had lying around

Your trucks not making you any money if she is empty so her first load is a load of white metal bogies on their way to the airbrush plant

I know those coaches Dave. Why is it every time I paint something for you its ends up in your collection instead of you selling it.

They do look sweet:o

A great little addition does it come with rails or do you need to fit your own

I hope your not starting to slack of there Stephen hurry up and get it finished:D

What about some freight

Took a while to figure it out but got it sorted

I would like to see all 3 NIR 111's but at least one in the original livery with the orange warning panel.

Judging by the 141/181's the Super Train livery seemed to be the hardest to sell. If Paddy has his head screwed on right he will bring that livery out first so that it will sell.

KNOCK, KNOCK