Darius’ Workbench

[Mayner]

On 11/12/2024 at 4:28 PM, Darius43 said:

 

I found this somewhat distressed MTK Class 50 body on eBay and thought it deserved a second chance.  An offer was put in and accepted and here it is.

It is definitely in need of some tlc.  Its builder had soldered it together - unfortunately with a banana-shaped footprint.  Some serious surgery was needed to straighten it out.

This was done by making two cuts across the roof and the inside curve sidewall using a razor saw.  Once cut the body was carefully straightened out and the sides reprofiled using judicious finger and thumb pressing.  The soft white metal construction makes this quite easy.

The inside surfaces will be cleaned up using a Dremel and plasticard backing pieces glued behind the cuts to strengthen them before filling and sanding.

The plan is to mount the completed body on a re-wheeled Lima chassis.

Cheers

Darius

General layout, quality and fit of the castings is remarkably similar to the whitemetal CIE 001 kit supplied by Model Irish Railways (Portadown) during the 1990s. The 001 in supertrain livery as 018 powered with Athearn SD drive parts mounted on a  simple scracthbuilt brass frame/chassis was one of my pride and joys at the time. At the time some modellers were re-powering British outline 6 axle diesels (possibly Class 31 & 47 )with Atheran PA1 chassis. 

[Darius43]

Dunglazin.

Cheers

Darius

[Darius43]

Decals applied.

Still to make the bogie-mounted steps and add etched windscreen wipers.

Cheers

Darius

[GSR 800]

What a mighty beast!

The detail is fabulous, excellent work.

[Darius43]

Bogie steps made from plasticard.

Cheers

Darius

[Darius43]

Additional buffer beam hosiery fitted and light weathering applied to chassis to (almost) finish.

Just waiting for the etched fan grille to arrive.

Cheers

Darius

[Darius43]

A1 Models etched grille arrived today - primed, painted and fitted.

Cheers

Darius

[Patrick Davey]

What a brute!!!   Magnificent work once again Darius. 

[Darius43]

Thanks Patrick.  I’m enjoying restoring/building these MTK kits.  There’s a certain presence that the less than perfectly flat body sides gives to these models that you don’t get with RTR models.

Cheers

Darius

[Horsetan]

2 hours ago, Darius43 said:

Thanks Patrick.  I’m enjoying restoring/building these MTK kits.  There’s a certain presence that the less than perfectly flat body sides gives to these models that you don’t get with RTR models....

I think you'd enjoy having a stab at a Jidenco Class 50 kit....

[Darius43]

4 hours ago, Horsetan said:

I think you'd enjoy having a stab at a Jidenco Class 50 kit....

[Darius43]

Calling this finished - perhaps on every level…

Cheers

Darius

[Galteemore]

Excellent - and the undulating bodywork gives it a real ‘patina’ of use. Think you have a similar mantra to the US armed forces. To paraphrase…no kit left behind.

Edited December 18, 2024 by Galteemore

[skinner75]

Reminds me a bit of the Airfix Saab Vigen kit I had as a kid, and used the grill of the cooker as a 'hanger'...

[Darius43]

The rather nicely painted MTK bodyshell was obtained recently from eBay.

There is a bit of cosmetic damage to one buffer at one end and a few scratches.

The other end, however…

The plan is to deconstruct, repair and reassemble the body to fit this Hornby chassis.

First I’m going to try the hot water treatment that Phil recommended to see if it will melt the soldered joints…

I plan to finish the locomotive as 47213 “Marchwood Military Port” as I worked as a civil/structural engineer on several port redevelopment projects in the early 1990s.

The hot water immersion treatment worked after a fashion and the roof and bodysides were able to be separated.

The lower inside faces of the bodysides were smoothed using a Dremel to enable them to fit snugly over the Hornby chassis.

The undercut was made to the cab fronts and the cab sides.  The cab windows were too fragile to survive the body separation process so will be recreated in plasticard.

The body was then reassembled prior to filling and sanding and replacement of the cab front window framing.

I also drilled out the fan vent apertures - to be covered by A1 Models etched grilles in due course.

Cheers

Darius

Edited December 23, 2024 by Darius43

[Darius43]

Plasticard cab front windows fitted.

Primer on and test fit of body to chassis.

 

Cab ends tidied up and headcode blanking plate/lights fitted.

Cheers

Darius

[Darius43]

Dunpaintin.

Cheers

Darius

[Darius43]

Window frames picked out using a silver marker pen.

Cheers

Darius

[Patrick Davey]

Lovely work as always! Nice livery choice too

[Darius43]

Cab front handrails and other accoutrements added.

Cheers

Darius

[Horsetan]

On 23/12/2024 at 5:46 PM, Darius43 said:

 

 

See that? Now that's a face only a mother could love!

[Darius43]

Dunglazin.

Now awaiting custom decals from Railtec.

Cheers

Darius

[Darius43]

Further details fitted.

Cheers

Darius

[Darius43]

Railtec decals arrived today.

Nameplate and crest are by Fox Transfers.  Am awaiting Fox Tynsley plates to complete.

Cheers

Darius

[Darius43]

Acquired partly started from eBay.  The kit contained an assembled body and chassis parts including generic MTK trusses.

The previous builder had applied plastic tape roof ribbing, which was starting to delaminate. The tape ribs were unpeeled and the left behind adhesive residue removed.

New ribs were scribed in as were the doors.

Door hinges and ironmongery were fitted using MJT etched parts.

I made a new chassis using 1mm thick plasticard and Plastruct angle sections.  I used the MTK white metal bogie sides as cosmetic sides mounted on plasticard bogies with brass bearings fitted.

I modified the MTK trusses and glued them to the underside of the plasticard chassis along with the MTK white metal undergibbon parts.

Cheers

Darius

[Darius43]

Primary painting completed.

Cheers

Darius

[Darius43]

Decals and light weathering to finish.

Cheers

Darius

[Darius43]

The original MTK buffer beam was a tad high…

So I rebuilt it at a more appropriate height…

Cheers

Darius

[Robert Shrives]

Darius,

Looking at change of traction on before to after makes it look like the buffers were lowered while the van worked an overnight Glasgow - Dover parcels! Clever work regardless and makes it useable.

Robert     

[Darius43]

Thanks Robert.  

There seems to be a bit of a hoo-ha over on RMWeb about whether the number of this GUV is correct.  The first number I applied definitely wasn’t and so I was advised of the correct number series, advice which subsequently turns out to be not so correct…

…or is it.

We may never care…

The next project beckons.

Cheers

Darius

Edited 21 hours ago by Darius43