Philip's Workbench

[murphaph]

A first for me but seemingly a well worn path...preparing Lima mk2b coaches for respraying.

I'm removing the raised and obviously not prototypical paint moulding from these and filing out the windows to receive south eastern finecast flush glazing. 

They were stripped in brake fluid which seems to do no harm to the plastic on this type of model.

I am trying rattle cans first and depending on the results I may or may not try an example with my as yet unused air brush!

 

[DJ Dangerous]

Fabulous work!

I wonder if there are still any South Eastern Finecast flush-glazing kits in existence, or has somebody bought them all up?

[murphaph]

Lol you know me too well. I do see them again from time to time but I did buy quite a few I must admit!

[murphaph]

After a coat of white and reverse masking the tippex stripes the bodies have received a coat of black along the the windows and coach ends.

 

[murphaph]

Work continues. I'm very pleased with the results for a first attempt.

[Galteemore]

And so you should be. That’s great 

[Rob]

Looks great- very professional

[flange lubricator]

They look great 

[murphaph]

Thx a lot chaps. The second one came out just as well. I can see that my 1mm masking tape was about half a mil short at the ends. I didn't notice it when masking up. 

The next challenge (after they are fully cured) will be applying decals which I've never done before.

 

[flange lubricator]

Super work Phillip, if your doing 4401/4402 the two details which can be added are the roof vents which were straight in line as they were ec FK corridor coaches another detail which shouts Mk2b were the black  bump stops on the doors Lima omitted these but they do make the coach standout .

 

 

[popeye]

Very neat work, well done.

What orange paint did you use?

[murphaph]

FL: I would like to get the roof vents right. Have you any suggestion for a source of scale vents though, or something else I might be able to make work? These two will be "simple resprays" to test the waters so I may just spray the roofs on these and then "up my game" on later ones. I can always throw them back in the brake fluid some day and redo them to a higher standard.

popeye, I used a RAL 2011 rattle can from Belton. I did replace the nozzles on all the rattle cans with low pressure types to reduce the amount of paint coming out. I don't know if this helped but it seemed prudent as these caps cost very little.

Does anyone have a RAL or other code for the red of the gangway doors?

 

[flange lubricator]

Roof vents try Southern Pride models they also do mk2 roof hatches 

[DJ Dangerous]

Outstanding work! Had to look at these photos on the PC as they are so good.

So, the big question...

Will you be selling them in twin packs or in rakes of eight when production is up and running?

[murphaph]

Thanks again guys. Very encouraging words also. I'm on the right track and it reassures me that spending more time on the prep won't be wasted by a catastrophic paint job. I was expecting all manner of bleed but only had it in one or two spots at the coach ends where a touch up will be under the weathering later anyway.

I watched quite a few YouTube videos about all this before having a go. The Everard Junction respray videos are a good resource for example. Galgorm Hall also had some useful info.

 

[murphaph]

Vents ordered from dart castings and some other bits from Peter's Spares.

In the meantime I've applied the transfers.

I've also started to investigate if I can make a passable 2c with the AC windows by grafting them from a Lima mk2d bodyshell.

 

[popeye]

They look great and as good as something you would buy.

I'm doing some myself, just got the transfers yesterday.

How did you do the white stripes?

[Rob]

Really professional-  hard to believe it is a first effort, it is so good!

Well done

[murphaph]

Thanks chaps.

The white stripes are reverse masked with 1mm Tamiya masking tape. You can just spray the whole thing with white primer and mask this I suppose. I had no white primer to hand so primed in grey then sprayed white and reverse masked over this.

1mm in 4mm scale is exactly 3" which is what those stripes were in reality I believe.

 

[Noel]

Hats off. First class job done with patience, care and precision. Result.

Very crisp, sharper than a nuns starched habit. Excellent.

[David Holman]

Got to be pleased with that!

[murphaph]

Thx again gents. I should point out that I took extra time to fully burnish the edges of all the tapes with a cocktail stick, getting into any grooves and whatnot especially around the doors.

In a later iteration I intend filing off the handrails and door handles and fitting with brass replacements. I figure adding a bit of 3d detail this way will enhance a cheap model for very little money.

[Galteemore]

Excellent. Nothing quite like doing your own stuff to a model and seeing it turn out well. 

[Georgeconna]

Very nicely done Bud.

[Robert Shrives]

I think you should be very pleased with these.  I tried south eastern flush glaze on one but gave up as they had got old and brittle plus would not sit in the holes well - it looked a mess as you do not get a flat window- all the reflections were wrong.  I asked  along time ago about getting a Shawplan lazer glaze replacement - work in progress but nothing yet, so I have several coaches at the same stage as yours.  

I rewheeled the bogies with Peters spares, cut off the TLC and fitted kaydees .

I do like the Mk2c conversion idea  makes for a neat job but IIRC the sides beteen airfix 2D and lima differ - I tried this mod on an early 80 class effort!.  

Looking forward to seeing final works

Robert 

[murphaph]

Thanks again. George I followed your advice by the way and masked off to spray the gangway doors white then neon red. I don't know how close the shade is to the real ones but sure there was do much variation on Irish Rail almost any shade could have been used. I'm probably going to fit a close coupling mechanism and floating gangway ends to this rake so in the end probably only two doors will ever be visible.

Robert I have new flushglaze to fit. The window openings have all been filed out and test fitted before painting. Hopefully the paint isn't too thick lol.

I believe Shawplan did start production of the mk2c extreme etches but no lazerglaze. I am trying to balance the economic aspects as well.... lazerglaze or even the extreme etches are going to be worth more than the coach itself, so I said I'd use the flushglaze, accepting the extra filing effort into the bargain.

I think I will directly convert these to 21mm. There's no point in me putting the original bogies back on as is as long term I want to regauge everything.

The mk2d coach is very close in profile to the mk2b. Are you sure it's an Airfix moulding? It looks pure Lima to me.

I can't justify cutting up perfectly good (and more expensive) Lima mk2d coaches just to get the two toilet windows out so I'm experimenting with a cut n shut toilet window made with two ends of the passenger compartment windows:

 

[Georgeconna]

I should follow my own advise sometimes!! there are seriously fab looking.

 I used Shawplan on some Mk.111 to replace Lima Glazing, Even with a few coats of paint the glazing would not go in the fit was so tight!

Edited June 8, 2021 by Georgeconna

[murphaph]

Flushglaze installed. You can't expect miracles from something that costs £2.50 but IMO it's a huge improvement over the original Lima glazing. It's definitely not plug n play. A lot of filing is required and these examples were a good learning experience. There's definitely things I can do better next time.

 

[flange lubricator]

They still look suberb and great to see the old Lima Mk2b re purposed although an old model which has its faults , you have shown what can be done with a little thought and a really good paint job.

[RedRich]

Cutting the SF flush glazing into four individual panes makes it easier to fit 

Rich,

[murphaph]

I did cut them in two, main pane and the top vents but I might just try cutting them up more on the next try Rich, cheers.

Having said that I like the more lightweight effect of thinning out the glazing bars as much as possible:

 

[Robert Shrives]

I like the thinning of the bars - but life two short with perhaps a dozen in the fleet.  Yesterday I passed a coach to my friend who runs pixel shack - he does lots of railway themed mugs and stuff but now has a lazer cutter in his workshop  I asked after getting the large window  cut and would use liquid glaze for the three smaller.   

[murphaph]

Indeed it takes a good evening to file out one coach so not a 5 minute job by any means.

I'm trying to source a small flat file with no profile on either of the thin sides. The Americans call these pillar files. I'm not sure what the proper description is of them on this side of the pond. 

At present my small flat file passes nicely into the left and right top openings but it has profile all around so I have to be very careful not to accidentally file into the vertical bars.

If I had "safety files" I'd be a lot quicker.

The above photo also shows my first attempt at removing the upper paint moulding which is not at all prototypical. The trick I've found to cleanly remove most of these paint mouldings is to get the tip of the scalpel at the right angle and then pull the coach to me rather than pushing the scalpel away. I can keep my scalpel hand much steadier this way and there's little to no sanding required.

What are you cutting out to make the large pane of glass Robert? 

[flange lubricator]

That sounds like a serious amount of work would you try extreme etchings window frames from shawplan  and cut out the old frame the level of detail in the extreme etchings frame is brilliant. 

[murphaph]

I would definitely try them if but I've read on RMweb that they are difficult to get from Shawplan. I asked previously in the questions section about them in fact but I think the question got lost in there. I was curious how one glazes them as there is no lazerglaze to suit the etches. Do you cut out acetate sheet and then glue it to the inside of the frame and then glue the lot to the coach side or how do they work in practice? The detail on them is cracking. Correct me if I'm wrong but they only go up to the 2b model. The mk2c coaches had those square AC toilet windows from the 2d's. The etch doesn't include those toilet windows, right?