Search results

Just about 4 hours ago I went to a heck of a lot of trouble to make the front windows of my new Athearn F unit look at least like an F unit. I used modelling putty (two part epoxy putty "green stuff") and I'm pleased with the result, as it cost me nothing and it's a vast improvement on the...

If there's one thing I've learned, it's not to set yourself over ambitious projects. Picking the biggest, most complex building in town to base your model on is not smart unless you're prepared to spend weeks and weeks building and detailing the thing. If you rush through it, it'll look awful...

Stay away from Stewart Hobbies unless you're absolutely desperate to own one of the locos they sell (for instance if they're the only people who make that model in your price range). They're a nightmare to work with, totally user unfriendly (just try fitting the glazing in a C630 hi hood and...

I don't mean to criticise the job you're doing as a moderator but... You're recommending this thread be locked because it's not friendly, constructive, or supportive, and it's degenerating into an argument. You seem to be attributing this to me, yet when I look over my posts, I don't see...

It's just one after the other - according to you I'm a graduate of the school of telepathy, I'm former president Bill Clinton, I'm about to get sued for damages caused by making a long post, and that I shouldn't challenge your godlyness until I've performed the initiation rites. :rolleyes...

You only assume you'd make 3 million from a 500 million dollar sale, but I never specified a profit margin. I merely said you had one group of people willing to pay 50 million from 50 million places, with 50 million individual package destinations, and 2 customers who were prepared to fork out...

To be honest I find your opinion slightly questionable, even though you are in manufacturing. While nothing you've said is really wrong, you've omitted a lot. What about the aftermarket detail companies? Are they "wrong" about the market? If so, how are they still here? Really it's not down to...

I've spent quite a lot of time working with buildings and trying to get them to scale, and you're quite right in that it's not actually very easy to work out how big or small a place needs to be. Where you're going wrong is comparing it to a locomotive. Remember that locomotives are HUGE...

Okay that's all for tonight, so far we've covered building a complete bodyshell. Tomorrow we'll cover scratchbuilding the toolboxes or whatever they are onto the shell, and working on scratchbuilding the chassis. I'll talk about different ways to approach motorisation, and if there's time...

Next step, pick up the chassis and remove the truck sideframes, which will need to be used in the construction of the new chassis. The sideframes will need to be modified slightly to match the prototype, and as it is slightly difficult to describe what exactly to remove, refer to the photos.

Next step, remove all the details from the front. You'll need to do this for ease of handling and prototype reasons. With the details removed, you can now cut up the pilot. Remove the foot plate thingies, to match the profile pictured. I accidentally de-attached the nose which hadn't finished...

Now that the stacks have been modified on both sides, the noses can be reunited with the cab. This stage requires glue, and there is no way to avoid using glue here unfortunately, but it's not that bad. Simply glue the nose to the cab, adding a spot of glue under the stack, lining the top of...

Next thing to do, is to modify the exhaust stack covering so that it's shorter. The best way to do this is to first make a cut into the stack from the front at the same level as the top of the smaller inner two windows. Then you cut very carefully (minding not to marr the windowframes and...

Now comes a bit of a scary bit... well, it seems scary just before you do it, but once you've done it you realise it's not that bad. You need to seperate the noses from the base of the cab, by cutting through the floor just behind the nose. I found the best way to do this was to line up the saw...

Next, the fuel tank side panels must be removed. This is easy, you just need to be careful to control the knife when whittling them down.

On the cab there are small steps which need to be removed to allow the cab to be lowered into the frame (the cab itself is not cut down, but we'll get to that later). Simply saw off the majority of the steps, then wittle the rest down with a craft knife until it's smooth. Don't attempt to...

Next is removing the cab. The cab is handily a seperate part, so it can be removed without sawing. The cab is attached to the rest of the shell by four lugs, and removing it is easier said than done. First, you remove all the detail parts that might be damaged by handling the shell. You need...

The first thing to do is to of course remove the shell, this can be done by unscrewing a pair of screws under the cab.

Well, the loco has arrived and I've started work today, here's a photo of some of the things you'll possibly need. A donor chassis/motor and wheels with gears, the spectrum GE 44 ton, and the plans for the components of the 44 ton. Fresh out of the box, as is the donor chassis. I prefer using...

But that's not what I want. Admittedly that is nice in terms of drive an accurate shell, but I enjoy assembling, sprucing up, modifying, and working on the model, ending up with something that beats the RTR stuff hands down, cost me a fraction of the money, and as a result I'm not afraid to...