DC 4346 in Tasman Forestry Ltd colours, c. 1991. Picture from Rails. |
I recently purchased one of Peter Bryant's DC class shells. Since I've always wanted a DC and DF in Tasman colours combo, I thought I might as well start with DC 4356. The 3D model itself is pretty good, in this version Peter's removed the handrails and there's an option for the different style of rear lights (i.e. shroud or no shroud). The model has the tell-tale pocket on its cab sides for ye olde tablet exchanger which the DC class originally had - luckily DC 4346 retained this pocket, even though the tablet exchange equipment was removed. After the usual clean up with acetone (i.e. nail polish remover) and dishwashing detergent, it was off to the paint booth for a primer spray:
Before. |
After. |
I've got some decals from Trackgang Products. Russell has previously built models of DC 4346 and DF 6133:
Main colour is Humbrol # 10 Gloss (chocolate) brown. Gotta get me some of that. Next I need to acquire a chassis (I brought a SD7 online... but it turned out to be in HO scale!).
For lights I've decided to experiment with sort of fibre optics. I was looking for those fibre optic Christmas trees you can get if you can't be bothered putting up lights every year, but I found these instead:
Add caption |
The instructions were clear not to use them improperly. So I pulled it apart and took out the strands.
I wired up a 1.6mm red LED plus a 1k Ohm resistor on a 15v DC feed:
Red LED inside the shell. |
These are only single strands remember. The main thing for me is that I could use this technique in future to make ditch lights.
Next the chassis. I purchased an Atlas SD-7 from Ebay:
Not a huge amount of modification required, the fuel tank being the main problem. There's a thin copper plate that goes on the bogies to connect to the chassis which I'll remove and solder wires directly to the bogie contacts (to prevent and shorts thanks to DCC).
There seems to be a 5mm gap between the top of the chassis and the shell - will make use of this to stow the decoder and lights.
More soon...
Hi Lewis, was this produced in FUD? I've recenetly purchased one too but haven't begun cleaning it. You mentioned nail polish remover as a good way to remove the oils from production, I'll definitely look to use that. What brand of primer did you use? I've read a few comments around that various primers don't stick too well.
ReplyDeleteRegards
Hi Scott, sorry for the slow reply (1 month!) I've finally got some modeling time over the break.
DeleteYes it's in FUD. I recently found bulk Acetone (the main chemical in nail polish remover) for sale at The Warehouse and got a bottle, it was about $10 for memory. Get a toothbrush (disused!) and bathe the print in Acetone, then scrub off the residues with the tooth brush.
For primer I use Repco's Etch Primer, it doesn't have the solvents other primers have and won't ruin the print:
http://nzr120.blogspot.co.nz/2017/01/silver-fern-ii.html
Thanks for the reply Lewis, I'll definitely look into that. Better get my hands on some acetone first to get rid of the oily surface patches at the moment on the DC.
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