Some may have noticed that there's been little activity on this blog for a couple of months. The summer tends to be the busiest period of the year where I work so I've been doing rather a lot of overtime. Now this is good for the bank balance but leaves me little time for modelling (or much else) and if I do get some spare time I'm either working on the house or I'm too tired to concentrate. I haven't lost my motivation however, which is where this particular build comes in. I wanted something simple on my workbench, requiring few tools, yet something that would still be interesting.
This kit, designed and cast by Neil Rushby as part of his 'Rushby's Resins' range, should fit the description. Its inspired by (but is not a slavish copy of) this battery electric loco used on a dam maintenance line in the Italian Alps, but modified to fit on a Kato 11-104 chassis. There are only three parts, a one-piece body and a pair of buffer/couplers, all cast in resin. So its a nice looking loco, it sits on a chassis that I've never used before (although its commonly used in OO9 circles), and its also the first resin kit to grace my bench. Here's the kit, along with the Kato 104;
Its nice to see that the kit is packaged in a box which will hold the finished loco.
Here's the body in primer (Hycote white acrylic), along with the cut down Kato;
Instuctions for this kit, which for once I followed pretty much to the letter, are online here. I did use files rather than emery boards though, simply because I feel that its easier to achieve a crisp edge with a file. A little filling was necessary (especialy where I slipped with the needle cutting out the windows...) in a couple of places, nothing serious though. At this stage I prepared the window glazing (cut from .040 sheet) and glued lead strip under the bonnet ends.
Top coat is Humbrol Gloss Yellow 69 from an aerosol. Ordinarily I'd use an airbrush, but mine is currently buried in the loft (along with most of my books and a fair amount of other stuff), and anyway using a rattlecan felt like a nice quick option. This is the first time that I've used an aerosol for the top coat, and in places the paint is a tad too thick where I've had to rub down and re-spray, a result of my inability to paint anything with any degree of success;
As can be seen the Kato has been stripped down and the visible parts sprayed body colour, to help blend body and chassis together as suggested in the instructions. I've also blackened the shiny shiny wheels with Birchwood Casey 'Super Blue'.
A little more work is required to finish it off, unless I decide to strip the paint off the body and re-spray it.
Paul.
Interesting, I'd would never have thought to strip the kato chassis down to paint it -- I'd have used the acrylic tin of the same humbrol paint (which incidentally appears to be a slightly different colour to the aerosol version) and brush painted things. Having never opened a kato chassis up how easy is it to strip and reassemble?
ReplyDeleteI'm even worse with a brush than I am with an aerosol Mark! Mostly though I wanted to prime the chassis first with car primer from a rattle can.
DeleteThe Kato proved quite straightforward to strip and reassemble, but being cautious I took a few photos at various stages. The bottom weight came off first (two screws), then the wheels could be popped out (pinpoint axles). Two white retainers on the top of the chassis hold the pick-ups in place, these are simply prised away and the pick-ups removed. Turning it over again the motor drops out once a couple of tags connecting the motor to the pick-ups are straightened. Easy!
Hi Paul, what a nice prototype, and the adapted model version looks even nicer. I like the straightforward purposeful outlines.
ReplyDeleteLooks like a very pleasing build too, I find this kind of pragmatic approach to creative modelling very appealing.
It is rather nice isn't it! Neil has a good eye for proportions I feel.
DeleteAs for the build, sometimes you just want to do something simple.