Claptowte Railway diesel locomotive number 14, named ‘David’, after myself, started life as a second hand LGB 22962 Bo-Bo Austrian narrow gauge diesel in bright red/white livery. This type of locomotive is almost universally referred to as a ‘Whizzy Cranks’, due to the coupling rods and fly cranks on the individual bogies. As purchased, the model was wired for analogue operation, but came with sound. I added a Massoth XL decoder to change it to digital operation.
The locomotive, as purchased
Prior to a repaint, I made a few minor physical alterations to the model, starting with the roof. The cooling fan has a moulded representation of a mesh grille, with a pair of protective bars across the opening. The engine exhaust is a separate moulding but the apertures are very shallow. There are solid ‘lumps’ on the roof that represent lifting rings.
I started by drilling out the lifting rings to make them look like the real deal. I removed the exhaust moulding and drilled and carved out the openings. I glued an off cut of plasticard to the inside surface of the roof to fill the base of the exhaust aperture, so that when painted matt black, it would further increase the appearance of depth. With regard to the cooling fan, I drilled and cut out the aperture and carved off the remaining ends of the bars. I replaced the grille by gluing a piece of expanded aluminium mesh, as used in automotive repair, to the underside of the roof opening. I drilled holes each side into which I glued bent brass handrail wire to replace the missing roof bars. I then added a computer cooling fan to the underside. The fan is not really noticeable, but I know it is there. Being 12V DC, I am sure the fan could be made to operate, but for me, that would be overkill.
The roof after the modifications
As manufactured, the model has a foot step on each buffer beam, as a separate moulding, to the right of the coupling. When I purchased my model, second hand, one of these footsteps was missing. As part of the refurbishment, I crafted a duplicate step, out of plasticard, to replace the missing step.
The other alteration to the model was to transpose the brake pipes. On the Claptowte Railway rolling stock, the corrugated brake pipes are all to the right of the coupling, on this model it was to the left. In order to swap the pipes from one side to the other, for continuity, it was necessary to fill in the upper mounting holes on the cab fronts and drill new ones in the appropriate positions.
Before
After
Having completed the modifications, the body shell was stripped of all of its parts, doors, windows, handrails, etc. I sanded off all of the markings and sanded the joins between the red and white lines along the sides, to blend in the surface finish. I retained the maker’s plates on each side and masked them off. The shell and any other appropriate parts were given a spray of grey plastic primer, prior to painting.
The cab interiors were painted cream, the standard cab colour across the Claptowte Railway loco fleet. All the apertures and the roof were masked off and the body was sprayed with a rattle can, the colour being PlastiKote RAL6005 satin Hunt Green, again, the standard corporate livery for Claptowte Railway diesels. The roof was pained BR roof grey for maroon coaches.
I removed the bogies from the underframe and carefully masked that up, to protect all the electronics, before spraying it with Halfords satin black, having first masked off the buffer beam areas. The buffer beams, fly cranks and coupling rods were painted signal red and other details picked out in appropriate colours, before the whole model was reassembled.
To finish off, I applied etched brass name and number places, sourced from Custom Nameplate Studio, together with my own printed card works plate.
The finished model
David
The locomotive, as purchased
Prior to a repaint, I made a few minor physical alterations to the model, starting with the roof. The cooling fan has a moulded representation of a mesh grille, with a pair of protective bars across the opening. The engine exhaust is a separate moulding but the apertures are very shallow. There are solid ‘lumps’ on the roof that represent lifting rings.
I started by drilling out the lifting rings to make them look like the real deal. I removed the exhaust moulding and drilled and carved out the openings. I glued an off cut of plasticard to the inside surface of the roof to fill the base of the exhaust aperture, so that when painted matt black, it would further increase the appearance of depth. With regard to the cooling fan, I drilled and cut out the aperture and carved off the remaining ends of the bars. I replaced the grille by gluing a piece of expanded aluminium mesh, as used in automotive repair, to the underside of the roof opening. I drilled holes each side into which I glued bent brass handrail wire to replace the missing roof bars. I then added a computer cooling fan to the underside. The fan is not really noticeable, but I know it is there. Being 12V DC, I am sure the fan could be made to operate, but for me, that would be overkill.
The roof after the modifications
As manufactured, the model has a foot step on each buffer beam, as a separate moulding, to the right of the coupling. When I purchased my model, second hand, one of these footsteps was missing. As part of the refurbishment, I crafted a duplicate step, out of plasticard, to replace the missing step.
The other alteration to the model was to transpose the brake pipes. On the Claptowte Railway rolling stock, the corrugated brake pipes are all to the right of the coupling, on this model it was to the left. In order to swap the pipes from one side to the other, for continuity, it was necessary to fill in the upper mounting holes on the cab fronts and drill new ones in the appropriate positions.
Before
After
Having completed the modifications, the body shell was stripped of all of its parts, doors, windows, handrails, etc. I sanded off all of the markings and sanded the joins between the red and white lines along the sides, to blend in the surface finish. I retained the maker’s plates on each side and masked them off. The shell and any other appropriate parts were given a spray of grey plastic primer, prior to painting.
The cab interiors were painted cream, the standard cab colour across the Claptowte Railway loco fleet. All the apertures and the roof were masked off and the body was sprayed with a rattle can, the colour being PlastiKote RAL6005 satin Hunt Green, again, the standard corporate livery for Claptowte Railway diesels. The roof was pained BR roof grey for maroon coaches.
I removed the bogies from the underframe and carefully masked that up, to protect all the electronics, before spraying it with Halfords satin black, having first masked off the buffer beam areas. The buffer beams, fly cranks and coupling rods were painted signal red and other details picked out in appropriate colours, before the whole model was reassembled.
To finish off, I applied etched brass name and number places, sourced from Custom Nameplate Studio, together with my own printed card works plate.
The finished model
David
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