First time kit bashing help

FurkaSOCal

FurkaSOCal

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Hello all,

I want to undertake my first kit bashing project but I am hesitant on how to get started. I have scratch built buildings and such out of wood in the past but never done much with plastic. I would like to cut two LGB cars in half and glue them together to make one longer car. I've attached a picture of what I am trying to cut in half for reference. What is the best tool to use to cut the car in half? What types of glues do you recommend for gluing the two sections back together? Can I sand down the uneven surfaces with sandpaper?

Thanks in advance,
Phil
 

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FurkaSOCal said:
Hello all,

I want to undertake my first kit bashing project but I am hesitant on how to get started. I have scratch built buildings and such out of wood in the past but never done much with plastic. I would like to cut two LGB cars in half and glue them together to make one longer car. I've attached a picture of what I am trying to cut in half for reference. What is the best tool to use to cut the car in half? What types of glues do you recommend for gluing the two sections back together? Can I sand down the uneven surfaces with sandpaper?

Thanks in advance,
Phil
Click to expand...
Try starting a conversation with David1226 - he's done some similar things :nod::nod::nod:
 
As Greg says a Razor Saw is the most accurate with nice clean cuts. But with a new blade for each major cut. Use Medium Sand Paper to clear any scarf which should be on the inside. Wet and dry paper for the final clean Up. Work should be on a good flat surface when cutting, a piece of Ply works well, at least something that will not matter when you cut through. Go slowly and take care with the cuts. Hafix is a good glue for the Joints it will give a good solid bond quickly I would also suggest a few gussets of Plasticard to help strengthen the Joints at the rear. If you cannot find Hafix locally in SD you should be able to find a similar type of glue Stateside, a sort of Superglue that comes in a larger Tube than the normal Superglues.

To loose the joint as there will be a small joint mark Plastic Filler or even Car Body Filler will do the job, finishing off with wet and dry very fine paper again. For a good paint job a Car Dpray Undercoat from a Rattle Can followed by your choice of Automotive Colour Spray when the Undercoat has fully dried will do the Job. Best to leave at least overnight for all sprays.

If you are going to do a dual colour scheme the way is to Spray the Lighter Colour first over all of the side . Then Mask Up the bit that you wish to keep that Light Colour then Spray again with the light colour. This effectively seals the joint of the Masking Tape. Now you can spray the darker colour. I tend to allow that first coat a couple of days before masking up to make sure that there is no pull off of paint when removing the Masking Tape. Some would say overkill, but better to be safe rather than sorry. This Railcar was sprayed up using this method with just a little bleed where I was not careful enough getting the Masking Tape into that ridge. I use Tamika Masking Tape for the Joints, Normal cheep decorating Tape does not work well on the Joints but if you use this on the big area with Tamika making the Joints and covering the first couple of mm of the cheep stuff it works just fine.
F5A390DB-647D-4C29-8423-4B6202F6D861.jpeg570B51BC-D283-463E-BCDC-0909D4D7BCFC.jpeg
Hope this little bit of waffle helps.
 
Phil

I have a very limited tool kit. I'm not sure what Dunnyrail means by using a new saw blade for each major cut, that sounds horrendously expensive, I have been using the same X-Acto saw blade for years. The limitation with it is that the blade has a backing 'spine' similar to a woodworking tenon saw, this means that it is not always suitable for cutting through at an angle as the spine can get in the way. For that reason I also use a flat bladed saw which I have had for more years than I care to remember, I think I bought it when Pontius Pilot was still an air cadet. Mine was bought as part of a modelling kit put out by the British firm Humbrol but I'm sure it can be found under various branding. You can click on the link below to see an example of what can be done. Remember the old adage, measure twice, cut once. Although I bought a couple of air brushes and a compressor, I have never used them. All of my coaches are painted with a brush. I have also included a link to the Claptowte Railway Passenger Stock. You can view various images of the coaches I have produced to date. Under any of the images you can click on the link under CAPTION to go to the appropriate thread on how it was constructed. Have a go and good luck.

Link to Toytrain 4-wheel conversion Claptowte Railway - Coach No 1 - G Scale Central

Link to Claptowte Railway passenger stock The Claptowte Railway - Passenger Stock

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dig 180421003.JPG

dig 180507004.JPG

David
 
I mean that as Razor Saw Blades are quite fragile, I would use a new one for each side that I have cut fully through. They can and do bend the shaft quite easily, yes old blades will last for years on jobs that do not have so much importance I.e. of say wood or offcuts of thick plastic. But we are talking here of hacking a near £100 Coach, the last thing you need is to trash it with a blunt blade that wonders off at the wrong tangent.
 
For large cuts I use my Dremel tool with a cutoff wheel just have to be careful and go slow.
I found razor saws to be OK for small straight cuts but going around a box I found the blade had a tendency to wander if I was not real careful same as Dunnyrail.
For gluing LGB plastic together I highly recommend "Deluxe Materials Plastic Magic" I used it recently when I bashed an LGB coach and it was the only glue I found that worked bonding LGB plastic to styrene.
 
FurkaSOCal said:
Hello all,

I want to undertake my first kit bashing project but I am hesitant on how to get started. I have scratch built buildings and such out of wood in the past but never done much with plastic. I would like to cut two LGB cars in half and glue them together to make one longer car. I've attached a picture of what I am trying to cut in half for reference. What is the best tool to use to cut the car in half? What types of glues do you recommend for gluing the two sections back together? Can I sand down the uneven surfaces with sandpaper?

Thanks in advance,
Phil
Click to expand...
Did that with my original starter set, not hard, little time consuming but doable. I use model master or testors glue that you can get at hobby lobby, also ACE hardware sells a super glue that is made for plastic that works very good. Sanding and priming are the key to a smooth finish, several coats are usually needed and I use both a 10" chop saw and a Zona razor saw, get really straight and even cuts with the chop saw. At present I'm working on a mason bogie in which I have pieced parts from 2 different cabs together along with the roof. Good luck do and post pictures as you go along, and Tamiya makes a very good fine line masking tape,Bill MB cab and resized roof.JPG
 
Chucking in another 2 cents worth,when I blended caboose ends to a cut down boxcar to make a long caboose I just used the board lines as a guide and used albeit very carefully a hand held razor saw,any gaps at the join were then filled with Revell filler/putty and then rubbed smooth with very fine wet n dry cloth with a little soapy water,to give a good finish,any smoothed out woodgrain against the joint was re "grained" with needle files and knife.Glue can be a problem,using Backmann stock a good polystyrene glue will suffice but I have found that LGB plastic just does not like this sort of glue.a certain one that does all the hard jobs on planet earth seems to work well(for me at least)I read on an earlier post here that some plasticard over the joint,,great tip;);)I used that to hold the cut down side door in place to make up the car sides on the caboose,couple of old pics from the bash added,sorry if they`ve been seen before.CABOOSE BASH 1 002.jpgBOXBOOSE PAINT 009.jpg
 
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