Well, I had planned to hold off on this post, as I wanted to be further along with the build before I started posting updates. That said, given recent global events, I figured folks around here might like further distractions, so went ahead and began to format photos in hand last night. This build thread may be slightly less detailed textually than those before it as most of my free time to “write” these build logs came from my time sitting on long-haul trans-oceanic flights. As one can imagine, I’m in short supply of those now! (Canceled 14 flights already for February, March and April including trips to the UK, China, Germany, and Switzerland! Grumble, grumble, grumble…) While I am home now, given the “work remotely” edicts, I’m typing waymore than I used to, as emails have taken over for in-person meetings. So please forgive me if the accompanying text to this thread is a bit sparse.
Anyway, enough about that. Some basics on the build:
Ok, enough about that, lets get on to the build, shall we?
Here is the car I’m chasing. Sersa’s P10119. Photos below (shamefully stolen from the internet - thanks Haribu.com) show the car in its current configuration. (BEMO has offered a great model of this version in H0m in the the previous well known white and orange scheme)
And with the target acquired, off we go!
The Xacto saw was called into service. First order of business was to cleanly cut the end wall off the body’s non-platform end. The opposite end wall will be kept intact with the side walls up to the side door openings.
Once cut, the end wall is then notched at the bottom to slide “over” the existing LGB frame.
The remainder of the body is then hacked in half.
And while we’re at it, a few small details are also chopped/sawed off. Here, you can see a small angular brace along the wall frames. While accurate on some Gbk-v’s, this detail is not found on the Sersa van, so off it comes! This process can be a bit messy, as ultimately there will be styrene “plates” placed over this section, so not as delicate an effort one might expect.
Next up, time to tackle the frame.
First step was “notching” the frame mid-span to accept the shifted non-platform wall. This was a simple bit of sawing and sanding.
The hashed red box shown indicates the section of the frame that will support the remaining Gbk-v body.
And then the roof!
Helpfully, there are “molded on” cutting guides! Using the seams on the roof, I employed the Atlas Track Saw and slowly made a hand cut that was surprisingly clean. A small amount of clean up with a sanding stick and it was done.
Flipping the roof over, one of the biggest non-compatibility issues between the LGB and the “Train” versions of the car were the mounting “tabs” that stick down from the roof. A little patience with an Xacto knife and these were removed. At the same time, I also cleaned the mounting “lip” on the underside of the roof that would now be visible on the exterior covered platform section of the car.
Right, so first round of cuts and chops done, time now to see if it all worked according to plan with a test fit.
So far so good! Time to move on to building out the car's frame.
Heavy runners were cut from styrene L channel to run either side of the car’s “open” section. Thick styrene was also cut to fashion a new frame end at the non-platform end. The L channel was then installed with Cyanoacrylate (CA) glue on either side.
Next was a “floor” fashioned from sheet styrene and the build up of the frame end.
And then more laminating and gluing of bits to the frame. Again, CA was used to secure everything.
I turned my attention to the rear wall, and the man door cut into it.
Styrene was used as the basis of the door. Styrene square tube was also used to frame out the door.
And then small bits of styrene was used to fill-in and patch areas on the body. Due to the sliding door being on the original model, there were gaps in the body wall to accommodate guides, fasteners, etc. Having removed that door, these all had to now be filled in.
One of the hardest pieces to fabricate (or wrap my brain around fabricating) were the two bare vertical “supports” that are at each corner of the roof, mid-car. Finding a way to get these built and attached, without big unsightly fasteners, was a head scratcher. Ultimately I settled on a build up of styrene with a brass nut and bolt to keep the 90 degree joint square.
To start, I used styrene channel, notched to fit around the car’s frame at the bottom, and angled at the top to meet the curve of the roof. Within that channel, I’ll add square tube styrene to add rigidity and terminate it within the channel so it sits flush with the top of the car’s floor.
Next was a length of rectangular styrene tube fastened as a cross beam to run just beneath the roofline. This is then attached to the vertical support with glue. Once dry, I used a pin vise to drill a hole at the joint and inserted a nut and bolt to capture the whole thing.
And now, (because I love them) test fit time again!
Ok, so I’ll stop there for now, next up is the first round of paint. Hope to have that detailed out in the next day or two.
I’ll also try and get the “punch list” and road map to completion up with the next posting so you can see where it’s going.
Thanks for reading, and everyone stay safe!
-Josh
Anyway, enough about that. Some basics on the build:
- Donor bodies are one (1) LGB Gbk-v Van and one (1) “Train” (LGB copy) Gbk-v Van. The LGB unit was used for roof and frame parts as they are a more sturdy, robust material. The “Train” van body was selected as the walls are thiner material, and thus easier to manipulate. Pro tip: with little effort, you can also recombine the LGB body on the “Train” frame/roof! The detail of the LGB quality is still visible… in fact deciding if the unit is all LGB or a Frankenstein of parts is almost impossible without picking the car up!
- My intention is to build the unit as close to “current” in appearance as possible. This means the Black(Dark Grey) and White paint scheme with Sersa logos. There are a few details that switched over or were added/removed in-between remodels, so I’m picking and choosing some here, but overall the car should be a reasonable representation of the prototype. As always, the goal is to model items that help add to the overall “modern” feel of the railroad, rather than simply collecting the 1960s-1990’s models on offer.
- The lifting arms will be fixed. I initially looked at making the arms operable, but on the real unit, there is a void in the frame floor to allow the arms travel. Given the way the LGB frame is molded, and for rigidity in the final model, I decided to build the arms as static.
- Paint and glues used in this model are the same as used in my previous builds here. You can find them listed in these threads:
Ok, enough about that, lets get on to the build, shall we?
Here is the car I’m chasing. Sersa’s P10119. Photos below (shamefully stolen from the internet - thanks Haribu.com) show the car in its current configuration. (BEMO has offered a great model of this version in H0m in the the previous well known white and orange scheme)
And with the target acquired, off we go!
The Xacto saw was called into service. First order of business was to cleanly cut the end wall off the body’s non-platform end. The opposite end wall will be kept intact with the side walls up to the side door openings.
Once cut, the end wall is then notched at the bottom to slide “over” the existing LGB frame.
The remainder of the body is then hacked in half.
And while we’re at it, a few small details are also chopped/sawed off. Here, you can see a small angular brace along the wall frames. While accurate on some Gbk-v’s, this detail is not found on the Sersa van, so off it comes! This process can be a bit messy, as ultimately there will be styrene “plates” placed over this section, so not as delicate an effort one might expect.
Next up, time to tackle the frame.
First step was “notching” the frame mid-span to accept the shifted non-platform wall. This was a simple bit of sawing and sanding.
The hashed red box shown indicates the section of the frame that will support the remaining Gbk-v body.
And then the roof!
Helpfully, there are “molded on” cutting guides! Using the seams on the roof, I employed the Atlas Track Saw and slowly made a hand cut that was surprisingly clean. A small amount of clean up with a sanding stick and it was done.
Flipping the roof over, one of the biggest non-compatibility issues between the LGB and the “Train” versions of the car were the mounting “tabs” that stick down from the roof. A little patience with an Xacto knife and these were removed. At the same time, I also cleaned the mounting “lip” on the underside of the roof that would now be visible on the exterior covered platform section of the car.
Right, so first round of cuts and chops done, time now to see if it all worked according to plan with a test fit.
So far so good! Time to move on to building out the car's frame.
Heavy runners were cut from styrene L channel to run either side of the car’s “open” section. Thick styrene was also cut to fashion a new frame end at the non-platform end. The L channel was then installed with Cyanoacrylate (CA) glue on either side.
Next was a “floor” fashioned from sheet styrene and the build up of the frame end.
And then more laminating and gluing of bits to the frame. Again, CA was used to secure everything.
I turned my attention to the rear wall, and the man door cut into it.
Styrene was used as the basis of the door. Styrene square tube was also used to frame out the door.
And then small bits of styrene was used to fill-in and patch areas on the body. Due to the sliding door being on the original model, there were gaps in the body wall to accommodate guides, fasteners, etc. Having removed that door, these all had to now be filled in.
One of the hardest pieces to fabricate (or wrap my brain around fabricating) were the two bare vertical “supports” that are at each corner of the roof, mid-car. Finding a way to get these built and attached, without big unsightly fasteners, was a head scratcher. Ultimately I settled on a build up of styrene with a brass nut and bolt to keep the 90 degree joint square.
To start, I used styrene channel, notched to fit around the car’s frame at the bottom, and angled at the top to meet the curve of the roof. Within that channel, I’ll add square tube styrene to add rigidity and terminate it within the channel so it sits flush with the top of the car’s floor.
Next was a length of rectangular styrene tube fastened as a cross beam to run just beneath the roofline. This is then attached to the vertical support with glue. Once dry, I used a pin vise to drill a hole at the joint and inserted a nut and bolt to capture the whole thing.
And now, (because I love them) test fit time again!
Ok, so I’ll stop there for now, next up is the first round of paint. Hope to have that detailed out in the next day or two.
I’ll also try and get the “punch list” and road map to completion up with the next posting so you can see where it’s going.
Thanks for reading, and everyone stay safe!
-Josh
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