Monday, April 18, 2011

Diesel dangly bits

Dangly Bits

Everyone focuses on a different thing when looking at a model (Oh err missus). For some, it't the chimney or roof detail, others the wheels and even some weirdos, the buffers.

For me, a diesel such as the Class 26 I'm working on at present, look empty without a collection of dangly bits on the buffer beam. For many years IMHO the best thing you could do to a RTR model was add brake pipes etc. You'll not be surprised to know that I don't really understand most of the bits or their purpose but it doesn't really matter, some of them need to be there.

In the 4mm world, you can pick up a nice detailing kit. In 3mm scale you have to do it yourself. Luckily the Plastruct rod I bought to do the springs is ideal. Being fat plastic with a wire core, it can be bent to shape but is fat enough to look right. The bends even wrinkle slightly which I think looks good. Pure wire would have been OK too but probably have require priming. I had to use it for the electrical (I think) loop under the buffer.

It's not a complete set of course but I haven't worked out how to do the screw coupling and will dig around for something suitable in the commercial world. It's going to be painted black anyway so adding it at a later date won't be a problem.

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