Katzhagen - Archive - September 2015
Facial features
Some time ago the old RhB ABe 4/4 I rail car got a facelift in form of a more
prototypical colouring of its details like f.i. the whistles, the wipers
and the hoses, cables and connectors etc., but now I remembered that I forgot
to build and mount mirrors at that time.
Appropriate pictures of the prototype showing its mirrors were found quickly and two mirrors were made from 1mm thick ABS, 1mm brass rod and a 1.5x1mm brass tubing as well as some mirror film. The mirrors are pivot-mounted (1mm brass rod in 1.5x1mm brass tubing) and hence are retractable like on the prototype.
After the mirrors had been painted, the gauzy mirror film was applied. The headlights' rings were replaced with a thinner version which adds to the new appearance quite positively.
A left click onto the picture on the right and below will open a larger view.
Appropriate pictures of the prototype showing its mirrors were found quickly and two mirrors were made from 1mm thick ABS, 1mm brass rod and a 1.5x1mm brass tubing as well as some mirror film. The mirrors are pivot-mounted (1mm brass rod in 1.5x1mm brass tubing) and hence are retractable like on the prototype.
After the mirrors had been painted, the gauzy mirror film was applied. The headlights' rings were replaced with a thinner version which adds to the new appearance quite positively.
A left click onto the picture on the right and below will open a larger view.
Just a little paint and a mirror - left click for a larger view
Mirror film - left click for a larger view
Newspaper forgotten on a seat...
Final spurt...
... with pimping the RhB coaches' face sides.
The red and green RhB coaches already went through the facelift procedure incorporating a more prototypical adaption of the bellows and the technical details. Now only the Alpine Classic Pullman Express coaches were missing these improvements. This meant painting of just 48 individual parts - but with up to six paint jobs per part...
A time-consuming job, which in the end...
... results in assimilation.
Dismounting the bellows turned out to be easier with these cars than with the red and green ones since the bellows aren't locked in the saloon cars' interior. Instead the hoses' and cables' mockups were seated like in press fits...
Some parts needed three paint jobs (basic colour, then f.i. blue and a final clear coat) only, but others like the bellows' frames needed six passes:
- Basic colour
- Beige
- Blue
- Aluminum
- Clear
- and finally by hand the suspensions in aluminum
All in all a quite time-consuming procedure - mostly caused by the extensive masking and drying times between the individual paint jobs - which in the end results in a significantly more prototypical appearance. The latter compensates for all the foofaraw...
Investment lag reduction...
... in Susch - a new street illumination.
The Busch street lightings made from plastics which had been put up about eight years ago, showed signs of aging after six years outside on the layout. These signs became that obvious, that a replacement was inescapable.
Adequate substitute was found in form of street lights at Champex-Linden, which were equipped with a three-layer painting (base coat, colour, clear coat).
A first test on-site with different kinds of bulbs and deflectors looks promising:
June 2015 | Archive "Current Affairs" | October 2015
