I have been doing a bit of work on enhancing the Auscision 422 class. They are a good model as is but I just wanted to make the model my own. There is a few modifications that I have done which I think has really set the model off. There is one big issue with the model that I thought to address as well.
I come to the conclusion that the Body simply sits to low on the Chassis. So I set about looking at ways to raise the body about 0.8mm. It was a bit a challenge but I think the results have made for a much better looking model.
First step was to look at what keeps the body attached to the frame. There is two clips on each side of the body, so on the chassis I used my Dremel with a cutting disk to remove about 1mm from the bottom of the lugs.
As I was raising the body I also had to raise the pilots as well. Pictures do tell the story. I had to remove about 1mm from the top of the bracings behind the pilot. I also had the file and lower the coupler pocket to keep the couplers at the same height.
I had to add .030 or 0.75mm styrene to the top of the mounts for the Pilots. I think the strip I used here was Number 137 or .030x156". I pre-drilled the holes and used longer pieces for handling.
Once glued down I used a razor blade to cut the extra's off. It is important to only just cover the screw plates as if any larger it would get in the way of the lighting circuit for the marker lights that sits in behind the pilot. With the pilot in place and raised it inturn raises the lighting circuit to the correct height to match the body. Because the lighting will no longer sit down tight in its home I had to use a couple of spots of super glue to hold it in place. only enough so I maybe able to break it free if need be.
That pretty much covers what I had to do to raise the body. The only other thing that was necessary was to add a bit to the tops of the lifting points as there was now a gap there. I forgot to photograph this step but all I used was the same .030 styrene and glued a longer piece in such as the pilots then cut and filed it down till I was happy with the result.
A couple of other improvements
I bent up some parts of staples to pin down the sand hoses on the fuel tank side of the bogies. They are a problem bending and not sitting well with the model so this was my solution. I tried to also pin the ones on the pilot side on the bogies but found that it prohibited the movement of the bogie too much. When I weather future models I will remove the weathering from these sand lines as it will only full off anyway as they flex. It will be interesting to see how long they stand up to running and flexing all the time. If they break, I may look at using fine electrical wire or Brass Wire as a replacement. Even though they are a pain to have, when sitting right they do look good on the model.
Other improvements were painting the control stands green. As 42211 was originally an unpowered pre-production model from Auscision, I removed the crew, folded back the Mirrors and added blinds to the windscreens that I had pulled mostly down.
I also painted the front hand rails white, painted the couplers and lifting points yellow and gave the model a light weathering. I found that most 422's around 1992/93 were pretty well kept. As they were regulars on the Southern Highlands Passenger Trains they made it through the Car Washes at ACDEP quite a bit. So it was rare to see one that was really grubby. As my era go between 1990/96, this loco will make a fine addition to running the early days of National Rail when they were leasing 82/80/422 class loco's before the NR's arrived on the scene.
A couple of more shots
Just to finish off, I found this shot in my collection of 42211 in action. I think this is a Jamie Fisher Photograph but I am not sure.
It is a bit of work to raise the body on these 422's but I think it is well worth the trouble.
Cheers Justin Moy
