My Ultimate 81 class 

Hi Guy's 

I have had this 81 class pretty finished for over a year now. I mainly wanted it running at last years NSWDEM running day. This was featured in a previous blog. There is a lot to talk about with this model. It has stemmed from a want to make a good representation of a 81 class at the time. 

Over the years there has been quite a few models of the State Rail 81 class come out on the Market. I think first may of been the Classic Brass 81 class. Then around 1987 AR Kits come out with a plastic Kit as such and 1988 Powerline introduced there RTR plastic 81 class. I could not afford a Brass 81 at the time, which was what you would expect from Brass. The Mech. in the Powerline Model was a toy, The AR Mech. being K&M was basically brass but I didn't like the cabs on the Model. That said over the years I have repowered a number of Powerline Models and did up some AR Models. But I have never really like their presentation of an 81 class.

  This is a Powerline 81 class sitting on an L&C Kits Chassis with an Austrain's C Class Mechanism. It has AR Kits side frames fitted. I did this model around 20 years ago.

   This is an Example of an AR Kits 81 class.

Then came the Austrains 81 class

What a disappointment that was!!!!!!!

Modeler's waited quite some time for it.

Then when it arrived even Austrains stated that the Candy 81 model was just not good enough and offered refunds to prepaid orders and then offered the balance of models at the discounted rate if memory serves me correctly. I am pretty sure I purchased mine for $175.00 at the time. Anyway I looked at the positives, it had a nice running mechanism and some details were correct. It sat for a couple of years then I started taking a closer look at it. 

I looked at all the bits n pieces that I had laying around. What could I do to this model to make improvements? Well there was a long list. I hope I don't bore you all with this.

At first I looked at plenty of 81 class photo's to compare details. First issue tackled was filling in the extra door. When 81 classes all went for their 10 year CCO at Bathurst an extra engine room door was fitted. They were also repainted into the Freight Rail Blue Livery. Thus no Candy 81's had this door fitted. I happen to have some undecorated bodies that I acquired so I removed the necessary pieces to then replace this door with a port hole.

 

Another issue was the body height. Due to this the Candy strips were applied incorrectly. The Candy yellow strip run too low and along the chassis part and not at the bottom of the lift out sections. looking into what may of caused this, it become necessary to add 1mm of height to the body above the frame as such. This was achieved using 1 by 1.5 mm Styrene.

This was placed between the Chassis and body. This is places made up the area for the correct placement of the yellow line.

 The Orange line will now be around the correct width also after this Modification.

At one point I was going to correct the drop down in the chassis above the fuel tank which was excessive. At first I tried cutting that section out and place a new piece from another body at the correct height. I was then going to add new correct sized foot holes for the cab and the lifting points cut from a Powerline body.

Powerline foot hole and lifting point added. In the photo you can see the main air intake and the extra intake on the mansard each side of the exhaust. This was features after the 10 year CCO and incorrect on a Candy 81.

As they were before

I had to cut the main air intake out of an AR Kits body that I had to make it the early version intake so I decided to also use the chassis section from the AR model as well.

This is the result after I added the AR Kits frame and air intake. In this photo you can also see where I added the 1mm styrene to the body. I have also covered over the extra intake near the exhaust with thin styrene. I still used the original pilot. I had it sitting on an AR Kits provided K&M Mechanism at this point for posing purposes. The Air intake had also been replaced with a Brass Etch that I got with a G Class detailing kit. The original sat too low and just didn't look right. Another Modification was a lowing of the AC units. This was aided by having spares on hand.

Next step I cut out the main radiator section and rebuilt it. I lowered the fans by about a 1mm as they sat to high

   

Photo's didn't go on in order but you can see what I am about here. I also raised the height of the fuel tank by about 1mm as it sat too low and I moved the battery boxes in a bit too.

I also filled in the little cut outs at the bottom of the pilots that are there to aid chassis removal. Not done as yet in this photo.

Other Modifications include;

#    added to the length of the head stocks above the couplers. 

#    added brass Air Horns

#    changed the exhaust casting

#    added white metal MU hoses and brass covers over the dummy MU points

#    added AR kits Hand Brake wheels to the bogie side frames

#    I added new number decals to the sides and new L7 logos. I had trouble with these failing and touch       up with paint which doesn't look the best. I may readdress this later.

That is all I can think of for now

The only misgiving I have with this project is I really only did touch ups on the paint work as I went. I should of did more masking and Air Brush work. It shows esp. when I was editing photos for this Blog.

I have had a chance to see the progress of the SDS Models 81 project. All the issues that I have chose to address on this Austrains 81 have been address as far as I can tell on the SDS model so it will be worth the wait. Covid issues no doubt will have slowed it down but it will be worth the wait.

Some Photo's to end

Cheers Justin Moy

 

 Another NOBX project.

Guy's, what a year it has been. No point reviewing the year that has been, only that it sucks. It has been over a year since I last made a post. I just haven't been in the right frame of mind. I am sorry for this as I really do like to share my thoughts and modelling ideas.

I really like to finish a project before I talk about it, but lately I just haven't been able to finish anything. It is like some barrier or mental block or something. I am just going to have to give updates on where I am at with some projects.

Anyway I have had this project on my mind for a number of years. I have always wanted to take an AR kits NOBX to the next level. A while back I did up 4 NOBX's and reported this in a previous blog. They were as the model intended to be. These were the first batch of BDX's, I think built by Tulloch. I have wanted to build the 2nd version which has quite a different style of under frame. I think these were made by Comeng. Anyway I am sure someone will correct me. These details are not a priority unless I was doing this for a magazine or Convention. The cross members on the second version are the difficult bit. From the following photo's you can see what I mean.

Then the Auscision BDX/NOBX come on the scene.

I got my hands on one of the new Auscision NOBX models. I got it from a member at the Taree and District Model Railway club that was happy to split up a pack. I am not into pre-ordering models anymore and that is a topic I will write about soon. As soon as I got the model home I put it up against my fleet of AR Kits NOBX models to see how it stacked up. Ideally I would of just liked to weather it up and be able to happily mix it up with them. The under frame was real nice. The cross members were done well. The body however was just not as good as the AR version. Photos will tell the story. 

On it's own it is a nice model. The sides on the AR Kits model are just much more crisp. The Sole Bar at the top of the sides just doesn't look right and the half relief tie rails on the side just look too thick. 

My solution to this? Use all the bits done well and mix it up with AR Kits sides. Make the small modifications to the sides needed and make the best of it. Hopefully come up with a model that could be of Competition quality. Next is a photo essay of the process.

First was to separate the Fish Belly chassis which is cast metal alloy. All the cross members are in place. One of the cross members is wrong. on the brake gear side 3 are reduced in size to cater for the brake gear but from the photos I have used for research, the one closest is the same as the ones on the other side. At the end of the day I am not going to worry about this. Being a metal chassis, it is strong so it has opened to opportunity to do the deck with real timber boards. My plan is to have a number of them missing and be able to see clearly some of the under frame through. Maybe not as bad as what is in this photo.

  This is the first version. The center Frame is not as wide on the second version. But the idea is the same. Next is preparing the frame. These photo's explain it a bit better than I can describe,

First Step was to cut a sheet of 5 thou Styrene to the size of an AR Kits underfloor

As AR Kits sides will be used in this project

I pretty much just found the center and glued frame straight to the styrene

I also run some styrene strip around the frame. Not sure of the size ATM but it was just what looked right for the job to meet up with the bolsters and cross members

I then added some C section for the floor supports or what ever they are called?

Next step was to cut out all the holes in the 5 thou Styrene. The Styrene was basically just used as a base to glue all the frame together and is easy to cut away when done.

  

From here the sides are fitted. I have decided to remove the doors on this model so that the floor can be seen easier. I don't see a point in doing all this work and not be able to observe the detail. This model will be a feature in what will be a small country style container yard on my layout. The doors open or removed so that a Fork lift can place the containers into open wagons if needed.

Still some detail to add. Then off to the paint and weathering shop. Then all the scale cut timber deck will be added last

This is all I have for now. 

Enjoy 

Updates soon

Thanks Justin Moy