I passed that magic moment this week where a carriage stops being four separate pieces and comes together into a body shell.
114 is much more delicate that my average styrene carriage because it has so little beading on the outside, meaning that most of it is just 0.20" thick.
In order to prevent it developing any permanent warp I quickly moved on to cutting the floor / chassis and not only making the roof but gluing it into position at a much earlier stage than I usually would.
This should keep in shape reasonably well, and by the time I have fitted the seats and the glazing it will be really quite solid.
Hi Rob. I've been watching your progress on this for a while as well as Andy's at Railway Misadventures, and it's made me want to have a go at it myself. But I'll be starting with a simple O scale freelance electric loco so I'll be able to postpone the hard yakka of OO windows etc to another time. I was wondering if you'd have advice on plasticard thickness. I think Andy uses two layers of 0.40 while you mention 0.20. Any thoughts on what might be best for a novice like myself? Thanks. Kev
ReplyDeleteHi Kev, I guess it all depends on how large your model will be. Does it have large blank areas? Is there much surface detail and potential for lamination to build up the strength? I think for O scale I'd be tempted to go for 30 thou as the base layer.
ReplyDeleteAll good questions .. um, it'll be a practice run really, so I'd thought that an overall shape of an intercity 125 but with simplified inscribed panel lines and VERY-simplified curves, and placed on an HO chassis I have laying round from a (US) GP9. So very much a Frankenstein's monster of a thing but with enough features to act as a valiant-first-attempt. And O-scale just to save the eye sight. I guess my problem is not knowing the relative strengths of the different thicknesses. Do you think it's better to go one thick sheet or a couple of thin sheets. Can't help thinking that two thinner sheets would allow me to create a rabbet edge for fitting roof panels around. Thanks, Kev.
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