Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Renumbering a loco.

Last weekend a question was asked on the N Gauge Yahoo Group of which I am a member about changing the details on locos - numbers, crests etc. I thought a series of photos and a longer explanation may be of use.

This is the kit I use to renumber a loco. Normally it isn't as neat as this :-))

Going clockwise from the right: Fowler Locomotives by Brian Haresnape. The loco at the bottom of the dust cover is the subject I am planning on modeling. The white lid to the bottom left is from one of the girls baby jelly jars. 5mls of water goes nicely into this (using a syringe) and it is here the transfers are soaked prior to affixing to the model. Swiss Army pocket knife. I use the scissors (and although it is currently MIA, the toothpick is handy for poking transfers around on models to position them). Small (00) paint brush. Bamboo kebab stick. Bottle of nail polish remover (Coles Persona for Australians reading this - non-acetone variety). Bachfar Jinty purchased from Ebay (needs fettling to get it to work properly but was purchased with a view to putting a 2mm chassis under it from Fencehouses) and under the Jinty some Fox 10inch numbers (FRH 2004) and some small Late Crest transfers from Modelmaster via the NGS shop (can't tell you the code for those).

The more knowledgeable engine pickers of Jinties will have spotted the anomaly on this one already. The Darlington style number position. Apparently, according to the caption for the same photo inside the book, it was shopped at Darlington in 1964 and appeared ex-works with its number painted on the tankside instead of the bunker. As the loco was withdrawn in 1966 I suspect it looked like this until then. I thought, as it was something different, I would model it. A bit late for my normal steam operations but Rule 1 and all that.
As an aside, it is easier to work from a photo - I changed a Dapol Ivatt from 41271 to 41220 on the basis I have a photo of this loco at St Alban's Abbey. Another destined for 2mm work.

I put the nail polish remover on with the paint brush over the bits I want to remove. Works really well on plastic (like the smokebox door) and not so well on the metal bits of Farish locos. Works fine on diesels (having done 60078 out of Mainline freight into "something secret") as these are plastic bodies as are the Dapol ones. No dramas on Farish tenders to date either. You can see where the number (47338 if memory serves) and crest were.

The renumbering in progress. The photo shows the first 4 just above the access to the center sandbox (I assume) so this gave me a starting point. The skewer, having been used to gently scrape the old number and crest off is now being used as a poker to get the new one aligned.



The finished job. Took about 30 mins from start to finish. If there are any dramas with taking paint off this is easily fixed with a bit of Humbrol No 33 (Matt Black). Obviously doing something like a Jinty or 4F (which are unlined) is a good place to start as any mistakes are more easily rectified. With a bit of practice and confidence... See Victoria earlier on this month.


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