I have now had a good old go at this beastie and she is pretty well wrapped up on the work. My want was to make it look akin to a Kamel. I have a Piko Kamel, my Playmobile has been converted to a Mini Kamel. So this one will be the Middle Kamel.
Baby Kamel Conversion Link.
http://www.gscalecentral.net/battery-power/another-playmobil-diesel-transformation-this-time-a-baby-kamel/msg302136/#msg302136
I have not been able to find my Piko Kamel thread dispit much searching. Can anyone help? For completeness I would like to post that link here.
First when doing these jobs, like others before me it is a good plan to have a schedule of Jobs to do. So here is mine.
1 White Line around the bottom of the Body.
2 Extend Running Plate
3 Upturned Buffers as on my Kamel
4 Centre Buffer and Coupling for SG Cars
5 New Lettering with DR and New Numbers, with last 2 Digits representing the Chip ID.
6 Hole and Pipe for Exhaust
7 Weathering
Forst job to attack was the dismantling to be able to do the extended Running Plate and also sort out the Loose Windows. As is usual I use an old Ice Creme Tub for the Bits. Pic 1 shows this.
The Handrails were an easy Pop Out Job, 8 Black Headed Screws Hold the Body on. DO NOT UNDO THE 4 SILVER SCREWS ON THE FUEL TANK. These hold a Metal Weight in place and do not need to be removed. They are the devils own job to get back! 2 more Black Headed Screws allow the Cab to be removed. As in all my Jobs I mark up end One to make refit easy. This can be seen in the Metal Weight in Pic 1. On this Loco the Long Hood is end One. Getting the Cab back in place does not really need a number on it as there is a Pip on one end to help. But I marked it anyway. I also removed the Coupler Housing and to ensure no loss of the Spring put a little PowerBond 802 on the very Centre of the Coupling to hild it in place. This does not effect the Operation at all. Finally the Buffers were removed and stored in a Bag in the Loco Box for use if ever it goes back to its original look.
To aid work I mount the Chassis upside down on the Workbench, but as the Chip is here it is not good to just plonk it down. So I use a couple of bits of 2 x 1 for it to sit on. Convinently it just sits nicely with the Weights on the Blocks. The next 2 pics show this. Plus the first Pic shows where I have drilled 2 Small Holes for 10ba Tapping.
The next Pic shows the crude extension that I have made from below, this is held in place with a Couple of 10ba Screws. Thus making the Conversion pretty well able to return the Loco the as Bought except for the 4 Holes on each Buffer Beam.
However this retro ability may change. Next up was to sort out the buffers. Fortunately I had a nice set of Brass and Steel ones that I got cheep at a Gauge 1 Convention. You know one of those purchases `these will do for something`, well that day came. As these Buffers were close to the Top of my Crude Extension I needed to File part of the Buffer Shaft. I removed the Nut that would be used to hold it in place, then went on to make some new Buffing Surfaces. These were filed up from 30 thou Plasticard and the Buffer Heat Fused in place. The pic shows this and the first one that failed tee hee.
Having got the buffers sorted by Drilling Holes into my Extension Piece, Fixing with Plastic Adhesive and Superglueing the Buffing Shaft in place I moved onto the Cosmetic Centre Buffer. This again was in the Spares Box, being a Couple of Buffers that I got in my 16mm Days for Chain Couplings. I cut off the Hooks and threw them in the bin. Only to recover them when I realised that I needed a pair of cosmetic Coupling Hooks. Duly recovered they were Glued in place above the Cosmetic Buffers. I also filed a Couple of Slots in each one to more closely resemble Harz Buffers.The Cosmetic Buffers were then screwed into a Couple Of Holes on the Footplate Extension. This can all be pretty well seen in the next Pic.
I then attacked the White Line (it is Creme on the Piko Kamel), white because some 12mm Go Faster Tape was available at my Local Car Spares Shop. Actually conveniently next door to my Local! This has been put in place all round except for on the Bonnet Front. To be honest this is a bit of a quandry due to the complex Moulding here. Elswhere it fitted OK by deft us of some gentle proding with a small Screwdriver. Though the Cab Door is a problem too and the lining stops either side of the Moulded Handrail. Normally I would have removed that, however as a full repaint is not envisaged I did not go to those lengths. Next I printed up a made up number, 199 832-7. I used a Webb Site to get a correct Check Digit so the 27 was the Chip Number, having made it that due to the V100 nunber having these last 2 numbers. Link to WebbSite tgat dies this Calculation for you:-
http://www.lothar-brill.de/inhalt/modellbahn/pruefziffer-berechnen.html
A hole has also been made in the Exhaust, there are what looks like two of these. I only enlarged the hole on the Long Hood (1) end. I did this by first drilling exact centre with a small drill held in a pin vice, then gradually extended the size with larger drills in a small power drill. I then glued some Plastic Pipe inside the resultant hole to represent the internal Exhaust part of the stack. Also some Plasticard was glued inside the Stack onto the surplus Glazing to disguise any view through the Cab. At this time I also properly glued in the Glazing with Pipe Adhesive. Hopefully it will not pop out again.
Oh the Chip is very easily read and update with my recently Software Upgraded Massoth Kit. I wonder if the latest Massoth Upgrade has made compatibility with the new Maerklin Chips?
Another Query, does anyone know what the unused 3 pin Socket on the Chip is for?
Finally for this installment 3 Pics of her in the Garden with a short Freight.
Next up weathering, some Paint in the Mods and what to do about that missing lining. I probably also need to add a scetch of my Footplate Extension Part with sizes.
JonD
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