Piko VT98 bash... (FINISHED - See Page 2)

jameshilton

jameshilton

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Well last week I muted that I was planning on bashing my Piko VT98 railbus (http://www.gscalecentral.net/Serbian-VT98-Piko-railbus-photos-m224509 ) and shared some photos of prototypes in use in Serbia.

The Piko model is a standard gauge prototype - but size wise it sits happily alongside my other LGB Austrian outline narrow gauge stock.
I've always been unhappy with the double buffers, promising myself that one day I'd do something - perhaps moving them up (to be the right height for a standard gauge wagon on roll-bockes) and adding a central buffer, or removing them altogether. I even contemplated just rebranding the excellent maroon finish with some EJ&KLR logos at one point...

However, finding the photos of the Serbian examples got me thinking again about starting this project sooner rather than later - coinciding with a desire to light the station and engine shed and run a train at dusk - the VT98 will be very easy to add internal lighting as it is pre-wired for the purpose with a wire up through the toilet compartment so you can fit one in the roof.

So - a rough outline of my plans...
- remove the double buffers
- remove the dodgy coupling and hose mouldings
- plate over the buffer holes
- add a central buffer
- add handrails to the doors
- fit interior lighting
- repaint and decal (it will be silver with a blue solebar - interesting article here on spraying silver with Humbrol enamels: http://www.ipmsstockholm.org/magazine/2005/12/stuff_eng_tech_nmf.htm )
- weather lightly (exhaust staining on roof and road grime on underframe)

So this thread will not document the inspiration (again - please look here: http://www.gscalecentral.net/Serbian-VT98-Piko-railbus-photos-m224509 ) but the build which will progress at a typical James pace of stop start on and off amongst a myriad of other large scale projects on my workbench.

Work started by stripping the railbus down to it's consitiuent parts - simply removing all the screws - the only troublesome one was behind a buffer so I had to snap the clip off the chassis but as I won't be re-using the buffer mounts I'm less worried about this...
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I then used a razor saw to cleanly remove the buffer shanks, and then also the central 'fake' coupling moulding. The socket covers were sliced off from behind and the cuts then cleaned up with a craft knife/scapel with a chisel blade and a needle file.
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Re:Piko VT98 bash...

Well it's been a slow burn project that started before the Faur was finished, but one that's been on the cards for sometime. After finding photos of the VT98 railbuses in Serbia with modified buffing gear it got my mind racing and this project intends to capture a little of there character, combined with a narrow gauge back story and plenty of freelance ideas inspired by the Bosnian Duro Dakovic narrow gauge diesel rail cars.

So the buffers, shanks, coupling, air hose/covers have been removed and smoothed over. The gaps where the airhose/covers were have been plated over with styrene and a centre buffer from the LGB 2091 diesel added.
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I need to fabricate some handrails and fit some covers over the old buffer screw holes, and then an overall silver repaint will follow, relieved by a blue sole bar and V stripe at each end.
 
Re:Piko VT98 bash...

Interesting project James. Do you think the ends of the railbus will be "floppy" without the securing screws, or have you a cunning plan for alternative fixings?
 
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Peter having stripped it down I don't think there will be an issue as there are already plenty of securing screws quite close to each end and the chassis and body are both stiff. Time will tell.
 
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On the Faur thread Jon asked me what I'd been up to, we'll I've been slowly working on the Piko railbus.

I've been sorting out some new custom transfers, and adding handrails. I've also added rubbing plates over the old buffer mountings like on the Serbian examples.

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Re:Piko VT98 bash...

Looking forward to seeing how this one turns out James....
 
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hi James,

looking good. Did the windows come out ok, and tips on trmoving them as some of them are glued

si
 
Re:Piko VT98 bash...

Thanks chaps - I should get some primer on it this week.

The glued windows just pop out with a small watchmakers screwdriver carefully inserted and poked up the gap, the glue is more brittle than the plastic so they came out fine.
 
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Looking good, James. BTW, where did you get the text sheet on your Mac screen? Decals?
 
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Thanks George, the text on screen is a design I've drawn up for another sheet of custom transfers. I draw them in Adobe Illustrator, turn the text to outlines and export as a PDF that John at Precision Labels then prints for me. The complication this time is white and black transfers with some mixed logos, like on the Schoema bash I did :)
 
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looking very nice james..like the handrails
 
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Thanks Mike - they're slightly set in from the door frames, like on the prototype, that makes them interesting.

I had the dregs of a can of primer left over from the Blauturm Faur kit so this evening, with the chassis carefully masked, I gave the railbus a dusting. This will be left for a few days to harden before I airbrush on some blue on each end and along the sole bar.

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Re:Piko VT98 bash...

jameshilton said:
Thanks George, the text on screen is a design I've drawn up for another sheet of custom transfers. I draw them in Adobe Illustrator, turn the text to outlines and export as a PDF that John at Precision Labels then prints for me. The complication this time is white and black transfers with some mixed logos, like on the Schoema bash I did :)
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info, James. I'll have to see if I still have a working copy of Illustrator and give it a try.
 
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It seems to have been an age but in a drive to get myself out of my modelling dip I've reinvigorated the railbus project.
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I got a new airbrush to replace my old worn out one at Christmas so put that to good use spraying Humbrol 221 (Satin Garter Blue) along the sole bars and nose. I will mask the V stripe on each nose before spraying the body in silver.

I also took delivery of another set if transfers from http://www.precisionlabels.com < Link To Precision Labels. John printed these from artwork I prepared, excellent finish and quick turn around as usual! Notice the black transfers, aimed at the railbus, and the Syldavian duck logo from Tintin, which will make appearances on selected EJ&KLR rolling stock in the present refurb cycle!
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As always excellent planning and execution, how do you specify what white and what's black on the transfer PDF? Do you just send a copy with the actual colours too? I really need to find a way to convert the image files to PDF and give John a call as I have several sets of artwork creeping towards completion! Mostly Om but a few G and 7/8ths bits ;) I assume the PDF locks the scale accurately so if a test print on A4 is good then the transfers will be too?
 
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Thanks Paul and Paul.

Transfers, I tend to do the artwork in Illustrator, but the principle would work with anything. Vector drawing packages work better as you get sharper definition in the printing. I send John prepared files for each colour and he just prints them so white and black could easily have been red and blue. The actual file is just black text/logos on a white background. The ALPS printer will print wherever there is a black area, and uses one cartridge of colour at a time, so the above transfers took two passes.

This segregation of the different colours into separate PDF files is made a lot easier in Illustrator, where you can also convert the text into outlines. If you want more advice or me to take a look at your files drop me an email.
 
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Thanks Nigel - I think the thing Paul was asking was what format you needed to send things to John at Precision Labels to print as transfers, and as I explained, it's not a colour file - the ALPS printer only prints where it sees black - so each colour needs a seperate PDF, a bit like old fashioned screen printing. The advantage of a program that uses vector graphics and layers is that you can actually draw it all in one go, then manually seperate the different colours into different layers using a common datum point, so when overlaid it's perfectly aligned. That's how I do my two colour sets for the EJ&KLR modern logo for the diesel shunters.
I also notice I didn't answer Paul's question about scaling. You need to do the drawing on an A4 portrait sheet, with a 15mm gutter setup around the edge (nothing will print on this area), the PDF knows it's an A4 sheet so scaling is locked... I check by taking measurements as Illustrator lets you adjust artwork to mm measurements, not just points.
 
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Slow but steady progress now on the Piko Railbus bash, and with the cold but dry weather tonight I risked airbrushing the silver onto the body.
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I used my usual B&Q premium masking tape, cut on a glass picture frame with a knife and steel rule to prepare the V stripes at each end.
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The Humbrol gloss silver paint (191) was lightly thinned and airbrushed surprisingly well. In this light the finish looks blotchy but that will disappear as it is only a variation in the gloss finish, a I will apply satin varnish after I apply the transfers and paint the door handles and buffers.
 
Re:Piko VT98 bash...

Oh, that is looking good James....
 
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