TO ACHIEVE A ‘MAKEOVER’, ETC. ......
The following ‘step by step’ description is for internally decorating and adding drivers and passengers to a Lima GWR Railcar.
Remove all four buffers from the railcar body, which will need careful ‘teasing out’, as most are tightly fitted but should not have been glued in, so careful inspection will be needed before starting. To remove the railcar body, carefully unscrew the two ‘holding’ screws located underneath the chassis. The railcar body can then be ‘eased’ away from the chassis to reveal the interior, which sits on the chassis that conceals a very large and heavy weight...!
The plastic interior moulding can then be removed to expose wiring to the ‘trailing’ bogie.
Before painting the interior, clean all surfaces with methylated spirit using a cotton wool bud and leave to dry for about 5 minutes, before painting.
Usually, the floor, seating and exposed seat ends will need a different colour for each, but these colours will depend on which era is being modelled..... that’s if you wish to be ‘accurate’...!
Set aside to dry thoroughly for at least 12 hours, so that the paint has hardened.
Now is the time to ‘populate’ the coach, and, even though there are several manufacturers producing good figurines, I tend to use the unpainted ‘Preiser’ range of seated passengers (that will have been previously painted by myself), as that is the cheapest option plus I can decide on the appropriate colours to suit the appropriate period of travel.
Depending on what figures I have available, I tend to do a ‘dry run’ in finding suitable positions for them, so as to create a reasonable realistic scene. Then I use a small amount of ‘Super Glue Gel’ to adhere them in their places. As these coaches were used on both main and branch lines, I try to achieve a ‘balance’ between not enough and too many passengers, so that the finished interior looks about right....! That’s also the reason why each one of these that I work on is unique...!
Now is the time to reassemble the coach.
Firstly, place the interior onto the floor of the chassis and ensuring that the weight is in its correct position with the wiring undamaged...! Then place the body very carefully over the chassis, so that the motor end is within the ‘luggage area’, and gently press the body shell down onto the chassis unit. As this is a very ‘snug fit, only apply gentle pressure, so as to avoid any damage to the body shell...!
The two long screws can now be replaced and tightened gently. After that, the four plastic buffers can be ‘eased’ back into place, first checking that all is correctly aligned before undertaking this last task....!
If you would like to change the running number of the railcar, then you will need to purchase a sheet of ‘Pressfix’ transfers, issued by HMRS, from your local model shop. If you need further information or advice, please contact me.
Finally, the manufacturers seem to have decided that no destination nameboards were required for all of these railcars...! As we know, these served a great many lines and destinations. More recently, I produced a small thick paper sheet, for Twickenham & District Model Railway Club that gave the modeller an opportunity to provide these destination names. If you would like to buy one of these sheets, then please let me know. Images