More BHG

This evening I removed the handrails from each end, and also the sliding door handles from the goods compartment doors. The 0.2mm drill bit was too fine for my pin vice to grip, so I switched to 0.5mm ... which I promptly lost on the carpet. Thus the handrail holes ended up as 0.55mm.
All parts have been washed & scrubbed with an old toothbrush.

I checked the orientation of the ends, sides & floor based on photos from James McInerney and Howard Armstrong (via the SDS Models site). All mating edges were marked and the fit checked, before I commenced gluing the pairs of sides / ends into sub-assemblies.

There will likely be some judicious filling to be done. I've straightened the sides & ends as best I can, but the castings really are pretty crappy. Despite what the instructions say, the index keying of the floor to the sides doesn't actually work. A sink mark on the roof was filled, and will need sanding once cured.

Once the sides and ends are assembled to the floor, I'm planning on putting in compartment walls and very basic seats. I'm also thinking of trying interior lighting, with some surface mount LEDs I scored recently. They have built in resistors for 12V operation. The plan is to use some KD centring springs as pick-ups, and wire from them to a bridge rectifier and 16V 47,000uf cap installed in the luggage compartment. This will allow the lights to work in both directions, and also keep them on for a while when stopped. Not sure if I'm keen enough to do something about marker lights. If I do I'll use the constant brightness, directional scheme from Jonathan Hilliard so it won't matter which way the van is facing.

Time for bed, less caffeine consumed today so hopefully I'll sleep better.

Bundy, Roy?

Absolutely!
A use has been found for the contents of the minibar, to apply weight to the ends of the BHG after dunking in boiling water.

Back to work...

Where is Weddin Jct? That's in Queensland,

Queensland's everywhere.

Well, another series loss for the Blues. Perhaps I should've left the telly off, or stayed in the pool, instead of retiring to the room for some more BHG goodness.

Have vice, will travel. Damn mini-bar is looking more attractive as I identify more deficiencies with the Hawksmoor kit.

 

Straightening the floor / underframe. Using the bogie mounting screws from the kit, I attached the floor to the edge of my travelling cutting block, and applied heat from the hair drier thoughtfully provided by Rydges. I'll leave this overnight to see what happens once it's cooled.

Majority of de-flashing done, and holes drilled for buffers. Along the way I posted some questions on a FB group regarding the steps & handrails. Evan Rees & Tom Pall provided some sound advice & photos,

 

so I lopped off the kit steps, and carefully scraped off the handrails. The steps will be replaced with styrene & staple versions (similar to what I did on my ILM Yass Town HG4148), and the hand rails with 0.008" wire. There is a chunk of solebar missing under the guard's compartment on one side (moulding defect), so I tidied that up and will let in a piece of styrene to fix it. The ends are proving troublesome, as they are concave. Will try soaking them in hot water tomorrow, then leaving them weighted down.

 

More photos found via Google images, from the SDS Models site, and an archive of James McInerney's blog posts over the years, revealed that I need to remove the dog box doors. I think I'll cut these out completely and replace with styrene, then scribe in the matchboards, rather than trying to fill and then scribe the filler, which I find just chips off completely.

 

Bed time, I think. Another day of AS/NZS3000 public comment review looms ...

On the road again...

A trip to Brissy this week for a Standards Committee meeting unfortunately coincides with the Thugby League State of Origin. Won't worry me, as I'll hide in my hotel room and work on the MBC, MRC & a Hawksmoor SHG. One end of the MBC came adrift in transit last night, fortunately no shattered resin resulted.

The workbench at Rydges Fortitude Valley, inconveniently adjacent to the mini-bar, the use of which which Corporate won't reimburse :-(

 

Hawksmoor SHG / BHG kit. Polyurethane castings from old Protype masters. Lots of flash to remove, and judicious straightening of castings required.

 

 

Will see how things progress this evening.