James H

I haven’t built the tracks yet. I need to install sleepers and rails and the associated hardware. At the moment I’m using the base to sit the train on.

My bench is as you see, but to the right is a photographic setup I mostly use for my magazine work. So I build on the bench and then photograph straight after. This model is just too big to do all photos in that area, hence many bench photos.

Genius...

Lovely work Danny 😎

This is massive! What a great project 👍

Any scale

Firstly, my thanks to Amati for sending this kit out to be reviewed and built here at MSW. The Orient Express 1929 Sleeping Car comes in a very large and heavy box which is chock full of laser-cut timber, brass/silver-nickel photo-etch, cast and turned parts, trip wood, brass section lengths, decals, etc. and two amazing glossy instruction manuals. You'll need a few basic tools for this, such as a good bench vice, craft knives, metal files and small drill bits, screwdrivers and pliers. Optional items are a soldering iron and a blowtorch. You will need some abrasive paper, superglue and some good wood glue. Work starts by removing the two thick plywood chassis frames from their sheets and gluing them together. From here, the photo etch chassis frames are added with superglue and bolted together amidships. You will find a lot of holes in the photo-etch, need to be drilled out for the two different sizes of bolt that are supplied in this kit. Brass strip is added to each side of the chassis whilst the frame is dry-sat on the ply platform. This creates a recess into which the platform with later sit. The platform is now finally glued into place and clamped so that it's totally flat. A mixture of 50:50 PVA and water is applied to the underside of the chassis, sealing it in readiness for the paint. Games Workshop 'Chaos Black' is now sprayed over the underside, using a rattle-can. I did try airbrushing this, but it was too big a job, and the coverage of this spray paint is amazing. It also dries very quickly. It was now time to open up some of the small bags of fittings. Her you see the buffer suspension. These needed to be drilled out to allow them to plug together. As they are cast, this was an easy task. The buffer suspension units are now fitted to the chassis ends. Underneath the chassis are fitted a compressed gas tank and some battery boxes. You will find that heating up the brass for the tank will help it to be bent far more easily. Here you can see the completed tank and battery boxes. Solder was used for the main joint, and superglue for the rest. Note that one box had to have ply feet added as the legs were too short. The battery boxes and tank are now fitted. The photo-etch in this model can be quite thick, and in some cases, almost 1mm thick. You will need a saw to cut through the main tags. The first bogey took me 3 days to get to this stage. I found that adding heat to the part before bending made it WORSE! Don't do it! Learn from my mistake and use careful and selective bending techniques to make this. I went through this pain so you don't have to. Small nuts and bolts are used to fasten things together. More cast parts for the suspension here, and yes, more drilling out to make the various pins etc. fit into place. Note with this first bogey, I was painting things as I went along. ...including the main frame: Cast and turned parts are included for the wheels and axles etc. More brass parts for the braking mechanism. Complete with all paint chips, here is the completed bogie. Total construction time was ONE WHOLE WEEK!! However, after learning from my mistakes, I built the second bogie in only SIX HOURS! Both bogies were now spray painted in black. Uschi van der Rosten steel weathering pigments were now used to weather the bogies and chassis. More weathering will be added when the track is complete. Fitting the Head A & B ply floor sections proved troublesome as the underlying photo-etch made them too thick. I reduced the thickness of these by half. Head A & B bulkheads were fitted by the temporary help of the carriage end bulkheads. With these in place, the internal frames were now completed, and the side wall test-fitted. Each cabin floor was now test-fitted: ...including the corridor floor: Pritt Stick was used to affix the paper carpet parts to the floor sections. And the floor sections finally glued into position. More soon!!!!

Hi all, My build log for this amazing Amati kit will start here very shortly as soon as I've edited the photos. This is a large project at 1/32, and is a multimedia kit constructed from wood, metal and paper.

Hi all, Whilst ships are what we generally do, we all like a little distraction, or downtime where we can explore other areas of creativity. This could be rail, aircraft, cars, or even totally different subjects. This forum is for you to post your work and show us another side to your creativity. UPDATE: Please note that we now have a sub-forum for topics that show finished models only sans build logs.

How is this progressing? Looking forward to seeing how you tackle this one.

Can you not fit some props between the deck and the thin frames, until the planking is complete? These can then just be removed.

You'll be as high as a kite after using Evo on that entire lower hull 🤣

It looks neatly done. Are the lines gaps between planks?

Nice to have you here Victor. I hope you get the answers you need.

Subscribed to this 🍿

Stunning! Lovely work, Rusty.

Thanks for that insight, Ron, and sharing that photo. I'm real pleased that you found it a good build, even with your changes and improvements. You must have the patience of a saint to mask all those painted areas!

Cheers. I'll add it.

That is a work of art. Just superb.

Remember that we had to compile this list aiming at the average modeller who may never have built in wood. Some modellers will take to the hobby like a duck to water, whilst others may not. Then there is always the unknown factor about a newcomer being used to working in wood before they make their first ship. The list is like a line of best fit, and will generally apply, but may not have applied to you personally. It's simply a guide. We will doubtless lose many to this hobby because their first project was too ambitious and they crashed and burned. It does happen, in every hobby. You generally still need to walk before you can run. Many newcomers will need something simple and not that 20yr HMS Victory project which could last 6 months and sap their enthusiasm.

Lovely resource!

That is very true. I hope this topic will help those that do have an inkling of what is before them.

If you can send me an amendment for specific areas, I'll post it into the topic.

There is flexibility there, but I put in my article that I would use shim pieces to pack out the clamps as much as possible.

Jaw-dropping.....