BR86 Locomotive by Greg Davis - Hobby Boss - 1:72 Scale - PLASTIC

[Greg Davis]

Not long ago I decided that I would like to build a few plastic models. Kits Plastic models that I've seen over the past several years have amazed me in comparison to those I played with some 50 - 60 years ago. The skills that plastic modelers bring to the table are incredible as well. Painting skills are often unbelievable to me! So I jumped in the deep end bought a few kits (not confessing to how many). Steam locomotives have been a longtime fascination of mine as well - so when I saw that there are some nice static plastic locomotive kits available, some made their way to my house. 

 

This past December, I assembled my first - a Hobby Boss 1:72 scale BR86. I also got to practice a bit with a spay brush and now it's now ready for a clear coat, a few decals, and a little weathering:

 

In this forum I will be showing my work on building a second model of this locomotive. As I go along, I hope that will be interest in the build.  Perhaps some of you will be able to provide me with comments on how I can improve my work with plastic. Yes, there is a reason that I've chosen to build two of these engines - it is so that they can 'push' the Hobby Boss 1:72 scale Dora Railgun someday. This is why the rails / rail bed hasn't been painted. To display the railgun and locomotives track will need to be laid longer than the kits account for.

 

Here's what comes in the kit:

5 spruces of parts for the engine, another with some roadbed and rails and a small one representing glass. The cab and coal bunker are included separately as well as a few decals. There is a 12 page instruction manual printed in black and white along with a two sided glossy sheet displaying two painting schemes. The scheme in the above picture shows the BR86 all in various shades of black and grey, the reverse side shows a scheme where the wheels and chassis is in red. I chose the scheme with red for the first model; this one I am thinking of doing in the grey scheme.

 

So again, I hope that some of you find this topic interesting and also are willing to provide some guidance to navigate this realm of modeling.

 

Thanks,

 

Greg  

 

[Greg Davis]

Here's the start of my work - the chassis sides with axles.

 

I'm using Tamiya Extra Thin Cement, I don't know if this is the best choice, but it does seem to be commonly used on build sites I've looked at. I don't know if I should be getting some assortment of glues; i.e., should I have different glues for certain situations?

 

I got an assortment of Flex-I-file. I like the range of grits, but I don't foresee them lasting long as there is already some separation of the sanding surface from the stick. I find this surprising, given the cost. For my wood boat work, I often get sanding sticks from the manicure isle. 

In the above picture, the only pieces glued were a cross-member (left of the axles) to the two sides. The axles are just press fit here. While everything seemed to be pretty square, I used the large and small rectangular top pieces to finish the alignment. After that other details were added.

I should have reviewed my notes from BR86 #1 and not glued in part B17 (circled in blue above). The instructions show the part being added here and also in a couple pages. The second time it is noted is probably a better time to add it. At least that's what I had concluded a couple of weeks ago. The reason is that there will be two beams that go through B17 near the top and in the last build the fit was so tight I needed to reduced their cross section to fit. I felt that it would have been easier to make these adjustments with B17 off the model - oh well, I live and don't always learn! 

 

Below is the instructions for what I have assembled so far. The pieces circled in red will be added later. The couplers drop down below the top of the rails when the engine is complete, so they can't be added until the very end. The poles and steps are better left until the boiler, coal compartment, and cab have been installed. The rails for the step in the front of the engine fits into notches on the boiler assembly; leaving their assembly until later makes alignment easier.  

Cylinder assemblies are up next. 

   

 

[Greg Davis]

Cylinder subassemblies were completed and installed today. I didn't attach parts A1 and A2 - pipes from the boiler to the cylinders at this time. The top of these pieces rest on the boiler assembly and are more easily aligned once the boiler assembly is fitted to the chassis. 

 

Here's the cylinders attached to the chassis. The brake system has also been added. I think the brake linkage (A6) is one of the most interesting pieces in the kit - to bad it is nearly invisible on the finished model. 

This is what the instructions suggest you should do in Step 4. The wheels will be painted separately and added in the final assembly process.

[Greg Davis]

Did what I could from Step 5. Mostly beginning work on the running gear near the cylinders. The subassembly on the upper left of the instruction sheet was the main piece of work. The five pieces go together pretty well with a little fiddling to get the linkages into position. The beams circled in blue are the one's I mentioned earlier as being a bit troublesome. Like in my other BR86, I needed to reduce the cross-section so that the beams would fit through the openings in B17. The only other thing of note is that I didn't glue the linkages or the beams until the whole assembly was in the correct position. It is really important that the linkages can be moved as the subassembly is put into place.

Here's a better view of the bit of work:

The rest of the running gear - outlined in red will probably be added during the final assembly. However, I may change my mind and add in all but the wheel linkages B26 and B27 before painting. 

 

Next the instructions turn to the topsides.