"Charles" gets a new suit of clothes!
Part 2
Rick Fletcher - NSW Australia

Updated 19 Jan 2017 (edit 21 March 2017)

This is a friend's Fleischmann 4028 0-6-0 Steam Locomotive which is to be used as a "proving" loco for his layout under construction. It is a little over the NSWR loading gauge but squeaks past my platforms. Wheel flanges are a bit gross but have been filed a little and now run through my code 75 points OK. It is also to be a test bed for DCC and as such, is an interesting exercise.      Part 2 is the new suit of clothes aka a repaint.                Part 1 showed the earlier work

 Rick Fletcher


The little German loco is getting ready for a new role on a friend's proposed shale railway.

The rather poor video below shows the loco operating with its Loksound decoder programmed with the ESU sound file for this type of loco.
I also realise now that I have neglected to include a description of the installation of the decoder; speaker etc. COMING!
There is some detail on the Sugar Cube speaker which is installed in the smokebox (See HERE) but more is to come.




This is the stand I use for painting locos and some rolling stock. It rotates and there is a stop at one end.
The elastic bands serve to prevent some rolling stock from careering over the end. The two bronze nails
visible underneath are soldered to each rail and allow a connection to track power. This is to allow the
technique I learned from Ian Dunn at a "Modelling the Railways of NSW" presentation. For spray painting
the running gear of a loco, the tracks are cleaned and lightly lubricated then with the buffers against the end
stop, the loco is powered at crawling pace and the wheels and motion gently airbrushed. Works for me!


The underside. The vertical post is a piece of large diameter dowel drilled top & bottom and screwed
so that the top plate can swivel stiffly.


My air tank constructed from a 9kg gas bottle. These can be purchased new (therefore clean inside)
and provide enough air from one charge by my main compressor to allow a lot of spraying.
There are many YouTube articles describing the fittings.


Air brush holder adjacent to the spray booth.


Spray booth over-view. Based on an oven fume extractor fitted with spray booth filter material.


This extractor has a built-in light, speed adjustment, sealed fan and a drop down holder to retain the filter matting.


A 100mm flexible vent pipe removes fumes.


"Charles" running gear was not able to receive the Ian Dunn treatment as it has an open frame ringfield motor and many
exposed gears. The only acceptable path was to carefully mask all the motor parts and rotate the running gear by hand
moving the large gear hidden behind a flap in the masking tape.


Ready to do the job
 

Body shell first by sitting it over a tightly fitting wooden holder.
First coat - an etch primer.
And the cab roof - which my colleague describes as the "Targa Top" in this removed state!
The running gear has had several very light coats with the tyres yet to be stripped of paint.
You can make out the plastic gear used to rotate the motion to fully expose all the mechanical parts.
Other side.

This photo also shows the modification made to the ringfield motor for DCC.
An excellent Kit is available at "All Aboard" at Mittagong NSW - see Details HERE

Ready for finishing coats. The cab roof will be re-attached after the decoder is installed within.


The Targa Top is no more. The roof is now permanently in place as it was much easier to fit the decoder with
the cross bar removed. The front side windows have also been removed as they were becoming opaque.
They will be replaced. Wheels are now clean and the motor test run on DC.

OTHER MODS TO COME:

  • Chimney: drilled out to open a sound port to the DCC speaker in the smokebox - DONE
  • Lights: all original bulbs and holders removed which frees up a large amount of space for a speaker and decoder.- DONE
  • Lights: replacement by miniature LEDs
  • Speaker: sugar cube or home brewed variant for DCC fitted in the smokebox. - DONE
  • Decoder: owner's preference. This is a sample SOUND FILE  - DONE (ESU Loksound)
  • Ringfield Motor: Replace the Backplate with the Fleischmann replacement part # 50 4730 for DCC - DONE
  • Repaint & Weathering: possibly to represent a (ficticious) loco imported from Germany for evaluation (?)- Under way