HE Express modifications

[healey36]

Great project! I have an MTH doodlebug that could use similar treatment. Watching closely...

Healey

[chuck]

K-Line developed "stream lighting" as a single in-line roof mounted board. I'm not sure about the surface mount LED's as some of the early stuff used mini incandescents. I'm using the stuff that comes in rolls and has double stick tape on the back.

[Roy]

I'm using the stuff that comes in rolls and has double stick tape on the back.

Sounds great. Looking forward to seeing it.

[G3750]

K-Line developed "stream lighting" as a single in-line roof mounted board. I'm not sure about the surface mount LED's as some of the early stuff used mini incandescents. I'm using the stuff that comes in rolls and has double stick tape on the back.

Wow, that's a neat project Chuck!

BTW, I think 3rd Rail makes a lighting board (LEDs).

George

[chuck]

I've used this technique on other projects. This is the same stream lighting I used on the 1/720 scale CBN 65 Enterprise to light the hangar deck. There are two parallel lines of light, one for daylight and one for night time (red).



I was able to successfully paint the warm white LED's with red clear coat. A lot of "white" LED's can't be tinted because the light source is not full spectrum. Specific wavelengths are blended to give the illusion of white light.

Here is the effect on a test fit showing the hangar deck. This model is still being worked on. The air wing is a pain to paint and modify, the 1/700 scale planes are configured for launch, aka no folded wings/tails.

[chuck]

George posted:

BTW, I think 3rd Rail makes a lighting board (LEDs).

Yes, thank you. I looked at these but decided the roll I have will actually work better, I can custom cut/adapt for my needs. I have downloaded the circuit for inserting between the light string and the wheel pickups and that can be installed in the "bathrooms" at one end of the cars. I'm working on some card stock mock ups right now and may have some more pictures in a little while.

Card stock mockup. This will be used to adjust size of real compartments. This is just manila file folder and Duco cement.



This is the foil template for the window cut outs:

[Roy]

Does anyone make 1:48 Harry Potter figurines?

[webenda]

Does anyone make 1:48 Harry Potter figurines?

Not likely. Metal figures come in sizes from 2 mm to 54 mm. Closest to 1:48 scale is 35 mm ≈ 1:52.3 scale and 40 mm ≈ 1:43 scale.

Walmart sells 40 mm Harry Potter figures. Harry stands 6 feet 7 inches.



Reference: https://www.walmart.com/ip/NANO-METALFI ... /439379293?

[chuck]

No photo's today. I visited a local Doll House shop looking for either wall paper or "carpeting" to make the seat cushions/covers. No luck. Then it was an insane stint at JoAnn's fabrics to get some blue gray velvet (10 minutes to find the sh*t, 15 minute wait to get it measured/cut and then another 15 minute wait to get checked out). Arghhhhh.

At the moment I'm not worried about passengers per se. I'll start looking for some architectural figures (usually around 1/50) later. These are supposed to be children/young adults. If they are in their "uniforms" it should make painting easy (assuming I can find figures).

BTW, I have pickup up some of the Walmart figures. There are actually multiple version of Harry, the younger ones are smaller. Some of the characters like Hagrid are supposed to be 7'+ tall. Maybe I can use those on the station platform.

[Roy]

Some of those Walmart Harry Potter figures look really good. Too bad I don't have a pantograph die sinking machine.

Sorry about the JoAnn's hellulence. Maybe, it's the season?

[chuck]

JoAnnes is always that way. Part of t's just the nature of the store. The organization of the store doesn't make sense to me and then there is the way cloth is sold. You pay by the yard but the bolts are different widths. They have tried to make it less painful for the cutters with bar code scanners on the bolt ends to make the calculations easier. The same thing happens when you check out. The clerk has to read the scan the ticket and then the register computes the cost. It's just a time consuming process. It also doesn't seem to matter when you go there. It only takes three to four people buying cloth to make it a time sink.

Michaels and Lobby Hobby are quirky. Stuff is organized by craft family so a pair of scissors or pliers for flower arranging are in the flower arranging area while the jewelry ones are in jewelry. It's nothing like a hardware store.

[chuck]

Started work modifying the roof. This was necessary as I need accurate profiles of the roof line to make the "bulkheads" between the compartments.

I cut off one end to get the new interior end caps adjusted



Then I started work on cutting down the "white" window inserts. This will require further adjustment but I need a start to figure out whether it makes more sense to try to use the last 3/16" as an alignment tab for the roof or to flush cut and install a new tab. I'd like to do the former as it's less work. I'll know soon enough. I will "finish" these cuts by hand with either a razor saw or the "pencil" Dremel. This was on purpose. I did not want the sides to collapse while cutting and risk ruining the roof.



I fabricated the Dremel tool holder out of HDP cutting board material from Gordon Food Services. This allows me to shim up whatever I am cutting and then slide the holder along the object to cut a parallel line. The bit had a "V" shape (on purpose) and I had to adjust the speed of the tool to "cut" rather than melt the plastic. I used a hand held "pencil" version to remove the end cap. That end cut was "free hand". A decent band saw may have made quicker work of this but I don't know of any "variable speed" saws and plastics are very sensitive to heat build up. You can go from cutting/chipping to a mass of melted plastic in fractions of a second. You can see where there was "burn through" on one end of the car when the tool dragged and actually sunk through the channel and bound up.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Card stock mockup. This will be used to adjust size of real compartments. This is just manila file folder and Duco cement.

Looking nice just in the card stock. Not sure that I'd go to another medium for this part - what are you planning to use? Styrene?

[chuck]

Combination of styrene and bass wood. I do have some 1/64 inch thick (or thin) 3 ply birch plywood for paneling. I like the look of the plywood and may use it more extensively than depicted in the film. I was discussing this with my daughter and she thinks they may have used an off white linen cloth treatment for the upper walls to get more reflected light.

We were both looking at freeze frames from the Prisoner of Azkaban and you can see the roof treatment changes is the corridor scenes. It flips from flat (totally wrong) to a weird CGI morph of the arched roof (would be correct except the arch is just form the outside wall to the compartment interior wall instead of to the opposite wall. Hey, it's a movie.

I did finish removing the white plastic "window inserts" and was able to do a test fit. Roof matches. I was also able to use a bench sander to sand is down to about 1/2 the depth is was cut to and I can use this final depth for the remaining cars. This should provide enough "grab" to keep roof in place yet allow me to create a sandwich of the PETG clear window material and the paneling for the car's walls. I will use the aluminum foil template to mark the plywood for window cut outs. PETG will be secured to outer walls with double stick tape. I will have to remove some cross bracing in the roof that was there to keep it "rigid" and install a thin sheet of white styrene for the new roof interior that will be the mount point for the LED's.

[robert.]

"Michaels and Lobby Hobby are quirky. Stuff is organized by craft family so a pair of scissors or pliers for flower arranging are in the flower arranging area while the jewelry ones are in jewelry. It's nothing like a hardware store."
I'll bet you a dollar a doughnut. If you stand in anyone of those stores. Open your cell phone and google the item your looking for with the store's name. It will tell you what isle to find it in. Then you can get a 60% off coupon on your phone.