HE Express modifications

[chuck]

I try not to talk to anyone in either store, customers or staff.

I've had trouble just getting the staff to do their jobs like opening the locked case. I wound up buying a new airbrush on-line because the local a*holes at Lobby Hobby couldn't find a "department head" with a key to open the case. It was cheaper on Amazon even with the stupid store coupon.

Michaels is fine if you know where to find what you are looking for.

[G3750]

Usually prices at JoAnn's are brutal as well. Around here they tend to offer coupons on things that aren't on sale. That means very small items; everything else is "on sale". Translation: we jack up the price 200% and then knock off 50% and you should thank us.

George

[Roy]

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.

Just based on the short clip I posted, I agree with your daughter - although not that it's linen cloth. The walls look more like caramel/mojave/off-white painted hard surfaces. Colorwise, it should be quite close to your birch plywood.

[chuck]

Here are some shots of MK1 and MK2 compartment interiors and corridors. I believe these are all refurbished units. I prefer the ones with more wood and less whatever they used for the wall treatments.

[Roy]

These colors look similar to those in the clip I posted. The walls are a bit lighter, and the seats are green. Also, I'm not seeing the pull-down armrests.

[chuck]

I think the indents for the arm rest are there, just not as pronounced. Here is a shot of the compartment form the Half Blood Prince with Harry playing with the the folded arm rest.



This are a couple of shots of another car used in that film, one we hadn't seen before:





I'll use this layout for the two brake coaches that would be at either end of the train.

[chuck]

Now we're getting down to the tedious parts. This is a shot of one of the side walls with the windows cut out. Top image is a test of stain colors. I've done a second coat of the primary color ("swatches" are failed choices) and will apply a third coat in about an hour. The stain is quite a bit darker than the photo shows. The 100 watt daylight LED really washes out the stain.



This is the insert of the wall to the car. Left hand window is inside the bathroom, it will have an opaque windows and the bathroom walls will cover up the inside wall.



Cutting the windows requires a very sharp blade. The plywood is not as forgiving as the card stock. This is just going to take some time.

[Roy]

I presume the side wall is your birch plywood. Could this be cut by laser?

[chuck]

Yes, and yes. I'd prefer a die cutter like the Klic-N-Kut Max Solo. I'm not fond of any laser with enough power to cut stuff in a home setting,

https://knkusa.com/knk-maxx-duo/

Since we are only talking about a few cars, that's a steep price tag (and learning curve) to make a limited run. The second side panel took 1/4 the time to cut compared to the first one did and I've actually started work on the compartment seats. I may have some more photos by end of day.

[Roy]

I understand, about not wanting a laser at home. I was thinking this sort of process could be outsourced, if anyone around does this commercially. Glad to hear you've finished the sides, and are working on the seats.

[chuck]

I'm looking at that cutter really hard. I was going to pull the trigger on the previous model, "The Force" when it was discontinued. I'm glad I didn't because of the complexity of the device.

The other unit could handle 4kg of cutting force, the Max does 2kg and can handle plastic, card stock, vinyl, and thin wood. The camera can scan in patterns for cutting. Maybe next year.

[Roy]

How does the Klic-n-cut work? Is it a vertically oscillating knife blade?

[chuck]

I don't think it oscillates, just a very hard, very sharp cutter backed by 2kg force and an x/y drive to move around.

[Roy]

Are there no compartments on the brake coaches?

[chuck]

The layout depicted in the Half Blood Prince show the car to look much like a US version of a lounge/luggage combine. One half is storage, other half is set up like an Amtrak "snack" car with one aisle in the middle of the car and twin seats on either side. It looks like some of the seats are arranged face to face with a small table between them. The overhead "bin" runs the length of the car as far as the bulkhead between the seating and storage area. This is what is depicted in the film. I don't know if that's what the car would really look like.

I do know that the director and/or the director of photography used a different car to film Harry's "smoke bomb". The CGI affect is depicted form outside the train on one of the middle cars, a standard coach. The break coaches where actually at the ends of the train with the baggage storage next to the tender and the extreme end of the train. Draco does exit the train at Hogsmead from the last coach (aka the brake coach). "Artistic License"

This is why modeling stuff shown in a film can be challenging. As much work as Kubrick's staff did on 2001 to make everything as accurate as possible there were screw ups. The Moebius Models Discovery has several photo etched add ons. You can model the pod bay OR you can model the emergency airlock, you can't model both. They both won't fit In a movie it's supposed to look good on film, not necessarily work.

BTW, I have four seats that have their cloth finish and the last two of the first three compartment set should be done today. These are the fourth try at the seats and they have to work, I'm running out of ideas. BBTW I started looking for 1/50 scale people. I can find sets of seated passengers but they are all adults. I don't see any small children.