Upgrading Bachmann BR Mk 1 Suburban Coaches

by John Kendall

24 April 2012

These coaches are generally very good. Body mouldings are crisp and decoration is top notch. I have two lots of these: 4 in crimson and 4 in lined maroon. The latter batch came out last year and have improved decoration in the form of window transfers and overhead warning flashes. By the way, by using a magnifying glass, I determined that the blue sign on the window of the brake coach compartment adjacent to the lav. says "LADIES ONLY".

However, being a couple of generations old, the coaches are sorely lacking in two significant areas:

1) Glazing - definitely NOT flush and
2) Undeframes - very clunky and crude

This project will be in two parts broken down into the categories above.

I will first of all add flush glazing from 2 sources. The first will be the Extreme Etching laser cut flush glazing from Shawplan. I have never seen a review of these so I think one is overdue. The second source will be SE Finecast flush glazing. I used this for my ex LMS suburbans - see post below.

The next phase will be to rework the underframes. For this I will use components from Comet Models.

I have eight coaches to do (groan!). The Shawplan glazing pack can be seen on the left. Next to it is a pack of underframe components including vacuum cylinders, battery boxes, dynamos and assorted other bits. The next pack contains switch boxes and oil valves. Finally there is a pack of buffers and jumper cables.

I've been working on the flush glazing and here is the result:

The brake on the left has flush glazing (in case you didn't know).

The underframe is held on with quite sturdy clips. The best way to get it out is to lever the coach side away from the underframe using an Xacto blade and pry the other side with another Xacto. The lower step is quite fragile so be careful (ask me how I know).

First, to use the Shawplan glazing you must REALLY want to flush glaze your coaches. It is very fiddly. I got off to a bit of a rough start but with practice I got in my stride. There are NO instructions and the best I could do was find some photos on the Shawplan site/blog.

First question: what to use for adhesive? I opted for Future (old). I understand that there is a new formulation which is not as good for this job (I imagine it does polish floors though).

The pack contains door windows and compartment windows. Remove only those windows you want to install from the fret. I used a sanding stick (nail file) to smooth the corners. I decided to begin with the door windows. The windows go in from the front and you need to understand that there is a very subtle taper which means you need to be careful that the window goes in the right way up. For the door windows there is also, again, a very subtle difference in corner radius delineating top and bottom. Get it wrong and there will be a gap at the bottom.

I used a small flat brush to apply the Future very carefully to minimise getting the stuff on the coach side. When not in use, put the brush in a container of water. Do about half a dozen at a time and allow to dry for about 15 minutes. Check that the windows are still where you want them. Any that are out of line will be obvious when viewing along the length of the coach.

I have done a second open and found that the compartment windows don't seem to fit as well as on the brake. I put this down to tiny differences in window opening dimensions. Running a curved Xacto blade along the inside of the windows will help to open them up. Yo may want to fettle the windows a bit as well, particularly the corners.

25 April 2012

Since I had the coaches apart and the windows are much clearer than the old ones, I decided to improve the interiors somewhat. Nothing fancy but just painting floors and seats. I'm not entirely sure and I did do a search but I think 2nd/3rd class seats were red. The simple representation of compartment pictures is taken from a Bill Bedford seat download, free on his site: http://www.mousa.biz/downloads/coach_seats.html

The coaches look brilliant to me as evidenced by this picture:

I added security bars on the parcels compartment window of the 2 brakes by:

1) chemically blackening 0.020" and
2) gluing it into place

I still need to add "No Smoking" decals.

That's phase 1 a) done. Phase 1 b) will add Finecast flush glazing to 4 other coaches.

2 May 2012

I completed Phase 1 b) today.

The effect is good although perhaps not as crisp as the Shawplan. Finecast glazing is vacuum formed, a technology quite a few years old. I am pleased though.

The windows come as two sheets, one for door windows and one for compartment windows. I cut them out with scissors. These go in from the back and most of the time they just pop in, held firmly enough to do the whole coach.

In many cases, the windows wouldn't go in and for these I resorted to a curved Xacto blade to scrape the window openings and to carve the corner radii. Do a little at a time and keep trying your window until it goes in. The sheet does include windows of varying sizes. Some of the door windows wouldn't stay put so I had to glue (Future floor polish, aka Kleer) these one at a time. One advantage is that the Future can be applied to the backs of the windows reducing the risk of getting it all over the coach sides. I used a Qtip to mop up excess Future from the windows.

As a final touch, I used Modelmaster "No Smoking" transfers.

Now to start on Phase 2. The components I will be working with are shown:

At the top is the Bachmann underframe and below that are the Comet components. The Jumper Cables and Buffers are really part of the body. I will have to think about whether I use the buffers, the Bachmann ones are not bad.

7 May 2012

I got two proof of concept underframes done over the last week. One is the Comet U/F pretty much out of the packet. The other is a hybrid using Comet components but the Bachmann plastic U/F with a great hole in the middle.

Here are the results:

First as a baseline, here's a side view of the original U/F:

Next a side view of the Comet U/F:

And finally, the hybrid:

Here's a view of the three undeframes from underneath:

Some comments on the process.

1) Comet underframe.

The floor is etched with the center struts as a fold up, but leave this until later.

The sides fold up and are reinforced by solder. These are designed for brass sided coaches so I found that the sides wouldn't go into the coach body when vertical. I folded that at an angle to provide a lead in. I also removed the floor retention tabs and thinned the coach sides by scraping with a knife. The U/F can be made to fit.

Solebars are tabbed so installation is not an issue, however, before fixing, the stepboard must be considered. There is no location device in the kit for this. The instructions call for drilling 0.7mm holes to accept wire that will support the steps. I marked a line 1mm up from the bottom of the solebar, while it was still on the fret and drilled at each tab.

Install the solebars next. Now, here's what I should have done: drilled for 0.020" and run 0.020" wire through both holes widthwise in the solebars and solder. Next take the step (the 2mm wide strip on the fret) and, starting from the center of the coach, solder it to the support wires. With these running across the width of the coach they won't go all floppy when the solder melts. Do this for both sides. Then reinforce with more solder along the length. I found the 0.032" wires to be too thick and obtrusive. When happy that the step is straight, cut the wires inside the solebar and grind/file flush. I also ground the support wires from under the step - the extra reinforcing solder will hold the step in place.

The center struts can now be folded into position now and soldered.

You will find there is a big hole in the floor of the U/F. First, I took the weight from the original underframe and glued that to the inside floor. When dry, I cut out 0.020" plastic card to shape and glued that to the outside floor to fill the cavity.

Solder the V hangars and voltage regulator support frame.

There are two lots of whitemetal lateral struts. These will need filing and fitting. I used cyano.

To fit the oil valves, drill a 0.020" hole in the inner strut (the location of these and other components can be seen on the instruction sheet that you download from Comet's site). Drill a hole in the valve support and glue wire to it. Fix to the inner strut with cyano. (I always like to pin small components).

I added a representation of brake rodding and dynamo belt.

I used the pinion from the plastic underframe, cut to the appropriate length to support the bogie.

2) Hybrid underframe.

Remove all the detail from the underframe. I used a Dremel with cutting wheel for this. Then, with the Dremel, cut through the floor and remove everything up to the end of the struts. Make the hole done by the first cuts too small, it's very easy to remove too much. Once you have the hole, remove material up to the bevel. Leave enough material for strength.

You will need to cut the Comet floor to the same length and width and the hole you just made. It will take some fettling to get both parts to fit nicely. The Comet floor needs to be about flush the bottom of the plastic floor.

Carry on as before soldering and fitting components.

Make two pieces of plastic card to overlap the hole by the distance from the edge of the Comet floor to the weight. Glue to the inside floor (I used Contact Cement). Next, make a filler piece of 0.040" card to the width of the overlap and glue with styrene cement.

Glue your Comet sub assembly to the bottom of the coach. Finish up the details.

A bit of trivia: the plastic U/F weighs 80 gms, the hybrid 100 gms and the Comet 120 gms. I don't think it matters all that much since most suburban trains we run will have 2 or 3 coaches - occasionally 4.

Conclusion:

I think both models look the part. Once painted I think one will be hard pressed to tell the difference. Both are a lot of work, for different reasons. I'm inclined to go with the hybrid because it's a drop in replacement.

8 May 2012

Having decided to use the hybrid method I spent an hour or so this morning, removing the detail from 2 underframes, shown here:

Width of hole is 30mm, length from end of U/F to hole is 54mm.  Length of hole is 117mm.

The next step is to build the Comet module and pack the U/F to receive it.

At the top is the packed U/F (white plastic) upon which the Comet module will sit.  At the bottom is the floor side of the U/F showing packing pieces glued on.  The plastic U/F is about 0.060" thick.  At the bottom is the Comet module with the weight glued to it.  The modules are cut to length but not yet cut to width.  There is not a lot left of the module once the struts have been folded up - the weight provides stiffness to the module.  0.020" card was glued into the cavity to give a flush floor.

9 May 2012

I spent some time today cutting, filing, grinding and otherwise fettling the Comet modules to acheive a snug fit in the underframe.  These have been glued into place:

12 May 2012

I started adding details today:

The V hangers were soldered in and all but the center struts glued in place with cyano.  Battery boxes were fixed with contact cement.

14 May 2012

I completed the underframes this morning.  I did discover that the Bachmann underframe is incorrect for brakes and the battery boxes should be directly opposite one another:

I painted the four underframes with grey primer:

Brakes are at the top.  Now with a coat of flat black:

17 May 2012

I've been putting finishing touches on the coaches.  I spent a day painting figures.  These aren't great but they are good enough to be inside a coach.  Here are a couple of shots of the finished result:

A word about couplings.  I've written about these before but this time I wanted to go step further and try to simulate the vacuum/steam heat hoses.  I reviewed Right Track 4 last night where Tony Wright shows how to install his home made coupling system.  It does work well.  Here are a couple of shots of the couplings before painting:

The brake end of course has a Kadee fitted:

I had to put Comet buffers on this coach because I found that two of the original buffers were broken.

I still have four more coaches to complete but these should be the same as these.

5 June 2012

For the last couple of weeks I have been testing the coaches on the club layout.  I get out there twice a week so it's been a slow process.  The bogie fronts were filed down slightly and the wires from the couplings and hoses were ground down.  I also ground the copper clad strip somewhat so that the bogies could swing and rock freely.  I also had to cut off the buffer heads and reattach them fully retracted in order to stop buffer locking through a double curved crossover.

Small Station Signs

by John Kendall

Getting those small signs that hang off station building to survive can be a problem, especially if the buildings are moved on a regular basis, as ours are.  I was asked to make some signs recently using the Scalescenes signs that came free with an issue of Hornby Magazine.

The idea I had was to use sheet brass and brass wire as shown:

The main sign was done using Powerpoint.  The sign structure is scrap brass soldered to bullhead rail.  The smaller signs have "U" shaped brass wire soldered to the top of pieces of brass sheet.  I scanned the Hornby Magazine sheet using high resolution.

The signs were cut out and glued to the brass after painting.  I should have chemically blackened the small signs but, instead used a black marker.  The top 2 signs are WR for our branch station.

Weathered Class 28

by John Kendall

Yesterday, I weathered a Class 28 Co-Bo for one of our club members. My friend David Finch wanted to use the new Hattons/Heljan Class 28 Co-Bo “Metrovick” to model a train these locos were most known for hauling, the fast overnight London to Glasgow “Condor”. The train used the Midland route via Leicester, Sheffield, Settle and Carlisle, and was operated from the start in 1959 by pairs of brand new Metrovicks, hauling a rake of roughly 25 Conflat container wagons. David wanted his locomotives to reflect the work-stained appearance of a long-haul freight loco in daily use. I agreed, and suggested also that my weathering job show the engines were still offered a modicum of care and attention as befitted a flagship freight service.









I have a fairly standard method to do this. I use an airbrush and only acrylic paint. I also used weathering powder.

I start by airbrushing some earth on the underframe, lower sides and roof. I follow this with some black, particularly on the roof.

Leave the paint for a few minutes, it dries very quickly.

I then detailed the bogie springs and surrounding area with rust powder. Use a smallish brush, this stuff goes a long way. Use a larger stiff brush to spread the powder around. Then take some umber/earth and lightly apply to the bogies and the lower sides in streaks. Use black powder on the roof. You will see black streaks coming down from the roof detail (dirt washed down from rain).

Finally, as this was a somewhat elite service I imagined that the loco might have had some attention from cleaners. I therefore used Windex (ammonia based window cleaner) and Qtips to wash the sides. You can still see dirt that the cleaners missed.

Parcels Shed for Patchwick

by John Kendall

Our branchline station is called Patchwick. I already described the main station building and platform. This should be a fairly straightforward project - a scratchbuild of the parcels office that goes near the main building.

C&L do a laser cut wood kit of the building (http://www.finescale.org.uk/index.php?option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=55#i), but I thought I could make this from plastic almost as easily.

First order of business was to draw a sketch of the building to scale:



Before starting, I find it a good idea to source the windows and doors. That way the window and door openings can be cut accurately. For something like this, the windows especially are a challenge.

Windows:

My approach was to start with 0.020" plastic card. I measured the apertures (I had wanted to cut the individual panes but I'm not that good) and cut them out. I first glued two strips of 0.020" x 0.040" as horizontals. When dry, I glued a strip on top for the vertical. I added smaller strips across and on top of the horizontals so they were flush with verticals. These were allowed to dry thoroughly and then the backs were rubbed on a file to remove most of the first horizontal strips. I want the backs to be nearly flat to take the glazing. I also scribed a representation of the window frames.



Doors:

Again, starting with 0.020" plastic card, I carefully marked out the doors and removed the inset panes. This was a lesson learned from constructing the main building. I can paint the main door chocolate and a separate inside panel cream. When glued together, the inner panes will be crisp.



These were laborious, but absent anything commercially available, I think they will serve.

Next, I marked out and cut a sheet of 0.040" plastic card for the door and window openings:



The windows and doors will have to be widened by 0.5mm on either side to allow for the brick detail.

I have painted the windows and doors:



The doors are in 2 layers as I described earlier.

I have glued the brick sheet to the walls. At this stage I haven't cut the openings. Before I do that I glued strips to the sides of the openings:



The picture is of the two side walls. The picture on the left is the back of the wall, that on right is the front.

1 April 2012

Today, I cut out the door and window openings:



I show the front and abck of the walls. Features to note are the representation of brick in the door and window openings and bevels on the walls.

The walls after priming:



I used automotive red oxide primer. The tin says it is formulated for car plastics and I have used it for along time.

There is a 0.060" x 0.060" strip across the top of the wall. I will hang the gutters off this.

A strip of brick (glued to 0.020" plastic card) 6 courses wide is on the bottom.

I spent quite some time with the bevels, these need to be very good so that the corners line up.

I painted a coat of acrylic Aged Concrete on the walls this morning. I should have left it about an hour but left it longer.

I used IPA and Qtips to remove the surface paint leaving the concrete colour in the crevices.



2 April 2012

Another thing I learned from Mr. Rice (a very useful chap) is that older walls do not have uniform colour bricks. There are various shades of brown and even black. Yesterday, I went to the art supply store and hasd a look round (I recommend you do this - these places can have very useful things for us modellers). I picked up some fine point coloured pens (light brown, brown and black) and picked out bricks at random to try to represent an older wall.



Very pleasing effect I think.

The final things for the walls are a dusting of rust coloured weathering powder and a coat of matte varnish.



The effect isn't obvious but I think the powder tones everything down and adds yet another layer of shade.

4 April 2012

Finally! Some assembly has been done. In these models as with other jobs, preparation takes quite a lot of time.





Now, a word about the arches above the windows and doors. I gave this some thought and know from experience that simply trying to scribe and cut these from sheet is trying. My approach came down to the following:

1) Start with 0.020" plastic card
2) Draw radii on the card
3) Use my NWSL Chopper to cut 2.5mm lengths from a 0.020 x 0.0156" strip.
4) Glue these to the pattern I wanted.
5) Cut out, file and sand to shape and paint grimy black



For door handles, I simply bent some 0.020" brass wire and glued into a drilled hole in the door.

Window sills are 0.060" x 0.060" strip painted aged concrete.

After assembly, I sprayed with dullcote to cover up any glue marks.

It's time now to consider the roof. I made some formers from 0.040" plastic card. These are based on the scale drawing I made earlier. I deducted 1mm to allow for the roof thickness. I assembled the roof framework as shown:



There was some trial and error here and it's not pretty. Hopefully it will serve.

I plan to glue paper tiles left over from the station building. PVA doesn't work well on plastic so I glued some paper to 0.015" plastic card using spray adhesive (not spray mount!).



Again, there was trial and error and I have trimmed these slightly.

If desired, you can use Wills roof tile sheet or your own preferred method.

I assembled the roof with the paper coated panels, plastic inside, glued to the structure. Edges were sanded smooth. I also added gutters:



Gutters are made from 0.080" half round and 0.015" x 0.156" strip.

5 April 2012

I finished adding the tiles and ridgetiles this morning.



This is a job that takes a bit of time. If you try to do too much, the glue will make a soggy mess. I put some PVA into a mixing jar and used a small flat brush to apply the glue. I put on strips starting from the bottom and alternating the points to give a diamond pattern. Make the strips slightly longer than needed. Lay on two strips each side and leave it for about 15 mins. The glue dries very quickly. Once the long sides are complete and after the glue is dry, trim the strips and sand. Apply the strips to the ends and finally add the ridge tiles.

7 Apr 2012

Yesterday, I installed the glazing. Nothing special here, just try not to get glue on the glass.

Well, it's finished!





I painted the roof starting with red oxide primer, followed by brick red for the tiles and brown for the gutters.

I then carefully checked the position of the downspouts and drilled holes in the gutters. Start with a 0.020" drill through the underside so that the hole can be centered. Increase the drill size and redrill. Check the hole size with the rod you intend to use. The rod I used is 3/64" - it's a personal choice though.

I used my downspout method detailed in an earlier post. I made 4 small blocks with 0.020" holes drilled at 3/64" apart, using the rod as a jig. 0.040" x .156" strip was used and I find it easier to drill the holes before detaching the block from the strip. It's also a good idea to draw a line across the strip. For some reason, I can't seem to drill two holes in a line freehand. Expect to have some rejects - I did.

Draw a faint pencil line down the wall in line with the gutter holes drilled previously. I marked a point 6mm down from the top of the wall and again 24mm below that. This is not a rule, just what I did. (Although I did read that gutter pipes are 6 ft long, so that is likely where they would be secured.)

Put a small dab of superglue over the points marked and place blocks on them trying to keep them centered. Allow the glue to set thoroughly. When dry, carefully paint them the colour of your choice, I chose brown.

Bend the rod to shape so that the straight section sits flat on the wall and final bend sits comfortably in the hole in the gutter. This may take a bit of practice.

Paint the downspount off the model. I primed with Floquil Zinc Chromate, but I'm not of the availability (There's also a Floquil Grey Primer). This is useful for small jobs. Final colour was brown.

Now, with a 0.020" drill, drill the blocks through the wall. Prepare lengths of 0.020" brass wire bent to shape using the 3/64" rod as a jig. Place the downspout in position and insert the bent wire through the holes. Use superglue to secure from the back. Touch up the bare brass with primer and brown paint.

I prepared an inset, 0.020" deep, in the platform to receive this building. I cut a piece of 0.020" plastic card to shape and glued to the bottom of the building. Buildings need to look as though they are integral with the scene, not just plonked. Touch up the edges.

I also touched up the corners by drybrushing some brick colour.

I will weather the building next.

Creating a Custom Station Platform

by John Kendall

25 March 2012

This morning I was able to gain access to the track on our branchline to begin making the platform. I always prefer to make my own platforms, using plastic.

Here's one I made earlier:



I thought I'd begin with the very basic first steps to help those who were wondering where to begin.

This method assumes the track has already been laid - our track plans are always curved.

I get myself some light card, don't know the weight but it's about 0.5mm thick. Use a pair of scissors to very roughly cut the card so that its edge overhangs the track by a healthy amount. Find a datum, like a backscene board and press the card over the rail that is next to the platform wall, this will provide a mark. Cut the card at the mark and check the card on the track. The edge of the card should fit snugly to the outer face of the rail. If there are places where it doesn't, trim until it does.

Next, obtain the longest coach that will be used in the station and a pencil. This is a time honoured method. Hold the pencil against the coach side and mark the card as the coach is pushed along the track. Again, cut the card on the mark you just made. Check it again, re-mark and trim until you're happy.

When you're finished you should have something like this:



29 March 2012

My chosen method for constructing this platform is for 2 layers of 0.020" plastic sheet. The first layer is the base layer and the second will be scribed with paving stone detail. A recess is left so that the station building looks like it is part of the platform (not plonked on top). You could use Wills sheet for this but I dislike their small size (hard to disguise the join) and they are difficult to cut.

OK, my first attempt didn't work as well as I wanted. I discovered that the curve was discontinuous in one spot so last night I retraced the line and made the repairs. Today I scribed the paving stones using an Olfa carpet cutter (aka scrawker). Mine is pictured. Also in the picture is an Olfa circle cutter which I used to mark out the edge pavers.



I added strips of 0.040" x 0.100" plastic under the platform edge. This makes the edge crisper and provides something to glue the walls against so I get a consistent inset.

30 March 2012

I finished constructing the platform support walls this morning:



Being white plastic, it's a little difficult to see clearly.

process is as follows:

1) Determine the height above baseboard. According to Rice, height above RAIL is between 3' and 3' 6", or between 12mm and 14mm. However, track height (code 100) is 4mm so add that to get between 16mm and 18mm.

My platform is to be 16mm above baseboard. If this proves to be too low I can always shim up.

2) Cut strips of 0.040" plastic card (I use Evergreen but Slaters is fine too) to, in my case 15mm (the platform top is 0.040" or 1mm thick). These will be 12" long.

3) Cut strips of textured plastic sheet to something a bit wider than 15mm (trim later). I used Finecast English Bond. Slaters do a good selection of brick and stone. This sheet is ~ 0.020" thick and is VERY easy to work with. Glue to the card strips, staggering the joins for strength.

4) I wanted (OK I was told) the top courses to extend from the platform in an inverted step fashion.

a) Cut strips of 0.020" plastic 5mm wide.
b) Cut strips of brick, 3 courses wide. (recall the 0.040" strip under the edge, we want two courses to be revealed).
c) Glue the strips together, making sure that courses line up. Again stagger ends. When dry, trim.
d) For the 2 course layer, I glued fairly wide strips of plastic and brick together. Trim to get a nice edge. Use your knife and steel rule to follow the mortar line. Make as many srips as required.

Now we pause to think about end ramps. These are 1 in 6 minimum. I calculated the length I would need and cut them off from the platform top. Knowing the length of the long side of the triangle and the height, the base is easy to get (I simply drew a picture, but if you want to be clever you could use trig.).

Cut the platform support walls at their ends to the appropriate dimension for the ramp.

Now, glue the 3 course strip to the platform wall, overhanging the ramp. I won't put the protruding bricks along the side of the ramp (doesn't make sense to me). Trim the strip to the ramp angle.

Now, glue the 2 course strip in place and trim to the ramp angle again.

31 March 2012

Having made the main components, I also made some plain walls to support the unseen side of the platform. With these done, I glued it all together as you can see here:



and here:



To ensure the side walls are square I made a bunch of plastic triangles to use a buttresses. I also added widthwise and lengthwise strengthers.

Here's the underside of the platform:



Next - the paint shop.

I primed the platform with red oxide and grey:





It looks massively better now.

I painted the platform wall with acrylic Aged Concrete (any similar colour will do) as the mortar:



Next, I will rub the surface colour off, leaving the mortar in the cracks.



I'm quite pleased with this. I dipped Qtips in IPA and rubbed the surface paint off.

2 April 2012

This morning I started by dry brushing a brick colour (and this is quite subjective, I simply added Tamiya flat red to flat brown) onto the platform support walls. This brightens up the brickwork and adds another layer of shading I think.

Another thing I learned from Mr. Rice (a very useful chap) is that older walls do not have uniform colour bricks. There are various shades of brown and even black. Yesterday, I went to the art supply store and hasd a look round (I recommend you do this - these places can have very useful things for us modellers). I picked up some fine point coloured pens (light brown, brown and black) and picked out bricks at random to try to represent an older wall.



I'm really quite pleased with the way this looks.

I spent some time today making station nameboards:



The name is made with Powerpoint. The board is made from 0.015" paper coated plastic card. Strips of 0.040" x 0.040" were superglued around the edges. The legs are bullhead rail soldered to scrap brass strip.

5 April 2012

Since my last report I completed a number of tasks:

1) Laid down masking tape in the recess for the cinders and trimmed. Also mask the support wall.

1) Painted the platform surface grimy black. I used an airbrush for this.

2) Added the cinders. To prevent cinders and PVA from getting onto the platform top I masked the recesses off. I then brushed on some neat PVA. This was followed by sprinkling fine cinder ballast into the recess. Finish off by spraying some "wet water"* on. This will "lift" the glue and make sure the ballast is soaked.

*Wet water is water mixed with a small amount of soap to break the surface tension. I have read that some people use IPA instead of soap.

Remove the masking tape BEFORE the PVA dries. Leave overnight.

3) This morning I masked the edge of the platform and sprayed on some flat white.

Result:





I don't recommend that you try to brush the white on. In my experience, brushed on paint always bleeds under the tape. If you do, paint a coat of platform colour over the tape to seal it.