Post by simulatortrain on Dec 30, 2015 23:11:50 GMT -5
Tonight I finally got started detailing my Bowser C430. These are pretty nice as they come, but there are a handful of details that I think are a little clunky, and several places where it's possible to add more. I especially became aware of some of these when I got the chance to climb in, on, and under some real Centuries a couple months ago.
So far, besides disassembly, I've done most of the detailing on the cab and hood. Along the way, I was surprised to see that Bowser had put lit numberboards on here, meaning I either never noticed they were lit, or never tried all the decoder functions to see that a different function would turn them on.
On the cab, I removed the antenna that the model came with. This might seem strange since it was a Sinclair antenna in the correct prototype location, but it was the later, not as tall style rather than the taller one of the prototype. I didn't have that part yet so I didn't add the new antenna. I did add a new horn, this time one that actually resembles a Leslie horn, and some flag brackets on the cab side. I painted the gaskets black, filed the steps up onto the battery boxes thinner, and added some Cannon door locks to the doors (just because I had them). I also filed the headlight visors thinner because they looked a little thick to me. Here is the cab as it sits, just needing that antenna and some yellow paint yet:
On the hood, I drilled out the exhaust stack, thinking that the shadows of the inside of the unit will look more like the inside of an exhaust stack than some black paint. I added the flag brackets on the back, painted the numberboard gaskets black, and built the shutter opening mechanism on each side (from some wire strands and a Cannon wiper motor.) It's really hard to see them now that they are painted green, but weathering will bring them back out. Nothing really lost if you can't see them. A picture of that is here with a #11 blade for scale:
On both ends of the unit, I drilled out the walkway lights so I can light those. I need to get a new chisel blade and then I'm going to take off all the door handles on the long hood so I can replace them with wire. I had already done that to the cab door handles. I'll go into all the future things to be done as I do them, or if anybody has any questions about my plans. The heavy lifting here is going to be in the walkway and underframe, since, even though Centuries don't have all that much underframe detail, Bowser left as much off as they included.
More to come soon!
So far, besides disassembly, I've done most of the detailing on the cab and hood. Along the way, I was surprised to see that Bowser had put lit numberboards on here, meaning I either never noticed they were lit, or never tried all the decoder functions to see that a different function would turn them on.
On the cab, I removed the antenna that the model came with. This might seem strange since it was a Sinclair antenna in the correct prototype location, but it was the later, not as tall style rather than the taller one of the prototype. I didn't have that part yet so I didn't add the new antenna. I did add a new horn, this time one that actually resembles a Leslie horn, and some flag brackets on the cab side. I painted the gaskets black, filed the steps up onto the battery boxes thinner, and added some Cannon door locks to the doors (just because I had them). I also filed the headlight visors thinner because they looked a little thick to me. Here is the cab as it sits, just needing that antenna and some yellow paint yet:
On the hood, I drilled out the exhaust stack, thinking that the shadows of the inside of the unit will look more like the inside of an exhaust stack than some black paint. I added the flag brackets on the back, painted the numberboard gaskets black, and built the shutter opening mechanism on each side (from some wire strands and a Cannon wiper motor.) It's really hard to see them now that they are painted green, but weathering will bring them back out. Nothing really lost if you can't see them. A picture of that is here with a #11 blade for scale:
On both ends of the unit, I drilled out the walkway lights so I can light those. I need to get a new chisel blade and then I'm going to take off all the door handles on the long hood so I can replace them with wire. I had already done that to the cab door handles. I'll go into all the future things to be done as I do them, or if anybody has any questions about my plans. The heavy lifting here is going to be in the walkway and underframe, since, even though Centuries don't have all that much underframe detail, Bowser left as much off as they included.
More to come soon!
