I thought I'd share a few more pics of my ongoing project, a "Pre-Kipper" Henry the Green Engine, being built from a standard Bachmann Henry model. Today's update concentrates on the tender, which is all but complete; missing lining out and the number three numerals.
The colour looks much less like it matches on camera, but in real life the shades between the two greens used is not obvious at all.
I'm thrilled with the way the tender has come out - the added height makes it that much closer to the real thing. It's also quite a sturdy modification too, and the smoothest finish I think I've done on a model. A pity when you consider I have to strip the loco body again later this week for a third repaint!
The real coal adds something to the overall look, and the sprung buffers (Bachmann spares) are delightful.
Moving onto the body, the paint finish isn't as good as I'd like, and the handrail knobs haven't come out well at all. So a complete stripping of paint and rebuilding is in order, but I thought (as the cab is pretty much done) you'd all like to see where I am with the locomotive...
This project has highlighted for me just how poor the Bachmann Henry model was in terms of its design. Unlike Gordon, which in researching this model was found to be pretty much spot on, the Bachmann Henry suffers with a tender which was too short - something I fixed - and then the second problem, which SiFer Kurt managed to spot (and I didn't believe him, until now!), was how short the cab was, and how flat the roof was in comparison with the TV series model.
By fixing the first problem area - the tender - I now have the problem where the cab's deficiencies are suddenly more obvious when painted. It's an aggravating problem, and one I am unsure how to solve without rebuilding the whole cab.
Overall this project has proved to be quite fun, but it's not done yet. Next time, I'll show you how I am tackling the lining out and the numbers on the tenders. It may be of some help to everyone who models the world of Thomas...
Until next time!