Diary of a 26" x 14" H0e Forest Layout

[mags_minibuilds]

Finished the turntable assembly with paint and weathering. The ties were made from strips of basswood. It took me two attempts to get the concrete effect to what I envisioned.

 

 

[Martijn Meerts]

World's cutest little turntable 😄

 

[mags_minibuilds]

Inspired by the Keiben Festival that was held in Tokyo this past weekend, I’ve started on a new kit build, a Kiso diesel locomotive.

 

 

I gathered a few more tools. The IMON stainless steel scratch brush was a wonderful addition, it took off the excess solder without much effort. It's so important to have the right tools so the build becomes more enjoyable. I have yet to give the photo-etch bending pliers a good try except for using it to grab a small part.

 

 

[Martijn Meerts]

Yes, having tools you are comfortable with (and actually work as advertised 😄 ) is definitely important. Also, the good quality stuff should last many kits.

 

Looking forward to seeing how this one turns out. I've actually been eying this loco as well, even though I'm trying to stick with steam for the forest line ...

 

[mags_minibuilds]

I'm curious as to how this one would come out too, the motorized chassis was pretty straight forward to assemble compared to the 0-4-0 Porter. I was overconfident starting this kit and it definitely put up a fight putting together the lower frame and trying to make square/align things. One part seems a little janky so I'm hoping all the parts of the body will align okay at the end...though I believe I will be able to fudge it somehow (fingers crossed).

[Martijn Meerts]

The good thing about brass is that you can finetune it after it's built. There's no problem slightly bending things to line them all up. Once the shell it attached, it should then all be fine. The kits also don't always line up perfectly in the first place, and need some bending and filing anyway. Even the IMON kits sometimes have issues with getting things to fit.

 

I think that's part of the charm of the kits though 🙂

 

[mags_minibuilds]

Did a dry fit on the parts that I had assembled...so far so good. There's still a bit of detailed parts that I need to solder on.

[mags_minibuilds]

It took around 2 hours and 3-4 tries to solder on the lights and pipe. 🥵 During the process of redo, the roof got mangled so I used the wooden tip of a paintbrush to smooth it back out.

[Martijn Meerts]

I think some 'damage' to the model would make it more interesting really. Especially these work forest railway work horses would quickly get dented in various places.

 

Also, a somewhat interesting observation. I was always under the impression that most parts of these kits should be soldered on. However, I recently received a new IMON kit of the Oshi 17 dining car. The base plate of that is aluminium, which is impossible to solder with a regular soldering iron. When I looked a little more at the instructions, they actually recommend glueing on a lot of the smaller detail bits, even the details that go on the roof. Heck, they even say to glue the reinforcement / body mounting to the inside of the shell, rather than soldering it on.

 

So, if you come across parts that are difficult to solder on, just glue them on. Just make sure to only glue them once you're certain no more soldering is needed. Otherwise the heat would mess up the glue.

 

[mags_minibuilds]

I was able to solder the small detailed parts on the engine cover rather quickly this time around. Since the instructions are pretty much just exploded diagrams, much time is spent on deciphering what goes on first.

 

 

A part of me feels like I need to solder it on to challenge myself, not sure if that's a good way to think about it though! You're right, if the outcome will be better with adhesive rather than solder then I should use adhesive next time! The side panels were difficult to put on and I messed up the soldering work on the lower frame and end up shaving the side panel a little too much. If you compare the both sides one panel is raised 0.2mm higher than the other too. Not detrimental, but really have to see it after the paint goes on, either things can look really bad or not bad at all. I'm already telling myself to be mindful with the masking tape and fudge it a little since I already know the panels are slightly off. As you said, these diesels are work trains so they aren't pristine engines...adds to the "character"! 🙂

 

 

 

[Martijn Meerts]

It looks perfectly fine. I've seen pictures and videos of the things running with half the covers not even on the loco 😄

 

I used to be the same with the detail parts, I wanted to solder on all of them, glueing felt like cheating. I've since changed my mind though, things like white metal parts are just a lot easier to glue and end up being attached more securely. Also larger cast brass parts can be a challenge to solder because they keep the heat for a long time.

 

I still do try to solder most things, since for glueing I prefer to use epoxy glue, and I don't really like working with that.

 

[mags_minibuilds]

There was hardly any play between the wheels and the side frame and it came with an optional shim piece but it wasn't thick enough so I had fabricated one out of the extra nickel sprue material.

 

Installed the motorized chassis and ran a test on the layout.

 

I took out my other engines and I didn't realize how small this diesel was, it makes the Porter look like a giant. I didn't recall having to use my magnifier glasses that much in my last builds.

 

The only thing left is painting and there's a few small parts (windows, front grill) that will be glued on after the painting is done (per instructions).

[cteno4]

Running nicely! Great work on this little guy.

 

jeff

[mags_minibuilds]

Prepped the parts before priming, this is just my process and what has been working for me.

1. Use gloves before and after cleaning to make sure no oil from your finger gets onto the surface
2. Scrub Bar Keepers Friend with toothbrush and brass brush
3. Rinse with hot water
4. Clean with 99% IPA
5. Let dry overnight

 

[mags_minibuilds]

Parts are primed and will dry for 1-2 days before the first color coat.

 

After 12 color mix attempts, I believe I have found a good matcha green color using Vallejo Model Color. 1 drop of Medium Olive + 4 drops of Flat Yellow + 3 drops of White.

[Martijn Meerts]

It's looking and running really good. You know you've taken the next step when you start fabricating your own parts to improve things 😄

 

[mags_minibuilds]

The painting and masking part went well. I painted the green and waited for it to dry for 2 days then painted the black parts. I was very mindful while I was airbrushing the black so it won't bleed underneath the masking tape, as I know in the corner areas the masking tape was not totally adhered.

 

If I airbrushed the bottom, the paint will most likely bleed underneath the masking tape so I intentionally left some areas for touching up later.

 

The toughest part was making sure that black stripe was somewhat even in width. I'm pleased with the results.

[mags_minibuilds]

One detail has been resolved...the lens for the lights. What's funny is that the exploded diagram of the instructions tells you to put lenses on the lights yet they don't provide it in the kit (the parts list had no mention of lenses). Did they forget to include it with the kit or they want you to figure it out yourself?

 

So I came across these Wave H-Eyes 3 for Gunpla/Mecha at my local hobby shop a couple weeks ago and thought to myself that these would be great headlight lenses, I didn't buy it until two days ago. The pack comes in a variety of sizes between 1.0mm to 2.8mm, the 1.5mm size worked perfectly for this engine.

 

[Martijn Meerts]

I haven't checked all my kits in detail, but I do believe they generally do come with lenses. Sometimes they are really small though, and hard to spot.

[mags_minibuilds]

I checked with World Kougei as I was curious if I had lost some parts. They got back to me saying they had forgotten to erase the lens from the diagram and they don’t have a suitable lens. Their suggestion is to use epoxy to fill in the headlight. If that’s the case, I’ll stick with my Gunpla eyes, but good to know!

[Martijn Meerts]

Ah, good to know 🙂

 

And yes, using epoxy for creating these lenses is fairly common. Of course, if you've installed an LED, you'd have to replace the entire light should the LED fail at some point...

 

[mags_minibuilds]

Completed this little diesel by attaching the grill, window film, lenses and clear coated it with Tamiya semi-gloss. This is my 3rd World Kougei kit and the most difficult one to put together. Maybe because of its size or the amount of detail? I learned on this kit to let go some of the imperfections and move on, with the thought in mind that if I keep trying to fix something it might become worse off.

[cteno4]

Really nice mags! Kudos!

 

jeff

[tossedman]

Love it! Looks fantastic!

[Martijn Meerts]

Looking good! Any imperfections aren't visible unless you know where to look I guess 🙂

 

Paint came out really good too, nice sharp lines and no obvious bleeding.