Pimp my Guards Van 5 : Fin.

DB Says:

Ummm, where were we...? Bogies. The pointy ends of the big screws used to attach these on the observation car stuck up through the floor of course, but rather than cutting them down, I painted them flat black, as they're almost completely hidden from view. I removed the bogie brake cyls from AG90's bogies, but I don't think it was worth the effort and won't bother from here on in.

The plan was to wrap superfine strip styrene around the cars to represent the module joins, but I decided to leave this out, fearing the possibility of making a complete shambles vs a small visual improvement. About this time, the 'regular' FM handrails and safety gates on AG 78 were also glued up and into place.

I painfully welded up four more end platforms for the observation van and these came out close to passable. They were stuck in place along with more Preiser 1:120 tourists/boilermakers/commuters-from-the-1960s and two giant HO mutant children with orange backpacks. Now that I think about it, I should have made someone up as Where's Wally or Adolf Hitler or Zaphod Beeblebrox. Makes mental note...I normally like to weather things up a bit, but the Tranz is kept very clean, smart and shiny. Dullcote was sprayed on the roof, and a thin coat of acrylic semi-gloss clear was laid on the decals, which were leftovers from the DCP effort of a few months ago. Anyone who has tried clearcoating ALPS decals before will know that putting anything stronger than this or Dullcote on them is a receipe for disaster, but they really do need to be covered.

So that's my extra-short off-season Tranz Alpine consist completed. 56 foot cars - for those who don't want to stand for the whole trip - will be constructed later in the year.

A critical review: they run well, but when seen up close, these aren't perfect models. I should have marked out the window openings more carefully (oh, my sagging duckets!) and cut them out with round corners. The end railings are a bit messy in places. A few imperfect details were added in the wrong place in haste, or left out altogether.

Not that I'm losing sleep over it.

I don't build NZ120 models to be competition-winners, so up-close, the vans look a little hokey around the edges, but that won't be the case for long. When I'm done building a few things around them, they'll be reduced to a small part of a long train flowing through scenery. And isn't that the essence of NZ120?

Doing something imperfectly is not failure.
Failure is not doing anything.
So pick up a knife. Aim it at some plastic. Just do it*!
                          - D Bond, one of the great contemporary philosophers

*This blog post sponsored by Nike. All trademarks and catchphrases referenced are the property of their respective owners. Some products may be produced by child slave labourers in factories that also process peanuts.