DSJ part 2. Springs and things.

A few more hours were spent in the dungeon today. Panel details were added to the short hood sides. There should be three doors on one side and four on the other but I've ended up with three on each. They all had to be trimmed on top after installation because I seem incapable of making 90 degree cuts. 

The uneven sill undersides on the 3D print I should have dealt with using a big sanding block before cutting the shell to pieces. DSGs have smooth sides to these, but the DSJ has a channel section. I started making these by converting some 'I'-section plastruct into a 'C' shape by smoothing off one side, and was about to glue them in place but this would make the loco look too wide, so I've just glued a piece of plastruct along the wavy underside and have started filling the gaps (primarily under the cab) with that evil Squadron putty. This may take a few goes. 

I'll end up with a reasonably deep side sill, and you can see some pretty thick (.080x.080 inch) rod hidden underneath as well, because with the little bogies from the Japanese ND552 chassis, I need to fill the gap between rails and the shell with something or it will look like it is wearing short shorts with tiny shoes.

The real DSJ has the square indents on the cab for tablet exchangers, but in a different spot to the DSG. I foolishly filled in the DSG-located ones here. Silly, because I'm not going to be able to cut new ones in the right spot. I also started to remove the subtle strata on the cab roof with fine sandpaper.

The bogies obviously need to have coil springs added, but before this, the air tanks on the sides would need to be cut off. This daunting task was made easier when I began to make my first incision with a scalpel and found they just popped off (above). I'll add the tanks to the parts bin for some future project.

I've made coil springs from several things over the years. Little bolts with the heads cut off still look pretty decent on my FM van from the early 90s. I used little springs from couplers on the DI. This time I decided to wrap strands of copper from a wire offcut around a steel rod used to actuate points.

Mounted on some backing:

Not too terrible. They need a piece of plastruct rod on top (like the real DSJ/G bogies) to cap the springs, and it is hoped they will quietly fade into the underneath when some paint has been added. 

Oversized fuel tanks and undersize side ladders have been added, and everything is looking appropriately skewiff, even after the headstock was broken off and reglued in the hope of getting it a little more vertical. Some of this is due to wide angle phone lens distortion, but not all of it alas. There is also a little lever handbrake on the short hood corner below: 

It's almost due for a painting.