Alan Keef K12 in O9 - Take 2

"I have a bodyshell I have adapted from a commission job that may be of interest." So began an email discussion from John Flower at A1 Models, in a later reply he said "The body I am sending you was done for a customer in 7mm scale for him to fit a chassis. He isn't doing O9 but it would be used in these gauges." The resultant parcel that arrived a few days later was opened with a mixture of excitement and trepidation, as John had described how the vendor he is using for printing now offers the prints ready-sprayed in a semi-gloss finish.

There it was, instantly recognisable as an Alan Keef K12. Those with long memories may well remember that I scratchbuilt one of these nearly ten years ago, then regretfully exported it to the other side of the globe! 

I'll have to admit, that on first impressions the finish didn't really grab me, but after about 3/4 hour of smoothing using 400 then 800 grit wet and dry, I had flattened off most of the finish. Certainly different from finishing raw prints with cycles of filler primer and smoothing, but with hindsight I would perhaps rather have that level of control. It is worth noting that the print is actually in a black material, apparently this is unpopular with some customers, are they conditioned by what Shapeways churns out? Personally I cannot see anything wrong with it....

Getting adventurous I marked up and scribed in the lines denoting the upper edge of the frames and buffer beams, and the panel join towards the front of the bonnet using an olfa (style) cutter. I also created some extra clearance inside to allow the body to sit on a much modified Bachmann Plymouth chassis.

When I say much modified, I mean filed and cut to within a millimetre of it's life, and converted to 4w in the process.

Compared with the drawing in the Alan Keef book, reduced to 7mm scale, the print is about 5mm too long and 3mm too wide, understandable as it was intended for a 16.5mm gauge mechanism. The other main area where the print differs visually from the drawing is in the bottom edge of the frames and the axleboxes.

A coat of grey primer allowed me to better judge the finish I had achieved. Unfortunately the printed bolt heads on the cab side panel didn't look as happy as I had hoped they would and I will be looking to reduce these considerably before going much further.

I'm also looking into modifying the bottom edge of the frames, as I would really like to add the correct shape by adding small fillets at the bottom of the frame and also to add depth to the bufferbeams. This will also mean that I need to alter the axleboxes. As printed the front one is not the same distance from the front as the back one is from the back (and they should be the same), altering this will actually make it match the power unit and better reflect the drawing.

More when some progress is made...

Colin