Railway/Parkside PC80

The Parkside PC80 is a model of the LNER diagram 100 20T (later 21T in BR use) hopper. The attraction of the prototype is all about the angles, and getting them right is not easy. Having built 15 so far of my eventual total of 30 (and 2 of 25 of the similar PC77, but more on that later), this is my build technique. It results in a clean build with minimal need for filling (filling is next to impossible on this model due to the rivet lines).

With patience and the right approach even a cack-handed ex 1/35 military modeller like me can produce a decent result with these kits.

The moulded parts (as always) have surface projections left over from moulding (e.g. the raised circular discs known as ejector pin marks). I have tried to indicate where these are cosmetic and where they interfere with assembly.

Tools required:
 * Straight and curved scalpels
 * Fine files
 * Fine snipe-nosed pliers
 * Small square-ended pliers
 * Side cutters
 * Pointed and square-ended tweezers
 * Liquid glue (EMA Plastic Weld strongly recommended) and fine brush or applicator
 * Gel cyanoacrylate adhesive

For painting:
 * Games Workshop chaos black spray
 * Humbrol Maskol, Blu-Tak, copydex or some other flexible mask for the bearing cups
 * The appropriate grey (dark for LNER service, early freight grey for BR service)

You will also notice that in some pictures the worksurface looks very shiny. I have a small sheet of glass (a hard-glazed ceramic tile would be good too). This is a flat reference surface and is useful for ensuring that things are square and true during assembly. It's particularly important that the upper hopper body and the solebars are exactly plane, or the model will not assemble properly and will not run true. Use ceramic or glass as these are not soluble in plastic weld can be cleaned ad infinitum even if covered in cyanoacrylate.

More to come! Especially the three-layer painting technique. Paint rust colour, apply hairspray and salt, paint dark grey, apply hairspray and salt a second time, then finally paint early freight grey. Then clean the salt off. Voila! The effect of old wagons painted NE grey then overpainted BR grey, which has worn away and rusted in service. Finally apply AK liquid rust streaks and weathering powder to simulate the authentic BR railfreight two-tone rust-'n'-grime livery of the early 60s!