Let's go!

My friends, here are the initial construction steps on the rusty Breuer IV rail shunter.

The undercarriage needed a lot of filling and sanding, and also some tedious work due to the nature of the abandoned locomotive. I noticed that most components have been removed from the real machine, and that includes the four covers on top. These have to be cut out and the material needs to be thinned from the other side, so that took me a couple of hours. Other than that, this part has been built following the instructions.

The cabin is the biggest part of the model and here I'll make most of the modifications. So far I just removed the ejector pin marks on the inside (curved hobby blade, modelling chisel, and sanding sponges) and I'm trying to figure out how to glue most of it together while keeping it "loose" for painting. You see, closed areas are prime real estate for heavy orange peel because the paint will just swirl around in the corners, creating awfully rough surfaces. Not to mention I'll need enough room to work on the chipping and heavy rust effects. But I'll figure something out!

And lastly, the mesh screens on the engine compartment are mostly missing. And while we could say that they removed the engine along with all the other components, the photos tell otherwise. My idea was to put "something" inside just so we wouldn't see a gaping chasm inside, so I did a bit of digging online for a suitable, random diesel engine. I rescaled, stretched, and squashed it so it would fit inside, and added a few rudimentary details. I think it works well enough and fits the "there's some kind of engine in there" bill pretty well. I haven't printed such a large part in ages, and it's the first time I tried anti-aliasing, and both things turned out very nicely!

Here's the link for the free engine, made by DASCHNOZ on Cults3D: https://cults3d.com/en/3d-model/various/ho-scale-alco-251-prime-mover-12-16-18-cylinder-diesel-engine

Up next is the cabin interior! (probably!)