RIO Nord-Pas-de-Calais - part 16

 

From there, I need to prime all detail pieces as well as the ones I already glued in. Ideally, I should have used an airbrush for this, but I used a small "hand" brush trying not to put too much paint while still doing a nice layer of primer:

Once fully dry, I painted the hand rails with Chrome 77.707, and the roof details + wipers with Duraluminio 77.702:

I then glued with Tamiya Cement:

I'm very happy with the outcome. I still have some touch up with the Duraluminio, but it's easy and minor. The only thing left are the plates with the SNCF logo, the main number, and the full numbering. But, I do not like those and trying to find a better way:

RIO Nord-Pas-de-Calais - part 15

 

I'm going to use Vallejo paints, but I'm not sure which metal colors will work best, so I'm running a small test on a scrap. I start with a black primer:

I chose three colors - from left to right:

• Aluminio 77.701
• Chrome 77.707
• Duraluminio 77.702

Once thoroughly dry, I tried to find the best match for roof and for the hand rails:

I'm thinking Duraluminio for the roof and Chrome for the hand rails. But, I'll double check in natural light as well.

RIO Nord-Pas-de-Calais - part 14

 

I realized that those cars do not have any plastic wrap sheets and the top of one car has some marking from the box foam. I ordered some from BRASSTRAINS.COM:

This next step is now to put the details in place. The manual is quite clear:

I used my Tamiya Cement to glue the central pole and the side hand rails:

I do like the central pole, but I find the hand rails to be too plastic-y. Here's what it is in reality:

https://openarchives.sncf.com/archive/33216

https://openarchives.sncf.com/archive/38141

https://openarchives.sncf.com/archive/20768

And we will have the same issue with the components going on the roof, so we need to paint those ...

Interior lighting of RIO Nord-Pas-de-Calais - part 11

 

In this post, I focus on making the cabin with a step-by-step series of pictures.

Following the previous adjustments, there is currently no "floor" for the cabin:

And the back wall of the cabin needs to be made higher to prevent light leakage:

This is how it looks with the floor and the higher back wall:

After several fitting exercises in the car's body, this is more or less the correct height for the train operator:

The command console is made to scale - see here for the real thing:

I used a light beige in spray paint - MONTANA GOLD COLORS SHOCK 9110 WHITE CREAM:

I decided to reproduce the fire extinguisher on the left side and added a piece of plastic card underneath:

I'm very pleased with the outcome, especially for a first try:

Next steps are to:

1. Wire everything and test
2. Check light leakage