With Model Rail’s exclusive models now on sale, George Dent offers some tips for making one of these fascinating diesel shunters your own.
Photography: George Dent
Model: Model Rail/Heljan Class 12
Price: £169.99 (get 10% off full-price models as a subscriber to the magazine)
- Gauge: ‘OO’ gauge
- Estimated time: 6 hrs
- Difficulty: 2/5
Like Model Rail’s existing range of Class 11s, our new Class 12 offers modellers the chance to portray these important early diesel shunters for the first time in ready-to-run form.
Manufactured exclusively for us by Heljan, the ‘12s’ feature a similar detail and technical specification to the Class 11s.
As anyone who has commissioned exclusive models will attest, the arrival of the finished product comes with a blend of excitement and trepidation. Several years of toil at the research and development stage have led up to the moment, but until models start to find homes on layouts and in collections, it’s hard to fully enjoy the moment.
We have produced five versions of the BR Class 12, encompassing the working career of the real thing, from as-built condition to post-BR industrial use. Just 300 of each version have been manufactured, and this may likely be the only production run, so it’s a case of grabbing one while you can.
Representing a diesel shunter operating among the testing conditions of a steam age railway, 15221 has gained a patina of soot, grease and grime.
The model
Sharing the same basic design as our Class 11s, Heljan has designed a heavy, sturdy die-cast metal chassis block, made up of two sections sandwiching a powerful motor and gearbox, while ensuring an even distribution of weight. At a whisker under 200g, there’s ample ballast to ensure an impressive haulage capability (under test, our Class 12s have hauled up to 10 bogie coaches with ease).
The compact motor is equipped with a flywheel, with the output shaft being linked to a brass worm via a short, flexible cardan shaft. This combination helps to smooth-out the motor’s rotational forces and the transmission consists of a series of precision gears, designed for optimum slow-speed running.
Power from the track is collected from all six wheels via wiper contacts and there’s a good degree of side-play in the non-powered axles, helping the Class 12 to negotiate first radius curves.
We have created tooling to cater for the Class 12s in as-built condition as well as the later condition with electric marker lights and conduit. These later versions feature working lights, showing a red and white ‘shunting’ aspect at each end. Cab interior lighting is fitted to all versions, which can be toggled on or off with the supplied magnetic wand or, for those operating under DCC, at the touch of a button. A small ‘sugar cube’ speaker is pre-fitted to all models, located atop the main circuit board within a plastic enclosure.
Make it your own
Like other contemporary, highly detailed models, the modeller is faced with a few options for customisation. The most obvious job is to add a driver figure to the cab interior.
Accessing the cab is not too difficult, with the body being a screw-fit to the chassis, although the location of the screws is behind the equipment boxes on the running plate. Full instructions are provided in the model’s handbook, but we’ve illustrated them here too for reference. Just take care to prevent damage to the body and chassis detail, especially the footsteps (see panel).
Removing the body also gives access to the Next18 DCC socket.
As well as adding a driver and shunter figure, I set about giving the model a weathered finish to suit the typical condition of a late 1960s-era Class 12 as it neared the end of its BR life. A combination of enamel weathering washes and acrylic paints took care of most of the work, with an airbrush providing the final, subtle touches.
A note of caution with enamel weathering washes: always test on an inconspicuous area of a model first, to ensure the formula does not react with the paintwork. Similarly, it’s a good idea to use a matching brand of thinner to suit the washes. Never use regular enamel paint thinners, as it will damage the paintwork and maybe the plastic too. Wash thinners contain much milder solvents.
Another tip, as explained in the demonstration, is to thoroughly test your model before applying weathering, to check everything is working ok. And be sure to clean the wheels and, if necessary, the wiper contacts thoroughly during re-assembly.
I’m obviously a little biased, but the Class 12 makes for a splendid model, with a high degree of prototype fidelity, fine detail, smooth performance and plenty of pulling power. Despite being spoiled for choice in terms of Class 08s and 09s in ‘OO’, it’s great to be able to faithfully re-create one of the important predecessors of BR’s ‘standard’ shunter design. The unique wheels and other subtle defining features certainly set the Class 12 apart!
What you will need
Shopping list
- MIG Productions enamel weathering washes and thinners, paintbrushes, cotton swabs. Availability: Scale Model Shop | Web: www.scalemodelshop.co.uk
- Lifecolor paints, airbrushes and equipment. Availability: The Airbrush Company Web: www.airbrushes.com Deluxe Materials Track Magic, Speed Epoxy Availability: Model shops or Gaugemaster | Web: www.gaugemasterretail.com
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Tools
Miniature screwdrivers
Fine-nosed tweezers
Craft knife and spare blades
Cocktail sticks
Cotton swabs
Paintbrushes
Airbrush and equipment (optional)
Step-by-step
1. Gently pull away the equipment boxes from each side. Just grip either end and pull away. This reveals a small mounting screw on each side that needs to be removed.
2 Lift the body away from the chassis, starting at the cab end. Note that I left the small foam pads behind the cab footsteps to add protection during handling – see panel.
3 With the body removed, the PCB is revealed, with a Next18 DCC socket and a speaker pre-installed. The cab interior can also be accessed from the underside of the body.
4 I created a blend of MIG ‘Dark’ and ‘Dark Brown’ enamel washes and brushed it liberally over one side of the bodyshell, working it into all the nooks and crannies.
5 I left it until it started to appear dry. This is the sign to start wiping away excess pigment. For a heavily soiled loco, I left much of the pigment in between the panels, grilles and doors.
6 The process was repeated over both sides and the roof. Keep all movements of the swabs vertical or in line with gravity, so any streaks look like natural weather staining.
7 The ends were treated in the same way, with the lion’s share of the wash wiped away but leaving deposits. Vertical strokes with the swab can promote some subtle streaking.
8 Don’t forget to treat the equipment boxes from the bodysides in a similar fashion. This is a great way to draw attention to the detail of the compartment covers.
9 A blend of dark grey and dark rusty brown acrylic paint was stippled over the running plate and footsteps. Two coats were applied, to give these surfaces a slightly gritty look.
10 The same technique was applied to the side frames and outer faces of the wheels, using a 9V battery to ‘jog’ the mechanism on a little at a time (without a DCC decoder installed).
11 Again, the process was applied in two coats. Excess paint can be wiped away with cotton swabs before it dries, from the connecting rods especially.
12 I gave the wheels a thorough clean. As well as wheel treads and flanges, the inside faces were cleaned, as this is where the power is collected by the wiper contacts.
13 With the cleaning complete, it’s a good idea to test the operation of the model on your layout or a rolling road before reassembly, just to make sure everything is tickety-boo.
14 Now’s the time to install a decoder. The Class 12 is equipped with a Next18 socket. Once installed, repeat the testing procedure before re-fitting the body.
15 A pair of 3D-printed figures (from the Modelu range) was installed inside the cab. Rather than fix them to the floor, I glued them to the side of the control desk, using fast-setting epoxy.
16 As the epoxy began to set, I double-checked that the figure was aligned with the windows correctly. When the glue had cured, I repeated the process with the second figure.
17 A misting of thinned RailMatch enamel matt paint adds extra finesse. I used the Frame Dirt shade over the chassis and lower areas, and Weathered Black along the upper edges.
18 Reassemble, starting with the small tabs at the nose end in their sockets. Ensure they’re free of excess paint. Push the cab end into place, insert the screws and re-fit the side boxes.
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