I have been slowly upgrading my Hogwarts express set's appearance and thought I would post about 2 relatively simple "upgrades" I have done in the past week so other beginners may be less afraid to take the plunge and alter their engines.
the first and most simple upgrade I did was to add a "real" coal load to the tender. This is so simple and looks much better than the molded coal pile and only cost me about $4.00. I went to my favorite local hobby shop and got a bag of the woodlance scenics lump coal (note there are many different coal options this was just what I decided to use). Then I laid down a layer of glue on top of the molded plastic coal and poured on a slow and carefully my new bag of lump coal. Once covered, I also re-glued with 50/50 mix glue and water like you would ballast and waited for it to dry. It seemed pretty good after one glueing but some spots were a little weak so I applied more 50/50 mix in the weak spots.
Second "upgrade" was to shorten the draw-bar length of the tender/engine connection. Some people might find this to be a bad idea but I'm not too concerned, should it fail I'd be certain to update everyone with my failure but still this was simple and will make for a more visually appealing gap. The first thing I did was measure how big the current cap was from engine to tender on O36 curves (this is the tightest turn the egine can make and the biggest turn of my current layout). After measure I determined I could shorten the draw bar by a 1/4 inch. Next, I got the dremel out and cut the draw bar into 2 pieces about 1/4 inch up from part that connects to the engine. I then sanded both surfaces that were to be glued together. Cleaned those surfaces. JB welded the surfaces together and it is currenlty clamped and drying as I type this. I intended to test pull a few cars and make sure I have a good hold adn then will touch up the black paint where the drawbar was sanded.
some pics are below, not the best I apologize and glue still drying on coal load.
happy railroading!
Jason
