No. 160 Desert Sand , Dettol and some Extreme Plates
Heljan to my knowledge have produced three models of D1000
Western Enterprise painted in its experimental Desert Sand livery. Heljan model number 5204 represented the
prototype when it first emerged from Swindon Works in 1961 with no warning
panels.
Heljan 5213 had small yellow
warning panels as applied in November 1962.
Both 5204 and 5213 had a satin varnish finish. Heljan 5221 also had small yellow panels but
it had a gloss coated ‘ex works’ finish.
When the opportunity presented itself I would buy Heljan
5213 - D1000 Western Enterprise, with small yellow panel.
This would be my second Heljan 5213. My first was purchased in 2010 when the model
was introduced and subsequently replaced in 2012 with Heljan 5204 – with no yellow
panels.
Heljan 5213, 2012 sales listing
My 5213 models appear to have had a couple of manufacturing
issues. I think they would have been
made around the time that Heljan was transferring production to China. Firstly the body shell can be difficult to clip
on to the chassis and secondly the shades of Desert Sand on the bodyshell,
front valance and around the fuel tanks are all different. Might this be why I parted so readily with my
first model? (A search for images of
Heljan 5213 on the internet provides further confirmation of these issues.)
With the bodyshell removed it was evident that the plastic
cover for the wiring to the front lights was not sitting flat. This plate presses against the underside of
the cab seating unit and hence keeps the bodyshell and chassis apart. (The seating unit appears to be a clip fit to
the cab side glazing.)
Heljan 5213, raised plastic cover to front wiring
Heljan 5213, seating unit
Heljan 5213, excess glue to front wiring
The plastic cover can be prised off and in my case revealed
surplus glue around the wiring. My glue
was soft and could be peeled away to allow the plastic cover a better fit. I was not totally convinced that I had sorted
this issue and so I also filed away some of the plastic from beneath the
seating unit. I had a better fit.
Heljan 5213, underside of seating unit
My latest purchase seemed to have three different shades of
Desert Sand, the front valance and around the fuel tanks. looking to have
different amounts of red colouring compared to each other and to the
bodyshell. I don’t know what shade is
correct – if any. However since the fuel
tank and valances are removable I set myself the challenge of recolouring those
parts to match the bodyshell. As a
starting point I bought some Desert Sand from Phoenix Precision Paints.
Heljan 5213, as first out of the box on my layout with
red shading on the lower parts
Shades of Desert Sand, Heljan 5204 left, Heljan 5213
right, Phoenix Precision Paint front valance right
The Precision Paint was to my mind too light compared to the
bodyshell and I set about making it darker.
I had pots of Phoenix GWR locomotive green, orange lining and
black. Over a period of a few days I
mixed proportions of these colours and painted test strips on the old lids of
cream cheese cartons and on an old CD case.
Samples and Mixes
I thought I had a solution simply by adding black and went
ahead and repainted all the offending parts.
I was particularly pleased to be able to expose the white battery box
tabs with a cocktail stick whilst the paint was still drying. However I was not convinced about the
outcome!
Heljan 5204 back, 5213 front, lower body repainted with
Phoenix Precision Paints Desert Sand with added Black
The removable parts had now had two coats of paint with a
third in the offing. The moulded detail
was fast disappearing. I had previously
researched removing enamel paint from plastic and had bought a bottle of
Dettol. I had spare front valances and I
used these to trial the process.
Placing the painted plastic in a solution of one part Dettol and one
part water for around one hour worked a ‘treat’. The fresh paint disintegrated, the underlying
old paint softened and was brushed off with a toothbrush under running water. I took the plunge and placed the fuel tanks
in a measuring cylinder of my Dettol solution and left them for an hour.
Fuel tanks soaking in Dettol solution, one part Dettol,
one part water, for one hour
Again the recent paint could be washed off whilst the
underlying older paint needed some encouragement. I did use some white spirit to remove the
final traces of old paint and the underlying black plastic moulding whilst
undamaged did develop some white patches.
Detail items after soaking with Dettol and brushing in
running water. Paint residue on the fuel
tanks was removed with a little white spirit
Back to more paint samples and this time I made a mix of
five parts Desert Sand, two parts orange lining and two parts GWR green. In certain lights it was nearly very good!
Now what about the white tabs on the battery boxes?
Plan A involved purchasing a white fine liner. I sourced a Uni Posca white paint marker with
a 0.7mm tip. It was nearly very good and
would draw a permanent fine white painted line on a painted or plastic
surface. The problem that I had was that
the nib has to be pressed down at the start of drawing and this produces a rush
of paint /small blob. Perhaps in more
skilled hands this could be controlled.
For writing and general art work it would not be an issue but for highlighting
discrete items such as the battery box tabs the pen did not appear
suitable. I noted that the white paint
whilst ‘permanent’ could be removed using white spirit before it had completely
dried.
uni POSCA fineliner, 0.7mm tip
Plan B, I had some surplus Railtec water slide transfers for
smoke box numbers. The number ‘1s’ were
a perfect match for the white tabs. I
don’t have much success at fixing water slide transfers and in this instance I
finished off by applying a coat of slightly thinned Humbrol Satin Cote. I must have been lucky as nothing moved!
Smoke box door ‘1s’ used for the white battery box
tabs
Something else that Heljan got wrong was the size of the
Western Enterprise name plates. The Heljan
printed plates are too small. In myBlog
Post in November 2019 https://longsheds.blogspot.com/2019/11/no-154-enterprising-plates-heljan.html I described fitting correct size C.G.W.
plates and Crests to Heljan model 5204 – with no yellow panel. This time around I went to ‘Shawplan’, and
their range of ‘Extreme Etchings’.
(Interestingly Brian at Extreme Etchings tells me that he owns the
C.G.W. range.)
D1000 Western Enterprise (Heljan 5213) with plates and
Crests from Extreme Etchings
Brian also said that Extreme Etchings use a two stage
process which results in a three dimensional etch. I was impressed. I think the crests from Extreme Etchings are
in a higher league compared to the earlier two dimensional offering from C.G.W.
A comparison, C.G.W crest to the fore, Extreme Etchings
at the rear
I
have not acheived a perfect colour match.
The various body parts seem to
change colour with different lighting conditions (and monitors). The body shell is moulded in red plastic
whilst the removeable parts are black plastic.
I think that could be part of the problem.
Heljan 5213 etched crests and plates from Extreme
Etchings, lower body repainted
Heljan 5213 etched crests and plates from Extreme
Etchings, lower body repainted
Heljan 5213 etched crests and plates from Extreme
Etchings, lower body repainted
I still think a good outcome and the Heljan model does run superbly.
There is a video on YouTube prior to adding
white to the battery boxes.
And another on Flickr
Comments