Austrains have long been in the Australian 'ready to run' market and have brought out some fantastic models in that time. Be it the dead on dimensionally 80cl to the NR's which have sold the most units of any Australian outline RTR diesel (correct me if I'm wrong) to the C36 and eventually C35.
The 36's and 35's have a split chassis which can be a bit tedious for those fitting sound but a really good and reliable model.
The 35's came to be in late 2007 and are a really nice model. Pretty close dimensionally and they have really nice running performance, same as the 36. However, same as the 36, they are missing some bits of detail.
I'm not trying to have an accurate 35 but something that can sit alongside other models and look fairly reasonable is all I expect.
The stuff that is missing is basically just electrical conduit and some lube lines which are easily fabricated out of 0.3mm wire.
The conduit for the headlights from the cab to the smokebox where there is a J box to run to either the marker lights or the headlight just for power. I didn't put any effort into replicating the J box, however a small blob of solder would neatly give the impression of the box.
The wire was held down with brackets made out of finely cut pieces of printer paper and glued down. Where I couldn't use brackets, I used UV activated glue. That is some of my favourite stuff to work with as it dries clear and is easy to work with.
Following those alterations, I removed the headlight and cut the headlight off the base, and moved it back. It's an easy way to change the appearance of an unsightly large headlight.
I then proceeded to commence renumbering it 3526, as I had wanted a model of 3526 in green for quite some time.
Anyway, the loco is going to have the QSI sound removed eventually in favour for my personal favourite decoders from Soundtraxx.
Hope you all got some ideas to create a nicer looking 35cl .
Cheers, Mick.
