STEP BY STEP
1
The first job is to remove the body to see what internal detail there is. The body simply unclips and the easiest way is to insert strips of plastic between the body and the solebar. I use cut-up bank cards for this.
2
With the body off we can see that the interior has its original passenger seats. Four at the front are picked out in blue to represent the seats used by route-learners, but they are in the wrong place for that job.
3
I had a drawing, found on the internet, which I copied and enlarged to ‘OO’ size. I marked the area needing attention in red. The guard’s area will not be touched as that is filled with all the electronics.
4
Four tiny cross-head screws attach the interior moulding to the chassis. To avoid risk of damage to the mechanism I undid the screws and lifted off the plastic interior moulding, setting the screws aside safely.
5
Next, working from the drawing, I used a small brush and white paint to mark all the seats that needed to be removed. I planned to leave the seats in the generator area as they would be entirely hidden.
6
Using a sharp razor saw with a very finetoothed blade, I cut off all the marked seats at ‘floor’ level and set the best ones aside for possible future use. Care is needed. If the blade slips you may cut your fingers.
7
With the seats removed, I was left with a series of odd-shaped holes in the floor. I neatened these up with a file to give me straight edges and remove any loose swarf from the sawing.
8
I cut rectangles of .040in styrene sheet, shaped to fit tightly in the holes, and secured them with Plastic Magic. I had to raise one or two to clear obstructions on the chassis – these were cut oversize and glued over the hole.
9
I check-fitted the interior a couple of times to ensure that none of my new infills was fouling components on the chassis. In the end, only the infill around the front bogie pivot area needed to be raised.
10
It became apparent that the walls around the generator would be easier to fit if I removed one more seat unit. By this time I had already started to re-fit seats in their correct positions for the route-learner.