HOW TO DO IT: MODIFY DAPOL FIGURES

A razor saw is best for cutting. Wherever possible, never cut completely through a limb or head as the joining piece will help to keep the appendage in the correct anatomical position - and it eliminates the risk of losing small parts. Put a small amount of glue into the gap, then press the arm to the body, closing the sawed gap. I prefer EMA Plastic Weld Cement as it looks like the moulded plastic when it cures. But use it sparingly - too much and you’ll melt the plastic. Sometimes you have to completely remove a limb in order to achieve the required angle. To make this chap point at something higher, I removed his arm with a razor saw, adjusted the base with files and glued the arm in place at the new angle. Perhaps the most complex modification is to replicate a bowed head. Cut almost all the way through the neck and make a wedge I used a piece of sprue - to push the head forward. Glue into position and leave to dry. Once dry, cut away the sprue and re-shape the neck. Finally, I scraped away the waistcoat chain, which the figure appears to be holding, and substituted it with a small piece of paper. Bending, kneeling, crouching or prone positions seem to have been overlooked by ‘OO’ gauge figure manufacturers. I modified this Dapol fireman by removing the coal shovel and reshaping the leg behind using a combination of knife scraping and filing. Both knees have been cut, from the rear, in the same way as the lowered arm. Using a fine needle file, I’ve increased the cut angle so both legs will go further back, to give a crouched position. The modified figure is ideal for depicting someone drilling or feeding a pipe through a wall.

I converted this Dapol track worker to a signalman many years ago. I used the techniques described here to alter the position of his leading leg. If I were to make this model now, I’d replace the moulded crowbar with a scale signal lever. I was intrigued by this wartime image of railway workers wearing gas masks. The diagram illustrates how I used a small piece of very thin plastic sheet to form the mask.

I removed some of the facial details (including the nose) with a file and then glued the mask in place, bending it around the face as the glue softened the plastic. The canister section was made from two pieces of micro-rod. The gas mask bag was made from a fairly flat piece of sprue from the Dapol Water Tower kit, and I made the straps for the bag and gas mask out of micro-strip. A word of advice for the straps: put a thin coat of glue on the underside to help it bend, then stick it in place.