luke the train spotter Posted July 22, 2017 Author Share Posted July 22, 2017 (edited) I don't really like HSTs with buffers so even if it is prototypical I probably won't model one. Gauging the height for the coupling will probably be a difficult task but shouldn't take too long to do. The biggest worry I currently have is how to cut out the section of the front. Any ideas? Edited July 22, 2017 by luke the train spotter Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
luke the train spotter Posted July 23, 2017 Author Share Posted July 23, 2017 I have a dremel but no cutting disks. If I had to remove the front section then I would probably rebuild a new one out of plasticard due to the thickness of the molded body. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darwinian Posted July 24, 2017 Share Posted July 24, 2017 Hi Luke, I like the idea of having a coupling. I had a look on google and found this image of the HST with its coupling door open http://www.totnestrains.com/uploads/6/9/2/9/6929845/43087-13-05-17-5z74_3_orig.jpg I don't think this would be to much work to replicate on the models. Cutting out the square cat the front and then sticking it back on higher up. My preference would then be to use the slimline couplers which would be the most discreet. You could have a rather nice looking set once this is done! and without spending loads of money! Gary PS. I never did get those transfers done, I got sidetracked by something else!! That raised door looks pretty thin to me (I'm not very familiar with diseasal traction however) so you might be better making it from a small rectangle of plasticard. Presumably there is some sort of "hinge" mechanism on the back too. Using a dremel slitting disc on plastic mouldings tends to melt a gouge through the material so you would be unlikely to be able to recover the door part anyway. You could cut out the door using a piercing saw with a very fine blade (assuming other bits of the body don't get in the way) but you have to be pretty handy with the saw to get straight sides. One slow but probably safer way to do it would be to chain drill (lots of drill holes in line next to one another) around the door position using a fine drill bit, link up the holes using a sharp craft knife (you can usually break it out after a couple of sides have been cut) and then file/sand back to the opening edge. However that would still mean fabricating a replacement door. Hope you succeed if you do decide to have a go. I guess it would be something unusual and rarely modelled. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold BlueLightning Posted July 24, 2017 RMweb Gold Share Posted July 24, 2017 One slow but probably safer way to do it would be to chain drill (lots of drill holes in line next to one another) around the door position using a fine drill bit, link up the holes using a sharp craft knife (you can usually break it out after a couple of sides have been cut) and then file/sand back to the opening edge. However that would still mean fabricating a replacement door. Luke, I have been thinking about this and I think Darwinian's method is the best way of going about it. However you choose to do it I look forward to seeing what you achive. Gary PS. I don't know much about diseasals either, I model the LB&SCR and SE&CR in the first years of the 20th century. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
luke the train spotter Posted July 25, 2017 Author Share Posted July 25, 2017 Cheers guys, I think that chain drilling will be my best method of removing the piece of plastic. I scratch built a shunt signal last night for my other layout and I will have a picture of that up soon - just need to operate it on a 3v battery for now as I have no resistors. Regarding the hst, I am slowly stripping all the extra paint of one of the power cars down to its black plastic base layer. This is quite a slow process with me but I would like to have both cars stripped by in the next week or so. Thanks. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold The Johnster Posted July 25, 2017 RMweb Gold Share Posted July 25, 2017 The emergency coupling on a HST power car is a solid steel bar which engages on to a standard drawhook on the power car buffer beam, which is normally hidden behind the door in the fibreglass streamlined nose, and the drawhook of the assisting loco or train. You then couple up the brake pipes and do a brake test, and away you go at, IIRC, up to 90mph. You can draw or propel. We were given instruction in how to do this when the production HSTs were introduced on the WR, and the bar is a hefty lump of steel, long enough to keep the HST's fibreglass well away from the assisting vehicles buffers, but not hard to model, !!RC about 6 inch square bar with eyes on the ends for the hooks to engage in. It is kept in the brake van. Luckily I never had cause to use one. You unlocked the door with a carriage key. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
luke the train spotter Posted July 25, 2017 Author Share Posted July 25, 2017 Ahhhhh. Ok. So in my case it will probably be a decorated nem coupling. I imagine that some thin, bent and painted wire will serve as brake pipes but the steel bar will probably just be there for decoration above the coupling. I will have a look with the nose of the HST next to my Bachmann class 25 and use that to gauge the required height of the coupling. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold The Johnster Posted July 25, 2017 RMweb Gold Share Posted July 25, 2017 That sounds like a plan, Luke. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
luke the train spotter Posted July 26, 2017 Author Share Posted July 26, 2017 Got some slim nem pocket couplings sorted and should get them at the weekend. They are the by product of using kadees on my friend's layout. Should also mean that I have some spare to put onto my Hornby MBA coal wagon. I don't know if you remember seeing those nasty plastic blue "fine fish" box cars but I picked one up years ago at an exhibition. It was repainted into br bauxite and now I am repainting it into network rail yellow. I will post a picture later but it isn't finished yet. This is kind off my test paint but it has been done with brush - not spray like the hst will be. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
UnauthorisedCinnamon Posted July 26, 2017 Share Posted July 26, 2017 (edited) Here's a good video of it in action IIRC there's also an adapter nowadays to go from the drawbar to a knuckle coupler for a 57/67 if it's thunderbirding Edited July 26, 2017 by UnauthorisedCinnamon 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
luke the train spotter Posted July 27, 2017 Author Share Posted July 27, 2017 Thank that is very helpful. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
luke the train spotter Posted July 28, 2017 Author Share Posted July 28, 2017 So here is the picture update. Firstly, here is a picture of one of the hst power cars that have had some paint removed. Next here is a picture of a box car i am repainting into network rail yellow. It is just a bit of fun and still needs some transfers making for it then applying. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
luke the train spotter Posted July 31, 2017 Author Share Posted July 31, 2017 So I have managed to arrange a time when I can borrow a friend's air compressor to spray the coaches into the network rail yellow livery. Does anyone know the required thickness of the paint that I need for the airbrush? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
UnauthorisedCinnamon Posted July 31, 2017 Share Posted July 31, 2017 It depends on the paint / manufacturer - you'll have to play and see what works It usually needs to be the consistency of milk Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
luke the train spotter Posted August 1, 2017 Author Share Posted August 1, 2017 Another question I have is what should I thin my paint with? The paint I will be using is a water based acrylic paint so should I use enamel thinners to thin the paint down or water? Thanks. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold BlueLightning Posted August 1, 2017 RMweb Gold Share Posted August 1, 2017 Luke, You want to use either water or acrylic thinners. Enamel thinners only work with oil based paint. Gary Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
luke the train spotter Posted August 1, 2017 Author Share Posted August 1, 2017 Cheers Gary. I think I shall use water as I don't have any acrylic thinners and I really can't afford any in next months budget. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold The Johnster Posted August 1, 2017 RMweb Gold Share Posted August 1, 2017 Water has the advantage of costing an amount of money compatible with your £100 ceiling. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zomboid Posted August 1, 2017 Share Posted August 1, 2017 So.... What are the benefits of using anything other than water in that application? Assuming that water does indeed work. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
luke the train spotter Posted August 1, 2017 Author Share Posted August 1, 2017 I was a bit uncertain because plastic seems to repeal water but everyone else seems to say that it works so I shall do that. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nearholmer Posted August 1, 2017 Share Posted August 1, 2017 (edited) I think that acrylic thinner is alcohol-based, and it certainly "carries" the pigment better than plain water, possibly because of lower surface tension. I've got a feeling that it is possible to buy alcohol from the chemists at an nth of the price charged for acrylic thinners. Some people recommend 1/3 alcohol with 2/3 water, plus a few drops of flow improver. The £100 layout is a great concept; I sometimes think the most satisfaction I had from modelling was when I was still at school, and had to make things from "throwaway" materials. Worth getting hold of old magazines, sixties, better still fifties, because they contain a high proportion of articles about modelling with really basic materials and tools. Kevin PS: you can get five litres of alcohol for £18 on eBay, but worth checking how watered down it is already; chemists should have pure stuff, sometimes sold as "rubbing alcohol", and electronics places like maplins sell it for use as hardware cleaner. Edited August 1, 2017 by Nearholmer Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
luke the train spotter Posted August 1, 2017 Author Share Posted August 1, 2017 To try and meet the £100 budget I spend a lot of time sifting through the internet and old model railway magazines picked up cheap to source many cheap and basic ways of modelling. All the buildings and structures on the layout will be scratch built out of plasti card and brick/texture papers. I have used this method for my current layout with all the buildings being scratch built by myself with there being only one kit which is a heavily modified and repainted Metcalfe kit. This is a signal box that has been re-roofed, repainted and had an interior scratch built out of plasti card. Nothing like getting side tracked. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold BlueLightning Posted August 1, 2017 RMweb Gold Share Posted August 1, 2017 (edited) Scratch building is a great way to keep costs down, if you can be creative with materials it can be almost free!! Take my signal box for example, it's made from old cereal boxes!!! Gary (Hope you don't mind me posting the picture as an example, I can remove it if you do) Edited August 1, 2017 by BlueLightning Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
luke the train spotter Posted August 2, 2017 Author Share Posted August 2, 2017 Hi Gary, I really don't mind if anyone posts pictures in this thread as I think that they can inspire other modellers. You mentioned that your signal box was built out of cereal packets and so are the platforms on my current layout. Here is a picture of them with a pannier in platform 1a and 1b with 2 gwr b set coaches: The brick on the side is brick paper from Metcalfe which I got cheaply from my local model shop. The top of the platform was just a grey paint. For the new layout, I plan to use the scalescenes downloadable platform kit that only costs £1.99 . 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold BlueLightning Posted August 2, 2017 RMweb Gold Share Posted August 2, 2017 (edited) I like it, before buying anything have you seen http://www.wordsworthmodelrailway.co.uk/ the buildings and kits on here are downloadable for free!! Gary Edited August 2, 2017 by BlueLightning Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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