Matt's Hornby Crane detailing thread. Now starting on Mk2!

[Poor Old Bruce]

Mention was made of the Old Oak moves.

See http://www.ontrackpl...m/photo/96702-2 For jib and match wagons.

I don't want to rain on anybody's parade after all the work that has gone into the crane but the stringing should really be into grooves on the outside edges of the pulley wheels. Some of this can be seen on the photo referred to and there should be others nearby if you can find them. There is a comment with the photo that some clown has taken a gas axe to the relieving bogie coupling, they also seem to have done the same to the ropes.

 

Go to the photo, click on 'Photos' at the top of the page, then click on 'breakdown' for several photos.

[angell328]

Hi,

 

Unfortunatly using some old half track wheels this is the best that will come on this model! As I said at the beginning this is just going to have the spirt of the prototype not the blueprint re-build. That said all of the research you guys have kindly supplied and pointed me towards will come in very usefull when I do get round to building a blue print build.

 

I have enjoyed this build a lot more then I thought I would as I am normally just a stick it together and paint it from the instructions guy! It was quiet daunting to take my razor saw to a perfectly servicable model!! That said I'm glad I did.

 

Having enjoyed this build and seeing the short comings of the original Hornby crane and some of my work I really want to do one as close as I can get. Although I'm sure there will be several things wrong with that one too, but hey learning from your mistakes and trying again is part of the fun of building them in the first place!

 

I'm hoping to purchase some hole cutting stamps soon so I can do a really fine pulley wheels, not sure if anyone has noticed (and been to polite to say! dont worry I take all critasim as constructive!) but there is nowhere near enough up and down lines for the jib lift and pulley lift lines. Again something of a compromise from using parts laying in the spares box!

 

So keep the ideas coming folks, they probably wont go into this model as it's so far along now, but they will go in the good ideas pile for the next one, then the next one etc etc!

 

Cheers

 

Matt

[big_daddy_ray]

This project is so delightful that the little imperfections seem to vanish into obscurity, are you going to keep a record of your next build and share it with us like this one, not that I'm trying to hurry you along or anything (but you'll never get round to doing ours if your still doing yours )

[m0rris]

This project is so delightful that the little imperfections seem to vanish into obscurity, are you going to keep a record of your next build and share it with us like this one, not that I'm trying to hurry you along or anything (but you'll never get round to doing ours if your still doing yours )

 

+1, very inspiration as it shows how you can really capture the image of the prototype through the pieces from your scrapbox!

 

m0rris

[angell328]

Good morning!

 

Well got off work a few hours early and as I'm on nights tomorrow no point in going to bed too early so time to get some paint on things!

 

First of all thank you too Morris and BDR, you will give me an ego soon! I'm really glad that I've kept you entertained. Don't worry when I get round to the next build I will keep you guys fully updated with the trials and tribulations I encounter. Oh and if you really do want one BDR then get yourself a crane and be brave or stick it in the post to me with a self addressed envelope!

 

As the Mrs would probably object to me powering up the airbrush at this time of night I have got the brushes out and detailed up a few bits.

Painted the pulley wheels matt black, highlighted the relevent boxes in dayglow orange, painted up the wooden boxes and given the nitrogen tank a coat of white.

 

 

 

 

 

I also picked out the axle boxes in yellow. She is almost ready for a coat of future so I can decal her up and then start the weathering process!

Still need to sort out the secondary hook and paint up the main hook in red. Oh and just looking at her now I realised I have to paint the steps and handrails white too! Need to find my nickle silver wire to make some cab hand rails too!

The jobs keep on building!

 

Whilst The paint has been drying on the crane I have been building a Parkside Dundas southern BY utility van. This will go in the rake as a storage van for the various rerailing equipment that was carried.

 

 

 

Should look good all yellowed up! Don't think any BY's ever got to the yellow stage in the Departmental fleet, but rule one always applies!

 

Thanks for looking and hope tho have some more updates for you again soon!

 

Cheers

 

Matt

[angell328]

Morning all,

 

I've had quiet a productive day tinkering with the crane.

 

Started off by doing some detail work to the match trucks. I painted the ladders white, but as they are quiet thick I only painted the front s and a small bead down each side. This gives the illusion of them being much thinner than they are, as long as you dont look too close!

 

 

For the ladders on the jib match truck I found an old brass ladder from a N gauge water tower in the bottom of my parts bin. This was cut to length and fitted to the 4 corners before getting a coat of white. I know it's a bit underscale, but I wasn't in the mood to scratch build some ladders!

 

 

All that needs doing on jib match truck now is some handrails fitting, if I can ever find my wire!

 

The Main crane bogie needed the stabalising legs fitting next. I cut out some plasticard to blank off the holes, then mounted to small cuts of I beam onto them.

 

 

After a quick spray of black and then a lick of yellow they sat in place lovely.

 

 

Once everything was dry the whole assembly got a coat of Future floor polish to give a nice smooth gloss finish to accept the decals.

I used some left over Fox 08 shunter end chevron marking from a previous respray for the end of the counter balance and the 2 ends of the main bogie. The counter weight decal when on without too much hassle. Biggest problem was trimming a hole for the exhaust to pass through.

The bogie ends where a bit trickier as I had to pre cut a hole for the coupling to come through and then put a cut to the edge to allow the entire transfer to be slid into place around the coupling. Some micro sol/set and bit of tweaking seems to have hidden the slice.

 

 

 

 

The counterwieght sides and the other match truck bufferbeams had Fox breakdown coach flashes fitted. They all settled down fine except for the jib match truck which has some very pronounced ridges. Copious ammounts of micro set/sol was used over a period of several hours. Using a stiff wide bristled brush to tamp the decal in a bit more everytime, then another coat of micro set/sol it finally contored round everything and looks ok. Not 100% happy with it, but it will do for now!

 

 

The next joy filled job was to put the warning strips on the jib end. Using some 1/32" yellow decals I slowly put one line in after another untill I had one whole side done, then turned over and started again! Time consuming yes, but well worth the effort in my mind.

 

 

 

Whilst all of the decals where settling down I made up the small secondary hook and tackle block. A small hook I found on one of my tank sprues together with a bit of plastic card gave me this.

 

 

And installed along with the main hook.

 

 

Thats about as far as I have got now. She will need another coat of future to seal in decals fitted so far, then the rest put on when I get them this weekend. Then it will be weathering and satin varnish time!

 

Few pictures to close on showing overall view.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for looking,

 

Matt

[davep101]

Hiya Matt,

 

What a brilliant article, and it maybe not 100% correct in some of the parts fitted to the crane, but like big_daddy_ray points out these fade in to obscurity, and the very near finished article looks excellent, well done!...I mite even attack my crane ive got lurking in the modelling room!

 

Regards davep101

[SRman]

Now you've done all that detail painting and finishing, it looks really superb ... the bee's knees!

 

Well done, Matt.

[hmrspaul]

Whilst The paint has been drying on the crane I have been building a Parkside Dundas southern BY utility van. This will go in the rake as a storage van for the various rerailing equipment that was carried.

Should look good all yellowed up! Don't think any BY's ever got to the yellow stage in the Departmental fleet, but rule one always applies!

 

Matt

 

This BY was partially repainted in yellow - but not very helpful for you! http://gallery6801.fotopic.net/p45665201.html

 

Paul Bartlett

 

PS the crane is looking really good.

[angell328]

Afternoon all,

 

Glad you guys are liking the progress, I must admit I get a twinge of pride everytime I walk into the modeling room and see her sitting there.

 

Paul, give it a go! Bit of paint, plasticard and some brave pills and you too can be the proud owner of a bodgit and scarper breakdown crane

 

Mr Bartlett seeing the guaging BY in yellow is all the excuse I need to continue my repaint, not that I need much encouragement to respray stock in engineers colours!

 

I have just picked up the rest of the decals and am about to get settled for an afternoon of cut and stick. Hopefully some nice pics for you tonight.

 

Cheers peeps

 

Matt

[stadman]

Visit Departmentals.com for the support vehicles for cranes. Plus many other varied and old vehicles.

enough inspiration for years.

[angell328]

How do all,

 

Well in between fixing the washing machine, rescuing broken down friends and a bit of tinkering time under the old series landrover I have managed to get some work done on the crane!

 

Stadman, that website and Mr bartletts are very dangerous places for me to browse! The amount of time I have gone, hmmm could knock one of those up!

 

The Mrs pinched the camera this weekend so as I have only just got my hands on it again there isn't many as I go pics.

So what have I done you ask, well finally found my nickle silver wire so I have been making handrails and handles. Also been sticking the decals on here and there. I got a set of Modelmaster breakdown train markings for the main work. They have some good decals in there but I wasn't to happy with a few things. As you will see from the pics the main jib displays 'to lift 75 tons' when it should say 'swl 76 tonnes'. I was going to cut them about and spell the words out, but to be honest I really couldn't be bothered! I promise that on the blue print rebuild the wording will be correct! Also the decals for the match trucks to me seem to large a font. They break up the model a bit and give an idea of what should be there, bit like the crane in general really!

 

So a few pictures for your viewing pleasure, next shots will be after another coat of future and a bit of weathering.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cheers

 

Matt

 

Oh a quick p.s. The BY is coming on nicely too. But my got settling those decals down over the sides.....very nearly invented the flying utility van last night!

 

 

 

 

Cheers

 

matt

[big_daddy_ray]

Hi Matt, just wanted to say that it looks the dogs dagglies and I can't wait to see it with some weathering on, I love weathering it adds such depth to a model and looking at some of the work you've done before this too will be excellent, waiting with baited breath as I believe many of us are Keep it up

[yellowvanman]

great work Matt , look forward to seeing it finished....

[angell328]

Evening all!

 

Yes I'm back, dont fear my faithfull crane watchers!

 

Well it's been a fun few days of pulling down ceilings at a friends house and rescuing yet more mates with my trusty 41 year old land rover, but tonight I had the house to myself so modeling has commensed!

 

Before I go into tonights first steps of weathering I took crane down to steves so inbetween DIY we could have bit of a test run and photo session. Good news is she runs like a dream with the turned down centre wheels and 3 links fitted. I thought we may have had some issues on some of the tighter bends but all was good. Was even able to reverse the entire setup with out any major difficulties well happy!

 

 

 

 

As you can see sat mine up against steves standard Hornby model, wow bit of a differance now! I still find it strange that they both started out as the same model.

 

 

Right onto tonights fun. Well started off giving the whole model a good heavy coat of future to seal in all the decals and to give smooth surface to weather over. It also acts as a good barrier to using thinners ect to wipe off, or control weathering media.

 

It was then a case of several very heavily thinners oil washes over the entire model. This was left to dry then the excess taken off with a cotton bud. Then the process was repeated with another oil wash of a different shade.

I did 3 washes in total, burn unmber, raw unmber and lamp black.

Each wash adds its own filter to the model, and as it goes on very slap-dash the entire model gets a very varied tonal flavour.

The pictures show it still very heavily coated, this will be given another go over with a few cotton buds tomorrow once the wash has fully dryed. This should get rid of the heavier areas ready for next few layers of weathering with airbrush and pastles.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The roof got some attension from my MIG weathering pigments. I used faded panzer grey and applied dry using a wide flat brush from the roof center to the edges. This gives the streaked faded effect the wind and rain give. Again this is very heavy but i have found that the pigments dilute down under a coat of matt varnish making the finished article much subtler.

 

Well thats about it for tonight! The joy of weathering is it takes quiet a few days of layering it up right, well for me anyway! Hope you enjoy the pics and feel free to cringe and comment!

 

Cheers

 

Matt

[m0rris]

 

Seriously impressive work, what are the MIG powders like to use on stock?

 

m0rris

[angell328]

Morning all,

 

Mr Morris you asked about Mig pigments, they have a great many uses and can be used in many ways! If you are going to be handling the stock a fair bit its a must to cover them with a varnish or layer of somesort as they will soon rub off.

One of my friends uses Mig pigments for exhaust staining and panel lines by scrubbing the pigments into areas. This is especially good on rough finishes as it picks up the powder much easier. This is very successfull as it is like staining, still rubs off but only after a long time, or very heavy handling.

Mig also supply thinners and resin to use with the pigments, thinners is just white spirit but expensive! Thinned down pigments make great washes on loadbeds etc, and can be taken off with cotton bud just like oil washes.

The resin is good for making paste for mud or heavy build ups. More for my military modeling then trains!

 

 

On to the crane itself. Tonight I used an IPA soaked cotton bud to remove some of the washes from the other night they where quiet heavy in places.

Once this was done I used Tamiya smoke to make oil runs and leaks from the various pieces of equipment on the sides.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I like tamiya smoke as it dries glossy but slightly translucent. It gives quiet a good representation of oil leaks and spills.

I gave the underframes a gentle blow over with some tamiya buff as this gives a bit of a contrast of running dirt.

 

I also gave the BY utility van the same IPA cotton bud treatment before a coat of satin varnish. As you can hopefully see from the roof the Mig pigments have almost disappeared under the varnish. So once the varnish has dried I will give the roof another treatment with the powders.

 

 

 

 

Thats all for tonight, hopefully the weekend will see the final bits of detailing and a coat of varnish. I am thinking of putting some liquid lead onto the crane as it still feels a bit light to me, even though it has the factory fit metal wieghts in.

So by monday I may be calling this project finished!

 

Cheers

 

Matt

[big_daddy_ray]

Loving it as usual, love the weathering on the crane and the oil leaks look great I was going to buy some Mig oil and fuel stain but might try Tamiya Smoke first, but you've really excelled yourself on the BY van that weathering is sublime you've really captured the essence of were the dirty should be it looks fantastic, give me something to work to, just waiting for the moment that you say it's done........ and then just add something else lol

[relaxinghobby]

Hi

angell328

 

They had your crane at Crewe Industrial heritage Museum on November 27th. Just got the pictures back;

 

Heavy frost but blue sky all day, the crane was tucked away amongst the locos

[m0rris]

Thanks for the MiG info,I might consider splashing out on some soon!

 

m0rris

[Poor Old Bruce]

Hi

angell328

 

They had your crane at Crewe Industrial heritage Museum on November 27th. Just got the pictures back;

 

Heavy frost but blue sky all day, the crane was tucked away amongst the locos

Not Quite. Isn't that a 45 tonner?

 

Not sure on dates Angel but after mertrication the 75 Ton cranes were rated at 76 tonnes. The newer one with telescopic jibs have always been 75 tonnes.

[ringo]

Crewe LNWRs crane is a 45 tonner,

 

Its the ex Brighton (Lovers Walk),Breakdown crane, I had to travel from Toton to Brighton to carry out a VAB inspection so we could certificate it for a one journey only move to Crewe.

 

It was like a new pin underneath, and the only repair that was needed was a new bearing on one of the stokes bogies.

 

Regards

 

R

[angell328]

Morning all,

 

Relaxing hobby, Thank you for posting those pictures. They are of the baby brother of the 75 ton crane, yours is indeed the 45 ton as others have kindly pointed out. I have learnt some usefull points non the less from your snaps. I now know how the hook and tackle block fits into a recess on the jib match truck. None of the pictures I've managed to find so far have that close a detail on, so thanks for thinking of me and this thread.

 

Glad I managed to help with the Mig pigments, look forward to seeing what you get upto with them.

 

Onto the crane. Looking at some more pictures online I have noticed that there is a lot more muck and oil on the sides and bogie then I had previously thought. So out with the oil wash and neat oil paint. I gave the bogie and match trucks a wash with lamp black oil paint, making sure plenty built up in the recessess. Once this had dried slightly I used neat oil paint on the centre bearing and ran it down the sides of the crane bogie. As this is neat it will take a good week or so to dry enough to allow handling. Lucky for me I'm off to Oz for three weeks on sunday, so should be well cured by then!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have given the crane a spray in satin varnish, but it was still slightly wet when i took the photos hense why it has quiet a sheen to it. I also got my NSE 33035 out to give motive power today. Growning up in Surbiton right next to the Waterloo line a have a soft spot for those loud bright colours!

 

I have called time on the BY utility van, anything I do on that now will be overkill. With any project tho its never truely finished as I'm sure most of you will agree! The crane just needs a few more tweeks, looking at the photos I see I have forgotten yet again to paint the exhaust in rust!

 

 

 

 

So before I go away to Oz I am hoping to have her all done and to finish this thread, dont want to keep my audiance hanging for 3 weeks!

 

I am in awe at how popular this thread has become, I never thought that cutting the old Hornby crane in half would generate nearly 4 pages of response and nearly 4000 views! Thank you all for your help, encouragement and pointers. I am in debt to you for that, espically the where you have gone wrong help. The next crane is going to make this one look like the original Hornby job!

 

Cheers Guys and girls

 

Matt

[Lyddrail]

Matt,

 

You have done an excellent job on the Hornby crane, well done. You have used many interesting technics too (most helpful).

 

I converted the Hornby crane to a smallar 30 ton version used by the Power Supply Section in the South. Similar in some ways to the 45 ton crane pics recently posted.

 

I plan to do a 50 ton and 75 ton crane from the Hornby model in the future.

 

 

 

Cheers.

 

Paul.

[angell328]

Hi Paul,

Thats a great model you have produced! Loving the detail on it. Did you use the 75 ton crane as the base model too? Also love to know how you made the jib match truck, especially the pocket for the hook.

 

Have to get the two of them running side by side one day!

 

Once I have the next 75 tonner out the way and the blue print build of the 75 tonner I hoping to go down the weight lifting scales and do a few more. Really gotten bit by the crane bug now.

 

Cheers

 

Matt