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Falling Behind: A Leader Story (Pt2)

Grasslands

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20140109-232713.jpg?w=625

 

We now return to the development of my Golden Arrow resin and white metal kit of the pioneering Bulleid Leader (click here for part 1).

 

Leader’s bogies are gigantic, just massive. Leader looks like the monster truck of UK locomotives. These bogies are cast in white metal and have a very nice finish. They are also nice and weighty. While reading how to install the recommended DS10 motor I mis-interpreted the instructions and installed a separate DS10 motor into each bogie. In hindsight this wasn’t such a bad idea, as leader is now a real brute on the rails.

 

I followed the wheeling convention of some of Heljan’s diesels and put bearings around the front and rear axles on each bogie and left the middle wheel floating. This helps prevent the massive wheels from causing derailments.

 

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I installed two Lenz silver decoders (one on each bogie) and programmed each to the same ID. Trial runs showed strong running qualities, but I did need to shave away some of the higher sections of the bogies to allow Leader to get around the tight corners on Brewery Pit. Having duel motors and picking up current from both bogies means that when Leader de-rails it has a propensity to continue to drive on with the derailed bogie, so one needs to be careful.

Leader often ran with all it’s vents and doors open, so I cut through the resin cast and opened up all the doors and vents. I also made some vent flaps out of plasticard. I then added hand rails and door knobs. Please note that most people fit the the vertical cab rails on the front of Leader in the wrong position. Most models have them mounted on the very front of the cab, but the prototype has them fitted to the sides and they bend around to the front. In my opinion this makes a big difference to the look of the loco. These hand rails were made from guitar string.

 

I also added lamp irons and a whistle. The flush glazing was hand cut from thick transparent plastic.

I then painted Leader with the softest silver-grey shade I could find. I used a Halfords car spray and I was very pleased with the results. I felt like I had sprayed the paint on a bit thick in places, so I decided to fix the paint with a satin gloss coat – fatal mistake!

 

The paint never fully dried and always retained a slight tackiness. I keep my models in a metal box surrounded by foam and I was concerned that the foam might mark the paint so I wrapped Leader with a thin bit of plastic wrapping. I then discovered that the paint was still slowly moving and the paint had formed moulding lines with the patterning of the plastic wrapping. I quickly sprung into action and scrubbed away the tacky areas of paint. My model of one of my favourite engines was sullied.

 

So at this stage these pictures are all I have of Leader in it’s (almost) final stage. A real shame.

 

The story continues…

20140109-232851.jpg?w=625

 

explore my blog grasslandmodels for more projects.

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Strathwood
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Very nice indeed.

 

The real ones would have had rusty buffers and wheel treads most of the time, before their scrap calls.

 

But just imagine them painted out in Malachite with sunshine lettering perhaps, or maybe early BR black with the big lion and wheel emblems complete with larger style numbers along the sides. Would have been great to look at, but a nightmare to fire and work on for fitters no doubt.

 

Kevin

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Grasslands

It would have been a truly wonderful sight. Sunshine lettering would be very eye catching.

 

I Wish this model still looked like it does in the pictures. I have stripped all the paint back off it again to manage the tacky paint issue. I hope to have it back up to standard again later this year. Fingers crossed.

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KH1
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If you do ever get a tacky paint problem getting the model in to a warm place can help. on top of a radiator for a couple of hours or in and airing cupboard. I guess it must help to drive off the solvent. Car sprayers use huge ovens or portable electric fire type things to set paint quickly. You do have to be careful not to get things too hot though as model trains do melt a bit more easily than cars! I once hair dryered a white metal kit too much, melted the solder and it just collapsed!

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Grasslands
If you do ever get a tacky paint problem getting the model in to a warm place can help. on top of a radiator for a couple of hours or in and airing cupboard. I guess it must help to drive off the solvent. Car sprayers use huge ovens or portable electric fire type things to set paint quickly. You do have to be careful not to get things too hot though as model trains do melt a bit more easily than cars! I once hair dryered a white metal kit too much, melted the solder and it just collapsed!

 

Thanks for the heating advice. I think it was too thickly sprayed in places and i made the mistake of topping a metalic finish with varnish. Somwhere in my dark modelling past, I remember this being a bad idea.

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Welsh Yorkie

Is it true that these brutes were meant to replace M7 and other small passenger locos, and were to be used for 'branch lines'? If so, perhaps a redefinition of branch line is in order here -- I couldn't see them working on bucolic BLTs!

 

Re varnishing, I've started using Pledge (new formulation), and that looks OK. Perhaps you could trial it on the underneath to check it out?

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Grasslands

There is some truth to the M7 rumour which is discussed in detail in both of Kevin Robertson's books. The initial designs were of a much smaller loco which was proposed as the replacement for the M7s, but as development continued the design got bigger and bigger :) There is a great picture in one of the Robertson books of two men attempting to fit Leader under a water pump.

 

Happy to have a crack at Pledge, what type of finish does it give, satin or gloss?

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Horsetan

Twin-engined bogies are a good idea - just as well you did, as the DS10 was originally designed for N-gauge and would be somewhat overloaded on its own in a big 4mm scale model.....

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Bruciethefish

There can be a problem using varnishes, or indeed other paints over the Halford's spray finishes, which is due to residual thinners not having fully evaporated before the other coat is applied. The original spraycan thinner slowly leaches from the surface, but is prevented from evaporating by the layer over it, which softens instead. I've found that it's best to leave the job for at least a fortnight in a warm place before attempting to apply an enamel based coat over the top.. There can also be an issue with bubble wrap, which I've found can affect seemingly dry paint finishes for several weeks after painting. Whether this is due to residual thinners, or something like plasticisers present in the wrapping I'm unsure, but worth knowing..

I like what you've done with the model thus far;- an excellent job coming together...

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Grasslands
Twin-engined bogies are a good idea - just as well you did, as the DS10 was originally designed for N-gauge and would be somewhat overloaded on its own in a big 4mm scale model.....

 

Those white metal bogies are really heavy too. I am most pleased with my inability to follow instructions.

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Grasslands
There can be a problem using varnishes, or indeed other paints over the Halford's spray finishes, which is due to residual thinners not having fully evaporated before the other coat is applied. The original spraycan thinner slowly leaches from the surface, but is prevented from evaporating by the layer over it, which softens instead. I've found that it's best to leave the job for at least a fortnight in a warm place before attempting to apply an enamel based coat over the top.. There can also be an issue with bubble wrap, which I've found can affect seemingly dry paint finishes for several weeks after painting. Whether this is due to residual thinners, or something like plasticisers present in the wrapping I'm unsure, but worth knowing..

I like what you've done with the model thus far;- an excellent job coming together...

 

Thanks for these interesting thoughts. After many tragedies I try to keep my enamel paints and acrylics away from each other, but what you have said about the thinners leaching would explain the issue. I think that there are also issues with metallic paints and topping them with something else. I am really gutted, as I really liked the colour scheme. I will endeavour to return it to glory.

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