So i have come to realise i have a growing obsession with parcels vehicles.
I have also been stretching my kit building muscles recently so thought i would combine the two and build the ratio kit of tge SR bogie B.
Here it is in it's unboxed state.
I have also just poured a wheat beer so progress of any kind is not guaranteed this evening.
Happy modelling for now.
Hi Folks. I thought I would share the results of some recent weathering I did on some kit built vans. The vans have mostly sat around since completion to ex-works condition. I see myself as an all round modeller however the flurry of activity at the beginning stages of a kit and the plodding, drawn out approach I have towards the end stages shows where my enthusiasm mostly lies. In short I love building a kit, kind of enjoy painting it and often dread weathering.
Part of the dread
Below are some of the improvements I have attempted on the Lima LMS GUV/CCT. The coach was a chance find item in a chance find model shop on a day trip to Gravesend.
The model was in "as new" condition before an inital brake fluid bath to remove the paint. The fluid did not manage to shift everything but as I intended to file and sand away alot of tge beading detail I felt removol of the lettering and numbers would be enough.
Detail was scraped away with a brand new chi
This is a follow up thread to my original post on the construction of a Ratio Bogie 'B' van. The original can be found here:
After a brief hiatus in modelling activity I have returned to this project. We left off with me having solved the ride height problem. Next came the fiddly etches.
There are separate etches for every door hinge. The added value they bring is not that obvious and a moulding integral to the side would have probably given superior results. How
I have struggled to find detailing kits for my DMU stock for some time. I had underestimated how hard it would be to make simple updates to affordable models (those were teh days it seems). I recall using Howes bufferbeam details to upgrade my Lima locos as a teenager back in the 90s. Anyway, it seems craftsman kits and the like are well out of business and being unable to find Heljan sprues from the DPU 128 model i set about making my own.
I used .8 and .5mm brass wi
Hi folks,
Have been self isolating yet again so stole some "working from home" time to get nearer to completion a project that has been hanging around for quite a while.
I bought an old Bachmann conflat wagon with A-type container over a year ago from an exhibition. I had ummed and ahhed about either buying a Bachmann one, which I knew had a detailed container but less refined wagon OR a parkside kit and cambrian container kit plus transfers.
I went with the
Here is the completed Ration kit of the SR Bogie B van. As discussed in previous posts about the build, the kit is complex but satisfying.
I am happy with the overall impression the model gives. The weathering is as outlined in my quick and dirty weathering post.
Briefly, the body is sprayed matt and then decalfix and powders used. The underframe uses brake dust colour as well as up the body sides. These are applied more generously nearest the bottom of the
Hi folks,
I am nearing the completion of a little project I have been working on. This is a Dapol BR 20t brake van I have tweaked and finished as an air piped example from the 1970's.
The kit is a real favourite as it is very simple to build, captures the essence of the prototype and is very very cheap!!! Tweaks include the removal of handrail mouldings and replacement with brass wire, a scratch built roof, new inner doors, removal and replacement of lamp irons and addition of air brake
Here are some pictures of a spontaneous modelling decision i took recently.
I am sure i have seen this done here and before i knew it i was tearing off the door and bashing some new ones.
The doors have a huge gap at the top and oversized hinges to enable an opening action. The roof is also too thick...oh and the decals don't look right to me.
Due to slightly heavy handedness the kit doors were broken to new ones fashioned from plastikard.
As described in my previous blog post i have been improving (attempting to) a Dapol meat van kit i previously built as per the instructions. This involved scratch building some new doors.
The original paint job was phoenix bauxite weathered with powders and decalfix wash. This appeared too dark and was not helped by the oversized decals supplied in the kit.
I didn't bother stripping the paint, simply scraping away the decals and a layer of halfords grey primer over the
This project is reaching it's conclusio and I am pleased with the results.
I opted for hand painting the body which was achieved using 5 thin coats of Phoenix Precision BR Blue. The Roof was painted humbrol 166 light grey. I failed to spot the cantrail and roof ends are painted br blue so I am currently applying coats in the correct places.
Transfers are modelmaster, the numbers being applied individually.
The body was sprayed halfords matt laquer which I
For a layout set in 1970, Templefield has been sadly lacking my favourite locomotive; the ubiquitous class 47. The hole in my loco stable was recently filled by a Bachmann 47 in the perfect livery for the era, and one that suits these locos superbly, two tone green with full yellow ends.
Lovely as it is, there is no way the livery would have been as immaculate as the factory finish and so, some gratuitous "filthying" needed to happen.
The loco was dismantled, windows rem
Hi Folks,
I've completed another wagon using the decalfix + powders weathering technique. This time around I have gone for a heavier finish.
The wagon is a parkside 13t Steel Open wagon kit. As before, the wagon is completed to ex-works condition, applying decals by modelmaster. With this wagon, I left it with the gloss varnish finish I applied for the decals to adhere to and attempted to apply the decalfix +powders mix. The solution pooled up and left a powdery r
Evening folks,
Here are the concluding stages of some painting and weathering I have been working on. Again, as with my quick and dirty weathering blogs, I do not own an airbrush and have endeavoured to produce something comparable to the results one can get with an airbrush (but acknowledging the superiority of the airbrush).
Here is the wagon painted using different tones and modelmaster decals added. I use decalfix by humbrol to silvering as I didn't want to gloss var
After a couple of deviations into other projects i completed the Bogie B...or at least got very near!
For a kit that is so detailed and packed with borderline pointless etches (door hinges!!! What a nightmare) the kit is strangely lacking window grilles. Luckily Roxey mouldings do an etch.
I hadn't anticipated that modelling some drop lights in the open position would cause me problems but the grille etches are not quite wide enough so some slight bending was requir
Evening folks,
Completed a couple of Parkside opens recently and took a few pictures of the painting process.
It has involved a few techniques i have read about and a bit of experimentation.
The wagon is primed using halfords grey Matt spray, the body brush painted with phoenix precision pre 1964 bauxite, thinned right down.
I paint the underframes humrol dark grey 34.
I used humbrol stone colour, humbrol light grey and humbrol
I have a more detailed thread of this over at the modifying RTR forum but thought I would share a brief account of what I am up to.
I resurrected an old Dapol LMS van earlier this year and had one which was a bit rougher left over. So, I thought I would have a go at a more in-depth conversion.
I intend to create a reverse stanier van by making a few changes.
I have cut out the panels on the verandas and intend to fix them in reverse on the opposing sides.
A return to an old favourite here. The Dapol kitmaster 20t Brakevan is a firm favourite of mine and is a kit I return to often. It is a good datum for measuring my progress as a modeller as it is the first kit I built upon returning to the hobby and since then I have built a few different representations. It remains one of the best representations of a 20t brake van and at just 5 quid is an absolute bargain. This time round I wanted to make a bigger change to the kit and attempt to represent the
I have been working on a couple of Autos for Caia Road. This has included a comet BR(w) auto, an uplifted airfix and a Bachmann example.
I have been doing a bit of weathering and have given the airfix one a spray of muck. The roof remains loose as I need to finish some details inside.
The sides were kept relatively clean on the airfix coach
I made a bit of a mess (not in the intended way) of the Bachmann example but have tried to correct this. I have gone quite heavy
Some progress has been made with the Lima GUV/cct.
A coat of red oxide on the the body revealed some nasty gouges where I scraped the beading away. Obviously lacked the finesse/patience!!
Imperfections were sanded, filled with revell plasto (only thing they had in hobbycraft but rather good) and further sanding.
The bogies where sprayed black, wheels popped in and sides glued on. It is quite tough getting wheels in and out without bending the frames ou
Hi All,
As i continue to be on a very infrequent work rota i have checked off quite of few of those not so glamorous jobs i have been meaning to do for...well years really. One of my lock down foci have been a coupe of my kit-built brake vans. One of these was the very first kit i built on my "pre-return" to the hobby. i say pre-return as i had no layout, no prospect of a layout and to be honest i didn't really get back into the hobby for a further 6 or so years after i built it.
Part 2 of my kit bash of an LNER 20t Brake Van. So far the main structure has been built, foot-boards scratch-built and some hand rails fitted.
Next, a feature quite apparent in it's absence from the kit is the underframe truss assembly. This is more apparent with my finer floor boards allowing more of the underneath to be seen.
This was built up from 1mm L shaped strip by plastruct. The job is made simpler by placing a small piece of glass over a drawing of
I have posted bits and bobs of this project elsewhere but it has been a while since I have blogged anything and I wanted record the progress with a "lockdown" project.
Back in January I was given two Dapol LMS brake vans by my Dad. They were missing bits but he thought I might want to do something with them.
Both were missing roofs and one missing an inner door panel. The plan was to revive at least one which I did, replacing handrails and scratch building a roof.
Before moving northward I picked up a bargain couple of kits from John Dutfield in Chelmsford. The subject of this blog is the Ratio toad kit bought for £3.
It is showing its age and 'requires' some uplifting procedures. I was inspired by Geoff Kent's upgrade of this kit in his 3rd book on the 4mm wagon.
The kit has a nice shape to it but the handrails along the body side aare moulded and are fairly thick. Again, this is a matter for taste and their is little value in cr
A couple of finishing touches on the livery of the Ratio Bogie B. Completion has been slightly frustrated by a problem sourcing the window etches.
The kit involved: Very sharp fresh scalpel blade, strait edge, tweezers, small brush, cotton bud, decalfix (or other) and a bowl of water.
For this vehicle I have gone for an approximation of what the markings would be. They are taken from the modelmaster white coaching stock sheet.
The required decal is cut to siz
