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50% More Sleep...

D869

Entry posted by D869

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blog-0879564001367682849.jpg...ing cars

 

The Met Camm SLC is the first of the four coaches built during the cold season to escape from the paint shop and take its place between its two friends.

 

The build is almost identical to the other two. There are a few minor improvements because I now know more about the real things (and have of course now found mistakes on the other two). I also had a go at doing the roof overhang at the ends which is most definitely absent from the other two. This was done by adding a lip of 10 thou styrene rod (seriously useful stuff) to the end, following the roof profile. Once dry, the top surface was blended in with Milliput and the whole lot sanded smooth. I'm quite pleased with the result because how to do this was something that I've puzzled over for a long time.

 

The paint job is part of my long term quest to find a mix for BR Maroon that reproduces the look of coaches in sunny photos of trains in Cornwall. This one is mostly Precision maroon mixed with some Humbrol 100 (a sort of reddish brown colour), which is probably a better option than 153 (a plain red) that I used on the Thompson BG. The result is closer to Farish's version of maroon - not that this is necessarily 'right'. It still looks a bit odd in photos so maybe the next attempt will start from somewhere else to avoid the 'purpleness'... like darkening Precision crimson.

 

The lining was done without the aid of my Bob Moore pen. I got Ian Rathbone's book for Christmas and resolved to have another try with a bow pen (or ruling pen if you prefer). I've now invested in a couple of Haff pens which (if you try hard enough) are available from the factory in Germany. The lining on the SLC however was mostly done before these arrived. All of of the visible lines were done with a Riefler bow compass picked up for just under 7 quid on eBay and used to offset from the top edge of the sides before they were fixed in place.

 

Rather than try for thinner lines (which the pens can do), I tried to do the lines to match the other two coaches (I know... why didn't I do the same with the maroon?)... except for the wobbles. This idea slightly backfired because I did the yellow waist lines as two separate lines and got them too far apart. Having left it too late to remove them easily the Haff pen did finally come into use to narrow them down by lining over them with maroon... which was a last resort but worked a lot better than I expected.

 

The good news is that I learned from my mistake lining the compartment sides of the other two sleepers and put the line at the right height on this one so I can have the compartment side on public show without it looking silly... and post photos of both sides on here. Unfortunately the lines still don't align perfectly with the other two coaches. I think that the corridor side waist lining is a bit too low down but drawing the lines higher up doesn't work because the lining pen falls into the windows (guess how I know this?).

 

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In other news...

 

The other three coaches are also (mostly) painted but the two Hawksworths still lack glazing and lettering and the Mark 2 is in the process of having the body side paint scheme wrapped around the ends slightly.

 

The Manor has seen very little progress. It's waiting for new name and number plates before making the transition (aka body swap) to green livery and a new identity. Unfortunately the plates I want are out of stock and I don't know when they will be in, so it will probably still be early BR black for the Manor at Railex.

 

I joined the 'N' Gauge Society after finding that the Modelmaster name plates were now only available that way (but sadly not the one I want). They did, however have plenty of coach transfers in stock... and now have a few less thanks to me.

 

Grenville is progressing very slowly in between other jobs. There really isn't a lot to do, I'm just not getting on with doing it. I'm still hoping that this will be ready for Railex but time is getting short now.

 

Another signal for St Ruth is also on the workbench. Some folks following the 3D printing forum may have seen a few words about finials, which it seems will now not be 3D printed, so back to turning them in the mini drill :(

 

At some stage I need to give all of my locos a test run to make sure that we have enough serviceable for Railex.

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Kris
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Lovely coaches. Are you using magnets for the couplings?

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D869

Lovely coaches. Are you using magnets for the couplings?

 

Thanks Kris.

 

Yes indeed. One end of the coach uses a small rare earth magnet, the other a piece of steel. Both are mounted on a bar which pivots on the bogie pivot so that the coupling forces are not transmitted to the bogie.

 

The magnets makes life very easy when setting up or packing away at a show. The whole arrangement allows the gangways to be close to each other (not quite touching) and also allows us to propel a train through a crossover with a reasonable degree of hope that it will still be on the track when the move is completed.

 

Regards, Andy

 

Regards, Andy

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bill-lobb

Very nice. I like to see the results of using bow pens. I think that they have the potential to produce the best results for lining, and if Stephen barnwell & Ian Rathbone prefer them, there must be someting in it.

I have started prowling markets and craft fairs for the things, and have picked up some rather nice sets. In fact that is in danger of becoming a hobby in itself. One stall holder, (after I had bought one) asked me if I could tell him what it was :-)

I find that they are variable, and some will give better results than others. Ironically the one I find works best is one (a Kern) that my uncle gave me about 40 years ago. I sadly abused it then, and I recently found it still encrusted in paint and obviously attacked with sandpaper to try to get it off. I soaked it in cellulose thinners, cleaned it up and it is now my favourite.

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46444
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Really lovely finish Andy on that Mk 1. The home brewed shade of maroon is looking good-though I'm no expert.

 

As for the lining excellent work.  You'll be lining up Castle's next.

 

Cheers,

 

Mark

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D869

Very nice. I like to see the results of using bow pens. I think that they have the potential to produce the best results for lining, and if Stephen barnwell & Ian Rathbone prefer them, there must be someting in it.

I have started prowling markets and craft fairs for the things, and have picked up some rather nice sets. In fact that is in danger of becoming a hobby in itself. One stall holder, (after I had bought one) asked me if I could tell him what it was :-)

I find that they are variable, and some will give better results than others. Ironically the one I find works best is one (a Kern) that my uncle gave me about 40 years ago. I sadly abused it then, and I recently found it still encrusted in paint and obviously attacked with sandpaper to try to get it off. I soaked it in cellulose thinners, cleaned it up and it is now my favourite.

Thanks Bill. I definitely think that a decent bow pen is the way to go. I found that I could produce results as good as those from the Bob Moore pen very quickly. The snag was that I had a go with an art shop bow pen a couple of years ago without really knowing what I was doing and only managed to produce a complete mess. I know what you mean about the drawing instrument market - some of them are very lovely things in their own right and just smack of the days when craftsmanship was the order of the day.

 

For me one of the biggest advantages with a bow pen is that I can clean it quickly at my workbench with normal thinners. With the Bob Moore pen I need to go outdoors and squirt cellulose thinners through with a glass syringe - altogether more 'ceremony' and on occasions known to send nasty solvents flying in unintended directions.

 

Having said all of that, I've had some decent results from the Bob Moore pen too and I suspect that there are places (e.g. following a plastikard template and possibly hand lettering) where it will remain a better option - basically any time you need to turn a corner provided that the resulting line thickness is acceptable.

 

Really lovely finish Andy on that Mk 1. The home brewed shade of maroon is looking good-though I'm no expert.

As for the lining excellent work.  You'll be lining up Castle's next.

Thanks Mark. Steady on though - orange/black/orange lining (or strictly, orange/green/black/green/orange) with curved corners on a steam loco is a very different ball game from straight lines on a coach side. At the moment my plan is to avoid touching the factory lining on the green Manor.

 

Regards, Andy

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DavidK71

Those are very nice indeed. How did you do the curved rainstrips on the roof? They look really good.

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D869

Those are very nice indeed. How did you do the curved rainstrips on the roof? They look really good.

Thanks David. They are 10 thou round styrene rod. I did say it was very useful stuff didn't I?

 

The same stuff is used for the loo fillers on the Hawksworths... but the sleepers all have wire ones.

 

Regards, Andy

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D869

Very nice work Andy - the coupling is very neat...

Thanks Pete. It could probably use a splodge of crud coloured paint though just so that it doesn't catch the light if anyone is peering between the coaches and underneath the gangways. I must remember it next time I am painting crud.

 

Regards, Andy

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D869

Which Haff pen(s) did you go for Andy? what line width do you generally aim for?

I bought a 133AK and a 228. So far I have only used the 133AK. This is sold for the finest lines and said to go down to 0.05mm. I have not used it much yet but my best to date has been the waist lining on another coach (not the sleeper) where I decided to push myself a bit further.

 

The waist line is of course is a 3 line straw/black/straw affair... precise measurement is tricky but I reckon that the total width is 0.5mm. The top and bottom straw lines were done by offsetting from the top edge with the Riefler compass so that they almost touch each other. Then (after drying!) I ruled the black line along the middle with the Haff. This is roughly 1/3 of the width, which makes it 0.17mm.

 

I bought the other one because it can draw wider lines but am now wondering if I needed to bother. I did the first class stripes with the 133AK by drawing multiple lines, so you can definitely use a thin pen to draw fat lines.

 

Ian Rathbone recommends the 135 with hardened tips saying that the shorter blades flex less. I haven't noticed any flexing so maybe I'm not pressing hard enough. The pen that he recommends costs almost double the price of the 133AK but I'm sure that they are both good pens. I think it's fair to say that his pen probably gets a lot more use than mine ever will.

 

Regards, Andy

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