Jump to content
 

Leaderboard

Popular Content

Showing content with the highest reputation on 18/07/16 in Blog Entries

  1. Since my last blog entry I've been beavering away fitting the Plaster of Paris paving sections onto the platform substructure. The fact that the platform is set on a gradual curve meant that the front edge of each section needed to be sanded carefully so that it would fit neatly against the edging stones. Once sanded the individual sections were fixed in position using PVA wood working glue which allowed for a bit of fine tuning of the sections position before the glue set. Plaster tiles being fitted into position Finished tiled area Although the area immediately around the station building was laid in diamond embossed tiles, I wanted the rest of the platform to be covered in fine compacted ash. 2mm thick card was used to bring the surface level with the platform edging stones and the paving tiles. Once again PVA was used to fix the card in position, with drawing pins used to hold everything in place while the glue set. 2mm thick card pinned in position Height of card in relation to the plaster embossed tiles The platform surface was then painted with grey emulsion to reduce the stark white colour and provide a base for the ash surface. I reasoned that probably the best way of representing an ash platform surface was to use real ash and so the bbq was lit :-) Once the embers had died down and the excellent food digested, the ash was sieved to remove any large pieces and leave just a fine powder. Mrs Wenlock has yet to discover exactly what her best flour sieve was used for and as I'm fairly convinced she doesn't trouble herself with reading my RMweb ramblings, she's likely to remain none the wiser! The edging stones and embossed tiles were then masked out using "frog tape" prior to spraying the entire platform surface with clear matt acrylic varnish. While this was still wet and tacky the sieved ash was sprinkled across the surface and allowed to dry. Masking tape in position Once the varnish had fully set any excess ash was vacuumed up and the masking tape was removed. At this stage I couldn't resist putting the buildings back in position and taking a picture! Buildings in situ I then made a start on colouring the embossed tiles. I mixed a dark blue/grey using enamel paint and worked this into the plaster surface using an old brush. The porous plaster surface meant that the paint dried with a nice matt appearance and this was then left to harden off for 24 hours. Once the enamel was fully dry I mixed a dilute wash of creamy grey acrylic paint and worked this over the surface of the tiles. The thinned paint flowed nicely into the cracks between the tiles and highlighted the embossed pattern on the tiles. Once dry the tiles had a rather nice dusty appearance that I'm quite pleased with and to my eye looks quite appropriate for an Edwardian summers day! :-) Finished tile surface I'll finish off with a view under the canopy, but that's the progress to date View under canopy Until next time! Best wishes Dave
    6 points
  2. After the travails of the first 70 foot coach, I was hoping for a slightly easier time of the painting - but it wasn't to be! This was the sorry state of affairs a fortnight ago: The model had been primed and then sprayed with GWR cream, followed by careful masking and an application of brown. All looked good - until I started removing the masking tape. Great wodges of paint came off, right back to bare brass! After some cussing I decided that there was nothing to be done but to resort to paint stripper and start again. Once again the roof came off - only this time at least I didn't have to refit the roof ribs or more than one or two of the door hinges. For the second attempt I used Railmatch etching primer, followed once again by cream and brown, and - other than a tiny tendency for a sliver of paint to lift at one end - I didn't have the problems of the first attempt. A few areas were touched up with brush painting, and then I painted the droplights and roof. Everything else went to plan, using the same waterslide lining and pressfix letters as on the first coach. Glazing was next, followed by commode handles and handrails. As with the first coach, a few details remain to be added. I still haven't done the door-opening handles or the roof/end details. I've also still to devise a coupling solution and add MJT corridor connections, excepting for the rear of the brake where I used the white metal casting in the Comet pack. Over on Tony Wright's thread there's been a bit of discussion about what's meant by "layout coaches" (or layout models in general). I think these are definitely layout coaches, in that they're built to the best of my present abilities, look fine (to me) from normal viewing distances, and haven't got too many fiddly bits. They definitely wouldn't meet the superb standards attained by many, are inaccurate in some respects (roof profile, for instance), but they haven't taken months and months to build and I wouldn't find the idea of building a few more too daunting, especially as I hope not to repeat the same mistakes as I made on these! Famous last words...
    3 points
  3. As it happens I do have a few scrap bits of wood in the shed and found a suitable scrap piece of ply (old draw side which happens to be of high quality wood),a nice wide strip of pine beading was stuck to it, then a slot with a razor saw was cut at right angles A start was made on cutting the timbers, as it happened I had to stain a few timbers as several lengths of thicker ply had got mixed up with some thinner ones. Anyway a few mins work and all will be cut A new etched chassis for the Southeastern Finecast 02 arrived today along with a few parts which were missing on the loco. Looks like the kit is of the Isle of Wight version with the larger bunker, still modellers licence may occur. Another thing is that it needs 19 mm drivers, I have 18 & 20 mm Romford wheels, so the former will be used. For those modelling the GWR, the Nucast Partnership has the 16xx kit (is this the old Stephen Poole kit?) available with a new etched chassis, if so I will get a chassis for my kit. The prices are £97.50 for the full kit, £65 body only, £34.50 for the etched chassis. They are offering on limited availability (till stocks last) a body with the old style Autocom brass chassis at £80
    1 point
  4. The Parkside GWR 10T Open has now had its 'G W' transfers replaced with correct scale 25" lettering, and the load and tare markings put on. It joins the Mink in awaiting only its 5-digit number on each side. The first two photos show the Mink van, with the "before" for the Open, while the last photo shows the "after" for the Open. The Mink D, as far as I can tell, should retain the smaller 'G W' lettering, but awaits its turn to get the load and tare weight markings, plus its suitable vehicle number.
    1 point
  5. Crikey! Another post - what is going on? Quite simple really, I have started to build my Super Simplex (see later for explanation), and have just got to the point where I need to fit the pick ups...... or blog how far I have got so far. The fact you are reading this suggests which course I took! Anyway, the Super Simplex is my third attempt at the Nigel Lawson 20hp Simplex kit. The previous two do work but only after several modifications and four years of messing about. This is a long awaited chance to put all that experience into paractise and also incorporate a couple of new tweeks that can only be done at build stage. The basics of the plan are; Abandon the motor drive to the fan - far better to fill the space with lead (or even a speaker!) Replace kit motor with a 10x15 Mashima which is far happier with DCC Fit roller bearings onto layshaft. File out chassis spacers to allow couplings to be fitted. Fit pick ups at early stage. Make sure it works before doing all the pretty stuff! So, after a bit of messing around reaming out (far better and more accurate than trying to drill thin metal), and remembering to wear gardening gloves to avoid emabarasing questions about blisters on the palm of my hand, I had roller bearings fitted in the bulkheads. I had wondered about extending the lay shaft and putting a bearing on the end as well but this mod seems suficient and halves the amount of unsupported shaft. I guess I could have used plain bearings but rollers just have to be better!. You probably can't see but I have also removed a couple of bits asociated with the redundant fan motor and have filled in a notch in the frame to make fitting pick ups easier. After a fairly steady evenings work, here we have a pretty complete working chassis, and the proof of the pudding..... far quieter and smoother than the others, am getting quite excited here! Now next job is to get the pick ups sorted out now before the pretty bits are started - actually isn't there some washing up or ironing to do, or maybe some drains to clear........
    1 point
  6. I said last time that the final version of the car transporter probably wasn't final because the ramps weren't right. So I went back to them. This was the starting point. (I put the transporter next to another wagon to compare the height.) But first I also needed two more cars to load onto the transporter. I mentioned this to my wife, Cathy, who went and had a rummage in the Lego boxes and dug out this fire chief's car that she had bought a while ago and not got round to building yet. It was ideal as it was the right width and looked the right length. As a general rule I tend to build things at least once the way it's meant to be. Then take it apart. I duly built it. You can see how by not putting on the stickers and taking the light off the roof it could easily pass as a regular car. However, there was a problem. It was a bit long. It was also too high. The transporter fits convertible cars. The roof had to go. Out came the bits boxes and I rebuilt the back end as well. I also gave it doors from the bits box. The tan bumpers were from the bits box. I dumped them and gave the car some killer exhausts as well. The other donor car was a Lego Friends animal ambulance that I had picked up super cheap in a supermarket a couple of months ago (mainly because it had a Lego hedgehog in). I quite like the Friends kits as they have a different colour palette to most other sets. I had thought when buying it that the bits might be useful. Now I was looking at those pale blue wheel arches thinking, yeah, that could work. I'm not quite sure what the rear assembly on the white car was meant to be, but I liked the look of it. The windscreen is the rear window from the fire chief's car. I tried all 4 cars on the transporter. They fitted and I was pleased with how it looked. However, the rear assembly on the white car meant it didn't fit on the lower deck, so I had to junk it. Probably for the best. I mentioned 'greebling' in my last post. I had some ideas for adding detail along the sides of the wagon using half-length Technic pins, grills and things. I also identified some new pieces to make the hinges. The 1x1 printed tile is a spare piece from a Nexo Knights set I got given as a birthday present and I thought it would make a nice 'maker's mark' for whichever wagon works made this. Unfortunately, the greebling interfered with the elevator rods preventing them from laying flat when the top deck was collapsed, so I had to scrap this idea. The 1x1 tile worked, though and you can see it in the photo below. Even better, the hinges worked, closing up the gap when the ramps were dropped. I had to mount them differently on either end, but the wagon is asymmetrical anyway, so that didn't matter. In this photo you can see there isn't much of a gap now for the cars to drive over to get off the ramps. So, I am finally happy with this. The ramps work. The top deck lays as flat as possible. I may go back to tinker with the white car at some point, or replace it if a cheap set with a 4-stud wide car comes available, but there is no rush for that. Thanks for reading these blog posts. I hope you enjoyed them. I have a couple more to come including news of a new addition to the rolling stock manifest.
    1 point
×
×
  • Create New...