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1951 Pullman Scratchbuild in 1/32


hendie
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To glue paper down, perhaps a spreadable contact cement? Then slowly roll it over with a rubber brush?

Or just a thin spread of PVA, roll and compress? Though how to get that carpet look? Could you possibly print onto a shaved down felt material? Just to get that slight flocked appearance?

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To glue paper down, perhaps a spreadable contact cement? Then slowly roll it over with a rubber brush?

Or just a thin spread of PVA, roll and compress? Though how to get that carpet look? Could you possibly print onto a shaved down felt material? Just to get that slight flocked appearance?

3M make spray adhesive for mounting photographs and art work. There is one grade that allows a little wiggle time.

Printing on cartridge paper will provide texture. Time to visit your local art supplier ?

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To glue paper down, perhaps a spreadable contact cement? Then slowly roll it over with a rubber brush?

Or just a thin spread of PVA, roll and compress? Though how to get that carpet look? Could you possibly print onto a shaved down felt material? Just to get that slight flocked appearance?

How about a screen print? The old sort rather than of the computer, would that give enough of a carpet texture?
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would anyone happen to have a decent reference for the 'gold' color pin striping ?

 

I know it's a flat faux gold rather than a reflective or metallic gold.  The only reference I can find (a Hornby PDF) states that it's a close match to pantone 117C.  However, given that their humbrol cream and umber colors are so far off the mark I'm not so sure I can rely on this.

 

Once I have a color reference I can see about ordering some decals - it's being able to specify a reliable color that's the current hold up

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oops - missed these posts earlier, sorry.

 

Though how to get that carpet look? Could you possibly print onto a shaved down felt material? Just to get that slight flocked appearance?

 

Printing on cartridge paper will provide texture. Time to visit your local art supplier ?

 

How about a screen print? The old sort rather than of the computer, would that give enough of a carpet texture?

 

I spent some time a while back investigating textured papers and didn't really find anything suitable.  At this scale, standard paper will be fine I think - as long as I can get a nice matt finish.  There will be enough going on with chairs, tables and wotnots to keep it looking busy - I don't want the carpet to draw the focus away from the rest of the carriage

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Ref the Pullman 'gold striping', it might be worthwhile contacting Howes Models (RailMatch paints) for their advice, or perhaps one or other of the custom decal printers to check what others may have specified and, just as importantly, decent paint/printed decal colour matches, eg https://www.cctrans.org.uk/.

 

As you are not a competitor as such, Golden Age Models may be prepared to divulge the tones used on their range of Pullmans, especially if you show what you have already achieved.

 

I am a frequent user of commissioned ALPS printed decals for my own projects and  it is usually better/saner to find/mix paint to match the resulting decal rather than 'tother way round. Without several stages of proofing, the same case is likely with screenprint. Both systems can give you a white base to give density to 'weaker' colours.Or, you can spend many happy hours experimenting with ink jet and laser printing options.

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I used a combination of HMRS gold lining and custom decals from Stan Cedarleaf for my 1/19 scale Welsh Highland Pullman observation car Glaslyn. Sadly I can’t tell you the specific colour of the HMRS gold, but it has the right flatness to my eye. Large Pullman models do it for me and I am loving your build - can’t wait to see it completed.

 

David

post-1437-0-40368200-1538164271_thumb.jpeg

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I'm guessing with the carpet, adhesive label sheets won't cut it? It's how I'm planning to face the sides of the viaduct on my layout, but it's much less detailed than this project.

Edited by 08-362
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I think the paper option will be okay once it's given a matt coat of clear.

 

Nothing to show this week - still working on the decals.  I found a company but am having trouble converting to a file type that they can use.  I also restarted the vestibule ends yet again - my attempt at salvaging them some time back didn't work so I decided to do them over again.

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  • 3 weeks later...

An update at last...

 

I have spent whatever free time I've had in the last few weeks fighting CAD systems and Graphics programs trying to produce a file that my decal guy can work with.  I thought I was being smart designing everything in Draftsight (CAD) since it was all vector driven, that plus the fact that I know the system and it was relatively straightforward to produce what I needed, albeit time consuming.  However, translating that file format to a usable format for the decal guy proved exceedingly troublesome.  Who'd have thought translating from vector to vector would be so frustrating?  

I tried everything from DWG to DXF (multiple versions, including ASCII & Binary).  Vector PDF's though everything seemed to get rasterized in the process.  Goodness knows how many other file types before I happened across some glitches that started to switch the light-bulb on in the far distance.

 

I had downloaded Inkscape (then fought for an hour or two with Win 10 to get the damned thing installed) as I thought I had a chance with an SVG file type.

That seemed to go almost according to plan except that when I saved as an SVG from Draftsight then imported it into Inkscape the scaling was all to pot.  So, not being quite au fait with Inkscape and not knowing how to scale vectors in that software I kept plugging away at exploring file translations.  Eventually I happened across the fact that if you SAVE (in Draftsight) as an SVG file type - it does save successfully but loses the scale reference.  However, if you PLOT to SVG file type, it creates the SVG file with the correct scaling.... YIPEEEEeeeeeeee!  But there was one thing left biting me - some of the lines were vectors and some were rasterized  huh???  After more frustrating hours I found that if you used the standard colors within Draftsight, it created vectors, but if you used true colors, then it rasterized them.

I also found the same issue when creating PDF's - if I 'print' to PDF I get a raster output, but if I PLOT to PDF I get a vector output. 

Damnit!!!  Why didn't I know this???

 

So, today, after 3 or 4 weeks trying I finally managed to send him some files which (fingers crossed) he can work with.  Now I just need to wait and see the results...

 

Anyhoos... Back to Pegasus, which is why we're all here after all... or at least me. The reason I sort of dropped everything to concentrate on those decals is that I am getting to some stages in the build sequence where I need to paint and apply decals before I can go any further.  Namely the end vestibule (yes... again!)

 

I had tried to rescue those previous end vestibules but without success - the plastic was just too thin in places after repeated sanding.  That meant hey let's build some more... (again!)

 

PA020001.jpg&key=ee8a9f6bf2fd3ab02e7741f

 

And now that I look at this and consider what I have just written above, I wonder if the issues I was experiencing with the cutter were down to producing raster PDF's and not vector PDF's (must dig the cutter out again and try with some actual vector files)

 

Since I have now made about eleventy seven of these, the build went much quicker.

This fast in fact...

 

PA020002.jpg&key=8f3ddeb473fdd6cb7a8007c

 

Then it was off to the paint shop for some primer.  Followed by some sanding.    Followed by some primer.   Followed by some sanding.    Followed by some primer.  Which is where we sit today... ready for the Pullman Umber (when the temperature rises)

 

I took the opportunity of some build down time to experiment with the doors - the glazing on the doors has a small beading around the edge.  I cut a small strip of styrene and glued this inside the oval with some Tamiya extra thin.

 

PA060004.jpg&key=c7880c7a3d0138651683597

 

Once that had dried, I cut another slightly larger oval and in another sheet of styrene and placed this over the 'beading'.  This allowed me to sand down the beading to something approaching a scale thickness. (okay, a little bit more needs taken down here I think)

 

PA060003.jpg&key=515c68e04d8421dd01a53ad

 

Then when painted looks not too bad at all.

 

PA060006.jpg&key=1cb313e7e5e559f3264949d

 

A shot of the side-frame dry fitted.  I think we are finally getting somewhere folks!

 

PA060008.jpg&key=8117ef8245451c1dc656353

 

Of course I discovered after this that the doors are actually inset just slightly from the door frame. That aside, I'll take this as a win - proof of concept works!

I think I may need to reduce the width of the doors slightly to allow for the grab handles - they should be interesting to (try and) make

 

Now, I just need to paint those vestibules and get the decals

Edited by hendie
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  • 2 weeks later...

I thought I should provide some sliver of evidence that I am still alive and kicking, and preferably in the way of imagery of some sort.   Once again life has got in the way of modeling and most of my modeling over the last few weeks has been simply reading about others efforts and being envious

 

For the first time in what has seemed like months I actually got some time to go delving in the basement so I dived in head first.   Only to discover that once I had checked my references, I had the doors slightly wrong.  Well, slightly wrong is as good as very wrong, so I scrapped what had gone before and started again - this time paying a tad more attention to what I was trying to do.

 

In my last outing and attempt at the vestibule doors,  I realized that the doors were just a bit short.  That in itself wasn't a deal breaker as there were ways to cover that up, but what I did discover when I looked more closely at my references was that the doors themselves were inset slightly and there was a 'frame' in front of them - I had completely missed that and it made a difference to the overall appearance.

However, taking a step back, last time around I showed some doors and had a nice little beading around the oval.  I showed the creation of the beading but didn't show how I got a nice even finish around the bead.  I gave a rather brief and unhelpful description but here's a photo that shows the process much better...  With the beading firmly glued in place in a door, I used a scrap door and simply enlarged the oval to a point where it fitted over the beading. The scrap door just happened to be the correct thickness for the amount I wanted the bead to protrude from the door itself.  Then it was a case of using a sanding stick to remove unwanted material, leaving a nice even bead all around the oval.

 

PB040001.jpg&key=515fc7ddaa730043b5d2431

 

Next, I re-cut all the doors, or more accurately, rescribed the doors with the cutter.  This time I overlaid the frame, the door and a few other guidelines, none of which will be visible in the finished part (he hopes).  A separate frame was cut to fit over the 'door' part on the right.

You can see two 'doors' on the part on the right (with the arched tops).  The outer 'door' is the actual door and the inner arched shape is the frame overlap - I am using those lines to align the frame on the left.

 

PB040002.jpg&key=0a6a07086a934548969cc56

 

They were carefully assembled and offered up to the structure.  That looks much better.

The crossbar over the oval window is a dry fit to check for scale.  According to my drawings, the chrome work works out at Ø0.5 mm, which this wire is, but it looks a little on the thin side compared to my references.  I may go up to Ø0.6 mm but we'll see about that later.

 

PB040003.jpg&key=286b063e8e9716442851ee5

 

Next step was to add a rain diverter/weatherbar to the bottom of the door and a quick coat of primer to see how the details look. (everything just dry fitted of course)

 

PB040005.jpg&key=3e3208494b396176b277ef2

 

I think I have a working design now.  Now I just need to repeat the process three more times.

The two vertical grab handles fitted either side of the door are going to be challenging and I think I will need to attack those before I fit the doors in place because if I stuff those handles up, I could end up having to remake the doors again.  That strip to the left of the door is a tad under 2mm wide and that's where the grab handle gets fitted

 

 

Fun and games ahead....

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and the fun and games continues ... along with the making of more frames.  I've lost count of the number of frames, ovals, and doors I've cut out over the last few weeks. - at least I have plenty spares for testing ideas on...


 


PB100001.jpg&key=9d0aedff9a1c23321c53133


 


talking of which.  Lets take a look again at this photo of Pegasus (copyright Terry Bye) - Note the chrome grab handles on either side of the door, the two vertical ones.  They are very distinctive and catch the eye as there's not a lot of other distraction on the car. (aside from the natural beauty of the car itself that is)


 


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While making the doors and frames it dawned on me that I really need to get those chromed handrails done fairly soon.  Thinking about the build sequence, I want to mount the handrails on the frames before I mount the doors and frames to the carriage to avoid any chance of collateral damage.  That means the vestibule ends and doors have got to be finished, painted, clear coated, windows fitted and decals before they get fitted (I think).


 


I had mulled over how I was going to attack those handrails for a few days and had an idea or two.  When it came time to try those ideas out, most of it involved cutting bits of brass rod, getting it wrong and throwing the scrap away.  It took a while before I had a eureka moment.


 


The biggest problem was that there are a total of eight handrails, all identical, and all having that distinctive curve and mounting flange at the end (I'm sure there's a term for that).  Therefore I needed to make eight identical copies - with all the bends, curves and angles matching.  Generally when I have a task like this I will tape the rods together.  That works fine for two or three parts, but not for eight.  I messed around for a while with clamps, solder, and other less than award winning ideas before it struck me - how do I get all the bends in the same location on each piece of rod ? 


 


Simple - make a small jig.  I found a small off-cut of aluminum bar and drilled a 0.9 mm hole x 3 mm deep on one face.  


This way, the brass rod can only go so far into the jig so when the rod is bent, the bend will always be at the same location relative to the end of the rod.  


 


PB100002.jpg&key=16336751611ea3f4ea06463


 


While the idea itself is simple, it still took me a good few attempts to get the overall dimensions I was looking for.


The 'hole in a bar' fixture solved the problem of the location of the bend but it also meant that every piece of rod had to be cut and filed to exactly the same length, in this instance 28 mm. 


I should mention that on checking my references I found I had no detailed drawings of these particular handrails,  only a very generic sketch which was of no real use. However, I figured a one inch diameter would be good size for a handrail and that works out at 0.8 mm in diameter at this scale (and thankfully I have a lot of that in stock).  Overall lengths were gauged from photos by eye.


 


PB100006.jpg&key=ec5b19114f62551c79d368a


 


Getting the bend in the right place was critical, but only one part of the equation - all the angles had to be the same too or this wasn't going to work. Constant test fitting against the protractor was essential in allowing me to sneak up on the correct angle. (it's a lot easier to add more bend to a rod than it is to remove some bend!).  I figured 55 degrees looked about right


 


PB100005.jpg&key=5f13f72fa15200b80f5f400


 


Eventually I ended up with enough handrails plus a couple of spares cos I know I'm going to mess up at least once in this journey.


 


PB100008.jpg&key=d1bab055c7e2b341eb8ea94


 


A quick visual check tells me that the length is about right, or as close as I am going to get it.  In the 1:1 photo above you can see that the top of the handrail is mounted at the mid point of the oval window, and the bottom of the handrail is mounted about the midpoint of the bottom of the oval window and the bottom of the door.


 


PB100009.jpg&key=32de89b0d60f5744645a870


 


So far so good, but there's still a long way to go with the handrails.  Somehow I have to incorporate that distinctive flange mounting. 


My first attempt involved soldering a small section of brass sheet to the end of the rod.  A scrap rod in this case.


 


PB100010.jpg&key=895a9612037b5e3b8d0231b


 


Then using an assortment of files and some anglo saxon phrases I removed everything that didn't look like the pointy flange.  A quick squirt of Alclad Chrome to add some pretty to the rail and then placed against a test strip for a visual assessment


 


PB100011.jpg&key=23bdc2960717ba03b2220f8


 


Perhaps seen to better effect in this view


 


PB100012.jpg&key=89df6bdfd951fadf925cddf


 


It's by no means perfect, but I am not sure I can achieve any better at this scale.  It's going to be a tedious job making all eight of these handrails but has to be done.  


One other issue I must overcome is how to securely fix these to Pegasus.  I don't like superglue and it's really not suitable for a job like this. - Far too easily knocked off, and will probably damage the paint in the process.  The handrails need to be pinned in place as well as glued... but how to fix a pin to something this size?


 


I think I have a plan so will try that out tomorrow. Stay tuned.


Edited by hendie
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Could you not etch the handrail mounting bases?

 

Mike.

 

Mike, I did consider etching but the etched parts would be so small that it would be all but impossible to hold them in position accurately while soldering.  I decided it was much easier to solder a larger piece of brass in place and remove what I don't need.

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Could you stick a pin to the back?

How small is that brass tag anyway? Could you maybe drill a .5mm hole through it and use a brass pin?

 

Aha - you sussed me out.  The little tag is probably Just under 1 mm wide x 1.5 - 2 mm long.  Initially I was trying to think of ways to attach a pin to the back face before determining that was an improbable if not impossible solution.

However, as you suggest - there's nothing to stop me drilling through the tag and using a pin which I can then snip to length after the soldering operation, and that was the solution I finally arrived at.

 

I need to make a small fixture so that the two pins are always in the same location.  I'm going to place them immediately outboard (each end) of the handle itself.  That way I can cut a bunch of brass squares, drill a 0.5 mm hole through each of them.  Then insert a pin through the hole and use the pin to locate the squares.  The handle can then be placed on top of the squares and soldered, capturing the pins at the same time.

After that, some trimming and filing and I should have pinned handles.

I'll try and post some photo's later

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You could have etched both flanges together with a thin bar connecting them (removed after soldering the handrail on), this would be much easier to assemble accurately.

 

Ah.... never thought of that Michael - good idea.  But... just a tad late for this now

 

Take a piece of scrap timber, drill two holes. Cut some brass sheet into small squares, drill a hole in each.  Insert 'pin' into brass sheet and locate in holes in timber, then line up the handrail and secure in place for soldering. The pins were trimmed down before the solder was applied.

 

PB110001.jpg&key=3fc50a965690bbaeb91f256

 

Repeat multiple times.  Okay, it's not pretty but it doesn't need to be at this stage - just functional.

 

PB110006.jpg&key=b52743c67dcaa4d8e4ce4df

 

Take a small vise and secure handrail - take one file and remove anything non handrail shaped.

 

PB110007.jpg&key=5b906822bf4d44a6a8a6276

 

We then end up with a handrail with a pin at each end.

 

PB110005.jpg&key=36f3aae5eedcabc3b8e7773

 

Which will now sit nicely, and more importantly, securely on the framework.

 

PB110004.jpg&key=8822926074171aea3b4bddc

 

Now I have plenty of filing time ahead of me... as well as yet more chromework for the doors. There's a lot more than I first thought.

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  • 6 months later...

It's been a while since I was here but things have been progressing in the background.  I have deliberately held off from posting here as I wanted to make sure I had something substantial to post - I was working on another project which was taking most of my time, but I have now temporarily sheoved that to concentrate on Pegasus.

 

First things first.  I had to dig out a bunch of parts that I knew I had been working on, but do you think I could figure out where I was heading down that particular path?

No, me neither.  I know it was something to do with doors and vestibules.  Even reading through the last couple of pages of my posts didn't help me there.  Note to self: take better notes!

 

P4220001.jpg&key=7e99b6565e410af0e6e10c5

 

Eventually I figured it out. Sort of.  The last set of doors I had made had the outer framing a few millimeters too short. The outer frame hangs down over the chassis whereas I had cut them flush.  Pay more attention hend!

This time I had made the outer frames longer so I could trim them to size once they were in place.  However for some reason unbeknownst to me, I had also made them wider.  Don't ask me why.  I know not the reason and can only guess I had some cunning plan now lost to the mists of time.

That meant I had to trim the outer edge of each frame down to 2 mm wide.  A few swipes with a sharp blade to give a groove, then followed up with some careful razor-sawing.  Frame on left cut down, frame on right about to be sawn.

 

P4220002.jpg&key=55d61a26fb3d8b92609e4fc

 

Wash rinse and repeat on 4 doors/frames.  I only messed up two cuts, but I cheated and chopped the frame off near the top and added a new 2 mm wide strip.

Door 1 dry fitted.  As before, the weather strip at the bottom was made with a styrene strip shaved with a knife blade to give a nice steep angle. A small rectangular strip attached to the bottom end, and a piece of round rod glued on the top end.  That all goes together to make a reasonably convincing weather strip.

 

P4220004.jpg&key=655d82c0dd3419291ac016d

 

and just to prove that I have in fact made more than one door...

 

P4220005.jpg&key=b8c05038685ee710f31ae02

 

In fact I had made all 4 doors exactly the same before I remembered I was pondering whether to have one or more doors in the open position.  I think I had decided that I was going to have one door open at each end.  Boogerit.  Luckily I have about a gazillion doors/frames i all stages of manufacture so I've already started to make two frames sans doors that I will attempt to make look good later.

 

Then before you know it, paint was on!  Yip Yip!!!  I think the weather strip shows up to good effect here

 

P4220009.jpg

 

By this time these must be vestibule numbers 8 or 9 judging by the number of times I've made/remade these.  Don't bother asking about the number of doors... it's frightening.

At last though, I think I have the 'production' parts.

 

P4220008.jpg

 

T'other end.   It all fits so far.  That's a bonus I guess.

 

P4220011.jpg

 

Lastly for this evening, I shall leave you with this parting shot.  It's looking more Pullman than it's ever done before. (though the carpet fitters have left a bit of a mess!)

 

P4220010.jpg

 

I'll now leave that paint to cure for a few days before giving it all a good micro-mesh to smooth things down. That will be followed by a second coat, and then... wait for it... now that the warm weather is here, I think the next job will be to apply the clear coat.  To be honest, that's even more frightening than the paint job on the side frames. 

What could go wrong eh?

 

Well, I've just sent off my transfers test sheet so all I have to do now is wait and see how much it's going to cost. 

This afternoon did provide a nice moment of panic though when I could not find the drawing I originally created for the transfers.  I spent about 45 minutes searching for it on my old laptop to no avail.  Luckily, I had the drawing on the main computer.

I've still one drawing to find though - the PULLMAN text which sites between the top of the windows and the cant rail... I know I started a drawing for that... somewhere

 

This is my test sheet - if these sizes work out then I can go ahead and get the full sheet(s) printed

 

Capture1.png

 

The resolution of that piccie above isn't great so here's a close up of one of the scrolls

 

Capture2.png

 

nothing to do now but sit and wait.... and continue working on the model.

 

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Hendie,

 

That is fabulous work. The carriage has real presence. I love the door and grab handles. When I first saw the latter I thought you were designing taps for the lavatories! 

 

I noted your comment about picking up your project after a lengthy break. I tend to have the same problem which is why I write logs on web sites such as this, which keeps the info all nice, tidy and safeish. After a break I reread my blog and off we go. If anyone else finds them interesting then that is a bonus.  A bit selfish I suppose.:D

 

Keep up the good work!

 

Ian.   

 

(PS.  Hum,    I tried to flag your entry with a "like" and a "craftsmanship" but it only allows one or the other. Sorry if it has produced an odd effect at your end.:wacko:).

Edited by Ian Major
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  • 2 weeks later...
On 19/05/2019 at 05:01, Ian Major said:

That is fabulous work. The carriage has real presence.

 

Thanks Ian.  It's definitely starting to take shape now, but it's been a long time coming... and still a long, long way to go!

 

My Edwardian but not quite steampunk hardware arrived a few days ago.  At first glance, things looked promising so as per my usual want I blundered straight into things.

 

P5180001.jpg

 

A coat of alclad grey primer brought out the detail as you might be able to see in this oh so cruel close up.  I'm still blown away by the amount of detail that can be captured in the printing process.

Even greater is the fact that all things considered, it really is an inexpensive addition to the arsenal when needed.  I'm already planning some further printing excursions for small parts that would be a nightmare to try and manufacture by manual means, especially when you have multiples of the same thing. 

 

P5180006.jpg

 

So what does it look like I hear you ask ?  Well... here's a sneak peek.  In the foreground we have the new grab handle and an original all brass affair at the rear.  While the rear one doesn't look too bad, trying to get 8 of them looking identical was just too much for an old codger like me.

 

P5180009.jpg

 

The assemble process began by painting the printed parts gloss black, then adding the brass rod.  Opposite handles were then cut from the bank and added to the other end of the rod.  Very fiddly, and even although I thought I had printed plenty, I only just made 8 sets (after grubbing around on the floor for those escapees from the tweezer flinger)

 

P5180013.jpg

 

One other thing I did with the printed version which I couldn't really do with the all brass version was to include an offset.  Original brass on left and new gizmo on right.

 

P5180010.jpg

 

Here you can see why I added the offset.  The door frame is very narrow, and had the grab handles protruded perpendicular to the door frame, there would have been no room available to actually grab the darned thing as it would be almost flush with the side-frame.  (btw I am using my spare test door for this, the real doors are a little bit better)

I'm not cheating... honest... the 1:1 has these handles offset too, for the very same reason.

 

P5180011.jpg

 

The Broons got micro-meshed but unfortunately, I was a bit too aggressive with the pads and I had some primer creep through in a few places, so it's back for another brooning for most of the parts. (Actually, several times back and forth)

 

P5180012.jpg

 

While the broons were off to the But 'n Ben for a curing, I decided to proceed with more of the handles.  On Pegasus there are a mixture of chrome handles and brass handles - depending upon which part of the carriage you are in.  The dining area for example is all brass hardware, while in the bar area, it's all chromed.

I mixed up some testors brass and gave it a squirt.  This macro shot shows that even after primer and top coat, it's still possible to see the detail.  Did I mention I was impressed?

The brass is a bit light for my liking so I may investigate other brands - I wonder if alclad do a brass finish ? (yes they do...).   A little oil wash may bring out the detail more.

 

P5180015.jpg

 

But the proof of the pudding is in the eating  dinette.  Even though the brass finish is a little light it still looks pretty decent against the mahogany background.

 

P5180017.jpg

 

Then to finish off for today, here's a shot of a fully chromed grab handle in situ.  Y'know... I think that's going to work

 

P5180019.jpg

 

Decals are still a hold up but I guess until I can get the brown all finished and gloss coated they're really not preventing me from moving forward.  Well, more sideways really, but at least the build is not at a standstill.

 

 

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I bought some oil paints about 2 years ago, and this was my very first opportunity to use them.   A heavily thinned wash of umber was applied to the door handles, and really makers that detail pop out. After that dried a quick flash of gloss coat was applied to seal it all in.

 

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Moving on... On the vestibule end, there are some electrical doodads hanging off the body just below the window.  There's a cable hanging out the bottom end of the doodad and a plug attached to the cable (to be addressed in a future episode).

I had made some of these a while back (probably a couple of years ago now!) but I wasn't happy with those so I remade them - this time paying attention to the runic symbols on my lathe and getting 4 pieces which are almost the same size... give or take.

I drilled a hole in each one and added a small length of brass tube which, if the planets align, will provide a fixing to hold the cable in place, sorta like the one shown at the bottom of the strip.

 

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now painted and waiting for a gloss coat... and cable... and...

 

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On to other things. Okay, it's still the vestibules but we're not talking paint any more.  I actually got a couple of coats of clear gloss on the ends.  (The micro drill is just there to provide something for the camera to focus on).

Moving from a painting stage to a clear coat stage is a major milestone for me. A pivotal moment.  I have spent so long developing my phobia of painting that getting from a painting stage to a clear coating stage is a major moment in the build for me.  It doesn't matter that clear coating is still in fact painting - and I still have the phobia to deal with, but as far as I am concerned, I just put one stage of the build behind me!

 

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and in an even more panic driven mode, I got some clear coat on the side frames.  This is a moment I have been trying to get to for several years now

 

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It doesn't look too bad.  It's not perfect by any means, but it's not too bad.

 

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A closer shot...

 

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That will get a micro-mesh once fully cured followed by another coat or two of clear

 

I came to the realization (finally!!!) that this was never going to be perfect.  I'm just not very good at doing perfect.  I'm sort of okay at doing not bad, and every now and then can come up with a 'quite good' but I'm just not good at doing perfect at all.

Between my phobia of painting and my lack of skills in said art, if I waited until things were perfect before moving on.... well, I've already been at this for 5 years now.   You get the picture!

I decided that rather than focus on the individual blemishes and faults, I have to look at the job as a whole. That means, yes there will be a fleck or two of who-knows-what in the final paint job, but I think the transfers will go a long way to making the eyes look at the carriage, and not a small blemish.

 

One day it will be complete 

 

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8 minutes ago, hendie said:

I came to the realization (finally!!!) that this was never going to be perfect.  I'm just not very good at doing perfect.  I'm sort of okay at doing not bad, and every now and then can come up with a 'quite good' but I'm just not good at doing perfect at all.

Between my phobia of painting and my lack of skills in said art, if I waited until things were perfect before moving on.... well, I've already been at this for 5 years now.   You get the picture!

I decided that rather than focus on the individual blemishes and faults, I have to look at the job as a whole. That means, yes there will be a fleck or two of who-knows-what in the final paint job, but I think the transfers will go a long way to making the eyes look at the carriage, and not a small blemish.

 

One day it will be complete 

 

Well, I think you're brilliant.

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