1951 Pullman Scratchbuild in 1/32

[richard i]

Fill patch paint and then cover with the pipe, it will blend in especially after weathering. 

Richard

[hendie]

 

Today started well.

I woke up, which was a bonus I guess.  After that, things started going not so well.  And when I say not so well, I mean not well at all.  Which is really a bit of an understatement as things went downhill fast.  Drastically.  And when I say downhill I don't mean just a bit of a slope, I mean disastrous.  Bad.  Really bad.  So bad I don't think I've had a badder modeling day.  It would actually be quite funny if it wasn't so disastrously disastrous and not very good at all.

Read on dear readers...

 

Lets begin with something that wasn't completely disastrous then.  Transfers.

I decided to bite the bullet today and see if I could get some of those transfers I'd wait so long for actually on the model.  Out came the drawings and out came the reference photo's.   Measure twice, cut once they say - so I paid very careful attention to the locations and measurements.  The first transfers on were the scrolls just below the cant rail.

Masking tape was used to to provide locations.  Dook 'em in water and slabber some micro-1 on the side frame in anticipation.

In the end, the scrolls were not too difficult to apply though you have to be really careful.  The transfers are wonderful quality but very delicate, and even micro-1 will start to dissolve the carrier film if you leave it too long.  So, scrolls were positioned gently and when I was happy with the location, were pressed down with a damp kitchen towel.  The same procedure was applied to the Pullman crest.

 

 

I did a test piece just prior to this and found that when I applied micro-2 the transfer wrinkled (as expected) but some of the wrinkles did not flatten out... so so far I have not applied micro-2 to the side-frame.  I'm just too scared!

Same process at the opposite end.

 

 

Apologies for the out of focus shot, - this was meant to show how flat the transfers were with no air bubbles or wrinkles.  Trust me - there's no air bubbles or wrinkles!  Honest guv.

 

 

So far so good.

 

 

Now it was time for the big test - the name plate!  This is just over 3 inches long - 80mm in new money.

After 4 successful transfer applications, my confidence was building.  You (me!) just had to be careful.  Sounds easy - right?

 

 

So how'd it go then ?

Well, how's this?

 

 

Looky here.. all nice and flat - no air bubbles, no wrinkling. Looks good n'est pas?

 

 

Well, apparently my inner modeler did not think so.  I spotted a slight, very slight curve towards the end of the SUS and decided to try and rectify it.

 

!

 

Wrecked the transfer I did - completely.  Well, it was lucky I had two printed on my test sheet wasn't it?

Well, I should have had three printed as I wrecked the second one while applying it.  I'm sure frustration was creeping in and had something to do with it.  I should have stepped back and gone for a walk or something, but no... I ploughed ahead and messed it up.

At least I learned something - I think I tried to remove the second transfer from the backing sheet too early and it stretched a little bit... but I did have some success with the other transfers which was encouraging.

 

But now we come to the howler of the year.  No, the howler of the decade, indeed, the howler of my entire modeling career. 

Take a ganders at the photo below.  Notice anything strange ?  Out of place ? Simply wrong?  No ?

Believe me - there is something wrong.  Badly wrong.

I've been working on this damn car for around 5 years now, and I have handled and worked these side frames for several of those years.  I've painted, stripped, painted, stripped ad infinitum and I completely missed it all these years... until today that is. 

 

 

 

dammit!

 

dammit!

 

dammit!

 

dammit!dammit!dammit!

 

Here... this photo may help clarify things a tad.... notice anything now ?

 

 

Window ?

The small window ?   Sitting by itself over there on the left?   

See where it is located in relation to the end of the side-frame?

 

Yes, he (me) says sheepishly... it's in the wrong darn place isn't it ?   How on earth did I get that wrong?  And why did I never notice it until today of all days?

I could leave it as is - as that window is in the kitchen area - but ... I'LL KNOW IT'S WRONG!!! and all you do too now.

 

So I gave up modeling for the day.  

I shall have to mull this over, but I can see that I will need to try and call in favors and have another side frame made out of brass - this time with the windows in the right location. 

I cannot unsee that which I have seen. - though why I couldn't have seen it three years ago is beyond me.  .  Is all I can say.

 

It's not all doom and gloom in the hend cave now.   I must admit to being severely peeved when I first spotted it.  However, now I've had time to settle down a bit I've come to realize that it's not as bad as it could have been - what if I didn't spot the error until all the transfers were on? or worse... when it was completed ?

 

My plan is to take the week to calm down and reorganize myself - then I shall contact my tool shop that did the side frames for me last time around and see if I can pull in that favor.  I'm sure it will be okay, it's just embarrassing having to ask for that favor.

 

The up side is now I have another test side frame complete with all paint and clear coat as the final versions so I can test out clear coating over the decals without worrying about messing up the paint job.

 

yours sheepishly and somewhat very, very embarrassingly

 

Hend the crap draftsman (though it's just as well I did it right on the real thing or that really would have been embarrassing!  not to mention, a career defining moment!)

 

 

*** later that week...

I found out how I made the mistake though.  I checked all the drawings this morning and found that i used a drawing used to show the different skinning panel arrangements. That was the culprit.  I also checked the author of the drawing... and it wasn't me!

Small  consolation though at this point.  If I ever meet a certain Mr. McLaren again I'm going to give him a good slap!

 

Still my fault though - I really should have double checked

 

 

 

[hendie]

While waiting on a new side frame to arrive, I thought I would get on with something that I have been studiously avoiding so far... the diamond windows.

Part of the reason for the avoidance is that those windows are very fine, and I was terrified of having to cut the "glass" to fit.  When I designed these I tried to keep as true to scale as I could - which meant I only had a 0.1mm ledge behind the frame to rest the "glass" on.

 

First things first - let's get them painted.

 

 

Now, not only did I have a ridiculously small ledge to fit the glass onto, I also had a radius of about 1.6mm which had to match very closely or you would see gaps around the window somewhere.

To my absolute astonishment, I got this match on a first try

 

 

Now I had a different problem to solve.  The diamond windows on the real Pegasus are frosted/obscured glass. One window on the bathroom and the other window is at the kitchen and I guess no-one wants to know what goes on in either of those locations.

But how to create a frosted glass look ?  Quite simple really (after a couple of false starts) I found that 1500 grit micro-mesh produces a very passable frosted look after a few minutes light rubbing.

 

 

The glass was then set into the frame using superglue.  As much as I dislike the stuff, the amount of area I had to glue onto was so small I didn't really have any other choice.  I applied superglue very carefully around the perimeter on the inside face and let capillary action do it's stuff.  Luckily I did not have any catastrophic happenings.

There! I think that will work.

 

 

Then the window can simply drop into place in the side frame. The one above is just dropped in to see what it looked like - it's the side-frame with the window in the wrong location, so it's now my "test" piece

 

As I was painting these frames I saw that my stock of Italian Dark Brown (I'm using it for teh Pullman Umber)  was getting low, so after the modeling session I went to order some more -SHOCK !  HORROR!!!  Testors/Model Master have discontinued this color.  EEEK !!!!! WTF???   As I am going to need some to paint the new side frame I then spent a frantic hour or more searching t'interweb for a source.  Nothing.  None at Amazon, None on Ebay, and none on any of my usual hobby website haunts.  I found a source in Canada who doesn't ship to the USA, and I found another source about 3 hours away in DE but won't mail paint.

Eventually I found a source in NJ who had two jars left so I bought 'em straight away.

Of all the things that have bothered my about this build I never imagined that paint would be one of them (at least, not after I found a suitable color)

 

 

 

 

[MarkNJ]

On 05/11/2019 at 15:38, hendie said:

While waiting on a new side frame to arrive, I thought I would get on with something that I have been studiously avoiding so far... the diamond windows.

Part of the reason for the avoidance is that those windows are very fine, and I was terrified of having to cut the "glass" to fit.  When I designed these I tried to keep as true to scale as I could - which meant I only had a 0.1mm ledge behind the frame to rest the "glass" on.

 

First things first - let's get them painted.

 

 

Now, not only did I have a ridiculously small ledge to fit the glass onto, I also had a radius of about 1.6mm which had to match very closely or you would see gaps around the window somewhere.

To my absolute astonishment, I got this match on a first try

 

 

Now I had a different problem to solve.  The diamond windows on the real Pegasus are frosted/obscured glass. One window on the bathroom and the other window is at the kitchen and I guess no-one wants to know what goes on in either of those locations.

But how to create a frosted glass look ?  Quite simple really (after a couple of false starts) I found that 1500 grit micro-mesh produces a very passable frosted look after a few minutes light rubbing.

 

 

The glass was then set into the frame using superglue.  As much as I dislike the stuff, the amount of area I had to glue onto was so small I didn't really have any other choice.  I applied superglue very carefully around the perimeter on the inside face and let capillary action do it's stuff.  Luckily I did not have any catastrophic happenings.

There! I think that will work.

 

 

Then the window can simply drop into place in the side frame. The one above is just dropped in to see what it looked like - it's the side-frame with the window in the wrong location, so it's now my "test" piece

 

As I was painting these frames I saw that my stock of Italian Dark Brown (I'm using it for teh Pullman Umber)  was getting low, so after the modeling session I went to order some more -SHOCK !  HORROR!!!  Testors/Model Master have discontinued this color.  EEEK !!!!! WTF???   As I am going to need some to paint the new side frame I then spent a frantic hour or more searching t'interweb for a source.  Nothing.  None at Amazon, None on Ebay, and none on any of my usual hobby website haunts.  I found a source in Canada who doesn't ship to the USA, and I found another source about 3 hours away in DE but won't mail paint.

Eventually I found a source in NJ who had two jars left so I bought 'em straight away.

Of all the things that have bothered my about this build I never imagined that paint would be one of them (at least, not after I found a suitable color)

 

 

 

 

Hi Hendie,

 

I know what you mean with erratic paint supply.

On 05/11/2019 at 15:35, hendie said:

 

Today started well.

I woke up, which was a bonus I guess.  After that, things started going not so well.  And when I say not so well, I mean not well at all.  Which is really a bit of an understatement as things went downhill fast.  Drastically.  And when I say downhill I don't mean just a bit of a slope, I mean disastrous.  Bad.  Really bad.  So bad I don't think I've had a badder modeling day.  It would actually be quite funny if it wasn't so disastrously disastrous and not very good at all.

Read on dear readers...

 

Lets begin with something that wasn't completely disastrous then.  Transfers.

I decided to bite the bullet today and see if I could get some of those transfers I'd wait so long for actually on the model.  Out came the drawings and out came the reference photo's.   Measure twice, cut once they say - so I paid very careful attention to the locations and measurements.  The first transfers on were the scrolls just below the cant rail.

Masking tape was used to to provide locations.  Dook 'em in water and slabber some micro-1 on the side frame in anticipation.

In the end, the scrolls were not too difficult to apply though you have to be really careful.  The transfers are wonderful quality but very delicate, and even micro-1 will start to dissolve the carrier film if you leave it too long.  So, scrolls were positioned gently and when I was happy with the location, were pressed down with a damp kitchen towel.  The same procedure was applied to the Pullman crest.

 

 

I did a test piece just prior to this and found that when I applied micro-2 the transfer wrinkled (as expected) but some of the wrinkles did not flatten out... so so far I have not applied micro-2 to the side-frame.  I'm just too scared!

Same process at the opposite end.

 

 

Apologies for the out of focus shot, - this was meant to show how flat the transfers were with no air bubbles or wrinkles.  Trust me - there's no air bubbles or wrinkles!  Honest guv.

 

 

So far so good.

 

 

Now it was time for the big test - the name plate!  This is just over 3 inches long - 80mm in new money.

After 4 successful transfer applications, my confidence was building.  You (me!) just had to be careful.  Sounds easy - right?

 

 

So how'd it go then ?

Well, how's this?

 

 

Looky here.. all nice and flat - no air bubbles, no wrinkling. Looks good n'est pas?

 

 

Well, apparently my inner modeler did not think so.  I spotted a slight, very slight curve towards the end of the SUS and decided to try and rectify it.

 

!

 

Wrecked the transfer I did - completely.  Well, it was lucky I had two printed on my test sheet wasn't it?

Well, I should have had three printed as I wrecked the second one while applying it.  I'm sure frustration was creeping in and had something to do with it.  I should have stepped back and gone for a walk or something, but no... I ploughed ahead and messed it up.

At least I learned something - I think I tried to remove the second transfer from the backing sheet too early and it stretched a little bit... but I did have some success with the other transfers which was encouraging.

 

But now we come to the howler of the year.  No, the howler of the decade, indeed, the howler of my entire modeling career. 

Take a ganders at the photo below.  Notice anything strange ?  Out of place ? Simply wrong?  No ?

Believe me - there is something wrong.  Badly wrong.

I've been working on this damn car for around 5 years now, and I have handled and worked these side frames for several of those years.  I've painted, stripped, painted, stripped ad infinitum and I completely missed it all these years... until today that is. 

 

 

 

dammit!

 

dammit!

 

dammit!

 

dammit!dammit!dammit!

 

Here... this photo may help clarify things a tad.... notice anything now ?

 

 

Window ?

The small window ?   Sitting by itself over there on the left?   

See where it is located in relation to the end of the side-frame?

 

Yes, he (me) says sheepishly... it's in the wrong darn place isn't it ?   How on earth did I get that wrong?  And why did I never notice it until today of all days?

I could leave it as is - as that window is in the kitchen area - but ... I'LL KNOW IT'S WRONG!!! and all you do too now.

 

So I gave up modeling for the day.  

I shall have to mull this over, but I can see that I will need to try and call in favors and have another side frame made out of brass - this time with the windows in the right location. 

I cannot unsee that which I have seen. - though why I couldn't have seen it three years ago is beyond me.  .  Is all I can say.

 

It's not all doom and gloom in the hend cave now.   I must admit to being severely peeved when I first spotted it.  However, now I've had time to settle down a bit I've come to realize that it's not as bad as it could have been - what if I didn't spot the error until all the transfers were on? or worse... when it was completed ?

 

My plan is to take the week to calm down and reorganize myself - then I shall contact my tool shop that did the side frames for me last time around and see if I can pull in that favor.  I'm sure it will be okay, it's just embarrassing having to ask for that favor.

 

The up side is now I have another test side frame complete with all paint and clear coat as the final versions so I can test out clear coating over the decals without worrying about messing up the paint job.

 

yours sheepishly and somewhat very, very embarrassingly

 

Hend the crap draftsman (though it's just as well I did it right on the real thing or that really would have been embarrassing!  not to mention, a career defining moment!)

 

 

*** later that week...

I found out how I made the mistake though.  I checked all the drawings this morning and found that i used a drawing used to show the different skinning panel arrangements. That was the culprit.  I also checked the author of the drawing... and it wasn't me!

Small  consolation though at this point.  If I ever meet a certain Mr. McLaren again I'm going to give him a good slap!

 

Still my fault though - I really should have double checked

 

 

 

Hi Hendie,

 

My commiserations on the window location error, it also looks from the photos like they are a bit too low. It looks like the tops should line up with the main windows, or even a tad higher.

 

Keep up the excellent modelling.

 

Mark

 

[hendie]

On 07/11/2019 at 02:24, MarkNJ said:

My commiserations on the window location error, it also looks from the photos like they are a bit too low. It looks like the tops should line up with the main windows, or even a tad higher.

 

Thanks Mark.  I believe you are right about the window height.  That all goes back to the erroneous drawings I used originally to get the brass cut. I think I can make a few tweaks to the window frame to make that right. When I've done that I'll print them off again.

 

 

[hendie]

Look!   Windows in the right place this time!!!

 

 

A couple of hours later, the end pieces have been soldered on, along with the solebar and pseudo cant rail. First coat of primer on.  I'll let that harden overnight and then start sanding it back tomorrow.  There were also a couple of scratches on the brass so I want to make sure they're filled, so this will probably take a few coats of primer.

 

 

In other news, I was playing with my new 3D printer, and made a bunch of parts... axle boxes (or end covers), some lamp bases and some lampshades. In between working on the side frame, these all got a coat of paint.

 

 

and here we have an assembled table lamp.  Not too shabby, and certainly noting that I could have made by hand - and I'm going to need around 8 of them I think

 

 

Then I couldn't resist throwing one on a table to see what it looked like (even if the table isn't quite finished yet)

 

 

I sent the final decal sheet off to Railtec so hopefully turnaround won't be as long as my first set., I guess I'll just have to wait and see.

In the meantime I'll just keep working on internal stuff while I'm getting that side frame back to where the last once was - before I realized my oopsie!

 

 

[Ian Major]

Gosh Hendie,

 

Those lamps are out of this world. I continue to watch your work in awe. 

 

Ian.

[hendie]

We are getting towards the end of decorating the end vestibules.  All the greeblies are on with the exception of the PassComm system hardware. 

This task was a bit fraught with danger as there were lots of little fiddly bits that had to line up to make a credible looking mechanism.  First up were two boxey things (either side of the warning sticker). The one on the right was made from aluminum, and the one on the left scratched from scrap styrene, Meng nuts and bolts, and some brass wire.

 

 

The next stage was to add the conduits- the only way I could achieve this was to use superglue so I was taking no chances.  The conduits were placed in situ and then little squares of masking tape added all around the mounting blocks, to ensure any errant superglue would not end up on the paintwork.  Thankfully, it all went to plan and no vestibules were harmed in the making of this one.

 

 

Next up was the connecting linkages.  On most cars I've looked at, the linkage extends all the way up to the roof, but with Pegasus, it stops short of the roof and takes a right turn through the bellows. This actually helps me as I can finish off the whole job now instead of waiting until I have a roof on the car.

I cheated on this a little by not having the connecting rod go all the way through - it stops short once it is inside the bellows, but unless you peer up inside you'll never know.

In all my reference shots of Pegasus there is not one clear shot of the linkage, but after looking at other references I reckoned I could fake it enough to look convincing.  It was a bit of a kerfuffle though.  I used a single piece of brass rod with multiple bends to obtain something that sort of looked like it was a linkage with a couple of lever actuators.  The first one was relatively simple but the second took a couple of attempts - trying to match the lengths/angles and make them look symmetric.  That wasn't helped by the fact that I kept looking at one, and then bending the WIP the same way - when it should have been bent in the opposite direction.

 

 

Difficult to see here, but I added 0.8mm nuts and bolts at each of the bends to create the illusion of things being bolted together.  It works for my eyesight.

 

 

This closer shot doesn't really make it any clearer does it?  Maybes aye, maybes naw.

 

 

The last piece of this jigsaw was to add the "flags" that will show when the emergency brake has been actuated. One side done.

 

 

T'other side done.

 

 

Fiddly stuff, and it took me most of the day but I'm happy with where I'm at.  All that left to finish off the vestibules now is to add the electrical cable and plugs, and some chain to hang them from the diaphragm. They will be rather fragile so I'm not sure if I'll do those yet, or wait until later in the build.

 

Work on the new side frame continues.  More sanding and the first coat of Pullman Cream.  It should come as no surprise to you that when I went to the store to pick up another aerosol, I found that the color I was using has been discontinued.  To be honest I wasn't even surprised at this, after all, it was about 3 years ago when I bought the first aerosols.  I may have *just* enough left in the current rattle can to finish the job off if I'm very careful - but we all know how that goes don't we?

Just like the order of two jars of Italian dark brown that I ordered two weeks ago... I didn't see anything happen in my paypal account so I called the hobby shop.  Only to be told their website hasn't worked in two years and they don't get any orders coming in through it.  They checked their stock, and of course they had none.  I did find someone on ebay who apparently has some but was charging ridiculous prices, however, I had no option but to go ahead order two jars - now thankfully delivered so I have enough stock.

 

I've also been working on some 3D stuff for printing - The small diamond windows needed a small modification, and took the opportunity to try the luggage racks (2 versions) and the main window, again 2 versions.

 

Luggage rack

 

 

Luggage rack V2.   Probably won't do this one and try using brass mesh on the rack above

 

 

Main window.  This version requires that I cut individual panes of glass to fit in the openings - with a land of about 0.25mm!

I've also done a second version which has a slit along the length so if it all goes well, I just need to cut one rectangle of glass and it will just slot into the frame, without having to be so accurate in my cutting.

 

 

The new diamond window is on the right, old version on the left.  I noticed that the top of the vent (on top of window) should be in line with the top edge of the main windows. This second version corrects that error.

 

 

I had a bit of an issue with the software upgrade this week, but the support team provided a fix, so the models were prepared and set up for printing

 

 

Files then transferred to the printer... everything looking good

 

 

in case you are wondering - those shapes are the base of the print which attaches to the build plate

 

After a couple of hours it appears we have success. It always looks so bland when it first comes out of the tank

 

 

but a quick wash in IPA and the details starts to show

 

 

Some quick clean-up and the prints are a success.

 

 

The luggage rack is incredibly flimsy so I may have to do some redesign work there to beef it up a bit.  The detail is there but the part is so fine, I just can't handle it without deforming it in some way or other.

Very pleased with the diamond window though and with the main windows though again, I may tweak the designs just a touch next time around.  The great thing about having a printer of my own is that I can iterate through designs pretty quickly, making any changes and test them in a few hours instead of waiting a few weeks from Shapeways.

It's also a hell of a lot cheaper... a print that I had done at Shapeways which cost almost $20, cost me around $0.14 on my home printer.

 

 

 

Edited December 16, 2019 by hendie

[hendie]

Knock knock... I'm back!

 

Look what arrived in the post the other week!

 

 

No excuses now is there?  Lets get on with things then...

 

I spent an absolute age staring at these parts trying to figure out where just to begin. I also spent about half an hour looking for an wayward door frame, going as far as having to read many pages back through this thread to see if I had actually made the darned thing. It turns out I had made it - and then eventually found it - the frame had somehow crawled underneath the chassis and found a nice little nest to live in.

 

 

Therefore, in order to avoid the fear and apprehension I had about applying the transfers I found something else to work on as usual.  This time I dug out the other sideframe.  I had applied the cream color a while back but never got around to applying the umber - mainly because I had ran out and then found out that Testors no longer produced that color (Italian Dark Brown).  After scouring the country I did manage to find a source that had two jars in stock at exorbitant prices and promptly purchased both of them. I probably only need less than half a jar, but just in case y'know.

For the masking I used Aizu tape 1.5 mm to lay down the boundary lines, that was followed by Tamiya 6mm just overlapping the Aizu, then poly sheet laid down and taped in place with Tamiya 10m just for good measure.

Masked up and ready to go

 

 

The brown sprayed beautifully. 

 

 

The inner child got the best of me and the masking was carefully peeled off as soon as thought the paint was dry enough.

 

 

Despite the abundance of protective covering, somehow this little blotch or two of brown got through the defenses.  No big deal though, that will come off with a light micro-meshing

 

 

That has now been curing for the last week and all it needs is a light micro-meshing before applying some clear gloss - followed by the orange pinstripe up at the cant rail level.

Now I'm not entirely sure why I took this shot. I know I had a reason at the time but buggered if I can think of what it was now - maybe to show where I got to last time around and where I was starting from now?

 

 

AAAAAaaaaaaannnnnnd the first transfer is applied!  Squiggly? yes, but try laying down a 0.75mm wide line over 3 inches or more and keeping it straight.  I'm calling that a win.

I know the electrical warning (orange) line should go over the top of the pin-striping, but minor details?   pah!

The more I look at the pin-striping and it's not-quite-straightness, the more it's growing on me and I think I like it. It gives it that hand painted look. It was an unnerving experience paying that line down though and has really put the fear of the modeling gods in me for the remainder of the pin-striping.  The horizontal pin-striping is nearly two feet long. Gulp!

 

 

So I found another squirrel to chase instead, this time the PULLMAN logo along the upper umber band.  These letters were individually printed as the spacing made it impossible to fit on one sheet.

I had been quite worried about applying these but they weren't too bad once I got started.  Maybe it was all relative and they seemed easy after applying that single pin-stripe.

 

 

When drawing these particular decals up I could not find a single photo that showed the PULLMAN logo straight on in a decent resolution. In the end I think I used about 4 different photos to trace over and then try and match up the detailing of the lettering. - Every car had been painted by (I assume) a different painter so there was a slight difference between the lettering detail on each car.

 

 

The first side completed. I think my spacing is ever so slightly off.  The P & N of PULLMAN are evenly spaced over the second window in from each end.  I think I should have started with the P about another millimeter over to the left, but when viewed at any distance the offset is not really noticeable.

 

 

Then there was no way to avoid more pin-striping.  This time these single lines were over 6 inches long.  I'm definitely going for the hand painted artisan look here.  I think you'll be able to tell that this car was not mass produced by the time I finish this transfer sticking malarkey

Sheesh - these close ups are really unforgiving aren't they?  That lower pinstripe is as wavy as the water at Portobello beach on a windy day

 

 

During that application above, I had a few heart stopping moments as the scroll work decal which had been in place for months started to be affected by the microsol and started wrinkling. A few moments of panic ensued while I tried to mop up the excess and get that decal back down and settled.  Given that I have to apply a double pin-stripe immediately below it along the two foot length, I think I am going to have to apply an intermediate gloss coat to seal these down before I start to work with the double pinstripes.

 

In order to keep my heart rate at a reasonable frequency I changed tack once again and went for the double ended arrows bounding each window. 

 

 

My goodness, even those look wavy.  No wonder though - my eyeballs are probably all shrivelled up and wrinkled after applying those pinstripes. You might think these were easy after the pinstripes? Well... no!  They weren't.  I've found that leaving the decals too long in microsol really softens them up - that means they stretch!  Even just the act of brushing microsol along the length can stretch them quite easily, so I have to try and get these in place really quickly as the arrow tips are supposed to be in line with the top and bottom edges of the windows.

 

That was fun wasn't it?   I have to say that it feels good to finally be applying some artwork to the car - it's only taken me about 6 years to get to this point. It was starting to feel like a Bandsaw Steve build it was taking so long.

and now it's time for another coffee and I'm going to head back downstairs for another round of holding breath while trying not to tear things apart with the shaky hands.  Oh what fun!

 

Later that day...

 

This sticking on transfers business really takes it out of you doesn't it?   I finished up a bit earlier than usual yesterday as concentrating on keeping things straight was starting to get to me.

 

 

As each transfer is applied I have to move to another area to ensure it dries completely without the opportunity for me to dislodge or otherwise mangle the transfer while laying down the next one.

The doors were a good opportunity to leave other bits to dry off.

 

 

The double ended arrows were all put in place with only one casualty lost in action - the very last one. By that time my hands were starting to shake a bit and I think I was rushing to get finished. Thankfully I have plenty of spares, so I ripped it off and made a conscious decision not to rush and that time it laid down without any issues. 

 

 

Yesterday - end of day and we have made serious progress on this side frame.

 

 

I think it's still going to take a few sessions to get this side finished though. The pin-striping is tedious work and with some of the pinstripes being so close to others, I think I am going to have to gloss coat to protect already laid down transfers from more application of microsol.  lets see how today goes.

 

 

 

 

 

[The Fatadder]

Build is looking fantastic.

 

I am part way building a representation of a rebuilt Pegasus for my 4mm scale VSOE formation.  I don’t suppose I could be cheeky and ask for a couple of dimensions please?

 

would be interested to know the height of the side (floor to gutter), height of the large windows and distance between gutter and top edge of the window

 

cheers 

rich 

 

 

[hendie]

Thanks Rich, glad you like it.

I'd love to see your build - do you have a link?

 

the height of the side-frame from bottom edge to roof line is 2145mm. The large windows are 1000mm long by 1190 high and the distance from the roof line to the top edge of the windows is 315mm.  Those dimensions are all full scale of course.

 

let me know if you need any more information

 

Alan

 

 

[The Fatadder]

14 hours ago, hendie said:

Thanks Rich, glad you like it.

I'd love to see your build - do you have a link?

 

the height of the side-frame from bottom edge to roof line is 2145mm. The large windows are 1000mm long by 1190 high and the distance from the roof line to the top edge of the windows is 315mm.  Those dimensions are all full scale of course.

 

let me know if you need any more information

 

Alan

 

 

Thanks for that, could I confirm those window dimensions please?  I thought the windows were wider than they are tall?

 

Highlights some more work for me to do relative to my original plan, what I am trying to do is convert a Hornby model of a 1927 build Minerva into the rebuilt VSOE Cygnus and Phoenix. 

Looks like I need to lower all of the windows by 1mm, which will be fun!  So I am now debating cutting a completely new replacement side from 2 layers of 20thou plastic using my silhouette cuter (rather than having to lower each window).

 

The build so far is on my modern workbench blog (although the window stuff is all based on incorrect assumptions at the moment.) 

[hendie]

12 hours ago, The Fatadder said:

Thanks for that, could I confirm those window dimensions please?  I thought the windows were wider than they are tall?

 

 

Oops, my apologies. You are of course correct.  In my haste to respond I transposed the dimensions.

They are 1190mm for width and the window height is 1000mm.

 

(In my defense, I can be incredibly stupid sometimes.  How I designed an entire Pullman car still baffles me and no doubt a few others!)

 

The other dimensions still stand... at least I didn't mix those up

 

 

[hendie]

A touch more progress on Pegasus. I ended up taking the day off work as I was at the animal hospital for most of the night with a sick cat. When I got home last night I found him lying beside the water bowl pretty much motionless. He couldn't even stand up and refused food.  It turns out Stripey Cat has a serious UTI and blockage so he's in hospital for 2 or 3 days with a whole bunch of procedures and medications.

So the morning was spent laying in bed trying to catch up on missed sleep but after lunch I headed downstairs.

 

It turns out that my Helo Helper Jig is also a train helper.  It came in very useful when applying these end pinstripes.

 

 

Current state of play for the first sideframe.  This is about as far as I can go at the moment as I am waiting on some more clear gloss arriving so I can coat these decals.

 

 

So I turned my head from transfer sticking back to actually making things. I don't seem to have done that for a long time on this build. Now that the decals were on the doors I could start to assemble the doors themselves. Each door consists of a outer (front) face, an inner (rear) face, and a clear layer sandwiched in between for the window.

A 0.2mm sheet of clear polystyrene was used to create the window

 

 

Then scrap strips of the same thickness were glued to the outer edges (and I don't know why I just didn't cut the clear stuff to the door dimensions as I would have saved myself some trouble)

 

 

Then the door inner face was glued in place.  I used two brass square tubes and a coupe of clamps to hold everything straight while the glue cured.

 

 

With the doors underway I started to attack the door hardware.

Some times it pays to sit down and think things through instead of jumping right in like I did here.  I think I was so excited at being able to make things again I just rushed in without thinking.

On the inside of the vestibule doors are some chromed bars - more for decoration than for preventing people form falling through the windows I think.

My first iteration started off like this before I realized that both the vertical and the horizontal bars should be on the same plane... 'doh!

 

 

That led to version number two.  I was quite pleased with this version.  I had some scrap aluminum channel lying around from some LED lights I fitted in the kitchen last year.  I also had a steel scriber that I found was a bit vicious for plastic, but ideal for the aluminum.

I scribed two lines for the vertical bars, followed by another across the channel for the horizontal bar.

 

 

When the lines were scribed deep enough they formed a nice little V groove that the brass rod lay in and didn't roll about, holding it nicely in place for soldering.

I chose aluminum for the jig as it repels solder which meant that the parts wouldn't stick to the jig when soldered.

The two holes were drilled to allow the solder to flow around the brass to the back face to make the joint complete.  My first version did not have the holes and I found that the solder would not flow to the back face.

 

 

Test number 1:  Success by the looks of it.

 

 

After the solder and the brass was cleaned up, I superglued some small plastic C channel to each end segment of the frame to represent the mounting bracket, then gave everything a quick spray of Alclad Chrome.

 

 

That should suffice to do the job.  I'll leave the Alclad to cure for a while before hitting it with some clear gloss to protect it - when the clear gloss arrives.

Now I need to figure out if I fit all the hardware to the doors then assemble everything or do I wait until it is assembled before fitting the hardware in case anything goes wrong - namely getting knocked of by my clumsy handling.

 

 

 

[Bucoops]

Hope Stripey is back home soon

 

Still loving the build.

[PhilMortimer]

Wishing Stripy cat a full recovery. We had the same with one of ours a few years back. Some emergency surgery, but he is still with us and is asleep on my lap as I type.........

 

And exquisite modeling as well.

[Steadfast]

More excellent work on the Pullman Hendie, exquisite work on the decals. 

Hope Stripey is back with you soon. Our lunatic of a cat has just flopped beside me after a 100mph run around the house.

 

Jo

[hendie]

On 12/03/2020 at 16:42, Bucoops said:

Hope Stripey is back home soon

 

On 12/03/2020 at 23:22, PhilMortimer said:

Wishing Stripy cat a full recovery. We had the same with one of ours a few years back. Some emergency surgery, but he is still with us and is asleep on my lap as I type.........

 

On 13/03/2020 at 05:02, Steadfast said:

Hope Stripey is back with you soon. Our lunatic of a cat has just flopped beside me after a 100mph run around the house.

Jo

 

Thanks for all the well wishes folks.  We got Stripey back on Friday night about 11 pm, but on Saturday he still wasn't eating or drinking OR peeing (though he did a little through the night) so Saturday afternoon it was back to the Vet hospital again.  This time only for a few hours though.  He appears to be doing a lot better now - he's perked up a lot and is eating and drinking though he's still having a little trouble in the waterworks department, but we reckon that's just from the pain so hopefully he will keep recovering and we won't have another visit to the vets.

 

 

 

So here we go for another update - that's several in a week or two - we're on a roll here.  There's not really much to show this time around but it's one of those updates where pretty much everything has taken an age to complete.

The clear gloss I was waiting on still hadn't arrived so I took the opportunity to man up to one of those jobs I hated - getting the other side frame all painted up and ready for transfers.  All that was left to do was the orange electrical warning line

 

 

which all went well until the last couple of inches.  Drat! 

I must have tried to peel off the masking tape too soon.

 

 

So I left that overnight to harden up then a quick mask and squirt of orange and we're where we should have been at yesterday, which brings us back to where I was about a year ago.

That's now being left to harden up then I shall micromesh to get rid of ridges left by the masking - and trust that I don't do any more damage while micromeshing.

 

 

In between the painting shenanigans I had been pondering over a job that on the face of it seemed relatively simple - but one little mistake could send me back months again.  This was adding the horizontal handrails to the front of the doors.

The first problem that I had was  deciding what to use for the mounting boss on the door.  I'd had some parts printed way back last year but when I went to use them I realized I had made them too small so I had to find some alternative.  I tried a bunch of things, including squeezing plastic rod in the vice to make ovals, and a number of other failures before arriving at a solution.

The solution was Meng resin bolt heads of all things.  I bought a set of them a couple of years ago and have been finding all sorts of uses for them ever since, obviously, not just as bolts and nuts.

I settled on bolt heads of 1.4mm and drilled through the center of the head. Brass rod which had been bent onto a U shape was then inserted and I used a small thick section of styrene to set the height - important as all 4 handles need to be the same distance from the door face otherwise it could all look a bit naff.

A drop of CA fixed the resin bolt heads in place, then the parts were Alclad chromed and then clear coated.

Now came the next really important bit - fixing them to the door.  The horizontal rail is fixed at the center point of the oval window. Again, if they're slightly off it shows up really obviously so I needed to take extra care here. 

I ended up making a fixture that fitted over the oval window and set the position of the holes for me to drill - and completely forgot to take a photo of it.  Care was needed drilling the holes as I had already fitted the inside face of the door so I could only drill through one layer of plastic to mount the handrails.

After much fretting we have this:

 

 

I'm very pleased with the way that turned out, especially the resin bolt heads as they no longer look like bolts at all.

Then fitting the inside fittings was a lot easier.  I chose the two worst sets of rails for the open doors as they will be almost impossible to see when the doors are installed.

 

 

Front face of door.

 

 

and I include this photo just so you can see how different the same color shows up under the same lighting depending upon the relative angles of camera and lighting to the object.

I love those door handles. I had no idea they would turn out anywhere near as good as that.

 

 

Jumping to and fro here but I was looking to keep things turning over since there was such a large intermission in this build and I want to keep things moving this time around.

End vestibules.  There's something we haven't seen for a while.  You may be forgiven for thinking you had seen the last of them but there was one small job left before they could finally be called finished.

And what a of a job it was. 

Each vestibule has two electrical connectors connected (obviously) to the junction boxes and secured by a length of chain fixed to the diaphragm.  

I know this chain is a tad over-scale but it's the smallest chain I could find and doesn't draw the eyes too much from the rest of the structure.  The chain was secured to the plug by a small hoop of very thin stainless wire superglued into the plug.  The cable was then attached to the junction boxes, chain cut to length, and then fixed to the diaphragm.

 

 

One length of chain goes behind the diaphragm while the other is attached to the hook on the right.  If I had known about this task 3 or 4 years ago I would have drilled the hooks to accept the chain, however, hindsight and all that.  Instead (since I don't trust superglue much at all) I twisted a small length of ss wire around the hook to secure the last link in the chain. You can see the wire quite clearly in this photo.  The next session will see a touch of black paint over that bright wire and it should merge into the background quite easily.  Vestibules finished!

 

 

To finish off todays adventures I took my life in my hands and decided to gloss coat the side frame so I can complete the transfers on this side

 

 

Seems to have gone well.  I'm going to leave that coat to harden up before continuing with the transfer sticking but it looks like I may be finished with the transfers on this side by the end of this week!  Momentous moments!

Quite glossy isn't it?

 

 

Once the last of the transfers are on, another coat of gloss is required but it will then be ready to start working on the interior paneling.

 

Unfortunately what with this Covid thingy going on we have been told to work from home from now until further notice. Damn shame.  I promise not to spend any time whatsoever downstairs during the working day... honest guv!

 

 

 

 

[hendie]

 

Momentous Occasion Number ...eh... 2?  Maybe it's three I can't remember.  Anyhows, what we have here folks is a real, genuine, honest to goodness momentous occasion

 

It is 1926 days from the start date of this build.

Or 5 years, 3 months, 9 days

Or 63 months, 9 days

 

or put another way

 

166,320,000 seconds (and counting)

2,772,000 minutes (prolly more now)

46,200 hours (ditto)

1925 days

275 weeks

 

and I have FINALLY completed sticking on the transfers on one side of Pegasus.  Can you believe it?  Me neither.

 

It wasn't without issue though.  Before I sprayed on some more clear coat the other day I gave the side-frame a quick wipe over with IPA to remove any greases from handling.  In my rush to get things done I failed completely to see that one of the arrowheads had twisted slightly   Gaahhh

 

 

I considered trying to rework it but a) it's under a coat of very hard gloss, b) I'd probably cause more damage than I'd like while trying a repair, and c) that color has been discontinued. So, all things considered, I'm leaving it entirely as it is.

Like the Navajo weavers I am introducing this as a "deliberate" mistake to my build as apparently there's only one being who can make things perfect - and it certainly ain't me!

 

It was the Pegasus nameplate that caused me grief last time around, but this time it went down without too much of a fight

 

 

And an overall view of side-frame 1

 

 

I'm leaving that overnight then I shall give it a final coat of clear gloss and be ready to begin internal paneling on that section.  My squiggly lines don't look too squiggly (from a distance)

 

oh momentous occasion. How long I have waited for this moment.

[Nelson Jackson]

What a superb build! And I really enjoy reading each post you publish, fantastic! 

[richard i]

I agree it is excellent. I don’t write often as I have so little I can add in the way of advice.

richard

[hendie]

 

Despite Armageddon work continues... mainly from home. It's not all it's cracked up to be is it?  Too many cats distractions and network speeds grinding to early dial-up speeds at best prevent one from being as productive as should be possible in this digital age.  Conference calls abound and I hate them - despite all this technology, conference calls just never work as good as an old fashioned face to face meeting.

 

Still, occasional breaks from the day job to prevent burn-out is the order of the day.  In those occasional breaks my 3D printer has been taking a pounding - and producing results.

Here's a home printed window. I'm very pleased with the way they have turned out.  The two center (sliding) panes nicely recessed. 

 

 

I'm not yet sold on the color of the brass though. Maybe a gloss coat and a Flory wash to emphasize the detail will change my mind. At least I have plenty of time to experiment over the next few weeks.

Now here's a home printed Diamond window (slightly elongated to account for my earlier mistake).

 

 

It's a little on the large side for the opening, but it only finished printing about 20 minutes prior to this shot.  I'm going to leave it and check it again tomorrow as it will shrink slightly and that may just be enough for a comfortable fit.  If not, it's no big deal to tweak a dimension and reprint it.

 

Just for kicks...

 

 

Now I have all the fun of cutting out individual panes for each of those windows (and another 7 windows on the other side!).

 

 

[hendie]

Aaaand work continues - well, it is the weekend isn't it?

I'm forging ahead with the transfers even tough it's a task I don't particularly like, but once it's done, it's over and I'll never have to do this again. It's probably going to take at least two more sessions before the second side is completed but I'm getting there.  This was end of day today.  It's a tedious job.

 

 

In between times, I've been bombarding the 3D printer with stuff.  Mainly rotating vents and windows.  I had printed out the diamond windows before but yesterday I had a sort of brainwave.

Previously I had designed in 4 ledges that aligned with the opening in the side frame. It worked fine, but then I thought - what if I make those ledges a snap fit instead?  That will help keep things in place and there will never be any danger of it falling out.  So, four snap brackets later

 

 

Then about an hour in the printer

 

 

then after some clean up it snaps right into place.  Sorted!

 

 

Prime and paint for those then cut the glass and they can be fitted.

 

Tomorrow, more transfers, more windows and more other stuff.

 

[hendie]

What we have here folks is another momentous occasion.  a.k.a. Momentous occasion n+1

I'll begin with the menial stuff and by menial I mean only in relation to the other stuff. 

This was the results of this weekends printing sessions.  There should be enough there for me to be getting on with over the next few days.

 

 

There's not really a lot to show in the way of photos but major milestones have been reached following a Stupendously Stonking Sticking Session.

Initially I thought this was going to take me at least a few sessions broken over a few days in order to get all the transfers in place.  However, I got an an early start and things went remarkably well.  Case in hand... the "Trianon Bar" decal was the largest single decal I had to apply and being the clumsy oaf that I am I did not hold out much hope of being successful with a single transfer here.  I already had Plan B in place - cut the transfer between the A and the N  in Trianon and whack it in place over two sessions.

 

Wish me luck folks, I'm going in...

 

 

doesn't look too disastrous so far....

 

 

Well... whadya know?  First attempt and it went great

 

 

The last hour or two of transfer sticking was almost tortuous but I blasted through the pain barrier as I knew if I got it all knocked out today then that was it!

So I kept at it and then finally about 5pm this evening...

 

 

Transfers all done!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!   I can't believe it.

Of course I still have to gloss coat the Trianon Bar side and hopefully I won't stuff it up, but this really is a cause for celebration.  Over 6 years working on this and now it looks like there may almost be an end in sight.

 

 

 

 

 

[hendie]

The trouble about this working form home malarkey is that sometimes you've just got to work from home and it's been eating into my valuable modeling time.   Still, things could be worse I suppose.

I hope everything is well with you lot and no-one is suffering any adverse affects from this latest situation, at least health wise. We're all suffering some adverse affects to a degree.

 

Putting real world issues to the side for the moment, it's been one of those one step forward, two steps back weeks. Just when things were going so well.  In my last post you'll have noticed that I had printed just short of a gazillion windows.  I only needed eleven, so I sorted through that bunch, picked the best of the lot then primed and painted them.

Umber on 8 windows, gloss black on 3 as they will be alclad chromed.  The 8 umber windows will receive a lick of brass paint on the inside.

 

 

The alclad chrome turned out very nice indeed

 

 

But the trouble with alclad (I find) is that the chrome finish is just not durable at all and needs to be gloss coated.  That brings another problem in that anything over the top of the chrome finish reduces the effect.

Left here is original untouched chrome finish. On the right is a chrome finish that's had clear gloss on top.  It dulls it down to an almost flat aluminum finish. It's passable though and something I can live with.

 

 

Now before I get to the two-steps-back news I'll show a very slight piece of progress.   The diamond window got fitted to one side-frame.  Well, that's progress isn't it?

(don't look at the squinty arrowhead!)

 

 

Now for the two-steps-back part.

In my quest to keep everything as true to scale as possible I tried to be keep the window framings delicate and as far from toy-like as I could.

Anyone spot a problem here?

 

 

Yup, beginners error.  I hadn't taken into account the thickness of the side frame.  There's a small overlap on the front of the window frame to fit over the glass and it should fit flush against the 'glass'. 

I should have added some thickness to it but as it stands, it sits proud of the glass and allows the bottom edge of the window frame to warp a little.  Would it be noticeable in the final product?  Probably not, but the great thing about having the 3D printer is that I can just tweak the design (already done) and reprint the windows again (tomorrows task).

Two runs on the printer should yield enough windows as I can print 6 at a time, though I may do a third run just to make sure I have spares.  I have also added a lip on the inner surface of the new version to try and capture the glass and not rely so much on glue - as there's very little surface area to glue on.

 

It kind of sucks because I just spent the last couple of days cutting out 44, yes... forty faffing four individual panes of glass for the window frames and sticking them in place. Then painting the brass on the reverse side.

As I wanted to fit them to the side frames all in one session I waited until they were all completed before going to fit the first window... and then found the issue!  

 

If you wanted to know what the three chromed windows looked like in place.... (there's glass in the top section - just imagine there's glass below the frame too!)

 

 

On the bright side, I have now perfected my technique for fixing the windows in place. - Mix 2 parts canopy glue (formula 560) with one part water and apply with a cocktail stick. The thinned PVA will wick into the gaps around the glass and secure it to the frame.  The glue starts to go off pretty quickly so the process can be repeated after about 10 minutes to build up successive layers of PVA and really stick those suckers in place.

 

To cheer myself up and pretend I was still making progress I chose the version of carpet I'm going to use.  The chairs were put in place to give me a scale reference to check against photos of the 1:1

I'll be going with the smaller/tighter printed version

 

 

Oh. Other news - I clear coated the last side frame without issues so they're both finished now.  Putting that last clear coat on top of the transfers was always a worry - but it's all behind me now!!!