1951 Pullman Scratchbuild in 1/32

[hendie]

Today was just one of those days - loads of time spent on finicky little details, but all the while edging to the finish line (I hope)

 

My first job this morning was to tackle one of those long forgotten parts that have been lying around for literally years - the buffers.  No train is complete without a set of buffers is it?

Well, I'd made these years ago and put them to one side, never really thinking about them again, but today was the day - time to fit them and get the ends of the car fully complete.

 

Oh dear... anyone spot a problem here? (poor photo I know)

 

 

The diaphragm plate interferes with the buffers.  Oh crap.  How did that happen?   I checked my drawings and everything looked fine. Then luckily I checked my reference photos and spotted the issue.

Since we were reusing the diaphragm plates I didn't make a fully detailed drawing - just an overall outline, and in that drawing I had the sides of the diaphragm plate parallel all the way to the bottom.  When I checked this photo...

('scuse the ornery looking gent with the white facial grubble  staring back at you here - I've been under the weather for a few days and couldn't be bothered shaving)

 

 

I could see that the diaphragm plates angled in towards the bottom to clear the buffers.  Problem solved - now what to do about it?

I hummed and hawed for 10 minutes or so... when everything was together would anyone really notice?  I could still fit the buffers and get them into position without any problems.

You know where I'm going here don't you?  I would know - and it would annoy me. Then every-time I looked at this car I would see that glaring error.

Nothing for it but to try and remedy the situation.  The weapon of choice for this fine fettling was the flexible drive with sanding drum.  Tension was high - I could foresee all sorts of issues and damage arising from this, not least of which was the paint peeling off the diaphragm plate due to heat build up.

Look out folks... I'm going in!

 

 

Around 30 minutes later.   Clearance!

 

 

Okay it's not pretty and it's minimal clearance, but if you look at the 1:1, there's minimal clearance on that too.  

What is amazing is that the diaphragm plates held fast during all that butchery -  and they're only held on with cigarette paper and superglue. Amazing.  Even more amazing is the fact that I didn't damage anything else in the process.

A quick touch up with paint and that will be fine and no-one will be any the wiser. (the couplings were also fitted but I don't appear to have taken a photo)

 

Yet another job that I'd been putting off was fitting the "open" doors.  I'd had a couple of attempts at it during the week but wasn't happy with the results. Mainly I was getting too large a gap between the frame and the door.  The problem was eventually solved by using styrene hinges 2 mm wide and superglued in to the frame.

 

 

The ceiling partition at the dinette was fitted.  I don't have any photographic proof of the vent being there but it does show up on the drawings so, one got fitted.  Seems a bit weird being off center like that, but it is centered to the dinette area and I guess they need ventilation in there too.

 

 

The remaining two luggage racks got fitted.

 

 

Then last photo for today is just to prove that I did finally get around to fitting the axle boxes.

 

 

They do stick out a little further than the real things but I had to make them that length so they would cover the axles. I can live with this.

 

If I'm not careful I am going to be running out of stuff to do.  The list is getting shorter and shorter - about bloomin' time though!

Still tables and chairs to fit.  I made up the table lamps today, but I think I have decided to reprint the wall lamps to see if I can get them any better.  The biggest hurdle facing me now is the patterned fabric on the chairs.  Once again decals are going to be the answer.  I just need to sit down and create the pattern - then buy a printer. Ouch.

 

 

[Hilux5972]

Looking fantastic. Great to see the end in sight. 

[jrg1]

Extraordinary modelling-what are you going to build to haul it?

[KeithHC]

As always a great model. Just a minor point................ sorry. In your photo of the actual carriage the buffers have a flat top are you going to change yours to match.

 

Keith

I'm getting my coat............ 

[simonmcp]

5 hours ago, KeithHC said:

In your photo of the actual carriage the buffers have a flat top are you going to change yours to match.

 

On 20/06/2020 at 23:52, hendie said:

 

Looks like the right shape to me, I can see a flat top on them. Superb as ever. More patience and attention to detail than I could manage.

[hendie]

On 20/06/2020 at 22:41, Hilux5972 said:

Looking fantastic. Great to see the end in sight. 

 

thanks Hilux - it's a great feeling after all this time

 

On 21/06/2020 at 21:33, jrg1 said:

Extraordinary modelling-what are you going to build to haul it?

 

haha!   nothing!  When this is finished I shall have accomplished what I set out to  do so will be taking a nice long break from train modeling.

 

On 22/06/2020 at 03:45, KeithHC said:

As always a great model. Just a minor point................ sorry. In your photo of the actual carriage the buffers have a flat top are you going to change yours to match.

 

Keith

I'm getting my coat............ 

 

ehrrrr.... see simonmcp'spost below

 

On 22/06/2020 at 09:11, simonmcp said:

 

Looks like the right shape to me, I can see a flat top on them. Superb as ever. More patience and attention to detail than I could manage.

 

Thanks!..  yes I did include the flat top on the buffers.  I may have rounded the edge between the flat and the radius a bit too much so  it's not as noticeable as on the 1:1, but it's there.

 

 

After hitting this hard over the last few weeks I think  I've hit a slight burn out period.  I'm giving myself a few days off before heading down to  tackle the remaining jobs.

No fear - it will be completed

 

 

 

 

 

[hendie]

As I get closer and closer to the finish line with this penance, I keep spotting more bits that need added.  As I was zooming about photos during the week I spotted a small reddish thing mounted on the wall. Upon zooming in further, I discovered it was one of these... an emergency hammer to break the window in event of having to get out quickly.

 

 

There were 4 of them in total.  For the first time in what seems like ages, I resorted to scratch building - Shock! Horror!   What - no 3D printing?   Well, I did consider it but it was actually easier just to go ahead and scratch 4 of these little blighters and paint them up.  According to my references, they are mounted directly to the wall, though I'm sure there's some kind of bracket there - I just can't see it due to the resolution of the photo.

 

 

I did carry on with some easy things though.

The roof structure got fitted over the bar area -then remembered somehow I have to set up a few bottles and glasses in there later.  Gulp.

 

 

Brass lamps got fitted to the dining area

 

 

with chromed lamps being fitted to the bar area.

 

 

After that there was pretty much no easy things left - at least nothing that can be done now.  It was time to start the colossal task of upholstering the chairs.

This was not a task that I had been looking forward to. 

For one - I hate doing decals, transfers whatever you want to call them.  I hate 'em almost as much as I hate painting... Two... I wasn't even sure this was going to work.

Just to make things easy - I have no copy of the original swatches that were used to specify the fabric.  All I have to go on is a few photos of the interior showing the blue fabric covered chairs.

After searching online for some time I found something that seemed as if it would work - though it was the wrong color.   That would have been too easy wouldn't it?  I sampled the color on a Pegasus chair then replaced the original color in the print to match.   I then scaled it and mirrored/repeated it over and over a few times.  Unfortunately it was not a seamless pattern I had used so it ended up looking a bit regimented and geometric.

 

 

This was what I was aiming for.

 

 

It's more stylized than the pattern I have but what the heck - lets give it a go and see what happens

I had a sort of plan though.  Due to the shape of the chairs there was no way I could cover a chair with just one piece of decal.  I was gong to have to cut individually shaped pieces of decal for different areas of the chair.  I was hoping that this chopping and rearranging would break up the pattern.

Each chair took 12 individual sections of decal. Some of the template pieces shown here were reversed to provide right and left handed versions.

 

 

Rather than bore you with gazillions of individual photos showing the process I stitched a few together to try and lessen the pain for you.

From left to right, top then bottom....  (I was trying to do it clockwise but apparently I'm not good at getting things in a clockwise order!)

The first wing goes on, followed by it's opposite number on the other side.  The seat back (lower) piece was slapped into place, then the lower side panel

 

 

Lower side panel on opposite side, followed by the small front section.

The seat pan was a real pig to fit though not as troublesome as those arm rests.  I couldn't believe how bloody awkward they were to fit.

 

 

After that, the head rest area was added, and finally the back piece was slid into place.

 

 

That was one of those tasks I never ever want to repeat. EVER.  That effort took me two full days   of nothing but cutting and slicing decals and fitting them, over, and over, and over.

16 chairs with 12 separately cut sections of decal = 192 pieces of torment

They're not perfect by any means but I did my best and its a result I think I can live with.

After all that, the decals were gloss coated to seal them, followed by a matt coat to remove the shininess and to try and make them look more like fabric.

Italian Dark Brown was used to simulate the wooden legs - they'll get a satin coat later

 

 

Now just for the hell-of-it. Here's a chair, just cos I took the photo

 

 

Then no sooner had I believed I had finished than I turned around and there on one of my drying blocks at the back of the bench was these two sitting there, grinning at me...

 

 

AAAaaarghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh  

Shoot me now.  Please!

 

 

 

 

I did try and take a photo of a few chairs in place with tables etc, but broke off one of the luggage racks while trying to fit the table.   That decided it - I was calling it a night.  That can wait for another day

 

I'm off for a beer!

 

 

 

[Krusty]

Love the chairs.

 

This must be the 'in' thing – there was article describing how to use the same technique to produce patterned shirts in the July Model Railroader.

[hendie]

Thanks @Krusty - did Model Railroader also state how soul destroying it was?

 

 

Well, how do I follow that last update?   Anything after that is pretty much going to be an anti-climax innit?  

AS I've mentioned, it is getting close to the finish line though it seems every time I pour over my reference photo's I find something new cropping up that I have kept missing in the last 6 years. The emergency equipment was a prime example.  When I started chasing that squirrel I found out that there were two fire extinguishers specified. According to the drawings, they were located on top of the electrical cabinets in the end corridors.  Sure enough, when I looked at my reference stuff, I could just make out what certainly appeared to be a fire extinguisher right at the far end of the corridor.  Nothing for it then but to try and make a couple. 

I'll be honest and I did actually google 1/32 scale fire extinguishers and found a couple of resin examples.  Then conscience got the better of me and since I've scratch built 99% of this thing I figured I may as well continue.  3D printing came to mind, but again, I thought nah!.... let's try it the old school way.

 

An hour later I had two of these thingamabobs turned from brass rod on the lathe.  At the top end I drilled a small pilot hole - the hope being that I could make these mostly from brass.

 

 

A couple of 0.8 mm lengths of rod were hammered flat on the vice, then in time honored fashion it was time to drill unfeasibly small holes in equally unfeasibly small handles.

A  bunch of Ø0.5 mm holes were duly drilled and a small brass rivet used to hang everything together.  No need to worry about cutting them to length just yet.

 

 

A dab of solder was added to keep everything fixed in position, then a few swipes with a file cleaned that all up and brought things down to the correct length.  When I say 'correct' I mean something approaching sort of looks like what it's supposed to look like, maybe.

The rivet was then rammed into the pilot hole and luckily was tight enough to stay put.  I originally tried to solder the handles on to the body, but the larger part was too much of a heat sink and I couldn't get it to work - so interference fit it was.

 

 

Follow that up with some enameled black wire, another small piece of brass tube, and a piece of electrical wire and we get a decent approximation of a fire skoosher

 

 

Happy with that it was then time for paint.  I used the last few drops of red gloss and then the airbrush decided to spurt and splatter causing a few expletives to be uttered.

Since it was going to take some time to obtain some more (and Testors have stopped producing any more) I had to resort to Humbrol satin red of some description.  It wasn't quite as bright as fire extinguisher red, but at this juncture, I considered it close enough.

Black gloss applied to the handles, then Alclad chrome to finish things off

 

 

While I was waiting for the paint to dry I had an idea....  I wasn't sure how the fire extinguishers were fitted atop the cabinets and thought some kind of housing may be used.

Out came the 5 thou brass sheet and using just a ruler and a standard blade I managed to cut a form out.  I kept the scribing on the fold lines light -just enough to be able to bend the brass but not break it

 

 

Holes were drilled at the intersections of the folds so the edges would not interfere as it was folded

 

 

Then folded up we have this.

I'm not certain I'm going to use them but have painted them up and will have another look tomorrow and see what I feel like then.

 

 

The thing about fire extinguishers is that they always have lots of labels slapped all over them.  I checked my extensive fire extinguisher decal collection of which I have and let's be honest here...zilch.

An executive decision was required so I decided just to press ahead and sorted out some decal scraps that when put together sort of looked like they were intended for this purpose. 

At the end of the day, you're only ever going to be able to see these things from above, so I really only needed something that looked suggestive of a label.  These scraps all came from various Wessex transfer sheets

 

 

Hose bits fitted

 

 

I think those will do nicely.  When I took this photo I noticed that I had forgotten to paint the small brass spout black - that has now been done and they've both received another gloss coat.

Job done, now on to the next thing on the list.  Passcomm handles I believe

 

Stay safe and have a good weekend folks

 

 

 

 

 

[gordon s]

Your attention to detail and outstanding craftsmanship knows no bounds. A stunning example of how to make a museum quality model model from materials that appear to be just lying around.......

 

The upholstery on the chairs alone would finish off most of us.....

[hendie]

Thanks Gordon. 

 

3 hours ago, gordon s said:

from materials that appear to be just lying around

 

that's part of the fun of scratchbuilding - finding stuff that you can repurpose.  I always get a kick out of finding a use for some obscure discarded item.

For instance, the dome on my 1/6 scale Dalek was made from the domed lid of a milkshake - it was the perfect radius.

 

 

 

[Enterprisingwestern]

58 minutes ago, hendie said:

Thanks Gordon. 

 

 

that's part of the fun of scratchbuilding - finding stuff that you can repurpose.  I always get a kick out of finding a use for some obscure discarded item.

For instance, the dome on my 1/6 scale Dalek was made from the domed lid of a milkshake - it was the perfect radius.

 

 

 

 

Whereabouts in the Pullman train did that run?

 

Mike.

 

 

 

 

[Bucoops]

17 minutes ago, Enterprisingwestern said:

 

Whereabouts in the Pullman train did that run?

 

Mike.

 

 

 

 

 

Wherever it ruddy well liked.

[hendie]

Be warned folks - lots of photo's ahead again.  I do try and be concise at times but the camera just runs away with me.

Extinguishers. That's what we were doing last time around, so I may as well continue.  The "boxes" were made up and painted and I decided I wasn't really to keen on them.  However, when I placed just the extinguisher by itself in the car, it didn't look right, so out came the boxes again.

 

 

In it's final resting place it doesn't look too bad, and I could believe something like this could be used.  (Look, you can finally see the 'hot' & 'cold' taps in the bathroom!)

 

 

Okay, fire extinguishers dealt with and on to the next bit of detail that takes forever.  Steps.

I could put these off no longer so I shaped some styrene and fired up the airbrush with Alclad black primer.  Now, I love their grey primer, but I had issues with the black primer on my Wessex build and I wasn't too impressed with it.

Things didn't go any better this time around but in a rare moment of fortuitousness (isata word?), the 'disaster' actually worked in my favor.  The black primer spluttered and coughed and flatulated all over the place, with the result of the finish you can see here.  Normally, I would have been not a happy camper when this happened, but on the steps.... it's non-slip paint isn't it?

Works for me.

 

 

The black alclad is now at the back of the shelf again and I'm going to stick to the grey primer in future.  Anyone else aware of quality problems with Alclad paints?

When the pebble-dash finish finally dried it was time to add the white edging - that really tested my patience.  With such stark contrast between the two colors any, and I mean ANY deviation from a perfectly straight line looks like doo-doo. 

 

 

When it came time to fit them, I realized that it was going to be a butt joint onto painted brass - nope.  That'll never work.  That's prime candidates for knocking off just be glancing at them.

I had no choice but to drill the chassis and pin the steps in place.  Worrying and dangerous, having to drill into the chassis at this point, but I had no alternative here.

 

 

Luckily the gods were smiling on me this day.

 

 

While I was looking at photo's again (I really need to stop doing that!) I spotted more steps.  Logical really - how do you get into the car when it's in the depot and there's no platform handy eh?

I went with styrene again for these steps.

 

 

Then painted up and fitted.  I'm liking that, even though the white paint is a bit dodgy.

 

 

Steps complete.  Another job scored off the list.  What's next?   Urgghhhhh... more emergency equipment I'm afraid.  This time the Passcomm bits.  The original drawings have a nice curved brass plate for mounting the pull handles, but in the two photos I have showing these, it appears the brass was never used and instead they were mounted in a wooden surround - sort of an inverted "U".

I'm not over the moon with these but I think I'm at the limits of what can be done with this material.  6mm wide x 3mm high and the 'legs' are just over 1 mm wide.  When you get down to these sizes, the wood just kept breaking off, so I did my best and produced 4 barely acceptable parts.  Not my finest work, but there it is.   I considered plastic and painting them brown, but the color difference was too drastic, so wood it is.

 

 

I also made up some 1mm wide brackets for the emergency hammers, and they got fixed in place. My oh my, these jobs are just flying off the list.. aren't they?  At this rate I could be finished by Xmas... this year!!!

 

 

Now, the light at the end of the tunnel starts to shine brighter, and get larger - if you ignore the fact I still have to build a completely separate roof and order a display case.

Soft furnishings - time to fit the comfy chairs!

Since the base of the legs is just over 1mm2 I wasn't comfortable with that as a fixing surface.  When this thing is closed up I'm never going back in - so the chairs need to be secure!

After toying with a few different ideas I settled on using a block underneath the chair, the same height as the legs, with the block glued to the chair and in turn glued to the floor.

I turned a bunch of aluminum cores on the lathe and these were glued to the underside of each chair.  There was a chance you could see the aluminum under the chair when peering through the windows, so these were painted brown so they kind of 'disappear' in the overall scheme of things.

 

 

First up was the dinette.  Cosy eh?

 

 

And here's where things start getting awkward.  The chairs had to go in before the table as there was no room to phennargle them into place afterwards, but once the chairs were in there was no room for my fat digits to get in there with the table.

Emergency operation commenced...

 

 

Ladies and gentlemen, the operation was a success! (eventually!)

I have to admit that my camera really is not up to the task here when things start getting so detailed.  I had to use flash here to capture anything other than a bluish brownish blur. Or was that a brownish bluish blur?

Once I get this all to a decent stage, I shall endeavor to take the whole shebang outside and get some photos taken in natural sunlight.

 

 

Production line started

 

 

From these photo's you'd be forgiven for thinking that this all went together pretty quickly. Sadly, that was not the case.  Each chair had to be positioned, and I had to use a glue that allowed me time to jiggle and joggle things into place - then I had to wait for it to dry sufficiently in order to be able to fit the table, without the danger of dislodging aforementioned chair, and like the dinette, I have to fit everything in turn.  Once chair... one table ... one chair.  I need the table in place to get the correct spacing.  Nothing's ever easy is it?

 

 

At the end of today's playtime we got this far.

 

 

Another session, maybe two should see all the chairs and tables in place and then I can think about fitting the rest of the carlines.

I have to say that I am really enjoying the build once again now that I see it all coming together. For a while there, it seemed as if there was never any progress, just a never ending stream of making bits and putting them away in a safe place.  Then the painting and decals - That was such a mojo killer I really had to force myself to continue at times.

 

Anyway, folks - stay safe and have a great whatever's left of the weekend!

 

 

 

 

 

[Hilux5972]

Really starting to look the part now. Great job. 

[Ian Major]

Hendie,

 

As ever, brilliant work. Actually, from a purely selfish point of view, I don't want you to finish this project because I really enjoy reading about how you approach the various challenges. 

 

Ian.

[hendie]

On 13/07/2020 at 02:24, Hilux5972 said:

Really starting to look the part now. Great job. 

 

Thanks Hilux

 

On 13/07/2020 at 12:15, Ian Major said:

Hendie,

 

As ever, brilliant work. Actually, from a purely selfish point of view, I don't want you to finish this project because I really enjoy reading about how you approach the various challenges. 

 

Ian.

 

Thanks Ian.  There is a tinge of sadness as this approaches the end of the platform, I have to admit.  Glad to have had you along for the ride though!

 

 

During lunch times this week, I managed to nip downstairs and add the remaining tables and chairs. It was a nice feeling seeing it all come together.  The very last items were the 4 brass lamps in the dinette, which was a bit of an anti-climax really. (and I forgot to take a photo of that)

Take your seats ladies and gentlemen...

 

 

View from one end of the dining area

 

 

Then from the other.  I'd hate to be the person sitting in that seat next to the doorway at the end - you'd have to balance your plate on your knee

 

 

It took me a long time to source that material for the mirrors, but I'm glad I persevered with the search. I think the mirrors really add another dimension and a little touch of reality to the overall scene

A quick view from outside 

 

 

and that's about it folks.  Pretty boring stuff really.

 

All that's left is to stick the carlines on top and it's done.  I know I still have the additional roof to make but I'm treating that as a separate project.  Parts are being printed as I type and I hope to be able to get started on that project later today.

Just a few finishing touches and a final clean up is all that remains.  Getting rid of all the dust and cobwebs is going to take some serious effort - I think I'll wait until the display case arrives otherwise more dust will just accumulate.

 

6 years in the making, it's kind of hard to believe that there's no more Pegasus bits to be made.  I'll be honest - I am very pleased with the outcome, and even more pleased that I managed to get this far.  Had I known the challenges that were going to present themselves during this build I probably never would have started it.  I think I thought it was going to take me around 2 years to construct this 

The decals were an item I never would have imagined causing so much delay and frustration, however, once I managed to source them things started moving a lot quicker. - and thank heavens for 3D printing - a technology that snuck it's head in the door at some point through this build. Purchasing that printer was one of the best investments I've made - it really opened up the door to what's possible for the model maker and without it I really would have been struggling to make some of the components such as door handles and lamps etc. 

 

 

6 years.  Hard to believe. 

 

 

[hendie]

Now...

 

Bonus post!  (or penalty post depending upon your viewpoint!)

 

Today turned out nice so I though I should take Pegasus outside for some shots in natural lighting.  She's (He's?) been locked in my dungeon of a basement for the last six years and never seen the light of day until now.

Caveat - I am no photographer and the camera really isn't up to much - but those are the tools I have to hand so it is what it is.

 

This was one of the very last acts of contrition... sorry, construction on Pegasus, the fitting of the door between the bar and the dining area. Once it was in place I decided that I needed to show hinges.  The "hinges" were in fact some parts I photo etched for Pegasus a few years ago but never used.  They were intended to be the escutcheon plates for the door handles but looked the part for masquerading as hinges when placed side by side.

 

 

I won't bore you with any more details and just post a bunch of photos from Pegasus' outing this morning. (commentary only when necessary)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

until next time folks...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[KeithHC]

This has been very much a goto thread. Please start a new project I will miss your updates. Well done on the finished project.

 

Keith

[Hilux5972]

I hate to mention this but wouldn’t the table closest to the door have been shaped like this? 

[richard i]

If you start another thread please post here what it is as watching this be built has been one of the highlights of following rmweb.  Excellent work. Well done on it’s completion.

richard 

[Bucoops]

Simply stunning work. Well done - well done indeed.

[hendie]

2 hours ago, KeithHC said:

This has been very much a goto thread. Please start a new project I will miss your updates. Well done on the finished project.

 

Keith

 

Thanks Keith

 

2 hours ago, richard i said:

If you start another thread please post here what it is as watching this be built has been one of the highlights of following rmweb.  Excellent work. Well done on it’s completion.

richard 

 

Thanks Richard

 

1 hour ago, Bucoops said:

Simply stunning work. Well done - well done indeed.

 

Thanks Bucoops

 

 

I think I may have unintentionally misled you by the "That's All Folks" piccie.  I intended that to mean only for this update! - not the full build.

I shall be posting right up until it goes into the display case so you still have a few weeks of updates left.

 

I started the separate roof today and things are progressing well, though it may prove to be a little more problematic than I anticipated so stay tuned - update in a day or so, maybe.

 

 

2 hours ago, Hilux5972 said:

I hate to mention this but wouldn’t the table closest to the door have been shaped like this? 

 

You may think so but no.  We kept as close to the original as possible - and that meant using the original tables which we salvaged from Pegasus.  Those tables were refurbished and refitted, as were a number of other fittings.

We always thought the layout a bit strange but that was the original layout and we stuck to it.  You can see here in this photo that the table is rectangular, and doesn't quite reach out to fully cover the seat by the corridor doorway.

 

(photo Courtesy Terry Bye)

 

I've tried to remain as faithful as possible to the 2000 rebuild and everything I have done is based on what we did in that build

 

 

 

[Adam88]

Most excellent - everything.  Will you be adding any antimacassars as in the last photograph?

[hendie]

On 19/07/2020 at 06:32, Adam88 said:

Most excellent - everything.  Will you be adding any antimacassars as in the last photograph?

 

My analyst said that for the good of my health I should avoid antimacassars at all costs.

 

Well folks, you've not gotten off that easy - I'm still here, for better or worse.

 

Yes, that little matter of the roof. 

Supplies arrived this week so there was no point in putting it off and I decided to jump right in and see what happens.  As has been my modus operandi throughout this build, I tend not to think about things too much and make things up as I go along - for better or worse. 

For Pullman roof building you will need:  Various strips of basswood, some 3D printed bulkheads, and my old fallback, the piece of granite which is great for building things on when you want things to stay flat. You'll also need some superglue gel, some wood glue, and a plan.  I forgot to stock up on the plan.  Live life on the edge, that's what I say.

 

 

The two bulkheads with the holes in them were my first idea for the roof from a few weeks back.  They were going to have brass tubes inserted through them but that was before I decided I wanted to see the inside of the roof/ceiling.  I kept them just in case...

Bulkheads were positioned after some careful measuring (multiples of) and the first spars laid down.  As soon as I had glued these in position I realized that I should have chamfered the edge to accept the next layer. Oh well.  They're in place now.

 

 

Subsequent planks had one edge tapered to try and close up the gaps as it was laid against it's predecessor.  It doesn't have to be too tidy here as I know I'm going to have to fill and sand and sand and fill and sand and sand and fill some more, but at least I made an effort.

I started from both outside edge sand worked my way in to the center and not surprisingly when I got to top dead center I was left with a bit of a gap.  SG Gel was used at each plank end to adhere to the plastic bulkhead and wood glue was used between the planks to glue the wood to wood.

 

 

Easily enough sorted - I had to taper another strip and got it wedged in there with some wood glue.

 

 

Once I got into the rhythm of things it went pretty fast - at least the first two sections did.

 

 

Wait a minute... I did all that measuring but did I check it?  I've picked up a horrible habit of misreading rules these days. For example - on a dimension of 67, I'll often read it as 62.  I think it's because I'm wearing those magnifying lenses and I'm so close to the rule that I mistake the 5mm mark for the 10 mm mark.  That's my excuse anyway.

Luckily my measure 32 times before cutting appeared to work and a quick check shows that the bulkheads are in the correct relative positions.

 

 

Looks not to bad at all.  This working without a plan seems to be the way to go

The plan that I don't have was to glue all the wooden strips in place then sand back until I hit plastic.  That way I know I have the roof profile correct.

 

 

However there is one slight issue that you may have spotted in the above photo. When I designed the bulkheads, I placed a small ridge on either side to provide a small ledge to provide support for the wooden planks.  Great huh?

I created the outer profile of the bulkhead as per the roof skin profile and set the ledge back by 1.25mm.  Those wooden strips are 3mm thick!

This image shows the problem more clearly.  All the wood sticking out past the plastic needs to be sanded away. That's a lot of wood.  That's a LOT of sanding!!!!

 

 

Before anyone asks - I chose 3mm thick strips as it gave enough beef to the strips so they wouldn't flex while being glued in position. - It also gave me 3mm of edge to apply glue with.  Anyway, I'll deal with that later... he says with all the confidence of someone who doesn't know what they've gotten themselves into.

As we approach the end of the roof,  I didn't want to just print off a plastic end cap - that felt like cheating for some unknown reason and I felt I had to do some of that old fashioned scratch building with an attempt at skill there somewhere.

So I printed off an end section of roof that would allow me to infill with wood yet still provide the profile that I needed to sand back to. Did I mention that there's going to be LOTS of sanding?

 

 

So far so good.  At least it's all holding together (I only broke it once before getting to this stage)

 

 

Initial shaping begins... with LOTS of sanding.

For some obscure reason, while I chose nice and easy to sand basswood for the roof strips, when it came to the end caps, I used some unknown wood that is incredibly hard and difficult to sand.

I wore out my last solitary sanding drum on this end so had to order more.

 

 

Now if any of you observant folks out there have been thinking ahead you'll have spotted the elephant in my plan.  I have a roof made out of 3 mm basswood strips, but I'm going to sand that back to approximately 1.25 mm thick - and this roof is about two foot long - about 610 mm in new money.

It's going to be awfully thin and flexible innit?  Not to mention weak and likely to break even while sanding.

Aha!  That's where this stuff comes in

 

 

I really don't like fiberglass. I really don't like fiberglass resin.  I've never had much luck with it and always ended up in a complete mess, but since I've used pretty much every other material available at some point during this build, I may as well add fiberglass to the list.

The interior of the roof was liberally coated with resin (hopefully mixed properly), followed my the mat, and stippled into place with more resin. The incredibly helpful folks at Bondo provided typical American units of measurement - Use 6 oz of resin and 10 drops of hardener, or alternately 2 Tablespoons of resin and 1/4 teaspoon of hardener. Along with that came all sorts of warnings about not getting the mix right and it'll dissolve your car.

I took a chance and converted to ml - but you never know if Google is using American ounces or Barleycorns in the conversion. Who knows.  Anyway...

 

 

Luckily for me, that all seemed to go to my non-existent plan of a plan. When the resin set up, the whole roof was remarkably solid - and flat. Well, the bottom of the roof was flat. The top was curved. Just saying.

Two days of sanding later and I thought I'd throw some paint on it just for giggles. I know I'm a long way from the final shape but I wanted a gut check on overall look, which was difficult with light colored wood.

 

 

I guess we're not doing too badly here. At least it sort of looks like what it's supposed to be... sort of.

 

 

But as you can see, after two days of sanding I still have a LONG way to go to remove all that excess roof wood. I reckon I've taken just about a millimetre off the overall thickness

 

 

which means that I still have a LOT of sanding to do.  Thinking back, I really should have recessed that ledge further, but I wanted to keep as close as possible to the original plans, and I wanted that depth of curvature inside the roof.

I'll persevere with the sanding for the moment but depending on how things go, I may fill in the gaps that you can see above and just make sure everything is smooth on the outer surface and call it a day at that.  

 

until next time.