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The Taddington branch of the LNWR


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I bought both clear and white inkjet Decal paper off Ebay from 'Craftovator', it was my first foray into decals, so a few mistakes, but once the acrylic varnish was on, prior to soaking in water, I had no further troubles.
My principle problem has been matching a background colour from my printer to a paint on the wagons.
I thought I might have the artwork printed onto laserjet paper at one of the printing outlets, but as I discovered on a different venture, they (and most of my friends in the Village) don't have some of the fonts I use, so where I was expecting say 'Copperplate Gothic' letters, I had 'Arail', which has different kerning etc.,  and certainly not what I wanted as a final graphic - Pantechnican lettering.

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Thanks Penlan,
 
I know exactly what you mean with fonts.
I am sceptical the notion of a "corporate" font existed, and if so was probably not a commercially available one, certainly all the lettering I've produced from photos are a mix-match.
The LNWR wagon plates have different fonts for the lettering and numbers, even the lowercase and uppercase letters on the refrigerator vans seem to be different fonts.
 
It's a case of playing around and seeing what works, still that's all part of the fun!
I am impressed that my £30 inkjet print can produce decent quality prints and decals, all I need to do is seal the print.
It also opens up a world of pre-grouping possibilities that would be limited by my letter painting abilities.
Unfortunately Caley Jim's hand painted  2mm Caledonian crests set a rather high bar!
 
http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/61066-scottish-locomotives/page-8

 

 
 
Cheers
 
Angus

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A quick cycle out to a local model shop secured the decal film which is now applied and drying.

(incidentally a shout out to Affinity Models http://www.affinitymodels.co.uk/ , this is a traditional model shop and doesn't deal with railways. As a result it is stocked with lots of tools and goodies for anyone wanting to build things. Not being a "railway" outlet it has lots of brands and tools not normally found in established model rail stores. Well worth a browse. I have no contact with the store other than being a customer).
 
In the meantime I got on with painting some more vans.
I have this model:-
 
post-13616-0-79152300-1448996109.jpg
 
It is a Parkside 8 ton North British van. I built the kit 16 years ago now and at some point in the intervening time it sat on a sunny window ledge for a couple of years. As a result the van is slightly banana shaped so it only sits on 3 wheels. I'll have to retro fit some compensation to get is back on all four wheels (the Axle boxes are well cemented in....).
 
I had in my head the North British wagons were dark grey, a quick look at the box (http://www.parksidedundas.co.uk/acatalog/LONDON___NORTH_EASTERN_RAILWAY.html ) and sure enough a dark grey painted model is shown....so on with the paint.

I then decided to have a scout around the internet for pictures to check the lettering required (I have the box but long since lost the instructions).
 
This made me realise I may have made the cardinal sin of modelling a model instead of modelling reality. :nono:
 
The SRPS have a rather nice NBR van (albeit a later diagram) painted mid-grey:-
http://www.srpsmuseum.org.uk/10138.htm
 
According to the LNER society the NBR livery was light to mid grey:-
http://www.lner.info/co/NBR/livery.php
 
However 51L states dark grey:-
http://www.51l.co.uk/liverynbr.htm

 

So.......that's clear then! :scratchhead:

 

Can anyone help? The vans I am modelling would have been newly introduced in the timeframe modelled. Did the NB vans' colour fade over time? Did the paint colours change after the turn of the century, am I being a colour pedant and should just get on with it?

 

Thanks in advance

Angus

(P.S. I hope you appreciate the effort I have gone to to resist any 50 shades of grey references........ :no:)

post-13616-0-79152300-1448996109.jpg

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The colour on an individual vehicle could change over time. I remember an article explaining that when the lead white component of the paint was exposed to sulphurous industrial atmospheres, lead sulphates would form darkening the paint and conversely when the paint wa exposed to strong sunlight it would bleach back to a lighter colour. So a wide range of shades is possible, even before the effects of dirt are taken into account. There's a photograph at the front of one of the Midland Wagons volumes with two Midland brake vans in the background, nominally the same colour. One is pale grey, presumably newly painted while the other is almost black.

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Can anyone help? The vans I am modelling would have been newly introduced in the timeframe modelled. Did the NB vans' colour fade over time? Did the paint colours change after the turn of the century, am I being a colour pedant and should just get on with it?

I recall hearing a story of members of the LNER Society who had found the 'recipe' for LNER wagon grey and got hold of an old retired painter from Doncaster works.  They presented him with the ingredients and asked him to show them how he mixed the paint.  He started taking a shovelful of one pigment and then some of another when they said to him "Hold on.  How much of each pigment did you use?"  His reply was, "Oh! we didn't measure anything!  We were only painting wagons after all.  The bosses were only fussy about the colour of the top link locos!".  So grey wagons could be a variety of shades, even different from day to day coming out of the works depending on the mix.  Plus, as Steve has said, the smokey atmosphere in which they operated affected the pigments of the day.  So, yes, you are being a colour pedant and, just get on with it!   :yes:   After all, who is there that can tell you exactly what shade of grey they were!    :scratchhead:

 

Jim

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I came to a similar conclusion a while back.

 

Factors were:

 

1. The mixing of paints as in post #56.

2. The fact that many/most companies wagons were maintained/painted in more than one place, and in some cases constructed by outside builders.

3. The impact of pollution, which could be extreme in industrial areas such as South Yorkshire.

4. Normal 'weathering' - as experienced today.

5. The quality of old-style paint.

 

Apart from which the management was more focused on whether a wagon was available for traffic than on the exact shade of grey applied to it. As I am rather fond of saying, even pre-1914, no one polished coal wagons. (Although many were repainted on a 3-5 year cycle.)

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Thanks everyone who responded on the North British wagons colour question.
I'll keep it as is.
 
More progress finishing off wagons, The MR coke wagon and another NSR 3plker are finished (the coke wagon still needs an interior but I want to take time to play with printed effects).
 
post-13616-0-82803100-1449064228.jpg
 
Although it appears that I've missed the solbar number and tare off the NSR wagon, this is consistent with a photo in the North Staffordshire wagons book and offers a nice contrast with my other NSR 3plk wagon (see post #11). 

The axle boxes were upgrade to more modern round bottom ones increasing the permissible load from 6 to 8 tons. This explains the slightly odd loading lettering (again as per the photo). I am guessing at the same time the body colour was tarted up but the remaining lettering not reapplied for some reason.
 
Now the decal film has been applied and dried these decals have been added to the refrigerator van. Unfortunately, despite printing a cream colour, all the white lettering I did was not opaque enough when added to the vans.
I'll have to try again with White decal paper. I was hoping to just generate the lettering but will have to try with a coloured surround.
 
I am very pleased with the black lettering generated for the refrigerator van though:-
 
post-13616-0-47798600-1449064611.jpg
 
post-13616-0-84909100-1449064639.jpg

 

The "Ladmanlow" text is a different font on the prototype.

Annoyingly the HMRS lettering is oversize. It should all be contained within the diagonal strapping, I have matched the home made lettering to that on the decal sheet (the word "Liverpool" was supplied, same number of letters). Still it's a compromise I am willing to live with.

 

The WCJS number plate and end number look well though. :boast:

post-13616-0-82803100-1449064228.jpg

post-13616-0-47798600-1449064611.jpg

post-13616-0-84909100-1449064639.jpg

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I remember an article about someone building a 7mm scale L&Y CCT. He found he had to use the 4mm scale HMRS lettering for part of the job. It's strange, but I have found certain 4mm scale transfers (not just HMRS) just the job in 7mm scale because they were drawn overscale in the first place. 

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Thanks gentlemen,

 

The problem with the decals is that they are not consistently oversize, so I guess it's a case of measure each one.

In most case the oversize is slight. It only becomes noticeable for long lines of text, which are thankfully rare on company wagons.

 

Is that a subtle plug for the joys of S scale I see Simon? ;)

 

Angus

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Blimey.....just started looking at white toner printers for producing decals, they start at around £2,000! :O

 

Still the white toner cartridges are a steal at £361.......

 

I'll never grumble at the cost of decals again......

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In response to Penlan (post #34)

 

"In respect of the brass kit you have, I would have thought the guards door would have had a drop down window in it. There's this well known photo of one at Coventry.. OK not very good view of the guards door, but I believe it to have a drop down glazed window."

 

I've now done some homework and you are correct. The guards door on every single early passenger brake I've looked at (admittedly most are 6w variants) has a drop down window.

So it will be out with drill and piercing saw shortly.

 

Thanks for pointing this out.

 

The two small windows in the end are already incorporated in the kit. Strange that the droplights have been missed.

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The North Staffordshire Milk van build is now finished. I can get on with painting it.

 

Apart from finishing the wagons in (NB Van, LNWR Gunpowder van the NSR milk Van) I am going to focus next on getting some motive power finished.

 

I should point out the roof still needs attaching after the paint is complete. I've used white metal milk churns to provide the weight (the kit is resin and so needs extra weight adding) as these can seen in outline through the slatted side. Unfortunately I epoxyed them in without thinking so now need to mask them to shield them form overspray though the slats.  

 

 

post-13616-0-68107600-1449261376.jpg

post-13616-0-95942600-1449261392.jpg

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Thanks Mikkel,

 

One of the joys of 7mm is the size and the fact that things like overlays and roofs can be reduced to scale size without unduly compromising the robustness of the model.

 

Looking at the photos I've just realised I've missed the lamp brackets off.......

Back to the workbench!

Edited by Argos
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Ah, but you see you're gullible enough to be fooled into thinking I'm gullible... ;)  Ha! Thanks old friend.

 

Back to the thread...

 

 

One of the joys of 7mm is the size and the fact that things like overlays and roofs can be reduced to scale size without unduly compromising the robustness of the model.

 

 

One thing to be careful of is that brass roofs really are too thin to represent roof planks of 3/4" or 1" plus the end and side infill (I'm sure Simon knows the correct terminology, I've not got my Stone's to hand, besides which, it's early...!), so ideally needs to be beefed up a little. However, it's the perfect material for the roofs of things like a GW 'Iron Mink' or an LNW Medium cattle van.

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Ok, after a bit of a battle the 4' shunter body is finished.

 

I was expecting to add the final rear lamp sockets and vac pipe and that would be it finished.

I compared the model to photos to cross check everything and realised that the kit had been supplied with thick pad buffers.

All the photos I looked showed thin pad.

I ignored this but it began to niggle, especially as I had some thin pad buffers in the tool box.....

 

Opening the tool box I found the buffers had been stored next to some Carrs liquid flux which at some point had leaked. The buffers were, as a result, green furry lumps.

Not to be put off I dropped them into a a bowl of vinegar and left to soak for about an hour. Sure enough the corrosion was eaten away and I was left with a decent looking set of buffers.

These were duly cleaned and finished of with some fine grit and burnishing brush.....as good as new.

 

Next problem was the hole in the buffer beam was 2mm and the new buffers need 4.5mm. Out with a tapered reamer and some brute force and ignorance was applied, which in the process removed a couple of the lamp sockets, the front vac pipe and other details.....

 

I guess it was one of those days days........

 

Still all built back up now and following  thorough clean and some minor filling will be ready for the paintshop.

 

Please note this was my first loco build started about 5 years ago so is a bit rough in places, with that in mind I'm please with the results. I just need to finish the chassis next!

 

 

 

 

 

 

post-13616-0-44346100-1449439206.jpg

post-13616-0-38980100-1449439220.jpg

post-13616-0-49344700-1449439241.jpg

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Ok, after a bit of a battle the 4' shunter body is finished.

 

I was expecting to add the final rear lamp sockets and vac pipe and that would be it finished.

I compared the model to photos to cross check everything and realised that the kit had been supplied with thick pad buffers.

All the photos I looked showed thin pad.

I ignored this but it began to niggle, especially as I had some thin pad buffers in the tool box.....

 

Opening the tool box I found the buffers had been stored next to some Carrs liquid flux which at some point had leaked. The buffers were, as a result, green furry lumps.

Not to be put off I dropped them into a a bowl of vinegar and left to soak for about an hour. Sure enough the corrosion was eaten away and I was left with a decent looking set of buffers.

These were duly cleaned and finished of with some fine grit and burnishing brush.....as good as new.

 

Next problem was the hole in the buffer beam was 2mm and the new buffers need 4.5mm. Out with a tapered reamer and some brute force and ignorance was applied, which in the process removed a couple of the lamp sockets, the front vac pipe and other details.....

 

I guess it was one of those days days........

 

Still all built back up now and following  thorough clean and some minor filling will be ready for the paintshop.

 

Please note this was my first loco build started about 5 years ago so is a bit rough in places, with that in mind I'm please with the results. I just need to finish the chassis next!

 

Hi,

I hope my first loco looks as good as that.

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Thanks Chris, and everyone else who rated my last post.

 

One of the advantages of photographing your own model is that you can hide the bad bits! :blind:

 

As for hoping your first loco looks as good, only one way to find out :yes:......... It's easier than you think and very satisfying..... :imsohappy:

 

I was a bit premature in the last post saying I had finished the body.

Whilst packing away my reference books and photos I noticed the portholes? in the weatherboards on the locos with basic boards are fitted with cowls. These are missed from the kit, but quite distinctive. A quick rummage through the brass box and I found I had some tube of the appropriate internal diameter. Cutting the angle took a couple of goes to get a matched pair and soldering them on to the weatherboard caused some nerves being so close to the resin saddletank.

 

I'm quite pleased with the result:-

 

 

post-13616-0-81813700-1449516546.jpg

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