Castle Aching

[TheQ]

Just read the Umber is the new Black thread, my sympathies for your caravaning experience. I was heading the same way back in 96. When the value of my house went down from £60,000 to £28,000. Then they started making redundancies in the factory. Luckily at that time a post came up in Saudi for the same company. Six years later we sold the house for the £60,000 we had bought it for 12 years before. But we moved out here to Norfolk with no mortgage and on my last visit to the factory there were just 3 people left out of the 1200 that had been there. My manager was closing the doors for the company and the other two were security.

[Edwardian]

It was a very wet winter

 

As was 2015.  With rain, mud 4, then 3, dogs and 2 children to prep for school every day ....!

 

I did invest in one luxury, and read it cover to cover; Volume 1 of the LB&SCR Coaches, 4 and 6 wheelers.  And, of course, there was lots of interesting stuff here.

[Edwardian]

Just read the Umber is the new Black thread, my sympathies for your caravaning experience. I was heading the same way back in 96. When the value of my house went down from £60,000 to £28,000. Then they started making redundancies in the factory. Luckily at that time a post came up in Saudi for the same company. Six years later we sold the house for the £60,000 we had bought it for 12 years before. But we moved out here to Norfolk with no mortgage and on my last visit to the factory there were just 3 people left out of the 1200 that had been there. My manager was closing the doors for the company and the other two were security.

 

The line between salvation and disaster can be a thin one!

 

I have been treading it gingerly since 2009, however, and am rather fed up with it!

[Edwardian]

Well, the HMRS website gave the impression that it could be a long wait for transfers.  Understandable, I would add, and my expectations were happily managed.

 

Well, it wasn't, and they have arrived ahead of completing the painting of the wagons.  Hopefully I can finish these over the weekend, but, so far, I have painted Israel Turner's coal wagon.   

 

It is high-lighted, but not weathered, because I will dirty it up only after the lettering has been added.

 

I took the view that nothing is white or black in scale colour, and nothing was either on the steam age railway.  So, rather than paint the underframe black and then proceed to weather it, I thought I would simply paint it underframe colour, which is track dust colour so far as I can make out.  

 

As it is a coal wagon, I have painted the interior in an attempt to represent the residue of ingrained coal dust. 

 

Any how, it's a start!

 

If anyone has any tips on Presfix transfers, preparation, application, protection, now would be a particularly happy moment to share them!

 

Do they have a visible carrying film, for instance?  With waterslide transfers, the thing is to apply gloss varnish.  This renders the carrying film invisible and matt varnished is then applied.

Edited November 10, 2016 by Edwardian

[Compound2632]

If anyone has any tips on Presfix transfers, preparation, application, protection, now would be a particularly happy moment to share them!

 

Do they have a visible carrying film, for instance?  With waterslide transfers, the thing is to apply gloss varnish.  This renders the carrying film invisible and matt varnished is then applied.

 

I've not had a problem applying Pressfix transfers to a matt surface. There isn't a carrier film. Do follow the instructions carefully. The tricky things are 1: lifting the transfer off the thick backing sheet - gently easing out with a sharp knife and then handling with tweezers - and 2: getting them to sit in position without moving before finally pressing home - especially small things such as individual digits. Looking around other discussions around here you'll find they are marmite - but personally I get on reasonably well with them.

[uax6]

I personally prefer methsfix, but I have used pressfix, and as long as you take your time, they are ok to use. I suppose its a bit like everything, the more you do it the easier and better it gets.....

 

Andy G

[mullie]

Pressfix are fine but I find them very fiddly to use for things like wagon numbers and details because everything is so small.

[jwealleans]

You can get adhesive residue with Pressfix, but white spirit and a cotton bud will remove it. Watch for them curling up after you varnish as well.

[Edwardian]

Thank you for those helpful tips.

 

First I will say that I was very impressed with HMRS's efficient service.  I cannot recall how quickly I received them, but it was just a few days. 

 

The wagon is hand-painted in water-based acrylics.  The same effect can be achieved with enamels, but I seldom use them as acrylics are simply quicker and easier.

 

Now, assuming the paint has fully hardened before application of the Presfix transfers, I need to consider whether, nevertheless, the finish could be degraded by the rigours of transfer application!   I would not have thought so, and the hardened paint ought to survive the soaking of the tissue backing. 

 

The alternative would be a matt varnish first.  Query whether the transfers will take better or worse to a matt varnished surface.

 

As to the fiddliness, this does concern me.  At some point I will need "Return Empty to... " transfers followed by a place name spelt out in tiny writing.

 

I assume no fixative, e.g. the sort of stuff used with water slide e.g. Decal Fix?

 

Finally, the instructions say any over varnish should be non-cellulose. I wonder if anyone has a varnish they favour for this application?

[jwealleans]

If you've used acrylics, you're stuck with Pressfix. Methfix will take the paint off when you apply the Meths. Guess how I know that?

 

I use a satin varnish after painting, Humbrol or Games Workshop. I have used things like Decalfix when Pressfix transfers have started to curl with no ill effects. I use further satin varnish after transfers, then a final coat of Dullcote (because it's quite expensive and comes in tiny cans). I used to use dilute Ronseal to cover transfers and never had a problem with that either.

[Edwardian]

If you've used acrylics, you're stuck with Pressfix. Methfix will take the paint off when you apply the Meths. Guess how I know that?

 

I use a satin varnish after painting, Humbrol or Games Workshop. I have used things like Decalfix when Pressfix transfers have started to curl with no ill effects. I use further satin varnish after transfers, then a final coat of Dullcote (because it's quite expensive and comes in tiny cans). I used to use dilute Ronseal to cover transfers and never had a problem with that either.

 

That is very helpful.

 

It is lucky, then, I chose Pressfix, as I had no idea that Meths would strip the acrylic.  A lucky escape, and thanks to you, I will avoid disaster from that cause in the future.

 

I think I have some Games Workshop Purity Seal left from the days I had to build lots of tanks and aircraft for my son. I gather the formula has since changed and complaints have ensued.

 

I may have run out of Decal Fix and Dullcote.

[jwealleans]

I gather the formula has since changed and complaints have ensued.

That's interesting - I had a lot of trouble with bloom from the last can I bought and assumed i'd just had a dodgy one. I'll do some research.

[corneliuslundie]

I haven't found lettering older wagon prototypes too bad. The small print is much smaller on BR stock - I have just lettered BR 12 cattle wagons for the club and a friend. Give me a nice private owner wagon any day.

I must admit that I prefer Pressfix to waterslide, even apart from the lack of a carrier film. Though when they get old they tend to lose their adhesive powers and also start to break up (old = 20 years or so). I am told, though I don't think I have tried it, that if this happens you can treat them like Methfix.

BTW Slaters' wagon transfers used to be Pressfix, but they are the only ones I know of apart from the HMRS. I have a vast stock of them as you only ever use a few characters from a sheet on a wagon. Fortunately one of the number ranges is just right for most Rhymney Railway wagons. On the other hand I am rapidly running out of italic "Tons" which does not appear on the Slaters sheet.

What has given me real problems is the red X on the doors of a GWR gunpowder wagon. The transfers are from Fox and are a pig to apply, and then curled uup. I am going to try again over gloss varnish. Fortunately I only need one set and there are several on the sheet.

Jonathan

[Edwardian]

On the other hand I am rapidly running out of italic "Tons" which does not appear on the Slaters sheet.

 

 

Hmm, can't suggest anything for the red 'X's, but I would have thought that this HMRS sheet would do for your italic Tons deficit: http://www.hmrs.org.uk/transfers/transferdetails.php?transferid=1047

[corneliuslundie]

That's the sheet I am about to exhaust of "Tons". And the GWR wagons sheet too. Fortunately I have built nearly all the wagons I need for the forseeable future.

Jonathan

[Edwardian]

That's the sheet I am about to exhaust of "Tons". And the GWR wagons sheet too. Fortunately I have built nearly all the wagons I need for the forseeable future.

Jonathan

 

As, indeed, I should have expected, but it is one of their cheaper sheets, at under £6 if I recall, so you could always buy another one!

[micklner]

That's interesting - I had a lot of trouble with bloom from the last can I bought and assumed i'd just had a dodgy one. I'll do some research.

 

Same here,  where thought I was doing something wrong. Seems worse on Black as well , any alternatives in Satin finish would be appreciated !!

[Donw]

So often the problem is that you use up a particular part of the sheet will having most of it left. To buy another sheet just for that particular part is annoying and you could end up with a few sheets with just the word tons missing. If it is just £6 a throw though not a big issue and much better than no transfers at all.

 

Don

[Edwardian]

From what I gather, the 'new formula' Purity Seal can go milky white.

 

I have not used enamels as a rule since boyhood.

 

I became used to Games Workshop's Citadel acrylics because a long, long time ago (I can still remember when ...) I painted up some 28mm fantasy figures and, more recently, about 6-7 years ago, I had to paint up 1/76-1/72 Airfix kits and figures for The Boy and, by that time, I was handy for the GW shop in Peterborough.

 

Games Workshop is an out-fit that will always cane it to the max when it comes to pricing, and, when they replaced their whole acrylics range, I thought to myself 'if I have to get used to a new range of colours, it might as well be those Vallejo paints I've heard so much about'. 

 

Then, blow me down with the proverbial avian appendage, I found that our local 'Woolworths'-style shop in Barney (Boyes), stocks Vallejo paints!   So, what I want is off the shelf and 5 minutes' drive away.  That doesn't happen often these days.

 

The Games Workshop product for which I would always return to the Beast of Lenton was its aerosol paint, because, as Carly Simon once observed "nobody does it better".

 

For undercoating they do a really good black primer.  I haven't bought it for years, however, because I have found that, while black was a good undercoat for 28mm figures, grey works better (for me) for 1/76-1/72 figures.  So, enter the value for money Halfords grey primer, which I now use for everything, including the wagons I am working on now.

 

That left the 'Purity Seal' varnish.  But now, it seems, this is not to be relied upon. 

[James Harrison]

I would also add the Humbrol clear range to the 'suspect' list.  I used some on one of my locos last year.... within minutes of application it dried to a chalky finish and colour; white blotches all over the model and a somewhat crusty, crumbly texture to boot.  I had to strip the model down and start over from scratch. 

 

As odd as it sounds, I seal my models with a very dilute coat of PVA glue.  Dries clear, with a semi-matt finish and is reasonably hardwearing.  As my models don't leave the house or have any opportunity to get wet, the fact that it's not waterproof really doesn't come into play. 

[Edwardian]

Ah, there is now a topic on RMWeb about Games Workshop's Purity Seal, problems therewith and alternatives thereto: http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/116737-games-workshop-satin-varnish-bloom-problems-and-alternatives-recommendations/

[Nearholmer]

JH

 

If your models do brace the elephants, Evo Stick W 'water resistant', in a blue bottle, makes a good glue and, diluted, a sealant.

 

I actually prefer it to the green bottle type, because it has a faster "grab", and standardised on it for building wooden models.

 

K

 

(I rather like what autocorrect has produced, so am leaving it!)

Edited November 12, 2016 by Nearholmer

[Edwardian]

I rather like what autocorrect has produced, so am leaving it!

 

Though we don't want a repeat of 'Pantygate', I have to agree!

[Argos]

Hi Edwardian,

 

"So, enter the value for money Halfords grey primer, which I now use for everything, including the wagons I am working on now."

 

I recently bought a new can of Halford's grey primer, like you, it had become my go to primer as it seemed to cover everything, without issue, in any weather.

However this time was different. I had to strip back the primer after the first attempt. 

Despite the model receiving a careful wash, scrub and a long period drying prior to spraying the paint bubbled in places and the adhesion was terrible, I scrapped most of the primer off with a wooden spatula.

The second attempt was conducted with a bit more care (heated the model gently, heated the spray can gently, sprayed the model then baked the model in the oven at low temp) and normal service was resumed.

 

Having discussed this with a couple of people the consensus seems to be Halford's have changed the formula.

It is still good, just not as good and needs a bit more care. 

[Edwardian]

"Remembrance Sunday, which falls on 13 November 2016, is a day for the nation to remember and honour those who have sacrificed themselves to secure and protect our freedom".

 

http://www.britishlegion.org.uk/remembrance/how-we-remember/