S7 scratch building

[airnimal]

Poggy1165,  David Silva is a footballer I presume not that I would know. Football has not been of intrest to me for 60 years.

Last time I went to a football match was when I went to Man Utd with my brother and Harry Gregg was in goal. 

Anyway i think being compared to David Silva must be a big complement, so thank you in my ignorance.

 

Onwards and upwards I can see the finishing line. Detailing the interior with the ironwork and the nuts / coach bolts.

Because I wanted the coach bolts on the other side from nuts posed a problem in that here is insufficent thickness to put nut on one side and a coach bolts on the other side because of the length of the stem on both.

So i put the outside ironwork on with the hex bolts and when dry cut them off flush on the inside. I them made the inner tapered stanchions and drilled them and glued the coach bolts in. When I glue them in I put a drop of superglue on a bit of scrap plastic and pick the bolts up with tweezers and dip the end in and push them down. Occasional one or two get stuck when the tweezers slip and they end up stuck forever like a fly trap. Again when dry I cut off the stems with side cutters which left a small part sticking proud. Trying to hold these tiny parts to file the backs was not very easy until I rested them on top of the vice that was slightly open. The coach bolts just sat in the open jaws and was then a doodle to file flush.

A couple more hours and I think it will be ready for painting which is going to be intresting to replicate the worn and faded look.

[Coal Tank]

Similar to this Mike 

[airnimal]

John, that looks fabulous, especially the wood interior. 

 

Hopefully finished because it to late to do anything now. Started to paint all the parts so I can assemble it later when the paint has a few hours to go hard.

[airnimal]

Well it's gone together with only a small problem. When I push the V-iron through the solebar, one of the soldered pins broke the joint. As I superglued this in I didn't notice the right hand pin was sticking proud. I tried pushing it in but the superglue had stuck fast. Other than that I am pleased with the outcome. I will cut the offending pin off and replace.

Edited April 27, 2020 by airnimal

[airnimal]

One side is going to be fairly easy compared to the other. I found some old meth fix tranfers in my very deep cupboard and applied them on the non brake side. The other side is going to be intresting with the very faded letters. Do I apply the same tranfers and try and rub them nearly off with a fibre glass pencil or do I try and paint with very thin washes of some paint, water colour perhaps. 

[Caley Jim]

No experience with 'distressing' transfers, but I would think thin washes of paint, of a similar colour to the body, might be the most flexible way to do it.  Use acrylic and have a separate brush without paint on it to wash off immediately if you're not happy with the result.  Using acrylic means that subsequent washes will not affect those already on, provided they've had a wee while to dry.  That way you can build up the effect gradually and area by area.

 

Just my 2d worth.

 

Jim

[Guy Rixon]

One possible approach, if one was starting from a model in primer:

• paint the faded colour of the letters, whatever you think that should be;
• apply the transfers;
• spray the body colour;
• remove the transfers, treating them as a mask, to reveal the faded-off-white.

Bit late for this wagon, of course, and I've never actually tried using transfers as a mask so I don't know a good way of getting them off without damaging the paint. But my methfix transfers fall off randomly unless varnished, so it shouldn't be too hard.

[Compound2632]

12 minutes ago, Guy Rixon said:

One possible approach, if one was starting from a model in primer:

• paint the faded colour of the letters, whatever you think that should be;
• apply the transfers;
• spray the body colour;
• remove the transfers, treating them as a mask, to reveal the faded-off-white.

Bit late for this wagon, of course, and I've never actually tried using transfers as a mask so I don't know a good way of getting them off without damaging the paint. 

 

I have tried this, with rub-down transfers, when I wanted blue lettering on a yellow background. The sequence was pretty much as Guy describes: paint a blue patch, apply the (white) rub down transfers, overpaint in yellow, then after a couple of days remove the rub-down transfers - with the eraser on the end of a pencil. It's the tare weight lettering on this wagon (the rest is Hornby's rather high-quality printing:

 

 

The technique might work better with large, simple shapes such as the M R initials. 

 

[airnimal]

Thank you to everybody who have suggested ways of doing the faded letters including my better half who has chipped in with comments.

In the the end I have applied the tranfers and then distressed then with a fibre glass brush before going over the body with a fine mist of base colour. I will now do the small letters and the weathering following the photos 

I have enjoyed doing this wagon. It does help having good photos to work from and it's not very often we have both sides as well well as the end view.

Edited April 29, 2020 by airnimal

[Coal Tank]

Looks good to me Mike 

[MarcD]

If I remember correctly I think that the midland had some sort of stay clean paint for letting there wagons. So it didn't matter how weathered the rest of the wagon was the MR was visible. Essery vol 1 said something about near the photos of this wagon.

But I could be talking out of my hat.

 

Marc

[Compound2632]

14 minutes ago, Furness Wagon said:

If I remember correctly I think that the midland had some sort of stay clean paint for letting there wagons. So it didn't matter how weathered the rest of the wagon was the MR was visible. Essery vol 1 said something about near the photos of this wagon.

But I could be talking out of my hat.

 

 

An oxalic white paint - based on the same chemicals as are used in fabric whiteners, I believe. Mike's prototype give the lie to the ever-white lettering story - or maybe someone picked up the wrong pot of white paint when doing the lettering on one side?

 

Here's a less extreme example but still showing that the lettering could fade in interesting ways. Note the wagon in the background, where the M is even more faded:

 

 

NRM DY 2494, released under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0) licence by the National Railway Museum.

 

I must try the fibre glass brush approach - @wenlock has described it to me too.

[Tricky]

13 minutes ago, Compound2632 said:

 

An oxalic white paint - based on the same chemicals as are used in fabric whiteners, I believe. Mike's prototype give the lie to the ever-white lettering story - or maybe someone picked up the wrong pot of white paint when doing the lettering on one side?

 

Here's a less extreme example but still showing that the lettering could fade in interesting ways. Note the wagon in the background, where the M is even more faded:

 

 

NRM DY 2494, released under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0) licence by the National Railway Museum.

 

I must try the fibre glass brush approach - @wenlock has described it to me too.

Plus what a delightful wagon load! Shame to cover it all up with a sheet!

[Caley Jim]

56 minutes ago, Compound2632 said:

If that was on a lorry the police would have him for a dangerous load!!

 

Jim

[airnimal]

The brake side now weathered. 

[Compound2632]

2 hours ago, Tricky said:

Plus what a delightful wagon load! Shame to cover it all up with a sheet!

 

You're professionally upset about sheets, I detect...

 

1 hour ago, Caley Jim said:

If that was on a lorry the police would have him for a dangerous load!!

 

I believe this is one of a series taken for a "how to load" manual, though I've not yet come across such a document for the Midland. The stacking, with boxes leaning inwards from the edge, is exactly as described in an article in The Railway Magazine of 1907 by F.W. West, LNWR Goods Agent at Crewe [reproduced in E. Talbot, The LNWR Recalled (OPC, 1987)]. It might get a couple of ropes but certainly a sheet or possibly two, longways crossways, given the height of the load. But you should see some of the horse-drawn cartloads in film clips and photos from around 1900!

Edited April 27, 2020 by Compound2632

[Dave Hunt]

Another stunning piece of work Mike.

 

Dave

[airnimal]

I apologise for posting about this wagon again, I'm sure everyone is getting fed up with seeing it time after time, 

Its nearly finished with just the interior to complete. I have given it a first coat of paint with just the ironwork to do and then some weathering to finish. I did weather the axle boxes but it has disappeared in the coat of matt varnish.

What to do next because we have plenty of time to model. The boss has mentioned that a couple of cupboards need clearing out ( really ) which doesn't float my boat but I need some brownie points so I better comply.

Edited April 28, 2020 by airnimal

[Schooner]

I'm not fed up! Your posts continue to be as educational as they are inspirational. Keep 'em coming please

[kitpw]

...good luck with the cupboards... if they're even half as good as the modelling, it'll be treble points and a medal!

[Compound2632]

I do like the replication of the patch painting!

 

I reckon the Gloucester Co.'s photographer would have been incredulous to be told that a century and a quarter later someone would be building such a detailed model from his work.

[airnimal]

Once again everyone has been incredible kind regarding my humble efforts.

Last few photos of the interior.

I enjoyed the patch painting. I had the photos to work from so it didn't take a lot of effort to achieve what was on the pictures. I just applied Humbrol masking fluid and then weathered with powders before removing the fluid to reveal the clean paintwork underneath. The tare weight  were meth fix tranfers ( 4mm scale ) that I have had for over 40 years and the bits of chalk marks were done with a pencil used for writing on glass.

The interior should be a lot care worn but it's not my strong point.

I might just open a bottle of strong ale tonight now this one is finished.

Edited April 28, 2020 by airnimal

[Caley Jim]

First class as always Mike.  You've earned that ale!

 

Cleaning out cupboards is a bad idea IMHO.      You can never find anything afterwards!

 

Jim

[Tricky]

Very nice Mike. As others have said, keep ‘em coming! 

[airnimal]

What next ?

Well I've painted the basic grey colour on this Wigan private owner wagon I made 2 years ago so I thought I had better finish it while the weather is kind to us. The wheels on this wagon were solid spoke and I did have a set in stock. I modified them again by removing excess webbing which gives a finer appearance.

I have also looked at another early Midland wagon because I like the look of these short buffers and strange brake racks. 

Things like that and how to make them give my old brain a workout which is what we are constantly being told to keep dementia at bay.

I found some parts that may fit the bill, and let's face it it's no good having a large store of parts if we are not going to use them. ( this is my take of the pile of unbuilt kits behind the door )

I have the springs that are close enough and some white metal buffer bodies that I tried to drill out but they were badly cast are they were off centre so I have some brass ones that I can shorten. If I cut off the collar at the front and take a slice out and resolder the collar I can make them to the correct length.

The W-irons will have to be made by modifying some etch brass ones but as yet I am not sure which ones.

The brake rack with the curly pin part will I think have to be cut by hand. Food for thought.