Ian's 7mm workbench - recent photos

[Hal Nail]

The B set has been put to one side while I wait for some microrod and I'm revisiting my Heljan 47. I had already had a play with one end reworking the cab window shape and lowering the gutter, as well as reshaping the nose and headcode but stalled as the front really needs widening. I'm going to have a crack at doing so by cutting and inserting a couple of strips: I've marked out the cuts as far from any details as I can get.

 

Edited November 18, 2019 by Hal Nail

[Hal Nail]

The modified end (top) and the proposed cuts on the other. First job is to make new windscreen surrounds from plasticard so that once I make the cuts I can mock up how it will look before anything is glued.

Edited November 18, 2019 by Hal Nail

[D6775]

Good luck with this, looks like some major surgery. I shall be awaiting the re-release next year.

[Hal Nail]

8 hours ago, D6775 said:

Good luck with this, looks like some major surgery. I shall be awaiting the re-release next year.

Cheers, yes I'm still in two minds but I think its doable and I reasoned that worst case, I can probably pick up a spare body when the new one comes out.

 

I did ask about MM1 cabs as well but they assured me I wouldn't be able to make them fit.

[37114]

Some lovely modelling here,  so like what you have done with the weathering for the 16t minerals wagon. 

 

I knew the Helljan 47 cab windows were a bit odd shaped but didn't realise how much work was involved in correcting them!

[47606odin]

11 hours ago, Hal Nail said:

Cheers, yes I'm still in two minds but I think its doable and I reasoned that worst case, I can probably pick up a spare body when the new one comes out.

 

I did ask about MM1 cabs as well but they assured me I wouldn't be able to make them fit.

could you not use the cab fronts off the MM1 moldings ie, cut down from the quaterlite windows and along the gutter, and fettle the front of the cab roofs to suit rather than trying to graft a whole cab on, which obviously would be difficult given body profiles are not likely to be exactly the same. That’s that I am doing with my peaks nose because the curves are different

Edited November 20, 2019 by 47606odin

[Hal Nail]

3 hours ago, 37114 said:

Some lovely modelling here,  so like what you have done with the weathering for the 16t minerals wagon. 

 

I knew the Helljan 47 cab windows were a bit odd shaped but didn't realise how much work was involved in correcting them!

Thanks. Just bought a couple more bauxite minerals to try. Theres a you tube clip on the technique. The only problem is I suspect you need a factory finish to start with, otherwise you'd just end up removing it back to bare plastic so I haven't tried it on a model i've painted.

 

Even with loads of photos and drawings it's quite hard to determine exactly what's wrong with the 47, especially with the cab windows raked back as they can appear much deeper anyway if viewed from higher up etc.

 

I did climb all over one on a driving day and measure it but cant find my scribblings anywhere now! Its definitely somewhere between 3 to 5mm too narrow in various places across the front: I think the main body width is near enough but it tapers too much at the cabs 

 

I will be widening the front windows by inserting a sliver and easing out the cab sides forward of the cab door where the Heljan model curves in more sharply. Im not worried about filing it all back smooth but will have to replace the window frames which is going to be the hardest part I think - would love to get hold of some DJH etches to copy! Lowering the gutter over cab is fairly easy having done it already. I may build up the vertical corners of the nose which are very cut away outside the brake lights but not convinced this is vital to the appearance, so may leave it alone.

 

Probably ought to do it in photoshop first really!

[Hal Nail]

3 hours ago, 47606odin said:

could you not use the cab fronts off the MM1 moldings ie, cut down from the quaterlite windows and along the gutter, and fettle the front of the cab roofs to suit rather than trying to graft a whole cab on, which obviously would be difficult given body profiles are not likely to be exactly the same. That’s that I am doing with my peaks nose because the curves are different

Actually that did cross my mind and in fact worse case, buying a roof as well and then using the Heljan sides might even be easier! They aren't cheap tho and with the new 47 due out, i thought I'd just be throwing good money after bad!

 

I've just picked up a spare 45 body and might well do that for a marker light version tho.

[Hal Nail]

 

Jumping around a bit - the 47 is half stripped but i ran out of IPA so back to the Tower brass E147

 

Photography can be harsh but useful. In eeking out the last of my roof grey i've not really covered immediately above the gutters, the buffers are wonky which I'd not noticed and the door buffers are a bit messy, although to be honest I can barely see them with the naked eye. The door edges appear to have disappeared, although are actually there still and in normal light the bogies look much darker and more even. I'm pleased with the overall appearance though, especially eliminating the huge gap between bogies and body.

 

 

With the delicate added details I'm not going to risk flattening the paintwork on this one but will tone it down with some weathering. I need to glaze it and then put back the seating I ripped out as well.

[Hal Nail]

Progress on the B set which is now weathered and re-glazed. The CPL doorstops (bottom) are relatively neat in the bit shown but generally messy in places so I'm sticking with home made ones on one side. I've ordered a magazine with set allocations in before I number it and in the meantime will repaint the seats and put them back: I think it might be harder to get them back in than I envisaged when I took them out!

 

Edited December 24, 2019 by Hal Nail

[Hal Nail]

A plea for help if anyone can! Irritatingly I was one HMRS Pressfix yellow "w" short for the b set and given I needed one anyway, decided to redo one so am now 2 short.

 

If anyone has any spare to save me getting another whole sheet which I will barely touch, I'd be grateful. Happy to swap for anything I dont need!

 

Thanks!

 

[ianwales]

Hi Hal

 

Nice work on the B set, what book has the allocations for B sets in it please? I've been looking for numbers for the Llanelly allocated sets.

 

Ian

[Hal Nail]

1 hour ago, ianwales said:

Hi Hal

 

Nice work on the B set, what book has the allocations for B sets in it please? I've been looking for numbers for the Llanelly allocated sets.

 

Ian

Hi, thanks. I remember your query but have only ever come across that one reference online to Llanelly. Unfortunately the magazine was just a Cornish special which had an article about B sets down there. It wasnt entirely helpful either as the Bodmin branch didn't actually have an E147 allocated but I'm assuming since there are photos, a Newquay set sometimes deputised. 

Edited December 28, 2019 by Hal Nail

[Hal Nail]

A few added details to my Dapol pannier. Warren Shepherd steam and vacuum pipes and a Slaters ATC shoe (still in primer) at the back. Nice light so a pity I didn't notice all the white dust on the tank sides.

 

 

Re-did the B set roof in the end - nearly had a nasty accident warming the can up which we won't go into! Seats and a few passengers back in so basically done apart from numbering on one side. Doesn't really photo that well being so dark - in normal light the weathering doesn't contrast so much.

 

 

Edited January 4, 2020 by Hal Nail

[Hal Nail]

Having acquired a few Dapol 16T fitted mineral wagons I will be modifying the underframes. As supplied they don't represent the original mid 50s 8 shoe clasp fitted type and although could be used for the mid 60s 4 shoe conversions, the brake cyclinder as modelled wouldn't turn the crank in the right direction to apply the brakes. Pictures attached show a conversion back to the one sided unfitted; it would also be easy to flip the cylinder over or rotate the two brake block assemblies, to correctly represent the 4 shoe fitted type.

 

I'm still mulling over whether the paint it grey first or try putting the grey on last over a rusty base. I suspect my usual approach of applying rust over the top and then removing most of it would take the grey back off as well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited August 18, 2022 by Hal Nail
photos

[Hal Nail]

A plan to use two non-clutch sides together to create an early independent braked bottom door example floundered when I realised I'd then have two of the compensated solebars matched together. I could glue one side up rigid but then spotted the outside hung V hangers on that type and I eventually decided it would be a lot easier to just build the Peco kit I already have!

 

Similarly I think the effort involved in creating an early 8 shoe vacuum braked example is more than I can be bothered with given I am missing a few key parts. So will pair my rebodied top with a corrected vacuum underframe to represent a mid 60s retro-fitted example and do the rest as standard unfitted ones.

 

Means I can crack on with painting the bodies now I've decided their type.

 

 

[brossard]

Just saw this Hal.  I see what you mean about the fitted wagons being wrong.  The consequence of using standard underframes.

 

I would recommend this method for weathering:

 

Start by using red oxide primer on the body.  When dry, get some rust paint and salt or paint on mask (Maskol?).  Paint dabs of rust on areas you want to look scrofulous and while wet sprinkle on salt.  Alternatively apply maskol to the rusty areas.

 

Then when all that is dry, paint the body colour and apply transfers.  Finally, pick off the salty rust spots or remove the maskol.  This will leave rough flaky areas.  Finish with some powders.

 

Something like this:

 

 

Notice this wagon (1/108) has only two brake shoes on the opposite side, still with Morton actuation.  The model is an MMP etched body on a Peco underframe.

 

Inspired by Martin Welch.

 

John

Edited January 18, 2020 by brossard

[Hal Nail]

17 hours ago, brossard said:

Just saw this Hal.  I see what you mean about the fitted wagons being wrong.  The consequence of using standard underframes.

 

I would recommend this method for weathering:

 

Start by using red oxide primer on the body.  When dry, get some rust paint and salt or paint on mask (Maskol?).  Paint dabs of rust on areas you want to look scrofulous and while wet sprinkle on salt.  Alternatively apply maskol to the rusty areas.

 

Then when all that is dry, paint the body colour and apply transfers.  Finally, pick off the salty rust spots or remove the maskol.  This will leave rough flaky areas.  Finish with some powders.

Thanks John,

 

Will definitely try that technique. The beauty of such distressed wagons is lightly sanding off a rusty finish you dont like produces its own results, so nothing to lose trying!

 

Those Peco underframes are nice - I'd been picking them up to use under some planned clay hoods but Michael Hughes is doing a kit now so I will need to find a use for them. 

 

Quite fun doing a few variations on these Minerals having picked them up cheap but apart from correcting the fitted one, I've not actually created anything you cant already buy! For that reason the 8 shoe clasp type does still appeal at some point.

[brossard]

Yep, great fun indeed.

 

Another point I would make is that the wagon pictured above does not have bottom doors and therefore can have a connecting rod between the brake actuators.

 

If the wagon has bottom doors, there would be two sets of independent brakes, since a connecting rod is not viable.

 

More variation.

 

John

[mike hughes]

On ‎17‎/‎01‎/‎2020 at 21:41, Hal Nail said:

A plan to use two non-clutch sides together to create an early independent braked bottom door example floundered when I realised I'd then have two of the compensated solebars matched together. I could glue one side up rigid but then spotted the outside hung V hangers on that type and I eventually decided it would be a lot easier to just build the Peco kit I already have!

 

Similarly I think the effort involved in creating an early 8 shoe vacuum braked example is more than I can be bothered with given I am missing a few key parts. So will pair my rebodied top with a corrected vacuum underframe to represent a mid 60s retro-fitted example and do the rest as standard unfitted ones.

 

Means I can crack on with painting the bodies now I've decided their type.

 

 

I'll be having a go at that at some point in the future, it's doable

 

Michael

[Hal Nail]

On 18/01/2020 at 02:45, brossard said:

Start by using red oxide primer on the body.  When dry, get some rust paint and salt or paint on mask (Maskol?).  Paint dabs of rust on areas you want to look scrofulous and while wet sprinkle on salt.  Alternatively apply maskol to the rusty areas.

 

Then when all that is dry, paint the body colour and apply transfers.  Finally, pick off the salty rust spots or remove the maskol. 

Have you used Maskol? I'm probably going to try salt but wondered what the best way to apply maskol is, other than your least favourite brush?

 

Actually I think i kept the one I ruined last time so maybe that!

[brossard]

Hi Hal, I was going to do that but the bottle I had was off.  I used salt instead, a method I saw in an armour weathering article.  I really haven't had any use for this Maskol stuff, so mine was years, even decades old.

 

For rough jobs, like applying MEK, use those brush sets you might find in a pound store.

 

John

[Hal Nail]

Progress on painting - top is the base being a rough mix of various shades. The grey one used the salt technique - I wasn't actually convinced it was going to work having just applied the grey so while I waited for it to dry, I tried the bauxite one by hand. I may have to rework the latter but its all part of the experimenting. Will try a few tricks on it first though such as toning it all down with frame dirt.

 

The bottom photo is my previous attempt which I have to say I prefer.

 

 

Edited January 23, 2020 by Hal Nail

[The Bigbee Line]

On 21/01/2020 at 13:56, brossard said:

Hi Hal, I was going to do that but the bottle I had was off.  I used salt instead, a method I saw in an armour weathering article.  I really haven't had any use for this Maskol stuff, so mine was years, even decades old.

 

For rough jobs, like applying MEK, use those brush sets you might find in a pound store.

 

John

John

 

I had some Maskol. Like yours probably 30+ years old. Would Copydex be a worthy substitute?

[brossard]

I don't know Ernie.  Copydex is unknown here.  I just went with table salt.

 

John