Ashover Light Railway in 009

[2996 Victor]

I would certainly be interested in a copy, thanks.

 

- Alex

 

Hi Alex,

 

that's fine! Would a scanned .PDF or a photocopy suit you better? I'm afraid my home printer/scanner/copier is extinct and I'm not in the office until next Tuesday, so I hope that'll be okay?

 

Cheers,

 

Mark

[2996 Victor]

Midland Railway Ballast Wagon, sans ballast (and buffer heads!):

 

 

Hopefully attached is the RM article detailing the conversion process, which gives details of these wagons in Midland Railway, Cheshire Lines Committee and Brecon & Merthyr Railway service.

 

Ballast Wagon Conversion Article 4MB.pdf

Edited July 10, 2018 by 2996 Victor

[2996 Victor]

Well, it would seem that MicroSol and MicroSet do indeed lose their efficaciousness when 20-plus years old!

 

New supplies arrived today, and having tested them, I can say that there is a definite improvement in the way the decals "sit" over the wagon's side planking.

 

Photo to follow when (if) I can get one that shows the decals sitting into the grooves of the planking that is at least moderately in focus.....

[2996 Victor]

Here is one of my Bachmann Class Ds, now ALR No.21, after having been treated with the new MicroSol:

 

 

I think you can see that the Old Time Workshop decals have settled quite nicely over the planking of the wagon side - the 'L' seems to show the effect most clearly. Very satisfied, so on with matt lacquer and weathering.....

 

Interestingly, the MicroSol also seems to work well on the PC Pressfix 'ED' used on the Midland ballast wagon. I must admit that I tried it with some trepidation, but I needn't have worried, as it turns out!

 

Cheers,

 

Mark

[2996 Victor]

I've spent an interesting couple of hours trying to find the most successful way to represent the weathered and worn woodwork of the interior of an open wagon. A link in a useful thread in the Modelling Question, Help and Tips sub-forum led to this link:

 

http://www.pacificcoastairlinerr.com/weathered_wood/ and this sub-link:

 

http://www.pacificcoastairlinerr.com/decks/

 

I think the techniques look most effective: the author of the page, Harold Minkwitz, creates a grain effect with coarse sandpaper, paints a white primer over the styrene, and then tints with washes, the wash filling the sandpaper scratches to give the effect.

 

So I followed the techniques described, although as sandpapering the interior of an R-T-R or completed kit leaves gaps in the corners, I used a junior hacksaw blade with the ends cut off so that the teeth go to the end. I then painted the interiors of my wagons an off-white (I felt pure white would be too glaring), but having tried a wash of black over the off-white, it was too obviously an off-white base and unlike the models on the page, it didn't look convincing. So I've gone back to a pale buff-grey for a base colour. I've used designer's gouache for the washes, thinning with water and adding a spot of washing-up liquid to reduce the surface tension.

 

Unfortunately, the wash doesn't seem to stay in the plank grooves and weathering scratches, and tends to clump, as it were, which isn't very convincing. It could be because it's gouache rather than ink or stain. I did find that I needed to be brave and use more colour than I felt right, and it looked okay until it started to dry! At least it's water based, so it's been washed off, although it has left some slight staining, which may point to an answer....

 

More practice needed, I think!

 

Cheers,

 

Mark

Edited July 11, 2018 by 2996 Victor

[2996 Victor]

I practiced a little more with the washes on the interior planking of the Bachmann Class Ds this afternoon.

 

I thought I'd try again with the gouache, this time with pure black rather than a dirty green/black, and I was immediately surprised by how much better it looked. But as before, as it started to dry, the pigment flocculated on the planks and not in the grooves or grain. I wonder if it's because the underlying paint is enamel, and the surface is somehow slightly greasy.

 

So I thought I'd give it a go with thinned acrylic, even though I'd only got dark grey to hand. The difference was quite astounding, and I'm really impressed with the effect. I should have stuck to Harold Minkwitz' techniques and used black instead of trying to be clever! I do think that a pale grey with a buff tinge is more appropriate than pure white for the base coat, though.

 

It still needs practice, of course, and with an R-T-R wagon or a pre-built kit, I think it needs to be tackled side/end/side/end/floor individually, as you seem to end up with patches of overlap otherwise.

 

However, I think I can say I've made some progress!

 

Cheers,

 

Mark

[2996 Victor]

A few photos of the Class Ds: the enlargements are more than slightly cruel, and annoyingly, don't really reflect the reality. I actually used my "proper" camera, and the photos aren't as good as my smart phone - they certainly seem more distorted! Or perhaps its the curvature of the Earth.....

 

 

 

 

 

You can see what I mean about the overlapping wash on the sides of a couple of the wagons. Ah well, I can always load them with ballast or coal!

 

Cheers,

 

Mark

[2996 Victor]

Heeeeeeere's Peggy!!!

 

 

         

[2996 Victor]

Small, but perfectly formed!!! 

[2996 Victor]

Thinking a bit more about the brakeless bogies on the Nocton Estates Class Ds, I contacted Bachmann to ask if they were able to supply the bogies separately. Unfortunately, the answer was in the negative, so I shall have to employ a little more ingenuity.....

 

As regards loads, being owned by the Clay Cross Company stone is obvious, as is coal, but of course the ALR was also a common carrier. Intrigued by a photograph on page 76 of "The Ashover Light Railway" by Gratton & Band which shows a wagon loaded with milk churns, I set about getting some for one of my Class Ds.

 

Can you believe it: there is so much to learn about milk churns! As far as I can make out, what it boils (!) down to is that churns used for transporting milk by rail were of two types: conical and parallel. The conical type is the earlier, with the parallel type being introduced in the mid-1930s.

 

As the conical type is more appropriate to my time-frame, I started off with some PECO plastic moulded items, which appear okay, if too small. Then I found some from Lilliput World which looked a better bet, but although nicely made in turned aluminium, on arrival they seemed a bit spindly and not conical enough!

 

It was at this point that I discovered that the conical type churns used for rail transport also had a crown with a recessed lid, which allowed them to be stacked, for example in GWR Siphons. And neither the PECO not the Lilliput World ones have the recessed crown.

 

What to do? A little more searching of the t'interweb found an old friend in the shape of Dart Castings, who do two sizes of conical churn in cast whitemetal with, you've guessed it, recessed lids!!! Halleluiah!

 

Another point to note with model churns is that the handles are often very crude. In small scale, that perhaps isn't all that surprising, but the handles on the real things are quite distinctive. I don't know how they've managed it, but the Dart Castings churns have very delicately shaped handles that really look the part - they're a masterpiece of pattern-making! And being whitemetal, their finish is a pretty good facsimile of galvanised steel.

 

So folks, you heard it here first: if you want nice milk churns, get them from Dart Castings (with whom I have no connection other than as a satisfied customer!).

 

Phew!

 

Cheers,

 

Mark

[2996 Victor]

Milk Churns 2: The Return of the Dairy

 

Cruelly enlarged! Left to right are PECO, Lilliput World, Dart Castings small and Dart Castings large.

 

 

And for a bit of a chuckle:

 

 

I think I'll probably make a false floor with the churns and a few other odds and sods, so that they can be easily removed if necessary.

 

Cheers for now!

[2996 Victor]

Lunchtime found me a being brave and trying out some Humbrol weathering powders that I picked up recently.

 

Now, I have never, ever before tried weathering anything with this kind of material, and being my usual cautious self, I didn't bother reading any instructions or looking at videos on YouTube. Nope, I just went for it!

 

Using mostly Dark Earth, with some Smoke, a touch of Sand and some Rust, I think I have achieved pretty good results both on Class D No.21 and the Midland Railway dropside ballast wagon. In the case of the Class D, I've tried to give the look of an in-service wagon that's not too long out of the shops, slightly dusty/dirty, with a hint of rust on the door striker plates and suchlike, while the MR ballast hopefully looks a bit more tired, and like its been forgotten for a while!

 

I'm going to let them sit for a day or two, and if I'm still happy with them, I'll post a photograph then.

 

One thing I did discover quite quickly is that if you want to "fix" the powder to avoid it rubbing off with handling, which I do, even a mist coat of matt clear lacquer reduces the opacity of the powder significantly. What appears over-done and heavy-handed can almost disappear under the merest waft of lacquer! So both wagons have had several treatments to reach their current condition: its just a case of try it and see how it looks.

 

Oh, and something else I discovered about the Bachmann Class Ds is that the brake stands are simply clipped on to the bogies. Ask me how I found out......

 

Cheers,

 

Mark

[BernardTPM]

Oh, and something else I discovered about the Bachmann Class Ds is that the brake stands are simply clipped on to the bogies. Ask me how I found out......

At a guess  -  PING!! (followed by a hunt round the floor).

[2996 Victor]

At a guess  -  PING!! (followed by a hunt round the floor).

 

Spot on! I'd "stuck" the wagon to a sheet of cardboard with some blu-tak to make it easier to handle and lacquer - while I was unwisely holding the card at an angle, the blu-tak decided to let go  

[2996 Victor]

Looking again at my first efforts with the weathering powders, overall, I'm pleased with the effect.

 

The Midland Railway ballast wagon, given that I want it look like it's been stood, forgotten, for some time, needs a little more rust/rust stains in a few places, such as the brake lever guard, where the door securing chains are, and around the brake gear itself. The Class D, No.21, looks good to my eyes. However, given that the ALR's primary traffic was limestone, it probably needs some light-grey dusted down the wagon sides and ends.

 

If it brightens up enough to get some photos up to my usual standard, I'll post a couple later. Although at the moment, it looks more like reindeer.....

 

Cheers!

[2996 Victor]

The fruits of my recent labours, vis-a-vis weathering.

 

Left to right we have:

 

No.7 is a "ready-weathered" ALR example. It has had the bare-wood repair planks repainted with a shade of grey slightly darker than the factory paint, and then further weathering with dark earth, rust, sand powders dusted upward from track level, and a light downward dusting of a white/brown to (hopefully) represent limestone dust.....

 

No.21 is one of my ex-Nocton Estates examples, re-lettered. I had already "track-weathered" it as described above, but having left it a few days, I felt it was too dark given that the majority of traffic was crushed limestone, so it, too, has had a downward dusting of white/brown.

 

No.51 is the other ex-Nocton Estates wagon, as yet un-touched after it's reliverying. It's surprising how much difference the weathering powder makes to the shade of grey, as well as the intensity of the white letters. It's sat on the bogies without the brake stands, which is why I haven't had a go at it yet!

 

 

 

 

 

 

And here's one with the MR ballast wagon hiding in the gloom behind!

 

 

Cheers!

[2996 Victor]

Not a lot of progress to report, other than finishing weathering the first two re-lettered ex-Nocton Estates wagons, and the acquisition of another five. Four of these are pictured below having been re-lettered and the interiors wood-grained, painted and washed as described above:

 

 

The next job is to get these weathered and and make loads for them.

 

I need to order some more transfers from Simon at the Old Time Workshop, as I still need a few more Class Ds, and I need to complete my Class E as well!

 

Cheers for now,

 

Mark

Edited August 10, 2018 by 2996 Victor

[2996 Victor]

Been having a little bit of fun today 

 

 

The wagon is still to be weathered, of course!

 

 

The load of milk churns, sixteen large and six small, and three hogsheads, is glued to a false floor made from an offcut of Heaven-knows-how-old Slater's planked Plastikard. I added the grain effect and painted/colour washed the planked card at the same time as I did my batch of wagons above, so that it hopefully all matches.

 

Like the milk churns, the hogsheads are from Dart Castings, a souvenir of Railwells along with a few other little things intended for loads that I think will raise a smile in due course. They make me chuckle, anyway.....

 

Bring on the next one!

 

Cheers,

 

Mark

 

EDIT: with the load, which is cast whitemetal of course (the hogsheads are hollow with separate lids), the wagon now weighs a healthy 75 grammes.

Edited August 14, 2018 by 2996 Victor

[Guest]

That looks awesome!!

 

- Alex

[2996 Victor]

That looks awesome!!

 

- Alex

 

Thank you, Alex!

 

I really can't tell you how much your comment is appreciated! 

 

Cheers,

 

Mark

[2996 Victor]

I've also recently bought some crushed limestone from a supplier inhabiting the Bay of E, which is marketed as limestone ballast, but which looks like a useful load for my Class Ds. Just out of interest, I've filled one with a load of stone and it weighs in at around 35 grammes.

 

All I need to do now is find a way of lining the wagons to be loaded with limestone, so that once filled I can apply the good ol' PVA/water/hairy lipsquid mix to secure it all into a conglomerate and yet be able to remove it en bloc. I'm think possibly greaseproof paper, or using a release agent (butter!) and tissue paper. Could be interesting.....

 

I'll report on how I get on once I've been to B&Q for the glue

 

Cheers,

 

Mark

[Nile]

Cling film is the answer.

Edited August 14, 2018 by Nile

[Edwardian]

Cling film is the answer.

 

Not something you want to read if you haven't yet seen the question ...

[2996 Victor]

Cling film is the answer.

 

Thanks, Neil - I'll give it go and see how I get on

[2996 Victor]

Unbelievably, I'm having trouble with the crushed stone loads.

 

The wagons themselves are fairly light, so to add weight I thought I'd use some surplus 5/16" UNF nuts as ballast weights. For my first attempt, I lined a wagon with clingfilm, added my weights and loaded it with crushed stone. But I think I over-thinned the glue, as even after a day, it all crumbled into a soggy mess and the weights fell out!

 

For the second attempt, I decided to make false floors from 60thou plastikard, glue the weights on with CA, and build up the stone in layers. I did two wagons, but this time the glue was a bit thick and didn't seem to percolate down through the stone, so for a third one I thinned it a bit, and again it didn't dry and crumbled.

 

So I'm having difficulty getting the mix right. Whether it's the glue.....it's craft PVA rather than woodworking glue, so I'll have to think again. Unless anyone can suggest a better alternative.....