Popular Post DavidMcKenzie Posted October 21, 2019 Author Popular Post Share Posted October 21, 2019 Got started on the VGAs this evening. Not finished yet, especially around the buffer beam and the buffers there is still some detailing to be done. I will also leave them for a few days now and come back to them later and see if I notice anything that looks out of place or wrong. How they looked this afternoon. After a few enjoyable hours weathering away they were sitting in the yard waiting for a run on the layout. The next shot got me thinking, the buffers of the 47 and the vans are not the same height. Is this something farish have got wrong? Surely they must be a standard buffer height/position in reality, but it's something I've never paid much attention to. It also shows the buffers on the vans need a little more work before they are finished. Diesel under the wires. All the best Dave 20 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
87023Velocity Posted October 21, 2019 Share Posted October 21, 2019 (edited) Hi Dave, the vans are looking smart. That last picture is a candidate for the realistic photography thread! Edit, Just seen its already there! Cheers Simon Edited October 21, 2019 by 87023Velocity 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavidMcKenzie Posted October 22, 2019 Author Share Posted October 22, 2019 8 hours ago, 87023Velocity said: Hi Dave, the vans are looking smart. That last picture is a candidate for the realistic photography thread! Edit, Just seen its already there! Cheers Simon Thanks Simon, I know the layouts not finished and it's not as good as some of the amazing layouts posted in that thread. But after my wife seeing the photo and asking where the photo was taken and thinking it was a real railway, I thought I'd share it on the other thread as well. All the best Dave 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duncan. Posted October 24, 2019 Share Posted October 24, 2019 Excellent work Dave Cheers Duncan 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavidMcKenzie Posted October 27, 2019 Author Share Posted October 27, 2019 A rainy Sunday gave me a chance to finally have a go at finishing 90128. I've been putting it off ever since my last attempt at transfers didn't go so well which was something in the region of a year ago. I owe a big thank you to Simon for the tip on how to put the transfers on and the Phil for the tip on The wire hand rail addition. Neither are people I know personally, but one of the reasons I enjoy posting here is all the tips and help and interesting things I pick up from so many knowledgeable and more skillful people along the way. Something I found a lot easier on this 90 than others I have done previously is to do the buffer beam off the model and only glue it in once it's finished. Obvious now I write it perhaps, but I'd been doing it the other way around until now and it was a real fiddle of a job. A close up of the finished weathered model and you can still see both the model itself and my painting and detailing isn't as good as the very latest models. But not bad considering the base model is something like 20 years old now. From normal viewing distance it looks really nice running around on the layout. I never had the chance to see this one in real life, but the livery is one of my favorites on the layout. I have tried with each model I do to make it better than the previous. I don't always manage. But on this one it's the first 90 where I've started to detail the windscreen and the sun blind inside the cab. Still think it's something I could improve on next time, but nicer than my previous attempts. And a final shot heading the containers. All the best Dave 13 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium njee20 Posted October 27, 2019 RMweb Premium Share Posted October 27, 2019 Apologies if I’ve missed it, but how have you done your OHLE? The wires look spot on! 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
porkie Posted October 27, 2019 Share Posted October 27, 2019 It looks absolutely stunning Dave, My little lad just spotted the last two pic's and asked if it was a real photo of the mainline near my house. Keep up the good work fella Phil 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavidMcKenzie Posted October 28, 2019 Author Share Posted October 28, 2019 17 hours ago, njee20 said: Apologies if I’ve missed it, but how have you done your OHLE? The wires look spot on! It's white EZ line. It's flexible stuff and I did the lower wire reasonably tight, not so much that it would break if it gets a twang with a pantograph or a finger, but much tighter than the upper wire. Then the upper wire is just tight enough not to sag. Then the vertical wires are glued first to the top wire, then pulled down to make the top wire look right and glued to the bottom wire. Because the bottom wire has a lot of tension and the top hardly any it all holds in place. The first few attempts I did off the layout and used Dapol masts. It was a bit fiddly to start with but once I got the hang of it it was reasonably straight forward. Also looked good with the Dapol masts, not just the nbrass gantries. I tried white and brown EZ line. Looking more closely at the real thing I wonder if green might also be a good colour to use. I went for the white because the brown just faded into the trees in the background (which might also happen with green, but I have never tested it). All the best Dave. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavidMcKenzie Posted October 28, 2019 Author Share Posted October 28, 2019 17 hours ago, porkie said: It looks absolutely stunning Dave, My little lad just spotted the last two pic's and asked if it was a real photo of the mainline near my house. Keep up the good work fella Phil Thanks Phil. The tip on the hand rails for the 90 worked a treat. Very flattered by your lads comments. It's a good section of the WCML in your area, hopefully your lad gets as inspired by it as I did in the mid 90s. All the best Dave Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavidMcKenzie Posted October 28, 2019 Author Share Posted October 28, 2019 17 hours ago, njee20 said: Apologies if I’ve missed it, but how have you done your OHLE? The wires look spot on! Just had a quick look. It's the 'fine' EZ line. I believe there are two (possibly more?) sizes. All the best Dave 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium njee20 Posted October 28, 2019 RMweb Premium Share Posted October 28, 2019 Given the real thing tends to fade into the background that may not be a bad thing! I’ve got a reel of the fine green EZ-Line to use in due course. It’s a much darker green than the copper oxide type colour the wires tend to go, I was thinking of trying black or white too! 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpendle Posted November 10, 2019 Share Posted November 10, 2019 Hi, Just came across this thread and it's wonderful stuff. I'm also doing the WCML around Wigan, but the OHLE is still a long way off, I haven't done with track laying yet. Regards, John P Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavidMcKenzie Posted November 11, 2019 Author Share Posted November 11, 2019 Hi John Your project sounds very interesting, will you model a real location or a layout based loosely on the Wigan area? Do you have anywhere I could follow your progress? Have you seen Dallam? It's a cracking (and my favorite) model of the WCML in N gauge that's maybe even closer to yours. It has some OHLE that is maybe more typical of the Wigan area. Thanks for your kind comments. All the best Dave Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpendle Posted November 11, 2019 Share Posted November 11, 2019 Hi Dave, The layout is hopefully a reasonably accurate model of current day Wigan including Wallgate. You can find it on the N Gauge Forum. Dallam is a very good layout. I like to keep track of what others are doing in N Gauge for the WCML to see what's being done and hopefully it means that someone may well have sorted a problem before I have to! Like how to do OHLE, where to get cable trunking, where to get colour light signals, etc, etc. Regards, John P Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
porkie Posted November 15, 2019 Share Posted November 15, 2019 Any updates fella? I need some inspiration to get back on track with my layout Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavidMcKenzie Posted November 16, 2019 Author Share Posted November 16, 2019 22 hours ago, porkie said: Any updates fella? I need some inspiration to get back on track with my layout Hi Phil, I've been doing a few bits that don't really justify a post yet like building trees. But did a little shopping and got some nice new wagons for the steel working. Not really sure how I will detail them yet, but farish have done a nice job on the wagons themselves. And an 86 that looks nice, but unfortunately the livery a long way out of period. I haven't made my mind up if I will do this as: 86608 Or 86245 And if all that's not enough to motivate you a bit, here's my favorite loco running on the layout from a running session this evening. I'll be looking forward to your next post on your layout when ever you get around to it. All the best Dave 18 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavidMcKenzie Posted November 21, 2019 Author Share Posted November 21, 2019 Made a start on doing a 90 in roughly this state At the very first step of adding a white wash to dull down the colours I thought maybe I had ruined it and would need to start again. By no means finished yet, but after some patients and some work it's slowly coming on and looks more like I'd hoped for. All the best Dave 9 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duncan. Posted November 21, 2019 Share Posted November 21, 2019 Congratulations for being brave! Before I saw all the photos I was going to word my reply ' Good luck with the faded symbols', then I saw the other photos. I like the body sides but the roof front less. I would like to see the completed job in context....i.e. hauling a train on the layout. Well done Dave, I am so glad to see that you are brave enough to experiment, so much more worthy than an out of the box example. Keep up the good work. I hope to post updates on my 37 project over the weekend and look forward to your vies on my work. I can tell you that the grille etchings were really difficult to fix. Cheers Duncan 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavidMcKenzie Posted November 22, 2019 Author Share Posted November 22, 2019 8 hours ago, Duncan. said: Congratulations for being brave! Before I saw all the photos I was going to word my reply ' Good luck with the faded symbols', then I saw the other photos. I like the body sides but the roof front less. I would like to see the completed job in context....i.e. hauling a train on the layout. Well done Dave, I am so glad to see that you are brave enough to experiment, so much more worthy than an out of the box example. Keep up the good work. I hope to post updates on my 37 project over the weekend and look forward to your vies on my work. I can tell you that the grille etchings were really difficult to fix. Cheers Duncan Thanks for your comments Duncan, totally agree about the roof. I've never been 100% happy with the roof on any of my models to be honest. But I am half way through trying something new there. The 90s often had little oil streaks, almost streamlines on the roof which I've struggle to ever get right. What I have done on this model so far is brush on something as an undercoat with a paintbrush to give these 'steaks' and hopefully a few coats with the air brush (which will come later) will make it much more subtle than it currently is. But it's all a bit of an investigation to be honest I have no idea if it will actually work and I will post progress as I go. The faded symbols were something I thought would be a big challenge to do at the start as well, but they were surprisingly easy. The all over white wash applied with a paint brush vertically to give a streaky look followed by taping off and two sprayed coats of very thinned down yellow and they look ok. In hindsight I would probably have done a first coat of yellow before putting on the white and then a double coat of yellow, the red still comes through slightly stronger than I would like, but I don't want to keep adding more and more yellow otherwise they will just look like a bright freshly applied yellow and that wasn't the look I wanted so I've left it as it is. Not 100% as the photo, but still a nice finish if you just see the loco alone. As I get it closer to finished I'll take some photos of it on the layout. Very much looking forward to seeing how you tackle the next steps on your 37 project, the removal of the front light and the fan look brilliant so far. All the best Dave 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavidMcKenzie Posted November 23, 2019 Author Share Posted November 23, 2019 Made a bit more progress on the latest class 90. A bit of a closer view on the side and the faded symbols. Running at the head of a double header container working. And I'm still not 100% happy with the roof, but at least I think I can say it's my best effort so far. All the best Dave 12 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duncan. Posted November 23, 2019 Share Posted November 23, 2019 Nice work Dave. I have struggled with lighting today as a look through my 37 pictures show a range of tones. So perhaps in reality your roof is not shiny. If it is perhaps a coat of matt varnish may help. Cheers Duncan Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
croydon junction Posted November 23, 2019 Share Posted November 23, 2019 2 hours ago, DavidMcKenzie said: Made a bit more progress on the latest class 90. A bit of a closer view on the side and the faded symbols. Running at the head of a double header container working. And I'm still not 100% happy with the roof, but at least I think I can say it's my best effort so far. All the best Dave I think you are over thinking it, I am surprised it is even possible to produce weathering that good in N gauge! Best of luck, Matthew 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavidMcKenzie Posted November 24, 2019 Author Share Posted November 24, 2019 11 hours ago, Duncan. said: Nice work Dave. I have struggled with lighting today as a look through my 37 pictures show a range of tones. So perhaps in reality your roof is not shiny. If it is perhaps a coat of matt varnish may help. Cheers Duncan Hi Duncan, In reality the roof is not shinny at all, I think the shine has come from taking photos on the mobile phone camera. Also a very helpful post in your Shirebrook thread from Mr Simon about white balance, could be that I have the same issue. My main thing I've noticed with the roof is that the pantograph is too 'black' there is more of a brown deposit left on it in the photograph of the real loco. Also the light grey on the curved edges of the roof (just above the orange warning stripe) do look a very similar colour to the photo of the real loco, but without the photo to show it makes sense it almost looks wrong when the loco is running around on the layout. I think it is similar to the issue you showed a while back on not weathering your water tower exactly as reality because it would just look unbelievable. All the best Dave 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavidMcKenzie Posted November 24, 2019 Author Share Posted November 24, 2019 9 hours ago, croydon junction said: I think you are over thinking it, I am surprised it is even possible to produce weathering that good in N gauge! Best of luck, Matthew Thanks for your kind comments Matthew, I am not unhappy at all and I've really enjoyed doing the weathering on this one. But I like to find something I can do better or improve on for the next effort as well. It's part of the fun for me. All the best Dave 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavidMcKenzie Posted December 5, 2019 Author Share Posted December 5, 2019 Motivated by some cracking 37s on Shirebrook and Speke East I thought I'd give my two a go and make them look more realistic. The basic model was (at least in my untrained opinion) very good and I haven't modified anything, just added some weathering. Then running with it's partner light loco around the layout. All the best Dave 12 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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