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Jules' workbench - 2-axle ballast wagon upgrades


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A wee update on the current state of the workbench, it's currently full of wagons as usual!

 

First of all a massive thank you to @Jack374 for giving me 4 of your superbly cast HAA/MHA distributors, gave me an oppurinty to try working with resin, it's quite easy to cut and file but be careful as it can be quite brittle!

 

Here's a photo of the distributors, you can really appeciate the detail in Jack's castings and I'm grateful to him for these!

 

IMG20210109174953.jpg.1bf6c712daec83f76ffd9fc2f5cfcc75.jpg

 

Below, I present to you a comparison of the resin distributors (blue circles) against the Hornby moulded originals (red circle) and it's pretty much a flawless match! (the white patches on the distributor on the left hand wagon was poor painting by me!)

 

IMG_20210114_183425.jpg.95b7aba15e335c71c5f2028cfed593cd.jpg

 

As the above photo shows, my 11 rib body is complete assembly wise with all of the ribs (on sides,ends and underneath) attached and ready for a rubdown and primer.

 

IMG20210114181750.jpg.9e5da7b6fdf4b85814760d18c0bd02ca.jpg

 

I still haven't decided on a number yet but please feel free to put up some photos of 11 rib MHA's here, after all engineers stock goes absolutely everywhere!

 

On my Mainline blue ZCA (Cambrian kit, ex OBA type), the body had some serious lateral warping down the sides, a constant pest to many a plastic wagon. My solution was to use a hair dryer to blast a hot current of air to soften the plastic and manipulate it to shape, now the sides are reasonably straight as the photo below demonstrates. Unfortunately, silly me forgot to take a "before" photo to provide a more direct comparison! I'll tell you the warping was quite horrid and the body was 4-5mm narrower in the middle compared to near the ends!

 

IMG20210114182718.jpg.754f1685d7d90c8668709353295b853f.jpg

 

For the MHA, I don't think I'll prime it until the weather gets a little warmer as we're having a very cold winter right now! But anyway, other projects will become my main focus as I have a few odd jobs to do.

 

Good luck, Jules

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  • 1 month later...

Hi everybody, it's been a real while since I last updated and I have been working on a limited number of projects which I present here today.

 

Firstly, I was able to prime both the ZCA Seaurchin and MHA Coalfish body using the excellent Halfords grey aerosol primer, best primer I've tried so far!

IMG20210224095751.jpg.9052dc88ce150e8b4b9a3a6fdebcfb67.jpg

 

I also got both of them painted in what should be....errrr....EWS maroon. By comparison of my kit built OCA in the same livery something was going wrong!

 

IMG20210306121917.jpg.fe0c4faf6e53ea3a21ac547f913d0ba1.jpg

 

I used a mixture of Humbrol 73 Wine Red and Revell 84 Leather Brown for my "EWS" livery but this lacked the richness of real EWS maroon and looked flat. I also tried Humbrol 73 and Humbrol 62 Matt Leather and that didn't work either! If anybody can give me a heads up on what colours to use that will be much appreciated! The strange thing is that the Humbrol 73 and Revell 84 mix did work for me but maybe I got the proportions wrong or it was because I used a white basecoat?

 

Also, I had a good hard look at my Loadhaul YGH Sealion and realised that the dirt on the real things were mainly brown in colour and not black!!!!! In the end, I took a fibreglass brush and removed most of the weathering and it did fairly well!

 

IMG20210214193625.jpg.f9d1ebe20cc576d148904c15aaa88151.jpg

The top band I repainted as on the real things they faded quite quickly. I used a mixture of Phoenix Warning Yellow and Humbrol Matt White

IMG20210214193811.jpg.f8af0c33cfdb1c204c5212a4281e2d7a.jpg

 

That's it for today folks 

Jules

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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  • 4 weeks later...

With "exams" incoming, I have been easing it (somewhat!) on the modelling, but, I've been able to get my teeth into a couple of wagons

 

First, I can now safely say that my red MHA 394829 is 99% complete, the 1% I recon will be the fitting of Stenson Models brake disks. You may ask, what has made the MHA almolst complete......???

 

IMG20210402133024.jpg.79576a00abd33ab04fac8296f1c42ad7.jpg

 

Weathering!!! Despite the fact that I'm portraying 394829 as freshly outshopped from the paintshop, they totally ignored the W irons!!! As seen here.

 

The base coat on the W irons was (eventually) settled on a mixture of Humbrol 29 and Revell 84 and even then, I had to wash them over with the latter colour once dry to dar.ken them a little more. I also noticed a few brighter higlights (on the suspension cups, brake shoes and a little on the W-irons), for which I used Humbrol 62 topped off with a bit of Humbrol Rust weathering powder. The result is quite orangey so I used a little Dark Earth powder (Humbrols) to tone it down a little but not so much to obscure the effect. Finally, a little Humbrol Smoke weathering powder represented the black (presumably oil) on the springs.

 

IMG20210402133117.jpg.9c6af783de782e3445b3b8b91cdb5559.jpg

 

A closer look at the W irons reveals the highlighting effect I've used here and I think it works well!:acute:

 

This inspired me to tackle my fairly neglected and abused pair of MFA's (391257 in EWS maroon and 391235 in ex Loaudhaul black with EWS markings) and give them a shot of weathering. However some work was required first, which I detail here!

 

First, the body on 391257 had some bowing along the length, so after overheating my hair dryer and making it spark (????) I tried this method:

 

19756847_IMG202104021334481.jpg.3a6b677bd2ea0b98c92df73c5cd2ff98.jpg

 

As you can see, it's quite crude but it did reduce the bowing after tightening the G clamp and leaving it for 2 days. The bowing wasn't completely cured but it reduced it so I think I'll just have to leave it at that!

 

Turning to the underframe, some of the paint on the buffers was chipped so, I filed it all off and polished the buffers, starting from 400 grit sandpaper and finishing with a 3200 grit sanding sponge to really polish the buffers.

IMG20210403115624.jpg.51006275d3a2a572b0211ae35e4b38ff.jpg

 

Also, my very crude air pipes were taken off and the resulting hole filled with 1.5mm diameter rod and a chipped corner was attended to with some plastic L angle. Priming of the buffers (Halfords general grey stuff) and 4 coats of Tamiya flat black followed and some Railmatch EWS maroon on the bufferbeams

 

IMG20210405184914.jpg.fd86bcd8e15a85f6db62fa58f8ca9442.jpg

 

Hopefully with a couple coats of varnish, the paint on the buffers will hold better (fingers crossed for that!)

 

Next, I turned to 391235 (Black) and it was one of the earlier Bachmann MFA's with the chunky underframe and handbrake lever. So doing the same thing as @Jack374 did, I used a rotary tool to take off most of the plastic and thinning the most visible part down and finished it off with a sharp scalpel. At the same time, I removed my chunky homemade brake pipes and filled the resulting hole with plastic rod, same manner as 391257 and added some thinned down Parkside (from their 12t Fish Van) drawhooks.

 

IMG20210405185236.jpg.836ffe845dbbc678a8c6b1063866050d.jpg

 

Apologies for the poor photo but you get the idea!!! I also noticed part of the W-iron was missing (between brake lever and bottom of underframe) and I quickly filled it with a suitable wedge of plasticard. Otherwise, it would have annoyed the hell out of me every time I saw it!:ireful::angry:

 

IMG20210405185258.jpg.049a0db4c9b35afe72c1b63b0bf4267f.jpg

 

There we go! Much better.....but part of the friction link suspension is missing too! I think I'll go barking mad if I tried to add it so another time perhaps???

 

The two MFA's are still getting upgraded so I will post another update (hopefully) very soon

 

Anyway, stay safe and happy modelling!!

 

 

Jules

 

 

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  • Departmental203 changed the title to Jules' workbench - 2-axle ballast wagon upgrades

As promised, work has progressed on both of my MFA wagons although for 391257, it just involves coats of paint and varnish and the "serious" work is focused on 391235 (Black), more below:

 

Firstly, the older version of the Bachmann HEA/MEA/MFA is missing the airbrake disributors, the first one next to the triangular suspension bracket at one end of the wagon was made from 3mm outer diameter tube with 1.5mm rod glued in, which I turned in my rotary tool and shaped it using a scapel and various grades of sandpaper to get the "stepped" shape and glued in a 1.5 mm hole drilled into the wagon.

 

IMG20210407124252.jpg.9fff37c5612785a117658031c28bf85f.jpg

 

Subsequently, I found it was in the wrong position relative to the buffers , so it was cut off and reattached closer to the triangular suspension unit using 0.6mm wire as a mounting peg.

 

The second airbrake distributor (in the middle of the wagon, next to the pivot point of the brake lever) was moulded in place but it was rather thick (like the brake levers) and projected too far out, so it was cut off and using plasticard, plastic rod and plastic strip, was shaped to resemble the version on 391257 (the later tooling).

 

IMG20210417122254.jpg.43acd001b7a7a05de06ada62b9d9a1df.jpg

 

As supplied the second airbrake distributor is moulded in both sides but it is only on one side only, for 391235, it is on the same side as the air tank (between the suspension bracket and said airbrake distributor) but do check photos for the wagon you intend to model.

 

Next, I turned to the handrake lever guides, as they are a solid moulding of plastic so I decided to open them up, initially using a drill bit then using a sharp scalpel. To smooth the rather rough finish left over from the knife on the W iron, I used a small precision screwdriver sharpened to a chisel. This allowed me to continue some of the moulded details and the end result is quite dramitic, as seen below.

 

IMG20210408171706.jpg.881ce00d9f38310a0c3b401ef61229cc.jpg

 

I found it was inevitable that the suspension links would get nicked bt the knife, so I used some thin plasticard to reinstate the detail. You may notice that the end of the moulded brake lever has been cut off, I used pieces of plasticard to form the brake lever ends.

 

After a failed experiment of trying to turn the moulded buffer heads in my rotary tool, I gave up and ordered a pack of the excellent 2'1/2" 18" head OLEO buffers from Lanakshire Models and Suplies. They are excellent value for money at just £1.99 for a pack of 4 buffers but the only caveat is, they charge fixed amounts for P&P so it's best to order in bulk if intending to upgrade multiple wagons. I also ordered their coupling hooks as many of my wagons have them missing, including this one!

 

With whitemetal castings, it is paramount to remove any oxidation and grease, so I used a toothbrush with its bristles cut down to gently but firmly srub the entire casting. Moulding lines were cleaned up using a scalpel and the face of the buffers were polised using sandpaper.

 

IMG20210415120245.jpg.8c79e9cb834645f66b4d1d3cc2674d70.jpg

 

Soon after this photo above was taken, I masked everything but the bufferbeams, buffers and coupling hook and applied a few coats of Halfords Grey primer and then painted them with Tamiya flat black. I'm now pondering wether I should paint the buffer shanks with silver paint as they're OLEO's after all but none of my rolling stock features shiny buffer shanks!:pardon:

 

I now have some more of my RTR wagons on the upgrade queue and now that lockdown is easing north o' the border (model shops opening), watch this space!

 

Thanks for reading

 

Jules

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8 hours ago, Departmental203 said:

...I'm now pondering wether I should paint the buffer shanks with silver paint as they're OLEO's after all but none of my rolling stock features shiny buffer shanks!:pardon:


Very nice work Jules!

 

Silver buffer shanks on OLEOs and black for everything else is one those things I like to see as it makes such a difference to the look IMO. It is an absolute pain sometimes though, such as sprung buffers with shiny metal shanks which have been painted black, or plastic buffers which need to be silver such as Accurascale OLEOs. Black or silver (aluminium foil) tape can be a neat solution, silver tape works great on the Accurascale buffers. For the rest of your cast Lanarkshire buffers I’d suggest masking the (already silver) shanks before painting if you decide you want silver shanks.

 

I look forward to more great wagon upgrades! :good:

 

Thanks,

Jack.

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14 hours ago, Jack374 said:


Very nice work Jules!

 

Silver buffer shanks on OLEOs and black for everything else is one those things I like to see as it makes such a difference to the look IMO. It is an absolute pain sometimes though, such as sprung buffers with shiny metal shanks which have been painted black, or plastic buffers which need to be silver such as Accurascale OLEOs. Black or silver (aluminium foil) tape can be a neat solution, silver tape works great on the Accurascale buffers. For the rest of your cast Lanarkshire buffers I’d suggest masking the (already silver) shanks before painting if you decide you want silver shanks.

 

I look forward to more great wagon upgrades! :good:

 

Thanks,

Jack.

 

Don't you worry Jack, you will find out in my next update....coming soon:yes:

 

Jules

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  • 3 weeks later...

As indindicated in my last post, I was considering of making all of my OLEO buffered stock display the charecteristic shiny shanks....in fact as soon as I posted my last update, I gave both my MFA's the silver shank treatment, but I didn't stop there, to put it simply. It sparked a chain reaction involving some Humbrol 27002 Polished Alumium enamel!

 

IMG20210508123019.jpg.492fe6becc694b078ff041fea2b0dc75.jpg

 

Now, about half of my fleet shine like proper OLEO's should! A pleasant discovery was that Bachmann's MTA/TTA and FNA's have turned steel buffer heads so some work with a scalpel later, you have shanks shining like the real thing! The rest (including the MFA's) had them painted using a small brush.

 

I also pushed the boat a little further and added two further details to both of my MFA's. The photo below shows both details prior to painting.

 

IMG20210504171233.jpg.bdb2de1a23f52f9c386dfe0474ee7947.jpg

 

The top two parts in styrene are some sort of V hanger that goes across the width of the wagon, it is on Bachmann's more recent MEA's and MFA's but wasn't present on my two examples. This explaines the recess in the wagon weights of these wagons as this is where these V hangers are located. The main "V" part was made with Evergreen 30 by 40 thou strip and some Plastrut strip was cut and layered to make the base. The 4 brass steps are fetlled from thin brass scrap taken from sprues from brass carefully cut with tinsnips, and made in 4 parts, including a baseplate to stick to the wagon. These steps really did test my patience as I was making a solder joint only for another one to melt and during assembly, the thin brass snapped on one:ireful:...oh bother

 

They aren't as neat or good as the Stenson steps but I only had 2 wagons to convert and their steps suit the later underframe tooling better and only 391257 is of that tooling. However my attempts I feel help level up the wagons. If you have several to convert, by all means go for the Stensons versions as you'll have much less grief!

 

IMG20210508124524.jpg.8c278ed36d08ac98c333a7ef08f0f50b.jpg

 

IMG20210508124506.jpg.d7fd3a3d93a86f7aef259a535f0f0347.jpg

 

IMG20210508124553.jpg.138655ee84025f6149342bcf5ce3aaca.jpg

 

I also added lamp brakets to the solebars using some spare lamp brackets that I salvaged from Hornby MHA's after cutting off the moulded originals on the body, these really helping to provide some interest to the headstocks and hopefully, my careless handling doesn't nullify these efforts!

 

Well apart from weathering...finished! It has taken 7 years to get this for my two MFA wagons and my 10 year old self would have probably looked in horror seeing these wagons geeting the butcher in the workbench!

 

Well, with "exams" (technically incorrect, it's internal assesments!) coming, I will take a little hiatus from the bench but with the prospect of a long summer, things could get interesting on the workbench so watch this space!

 

Thanks for reading and stay well!

 

Jules

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Very nice work Jules! It’s little details like steps and shiny OLEO shanks which make the models stand out I reckon, and your patience to add them has certainly paid off. Regarding the triangular frame, I think it’s from the MEAs originally but not sure what for, I’ve got an MEA (early) with it and it also has a plate on the point of the triangle.

 

As for assessments, I feel your pain! I’ve got mine this week and next but then we’ll both have time all summer for some modelling. Keep sight of the end goal! :senile:

 

Thanks,
Jack.

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  • 1 month later...

School is now completely out of the window (yayy!!) so I should have plenty of modelling time (in theory!)

 

In between bouts of cycling and seeing friends, I have pushed the boat out and treated my MFA 391257 with a complete weathered finish, a first for me and I must say, it's unusually satisfying! So if anyone has the oppurtunity, by all means, give it a go!!

 

IMG_2071.JPG.621d4ef684b5ca2c11a2b038ab321a2f.JPG

 

The main weathering colour was an aprrox. 70:30 mix of Humbrol 29 Dark Eath and Humbrol 62 Matt Leather, liberally brushed all over the wagon and using a brushed moistened with thinners, taken off in certain places, focusing on the top rib to give a patchy effect and also on the side sheets to allow a little maroon to show through. When using this method, I find the longer you leave the paint on, the less control you have when removing it with the moist brush, so I'd say a bit of haste is helpful!

 

IMG_2072.JPG.faff5ee20886adffcd887dd1b46d6f62.JPG

Microbrushes were used to keep the warning flashes, maintanance panels and lamp brackets clean as per the real thing.

 

IMG_2073.JPG.e5ea5e0b461c759229614b7914bd9805.JPG

Grease on the buffers, V hanger, springs and the brake lever itself was apllied using some Humbrol 27004 Gunmetal (Metalcote) which actually appears dark grey as opposed to black, which is not a bad thing! The buffers had the metalcote applied with a crusty brush to build texture, followed by satin varnish applied with the same brush.

 

Finally, the maroonish higlights on the single links and springs were a mixture of about 80:20 Humbrol 73 Wine and Humbrol 62 Matt Leather, which really help those items to stand out. It was an effect copied from numerous photos of this wagon.

 

IMG_2076.JPG.e498496632ee9d2f08e5867b20cf97d2.JPG

 

A little finishing touch was the wheels, which were painted with Humbrol 29 Dark Eath and the paint wiped off the treads and on the outer and inner faces of the wheel disc itself to give the effect of the disc callipers polishing the wheel faces.

 

All of this was done in 3 weeks, which may surprise some but personally, I found it quite relaxing and methodical to put on paint, wipe it off, mix some colours etc...I'm personally very tempted to do a whole loco this way, hopefully without obliterating it!!

 

Well I can finally say for this wagon "It is finished!" .....well it only took 7 years!

 

More posts should be coming soon as we really get into the (great) British summer, thunderstorms and all!

 

Thanks for reading

 

Jules

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Hot on the heels from 391257 came its Loadhaul Black livieried partner 391235, which looks very similar to 391257 in terms of weathering but with a few noticable differences!:paint:

 

IMG_2104.JPG.c26747b44c2d9e5a8e0e3646704b07a2.JPG

 

I did the "brush on, thinner off" technique again for the body, however I used a 1:1:1 ratio of a mixture of Humbrol 29 Dark Earth, Humbrol 62 Matt Leather and Revell 84 Leather Brown to give a more reddish tinge to the dirt, with the same mixture on the underframe. To replicate the relatively freshly painted out EWS logo, I scratched the logo off completely using a scalpel and used masking tape to preserve the black underneath. Once the initial coat of dirt was dry, the tape was removed and a little quantity of the dirt applied to tone down the stark contrast and make it look like the logo was painted out a year or two ago.

 

IMG_2108.JPG.e3ddcec709ee4fcdc3e338df5fe9f37e.JPG

 

The maroon panels on the right hand end on both sides was applied with several coats of Railmatch EWS maroon, taking care to preserve the maintenance panels on the bottom, although two extra ones were removed with a scalpel. The maroon panels were also masked before the initial application of dirt to preserve their relative freshness.

 

Again, the warning flashes, lamp brackets, grab handles and bufferbeam steps were kept relatively clean with microbrushes and thinners.

 

Humbrol 73 Wine and Revell 84 Leather Brown were mixed in 80:20 proportions and aplied to higlight the single links and a tiny amount on the springs, with Humbrol 27004 Gunmetal used to represent grease and oil on the disc callipers, springs etc.

 

IMG_2105.JPG.66496ef46b76eedfb5eba2e6daea3d93.JPG

 

The buffers were treated to my textured application of Humbrol 27004 Gunmetal and some Satincote varnish, which I feel is quite effective and can be discerned on the photo above.

 

IMG_2107.JPG.390a1b168d0363184d77dae65da97de6.JPG

 

Wheels were painted with Humbrol 29 Dark Earth and wiped off to represent disc brake action.

 

The bodyshell was varnished to protect the weathering from coming off due to too much handling.

 

Well, that is Wagon Number 3 finished off, the possible contender for Wagon Number 4 could be....

 

IMG_2112.JPG.4c75a565026ce08a614a4194d8c046d9.JPG

 

....this! Long-term followers may recognise this wagon and I do admit, I've taken far too long to get to this stage for it considering Accurascale announced thier version!:nono:

 

This wagon is numbered 394385, inspired from seeing the real thing on one freezing cold winters day at Millerhill Yard and the Fox transfers EWS Gill Sans data panel was used, although due to the limited space between the ribs on early build MHA's, I had to splice the panel and do some slight overlapping to get it to fit.

 

IMG_2111.JPG.8989069653c2ca7240f430cc69c898c1.JPG

 

Axlebox colour was changed from the factory applied yellow :dontknow: to the correct maroon (Railmatch again) and Lankashire Models and Supplies coupling hooks were added to the bufferbeams after taking off my very crude brake hoses. It just awaits its turn at weathering but I really should get some brake disks to finish the wheels off, so it may take another while seeing me....:nono:

 

I also have MTA 395083 in the pipeline for weathering as well so watch this space....

 

Thanks for looking

 

Jules

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  • 1 month later...
1 hour ago, GWR5764 said:

Enjoyed reading this, right up my street. Thanks for the content.

Anything you're working on at the moment?

 

Hello GWR5674

 

Thanks for the kind remarks there! I have a few projects on the pipeline but I will reveal these in my next update (I really am due to post one!) which should be soon. A little taster here: I have been working on a loco on the workbench as well as my usual wagons, all will be revealed in the next update. 

 

I would be interested in seeing your work, do you have a workbench thread here?

 

As always happy modelling

 

Jules

 

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32 minutes ago, Departmental203 said:

 

Hello GWR5674

 

Thanks for the kind remarks there! I have a few projects on the pipeline but I will reveal these in my next update (I really am due to post one!) which should be soon. A little taster here: I have been working on a loco on the workbench as well as my usual wagons, all will be revealed in the next update. 

 

I would be interested in seeing your work, do you have a workbench thread here?

 

As always happy modelling

 

Jules

 

No worries. No but thinking of starting one. I mainly do engineering and steel wagon weathering, modifying, kit and scratch building.

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On 18/08/2021 at 11:54, Departmental203 said:

 

I would be interested in seeing your work, do you have a workbench thread here?

 

I now have one! 

Looking back at some of your earlier posts you started a TTA - did this get anywhere? Would be great seeing some more of that as it looked pretty nice.

 

 

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On 21/08/2021 at 11:55, EWS60065 said:

I now have one! 

Looking back at some of your earlier posts you started a TTA - did this get anywhere? Would be great seeing some more of that as it looked pretty nice.

 

 

 

Hello again,

 

Some interesting projects going on in your workbench! The MTA's with extended ends (and the ZKA Doorand) are rarley modelled so it's very nice to get a few unique gems into a fleet of wagons!

 

Also, the Hornby TTA, although a fairly basic model, can be served as a base for detaling/conversions especially as they can be picked up for a few bob online!

 

Unfortunately, my TTA project has ground to a halt due to a lack of detail parts and inspiration. I plan to model one of the BP Green TTA's used on the Fort William/Lairg oil traffic with full length walkways numbered in the 53XXX series.

 

To get some more food for thought, I recommend checking out these two excellent workbenches, they have plenty of projects right up your street!

 

 

Both threads have been here for years so it might take a lot of flicking through pages to find exactly what you want  but it's worth having a nosey and trust me, you might spend more time than you anticipated reading these threads!

 

I hope to post an update in the next couple of days as I've finally made tangible progress through some projects!

 

Until then!

 

Jules

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3 minutes ago, Departmental203 said:

 

Hello again,

 

Some interesting projects going on in your workbench! The MTA's with extended ends (and the ZKA Doorand) are rarley modelled so it's very nice to get a few unique gems into a fleet of wagons!

 

Also, the Hornby TTA, although a fairly basic model, can be served as a base for detaling/conversions especially as they can be picked up for a few bob online!

 

Unfortunately, my TTA project has ground to a halt due to a lack of detail parts and inspiration. I plan to model one of the BP Green TTA's used on the Fort William/Lairg oil traffic with full length walkways numbered in the 53XXX series.

 

To get some more food for thought, I recommend checking out these two excellent workbenches, they have plenty of projects right up your street!

 

 

Both threads have been here for years so it might take a lot of flicking through pages to find exactly what you want  but it's worth having a nosey and trust me, you might spend more time than you anticipated reading these threads!

 

I hope to post an update in the next couple of days as I've finally made tangible progress through some projects!

 

Until then!

 

Jules

Thanks for having a look. James Makin's blog has been a brilliant source of inspiration for modelling or just rollingstock in general but haven't seen the other one you suggested so I'll have a look. Ah fair enough about the TTA, even online they are getting a little pricey - hpefully shows will be back in the not too distance future. I'm going to be trying some chassis conversions e.g  Hornby OAA, HEA, MGR, TTA, VDA etc. into various ballast wagons like you've done.

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On 11/07/2021 at 15:07, Departmental203 said:

Hot on the heels from 391257 came its Loadhaul Black livieried partner 391235, which looks very similar to 391257 in terms of weathering but with a few noticable differences!:paint:

 

IMG_2104.JPG.c26747b44c2d9e5a8e0e3646704b07a2.JPG

 

I did the "brush on, thinner off" technique again for the body, however I used a 1:1:1 ratio of a mixture of Humbrol 29 Dark Earth, Humbrol 62 Matt Leather and Revell 84 Leather Brown to give a more reddish tinge to the dirt, with the same mixture on the underframe. To replicate the relatively freshly painted out EWS logo, I scratched the logo off completely using a scalpel and used masking tape to preserve the black underneath. Once the initial coat of dirt was dry, the tape was removed and a little quantity of the dirt applied to tone down the stark contrast and make it look like the logo was painted out a year or two ago.

 

IMG_2108.JPG.e3ddcec709ee4fcdc3e338df5fe9f37e.JPG

 

The maroon panels on the right hand end on both sides was applied with several coats of Railmatch EWS maroon, taking care to preserve the maintenance panels on the bottom, although two extra ones were removed with a scalpel. The maroon panels were also masked before the initial application of dirt to preserve their relative freshness.

 

Again, the warning flashes, lamp brackets, grab handles and bufferbeam steps were kept relatively clean with microbrushes and thinners.

 

Humbrol 73 Wine and Revell 84 Leather Brown were mixed in 80:20 proportions and aplied to higlight the single links and a tiny amount on the springs, with Humbrol 27004 Gunmetal used to represent grease and oil on the disc callipers, springs etc.

 

IMG_2105.JPG.66496ef46b76eedfb5eba2e6daea3d93.JPG

 

The buffers were treated to my textured application of Humbrol 27004 Gunmetal and some Satincote varnish, which I feel is quite effective and can be discerned on the photo above.

 

IMG_2107.JPG.390a1b168d0363184d77dae65da97de6.JPG

 

Wheels were painted with Humbrol 29 Dark Earth and wiped off to represent disc brake action.

 

The bodyshell was varnished to protect the weathering from coming off due to too much handling.

 

Well, that is Wagon Number 3 finished off, the possible contender for Wagon Number 4 could be....

 

IMG_2112.JPG.4c75a565026ce08a614a4194d8c046d9.JPG

 

....this! Long-term followers may recognise this wagon and I do admit, I've taken far too long to get to this stage for it considering Accurascale announced thier version!:nono:

 

This wagon is numbered 394385, inspired from seeing the real thing on one freezing cold winters day at Millerhill Yard and the Fox transfers EWS Gill Sans data panel was used, although due to the limited space between the ribs on early build MHA's, I had to splice the panel and do some slight overlapping to get it to fit.

 

IMG_2111.JPG.8989069653c2ca7240f430cc69c898c1.JPG

 

Axlebox colour was changed from the factory applied yellow :dontknow: to the correct maroon (Railmatch again) and Lankashire Models and Supplies coupling hooks were added to the bufferbeams after taking off my very crude brake hoses. It just awaits its turn at weathering but I really should get some brake disks to finish the wheels off, so it may take another while seeing me....:nono:

 

I also have MTA 395083 in the pipeline for weathering as well so watch this space....

 

Thanks for looking

 

Jules

Good job there

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Finally, another long due update!

 

I can now declare my Cambrian OBA is....finished! (It only took 7 years!!!!:nono:)

 

IMG_2541.JPG.9da885e4c6a63666edff529fb9fc3ead.JPG

 

The rusting on the ends and solebars was Revell 84 Matt Leather, a useful shade for representing old rust due to its purpleish tinge, applied with a 10/0 brush, trying to restrain myself and keep the rust effects varied! For many of the rust spots, I (you could say) drybrushed some of the paint downwards with the 10/0 brush to represent rainwater washing the rust downwards. On the solebars, I painted a series of dots to form a line (as per the prototype) of rust breaking through the paint and was tamed in places with some downward motion with a flat brush moistened with thinners, concentrating around the door hinges as they seemed to get pretty shabby!

 

IMG_2539.JPG.30b3c537c935fd662c6aaa44069e58e9.JPG

 

IMG_2540.JPG.fb81f012d59b53b8724c38f06c6bed4c.JPG

 

The solebars and bufferbeams were weathered with a 50/50 mix of Revell 84 Leather Brown and Humbrol 29 Dark Earth to give it that darkened apperance, with some Humbrol Rust and Dark Earth weatering powder on the W-irons to represent brake dust. The single links were highlighted with a reddish mix of 70:30 mix of Revell 84 and Humbrol 73 Wine and Humbrol 27004 Gunmetal represents grease on the handbrake levers and buffers, the latter getting my usual protective coat of satin varnish. Wheels painted with Humbrol 29 and wiped to represent the disk brakes polishing the surface.

 

IMG_2541.JPG.9da885e4c6a63666edff529fb9fc3ead.JPG

 

Well I have to say this weathering, although time consuming (my fickle motivation can testify!) is very enjoyable and satisfying to put your own personal touch to an otherwise standard model. Now who's next for the paintbrush....?

 

Upon completing the OBA, attention switched to the MHA 394395 (original 16 rib body with Gill Sans lettering) to add some small but noticeable parts to an otherwise glaring gap on the model.

 

IMG_2556.JPG.bb9efebe55354bac885b87a226256e98.JPG

 

IMG_2557.JPG.cc64d559c01a0947d882154464763840.JPG

 

These I belive, were brackets for the door operating levers back when the wagons were used for MGR hopper operations which was absent from the Hornby model! I initially struggled to work out the shape of these brackets from photos but closer observation cracked it. As a further curveball, they're different on each side! (I know the wheelbase markings are wildly innacurate, I used what I had to hand, came from Railtec's HKA hopper detail pack)

 

The white bracket parts were built from 20 thou plasticard and the "L" shaped hangers were cut and bent from scrap etch. To anyone replicating this add-on, I have attached some rough drawings of the plasticard built brackets below (apologies, it's quite crude!!)

 

IMG20210825113626.jpg.4ac65a55a70a4af5280261e0035dbcc9.jpg

 

IMG20210825113933.jpg.52437c4db8d62f02695f2f45877feaa2.jpg

 

Again, these are different on each side side so care must be taken to get the different ones on the correct side if you do crack out the plasticard!

 

And finally, I have a LOCO (yes, a loco) on the workbench which has underwent a simple rebadging job with Railtec decals.

 

IMG_2559.JPG.64070c356de7c292102826ac52f01176.JPG

 

This may be familiar to some long term readers on the thread, but to recap, this is a limited edition Bachmann Class 66 representing 66111 with Highland Rail logos.

 

To replicate the loco in 2016 condition, the EWS logos and one of the Highland rail logos had to be removed, I used a cocktail stick and the printing came off quite easily. Then the replacement logos went on the secondmans side and the smaller cab front logos were added. I'll also get to the other Highland rail logo and distressed doesn't describe its condition!

 

IMG_2561.JPG.23aade559d675b520965a8e13d7987e9.JPG

 

Anyway, that is it for this update, I have a few projects I really need to get off the back burner however, university is now a thing! Therefore, my workbench time will take another hit sadly.

 

Happy modelling and stay safe!

 

Jules

 

IMG_2543.JPG

Edited by Departmental203
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25 minutes ago, Departmental203 said:

Finally, another long due update!

 

I can now declare my Cambrian OBA is....finished! (It only took 7 years!!!!:nono:)

 

IMG_2541.JPG.9da885e4c6a63666edff529fb9fc3ead.JPG

 

The rusting on the ends and solebars was Revell 84 Matt Leather, a useful shade for representing old rust due to its purpleish tinge, applied with a 10/0 brush, trying to restrain myself and keep the rust effects varied! For many of the rust spots, I (you could say) drybrushed some of the paint downwards with the 10/0 brush to represent rainwater washing the rust downwards. On the solebars, I painted a series of dots to form a line (as per the prototype) of rust breaking through the paint and was tamed in places with some downward motion with a flat brush moistened with thinners, concentrating around the door hinges as they seemed to get pretty shabby!

 

IMG_2539.JPG.30b3c537c935fd662c6aaa44069e58e9.JPG

 

IMG_2540.JPG.fb81f012d59b53b8724c38f06c6bed4c.JPG

 

The solebars and bufferbeams were weathered with a 50/50 mix of Revell 84 Leather Brown and Humbrol 29 Dark Earth to give it that darkened apperance, with some Humbrol Rust and Dark Earth weatering powder on the W-irons to represent brake dust. The single links were highlighted with a reddish mix of 70:30 mix of Revell 84 and Humbrol 73 Wine and Humbrol 27004 Gunmetal represents grease on the handbrake levers and buffers, the latter getting my usual protective coat of satin varnish. Wheels painted with Humbrol 29 and wiped to represent the disk brakes polishing the surface.

 

IMG_2541.JPG.9da885e4c6a63666edff529fb9fc3ead.JPG

 

Well I have to say this weathering, although time consuming (my fickle motivation can testify!) is very enjoyable and satisfying to put your own personal touch to an otherwise standard model. Now who's next for the paintbrush....?

 

Upon completing the OBA, attention switched to the MHA 394395 (original 16 rib body with Gill Sans lettering) to add some small but noticeable parts to an otherwise glaring gap on the model.

 

IMG_2556.JPG.bb9efebe55354bac885b87a226256e98.JPG

 

IMG_2557.JPG.cc64d559c01a0947d882154464763840.JPG

 

These I belive, were brackets for the door operating levers back when the wagons were used for MGR hopper operations which was absent from the Hornby model! I initially struggled to work out the shape of these brackets from photos but closer observation cracked it. As a further curveball, they're different on each side!

 

The white bracket parts were built from 20 thou plasticard and the "L" shaped hangers were cut and bent from scrap etch. To anyone replicating this add-on, I have attached some rough drawings of the plasticard built brackets below (apologies, it's quite crude!!)

 

IMG20210825113626.jpg.4ac65a55a70a4af5280261e0035dbcc9.jpg

 

IMG20210825113933.jpg.52437c4db8d62f02695f2f45877feaa2.jpg

 

Again, these are different on each side side so care must be taken to get the different ones on the correct side if you do crack out the plasticard!

 

And finally, I have a LOCO (yes, a loco) on the workbench which has underwent a simple rebadging job with Railtec decals.

 

IMG_2559.JPG.64070c356de7c292102826ac52f01176.JPG

 

This may be familiar to some long term readers on the thread, but to recap, this is a limited edition Bachmann Class 66 representing 66111 with Highland Rail logos.

 

To replicate the loco in 2016 condition, the EWS logos and one of the Higland rail logos had to be removed, I used a cocktail stick and the printing came off quite easily. Then the replacement logos went on the secondmans side and the smaller cab front logos were added. I'll aslo get to the other Higland rail logo and distressed doesn't describe its condition!

 

IMG_2561.JPG.23aade559d675b520965a8e13d7987e9.JPG

 

Anyway, that is it for this update, I have a few projects I really need to get off the back burner however, university is now a thing! Therefore, my workbench time will take anoter hit sadly.

 

Happy modelling and stay safe!

 

Jules

 

IMG_2543.JPG

Nice one, OBA looks great. I'll have to try that rust colour myself. What did you use to do the data panels? And I definitely admire your patience with those tiny MHA details

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20 hours ago, EWS60065 said:

Nice one, OBA looks great. I'll have to try that rust colour myself. What did you use to do the data panels? And I definitely admire your patience with those tiny MHA details

 

Thanks for the kind words again!

 

 

For the OBA, I used just the letters from Fox Transfers' white stencilled data panels, they have the stencil "gaps" if you look closely!

 

As they are individual letters, patience is the key to applying such tiny transfers and do not be surprised to lose a letter/number or two. If you don't fancy the idea of sticking individual numbers and letters, Precision Labels, Railtec and Rainbow Railways can help. They can be quite busy but they can produce custom transfers to order and service is mostly favourable.

 

If you get round to decalling your OBA, good luck with it!

 

Jules

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21 hours ago, EWS60065 said:

Nice one, OBA looks great. I'll have to try that rust colour myself. What did you use to do the data panels? And I definitely admire your patience with those tiny MHA details

 

If you need ready-made OBA data panels then this pack here might be of use?

 

https://www.railtec-models.com/showitem.php?id=1053

 

When it comes to decals in general, life's too short to be cutting out and lining up tiny letters and numbers! A pack for the MHAs will appear at some point, btw. Railtec has the correct colour for EWS gold and the licence to print the EWS marks (including simply "EWS" which believe it or not needs the licence) so they'll likely all be included on the one pack for convenience.

 

Similarly I go to utterly beyond tedious lengths to get the data panels looking like the real things, rather than what might otherwise be an easy approach of a sheet of identical looking data panels just with different numbers. Unless your rakes of wagons are completely ex-works, that is. And guess what - I think I've yet to come across a data panel for a specific wagon type that's the same size as the next, so I replicate the different sizes too. They're an absolute minefield which is why a simple looking wagon type can take so long to get looking right - at least if you want it to look like your models have been shrunk from the real things. As I'm literally just today beavering on a pack for Limpets (& related) I have a sneek preview to-hand to demonstrate exactly what I mean:

 

spacer.png

 

In fact this would-be pack is so new it's not even got a catalog number yet. I've yet to see anywhere other than Railtec quite this mad to go to this level of excruciating detail, but hopefully it's worth it :). My family and I have spent literally years since yesteryear photographing the railway in detail so many of the examples are traced from the real things where possible. And of course with Railtec product, everything is spot printed so there's no superfluous carrier film to fight with and no join lines in the print.

 

 

Edited by railtec-models
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2 hours ago, railtec-models said:

 

If you need ready-made OBA data panels then this pack here might be of use?

 

https://www.railtec-models.com/showitem.php?id=1053

 

When it comes to decals in general, life's too short to be cutting out and lining up tiny letters and numbers! A pack for the MHAs will appear at some point, btw. Railtec has the correct colour for EWS gold and the licence to print the EWS marks (including simply "EWS" which believe it or not needs the licence) so they'll likely all be included on the one pack for convenience.

 

Similarly I go to utterly beyond tedious lengths to get the data panels looking like the real things, rather than what might otherwise be an easy approach of a sheet of identical looking data panels just with different numbers. Unless your rakes of wagons are completely ex-works, that is. And guess what - I think I've yet to come across a data panel for a specific wagon type that's the same size as the next, so I replicate the different sizes too. They're an absolute minefield which is why a simple looking wagon type can take so long to get looking right - at least if you want it to look like your models have been shrunk from the real things. As I'm literally just today beavering on a pack for Limpets (& related) I have a sneek preview to-hand to demonstrate exactly what I mean:

 

spacer.png

 

In fact this would-be pack is so new it's not even got a catalog number yet. I've yet to see anywhere other than Railtec quite this mad to go to this level of excruciating detail, but hopefully it's worth it :). My family and I have spent literally years since yesteryear photographing the railway in detail so many of the examples are traced from the real things where possible. And of course with Railtec product, everything is spot printed so there's no superfluous carrier film to fight with and no join lines in the print.

 

 

Thanks for that Railtec. I've had something from you before and they are good transfers.

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2 hours ago, railtec-models said:

 

If you need ready-made OBA data panels then this pack here might be of use?

 

https://www.railtec-models.com/showitem.php?id=1053

 

When it comes to decals in general, life's too short to be cutting out and lining up tiny letters and numbers! A pack for the MHAs will appear at some point, btw. Railtec has the correct colour for EWS gold and the licence to print the EWS marks (including simply "EWS" which believe it or not needs the licence) so they'll likely all be included on the one pack for convenience.

 

Similarly I go to utterly beyond tedious lengths to get the data panels looking like the real things, rather than what might otherwise be an easy approach of a sheet of identical looking data panels just with different numbers. Unless your rakes of wagons are completely ex-works, that is. And guess what - I think I've yet to come across a data panel for a specific wagon type that's the same size as the next, so I replicate the different sizes too. They're an absolute minefield which is why a simple looking wagon type can take so long to get looking right - at least if you want it to look like your models have been shrunk from the real things. As I'm literally just today beavering on a pack for Limpets (& related) I have a sneek preview to-hand to demonstrate exactly what I mean:

 

spacer.png

 

In fact this would-be pack is so new it's not even got a catalog number yet. I've yet to see anywhere other than Railtec quite this mad to go to this level of excruciating detail, but hopefully it's worth it :). My family and I have spent literally years since yesteryear photographing the railway in detail so many of the examples are traced from the real things where possible. And of course with Railtec product, everything is spot printed so there's no superfluous carrier film to fight with and no join lines in the print.

 

 

 

Perfect..

 

I'll be after some of these and probably something similar for my engineering wagons (ZDA ZCA etc) I'm doing.

 

 

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3 hours ago, railtec-models said:

 

If you need ready-made OBA data panels then this pack here might be of use?

 

https://www.railtec-models.com/showitem.php?id=1053

 

When it comes to decals in general, life's too short to be cutting out and lining up tiny letters and numbers! A pack for the MHAs will appear at some point, btw. Railtec has the correct colour for EWS gold and the licence to print the EWS marks (including simply "EWS" which believe it or not needs the licence) so they'll likely all be included on the one pack for convenience.

 

Similarly I go to utterly beyond tedious lengths to get the data panels looking like the real things, rather than what might otherwise be an easy approach of a sheet of identical looking data panels just with different numbers. Unless your rakes of wagons are completely ex-works, that is. And guess what - I think I've yet to come across a data panel for a specific wagon type that's the same size as the next, so I replicate the different sizes too. They're an absolute minefield which is why a simple looking wagon type can take so long to get looking right - at least if you want it to look like your models have been shrunk from the real things. As I'm literally just today beavering on a pack for Limpets (& related) I have a sneek preview to-hand to demonstrate exactly what I mean:

 

spacer.png

 

In fact this would-be pack is so new it's not even got a catalog number yet. I've yet to see anywhere other than Railtec quite this mad to go to this level of excruciating detail, but hopefully it's worth it :). My family and I have spent literally years since yesteryear photographing the railway in detail so many of the examples are traced from the real things where possible. And of course with Railtec product, everything is spot printed so there's no superfluous carrier film to fight with and no join lines in the print.

 

 

Hi Steve,

 

Can we get this one in N as well please!

 

Just part  way through doing a batch of 10 NGS (ex TPM) MKA/ZKA and need more than are covered by the NGS decal sheet as I will have a 2nd batch of 10 to do shortly.

 

Thanks

Phil H

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