JamieR4489 Posted March 15, 2019 Share Posted March 15, 2019 Although I started a thread on what goes through my workbench, it was in the modifying and detailing rtr section and as I'm building more kits now rather than modifying rtr, I thought it would be more appropriate to make a new thread here. First up, a David Green NER C8 sleeper wagon. I've built the wagon (it just needs the floor to be glued in) so I'm hoping I can get it cleaned up and painted this weekend. Couplings also need to be added. I also have a GNR 6-wheel brake third to do. It's a 3D printed body with brass w-irons. This will be started soon. As a taster, here are some other models I've made: A Graeme King resin K2 (photography by Tony Wright) A Mike Trice 6 wheel Dia.303 full brake (again the photo is by Tony) My original workbench thread included the building of the K2: Jamie 9 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamieR4489 Posted March 16, 2019 Author Share Posted March 16, 2019 (edited) I've also been building some signals for the Ely club's layout Wickham Market. They're MSE kits and are all upper quadrant. I've done 6 with another two under construction and there will be a further two but I haven't ordered those yet and probably won't start on them until around June. Here are a few of them One of the signals currently under construction is the signal for trains coming off the Framlingham branch. To make sighting easier, the lower arm (the arms are co-acting) was mounted at an angle to the post so that when trains came around the bend the top arm could be seen from further away and then the lower arm could be seen as the train approached the main line. This probably sounds very confusing but hopefully this photo will speak a 1000 words. I've marked the arms in blue to make it a bit clearer. Here's a picture of the real thing to compare with The sleeper wagon is currently in the airing cupboard to dry before priming it (hopefully) this afternoon. I also washed the body for the GNR 6 wheel coach so I'll start scraping off the ridges from the layering process soon. Jamie Edited March 16, 2019 by JamieR4489 7 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamieR4489 Posted March 16, 2019 Author Share Posted March 16, 2019 (edited) Despite being distracted by 35018 British India Line unexpectedly coming through my local station today, I’ve made good progress on the brake 3rd. It was primed at the same time as the sleeper wagon and the handrail holes have been drilled. A chassis has been started; a piece of 2mm plastic makes up the floor pan and some step boards and axleboxes have been glued on which are Mike Trice 3D prints for the diag.303 but I thought it would be easier to try and fill in the gaps than try to make stepboards fro scratch. Brass will brace the joins to try to make them stronger. The w-irons have been made and one has had the bearing carriers fitted the other I’ll do tomorrow. The middle axle has temporarily been fitted to check that the chassis will go round my layout’s tightest curves. Hopefully I’ll get some more done tomorrow. Jamie Edited March 16, 2019 by JamieR4489 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 18, 2019 Share Posted March 18, 2019 On 15/03/2019 at 19:58, JamieR4489 said: A Mike Trice 6 wheel Dia.303 full brake (again the photo is by Tony) Hi Jamie, Just love the finish on the Mike Trice 6 wheel full brake, have you described anywhere in your posts, the method used to acheive this ?. Looks ideal for a loco I'm working on. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamieR4489 Posted March 18, 2019 Author Share Posted March 18, 2019 1 hour ago, snitzl said: Hi Jamie, Just love the finish on the Mike Trice 6 wheel full brake, have you described anywhere in your posts, the method used to acheive this ?. Looks ideal for a loco I'm working on. Thanks, As a base coat I used Revell 117 Africa brown and then dry brushed Humbrol 62 leather over the top in the direction of the graining. To weather the model I used a matt black-brown wash applied quite liberally and then most of it was cleaned off with a cotton bud. Before I weathered it, the coach was given two coats of Humbrol clear to give a varnished wood effect. When I get round to teaking the 6 wheel coach I’m working on at the moment I’ll go into a bit more detail and take some photos. Jamie Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamieR4489 Posted March 21, 2019 Author Share Posted March 21, 2019 Two steps forward, one step back... I'd been trying to make my first chassis go round my layout's tightest curves all week when I suddenly realised yesterday that the w-irons were sitting too low in relation to the axleboxes because I'd glued the solebars on to the sides of the floor rather than the bottom of it. This resulted in the vehicle sitting about 2mm too high. So I prised the solebars, axleboxes and stepboards off the floor, breaking a few of them in the process but these have been glued back together and hopefully filler will cover any cracks or joins. I made a new floor out of 1mm plasticard as the old floor was covered in glue and wasn't very good. At the weekend I got some right angle plastic and glued this to the floor, then glued the solebars to the side of that. More plastic angle has since been added to strengthen the joints. I've made up the w-irons and an MJT wagon compensation unit (I think) for the middle axle. This is the same arrangement as the one I used on my dia.303 full brake and it works fine; In fact the chassis now works far better than the previous one did! I then test fitted everything together It looks like the middle wheel isn't quite central so I'll attend to that soon. The next step will be to make the bufferbeams and make a way to hold the body and the chassis together. My plan for this at the moment is to screw the two together in the guards compartment and then at the opposite end to have a brass hook hanging down from the body that the chassis will rest on. As the floor now actually locates inside the body rather than the body sitting on top, this will eliminate any risk of the body not being central on the chassis. Jamie 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamieR4489 Posted March 23, 2019 Author Share Posted March 23, 2019 I've fitted the roof ventilators and lamps as well as the bufferbeams and buffers. The bufferbeam at the compartments end has a slot in it for the brass clip that holds the end of the body on. Today I fitted the grab rails and the handrail at the compartment end of the coach. I've also filled in the gaps in the solebars and stepboards, using 1mm styrene for the solebars and 30thou styrene for the stepboards. Humbrol filler has been added and gaps in the NER sleeper wagon have also been filled. The w-irons and central axle assembly have been cleaned and will be primed tomorrow. Some brass has been glued length-ways along the roof windows. I think I'll start on the interior or add bufferbeam detail next. Jamie 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamieR4489 Posted March 27, 2019 Author Share Posted March 27, 2019 (edited) I've made lots of progress on all of my current projects apart from the signals. It was running night at my club yesterday so I decided to try and get the NER sleeper wagon, the GNR brake 3rd and a Slater's PO wagon that a club member gave me ready in time. The sleeper wagon had tension lock couplings fitted into custom made NEM pockets made out of styrene. It also had a first coat of paint. The PO wagon had its underframe painted as it was still in bare plastic. Couplings were added in the form of bits of bent wire glued into holes drilled into the bufferbeams. It's also been partially weathered. The GNR coach had partitions fitted at the weekend Then after being primed, I painted the stepboards and ends of the coach black. Then I started on the teaking process. The first thing I did was to paint the sides in Revell 17 Africa brown: It looks quite bad here but this was just the first coat. I deliberately made it so that there wasn't an even covering, to try and make the finish a bit more varied. In retrospect, I should've painted some of the panels different colours at this stage to aid the varied finish. Then I brushed on Humbrol 62 Leather in the direction of the graining. I deliberately used an old brush. The picture isn't great because the light is shining on the wet paint but after one or two coats of leather it looks quite good. As I'd forgotten to pick out some panels in other colours, I decided to experiment and paint the panels after the leather had been painted on, creating this effect: Then I brushed leather over the top of those panels: You can just about see the slightly darker panels. The roof was then painted Humbrol 106 Ocean Grey and the solebars painted leather. A few touch ups were made and then I gave the coach a quick test on the layout and there weren't any issues (I'd also fitted couplings by this stage). The next thing to do will be to detail the interior and start painting other parts of the body that I didn't get round to. Jamie Edited March 27, 2019 by JamieR4489 2 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamieR4489 Posted March 31, 2019 Author Share Posted March 31, 2019 (edited) I've been working on all of my current projects this weekend. Firstly another signal for Wickham Market was motorised. This is the bracket signal for the Framlingham branch. I finished painting the GNR brake 3rd and then put the transfers on. I also printed off some seats made by Mike Trice and folded them up before sticking them in (I also painted the interior with Revell 89 Beige at this point). Here you can see them before I painted the walls and floor and touched up the seats where there was white showing through. The coach was then weathered with a black and brown wash: The door handles and buffers were also added. All the coach needs now is glazing and the w-irons to be glued to the floor (they're held in by blu-tac and friction at the moment) although I think the roof is a bit too clean. Both wagons have been weathered and the PO wagon is now finished. It's going in my coal empties rake so I didn't put a load in but lead has been glued into the floor recesses because the wagon barely weighed anything. The sleeper wagon has been painted with Humbrol 128 Compass grey and the interior was painted with Humbrol 26 Kahki (the PO wagon's interior was also painted in this colour). Then after a coat of Humbrol Clear I added the transfers (Modelmasters') and sprayed on some Humbrol 49 matt varnish. The wagon will be weathered soon and I don't plan to put a load in it. Jamie Edited March 31, 2019 by JamieR4489 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikemeg Posted April 2, 2019 Share Posted April 2, 2019 (edited) Jamie, A tip for you, if I may, on your signal builds. The MSE ladder etchings, as supplied, are lovely but very fragile and they do have a propensity to go out of straight. This can be countered by soldering a length of 0.3 mm wire down the edge of each stile on the ladder. This will greatly improve the appearance of the ladder and will significantly improve its rigidity. The attached photographs show a couple of 4mm signal models with all of the ladders treated in this way. The lattices, on both models, are scratch built, except for the lattice posts, so they're not in the MSE catalogue! Cheers Mike Edited April 8, 2019 by mikemeg 2 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamieR4489 Posted April 2, 2019 Author Share Posted April 2, 2019 Thanks Mike. I'll try and remember to do that on the next signals I make. Jamie Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamieR4489 Posted April 4, 2019 Author Share Posted April 4, 2019 I've finished the sleeper wagon. I may weather it a bit more, particularly on the inside but for now I'm happy with it. I also weathered the roof of the GNR coach but I was a bit heavy handed and it was far too black. I repainted it today in a darker grey than I had previously and then went over it with a black wash, putting more on around the roof ventilators. Some more signal parts arrived in the week so I'll finally be able to finish off the ones I'm currently working on and then I'll try and repair a Parkside LNER horsebox that I knocked of the dining room table workbench onto the floor. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamieR4489 Posted April 6, 2019 Author Share Posted April 6, 2019 I got round to glazing the GNR d.281 and put the coach back together. Unless I decide to change anything or realise I've missed something off I'm calling it finished now. Here are some photos of it along with some photos of it with my d.303, to show the difference in finish. I think I'll finish building signals and motorise them next, although I have been eyeing-up a South Eastern Finecast J6... Jamie 5 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamieR4489 Posted April 6, 2019 Author Share Posted April 6, 2019 I finished building the signals this morning (they just needed lamps and post caps) and repaired the horsebox as much as I could with the bits I’d managed to recover. And now for something completely different... I was bored this afternoon and was looking at various bits I had lying around. I found a couple of 0-6-0 chassis’ and so I started looking through the LNER encyclopaedia and seeing what locos I might be able to make. Eventually I narrowed it down to an N10 or an N6. As I’m trying to model around Newark I thought an N6 would be more appropriate. So I looked around on google and decided that an N6 was feasible. Then I got the plasticard out and started cutting. First I cut the running board out of 2mm plasticard The chassis is a Hornby Railways generic 0-6-0 chassis. It’s not the greatest chassis but this project is just something fun to do to keep me out of trouble. I’ll add a pony truck later. Next I cut the boiler from a sink plunger handle (of all things) that I was going to use for my O1 I built last year but didn’t. Then the tanks were cut from 1mm plasticard. This isn’t going to be a scale replica but rather something that has a passing resemblance made out of bits I have lying around. Jamie 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamieR4489 Posted April 8, 2019 Author Share Posted April 8, 2019 I've made loads of progress on the N6. Yesterday, I started off by cutting the bunker sides and cab sides out as one piece. Here the bunker side nearest the camera was too long, this has now been corrected. Then the cab bulkheads and splasher sides were cut out of 1mm plasticard. I made the pony truck by drilling a hole in a piece of scrap-etch and drilling a corresponding hole in the bottom of the chassis. At the opposite end, I soldered on a piece of brass tube that was just the right size for the axle to go through (I think the tube is 2.5mm diameter) and I found some wheels that were about the right size (I'm not sure what make they are but I think they're either Gibson or Romford). Then I gave the loco a quick test run on the layout No problems presented themselves although the body is a bit too high at the back so that will be corrected. Most of the work done today was on the boiler. I bought some 10thou plasticard from my local model shop but they only had it in clear so I cut a strip off and sprayed it grey. This formed the smokebox wrapper and the firebox. To make sure the firebox top was flush with the top of the boiler, I filed at flat spot on top of the boiler and then glued the firebox over the top. I also used this to make a base for the smokebox door. The tops of the splashers and the 'piano front' were made out of old 10thou plasticard I had left over.The bunker rear was made from 40thou plasticard which had a slight angle put on it. The boiler hasn't been glued on yet as it's easier to work on it and the rest of the chassis this way. The boiler has to be put in before the tank tops and fronts. As the picture shows, I got the cab spectacle plate windows a bit wrong so I'll put some filler in and try again. Some frame extensions were made out of 1mm plasticard and were glued to the chassis As you can see there are quite a few gaps in the tanks so I'll go round with the filler tonight and clean it up tomorrow. Jamie 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamieR4489 Posted April 11, 2019 Author Share Posted April 11, 2019 Lots of filler has been used to fill gaps and correct bits such as the spectacle plate windows which I made too big. I cut a dome of an old Hornby green tank engine. For some reason though, it wasn't apple green, it was a dark green. the engine had lots of copper and brass bits on it and had 'GWR' on the side; I assume this means 'Gresley Was Right'! The chimney came of the same loco. As you can see, I made boiler bands out of tape. A smokebox door was cut of an old Hornby 0-4-0 and cut and filed to shape. At least this donor engine was the right shade of green! The chimney presented an issue. It was straight but I needed a tapered, Robinson chimney. At first I used filler and this attempt ended with predictable results, so I cut a piece of 10thou plasticard and wrapped it around the chimney, smoothing it once it had fully hardened. Filler was used to blend it into the chimney cap and base and to fill the gaps between the chimney base and the smokebox. I've done the first handrail using wire and knobs from a Hornby 8f body I had lying around. I tried to make the pony truck pick up as well as the driving wheels but this didn't work so I unsoldered all the wires and put everything back to how it was. Then, I cut out the tank tops and put them on some right angle plastic to make it easier to glue them to the tank sides The frame extensions have been moved from the chassis to the body to give them a bit more support and when the bufferbeams are fitted (which is probably going to be the next job) the rear one will also help support them. The boiler is still loose so unless I can think of anything to add to it it will be glued to the body soon. Then the fronts of the tanks can be added. I borrowed an RCTS book covering the N6s so this will came in handy for picking an identity. With regard to signals, a bit of work has been done. I attached a motor to a signal and took it to the club to put on the layout but I obviously didn't use enough glue because the motor came off again. Two more signals have been primed and I'll paint them soon . Jamie 3 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamieR4489 Posted April 14, 2019 Author Share Posted April 14, 2019 The bufferbeams have been fitted as well as buffers and cosmetic coupling hooks The boiler was glued to the body and tank fronts were made and fitted from 40thou plasticard. Lots of filler has been put on particularly where the tanks met the boiler and this has now been smoothed out. Handrails were also put on the fronts of the tanks. Safety valves were made out of wire and a piece of plasticard. The cab roof was made from one layer of 40thou and one layer of 10thou plasticard, wrapped around a pipe to put a curve on. For now the cab roof will be removable so that I can get inside the cab for painting detailing and glazing. A hole was drilled in the top of it and a whistle was fitted. Tank filler caps were cut off the pannier that donated the chimney, dome and buffers. I think all it's mostly just detailing that needs to be done now. A backhead has been sourced from a GBL City of Truro model and it will be painted before I glue it in. I've decided on an identity for the engine; It's going to be 6157 as I found a nice photo of that loco at Tuxford shed in 1931 and it had the correct chimney for my model. Jamie 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamieR4489 Posted April 19, 2019 Author Share Posted April 19, 2019 After a bit more filling and sanding, I primed the model to see if there were any other areas that needed tidying up. A few areas needed filling so these were attended to and then today I tried to spray the loco in Humbrol 85 Satin Black but there was barely any left in the can so I brush painted on a mixture of Humbrol 33, 62 and 106 to create a weathered black colour. The bufferbeams were then given a first coat of Humbrol RC406 Bufferbeam Red but the paint is very thin and and trying to paint over black is never a good idea. I've done a second coat of red after taking this photo but it's clear that more coats will be needed. The wheel tyres and axle ends were also painted black and at some point I'll tone down the coupling rods. I've picked out the various backhead details and it just needs weathering and fitting. Then I can put the transfers on and weather the engine. Couplings also need to be fitted and there'll be paint touch-ups needed. Jamie 5 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamieR4489 Posted April 27, 2019 Author Share Posted April 27, 2019 Over the Easter weekend, I made one last big push to complete the N6. After painting the model's cab interior cream, finishing the red on the bufferbeams (4 coats in total!) and painting the wheel tyres black, I put some Humbrol Clear on the tank sides and front bufferbeam. Then I used HMRS Pressfix transfers for the lettering and numbering. I tried doing the small white lettering on the bufferbeam for the first time on this loco; I think if, I can get away with it, I won't be doing it again! Some Railmatch Matt Varnish was put on the transfers and then I started weathering the loco, starting off with a wash of my weathered black mix that I painted the loco with. Then I mixed some Humbrol 106 Ocean Grey into the mix and dry brushed it on top of the boiler and cab roof. A browny-colour was dry brushed over the chassis, particularly on the brake blocks and some was also painted on the body to simulate rust and general dirt. Glazing and real coal were then added. As you can see from the photos, I also added couplings in the form of bent pieces of wire super-glued into holes drilled in the bufferbeams. While I was weathering the loco I realised I'd missed off the coal rails and lamp irons so the latter were added from staples and the coal rails were made from bent pieces of piano wire glued to plastic rod uprights. Crew and brake pipes need to be added but I don't have any currently so those will have to wait. Also, since taking the photos I realised that there were some areas that I'd missed with the black paint so I went over these today. Now I can get back to signals although I think a South Eastern Finecast J6 is looking like it could land on my workbench soon. Jamie 5 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamieR4489 Posted May 8, 2019 Author Share Posted May 8, 2019 Just a quick update on signals: As a big last push before the exhibition (18th May at Ely College https://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/143338-ely-district-model-railway-club -model-railway-exhibition-sat-18th-may-2019/) I've been trying to finish off the down starter and the branch starter. They were primed ages ago so I painted the white, then the black and then the red and yellow on the arms. I'm glad there aren't too many distant signals because painting the chevron is a real pain! In the last picture, the branch starter is on the right (this is the one with the lower arm at an angle to the post that I showed a few months ago) and the down starter is on the left. I'm not completely happy with the chevron so I'll try and touch it up a little. Both home arms on both signals are co-acting (for sighting purposes). The coloured plastic MSE supply for the spectacle plates were fitted and then the backblinders soldered onto the arms after putting the spindle through the bearings. Operating wires were attached to the branch signal arms and then they were threaded through the balance-weight. I prioritised the branch starter as that area of the layout has been the main focus of the club's recent work and all the other signals in that area are in place. A motor was fitted and the signal's now at the club so unfortunately I haven't got a photo of it finished. Jamie 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JaesonPryer Posted May 9, 2019 Share Posted May 9, 2019 Well done Jamie. Top work. 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamieR4489 Posted May 10, 2019 Author Share Posted May 10, 2019 (edited) I've started making locos that are in the North Norfolk Railway fleet as it is my favourite preserved railway and I've recently started building an extremely compressed version of Weybourne station. So far I have a B12 (8573), a J15 (65475) a 9F (92214) and a 4MT (76109) that will need to be renumbered (and ,in the 9F's case, renamed). As the B12 is the NNR's flagship loco and would be the easiest to do, I made a start on that. Here's what I started with; Hornby's latest model. When I got it I fitted the detail parts and more recently it's had a crew a lamp and fire irons fitted as well as a loop of wire over the front buffers for tender-first running. The first thing I did was to remove the 3 from all the numbers. It was my first attempt at renumbering (apart from a few tests) and it went without a hitch. I just used a fibre-glass pencil to rub off the old numbers and then used HMRS pressfix transfers for the number 2. As you can see, there's a slight colour difference but if I can always replace the rest of the numbers as well in the future. Next I cut off the NEM pocket off of the bogie. Next I painted the tender bunker, front and area behind the bunker in a weathered black mix and a few brown patches were added. The running board and cab roof were painted this colour as well. Then all the green areas were given one or two coats of Clear and I very slightly weathered the loco. Since taking this photo I've taken most of the black off boiler. The wheel tyres were painted black and I glued some real coal over the top of the Hornby moulding. The tender frames were toned down with a weathered black wash. Jamie Edited May 10, 2019 by JamieR4489 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamieR4489 Posted May 10, 2019 Author Share Posted May 10, 2019 Photos kicked off the last post I hope you can see the difference in finish between the running board and the smokebox saddle Jamie 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamieR4489 Posted May 19, 2019 Author Share Posted May 19, 2019 When I was cleaning the B12's pickups, they snapped clean off on one side so I ordered some vero board and some phosphor bronze wire. I glued two bits of board to the underside of the keeperplate and drilled a hole through the bottom until I got to the metal strip that runs through the keeperplate that the original pickups were attached to. A piece of wire was soldered from the original pickup bar to one of the bits of board and then a pickup for the front driving wheel was bent up and a combined pickup for the middle and rear wheel also made. These were soldered to the boards which were then joined together with more wire. Also, In the week this arrived: A High Level Kits roadrunner+ 40:1 gearbox and a Mitsumi motor have also arrived. I'll make a start on this in about a fortnight as well as a D&S kit that Tony Wright has given me as a birthday present (he hasn't told me which one it is yet). Another signal has been made but this time it's for the Ely club's smaller layout, Ramsey. We're taking it to Soham on 2nd June and we wanted to replace the signal that failed a little while ago. Since taking the photo I've cleaned all the excess solder off and washed the signal. I'll prime it sometime in the week. Jamie 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamieR4489 Posted June 17, 2019 Author Share Posted June 17, 2019 It's been a long time since I last posted on here but I've still been doing lots of modelling. At the end of May I went to Sheringham for a week and this allowed me to do a bit of research on the North Norfolk Railway for my Weybourne project. This did mean that I couldn't do any modelling for a week however it was my birthday and a few models turned up (Bachmann C1 and D&S NBR horsebox). I'd been doing quite a bit on the signal for Ramsey and although it was ready for the exhibition at Soham it wasn't needed as the old signal was coaxed back into life. I bought a Nucast Long Tom kit a little while ago as well so I have that to do after the J6 and horsebox. Speaking of the J6, I made a start on the tender first just to get a feel for chassis building and soldering large white metal castings. No problems were encountered so I made a start on the loco chassis. I had a few issues with the motor but those are now sorted. Unfortunately I lost the grub screw for the gearbox so testing was put on hold and a start was made on the body. After about 3 week's work this is where I am now: The loco will become 3591 as I found photos showing both sides of the engine and it towed the asymmetrical wheelbase tender provided in the kit. I haven't deviated much from the original kit although I changed the chassis fixing points slightly and used the wire provided for the ejector pipe to make the vacuum pipe running along the right hand side of the footplate valence (3591 had the ejector pipe on the inside of the boiler). It's now at the stage where I'm mostly just cleaning bits up or making very small details. Hopefully I'll be able to get the chassis running soon and I think there might be some shorting issues with the body that I'll have to sort out. Regards, Jamie 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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