First Attempt - and a Mk1 Flush Glazing Question

[Andrew D]

Hello folks, 

 

My first post on RM Web! 

 

I've just returned to hobby after 23 years of playing with the real thing, and am having a play at renovating some of my old 1970s Hornby wagons and Mark 1 coaches. 

 

The vans were missing roofs so I made some out of plasticard (shaped by holding to a strategic cup of tea!) and painted them up using Poundland grey spray primer (which I am AMAZED at how good it is!) and instead of buying expensive paints (as this was a try-out) I mixed my own with a £4 set of Acrylic Primary colours from The Works. Frustrated that Humbrol weathering powders seem to be perpetually out of stock, I bought a £5 box of pastels from The Works. For the coach, I did buy Humbrol Rail Colour Maroon in case I go on to do more coaches. All sealed with Testors Dullcoat. 

 

I am DELIGHTED with the results with one huge exception - and that is the South Eastern Finecast Flush Glazing. The larger parts of the windows seem to fit OK, but I could never get the small ventilators to sit properly. As a result, I feel it has spoiled the who appearance of the coach. I can live with incorrectly spaced numbers, slightly skew lining (I did not enjoy using the Pressfix transfers but with practice I'll get better) and general lack of detail. I was NOT after imitating a prototype, just making the coach appear more realistic. 

 

Please, can anyone recommend 'rigid' flush glazing for Hornby Triang Mark 1s instead of the 'soft' SE Finecast? 

 

I am over the moon with the effect on the wagons. The Guard's van is a bit of a mess but I can live with that... the main thing is, they look much improved on the originals. I don't this kind of van is prototypical anyway? The 'pastel scrapings onto wet hairspray' weathering effect on the darker-coloured roof I am especially pleased with. 

 

Anyway, thanks for allowing me to share my first achievement! Here's to many more - especially if I can sourced decent flush glazing. 

 

Many thanks, 

 

Andrew 

 

 

[HonestTom]

Hi Andrew, welcome back to the hobby. I love what you've done with this stock, and that heavy weathering looks great. I'm a big fan of using cheaper products in modelling - I have a couple of palettes of cheap eyeshadow that I use as weathering powder myself. The brake van is loosely based on an LNER example, but isn't a great model, so yeah, basically freelance. The vans are based on Hull & Barnsley Railway prototypes, albeit, again, somewhat dimensionally compromised and mounted on a chassis that bears no resemblance to the original.

 

Re the small windows, you might look up a product called Glue 'n' Glaze. It's designed for flush glazing smaller windows - as the name suggests, it's a glue-like substance that you stretch across the window opening.

[Andrew D]

Cheers Tom! Eyeshadow is something that never occurred to me - something else to nick from my Mum!

Top tip about the Glue & Glaze, thank you! I think that will rescue that coach, and of it goes well then I’ll go ahead and do the other 3. I might get the lining straight by the end of it

Thanks again.  

[Corbs]

Hi Andrew, great job re-invigorating the old stock. What I found with SEF flush glazing was that I had to cut every piece out individually as it would never fit properly as a 'group'.

[Andrew D]

Cheers Corbs. Yes I cut each window individually, I guess you mean it’s best to cut each glazing section of each window. I might have a go at that as I still have some spare windows, thanks for the tip! 

[MJI]

Replica glazing requires a lot more work as the window holes are slightly too deep for it.

 

The RMB is fine but BSK CK are a tiny bit too deep and it shows.

[Andrew F]

On a lot of old models you have to take a long scalpel blade to the inner edges of the window frames to get SE Flushglaze to fit without forcing and crushing. It's a pain (pane?) but worth the effort.

[RobMG]

On ‎28‎/‎03‎/‎2019 at 19:57, Andrew D said:

Cheers Tom! Eyeshadow is something that never occurred to me - something else to nick from my Mum!

Top tip about the Glue & Glaze, thank you! I think that will rescue that coach, and of it goes well then I’ll go ahead and do the other 3. I might get the lining straight by the end of it

Thanks again.  

Another way to make weathering powder is to grind  soft pastels or chalk pastels into powder. This makes excellent weathering

 

Cheap pastels can be bought at 'The Works'  I have paid £4 for a pack of  Grey to black. and the same for colours which include browns etc

 

Rob

[jonny777]

On 29/03/2019 at 00:35, Andrew D said:

Cheers Corbs. Yes I cut each window individually, I guess you mean it’s best to cut each glazing section of each window. I might have a go at that as I still have some spare windows, thanks for the tip! 

 

 

Yes, it is a pain glazing old stock, as I found out when trying to do some ancient 8 compartment suburban coaches. 3 pieces to be cut out for each compartment and 2x8 to do both sides...

 

The problem (as you say) is that many of the ones fit perfectly, but there are always a few which ruin the whole vehicle by being awkward or not fitting too well. 

 

The one thing which really finished me off was when fitting the coach sides/roof back to the underframe, one window piece would fall back into the coach as I finally clicked it all together.  Aaaaaarrrrgh, does not do it justice. 

 

Anyway, the point of all that is - welcome to the madhouse; don't give up, most of us have been there and have no hair or fingernails as a result, so we sympathise with your plight.  

[Andrew F]

It's also best to ignore the recomendation of using liquid poly/mek in the instructions to secure the glazing as it won't work and can leak and damage the paint finish.

Better to use something like R/C glue and glaze/canopy glue. This is water soluble so can be thinned down and work in a capilary action around the panes.

[chuffinghell]

A fellow returner, welcome back to the hobby

 

I too can vouch for Glue N Glaze for glazing in small window openings, Its also good for attaching glazing as it dries clear.

 

I also use it for attaching etched name/number plates to locos as its gives plenty of time for adjustment and alignment and the surplus wipes away with a damp cotton bud leaving no marks or mess behind

 

Chris

[Andrew D]

On 04/04/2019 at 14:49, RobMG said:

Another way to make weathering powder is to grind  soft pastels or chalk pastels into powder. This makes excellent weathering

 

Cheap pastels can be bought at 'The Works'  I have paid £4 for a pack of  Grey to black. and the same for colours which include browns etc

 

Rob

 

Cheers Rob! Yes, I bought them there very pastels and am very pleased. 

 

On 04/04/2019 at 15:16, jonny777 said:

 

Anyway, the point of all that is - welcome to the madhouse; don't give up, most of us have been there and have no hair or fingernails as a result, so we sympathise with your plight.  

 

 

Thanks Jonny. I didn't have the hair to even start with! ;@) It's nice to know I'm not the only one, cheers! 

 

 

On 04/04/2019 at 16:41, chuffinghell said:

A fellow returner, welcome back to the hobby

 

I too can vouch for Glue N Glaze for glazing in small window openings, Its also good for attaching glazing as it dries clear.

 

I also use it for attaching etched name/number plates to locos as its gives plenty of time for adjustment and alignment and the surplus wipes away with a damp cotton bud leaving no marks or mess behind

 

Chris

 

Cheers Chris. I shall deffo give Glue n Glaze a go. I can't wait to try and fill in the little ventilator windows and see if that rescues the job. 

 

 

 

Folks told me that this was a friendly and supportive group of people on here and they were absolutely right. Cheers all!