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6 hours ago, chuffinghell said:

Fantastic modelling and a great scene

 

but you’re quite right about him looking scary, it almost looks like he reaching for a gun :lol:

Looks a bit like my dad, and I was terrified of him!

Edited by The Johnster
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Couple of photos showing some weathered wagons.  (sorry if weathering is not your thing).   

 

The first is a close up of a box van.

 

The second -  empty coal wagons (ex private owner) leaving Dewchurch

 

If anyone is interested - I adopt the following process when weathering rolling stock.  (Most/all of which has probably been covered in numerous magazine articles on weathering).  I am always happy to nick good techniques.

 

With wooden bodied ex private owner wagons I use a fibre glass pen to partly remove and distress the lettering.  With all wooden bodied wagons and parcel vans, I then paint the odd plank with Humbrol enamel natural wood (to replicate any repairs).  I then use a bow pen to run thinned acrylic paint (in my case Tamiya Nato Black acrylic), into all the gaps between the planks, and also along any horizontal, diagonal and vertical bracing. Basically anywhere I think dirt will accumulate.  I then airbrush the underframe (and roofs of box vans, carriages, parcel vans) with thinned Nato black acrylic. Whilst this is still wet on the underframe I then airbrush various thinned Lifecolour colours, (frame dirt, track dirt, sleeper grime).  I then let it all dry to see what it looks like.  (The reason for overspraying colours when wet is they run into each other and can give interesting subtle shades).   I inevitably end up airbrushing subtle shades of the above colours onto the underframes, and possibly more Nato black on the roofs.  I also give the wagon bodies a misting of the same colours to tone things down.  When that has all dried, and I am satisfied with it, I then dry brush the planking and bracing with a Humbrol light grey enamel.  Trick here is to use very little paint, and just high light areas which are weather damaged.  I may also dry brush a rust colour (suitably darkened), onto metal parts.   I sometimes add weathering powder to the rust colour to give it texture when I am adding rust patches to locos, and steel mineral wagons.  Again with any metal edge e.g. loco steps, steel mineral wagon doors, tops of steel mineral wagon bodies, brake handles- I dry brush a metallic colour which just gives an impression that the thing is made of metal and not plastic.       

 

 I add a blob of grease (Tamiya gunmetal) onto buffer heads, and then if needed apply various transfers (Typically P numbers to ex private owner wagons). 

 

Hope you stayed with me and that was not too boring !                   

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Edited by Gopher
added "s" to magazine articles
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Nice weathering - really adds to realism of layout. Only thing on those wagons for me are the bright wheel rims .... worth dulling down too?

 

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Edited by Phil Bullock
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Thanks Phil.  Do you know I have never noticed that.  I agree with you, and will add as a job to my work list.  Sometimes my airbrushing covers the wheels (or part of the wheels if I forget to rotate them when spraying).  This of course looks even worse. I appreciate the feedback.     

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Of course you have to have the much modelled cameo - bus crossing a bridge on a layout !    This is the bridge at the end of the countryside section before the scenic break. 

 

Hedge on the left is made from pan scourer and scenic scatter material from Green Scene.   All Looks quite idyllic in the sun shine !

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Thanks Paul, yes I generally try to use road transport that as well as being geographically suitable, also matches the 1950s and early 1960s time period.  Having said that I got tempted at the last Warley show to buy the Rapido Guy Arab in the West Midlands PTE livery.  Although my layout is based loosely in the West Midlands/Welsh Marches area, I think it unlikely that West Midlands PTE ranged that far, plus I think it is a 1970s  vehicle.  Oh Well, it is still a beautifully detailed model !      

Edited by Gopher
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View of the farm cottage.  Wills craftsman kit, scenery is static grass (various sources), plus various Woodland Scenics materials. Bushes are horsehair covered in Green scene scatter, and the tree in the foreground is a Treemendus tree kit, good fun to make, plus you can make quite large trees.       

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Dewchurch gas works.  Ready to plant buildings, so not much modelling involved apart from scenery, some weathering of the Hornby buildings, and constructing and weathering the Walthers Gas holder.  I did add some additional pipework from the retort house to try and make it look a bit more proto-typical.   

 

The gas holder is an H0 scale kit, it does not look too out of place given it's size.         

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When it's not filling in on the Cornishman (a WR set would be less unsuitable because at least it has 2nd class accommodation), there's no reason it can't turn up on a charter.  Perhaps Dewhurst, like many towns in the area (e.g. Hereford, Worcester, Leominster), has a racecourse that attracts such traffic.

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Thank you Johnster.  I like your thinking.  I do indeed run specials into Dewchurch (mainly as an excuse to run locos and rolling stock from other regions).   The rationale for these specials is a bit dubious, (Dewchurch is certainly not a tourist or cultural hotspot), so I imagine they are football specials (can't see a Blue Pullman being used for those in the 1960s though).  Race specials make much more sense, and I actually have a few horse boxes on the rolling stock list.  So a typical race day would see a mixture of trains arriving at the station, with the Blue Pullman exclusively reserved for the great and the good !         

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This is a photo posted earlier on in this thread.  It is a street scene I constructed a few years ago.  Why am I posting it again you may well ask ?  Well I have just noticed a mistake on one of the buildings on the left.   The red brick shop has the first and second floors upside down.   I mean for Pete's sake it is only a three piece kit (ground floor, first/second floor and roof).  So God knows how I made this error, and have not noticed it hiding in full view for the last few years.  I am sure my wife will have a theory on this, and prove her long held theory that I have selective sight as well as hearing .  

 

I thought O.K I will live with the error.  (I have done so in ignorance for a few years).  The layout is far from perfect, and I happily live with other inconsistencies, but this particular fault is really bugging me.  So it has to go.  I doubt I can correct it without damaging the plaster cast moulding.  So I have removed the building, and will replace it with (hopefully) some Petite Properties half relief shops. 

 

In these strange times I am also taking the opportunity to replace a few other buildings on the layout.   The originals were half relief scratch built by me, and I think  just do not come up to the standard of the various kit buildings on the layout.            

 

I will post some before and after photos in due course.  In the mean time I am off to get my eyes tested (or maybe not at the moment) ! 

 

   

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Edited by Gopher
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That, Gopher, is an excellent early 60s street scene.  My eyes were drawn to the incorrect (for the period) font on Lloyd's Bank, rather than the upside down upper floors next door, which simply blended in!  How strange to see a bank without a cashpoint...  The problem is that, once you know something is wrong, you can't avoid looking at it and being disturbed by it unless you knew it was wrong when you built it and decided to live with it.  For example, I knew when I bought it that my Hornby 2721 was all sorts of wrong, but still bought it and have improved what I can on it; it is now less wrong than it was but has irresolvable problems with wheel spacing that I simply live with because I want to retain the fluted coupling rods which are correct for my prototype, thus justifying to my satisfaction the living with it.  OTOH my Dapol Fruit D is bothering me because I found out after I'd been using it for some time that the body dimensions are all out of kilter, and am building a Parkside which may replace it.  The Parkside is a move in the right direction scale wise, but has actually worsened the situation as it only shows the Dapol up in a worse light.  I'm toying (oh, Johnster, you're such a tease!) with the idea of scrapping the Dap and using it's more robust footsteps and the roof, which would have to be trimmed by about 1mm each side but has rainstrips and better shell vents, on the Parkside.  Thus are the paths that dissatisfaction leads us down...

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@Gopher I've only just found your thread - top marks on your scenery and modelling!

 

I know Adrian (of L&B) and he is considered one of the better weatherers. I have his set of weathered cement wagons - perhaps I too, should have a go!

 

Keep showing us what you do.

 

Cheers and take care out there,

 

Philip

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Thanks Bogie, yes you even see some c*** ups on Victorian buildings, problem is this error on my layout is now "in me head", so it is messing with my mind, and has to go.

 

Thank you Johnster - I have been following your thread on your Fruit D - keep persevering.  You are right there are  degrees of wrong.  Hard to get perfection in anything, but I guess we all strive to make things as good as they can be and improve on obvious faults.  I must say your powers of observation are brilliant.  The Lloyds Bank sign is a 1970s sign.  My first proper job was with Lloyds so I scanned something I had and scaled it down to make the sign.  I think I have found a more appropriate sign on the Internet so will try and replace it.  Hard to imagine nowadays banks without ATMs/cashpoints. Back in the day most small branches simply relied on the good old cashier on the counter who cashed cheques, took deposits, and then had to balance their till manually at the end of the day.  Different world !      

 

Philip - thanks so much for the compliment.  I will keep posting.  In my view Adrian was one of the pioneers in weathering.  I remember visiting the old shop in the Pumping station, and marvelling at the weathered models.  I am pretty sure there were few others offering this service at the time.   So no doubt he inspired me.   I understand you are Peter's brother ?  I grew up in South Wales, so model shops (and  many other things) in Cardiff were a magnet to me.   Bud Morgan,  John Hall tools, James & Lendon,  Beatties,  and in later years Lord & Butler (to name a few).   

 

So thanks to all who commented and "liked" the latest photos   - be careful out there (as they used to say on Hill Street Blues).      

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I've got three projects planned to replace some of the buildings on the layout.  The buildings to be replaced are scratch built half relief, plus the faulty shop referred to in the post above.

 

Anyway - project 1 has just been completed.  This was to replace a shop and cafe in Station Road.  So first photo shows the building to be replaced.

 

Second photo shows the bare scene.  I temporarily removed another half relief building because I thought I may as well replace the pavement as well.

 

Third and fourth photos (to be posted next) shows the new buildings and pavement.  The pavement is Metcalfe Models paving.  Ethel's new cafe is a Petite Properties kit.  This is the first Petite Properties kit I have made.  It is a great little kit, you just need to finish it off with paint, and suitable wall and roof material.  I used a Redutex brick sheet for the walls, and Petite Properties plain roof tile strips for the roof.  The other new building  is from Townstreet Models - hardware shop (this time with the upper stories the right way up). 

 

More to follow !       

 

 

 

 

     

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I should add that I added a bit of detail to both new buildings.  Both received down pipes, and Ethel's cafe had guttering added, plus stone arches over the two upper floor windows, and of course advertising signs etc.   

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Night Owl 4705 about to reverse onto its train in Platform 2 Dewchurch.  Loco arrived with a special, was fed and watered at the loco depot, and rostered for the return journey in the afternoon.

 

I like this Heljan model.  I have added a sound decoder (You Choos Manor sounds), a decent speaker in the tender, and added crew (Modelu) and coal, lamps etc.  Also lightly weathered it.   It is a heavy loco and negotiates some of the more challenging point work pretty well.  I have found that if a loco derails - as well as checking back to backs, track etc, adding weight can help it stay on the track.   I have one Hornby pacific where the front bogie always failed to navigate a cross over on the layout.  Other locos had no problem.  I tried various tweaks on the bogie, new wheels etc.  I finally solved the issue by adding more weight to the front of the loco.  We live and learn !               

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