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Eastwood Town - A tribute to Gordon's modelling.


gordon s
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Spent a lot of time today, just checking the track work and ensuring everything was OK. Yesterday, this loco was the worst of all I had. It barely ran and when it did it bumped through pointwork as though the track was out of gauge or the B2B's incorrect. 

 

DSCF9611.jpg.6958f48a5d6a844da0d9cd1e14ec55ef.jpg

 

Probably one of my favourite loco's. This was built for me way before the Hornby Clan was available by Graham Varley of Ely MRC. He had built several loco's for me before and the build quality was always very high and matched by the running quality which was first class. It pained me to see it struggle yesterday and had it been an eBay purchase, I may well have put it down.

 

Clan's were always a 'lottery win' for a spotter from Platform 10 and the only time I would ever see one was in my school holidays to Glasgow and it's surrounds, so they have always been a very special loco for me. With just 10 built, they were as rare as hens teeth unless you were north of Crewe, so it was high on my list of loco's for ET.

 

The wheels were dirty primarily from sitting in a box for years and there was actually the smallest sign of rust on the steel axles, so no wonder it ran badly. Managed to clean the wheels and a drop of oil on every moving part soon freed it up. As I said, it is a long wheelbase chassis and there is little or no play in the drivers, so not really designed for first radius curves. Spent ages gauging the critical dimensions on all my 00-SF pointwork and they were fine. It all seemed to come down to outside check rail gap, so widening the gauge out to 16.4mm with a 1.2mm check rail gap solved everything and it's great to see it running again with 20 plus wagons.

 

Otherwise all is well. Glad to see RMweb back online and just trying to get my head round the various changes. No doubt in a day or two the old forum will be forgotten and the various uploads will be complete.

Edited by gordon s
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On 27/01/2019 at 22:13, Andrew P said:

Who's Roger? :no:

 

Who's Roger? do you mean Jessica's husband. Here's a drawing of Jessica;


      Jessica.jpg.b4c3e5eb1e1cbbd5e4a638536def8763.jpg

 

 She's OK, likes to play "patty-cake", but she's a bit two dimensional!

 

There is a sketch of Jessica by Karl "souracid" Liversidge that would cause my mate Fred to utter the phrase "yabba a dabba a doo" , I'm not posting it here but here's the link!

https://www.artstation.com/artwork/KDkvx

 

 

Back to Eastwood Town, I like the video and it's good to see the progress that your making Gordon, where's the mucky duck that you modified and weathered , must be almost nine years ago, it would be nice to see it running.

 

Ian

 

 

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I'd forgotten about Jessica, so thanks for sharing that...

 

I wonder if Mrs S would mind if I have the Karl Liversidge pic on the wall....:D

 

I did find the mucky duck last week, but for some reason I'd disconnected the wiring to the tender pick ups. It was the same with the 9F, so they went back in the box until I found some time to heat up the soldering iron and then fully test them both. It was interesting to see the very light dry brush oil I used on the valve gear had completely dried out and gone, so not a great success...;)

 

Nine years ago was spot on and for those new to the thread, this is what we're talking about..

 

IMG_7705.jpg.0825ba600fc83a6850a118c77ae0d276.jpg

 

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9 hours ago, gordon s said:

It was interesting to see the very light dry brush oil I used on the valve gear had completely dried out and gone, so not a great success...;)

 

IMG_7705.jpg.0825ba600fc83a6850a118c77ae0d276.jpg

I remember the oil technique, did it retain the colour despite drying?

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Thanks SS, thats on the agenda for tomorrow. Although I used a gauge to set the distance, the 'frames' are quite flexible until you add the 2mm mdf top. To deal with any movement, I will screw small locator blocks onto the baseboard to hold the frame into position and then glue the top on. Once that is set, you can lift the finished platform up and it will hold its shape. Trim the excess mdf top away and then use PVA to glue down the 1mm cork. The next stage is to trim the cork to make a flush edge.

 

Once that is complete you can add the Peco sides and finally stick on the Slaters brick or stone card and paint. I suspect I will airbrush the platform surface in various shades of grey/black to represent well weathered tarmac. All sounds so easy on paper, so fingers crossed it will go well.

 

I had hoped I would be able to fun run some of my US stock, but it meant widening out the overhang gap, which then looked too wide against a UK coach. I will still run them from time to time, but they will have to be limited to guest appearances on the outer goods relief road as that is the only one that doesn't come up against a platform.

 

I hope Mike (CoBo) doesn't mind me repeating his pics here, as I was impressed with the finished article. I may add another row of slabs inside the edging stones, but am concerned that may complicate the build and detract from the accurate fit of the cork sheet. I guess its a case of try it on a dummy piece first and see if it its worth doing.

 

Something akin to this....

 

https://goo.gl/images/kHGoqn

 

Stoneplasticard005.jpg.22d774444f99cd5d6357a29807a0cfa0.jpg

 

Result006a.jpg.dd011bdcdedda11cf0d32a451a645e89.jpg

 

Result006b.jpg.93ca0610c093d8fd1363d24ce58701db.jpg

 

Golfing a few days next week and the weather forecast seems reasonable, so I'll have further updates as and when....

 

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1 hour ago, PMP said:

I remember the oil technique, did it retain the colour despite drying?

 

I'll pull it out again tomorrow PMP and take some more pics to compare against the one taken nine years ago. Great to touch base with you again as I still recall you teaching me how to use an airbrush all those years ago...

 

As you're here, can I ask your opinion (or anyone else) on weathering and in particular, sealing with Johnsons Klear. Way back in 2007, guys were talking about Klear, so I bought some of the original stuff and it's still in the back of my cupboard and hasn't seen the light of day since. I was considering using it via an airbrush to seal the powdered weathering, but had concerns on two fronts. From what I have read, it dries to a gentle sheen, increasing to a gloss depending on the depth of coverage. Can you limit the coverage to almost a matt finish, or do you have to apply a matt varnish? If that's the case, do you need Klear at all?

 

The second question was the effect of Klear on weathering powders? Will adding any liquid onto weathering powders just cause them to run and lose the effect, or can a gentle application dry without any change to the powder finish?

 

Always grateful for any guidance that can be offered.

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Great progress big G.  Personally I wouldn't use Klear to seal weathering powders. It's sold as a high gloss acrylic but in practice gives something between gloss and satin on models. Keep it for treating your glazing where it really changes the optical characteristics making things look much more like glass. You will need a Matt varnish which as we know is the spawn of the devil and must be used very carefully.

 

Cheers

Dave

 

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Thanks Dave and lovely to hear from you.  How's the golf? Are Phil and Geoff still around?

 

Maybe we can go for another 18 holes once the sun is out....

 

Perhaps I'll just sell the Klear on eBay for £200 per bottle.....:D:rolleyes:

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24 minutes ago, gordon s said:

Thanks Dave and lovely to hear from you.  How's the golf? Are Phil and Geoff still around?

 

Maybe we can go for another 18 holes once the sun is out....

 

Perhaps I'll just sell the Klear on eBay for £200 per bottle.....:D:rolleyes:

 

Haven't spoken to Phil for some while, he's into military dioramas at the moment. Bumped into Geoff at Southampton show a couple of weeks ago.

 

Certainly up for a thrash around the course. Seem to be stuck on  handicap of 17 myself. Not over enthusiastic in all this wet and cold.

 

I think you missed the peak of the market for Klear.  They've recrntly released a new formulation which some say is even better than the old one though you can't buy it in the UK!

 

Now stop surfing the net and get on with those platforms.

 

Cheers

Dave

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As promised PMP, here's a shot of the valve gear when it was originally weathered back in 2010. The dry brushed oil effect gave the valve gear a sheen representative of a working loco that was regularly lubricated, yet left unclean.

 

IMG_8856.jpg.d451e1dc7c81d664f36fcbbb1f597e31.jpg

 

Nine years of storage in a box and the colour is still there, but the sheen has gone as the surface oil has dried out. Of course it wouldn't take a few minutes to brush it over again and restore the original look. 

 

17154696_DSCF9651(1).jpg.4c0390fa3807f6e5a1036706b6561b4d.jpg

 

 

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Blimey!, The airbrush lesson at the members day was a long time ago, I can recall thinking this geezers got talent as you picked it up so quickly! I think the oil might still be captured in the paint texture, it might be worth trying a damp Q-tip to see if it refreshes without adding any more.

 

Re the ‘Klear’ I’ve only used it as either a gloss varnish for a top coat, an undercoat for transfers, or as an adhesive for Shawplan’s laserglaze. At the members day I was using, and still do, Vallejo Matt varnish from an aerosol. It does mute underlying powders, so I tend not to use it very much. I’ve reduced the use of powders significantly too, and am using more of the military modelling techniques and pigments/washes. There’s a whole new hobby almost in using them, and some brilliant YouTube instructional videos, quite a change from that members day!

 

Likewise nice to touch base again 

brgds paul

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I’m so predictable....:D

 

Best I’ve seen Spurs play in ages and yet Jadon Sancho was a real handful in the first half. Thankfully they shut him down in the second half.

 

I’ve spent hours ballasting, so welcomed the break away. As far as ET is concerned, I now have all the materials to get the platforms done, so hope to post another update over the weekend.

 

Golfing tomorrow in the Spring like weather and then the big one on Monday. We’re away to West Berks, with whom we share the lead in our Winter League. Four games to go in our qualifying group, so an away win should see us into the knockout stages for the first time.

 

Bring it on!

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On 09/02/2019 at 22:22, gordon s said:

CoBO's method utilised Peco platform edging strip ...

 

Basically you cut off all the rear mounts from the edging and then attach it to the front of the mdf strip. This gives a 3mm recess into which the platform surface can be constructed with 2mm mdf sheet and 1mm cork on top. The finished article then has the edging stones in place with a good flush surface. A few strips of Slaters card in brick or stone and it should look acceptable.

 

 

Hey Gordon:

 

Sorry to interrupt: this beginner is a bit confused about the Peco platform edging.  I see LK-60/1/2, which is OO edging in brick/stone/concrete, but you're using Slater's, so either there's another type of edging I haven't found, or you're removing or ignoring the Peco textures.

 

cheers

Dean

 

PS: many thanks for the tip many pages ok to print track plans on 160gsm paper!

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Sorry about the confusion. The edging I'm using is the brick version which is supplied like this with a set of self adhesive brick paper. This is the rear face.

 

DSCF9653.jpg.215aa033f09c12e35db01bfd12d13ca5.jpg

 

The first thing to do is cut and off all the projections on the back, so it looks like this.

 

DSCF9654.jpg.722c6290f0950a04226f16da8b0bdb8d.jpg

 

...and then I cut Slaters brick Plasticard into 15mm strips which will be glued on the front face to replace the self adhesive brick paper.

 

DSCF9655.jpg.e338a7322d3ba58c0ab5edbf260319ab.jpg

 

The edging strip is stuck on the 15mm mdf strips and then a top surface made up of 2mm mdf and 1mm cork sheet is added and this will sit flush with the edging stones of the Peco strip.

 

Hope that all makes sense....

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Hi Phil, glad to hear you're OK. I did wonder if you had moved abroad as I'm sure you mentioned that years ago. More than happy to do Wetherspoons, but unless there's some smoky things about, I'll stay with the beer option......

 

Give me a little time and we could have a running session here. Never thought I'd be able to say that.....:D

 

I'll even get my good lady to rustle up a curry....

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