Adam's EM Workbench: Farewell for now

[Pugsley]

The reason I don't work in 7mm is because I'd have a compulsion to put all the detail on and down that road insanity lies.

Yep, I can confirm that is a definite risk of 7mm scale.

 

Wibble.

 

That's stunning attention to detail on the shock wagon 8)

[Guest jim s-w]

Hi adam

 

I dunno if you know but mainly trains do a sheet of rivetted straps for wagons.

 

Hth

 

Jim

[Adam]

Hi Jim

 

Yes, I have one of these etches somewhere but for some reason, I think it was the uneven planking on the sides (which are also slightly taller than a normal 5 plank), they weren't suitable for this one. A handy thing to have in the spares box though. Pugsley, having done a couple of 7mm wagons for club competitions (beaten on each occasion by my dad...) I have been there and done that. That said, Dave Parkins' forthcoming etched minerals look very tempting indeed.

 

Adam

[Adam]

What should be the last update on this particular wagon for a while - I'm back in construction mode - showing the post '64 blocks indicating a shock vehicle rather than the familiar stripes. That these appear on Bauxite seems correct according to my interpretation of a Dave Larkin photo. I had to do it this way really - dad's example of the breed has the stripes.

 

 

Note the witness mark where I've made the block on the door slightly over width, one of the perils of doing these things freehand with a small brush. Weathering will obscure this. This also shows the brake cylinder side, note the difference in brake gear.

 

Adam

Edited October 10, 2012 by Adam

[Colin parks]

What should be the last update on this particular wagon for a while - I'm back in construction mode - showing the post '64 blocks indicating a shock vehicle rather than the familiar stripes. That these appear on Bauxite seems correct according to my interpretation of a Dave Larkin photo. I had to do it this way really - dad's example of the breed has the stripes.

 

 

Note the witness mark where I've made the block on the door slightly over width, one of the perils of doing these things freehand with a small brush. Weathering will obscure this. This also shows the brake cylinder side, note the difference in brake gear.

 

Adam

 

Hi Adam,

 

Nice wagon, I like your attention to detail. It's a bit late now for this wagon but:

 

We have sign writer in the village. He has a trick for really neat lines of lettering etc. : Run a piece of masking tape at the top and bottom of your line of lettering (or white squares in this case), then all you have to worry about is getting the vertical edges correctly placed. Another trick is to gloss varnish the areas to be painted first, then any roughly painted edges can be corrected with a spirit-dampned brush - a la Ian Rathbone. (It doesn't work on matt painted surfaces though.)

 

All the best,

 

Colin

[Adam]

Hi Colin

 

Great tips. I've used some of these myself though here, the top and bottom edges are on plank lines so didn't really think it worth the effort. When doing a bit of small scale signwriting per the Medifit below - I may yet do the same with the Shock - I have done as you suggest with the tape. It's much easier on gloss surfaces like lorry cabs (yes, I've done that too...)

 

 

Weathering does go a long, long way to hiding rough edges and will here I suspect.

 

Adam

Edited October 10, 2012 by Adam

[Colin parks]

Hi Adam,

 

Sorry if I was being a littlle didactic re. lettering.

 

Looking at the Medfit pictured in post #56, I can see I have nothing to teach you. The rusty buffer shanks are superb (as are the metal repair plates - th r/h one is even rusty - nice!). I shall be studying this photo for a while...

 

Colin

Edited October 11, 2012 by Colin parks

[Adam]

No worries Colin, they are excellent tips so there's no need to apologise. The Paul Bartlett picture the Medfit was based on hasn't survived the transition from Fotopic sadly. The best pictures - for my purposes - are Paul's early shots from the Feltham and Staines area since they're spot on for period and location and this one was a direct lift from the prototype. Last time dad and I had a count I think we had 20 or more P Way spoil carriers, probably enough to be going on with...

 

Adam

[Adam]

And now, as is often written, for something completely different, in terms of prototype at least. Still wagons though, just rubber-tyred. They are related however is as much as these are examples of more miniature sign-writing - seen on the Medifit above - or my advanced state of hair-shirted finescale eccentricity

 

You can blame Geoff Kent for these as well. Although MRJ 40 will always be remembered for Hursley, it was one of the other articles in, by Geoff, on scratchbuilding 4mm scale road vehicles which really caught my imagination. Now I'm really not as good as he is at this since mine use Frank Waller (Road Transport Images) components rather than doing it all from plastic sheet, though the tipper bodies here are all my own work. Really, this is about the paint job rather than the modelling since the hard part, the cab, has been bought in and looks so much better than the readily-available Base Toys alternative.

 

 

 

Frank can supply transfers but I wanted to model a specific vehicle - the AEC featured here - found in a book on Somerset and Dorset hauliers and decided that custom transfers weren't worth the hassle and expense for a single vehicle. There's a local connection for me since I was brought up in Yeovil albeit a long time after wagons like these were about If you know the town, Bird Brothers built the Concrete batching plant near Pen Mill Station in Yeovil, just out of shot to the left in this George Woods picture (but the image is just too nice not to include on so many levels) which is still there, though not served by vehicles as elegant to look at as this AEC Mercury.

 

Enlargement is quite cruel but at real size, the lettering very effective: the black shading fools the brain into thinking all is neater than it really is. Unlike Geoff Kent, who wisely uses a mapping pen, I've taught myself how to do this using a size 000 brush, strong light and a lot of patience, applied in small batches. Each cab door took about four hits and the trick, if that's what it is, is to remove any below par work and, as Colin notes, to tidy up rough edges with a thinners moistened brush or careful application of the base colour round the edges. This is especially helpful for the voids in letters like 'B' or 'R' or 'P'. A mapping pen is probably much easier!

 

 

I'm quite pleased by the worn quality to the lettering on the cab roof by the way which is a feature of the prototype and achieved completely by accident - excessive handling I'm afraid which rubbed the sign-writing off the gloss finish (several coats of Johnson's Klear over matt Humrol enamel). Until I went back to the prototype shots I was really annoyed about this. Like so many things, it's almost finished - the curved cab rear quarter lights need glazing - Fererro Rocher boxes - and then it can be weathered.

 

Adam

[matt_uk]

That looks really good! I like the RTI parts as well - very versatile and have built a couple of models using his parts. Can I ask where you get / how you make the wing mirrors?

[Adam]

Thanks Matt, the mirrors are simply short lengths of 0.3mm nickel silver wire soldered to scraps of leftover etch. You can get an etch of various shape mirrors from Scalelink (I'll try and link to their site when I've got a minute to find it - EDIT, see here: http://www.scalelink.co.uk/acatalog/General___Scale_1_76__OO__Varieuse.html item no. SLF137 - which are good but the etched on arms are better replaced with wire to make them more durable.

 

Hope this helps

 

Adam

Edited October 12, 2012 by Adam

[Tim Hale]

found in a book on Somerset and Dorset hauliers

 

Please tell us more

 

Thanks

 

Tim

[Adam]

Hi Tim

 

The book is 'Family Affairs Illustrated Histories Of Haulage Contractors From Somerset And Dorset' by Michael Marshall. A very interesting volume, mostly drawing on the archives of the companies involved and well-illustrated and well-researched, the companies include general hauliers and specialists from steam lorries to modern artics (some of the companies are still in operation I think). The best bit, for modelling purposes, is the selection of colour pictures at the back but the text is full of useful information. Full details in the link Tim: http://www.nynehead-books.co.uk/description.php?II=806

 

I should come clean at this point: I know this lorry existed - details are in an appendix at the back - and would have been in this livery but I don't actually have a picture. Lots of the same company's cement mixers, and I am tempted to do one of these later, however!

 

Adam

[Tim Hale]

Adam,

 

When we lived in Yeovil, my neighbour used to drive the mixers for S Morris on Pen Mill Trading Estate, was that once Bird's?

 

Excellent model, the book is on my wishlist.

 

Tim

[Adam]

I don't think so Tim. Bird Brothers were bought out by Amey in 1968 and subsequently became part of ARC and thence Lafarge. S. Morris was a contemporary of the Birds and that company is still going - though I've always thought of them as operating out of the Lynx trading estate? - see their website: http://www.smorris.c...bout-us_174.htm

 

The former Birds' site now seems to be owned and operated by Bardon (off Buckland Road) though I suspect that there is little if anything left from those days. It's a good book, highly recommended. Thanks too for the comments on the model, it's a nice livery and I think these Mercurys were the most attractive vehicles made by AEC. I saw the other day that there's a skip and tipper operator in the Southampton area with very similar colours, and even modern lorries which are pretty characterless by and large, look very smart in that combination.

 

While I think of it, I don't suppose anyone out there has come across a colour picture showing one of Bradford's lorries from the '60s? They had depots from Sherborne across south Somerset and East Devon (and now far beyond). They were yellow later and probably different again by now but clearly some dark colour in that period.

 

Adam

Edited October 13, 2012 by Adam

[Tim Hale]

Adam

 

May I ask. What do you consider to be a suitable delivery vehicle for a feed and seed merchant- Dorset Farmers Ltd - in the late 50's? Something different from Austin K3's would be welcome.

 

Tim

[Adam]

Hi Tim, my guess is that operators like that would probably be after something at the mass produced end if the market - Bedfords or Ford Thames, Austins or Morris Commercials most likely - but by the mid 50s these would probably be something a bit more modern than the bonneted O or ET6. The better known British makes (AEC, Leyland, Guy, Foden for example) tended to be the province of general hauliers or the slightly heavier lorry. The 'Big Bedford' (S type) seems to have been fairly ubiquitous, but the later bonneted Bedfords (such as the A and D types) were just the kind of thing too as do things like Commer QX or variants on the Austin Loadstar or Morris FJ. Any of those with a dropside body would be about right I guess. None of these can be had as anything other than kits however.

That said, there was a seed wholesaler in Yeovil that ran an 8 legger Foden on distance work, but that would be atypical, though many operators in the SW would have a couple of 6 wheelers for bulk work to Avonmouth and going on the pictures LAD cab Albion Reivers (introduced '58) or Leyland Octopus (eight wheeled, obviously!) weren't uncommon. Far too exotic for delivery work which is what I'm guessing you're after though.

Adam

Edited May 19, 2018 by Adam

[Tim Hale]

Hi Adam,

 

The Loadstar and Commer QX have always been most attractive, many thanks.

 

Tim

[Guest jim s-w]

Same attention to everything else as paid to the trains themselves - Great stuff

 

Cheers

 

Jim

[matt_uk]

Thanks Matt, the mirrors are simply short lengths of 0.3mm nickel silver wire soldered to scraps of leftover etch. You can get an etch of various shape mirrors from Scalelink (I'll try and link to their site when I've got a minute to find it - EDIT, see here: http://www.scalelink...__Varieuse.html item no. SLF137 - which are good but the etched on arms are better replaced with wire to make them more durable.

 

Hope this helps

 

Adam

 

Many thanks for that information and a really useful link, Adam. They certainly look the part.

[griffgriff]

Oh I do love a nice wagon... a lovely set of models, I admire anyone who pays attention to wagon under-frames, especially brake gear ... keep them coming wont you.

 

Cheers

 

Griff

[Adam]

Having acquired a tin of 'Freight Brown' at Warley, my Coil H has progressed a little further, enough to show something of the effect I was after when sculpting Miliput into the folds of the hood. The poor quality of the photos doesn't show these to their best advantage, but I think the effort has been generally successful. Poor though they are, the pictures reveal the need for further touching up prior to weathering and a more thorough stir of my tin of Matt Chocolate. It will not have to wait until I bite the bullet and get some custom transfers produced.

 

This will, in turn, have to wait for some other wagons to get to an appropriate point (unless there really is someone out there who might do custom decals for a single vehicle at a reasonable rate? Any ideas folks?)

 

 

 

While I was in a painting mood, I dug the current batch of 16 ton minerals out of the box file and gave them a first pass with some weathering colours. Here's just one, which actually copies a prototype, heavily replated and beaten up example, recorded at Wern Tarw Colliery - B 223718. Note that this is very much the 'first pass' on the weathering and needs more work to bring the depth of the rust and the grey up to the mark. It's coming on though.

 

 

Adam

Edited November 29, 2012 by Adam

[micknich2003]

Your projects are well outside my time scale, but excallent work, keep it up. Mick.

[Colin parks]

Hi Adam,

 

Really nice work on the wagons. Re. transfers: Perhaps you could have a good think about all the wagons you are likely to make in the future that will require transfers not covered by the trade. Then you could get some sheets of lettering for mixed wagon types printed to suit your specific needs and spread the cost.

 

All the best,

 

Colin

[Adam]

Thanks Colin

 

I've been thinking about that and you're right, that's certainly the best option. Now all I need to do is work out which wagons... which would entail a degree of planning I'm not used to!

 

I've fancied doing an SR Ferry open for some time, assuming Dave Franks at Lanarkshire Model Supplies gets the appropriate buffers sorted. There's a few steel carriers as well - I quite fancy a couple of Coil K using Cambrian bogies or joining DOGA just to buy some Warflats, which were also converted to Coil carriers. That said, there are quite a few little awkward bits, especially some of the '60s boxed lettering elements (which are a swine to paint freehand) which would benefit from this approach. Since the Coil H seems to be a tinplate vehicle, it seems that we want some more shocvans as well. Ho hum.

 

Adam