sdw7300 Posted July 1, 2015 Share Posted July 1, 2015 More fantastic work James! The scratches & resulting rust runs look very effective. Do you print your TOPS panels / logos etc onto transfers/decal paper or just regular paper & glue them on? Many thanks Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium James Makin Posted July 1, 2015 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted July 1, 2015 (edited) More fantastic work James! The scratches & resulting rust runs look very effective. Do you print your TOPS panels / logos etc onto transfers/decal paper or just regular paper & glue them on? Many thanks Thanks Sam! The TOPS panels I normally just print onto regular photo paper and glue them on, if I was tackling a really 'special' project like the Electrostar or the 4-VEP I'd make an effort to get the transfer paper and print it off on a laser printer from somewhere* (doesn't seem to work as well on my home inkjet) but for little wagons generally I can't be bothered with the hassle of doing that! My top tip is actually to go for the cheaper end of the photographic paper market, get some super-thin stuff with low GSM value and it's normally better than the thicker heavyweight premium type - when put on the wagon body you can barely see the outlines as a result! Often I will cover a whole panel entirely with paper, printed the same as the body colour of the wagon to disguise the joins if it is anticipated to be challenging - as on that faded blue Mainline OCA 112001 from a few weeks back, or some of the OBAs from last year where I'll put on the TOPS panel and then use a scalpel to carve back in the missing planking over the top! Once weathered the colour often fades down and behaves very similarly to any other part of the wagon, just try not to get it too wet before varnishing! Edited July 1, 2015 by James Makin Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rob D2 Posted July 1, 2015 Share Posted July 1, 2015 Niiiiiccceeee Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sdw7300 Posted July 1, 2015 Share Posted July 1, 2015 Thanks Sam! The TOPS panels I normally just print onto regular photo paper and glue them on, if I was tackling a really 'special' project like the Electrostar or the 4-VEP I'd make an effort to get the transfer paper and print it off on a laser printer from somewhere* (doesn't seem to work as well on my home inkjet) but for little wagons generally I can't be bothered with the hassle of doing that! My top tip is actually to go for the cheaper end of the photographic paper market, get some super-thin stuff with low GSM value and it's normally better than the thicker heavyweight premium type - when put on the wagon body you can barely see the outlines as a result! Often I will cover a whole panel entirely with paper, printed the same as the body colour of the wagon to disguise the joins if it is anticipated to be challenging - as on that faded blue Mainline OCA 112001 from a few weeks back, or some of the OBAs from last year where I'll put on the TOPS panel and then use a scalpel to carve back in the missing planking over the top! Once weathered the colour often fades down and behaves very similarly to any other part of the wagon, just try not to get it too wet before varnishing! Thanks James. I tried used self adhesive labels for my recent TDA project. They came out ok but have to position them right first time as you can't "slide" them into position. Will hunt out some thin photo paper. Cheers 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rob D2 Posted July 19, 2015 Share Posted July 19, 2015 I've gotta say it's partially your work James, that has got me eyeing up the forthcoming 37s from Bachmann in EWS and mainline, ids there a place in my life for a mid - late 90s plank ?? 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
class"66" Posted July 19, 2015 Share Posted July 19, 2015 Yer ive also got my eye on EWS 37 and mainline 37 too 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rob D2 Posted July 19, 2015 Share Posted July 19, 2015 Neil you've already got a 100 37s ! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium James Makin Posted July 20, 2015 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted July 20, 2015 I've gotta say it's partially your work James, that has got me eyeing up the forthcoming 37s from Bachmann in EWS and mainline, ids there a place in my life for a mid - late 90s plank ?? Thanks Rob! There must always be a place for a late 90s plank! The trouble with my 'plank' plan is that it's developed into a complete new small layout plan haha! Really looking forward to getting started on it, hopefully later this year after getting more done on Loftus Rd! Looking forward to hearing how your develops! Yer ive also got my eye on EWS 37 and mainline 37 too Very tempting! Only challenge is they already come weathered, would've been better for renumbering if Bachmann left these ex works! 37248 'Midland Railway Centre' has been on my 'to do' list for a while but I fancy doing it with a bit of a washed out look! Neil you've already got a 100 37s ! There was 309 though, I make that another 200+ models to go?! 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rob D2 Posted July 21, 2015 Share Posted July 21, 2015 Good stuff, I was toying with the idea of 248 as well, there were so many interesting 37s In that period before a tidal wave of sheds came and knocked them out. It's kind of nostaligia about how I got back in modelling as well - in 98 I went to the legendary Toton open day and brought a Lima 37057 ' Viking ' in the new and funky EWS colours , this was followed by 37219 in mainline. They then sat in a drawer under my bed for a year and a half until I thought I needed somewhere to run them. Mainline blue was my favourite colour and very relevant to the south east where I was brought up. strangely there are many photos of manline stuff in EWS days, but not much when it was just mainline in its own 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium James Makin Posted July 27, 2015 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted July 27, 2015 (edited) It's been fairly quiet on my threads lately as I pile in the hours on detailing and finishing First Great Western HST coaching stock - nearly there now, but with such fiddly and monotonous tasks repeated eight times over, I often get distracted! In between work and while waiting for glues and paints to dry etc, I've knocked up another cheeky little VGA! VGA wagon by James Makin by jamesmakin2002, on Flickr Joining the fleet today is VGA 210618 - like the others, a replica of the prototype photographed at Didcot on MOD traffic in the early 2000s. I'll be the first to admit it's not my finest work but I'm fairly happy that this is purely the result of just having a play in the dead modelling time while a much more important project was on the go! VGA wagon by James Makin by jamesmakin2002, on Flickr As with the previous VGAs, this started out life in ex-works EWS maroon livery, although you'd never know it! Painted into silver with faded yellow ends, I gave it a brown wash and treated it to a bumper crop of Hazchem scars, this is what really attracted me to this prototype! VGA wagon by James Makin by jamesmakin2002, on Flickr A lot of the Hazchem scarring also featured streaking, this was created by heaping paint in a diamond shape and then wiping downwards with cotton buds, then repainting the diamond to retain the original colour density. Selena Gomez provided a powerful soundtrack in what must be one of the best singles of 2015 so far. VGA wagon by James Makin by jamesmakin2002, on Flickr Final touches were the Colin Craig brake discs and a chassis mottled in a variety of Humbrol browns and greys. VGA wagon by James Makin by jamesmakin2002, on Flickr And into service! I'm really hoping to get those FGW Mk3 coaches finished now, such a chore but at least there is a side-effect to getting bored during the larger projects! Edited August 14, 2016 by James Makin 8 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rob D2 Posted July 27, 2015 Share Posted July 27, 2015 Nice wagon as ever ! I've just got my three VGAs out as my next plank is going to be around 96-98. Maybe one day I'll finish something 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium James Makin Posted July 28, 2015 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted July 28, 2015 Nice wagon as ever ! I've just got my three VGAs out as my next plank is going to be around 96-98. Maybe one day I'll finish something Thanks Rob, looking forward to your plank taking shape! My plank is going to take a bit longer...more like a whole sideboard now but should hopefully just fit in the back of the car! 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pugsley Posted July 28, 2015 Share Posted July 28, 2015 Great taste in wagons, questionable taste in music Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
43179 Posted July 28, 2015 Share Posted July 28, 2015 Great taste in 47s - nice to see '004 modelled modelled in green. Love it. Jon Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium James Makin Posted July 28, 2015 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted July 28, 2015 Thanks for the feedback chaps! I've just got some more wagons as well - bargain bonanza here courtesy of Hornby's shop on Amazon! They've been selling off the horrendous graffiti HAA at £8.78, ended up buying 10 of these keenly-priced beasties! Amazon have put the price back up to £13 now which still isn't too bad if you're in the market for them still, but upon delivery you can see why Hornby are clearing out stocks!! The weathering is poorly applied and the graffiti is the weirdest ever! I would eat a lump of coal if Hornby can prove all this graffiti really did land on 351854 and it's not some bizarre Margate designers dream haha!! I've had a change of heart with the HAAs recently, selling all my old-style Hornby ones recently and replacing with new-shape versions, they've both got big errors but the new ones have less fiddly bits to add to the chassis, simple as that haha! These dodgy HAAs will be added to the 'collection' which is now standing at 65 new shape hoppers (!!), definitely got to get the teeth into these at some point soon...! 12 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ess1uk Posted July 30, 2015 Share Posted July 30, 2015 (edited) It's been fairly quiet on my threads lately as I pile in the hours on detailing and finishing First Great Western HST coaching stock - nearly there now, but with such fiddly and monotonous tasks repeated eight times over, I often get distracted! In between work and while waiting for glues and paints to dry etc, I've knocked up another cheeky little VGA! Joining the fleet today is VGA 210618 - like the others, a replica of the prototype photographed at Didcot on MOD traffic in the early 2000s. I'll be the first to admit it's not my finest work but I'm fairly happy that this is purely the result of just having a play in the dead modelling time while a much more important project was on the go! As with the previous VGAs, this started out life in ex-works EWS maroon livery, although you'd never know it! Painted into silver with faded yellow ends, I gave it a brown wash and treated it to a bumper crop of Hazchem scars, this is what really attracted me to this prototype! A lot of the Hazchem scarring also featured streaking, this was created by heaping paint in a diamond shape and then wiping downwards with cotton buds, then repainting the diamond to retain the original colour density. Selena Gomez provided a powerful soundtrack in what must be one of the best singles of 2015 so far. Final touches were the Colin Craig brake discs and a chassis mottled in a variety of Humbrol browns and greys. And into service! I'm really hoping to get those FGW Mk3 coaches finished now, such a chore but at least there is a side-effect to getting bored during the larger projects! quality work again looks great make mine look too clean Edited August 11, 2015 by ess1uk 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Popular Post James Makin Posted August 9, 2015 Author RMweb Premium Popular Post Share Posted August 9, 2015 (edited) Remember that First Great Western HST that I keep banging on about? I've finally got around to finishing it off! FGW HST by James Makin by jamesmakin2002, on Flickr It's been running at shows but it was time to go the final distance and get the coaches up to the standard I envisaged at the very beginning of the project. The first thing was the complete A-H lettering - I'd commissioned Railtec to produce some gold FGW lettering and coach numbers - this set is now numbered as a fully accurate rake as seen flying through Didcot in the year 2000. I'd also already flush-glazed and filled these coaches with nearly 300 people, but there was something else high on my 'to do' list... ...jumper cables! FGW HST by James Makin by jamesmakin2002, on Flickr What do you see inbetween real HST coaches? Lots of fiddly bits! Having removed the Lima tension-locks, this left plenty of room for detailing in the cavernous gap, including an etched brass step (a bodge from the Eckon signal ladder etch) and some elastic piping to connect the coaches, attached by mini magnets. FGW HST by James Makin by jamesmakin2002, on Flickr I'll be the first to point out that this is far from a new idea - the P4 Society boys have been doing this for many years with single pipes between wagons. I simply up-scaled this...there's 6 pipes running between each corridor connection here!! FGW HST by James Makin by jamesmakin2002, on Flickr The starting point was the simple bungee cord-type things - cut one open and you have a forest of fine elastic to harvest! As a concept, one end of each coach would have a set of pipes reaching out to the next, which would 'plug in' to a magnetic bar on the opposite end - ideal for a fixed formation such as an HST. I'd ordered the tiny magnets from Guys Magnets (worth a Google) and gone for something like 0.5mm discs - about £5 gets you at least enough for what you need here. FGW HST by James Makin by jamesmakin2002, on Flickr Having poured over dozens of close up pics of the Mk3 jumper cables (I may post my own pics here sometime, if not, Flickr is useful!) and decided what arrangements to go for - four centre pipes, and two the outlying ones on the edge, that connect the orange boxes. Below, between the two plasticard boxes is a strip of magnet - available on eBay in strips at a cheap price. FGW HST by James Makin by jamesmakin2002, on Flickr Hornby did a great job of modelling the 'orange boxes' on the HST power cars, but my modelling skills and patience meant I wasn't able to copy this, but actually looking at the photos, most of these are obscurely places and covered in dirt, so a cheeky block of 1.5mm square plasticard strip to me, was a good enough compromise! FGW HST by James Makin by jamesmakin2002, on Flickr Connecting the two carriages is a beam, to keep the four centre pipes in check. I may experiment with popping all six pipes on one bar on my future HST sets. The mini magnets are attached on the back of the plasticard bar, and also on the end of the 'orange boxes' (which are not yet orange). FGW HST by James Makin by jamesmakin2002, on Flickr Here's the arrangement prior to any painting. I complicated matters by unintentionally using magnetic metal wire for my actual couplings - not all of it was the non-magnetic brass that I'd first assumed, until it started pulling the magnetic piping out of place, watch out! FGW HST by James Makin by jamesmakin2002, on Flickr The coach bellow gangways themselves are produced by Stuart Clarke - trading on eBay as 'Great Little Gangways' - they live up to their name. FGW HST by James Makin by jamesmakin2002, on Flickr And with some painting, here we are! More work is still to come on getting the piping weathered right down when I next get the airbrush out, but it's on the way... FGW HST by James Makin by jamesmakin2002, on Flickr The 'orange boxes' look a little bit better in position and reasonably well hidden behind the steps once complete! FGW HST by James Makin by jamesmakin2002, on Flickr FGW's 43134 County of Somerset pulls away from Worthing MRC's Loftus Road...both power cars are fitted with the awesome Legomanbiffo Paxman sound. The power cars are covered in detail earlier in the thread, having been repainted using transfers I designed and had printed in gorgeous metallic gold by Railtec. FGW HST by James Makin by jamesmakin2002, on Flickr I'm experimenting with a revised version on my next HST set (a classy GWT 'Merlin' may make an appearance...) - putting all the pipes on one magnet bar, and ditching the individual mini-magnets, but it's all trial and error at the moment! FGW HST by James Makin by jamesmakin2002, on Flickr It's been a right fiddle trying to get this one sorted with tiny magnets going everywhere but really glad to draw a line under the project! It's over 2 years since starting the HST and a childhood dream to own a scale-length detailed FGW 'Fag Packet' set - now for the fun part - reliving those Didcot days and playing with it - at 125mph! Edited August 14, 2016 by James Makin 31 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jamessolomon Posted August 9, 2015 Share Posted August 9, 2015 Nice you planning on having rescue loco in that scheme for pulling broken down HSTs Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
GarrettTheThief Posted August 9, 2015 Share Posted August 9, 2015 There are no words to describe how absolutely AWESOME this is! I'll have a few HSTs myself so that's a lot of jumper cable work there. Where did you get the corridor connectors? I have trouble sourcing them from ebay and figures I might as well make my own. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
26power Posted August 9, 2015 Share Posted August 9, 2015 In post 420: "The coach bellow gangways themselves are produced by Stuart Clarke - trading on eBay as 'Great Little Gangways' - they live up to their name" Where did you get the corridor connectors? I have trouble sourcing them from ebay and figures I might as well make my own. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
GarrettTheThief Posted August 10, 2015 Share Posted August 10, 2015 *hits himself* Sorry, it was late. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ess1uk Posted August 10, 2015 Share Posted August 10, 2015 Wow Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold The Fatadder Posted August 10, 2015 RMweb Gold Share Posted August 10, 2015 (edited) That is stunning, now get on and build a layout for it... Will look up the gangways, something which is missing from my rake! (And you know it makes sense to do a Merlin rake.) Edited August 10, 2015 by The Fatadder Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack374 Posted August 10, 2015 Share Posted August 10, 2015 Class work James, really looks the part! I've only got a NMT in NR yellow, but I'll definitely try to add pipes now. And yes I've experimented with single pipes with magnets too, and they are now buried in the carpet at the other end of the room from my bench! Jack. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waverley West Posted August 10, 2015 Share Posted August 10, 2015 Shame you've made that old obvious mistake, James. Those are the narrower EP65 Mk 24b connectors which had been completely phased out by the time that livery had been introduced. To be replaced by the TM4xa Mk 3 version of course. An obvious mistake to make, but we all make them, don't we? The cables on the newer units are to BXp 54 standard too of course and so should be a scale 0.02mm in diameter larger. There should be 14 rivets in a diagonal pattern on the connectors too. Still, never mind. Sorry James, couldn't resist it! Fantastic work as ever. That's an impressive HST set you're developing there and those corridor connections really do look the business. That's something that's been on my list for my HSTs for some time, so thanks for the tip! Cheers Dave Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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