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James Makin's Workbench - 1990s dirty diesels & grotty wagons


James Makin
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1 hour ago, 97403_Ixion said:

Hi James,

 

I saw the magazine article, then realised your interest in Didcot Parkway - my local!

 

Your weathering is really impressive and I spent some time looking over your choice of models and whether I had seen them there myself.  The realistic nature of your weathering brought back many memories though especially one specific memory of 37684 'St Blaise Church...' stabled next to the station with really tatty nameplate and heavily worn paintwork as well as rust.  Perhaps a contender, though I am not sure of the year?

 

Perhaps the only loco named after the yard as far as I know - 37692 'Didcot Yard' in flint grey with coal sector branding and a painted on unofficial nameplate... now there would be one to see!  I believe it was around in 2004 but not sure when I first saw it at Didcot.

 

Keep up the great work - I'm hoping to try to learn to do such things myself, so it's good to see what can be done with lots of experience.

 

Cheers,

Ixion.


Thanks so much, that’s very kind!

 

Got to love Didcot and good to hear you’re a local! I’m from the sunny south coast but having family there inevitably meant numerous visits and from the late ‘90s onwards, the prospect of being allowed to stray off unaccompanied and walk down from the Ladygrove estate to the station for a quick hour or two’s spotting was the highlight of any visit! 
 

There’s so many good 37s that visited Didcot! As you mentioned, 37674 ‘St Blaise Church’ is definitely one for the hitlist, I’m tending to model the late 90s and the loco came to Didcot a few times then so it’d fit in nicely with its tatty plates! 37692 would be awesome to model with its unique dark grey livery but sadly a little too ‘late’ for my modelling period so would be one that got away though!

 

There’s a few more 37s I kept seeing which have got to be modelled some day, dreary plain triple-grey 37676 kept turning up, as did the repeatedly re-named ‘school’ 37717, revised-EWS heavyweight 37712 and 37503 in original EW&S colours with gorgeous snowploughs!
 

Alongside that was many tatty 47s and oodles of fairly anonymous Class 60s, most often I’d turn up on a grey drizzly Sunday afternoon to be greeted with a wall of grey, unnamed, unbranded 60s!

 

The best part for me was always the HSTs, just hearing those Valentas screaming flat out through the station at 125 was the reason it left such a mark on my young self and why I kept begging parents and relatives for just another hour more down the station..! :lol:

 

I’m hoping I can do it justice, I’ll likely setup another thread once layout progress has got that far, but you can see the stock taking shape through these pages until then!

 

Cheers,

James

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Hi James,

Looking good as usual James, I'm lining up a 58 for my next project - appropriately enough 58014 Didcot Power Station. I spent most of my time at Didcot a few years before you, but regularly travelled through during your period. One of my favorites to look for was this chap: 

08947.150198

(from Flickr - not my picture)

I often saw this around 1998/99. Sometimes at Didcot, and at least once at Swindon (must have been a night time journey!). At some later point somebody scrawled 'Didcot Taxis' and a phone number high up on the bonnet.

I'll try to do it justice one day!

Rich

 

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On 29/10/2020 at 15:04, Rich Papper said:

Hi James,

Looking good as usual James, I'm lining up a 58 for my next project - appropriately enough 58014 Didcot Power Station. I spent most of my time at Didcot a few years before you, but regularly travelled through during your period. One of my favorites to look for was this chap: 

08947.150198

(from Flickr - not my picture)

I often saw this around 1998/99. Sometimes at Didcot, and at least once at Swindon (must have been a night time journey!). At some later point somebody scrawled 'Didcot Taxis' and a phone number high up on the bonnet.

I'll try to do it justice one day!

Rich

 


Thanks Rich, I‘m looking forward to seeing your 58 come together, ‘014 was definitely the star of the fleet haha! 


I do love the 08 there, that is a great shout to do so thanks for that! The Didcot Taxis piece is class :lol: I saw another faded blue 08 at one stage too, 08904 I think, which would be good to do, can’t beat a bit of Banger Blue! 
 

 

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4 hours ago, James Makin said:

Hi guys,

 

After tackling all the above locos, this year through the (first) lockdown and the Summer, I thought I'd have a bash at personalising my OTA timber wagon fleet, and now here we are!

 

50555315302_3c52ffeaf9_k.jpgOTA Wagons by James Makin by James Makin - Account 2, on Flickr

 

As most wagons are fairly similar in condition, instead of spending years going through and giving wagon-by-wagon updates, instead is an overall summary and a 21-wagon timber bonanza!

 

Similar to the first two tackled in the original update, all of these are from the Hornby stable, and then painted and weathered to represent various different ones seen across photos on Flickr.

 

The starting point was usually to dismantle the wagon, the wheels are fitted with Colin Craig brake discs and weathered, while attention turns to weathering the deck, the ends and the side stanchions.

 

50554444303_685920d10d_k.jpgOTA Wagons by James Makin by James Makin - Account 2, on Flickr

 

Various Humbrol paint shades are used for the weathering, Humbrols 62, 186, 113, 133, 258 and 32 all come in handy, along with other shades of browns and greys as required. Recommended listening for all OTA weathering projects is the solo album from ex-Girls Aloud redhead Nicola Roberts (the best one really).

 

Now when it comes to OTAs, most normal people like to use it as a great reason to have fun chopping up tiny logs and running loaded trains, but when I did see OTAs occasionally at Didcot Yard and varying other places, more often than not they were empty, so it seemed fun to model them without loads, weather all the wagon interior and recreate the load strapping from bits of cut up masking tape.

 

50555171076_802328017f_k.jpgOTA Wagons by James Makin by James Makin - Account 2, on Flickr

 

There's many different colours used on the prototype, I simple painted some Tamiya tape on both sides and then when dry, slit with a craft knife to about a 1mm width (match to photos) and then glued on to the deck of the finished wagons, twisting here and there to get the often-curled appearance of the fabric straps.

 

All my Hornby OTAs were either the EWS or teal green releases, but the real things wear a coat of many colours, so here's a few of the versions I tackled:

 

50555161801_9d23a88e22_k.jpgOTA Wagons by James Makin by James Makin - Account 2, on Flickr

 

Up first is the irresistible blue of the former Thames Board OTAs, my take on the faded livery being some of the old Railmatch 'British Steel Blue' from the Class 60s.

 

50555160301_b8bf6bcbe7_k.jpgOTA Wagons by James Makin by James Makin - Account 2, on Flickr

 

Some of the stanchions were modelled as missing and generally weathered to a battered appearance, drybrushing browns from light to dark around the raised edges until satisfied.

 

50554424793_5601f65419_k.jpgOTA Wagons by James Makin by James Makin - Account 2, on Flickr

 

The underframes were weathered by mottling on a mix of greys and blacks and browns, with finishing touches like the yellow axlebox covers to complete.

 

While going through pics, I spotted some OTAs with low flat ends, so did a bodged cut job on my Hornby model, to replicate these faded Railfreight red versions:

 

50555290897_63c3ddc464_k.jpgOTA Wagons by James Makin by James Makin - Account 2, on Flickr

 

There's extra stanchions & supports on each side too, added from various bits of styrene strip and angled plastics. The planked decks were just painted in an array of browns and greys, weathered with drybrushed greys, before the load strapping is secured on top.

 

50555154691_71ca16208a_k.jpgOTA Wagons by James Makin by James Makin - Account 2, on Flickr

 

Next up of course is the lovely EWS versions!

 

50555285092_ddda1d6625_k.jpgOTA Wagons by James Makin by James Makin - Account 2, on Flickr

 

While most are very similar, I spotted variations in wagons with some having faded or repainted stanchions, while there's plenty of opportunities to have fun battering the parts clobbered by numerous logs!

 

50555287612_5c84c157b4_k.jpgOTA Wagons by James Makin by James Makin - Account 2, on Flickr

 

The decks on the refurbished EWS versions are metal plated, and so weathered slightly differently from the wooden plank versions. 

 

50555283497_0d192fa09a_k.jpgOTA Wagons by James Makin by James Makin - Account 2, on Flickr

 

Layers of light and dark browns and greys are mottled on, and effort gone in some cases to replicate the weathered on the flooring where the load has been sitting, or where rainwater gathers in dents on the floor, all subtle variations that can be seen in real life. Humbrol gunmetal grey is drybrushed across the floor to highlight the checkerplate texture.

 

50555144031_cf385b40f3_k.jpgOTA Wagons by James Makin by James Makin - Account 2, on Flickr

 

The inner ends also seem to get a good battering as well by all the logs! Some of the ends are either painted in body colour, or a light grey or browns, photos show a wide variety of styles. Then, a range of browns and greys are stippled on with a large brush until the desired effect appears.

 

50555142216_16bfce2517_k.jpgOTA Wagons by James Makin by James Makin - Account 2, on Flickr

 

Finally, I had to model some of the attractive teal coloured ones too!

 

50555266602_5864910bc0_k.jpgOTA Wagons by James Makin by James Makin - Account 2, on Flickr

 

The original Hornby colour is retained but changes once weathered, flattened and muted under shades of browns and rust patches.

 

50555137786_12bf47e252_k.jpgOTA Wagons by James Makin by James Makin - Account 2, on Flickr

 

Again, significant weathering was done to the stanchions and deck planks to get the full effect of lots of log bashing!

 

50555270777_86c04d06b9_k.jpgOTA Wagons by James Makin by James Makin - Account 2, on Flickr

 

It's been great fun putting these all together during the extra modelling time this Spring & Summer, and blasting through a 21 wagon-rake in just a few months is a new speed record for me so far!

 

50554393588_e9dc1942a6_k.jpgOTA Wagons by James Makin by James Makin - Account 2, on Flickr

 

As we now enter another lockdown it'll be interesting to see what gets blitzed next, I've got a stack of Parkside 'Barbel' wagon kits looking right at me..!

 

Cheers,

James 

 

Wow, James this weathering is amazing attention to detail! I especially like the chipped paint on the inner ends, you'd be streched to see if it's a model or the real thing!

 

Keep it up!

 

Jules

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1 hour ago, dasatcopthorne said:

Hello James.

 

Could I take you back, please, to your recent two Class 58s.

 

For the underframe weathering, have a mixed a colour yourself or found a suitable single Humbrol one to obtain the finish please?

 

Cheers

 

Dave


Hi Dave!

 

I’ve used a variety of shades to build up the finished effect, firstly the whole chassis was painted Humbrol 32 dark grey (as backup to avoid exposing black plastic in case any top coat weathering gets knocked off in handling/exhibition ‘shunting’!) and then I’ll run airbrush coats over of Phoenix’s weathering shades, their ‘brake dust’, ‘track dirt’ and ‘dirty black’ shades to finish. 
 

Hope this helps! I’ve got some more 58s sitting in boxes so I’ll have to tackle these soon and will get some more pics as they progress!

 

Cheers,

James

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On 17/09/2020 at 22:33, Squirrel Rail said:

Hi James, great work, I’ve done loads of these but only the one in mainline- 050 - want to do another now!you’ve done a cracking job on it, cheers Jerry

My 58 envy has subsided- not blue but 033 with the high body stripe- look forward to your next one!BE184BE2-C3E3-4367-B2B0-1D740736CB34.jpeg.9ec739a93bb9160b1b5497cfcc4190d1.jpeg

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9 hours ago, Squirrel Rail said:

My 58 envy has subsided- not blue but 033 with the high body stripe- look forward to your next one!BE184BE2-C3E3-4367-B2B0-1D740736CB34.jpeg.9ec739a93bb9160b1b5497cfcc4190d1.jpeg


Looking mighty fine there! :dirol_mini:


It’s nice to see the original-style font is right there too, I noticed Olivias have been pumping out batches with some very questionable fonts in recent years! 
 

‘033 is a good one, on my distant modelling radar as I remember seeing pics of it with the bodyside doors mixed up, so the lettering on the side read “&WES” :lol:

 

Cheers,

James

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6 minutes ago, James Makin said:


Looking mighty fine there! :dirol_mini:


It’s nice to see the original-style font is right there too, I noticed Olivias have been pumping out batches with some very questionable fonts in recent years! 
 

‘033 is a good one, on my distant modelling radar as I remember seeing pics of it with the bodyside doors mixed up, so the lettering on the side read “&WES” :lol:

 

Cheers,

James

Hi James, I had Steve at Railtec do me the numbers as I had to move the gold band up for 033 and you're spot on about the fonts...hmmm I love the idea of &WES but this was a bit earlier in its life before half the paint fell off and it auditioned for countdown!

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  • 3 weeks later...

Super work there !

The brown one - there seemed to be about 5 of these running around with the transrail advertising one for use on LT stock transfers.

 

I could never quite work out what shade of brown it was but it looked newly painted in the period .

 

nice work on the manky roof, I’ve shied away from mine as I had no idea how to do it - that may help .

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20 hours ago, rob D2 said:

Super work there !

The brown one - there seemed to be about 5 of these running around with the transrail advertising one for use on LT stock transfers.

 

I could never quite work out what shade of brown it was but it looked newly painted in the period .

 

nice work on the manky roof, I’ve shied away from mine as I had no idea how to do it - that may help .


Thanks very much Rob! 
 

I do love that Transrail VDA - and theres quite a few pics of it in Didcot Yard online so its very tempting to have, I just worry what with it being a Bachmann Collectors Club model it’d look like a cliche turning up, but definitely prototypical! :lol:


For the manky roof, I know what you mean, I wasn’t sure whether I’d be able to do it justice but I’m reasonably happy in the end - it started by painting the dark roof cross ‘frame’ bits and then dabbing on greys with a drybrush working from light to dark, plus a few cheeky earthy colours too, then a drybrush at the very end with dark grey on a large brush just to tone down the final effect. The other two wagons were just a couple of grey shades and some talcum powder to get a teeny bit of texture in there too!

 

Cheers,

James

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3 hours ago, Phil Mc said:

They look superb James !!

 

Seems churlish to ask, but did the VXA's have an exhaust on the roof from conversion, or was it fitted afterwards ?

 

Cheers,

Phil.


Thanks Phil!

 

That’s a good shout, in the pics I’ve been using there’s a stubby little exhaust towards one end just off to the side, I was waiting to find better pics on the exact positioning and then forgot all about it! :lol: 

 

If anyone does have any good rooftop pics then always gratefully appreciated!

 

Cheers,

James

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More great weathering James, the roof's are great. I always think they are difficult to get right but quite important as that's how most of the models are viewed. 

Have you weathered any seam age stock at all? I'd love to see your take on some box vans or steel open wagons. 

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Nice little collection of vans James. Even though they're too grotty for my time period I like the techniques you've used to produce those.

 

I'll look forward to seeing how you do the Barbels, I have about six to do soon.

 

Cheers

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