Ellerby - 4mm/OO gauge - All photos working, hotlinked.

[Jamiel]

Cab front build now done. The jumper cables supplied with the Craftsman kit were more like the blue and yellow style when they were left permanently attached, so I made up jumper sockets from plasticard and Evergreen strip.

I didn't have quite the right Evergreen strip for the rain strip above the cab, so I got some more of the Airfix sprue and heated it over a candle, and then pulled it out to give the right thickness of palstic wire. This is also a little softer than Evergreen, so can be moulded with some Mek into place.



Clear platic cut for the cab windows and put aside, it is just easier to shape it before I start adding the sides. Also the headcode box has been glazed and then the front added. Little drops of polystyrene cement were dibbed onto the canble jumpers to give the top shape (and a little paint mixed in by accident). The rain strips have been filed to match the moulded part, and any marks worked away with Wet & Dry.



Jamie

I am sure it will look a lot less messy when it has a coat of primer, with the 'glass' parts masked.

[Jamiel]

More on the Class 129. Adding hand rails and door handles.



The hand rails bent to shape using a Bill Bedford jig, which I would recomend ot anyone wanting to detail models or do kit biulding.



Although the Craftsman kit is nicely detailed it does miss a couple of fuel/water ports which I drilled, filed and detailed.



I decided to not use the Hornby Bubble car chassis as a donor when I rad about the Replica Railways low profile die cast chassis, on the evening after going to the York show. Anyway, a quick chat on the phone and an order placed here it is. I also got some of their under-frame detailing sets and cab interiors. Very impressed with the whole order and nice people to deal with. Next day delivery too.



The bogie sides clip off to allow easy fitting on the sides of your choice. I ordered a pair if Hornby bogie sides from Tracksidecars on Ebay, cut the outers off, filed them down and glued them on with Evostick.



I hope to get the body together and possibly primed tomorrow. I also hope to leave the roof off for the moment to make glazing easier and also detailing the roof less likely to damage the sides.

Jamie

[Jamiel]

A couple of photos showing the body going together.





I still need to add a few hand rails and handle around the cabs, fix any handrails that have been squashed putting the body together, and then it should be ready for a coast pf primer.

I will need to get some Comet roof vents, Monsoon vents look like the right type for the Class 129. I have drilled the holes and also fitted the exhaust supplied. There were a couple of vents with the Craftsman kit, but no where near enough and they were very basic.

There is a generous amount of filler around the roof joins which need letting set, and then will be filed/sanded own.

Jamie

Edited July 18, 2018 by Jamiel

[Jamiel]

The final body details. Hinges glued on (cyano), 50 in total from the Craftsman kit, door bangers, cut from fine round Evergreen strip. More of the heated and pulled sprue added for the rain strip over the cab doors, and then filed and sanded back. The filler on the roof joins sanded back.

 

Handrails straightened, and one of the shaped ones from the etch replaced as it broke off. The curved grab rails by the doors are from a Comet etch.



Primed (Halfords grey). The clear 'glass' parts masked.





Time for a beer and some TV with my other half.

Jamie

Edited April 23, 2017 by Jamiel

[Jamiel]

A first coat of (Dull Loco) green, Phoenix Precision Paints, well stirred with Badger Paint Mixer, which I can't recommend enough after some gloss incidents which can be seen earlier in the thread.

I have also made a start on detailing the under-frame. Some bit from Replica Railways detailing sprues, and a lot scratch built from Evergeen strip. The exhausts have been shaped over a candle to soften/melt the plastic. Only one side done so far, and then possibly a little middle detailing to give depth.






Close up of the above.



I have also noticed that the moulded nozzle ports have too little relief and should also be drilled out. I will see if I can pluck up the courage to try that at the weekend.

Jamie

[danstercivicman]

Wow! The workmanship is just amazing!

Edited April 28, 2017 by danstercivicman

[Jamiel]

Thank you Danstercivicman, you are very generous.

I have detailed the other side of the chassis under-frame. A mxiture of Comet MK1 coach detail parts, Replica Railways under-frame sprues, Evergeen strip, some bits from a Dopol BR Mogul kit, and A1 etches (various grills packs). It is a accurate as I could make it, but there is a little improvisation to have parts with the amount of detail I want but which are not exactly what should be there. Once painted and weathered I think it will give a good impression of a 129 under-frame.



I did pluck up the courage to drill out the other nozzle ports and I think it was worthwhile. I am much more picky about accuracy above the solebar than I am below it apparently.



Another coat of paint. I might have let it pool a little near one door, but I hope weathering will sort out any shine that causes.





I watched 'The Ipcress File' this afternoon while doing some of the modelling, it is a great reference for how the UK, or London looked in the mid 1960's, as well as being a brilliant film.

More soon.

Jamie

Edited April 29, 2017 by Jamiel

[Richard_A]

Very very nice this parcel unit.

 

Must see if Charlie has anymore can units in.

 

I also knew I should have bought some of the silver fox/shawplan class 37 ends, oh well

[Jamiel]

Thank you RKA

Charlie doesn't have any of the full unit kits anymore, or if they do exist they are too hard to find and not cost effective. He does have the cabs still which were stored somewhere separately when he had the problems (explosion!) at this house.

I must email him and see if he still has EMU 303 cabs left, as I would like to use them as a basis or a Class 124 Trans Pennine DMU conversion, before they go. I have a kit to assemble a Trix one, but I feel the changes that must be made to change it to an 4mm loco from a 3.5mm HO one are so comprehensive that I would rather start from scratch. Also getting the relief on the windows would be hard.

I used the sides and a lot of detailing parts from an old Craftsman kit, but they are very hard to find these days, I post about one possible source (if they have got their website stock listing up to date) on the Craftsman kit thread http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/97228-craftsman-detailing-kits/page-6

Judging by past excursions into kits and conversions, it will only be a couple of  months before one of the RTR manufacturers release one.

In the end for the 37 I grabbed an old Hornby body from Ebay to give the shape of the nose cone end, I also have a Bachmann on for a centre headcode box, but only one.

Hope to post some work on the buffer beam from last night later. I also think the biggest remaining challenge is going to get the silver lining around the cab windows without it looking shoddy.

Jamie

Edited April 30, 2017 by Jamiel

[Jamiel]

A quick update as I am searching for information on the forum - advice on how to get the silver cab surrounds as I am worried just painting will look too rough.

Anyway, I cut down the very long buffers, drilled them out and added some bigger head from a Heljan sprue I had.



Here is the current progress of the buffer beam. Hard to see but I have also added Comet Monsoon vents on the roof, better photos when I do more on top.



Jamie

[richard.h]

Hi Jamie

Excellent work you seem to be able to  produce top quality results in all aspects of modelling.

I was particularly interested in your Newsagents Shop, as I have anglicized some Walthers Kits myself but the problem I have is producing convincing interiors.

When you say you used Photoshop could you explain what you use as your source material as I imagine the programme only modifies imported images.

[Jamiel]

Hi Richard

Thank for the comments.

You are quite right about sourcing images to manipulate in Photoshop. The below image comes from (I apologize for this) The Daily Mail, courtesy of a Google search with a little cut and paste and some cloning brush it became the back for the the shop windows. As I am transforming it and not using in printed form I am unlikely to incur any copyright issues.




CORRECTION:
For the sign the Wills advert was also lifted from the net, I masked off the bricks and marks by hand in the mask channel, and then 'multiplied' the sign on to he cream background. Using a blending mode like 'multiple' means you don't have to trace or key the text tightly, as the white become transparent with that blending mode (I taught blending modes as a big part of my lecturing at Leeds Beckett University, it is very powerful, produces higher qulaity results and saves a lot of time - should post something in detail about it later).



There is also texture of a rusty image 'multiplied' onto the plain cream to give some texture and weathering to the sign.

I also used Photoshop to scale and compile groups of images to make stacks of newspapers. Another thing I did a little of was to make sure everything had the same levels of contrast and the same sort of colour balance (auto tone is quite good for this). I never let the printed images have a very high saturation or contrast. I think making sure everything has the same sort of colours and contrast makes them fit together and blend into the overall model much better.

Quite often, in both modelling, and when I am working with imagery professionally, I will add an overall tint to the final image to pull all the elements together. I work as a visual effects supervisor in film, so my background is cheating things together to look like one image.

When I made the window I used a couple of different layers and angles of the prints. The glazing has a few signs stuck directly to it, there is a bottom and edge to the window which have more signs and papers stuck to them. I stuck a few cutouts of individual, or grouped magazine prints as if propped up half way back in the windows, and then the above image was put on at the back.

I have the rest of the Kibri and also a Walthers building to work on, the latter being the Argossy booksellers. I think my method works well for cluttered windows, but I think for more open spaces I will have to model the interiors fully, as I did with the station.

When ever I build a building I do a lot of image searchers on Google to try and find examples to base my work on, I always find it much easier to start with something that I know was real, and had a justification  for being there and then alter that to fit my needs. I think that I am a little unhappy with the back of the shop as although I found photos of city centre building roofs, I could not find anything to base the back wall and yard on, and I think my results on the two enclosed walls look a little false for that.

When I have time, I have occasionally taken a walk around a city centre with a camera getting photos of the kind of places I want to model.

I hope that helps.

Jamie

Edited May 1, 2017 by Jamiel

[Jamiel]

Just a little more detail about how I put the layers together in Photoshop for the sign on the newsagent.

Firstly this was the reference image I used to base the shop front on, found with a Google search. I will add papers on the front, maybe a notice board, after I have put the shop on the pavement, and maybe even a bike.



Here is a breakdown of the layers used to make the sign in Photoshop.

 

At the top a solid block of cream.

I matched the text as well as I could for the name of the shop (my mother and grandad in case you are wondering). Franklin Gothic Heavy in this case. Do not be tempted to just use Arial or Times for everything, they are very specific, and to get a period font, pre computer set, you are best to have a hunt through a few old fonts. If you set the text in Photoshop, or a PC (not sure about a Mac) you can select the text/highlight it, then bring up the font box, and if you click in the font selector, you can use the up and down arrows to click through the fonts, and it will change all the text so that you can judge if you have the right font.

If you can't find the right font to load as a typeface, then you can always use cut and paste on an image of the font (Google search again) - I used a bit of this for the & as I could not find the same shape of & as used in my reference image, so I just cut that from the image, made a red square of the same colour as the shop name, added a layer mask, pasted the & cutout in there, increased the contrast, and hand painted the corner where it is masked in the photo.

To identify a font used do the following, is it serif or sand serif (the little curls out on the end of letters in a font like Times), look at the proportions of the height of the 'o' to the 'l' or 'h' (ascenders) same for descenders 'g'. Look at how round, or oval the 'o's are. Lower case 'g' and 'a' are good determiners of a font. Fonts are very influenced by time and location, European layouts will be full of Arial or Helvetica, other nationalities have commented that the UK has an obsession with Gill - the BR font is a variations on it, as are road signs and the London Undergraound - and very nice it it too. Serif fonts have a classical and refined feel, old ones like Garamond have a lovely long feel to the ascenders, Times is very, well like the The Times. I could rattle on all day about fonts, I studied typography at Uni, and love it as a subject, but I will will shut up now.

Before you make major changes to a layer, make a copy!!!!

Always use mask channels rather than the eraser, once you have thrown it away it is gone, if you use a mask you can just alter the mask to add or remove more.

I have got the next two bits in the wrong order, I rasterized the text and merged the layer with the &. I am missing out using transform to size the layers, often go bigger and then scale down when done, here I didn't, but I should have.

I now have the full shop name, I used Image, Adjustments to darken it a little, then made a copy and took the brightness  right down to black and removed any colour (saturation), I then dropped this behind the text layer in Layers menu and nudged it (arrow buttons) to make the drop shadow, I may have done this twice to get an offset to the side as well using an additional layer. I know there is a drop shadow in the Layer Style box, but I like to this manually as I can adjust the shadow with opacity, add a little blur or change the blending mode all separately - you can probably do that in the Layer Style box, but I just like doing it my way - there is always more than one way to change things in programmes like Photoshop.

OK now the adverts either side, here again is the source.



A copied/dragged the layer into the document. I drew a box with the selection tool and masked the brick out, I made a copy and applied the layer mask (right click on the mask in  layers menu), I then added another mask (just easier to work with just the area you want) and used a brush tool to paint/mask off the bits I didn't want - you can see the mask channel next to the Wills advert above. As I am applying it with a Multiply blending mode, it will just darken the background according to the darkness of the image - ie, white does not change the background, black does so fully. This means you don't have to do awkward masking which could also clip the edges, and it saves lots of time.

I then positioned this in the right place, and scaled it accordingly. I just copied this finished version and place it at the other side.

Finally to add some weathering/age to the sign I found an image of a dirty old sign, or board, or rusty metal - forget which, and I sized that, put it over the sign and multiplied it over. You can play with different blending modes - darken, overlay may work well here, and also play with the opacity.

I then duplicated all the layers, merged the new ones into one layer, and switched off the originals so they could be used later if I wanted to make changes.

 

THEN I SAVED THE DOCUMENT!!!

You can imaging how my students at Leeds got sick of the term 'blending modes', but there is not a day when in my work on films that I don't use them, they are incredibly powerful.

After all that, use a photo-printer, print on photo paper, I use matt photo paper from Jessops (if you can still get it?) for this. Make sure all your printer setting are set properly, switch centre and scale off, set to phot quality printing, make use it is set to matte, gloss, photo quality etc.It often take me a few prints to get the hang of a new printer.

If you print on plain paper designed for text printing (cheap reems you get at computer shops) it will spread and bleed, you do need photo paper.

Final tips.

Experiment with opacity on layers, they often blend better with a plain background at 80-90%, if there is a pattern/texture this doesn't work, or you may have to mask the texture.

 

Save new version all the time, number then up after a few changes, you can always go and delete them, but if you mess up or have a power cut or the programme freezes (rare in Photoshop) then you have not lost your work, or at least only 10 mins worth, and not a hole afternoon's. I once made toast when working on the film 'The Borrowers' with an old toaster, and promptly blew a circuit in the computer room, our matte painter Max had not saved for 4 hours, and lost all that work. I was quite unrepentant as I said he should have saved - he still uses the story when training graduates. His face was a picture.

Copy layers regularly, you can always delete excess layers at the end, but again if you mess up you can just get the earlier version.

Do the document at a good resolution - 150 dpi is what I often use for speed, but 300 is a better print quality for a document, and you can always scale it down later.

I hope that is helpful, I should post a copy in the correct section of the forum.

All the best.

Jamie

Edited May 1, 2017 by Jamiel

[vulcanbomber]

Thanks for info on printing shop fronts especially about the Matt photo paper from jessops. I use GIMP instead of Photoshop for doing my artwork.

 

You can see my progress here

 

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/105795-station-shops/

[Jamiel]

Thanks Vulcanbomber

I have been following you topic on buildings, you have some great work there, and I was mining it for tips.

I am a big fan of Jessops papers, I used them for a long time for bootleg CD covers. I collect rare recordings, and have made covers for them for years.

http://www.jamielochhead.co.uk/browse1.htm

I tried various papers, but the Jessops one came out best. I particularly like their Photo Inkjet Matt 230gsm paper. There seem to be a few good gloss and silk photo papers, but matt ones often bleed a lot, and their don't seem to. I have used various Epson photo printers over the years, but you do have to make sure that the setting are all correct, especially matt photo paper in the print menu or you get a blotchy image.

I know people who use Gimp professionally, a challenger to Photoshop a few years ago, but then Adobe used their weight to corner the market. I like Photoshop, but do find it lacking in some areas, and they are not interested in listening to film professionals, so it lacks a decent grain tool, proper LUT handling, and lots more.

Jamie

PS. The vulcan did a few flights over our villiage before it lost its airworthy certificate, as we have an air museum at the other end.

Edited May 2, 2017 by Jamiel

[Jamiel]

Buffer beam detailing.

 

The list of sources for this build is extending by the day. So far the list is.

Craftsman kits - DMU conversion kit 6 (class 129), and now add horns.

DC Kits - Class 105 cabs.

 

Replica Railways - 57 ft chassis, under-frame detailing parts and cab details (soon to be used)

 

Comet - Roof, vents, some door handles, under-frame details from the MK1 coach detailing pack.

 

Dapol - detail bit taken from the BR Mogul kit.

 

A1 - assorted grill etch packs.

Heljan spares - buffers

 

Hornby spares - Bogie side and now coupling links from a detailing pack via PetersSpares or Trackside cars on Ebay.

 

RT Models - LNWR lamp irons etch.

 

Plus the usual Plasticcard, Evergreen strip, brass offcuts, Airfix and Dapol plastic sprue, and Phoenix precision paints (plus Humbrol will be used soon). Glues - Mek, Evostick and Rocket cyano, Humbrol filler.

I should also mention the knowledge shared here and by friends at the Leeds MRS club.

I will need to file down where the pliers have dented the end of the horns when putting them in.





The vents are Comet Monsoon vents (I think I mentioned this before), it was a leap of faith that these were the ones to use, as the photo on the website is a little blurred and all the other vents were not right. I couldn't believe that Comet didn't do vents for Cravens DMUs, so the process of elimination and squinting at the photos got me there in the end.



I also noticed that the bogie sides were a little too high, not enough gap and off centre on the wheels. These had been glued on  with Evostick, so a Stanley knife was slipped into the join and they came away cleanly. I hope I have got it right this time. I will have to file down the excess on the top edge, but wanted to let them set first.

 

The list of jobs is reducing. Bogie steps, 6 not 4 as suggested in the Craftsman kit, I will make the etches stronger with some plasticard and make up extra ones. I read on the forum that silver window lining can be done with either a 'gel pen' or a 'Sharpie'. I picked up both, but experiment on a spare body before committing to the cabs on this. I also need to order some DMU lining with whiskers. I am still wondering how detailed I want to be on the bars behind the windows, and also how much room there is to do that at the bottom as it will sit very close to the chassis . I also want to solder in resistors and LEDs for the lights and headcode boxes, and make those areas light tight. This will also be partly formed by the cab detailing which I have to do. The Replica chassis has cab inserts, but they will need cutting back a little to allow light behind the holes for the lights.

Actually quite a bit to do still, plus more painting, transfers and weathering.

Jamie

[vulcanbomber]

Hi Richard

 

Thank for the comments.

 

You are quite right about sourcing images to manipulate in Photoshop. The below image comes from (I apologize for this) The Daily Mail, courtesy of a Google search with a little cut and paste and some cloning brush it became the back for the the shop windows. As I am transforming it and not using in printed form I am unlikely to incur any copyright issues.

 

 

CORRECTION:

For the sign the Wills advert was also lifted from the net, I masked off the bricks and marks by hand in the mask channel, and then 'multiplied' the sign on to he cream background. Using a blending mode like 'multiple' means you don't have to trace or key the text tightly, as the white become transparent with that blending mode (I taught blending modes as a big part of my lecturing at Leeds Beckett University, it is very powerful, produces higher qulaity results and saves a lot of time - should post something in detail about it later).

 

 

There is also texture of a rusty image 'multiplied' onto the plain cream to give some texture and weathering to the sign.

 

I also used Photoshop to scale and compile groups of images to make stacks of newspapers. Another thing I did a little of was to make sure everything had the same levels of contrast and the same sort of colour balance (auto tone is quite good for this). I never let the printed images have a very high saturation or contrast. I think making sure everything has the same sort of colours and contrast makes them fit together and blend into the overall model much better.

 

Quite often, in both modelling, and when I am working with imagery professionally, I will add an overall tint to the final image to pull all the elements together. I work as a visual effects supervisor in film, so my background is cheating things together to look like one image.

 

When I made the window I used a couple of different layers and angles of the prints. The glazing has a few signs stuck directly to it, there is a bottom and edge to the window which have more signs and papers stuck to them. I stuck a few cutouts of individual, or grouped magazine prints as if propped up half way back in the windows, and then the above image was put on at the back.

 

I have the rest of the Kibri and also a Walthers building to work on, the latter being the Argossy booksellers. I think my method works well for cluttered windows, but I think for more open spaces I will have to model the interiors fully, as I did with the station.

 

When ever I build a building I do a lot of image searchers on Google to try and find examples to base my work on, I always find it much easier to start with something that I know was real, and had a justification  for being there and then alter that to fit my needs. I think that I am a little unhappy with the back of the shop as although I found photos of city centre building roofs, I could not find anything to base the back wall and yard on, and I think my results on the two enclosed walls look a little false for that.

 

When I have time, I have occasionally taken a walk around a city centre with a camera getting photos of the kind of places I want to model.

 

I hope that helps.

 

Jamie

 

 

 

 

You might like this taken in Ross on Wye

[Jamiel]

Thanks for that Vulcanbomber, there are a few interesting shops still around with that period style. I plan to have a copy of the local shop sign in York that has a 'Bile Beans' advert somewhere on the layout. It has been there since I was a child, and probably much longer.



Photo Ilovetigerplanes / Wikipedia

Not a lot of modelling this week, a bit on the interiors for the cabs, and baffles for the LEDs to go under the control desk.





Jamie

Edited May 9, 2017 by Jamiel

[Jamiel]

I am slowly getting closer to finishing the Cravens Parcels Class 129 DMU. Slowly being the operative word. I have been doing little coats of paint, but then leaving tehings to dry for a day each time, and also making some small details.

The cab interiors and control desks (is that the right term) have been painted. I have also made and first coated the two outer ends for the bogies. I have kept these separate as I want to be able to take the sides off in case I have to dismantle the chassis at any future point.



I have lined the front window frames with a gel pen as recommended on the forum. Touched up the edges of the lights, although I think they need to be neater.



Just to compare to the gel pen, I tried a silver Sharpie for the side handles. Both were equally easy to use, and the results pretty much the same. The gel pen blobs a little more, but has a finer tip.

 

I added the steps to the bogies, and also a speedometer cable (brass wire). I had to make up an extra pair of steps from plasticard and the 129 has six sets of steps, only 4 are on the etches. The buffer beam and chassis is getting coats of paint and weathering.



The body sitting loosely on the chassis.



More painting and touching up to do, fitting the interior pieces, and any interior painting. Glazing, window bars (not sure yet how I will do these -  advice?) wiring the LEDs to the control board and chipping, transfers and then weathering.

Getting closer though.

Jamie

Edited May 17, 2017 by Jamiel

[Georgeconna]

Just like to say some fab work there, 2 days reading about your layout and the trails and tribulations of the build. Unreal!! 

 

I must admit being inspired to try to actually build some buildings now from your descriptions and have started on a Overbridge using the ply shell. I must admit to having some fun now and I am finding it difficult to stop!!

 

Keep up the good work, tuning in from now on!

[Jamiel]

Hi Georgeconna

So pleased that reading this thread is inspiring you to do some building. When I look at the threads here, and websites like http://www.emgauge70s.co.uk/ that have inspired me, it is good to hear that the sharing of ideas continues to encurage more modellers to have a go.

I particularly like building with a (thin) plywood base, the results feel very strong, and that strength sometimes allows for some changes that might be hard with other materials.

Happy modelling.

Jamie

[Jamiel]

Transfers and lining (which took ages), plus some weathering on the roof. The transfers are from Fox.









I have also done some weathering on the chassis, and put the cab interiors in place, I need to then fit the control desk tops to the body and make sure they seal the light as best I can. The transfers need a spray of clear matt varnish to hold hen in position permanently, and then a first airbrush layer of subtle weathering before the windows are fitted. The wires to the LEDs need soldering to the circuit board on the connections for the F functions, very nearly finished.

I also got what I hope is a bargain from Ebay this morning, Hornby B12 with Zimo sound chip and speaker (fitted by YouChoos) for £100 (buy it now). One guard iron missing which I can source or make, and a couple of detail parts badly fittted, but an awful lot of loco for that price. I just hope it is all OK. I know it is a bit of a stretch for a B12 on my layout, but it could be a special, or maybe replacement loco coming up from Peterborough.

Jamie

[Jamiel]

Just for a change I thought I would post a few photos I found of what got me back into modelling, and also my first attempt at detailing, which I hope to revisit and tidy up a little soon (along with all the jobs waiting to happen).

Firstly, before I started railway modelling, I was working on a BBC 3 comedy series, with Greg Davies, called 'We Are Klang'. It was very influenced by 'The Goodies' and the director wanted the effects to have that 70s feel. He asked me if I could do the effects badly, which I scowled at. We needed a burning  popcorn factory. After some discussion I suggested the we green screen the actors and use a Superquick (I said cardboard model rail building) burning shot in slow motion, they liked the idea, but the art department didn't have time to start building model rail kits, so I said I would do it.

After all my creativity being done with a mouse or tablet for a couple of decades it was really nice to actually build something, and something I could hold at the end of it, before setting fire to it and chucking it in the bin anyway. There is the building before and after burning, a Market Building and a Bus Station bashed together, with a Popcorn Factory sign printed out and stuck on.

 

Shortly afterwards I had to clean out my fathers old house and found my ancient Hornby/Triang trains, and there was the Top Gear race between Tornado, a MK2 Jaguar and a Vincent motorbike, the combination of the three got me back into model railways.

A year or so later I tried my fist detailing kit. A Craftsman conversion of a Bubble Car to a Class 128 Parcels car, I really enjoyed that as well and you can see the results in the rest of this thread. The Craftsman kit suggests the side doors be very inset, I think I will go back and make them much more shallow and also lower the one buffer that is way too high. A bit of other detailing might also do it some good.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

More on current projects son.

Jamie

Edited July 24, 2017 by Jamiel

[Jamiel]

Time for an update on the Class 129 parcels unit. Mostly good news but some bad. I have been working on it for a week or so, but held off posting until I got the chance to post some daylight shots of it, as the artificial light shots were harsh and made some mistakes I have made show up too much.

The cab control desks have been fitted and made as light tight as I could.





Despite the filling of the edges, the LED still shone through the panel, and the LEDs were slightly too high. A bit of research on teh web and a test on a LED I haven't fitted, and I discovered that the plastic part can be filed back without any problem.



A dab of black paint also helps.



Then some electrical tape to cover it. I did a few test runs to see how it was going, and it looks OK. Not quite the light you get from a new RTR loco, but nice to have a little light there.



Lining and transfers. Mostly went well, the matt surface shows the shape around the numbers more than I would have liked, but I hoped that matt varnish would fix this. I used Microsol and and Mircoset when applying these.



I did a light airbrush pass of rail/roof (I think) dirt.

I had cut a strip of glazing (clear plastic packaging) to fit right across both front windows, but the curve meant that I couldn't get it to fit flat to the front, so I removed it and cut glazing for each window separately.



You can see the hole drilled for the wipers, Extreme Etchings, just on the drives side in the early days.



I noticed that the bogie fronts I had made did not sit straight with a one point mounting, I should have seen that from the start. Details about the broken paint below.



They were cut off, the bit of mounting for the Hornby style coupling cut off, ans then they are glued on to little blocks of Evergreen strip to hold them at either side of the bogie. I was trying to make it so the bogies could all be taken apart, but now this would have to be broken off to take them off.

So almost finished, the bars for the windows were made from plastic sprue stretched over a candle, as the thinnest Evergreen Strip I had was still too thick.

First the good photos.









And now the problems. When doing the bars on the windows a couple of drips of Mek got on the finished paint work and ate into it, leaving a bubbled and broken surface. I sanded it a little, and then stirred some matt varnish, and painted that on with a fine brush. The varnish had picked up the matt dust, and it was very white. This had t be sanded/Wet and Dry and then more carefully mixed varnish applied.

I has left a few points where the surface is now broken, above a side window, over one of the 'Guard' signs on the doors, and at the side of one of the cabs. It look worse in the photos than in natural light at a normal viewing distance.







I am going to take a break from the DMU for a couple of days and get back on with the buildings. I am a bit disheartened at the problems caused by not being careful enough with Mek and varnish at the almost final stage.

I could just leave it as it is, it is less noticeable to the eye. I could disguise it with weathering, or I could sand down the bits and re-spray/paint them and re-do the transfers, I have enough on the sheet. I will see how I feel about it at the weekend.

Jamie

 

Edited June 8, 2017 by Jamiel

[Jamiel]

Looking at the photos here, the good ones and the bad ones, I am going to use Wet and Dry to sand down the affected areas, and then mask, respray and add new transfers to those areas. I'll have a look at redoing the numbers as well, there were three of them and I have two sets of numbers spare. I might re-do the roundel as well, I feel it is slightly too high.

I think I have spent enough time on this model to not give up now, I will stop feeling sorry for my self and as I have a day off work tomorrow I will get on with it then.

Jamie