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

[Jamiel]

Thanks Barry.

I rescued that Presflo, but I didn't dare risk any more attempts at getting the bearings in. Its wheels have a bit more play than the others, but it runs OK. I have just gone with the plastic recesses as moulded for the others.

The good news is that the boards have gone together OK, so far, and also that I will be able to extend the layout, have proper space for the fiddle yard, and make the corners have a much wider radius.

Here are the three main boards roughly in position.


The nearest board is goinf to be cut back to something more manageable, and another board placed when I was stood for this photo. As you can see at the far end, there is also space to add another board to allow a smooth corner.

Here are three photos of the current state of play with the Presflo's, behind one of Horwich's finest (although that could apply to the wonderful young lad in the news this week too).






I think I will do some work on getting all the base boards to fit their new home, and get the layout ruining very soon, then I can post on the Heljan Garratt thread whether I have one of the ones that work or not.

Jamie

Edited April 28, 2015 by Jamiel

[Guest bri.s]

Great to see the layout up again ,always loved the tunnel retaining ,wall ,and buildings at that end even in the unfinished state it's got atmosphere

 

Looking forward to your progress

 

Brian

[Jamiel]

A quick update.

I took the power saw to the unwieldy and far too large board nearest the camera in the top of post 201. It was quite easy, and now the board is much more manageable. I can also use one, or both of the off cuts as a separate board to extend the curve at the far end.


Another Presflo well underway too, but after being so positive about the Dapol kits, I discovered that two of the Presflo kits don't have any wheels in the bags, and some of the frames need quite a bit of straightening. Still I am sure a bit of on-line shopping (Alan Gibson I suspect) will solve the problem.

More soon.

Edited April 29, 2015 by Jamiel

[Jamiel]

A production line of Presflo's in various stages of completion.


I am enjoying making them, but I did notice that for virtually the same money Hattons have Tunnel Cement Presflo packs on sale. A respray of the Tunnel Cement if you don't want it and the addition of some transfers and I would have what I wanted, but I do like the fact that I am building these.

http://www.ehattons.com/38646/Bachmann_Branchline_38_285_Pack_of_3_22_ton_Presflos_in_Tunnel_Cement_livery/StockDetail.aspx

I suspect that the remaining Dapol Presflo's will take much of my spare time this week, and then on to painting, transfers and weathering. I am having to use a bit of filler on a few but it will be sanded down, and also it adds to the the spillage of cement in the weathering.

Edit:

It would have helped if I had posted this photo to show more of a production line of kits.


Doing individual wagons was OK for learning how the process worked, but now I have sussed that, it is better to do each step for all the remaining wagons at the same time, and hopefully speed things up.

Jamie

Edited May 4, 2015 by Jamiel

[Jamiel]

Well the Presflo production line continues. I shrank the dreadfully blurred photo top right just to show using the sprues from the Dapol kits as bracing to hold the lead weights in position, as well as some liberally applied Evostick.



I had a look at the Wrenn Prosflo, but the wheels are deep flanged, not suitable for code 75 track, and the chassis is solid molded metal, generic, and hard to do anything with. I have some spare chassis parts from a Parkside kit I could bodge to put something underneath the body, but for the moment, I will probably make do with the 13 Dapol detailed, and 2 Bachmann resprayed and re-transferred Presflo's.

 

Dying to get on to the painting, transfers and weathering, let alone running of this rake.

More soon.

Jamie

[Guest bri.s]

The wagons are coming on great ,I bet your itching to run them lol

Any progress on the layout ?

 

 

Brian

[Jamiel]

Thanks Brian

 

The layout is waiting to get a couple of new base boards, but hopefully soon.

I am itching to run some trains again, but actually making something is the greater urge. In fact, painting and weathering is the thing I most want to get on to with the wagons, which I hope to do very soon.

Jamie

Edited May 10, 2015 by Jamiel

[Jamiel]

More Presflo's.......

The Dapol kits have reached the ready to sand and spray stage. All the alterations and additions have been done. Hard to get the files into some of the boxed off areas, this might end up with the filler being part of the spilled concrete/weathering. Sorry about the random color balance and the alliteration fever.







Here are 13 Dapol and 2 Bachmann (far end) Preslo's behind my Heljan 58, which is at the other end of my modelling period.



Despite there being 15 wagons behind the 58, for that time period (or indeed earlier), it just seems too few. With the offer I mentioned before at Hattons still there I am very tempted to add a couple of packs of Bachmann Tunnel Cement Presflo's and respray and add transfers to make up another 6, and still the bodged Wrenn conversion to do. I think that would give me a nice rake to run in any time period, behind any suitable loco.

 

From the evidence I have seen that would include 8Fs, Black 5s, Crabs, then on to diesels, 08, 20, 24, 25, 31, 37, 40, 44, 45, 46, 47, 56* and 58*, plus I am sure I could run them with Ivatt 4MTs, standard class 4s (2-6-0 & 4-6-0), standard class 5s, B1s, Britannia's and unrebuilt Patriots, 9Fs, and probably many more.

*I know these should be the extended fly ash versions, but I'm going to make do on that.

More soon.

Jamie

Edited May 13, 2015 by Jamiel

[Jamiel]

I wonder if anyone can offer some advice on paints.

I have added a couple of coats of (matt) bauxite to my Presflo's but they have turned out gloss. I first thinned down a Phoenix Precision Bauxite Matt with their thinners (thinner which I have used a lot in the past with no such effect). This was a bit lighter than the Bachmann bauxite, so I added some Humbrol Matt back (No33), and when the first coat was still a little tacky, sprayed a coat of that. Obvioulsy I haven't started on the black frames, or any other details yet.

In the top picture you can see the Bachmann wagon for comparison.

My question is this. Should I add the transfers while it is still gloss and then weather down, or should I add something like the Humbrol brick or chocolate to make it matt and then transfers and weathering? I am planning to weather generously with light grey for concrete spills, please see the reference photo at the bottom. I can remove this if anyone recognizes their copyright, I grabbed it a while ago for reference.

Have others encountered this problem before. Was it my impatience with the second coat? Any suggestions would be welcomed.

Jamie

 

 

[Jamiel]

I started a thread to ask about teh gloss problem, but found out that it was the (batch?) of Pheonix Precision Bauxiute Matt that was actually gloss. It is several years old, so maybe not a problem now.

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/99316-advice-on-how-to-get-thinned-matt-paint-with-airbrush/

And here is a photo showing from left to right, one of the previously sprayed wagons, one with Humbrol 70 Matt (brick red), Humbrol 98 Matt (chocolate), and one with a mix of the previous two, all thinned with the same thinners I used before, to show the difference. These are not dry yet either, so should go more matt.



As I posted on the other thread, any advice of what Humbrol matt paint is the best match, or best mix of paints to get BR bauxite would be appreciated.

Some baseboard building next, as various coats of paint get time to dry I suspect.

Jamie

[Jamiel]

Masochism!!!

 

It i has dawned on me that Presflo's are the most soul destroying things to add transfers to. Not only are they covered with text, but to do them in the style of the first couple shown below means adding 13 individually cut letters into tiny boxes (formed by the ribs of the wagon), on each side.

On the plus side, with help from Microset and Microsol the Cambridge Custom Transfers have taken pretty well to the sides of the Bachmann (left) and Dapol (right). The Dapol is one painted with Humrol 70 Matt (brick), which I think I will use for the rest of the painting. If these dry on OK, I won't worry about applying transfers to the still gloss one, as the matt looks much better.

 

EDIT: I forgot to mention the beer bottle top which I am using for water to soak the transfers in, I was using a 'little' 3inch tub (that I think my daughter's dummy came in some years ago), but I lost a letter, and realised that something much, much smaller was required.

I am tempted to go for the version of the wagons that just have CEMENT on the side rather that plus PRESFLO as well, mostly to retain my sanity. Like this photo I found on the web by Adrian Nicholls. There are so many slight variations in the lettering, that there is a lot of leeway to play with, and even by the 60's rake had some variation to the text.



Still I am happy with how they are progressing, and it will be fun to start weathering them.

Jamie

Edited May 18, 2015 by Jamiel

[MJI]

You don't need a lot, I have not seen more than about 15 in one place.

 

Quite often 2 or 3 at one place, even the odd one on its own.

[JeffP]

Those wagons look great.

How about one very rusty and derelict Prestwin?

[Jamiel]

Hi Martin

Recently they might be quite sparse, but in the period I am modelling (1958-1981) there were rakes of around 20 or more regularly on the main line.

Here from the Bachmann Presflo's thread (http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/181-Bachmann-presflos/page-7) is a rake of 18 being marshaled by a class 40. If I want to pretend they are the fly ash versions to pull behind my Class 58, then less than 20 would look a little odd. Thankfully I discovered that once you have done a couple you get faster at adding the lettering at the top, but still for the 15 I already have that is 13 letters per side, 26 per wagon, 390 in total (if I add PRESFLO CEMENT to all of them, some will definitely be just CEMENT). I am still thinking of adding another 6 Bachmann  ones as well, which would need some respray and transfers as well.

Here is one fof the fly ash trains (I think) - I tried to link to Flickr, but that page asks you to open it with Google Earth. Credit to Michael McNicholas for the photo.

Still it should a look good when done.

All the best.

Jamie

Edited May 19, 2015 by Jamiel

[Jason T]

It could be worse Jamie, imagine if you became obsessed with building up and weathering a rake of Parkside 21 ton hoppers that you don't actually need (never mind trying to track down some Coopercraft 20 ton NE hoppers that you also don't need).

 

It'll be worth it in the end mate

[Jamiel]

Still working on the Presflos. First a couple of photos of the Bachmann ones with the  transfers and the brick red paint (looking blue-er in the photos than it does in real life). I'm not worried about this, as they will be well weathered.

 

The first of the Dapols to have all the transfers done, although quite a few others have the CEMENT and PRESFLO done on both sides. Before adding the transfers I ran a little very diluted matt stone (Humbrol 133 I think) along the boxes formed by the ribs to get that feel of cement build up. There will be airbrushed and dry brushed weathering to come too.

 

 

Both side by side. The detail on the Bachmann ones is finer, but I am very pleased with the Dapol ones, and have more of a sense of ownership over them having built and detailed them. EDIT: I forgot to say that I did grab a couple of the Tunnel Cement Bachmann packs from Hattons as well, and am waiting for them to arrive, to be re-sprayed, and transfers added.

 

I am going to spray varnish over the transfers once they are all done.

I have some Railmatch matt varnish, but the solution has separated the matt element done. I have stirred it with a screwdriver, but it is only partially successful in mixing it back. I am tempted to put a small (duplicate) allen key into  my electric drill to use as a whisk, but am open ti suggestions. I would put the pot of varnish in a vice, but I can see this potentially ending up in in varnish everywhere. I know you can get proper whisk bits for screw drivers, but for Dulux size paint pots, not Railmatch or Humbrol. Does anyone have any suggestions before I end up liberally distributing varnish around my shed?

Jamie

Edited May 27, 2015 by Jamiel

[Jamiel]

The adding of transfers continues slowly with the Presflos. Six more Bachmann ones, currently in Tunnel Cement livery have been added, so now I have a rake of 21, (plus a guards van which shouldn't be at the other end from a Class 58 I know). There is one more I can cobble together at some point from the Wrenn hopper and some spare Parkside under-frames.

A little research also led me to Humbrol Matt 100 for a Bauxite Red match, so some of the Dapol Presflos will get a coat of that, as will the top half of the Tunnel Cement Bachmann ones. I don't mind some colour variation as the weathering will pull them all closer, and it makes them look as though they have faded differently over time.



Still enough of Presflos (which I have reached I think). A new baseboard is taking shape, 9mm marine ply, with the edge bracing in place, 70mm deep, double ply edged spaded with three by one pine (which does crack quite easily), still a combination of screws and glue will hold it.

It is two meters long, which adds just over a meter to the overall layout length, I think another board of similar length will be needed for the fiddle side, plus reworking the off-cut to extend the turn beyond the tunnel section I have built already.



Two cross braces of the same construction will be added (as sketched over below), and then I think the triangulation strengtheners will just be three by two. Fold up legs will go at the ends, and then I will be one step closer to running some trains after almost a year.



More soon I hope, although I am working on a film shooting near Newcastle, and also have my final M.A. piece and dissertation to do in the next three months, so yet again model railways have to squeeze into whatever time I can make free.

Jamie

 

Edited June 8, 2015 by Jamiel

[Jamiel]

Slightly off topic, but I thought I would share a comment I made on Facebook, as it is to some degree model rail related.
 

One problem of working freelance in film and TV is getting lots of names in your phone who you can't remember which production you know them from. So, now I use first names and the production.
 

The down side is when you end up with 'Emma from Bliss', who phones you up when driving, and you pass the phone to your partner and they ask 'Does Jamie want a hotel room booked for tomorrow night?'.
 

Thankfully I had told Sarah about this, otherwise it could have looked an awful lot like an escort agency making arrangements for the night I was away 'working'.
 

Almost as bad as when I used to buy model trains from 'Millennium Models'. I'm quite sure that my bank must have wondered what service could have cost £203.67, not so much the £200, but the £3.67 extra?

Jamie

[Jamiel]

I have started a thread covering my M.A. studies, for which I will be making a short film recreating York Railway Station in 1958, using CGI.

If anyone can offer help, it will be greatly appreciated.

 

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/101403-ma-project-recreating-york-railways-station-1958-on-film/

I will use shots of my Ellerby layout as some of the elements used to create the film.

 

Ellerby and the shed will also be part of another film, by my friend and fellow student Dan Baker who will be filming there tomorrow. His film is about how seeing his fathers model railway triggers memories of his father.

 

I will post some photos of the filming tomorrow.

 

Jamie

[Jamiel]

Here are a few stills from yesterday's shoot using the shed and my layout as a setting for my friend Dan's M.A. film. The buildings have been laid out at the near end to make it easier to film, and some rolling stock placed on to make it look right for the shoot.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was a good thing for the layout as it made me tidy up the shed.

I also started a thread covering my M.A. final project which is to use computer graphics to take York railway Station back to 1958. There have already been some very helpful replies, but any information will be gratefully received.

 

If you are able to offer any advice or help please have a look at: http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/101403-ma-project-recreating-york-railways-station-1958-on-film/

Jamie

Edited July 25, 2015 by Jamiel

[Jamiel]

Filming again, this time for my own project, a link to information here, and a still of the main shot in progress:

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/101403-ma-project-recreating-york-railways-station-1958-on-film/page-2

My friend Sina on camera, and the first time I have run trains in the shed, which has really whet my appetite for getting on with the layout once my M.A. piece is completed in three weeks.

 

 

So three weeks of hard slog on the M.A. and then a little rest before I start on whatever is coming up next.

Jamie

Edited August 17, 2015 by Jamiel

[Jamiel]

If you would like to see the results of the above filming, and am happy to spend 10-15 minutes filling out a questionnaire, then please drop me a message. I would love to get some feedback from people who know about railways.

More info is at:

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/101403-ma-project-recreating-york-railways-station-1958-on-film/page-3

All the best.

Jamie

PS. This time next week, a break and back to a little modelling, oh and an interview for a VFX company nearby (which is good to know that there is work out there).

Edited August 31, 2015 by Jamiel

[Budgie]

an interview for a VFX company nearby (which is good to know that there is work out there).

Best wishes for the interview.

[Jamiel]

A quick bit of help sought with my essay.

Could anyone please help me with a technical term? What is the plate (with the arrow pointing to it) at the front of BR standards called? It might not matter for the essay, but it would be nice to get it right anyway.

This is a still from one of the versions of the finished piece. When I say finished, I mean ready to be submitted. I will do a little more work on it. It is not technically correct historically, but it is the kind of shot you might expect to see in a modern day film, and the difference between that, historical accuracy and perceived history is what my essay is all about.



One day to go and it will all be submitted and over with.

All the best.

Jamie

[Alister_G]

Hi Jamie,

 

I noticed no-one has answered your question, so I thought I'd have a stab at it, although I'm probably wrong.

 

Are you talking about the two vertical plates each side of the smokebox, or the front face under the smokebox?

 

If the vertical plates, then I believe they are the front end of the locomotive frames, but I have heard the term frame-extensions applied to them as well.

 

If you mean the flat front face, then I'm not aware of any particular term, it's just the front bit of the running-plate or footplate, although the bit immediately under the smokebox may be the front of the smokebox saddle.

 

Hope this helps

 

Al.