Wright writes.....

[jwealleans]

Precision Track Dirt (997?) was Larry Goddard's colour of choice and looks very good.   Humbrol 62 or 186 with more or less black is as good.  If you want a very dark shade, Triumph Russett brown also looks nice, but it can be hard to weather effectively.

[t-b-g]

No modelling time that you enjoy is wasted.

 

As long as we accept that we all have a certain amount of modelling time before we lose our abilities or fall off our perches, how we spend that time is purely down to what we fancy doing at the time.

 

For somebody who has a "lifetime project", there may be nothing worse than finishing it. What do you do if your hobby is all about making things? Do you start again?

 

So a little diversion to put off the day when the big project is finished may be a good thing rather than a bad one. 

[MarkC]

Did you finish that K1 you were busy with, Tony? Here's my own model, just waiting for the visit to the paint shop. Looking forward to getting her painted and running once I get home.

 

Mark

[rowanj]

Many thanks for the quick response. These are the kits in question, and they fit the bill nicely as they were still being used around Tyneside in the early 50's.

 

I did look at Precision Teak, Mick, but wondered if it was too light?. It's tempting, though, as I don't have an airbrush, so prefer rattle cans where possible. I need to see whether Track Dirt comes in a can.

 

 

[micklner]

40 minutes ago, rowanj said:

Many thanks for the quick response. These are the kits in question, and they fit the bill nicely as they were still being used around Tyneside in the early 50's.

 

I did look at Precision Teak, Mick, but wondered if it was too light?. It's tempting, though, as I don't have an airbrush, so prefer rattle cans where possible. I need to see whether Track Dirt comes in a can.

 

 

It would appear no one is 100% sure of what shade LNER Teak was ?? My choice maybe a bit light ,but it can always be darkened by weathering .

However all I have read says paint become lighter over years through ageing. I have just tried Halfords Triumph Russet Brown and it is a almost a dark chocolate shade , far too dark for my tastes.

 

This Phoenix Teak slightly weathered

 

Ex NER D&S kit

 

 

 

 

 

Edited February 14, 2020 by micklner

[Headstock]

55 minutes ago, rowanj said:

Many thanks for the quick response. These are the kits in question, and they fit the bill nicely as they were still being used around Tyneside in the early 50's.

 

I did look at Precision Teak, Mick, but wondered if it was too light?. It's tempting, though, as I don't have an airbrush, so prefer rattle cans where possible. I need to see whether Track Dirt comes in a can.

 

 

 

Evening Rowanji,

 

my Father described the colour as mud brown, or like mouldy milk chocolate. It was certainly more unpleasant than railway modellers would have you believe. Take a look at the images below, track dirt sounds most suitable.

 

 

[cctransuk]

1 hour ago, MarkC said:

Did you finish that K1 you were busy with, Tony? Here's my own model, just waiting for the visit to the paint shop. Looking forward to getting her painted and running once I get home.

 

Mark

 

If I may - a tiny suggestion.

 

The chimney would benefit from losing that moulding joint.

 

Sorry to be picky.

 

Regards,

John Isherwood.

[Tony Wright]

1 hour ago, MarkC said:

Did you finish that K1 you were busy with, Tony? Here's my own model, just waiting for the visit to the paint shop. Looking forward to getting her painted and running once I get home.

 

Mark

I have Mark,

 

But it's yet to be painted. I've shown this shot before, having completed it over Christmas.

 

It'll become 62018, of March Shed - one of the few to lose its electric lighting equipment. 

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

Edited February 14, 2020 by Tony Wright
typo error

[Tony Wright]

Regarding the colour of LNER teak, or brown, I don't really feel qualified to give an accurate description.

 

 

I've shown this shot before, having acquired this lovely pair of ex-NE carriages last October. They were built/painted by Dave Scott, using D&S kits. They look convincing to me.

 

Speaking of convincing, or a lack of it, the MR/M&GNR bit of LB is much more flexible in the timescale depicted than the main line - really Nationalisation until the line's closure 11 years later.

 

I can thus run trains in LNER colours.........

 

 

 

 

Like this one......

 

My antipathy towards Hornby's Gresleys is well known, particularly in the BR colours of carmine/cream or maroon. I simply won't tolerate them in those guises, because of their shortcomings. 

 

However, faced with my making of some LNER Gresley gangwayed stock for the little trainset, I acquired a couple of Hornby teaks at Doncaster last weekend for only £18.00 each, second-hand. For some reason, they don't look quite so wrong in teak, apart from the 'plastic' finish. 

 

So, using a mixture of dry-brushing, and a wash of satin varnish, let down with some matt black/matt brown, all applied with a sable, I think these look much more natural, especially after the repainting of the shiny white roofs - can you think of anything less-realistic on a working steam railway? The solebars are still in teak paint, just more heavily-weathered.

 

Acceptable as 'layout coaches'? I hope so.

 

The non-gangwayed BT is an ancient Kirk kit, painted light brown, then weathered. The loco is a renumbered/weathered Hornby D16/3. 

 

I must stop this. I'm becoming too much of an RTR user! 

 

 

 

 

Edited February 14, 2020 by Tony Wright
to clarify a point

[Tony Wright]

4 hours ago, Erichill16 said:

Good evening,

Perhaps you’re striving to create the perfect O2!

regards Robert

ps Blue Hunslet from Doncaster running a lot smoother, many thanks

 

Thanks are due for your donation to CRUK, Robert,

 

Because of the likes of your generosity, I've posted a cheque off for over £150.00 this week......

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

[DougN]

Tony' what's colour have you painted the coach roofs? I rather like it and wouldn't mind giving it a try. 

 

The teaks look look very natural. It is one of the struggles being in Australia, when I see these photos of natural looking models it is hard to match or use similar colourings as we tend to not get the railway colours locally and paints can't be posted. We do get quite a range of the normal humbrol, tamiya, etc colours but I find it can be difficult to mix to the same colour and tone but there is also the technique that is used. I wish I could just pop over have a chat,  a coffee and look at them in the flesh! 

Edited February 23, 2020 by DougN
Spelling error

[dentdale]

On 11/03/2019 at 20:36, Atso said:

Regarding current articles in the modelling press, I have been enjoying Ian Nuttall's articles regarding his freight stock for Dentdale in RM. These really show the variety of wagons that ran on the railways, far more than I think will ever be covered by RTR products alone.

 

[dentdale]

1 minute ago, dentdale said:

 

Thank you so much for this uplifting observation on the articles I have submitted to the Railway Modeller. I am delighted to share the results of my research and countless hours of modelling with fellow devotees. Rest assured, there are more articles on the way; five more this year and five more in the pipeline, Best Wishes, Ian 

[Erichill16]

11 hours ago, Tony Wright said:

Thanks are due for your donation to CRUK, Robert,

 

Because of the likes of your generosity, I've posted a cheque off for over £150.00 this week......

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

Tony,

when my father (a pharmacist like myself)  died of cancer I put a CRUK donation box in our pharmacy. He was well known in the community and we always had someone coming round to the back door as we lived on the premises  for ‘emergencies’. So when he passed away it seemed appropriate to put a box out for donations. I  wrote a little tribute and displayed a photograph of him with his grand-daughter. He’d worked and lived in the community for40years. Anyway some little s**t stole the collection box from the counter. Fortunately we emptied it quite regularly and managed to send off a sizeable donation.

So please Tony keep an eye on your box. There are people out there with very low moral standards.

Anyway happy modelling and keep up the good work.

regards Robert

 

Edited February 15, 2020 by Erichill16
Typo

[Erichill16]

Dear All,

I’ve a rake of the Hornby Gresley Teaks and wondered whether to keep them, knowing their shortcomings but have decided that if they’re good enough (with a little bit of weathering)  for Little Bythem, they’re good enough for any layout I’ll be making!

regards Robert

[Headstock]

I've been undercoating wagons all night, fifteen completed. Now I'm pooped, it's like proper exercise man. Fifteen photographs of undercoated wagons is probably enough to send the entire thread to sleep. However, I did nick a shot of one of last nights batch just because I thought it looked like a little cutie, but what shade of grey shall it be?

 

 

[Tony Wright]

9 hours ago, DougN said:

Tiny' what's colour have you painted the coach roofs? I rather like it and wouldn't mind giving it a try. 

 

The teaks look look very natural. It is one of the struggles being in Australia, when I see these photos of natural looking models it is hard to match or use similar colourings as we tend to not get the railway colours locally and paints can't be posted. We do get quite a range of the normal humbrol, tamiya, etc colours but I find it can be difficult to mix to the same colour and tone but there is also the technique that is used. I wish I could just pop over have a chat,  a coffee and look at them in the flesh! 

It's Humbrol No. 67 Doug,

 

Applied with a sable brush. 

 

Occasionally, I'll add a little matt black to it, just to vary the roof colours. 

 

As I state, shiny white for coach roofs on a steam-era layout? Perhaps, fresh from shops, but one return journey from/to York, and they'd be soot-stained.

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

[Tony Wright]

9 hours ago, dentdale said:

Thank you so much for this uplifting observation on the articles I have submitted to the Railway Modeller. I am delighted to share the results of my research and countless hours of modelling with fellow devotees. Rest assured, there are more articles on the way; five more this year and five more in the pipeline, Best Wishes, Ian 

And thanks for your observations regarding my errors in my review of the latest Hornby LMS brake vans in BRM, Ian. 

 

The moral: always be suspicious of what a manufacturer prints on their models.

 

 

I foolishly assumed the '20-0' to the right referred to the wheelbase. It is, in fact, spot on 16'.

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

Edited February 15, 2020 by Tony Wright
to clarify a point

[Tony Wright]

8 hours ago, Erichill16 said:

Dear All,

I’ve a rake of the Hornby Gresley Teaks and wondered whether to keep them, knowing their shortcomings but have decided that if they’re good enough (with a little bit of weathering)  for Little Bythem, they’re good enough for any layout I’ll be making!

regards Robert

I think it's the varnishing/weathering which 'lifts' them, Robert,

 

As supplied, the finish just looks plasticky (is there such a word?).

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

[Jesse Sim]

10 hours ago, Tony Wright said:

 

 

I must stop this. I'm becoming too much of an RTR user! 

 

 

 

 

Tsk tsk, you’re not the man I once knew, how you’ve changed...

[Jesse Sim]

On 14/02/2020 at 06:09, Tony Wright said:

I'm in complete agreement, Tim,

 

Lovely work.

 

Speaking of signals, Graham Nicholas fixed the final ones today on Little Bytham. Though very nice in operation, the Viessman solenoids are very flimsy and nine out of nine have burnt-out or failed in the last five years! 100% failure rate, though not every one - some have failed twice. 

 

They're all now protected from burning-out by electronic devices made and installed by Andrew Burchall. They're a complete mystery to me, but they work. 

 

Graham brought with him for studio photography the B3 he's made, which Ian Rathbone painted.

 

 

 

It's a privilege to be able to photograph such beautiful work, both in the build and in the painting.

 

Finally, a confession. In my recent review of the Hornby LMS brake vans in BRM, I stated that the wheelbase was 20'. How daft; it should be 16', but I foolishly believed what Hornby had printed on the 'van. My thanks to Ian Nuttall for pointing this out.

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

 

 

I really must crack on with the kits I’ve got now, I placed an order with markits through the local hobby shop with the product codes, but apparently they’re incorrect. So in a few months time, once I’m out of the hole my wallet and myself have dug, I’ll place and order directly and to DJH for some motors. 
 

Hopefully I’ll have a couple more locos I’ve built to bring along when I’m over in 2020. 

[Headstock]

9 hours ago, Erichill16 said:

Dear All,

I’ve a rake of the Hornby Gresley Teaks and wondered whether to keep them, knowing their shortcomings but have decided that if they’re good enough (with a little bit of weathering)  for Little Bythem, they’re good enough for any layout I’ll be making!

regards Robert

 

Turn away from the dark side Obi- Erichill, I fear that Tony is a secret dark lord of the S....................... Besides, you can't populate a layout with brake composites, that would be unnatural.

Edited February 15, 2020 by Headstock
spelling

[MarkC]

11 hours ago, cctransuk said:

 

If I may - a tiny suggestion.

 

The chimney would benefit from losing that moulding joint.

 

Sorry to be picky.

 

Regards,

John Isherwood.

Hi John

 

You're absolutely right - the camera really is cruelly truthful! I'll deal with that today, before she's packed away properly.

 

Thanks for your keen eye - do you know, it's really not visible to the naked eye, even from a foot or so away...

 

Cheers

Mark

[Erichill16]

27 minutes ago, Headstock said:

 

Turn away from the dark side Obi- Erichill, I fear that Tony is a secret dark lord of the S....................... Besides, you can't populate a layout with brake composites, that would be unnatural.

Mmmmmmmm......

First the new BachmannV2 ‘it’s more accurate in detail than any V2 I’ve every built’, the Hornby teaks and the D16 ....

 

[Erichill16]

1 hour ago, Tony Wright said:

I think it's the varnishing/weathering which 'lifts' them, Robert,

 

As supplied, the finish just looks plasticky (is there such a word?).

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

You’re right, the weathering makes all the difference. Sometimes a good weathering job can make an average model into a good one. Conversely I’ve seen plenty of poor weathering jobs destroy a good model.
I don’t see why ‘plasticky’ can’t been a proper work, I’m always hearing of new ‘words’ being accepted into the Oxford Dictionary, some of which to me are abbreviations or just slang.

Anyway, better get some jobs done then perhaps a bit of modelling later,

regards Robert