Wright writes.....

[St Enodoc]

15 minutes ago, Woodcock29 said:

I was lucky and 'copped' BP at Barrow Hill in 2013. If you can call seeing a loco during the preservation period 'copped'? Was only a short visit and I managed to get in  before the official opening time so no people to get in the photos! But its always difficult to photograph locos all pointing in towards a turntable! Good day though as I saw the C1, J17 and D11 as well as the A2.

 

Andrew

 

 

 

Proper job typeface on the headboard...

[MJI]

Got a problem with resin casting and I know a fe follow this thread.

 

Mould making issue.

 

I normally glue my item to a plastic sheet and let the solvent seal it nicely.

 

But dealing with a strange plastic which doesn't seal, so I cannot get a clean mould without underbits.

 

So thinking.

 

Any reason I cannot use parcel tape or duck tape as the base to stick things to?

[gr.king]

I've used double-sided tape to stick masters to the base of a moulding box, and recovered them afterwards, so I don't see a problem with use of single sided tape as a supported base for the box. Presumably you'll test the adhesion to the master before you pour the rubber compound in?

I found it less than amusing on the one occasion I had not stuck my master down firmly enough (with tiny spots of super-glue in this case) when the air-filled master slowly rose to the surface...

Edited February 9, 2021 by gr.king
Spelling mistake!

[teaky]

14 minutes ago, MJI said:

Got a problem with resin casting and I know a fe follow this thread.

 

Mould making issue.

 

I normally glue my item to a plastic sheet and let the solvent seal it nicely.

 

But dealing with a strange plastic which doesn't seal, so I cannot get a clean mould without underbits.

 

So thinking.

 

Any reason I cannot use parcel tape or duck tape as the base to stick things to?

I have no experience of resin casting but I would shy away from parcel tape.  Its 'stickability' is very variable and it is not suited to damp or wet.  Duct tape should work.  I have used some double-sided carpet tape for a number of applications on different surfaces which I think would work: https://www.toolstation.com/double-sided-carpet-tape/p82644

 

[Steven B]

22 hours ago, thegreenhowards said:

But when I tried Liquid Decal Film on the old pressfix transfers after application they just curled up and were therefore useless. Are you saying that it should be painted onto the transfers before application?

 

My understanding is that Liquid Decal Film can revive older water-slide transfers by reinforcing them and making them less prone to breaking up. It appears to act like a varnish painted over the transfer and left to dry before applying water. As I mentioned before, I've yet to try it but have a bottle on order.

 

Steven B.

[MJI]

Any way this will be mould attempt 3 gone through quite a bit of rubber!

[96701]

The last time I saw Blue Peter was on the North Yorkshire Moors Railway where my son (pictured) was allowed on the footplate after a trip on the Santa Special.  He is now 38.

 

Edited April 18, 2022 by 96701

[gr.king]

1 hour ago, MJI said:

Any way this will be mould attempt 3 gone through quite a bit of rubber!

Is there any possibility of drilling some small holes into this non-stick master in inconspicuous places and then using tiny screws driven up through the floor of the moulding box to fix it in place? 

Further alternative: using a very sharp blade with care (possibly really keen side cutters and scissors too) can you trim the excess rubber from one of the existing moulds and get back to a neat-enough line to make the mould usable? If you only want small numbers of castings it may be easy enough to trim any resultant rough edges from those...

Edited February 9, 2021 by gr.king

[jwealleans]

4 hours ago, 96701 said:

The last time I saw Blue Peter was on the North Yorkshire Moors Railway

 

My dad was a fireman up there when it was running.  He said it was a beast - as opposed to the usual battle to get up the hill, with that it was a battle to keep it in check and somewhere down towards 25 mph.

Edited February 9, 2021 by jwealleans

[Denbridge]

1 hour ago, jwealleans said:

 

My dad was a fireman up there when it was running.  He said it was a beast - as opposed to the usual battle to get up the hill, with that it was a battle to keep it on check and somewhere down towards 25 mph.

I remember chatting to a driver when Tornado was visiting the NYMR. He opined that 60532 was more suited to the line. Perhaps due to the smaller coupled and driving wheels.

[josephmarsh]

Could someone pass this on to Tony Wright please!

Hi, New to this and not sure how to reach you.

I bought a metal kit of an engine that ran at Round Oak Steel Works in the late 60s. I'm getting nowhere building it and after getting no reply from a local model club i'm stuck.

Seeing your Right Track dvds and then today seeing you show what you'd been doing during lockdown I wondered if you could help and at what cost.

The engine is a Judith Edge Kit of a Yorkshire Engine  DE2 040 diesel, please see pictures.

If i sent the kit to you could you build and paint it ready for a DCC chip, I have a motor, though you would probably know of a better item.

Yes I know what i'm asking you to do, but after paying £50 for a box of bits, It's just sitting there doing nothing.

Parts of the main body, chassis and cab have been soldered together, I just cant work out what part is what and don't have the skill to do anything else.

The pictures are of the kit built by Judith Edge, I only built part of the chassis sub frame, second picture is it finished and 3rd is real engine at R O Steel works 

Please give me some idea of the cost.

Kindest regards

Joseph Marsh56@gmail.com

[PMP]

19 minutes ago, josephmarsh said:

Could someone pass this on to Tony Wright please!

Hi, New to this and not sure how to reach you.

I bought a metal kit of an engine that ran at Round Oak Steel Works in the late 60s. I'm getting nowhere building it and after getting no reply from a local model club i'm stuck.

Seeing your Right Track dvds and then today seeing you show what you'd been doing during lockdown I wondered if you could help and at what cost.

The engine is a Judith Edge Kit of a Yorkshire Engine  DE2 040 diesel, please see pictures.

If i sent the kit to you could you build and paint it ready for a DCC chip, I have a motor, though you would probably know of a better item.

Yes I know what i'm asking you to do, but after paying £50 for a box of bits, It's just sitting there doing nothing.

Parts of the main body, chassis and cab have been soldered together, I just cant work out what part is what and don't have the skill to do anything else.

The pictures are of the kit built by Judith Edge, I only built part of the chassis sub frame, second picture is it finished and 3rd is real engine at R O Steel works 

Please give me some idea of the cost.

Kindest regards

Joseph Marsh56@gmail.com

Tony responded on the 28th to your original query. There are builders whom will assemble and paint this kit for you. They advertise in places like the small ads in Railway modeller. A Google search would also find them and you could ask Judith Edge if they will assemble it or can recommend someone. There’s likely to be a waiting list for a pro-builder, and you need to think of a budget of several hundred pounds for it assembled and painted. If that seems expensive don’t forget you’re asking an artisan to build something for you. 
EG April 21 NMW £8.91/hr

If it takes (for example) a week to build and paint that’s around £350 assuming charge at NMW rate.

Edited February 9, 2021 by PMP

[thegreenhowards]

23 hours ago, Barry Ten said:

 

Yes, the idea with the liquid decal film is that you put in onto the transfer sheet itself before application.

 

I bought some by mistake and wondered why it wasn't behaving like the usual Micro-Sol and Micro-Set.

It works very well on water slide when applied after the transfers have dried in place. It anchors them well and renders the carrier film invisible.

[queensquare]

45 minutes ago, PMP said:

Tony responded on the 28th to your original query. There are builders whom will assemble and paint this kit for you. They advertise in places like the small ads in Railway modeller. A Google search would also find them and you could ask Judith Edge if they will assemble it or can recommend someone. There’s likely to be a waiting list for a pro-builder, and you need to think of a budget of several hundred pounds for it assembled and painted. If that seems expensive don’t forget you’re asking an artisan to build something for you. 
EG April 21 NMW £8.91/hr

If it takes (for example) a week to build and paint that’s around £350 assuming charge at NMW rate.

 

I build professionally but as Paul says there is a waiting list and I don't work for minimum wage! I know there are other builders who visit this thread but I'm sure I'm not alone in saying that I'm usually reluctant to take on a commission that's already been started, it can often take a lot longer to build than starting from scratch.

 

Jerry

[Tony Wright]

2 hours ago, josephmarsh said:

Could someone pass this on to Tony Wright please!

Hi, New to this and not sure how to reach you.

I bought a metal kit of an engine that ran at Round Oak Steel Works in the late 60s. I'm getting nowhere building it and after getting no reply from a local model club i'm stuck.

Seeing your Right Track dvds and then today seeing you show what you'd been doing during lockdown I wondered if you could help and at what cost.

The engine is a Judith Edge Kit of a Yorkshire Engine  DE2 040 diesel, please see pictures.

If i sent the kit to you could you build and paint it ready for a DCC chip, I have a motor, though you would probably know of a better item.

Yes I know what i'm asking you to do, but after paying £50 for a box of bits, It's just sitting there doing nothing.

Parts of the main body, chassis and cab have been soldered together, I just cant work out what part is what and don't have the skill to do anything else.

The pictures are of the kit built by Judith Edge, I only built part of the chassis sub frame, second picture is it finished and 3rd is real engine at R O Steel works 

Please give me some idea of the cost.

Kindest regards

Joseph Marsh56@gmail.com

I assume you didn't see my original response, Joseph?

 

I can't recall exactly what I said, but it's not something I'd take on. 

 

Like Jerry (Queensquare) I no longer touch anything which another builder has started.

 

Interestingly, I was in conversation with a friend yesterday who was cock-a-hoop at having bought a ready-built/-painted DJH Marshe Atlantic for around £100.00 at auction. He said it looked very good, but couldn't comment on its running because he hasn't got a layout, but was assured 'it ran'.

 

Out of interest, he asked me how much I'd have charged for building it and getting it professionally-painted. All-in (assuming I supplied the parts), I told him quite a bit the wrong side of £1,000.00! I certainly don't work for the minimum wage. Also, out of interest, I test-built the prototype kit for DJH and wrote the instructions. 

 

He wasn't surprised, but says he sees so many kit-built locos on ebay and on other auction sites where the models go for less than their component parts. 'They look to be well-built/-painted' he said, 'In many cases professionally-built/-painted'. 'Ah', said I, 'But do you know their provenance'?  

 

I've had so many 'professionally-built-painted' locos through my hands which I wouldn't buy with washers. Even though several are quite well-painted, they're often riddled with detail errors and as for the running............! 'Good runner' often means it'll negotiate a yard of dead straight Peco Streamline, backwards and forwards, just. Ask 'em to go round even generous curves without shorting, stuttering or derailing and you've no chance. 

 

All the best builders sign their work, have long waiting lists and are not 'cheap' Why should they be? It's highly-skilled work. 

 

When Covid restrictions allow, I have to go and see a collection of 'professionally-built/painted' locomotives and sell them on behalf of a widow. So far, I've only seen very small images, but already I've deduced that an A2/2 has the wrong dome, boiler firebox and cab, and what looks like the wrong tender. I suspect it's built from a Millholme kit and the 'professional' builder has merely built the kit as-supplied. What hope of getting any return on something like that? Especially with Hornby's latest Thompson Pacifics now appearing. Obviously, I'll thoroughly check all the locos out, but I'll struggle to find a buyer for the A2/2. 

 

I've lost count of the number of times my answer to the question of 'How much?' at a show is met with incredulity. 'What! I can get one from Hornby for a fraction of that.' 'Then, please do so' is my standard response (except, until recently, nobody made a Thompson Pacific RTR, and the A1/1 and A2/1s are not on anyone's RTR radar). As for a K4..................

 

I wish you well in your quest.

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

Edited February 9, 2021 by Tony Wright
to add something

[PMP]

1 hour ago, queensquare said:

 

I build professionally but as Paul says there is a waiting list and I don't work for minimum wage!

 

Jerry

I’m not surprised at either! I used NMW as in the past I’ve been asked to build things. I think some people forget that whilst this is a hobby, if you’re ‘employing’ someone then NMW is a reasonable lowest point for a commissioner to perhaps bear in mind.

[Bernard Lamb]

I have been retired for over 17 years and well before then the rate for casual lecturing at the local Uni. on technical subjects was £25.

I would suggest that any skilled person would not work for a sum well in excess of that.

A local plumber for example wants £80 and they seem to all set this as a norm and are very busy.

My daughter is a qualified Solicitor with experience at a top City firm, but now works as a teacher. I will not frighten people by quoting her (very low by industry standards) rate for occasional work. 

As my old boss used to say "Don't be a busy fool."

Bernard 

[Compound2632]

The moral for @josephmarsh has to be: spend some time practising on something simpler and lest critical to build up his skills, then return to the Judith Edge kit with more confidence! The person who never made a pig's ear of a kit never made anything. Who knows? He could end out churning out Peppercorn pacifics at £2,000 a pop.

[Northmoor]

45 minutes ago, Bernard Lamb said:

I have been retired for over 17 years and well before then the rate for casual lecturing at the local Uni. on technical subjects was £25.

I would suggest that any skilled person would not work for a sum well in excess of that.

A local plumber for example wants £80 and they seem to all set this as a norm and are very busy.

My daughter is a qualified Solicitor with experience at a top City firm, but now works as a teacher. I will not frighten people by quoting her (very low by industry standards) rate for occasional work. 

As my old boss used to say "Don't be a busy fool."

Bernard 

About twenty years ago I was "sold" by my employer to do quite detailed engineering inspection and analysis for £40/hr.  Then we were privatised and the rate went up about 50% (my pay didn't).  Within a few years my own pay had risen by about 10% but my charge-out rate had increased by about 70%.  By the time I left that company on redundancy, I was paid for doing mid-level management consultancy to the defence industry for under £18/hr, while my employer charged me out at nearly £80/hr.  Just in case you wonder where your taxes get spent.....

[Mike 84C]

All this talk of rates of pay is interesting, back in the '90's I was running a small fleet of bulk tipping lorries for a national agricultural merchant and two sayings stood out for me "you can be very busy going bust", a few did and "charge what the market will stand". I once contracted our own lorries to work for a rival because they were paying more per ton. That really put the cat among the pidgeons made my point though. But to run from the midlands to Avonmouth discharge, reload aggregate in the Bristol area and discharge Oxon/Bucks areas five days a week would gross if you were lucky £1000/1200. Not much left after costs taken out.  Sorry I'm ranting!!!

[SM42]

I've used liquid decal film on dried up Parkside pressfix decals.

 

It will make the sheet curl up as it dries but storing them flat with a little weight  (even just in the bag they come in will help)

 

After the film has dried, I cut out the decal and lay in position  on the model and soak the tissue to release it. It's then just a matter of wicking away any excess liquid,  final positioning and pressing down carefully.

 

It is a little more fiddly but works well with care.

 

Use preferred setting solutions to taste.

 

Andy

[The Fatadder]

I was reading through the HMRS transfers issues thinking that I must have been very lucky as I hadnt experienced any of these issues of transfers not sticking, then while adding numbers to my K18 at the weekend it took almost an entire row of 7s and 4s off a fairly new sheet to get 4 sets of 247 onto the coach.  Fortunately the bigger transfers still seem to be ok (I keep my HMRS transfers in a sealed zip lock bag on a dark shelf).  Hopefully there wont be an issue with the other older sheets as I have been saving the Royal Mail transfers off several sheets for a long time to use on my TPO and I dont want to have to replace them now that I am getting close to painting it!

[Jon4470]

I found this old thread that mentions another approach to rejuvenating old transfers.

This uses pale French polish and then meths.

I’ve not tried it - so can’t vouch for its effectiveness.

 

 

[Tony Wright]

Thanks for all the recent comments on transfers.

 

I went back to an old sheet of my 'Pressfix' transfers to put the BR devices on the tender of the J6 I've just finished; perfect. 

 

I'm reluctant to order more new sets of No. 14, but I'm running out fast of what's needed off the older sheets.

 

I seem to have the opposite situation to what some have found; perfectly good old sheets with no drying-out or lack of being sticky, while the latest (at least two years old) are hopeless. 

 

The business of what bespoke models cost to the commissioner is always one of interest/amusement/incredulity/amazement/disbelief/outrage or any of the other reactions one might mention. In my experience, the following points are true.

 

1. The best builders/painters always have a waiting list, often stretching into years. 

2. They're not cheap, but then one has to ask why are they the best builders/painters? Because their work is exceptionally good.

3. Even if a model is built/painted by one of the 'best', do not assume that, if it's resold, it'll make what the original price was, even if it's signed.

4. If there is anything 'wrong' with a finished model, the best will always put it right. 

5. 'Professionally-built/-painted' is no indication of excellence; it's often quite the opposite.

6. If a 'professional builder/painter' says he/she can do the job within weeks, beware.

7. Always ask to see examples of the builders' work before committing anything. You'll find that the 'best' are often demonstrators at shows and will have their work on display. 

8. Many of the 'best' will ask for a deposit before taking on a commission, but many only receive payment on completion. If one is asked for full payment up front before any commission is started, be cautious.

9. Many 'professionally-built/-painted' locos one sees on auction sites, although 'attractive' in small pictures, turn out to be anything but.

10. Many kit-built locos bought from auction sites don't run well.

11. On the other hand, there are some real bargains, but it's hit and miss.

12. Many I know who have not heeded any or all of the above points are very disappointed. 

 

Does anyone have stories from both 'extremes', please (especially pictures)? Delighted or disappointed, it's all of interest.

 

[thegreenhowards]

1 hour ago, Tony Wright said:

Thanks for all the recent comments on transfers.

 

I went back to an old sheet of my 'Pressfix' transfers to put the BR devices on the tender of the J6 I've just finished; perfect. 

 

I'm reluctant to order more new sets of No. 14, but I'm running out fast of what's needed off the older sheets.

 

I seem to have the opposite situation to what some have found; perfectly good old sheets with no drying-out or lack of being sticky, while the latest (at least two years old) are hopeless. 

 

The business of what bespoke models cost to the commissioner is always one of interest/amusement/incredulity/amazement/disbelief/outrage or any of the other reactions one might mention. In my experience, the following points are true.

 

1. The best builders/painters always have a waiting list, often stretching into years. 

2. They're not cheap, but then one has to ask why are they the best builders/painters? Because their work is exceptionally good.

3. Even if a model is built/painted by one of the 'best', do not assume that, if it's resold, it'll make what the original price was, even if it's signed.

4. If there is anything 'wrong' with a finished model, the best will always put it right. 

5. 'Professionally-built/-painted' is no indication of excellence; it's often quite the opposite.

6. If a 'professional builder/painter' says he/she can do the job within weeks, beware.

7. Always ask to see examples of the builders' work before committing anything. You'll find that the 'best' are often demonstrators at shows and will have their work on display. 

8. Many of the 'best' will ask for a deposit before taking on a commission, but many only receive payment on completion. If one is asked for full payment up front before any commission is started, be cautious.

9. Many 'professionally-built/-painted' locos one sees on auction sites, although 'attractive' in small pictures, turn out to be anything but.

10. Many kit-built locos bought from auction sites don't run well.

11. On the other hand, there are some real bargains, but it's hit and miss.

12. Many I know who have not heeded any or all of the above points are very disappointed. 

 

Does anyone have stories from both 'extremes', please (especially pictures)? Delighted or disappointed, it's all of interest.

 

Tony,

 

I agree with all of your list. Points 10 and 11 are where I have particular experience. I would say that the buyer should assume that any kit built loco bought on an auction site will need some work. It will probably need fettling to get it to run on your layout and will also probably need some cosmetic work - anything from paint chips tidied up through replacing all sorts of wrong or missing parts (chimneys, footsteps etc.) to a complete repaint.

 

I’ve never failed to get one working satisfactorily although there are a couple that have beaten me when it comes to DCC and not many (none?) run as well as yours do.

 

Buying on an auction site is not a way to get kit built locos if the purchaser can’t build one himself. But if one has the skills to build a loco it’s a quicker and cheaper way of getting a desired loco up and running on one’s layout.

 

Regards

 

Andy