RBE Posted December 10, 2015 Share Posted December 10, 2015 The signal box looks good. If you don't mind me asking what are you using to strip the coaches for Adams Vinyls? I'm always interested in how others do it as I find it very tedious and I'm hoping I can find faster ways! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wherry Lines Posted December 10, 2015 Share Posted December 10, 2015 I find that brass wadding works well, Cav. I also use a brass dipped cotton bud for some areas. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sf315 Posted December 10, 2015 Share Posted December 10, 2015 Hi all If you are using Poole made Farish coaches without the inlays I use nail varnish remover rubbed on with a cloth and then a good scrub with a toothbrush in hot soapy water to clean off. I try to buy 2nd hand coaches in a plain livery as it comes off easier but beggars can't be choosers sometimes. If allowed its a good job to do when sitting watching tele with whoever as it gains family points as well if you're allowed to. Bet the signal box smells nice. Thanks Steve 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
carlw Posted December 10, 2015 Author Share Posted December 10, 2015 The signal box looks good. If you don't mind me asking what are you using to strip the coaches for Adams Vinyls? I'm always interested in how others do it as I find it very tedious and I'm hoping I can find faster ways! I used Brasso as that's what I had in the house. I'm going to try some nail polish remover like Steve suggested with the next load I have to clean. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
carlw Posted December 10, 2015 Author Share Posted December 10, 2015 Hi all If you are using Poole made Farish coaches without the inlays I use nail varnish remover rubbed on with a cloth and then a good scrub with a toothbrush in hot soapy water to clean off. I try to buy 2nd hand coaches in a plain livery as it comes off easier but beggars can't be choosers sometimes. If allowed its a good job to do when sitting watching tele with whoever as it gains family points as well if you're allowed to. Bet the signal box smells nice. Thanks Steve The whole loft smelt nice for a couple of days when I used the talc. Thanks for suggesting it as it has given a great texture for the felt used on the roof. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sf315 Posted December 10, 2015 Share Posted December 10, 2015 Hi all Please test any product first on a small area that won't be seen. I tried TCut on a coach a few years ago and all was fine until a couple of days after it all went white so again test whatever you are using. Thanks. Steve Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
carlw Posted December 11, 2015 Author Share Posted December 11, 2015 I had a spare hour this afternoon between driving lessons so I have copied something that I have noticed in the photos Paul sent me, painted the end of rails on the points white. I'm not sure why this was done but I would guess it's something to do with thermal expansion, am I right? 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lyddrail Posted December 11, 2015 Share Posted December 11, 2015 Carl, The white paint was to highlight possible trip hazards of the rail ends. In a later period than my layout whole point blade rails were painted white to reflect sunlight to minimise heat expansion. Cheers. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
carlw Posted December 12, 2015 Author Share Posted December 12, 2015 With no work this morning and spare time till the family commitments this afternoon, I've been back up in the loft making that nice talc smell change in to a horrible plastic cement smell. First up has been cutting glueing and filing microstrip so that I can start the upright supports for the jubilee walkways. While waiting for the glue on the supports to dry I set about the pump house next to jubilee sidings, I thought this would be a simple build but I now remember why I hate plasticard. Cutting the windows and doors out have been a pain and in the end I had 4 seperate parts for the front wall with the window and door on. 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lyddrail Posted December 12, 2015 Share Posted December 12, 2015 Carl, The pump house and walkway supports look good. Cheers. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
carlw Posted January 17, 2016 Author Share Posted January 17, 2016 Hi, Work has progressed slowly over the Christmas period. The pump house is now painted a nice sandy brown colour with red doors. I need to get hold of some corrugated plastic for the roof. Running out of plastic is a bit of a common theme at the moment, im hoping to get to the Erith show later in the month and stock up supplies. I am still working on the supports for the Jubilee sidings. I made the supports a little too wide and a having to file the all down before placing them on the boards. In the mean time I have started working on the large C&W depot building that will run along the back of the yard. I have cheated a little on this, as the rear wall will never been seen I have just made it blank. Carl 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
carlw Posted January 24, 2016 Author Share Posted January 24, 2016 A rare Sunday off has allowed me time to get up in the loft and progress a few jobs nicely along. Firstly more work was done on the C&W building, all the roof supports were added and framing around the top. I have also added what I think is a water tank on the roof. This is the main structure complete so I have done the first coat of light grey paint. The next two jobs I have been working on can both be seen in the next picture. All the supports for the Jubilee sidings walkways are now filed and glued in place, just need to construct the steps for each end and paint them all next. The other thing to be seen in the picture is that the S&T department have been in laying cable trunking, much time has been spent looking at the photos that Paul supplied to try and get them all in the correct place, a lot of them got covered in overgrown weeds and plants at various dates so some guess work has been employed on full routes for them. I'm really pleased at how things are progressing at the moment, I'm now waiting for a supply of micro strip that has been ordered, along with some courigated plastic for various roofing jobs and the bike racks. Carl 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
carlw Posted February 7, 2016 Author Share Posted February 7, 2016 (edited) I have had a very productive morning up morning up in the loft. I had a couple of packages arrive this week, first up was a Ratio concrete huts. These huts are to be placed near the hand crane at the back of the yard. They just need painting and weathering now. Second package contained the latest addition to the fleet of shoeboxes. The model of 73128 in EWS will be repainted at some point what into I'm not sure, but at £35 it was a bargain. The 3rd package contained plastic strip, this morning I have used this to add in all the window frames to the signal box. I have also added the down pipes. Last but not least I decided to take a different tack with the courigated sheets for the roof of the pump house. Instead I have used tin foil then added the courigated feel with the lid of a bottle. The photo doesn't really show this up, but in real in front of you it can be seen. The roof colour I have used weathering powders mixed with a little water to give it a nice dirty look. Edited February 7, 2016 by carlw 9 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
carlw Posted February 22, 2016 Author Share Posted February 22, 2016 Hi All, It been a few weeks again since I have posted, but I have been working on various things for the layout. First off I have been waiting for a delivery of code 40 rail to finish off the last of the 3rd rail. This is done now and just needs painting. All of the cable troughs and the breeze blocks for the jubilee sidings have been painted. I have been painting 7 wagons into Satlink yellow and red. These just need the last coat of red and then the internal colours and under frames. I recieved a etch walkway from peebles models that I'm going to cut up and use as the walkway around the signal box control room. It's not the correct type but it is close enough that I'm not going to be picky. Update on the C&W building. This has taken a while to work on all of the window frames, I'm no where near as good at buildings as others but as this is going to be a good 3ft away from any operators any shortcomings won't be that noticeable. I just need to print out a few signs that are stuck to the side of the buildings (hope Google will have images as they are generic HS signs). I also need to work out how I'm going to do the gas heater vents that are positioned on the fron wall. I might even leave them off as the are quite small. Here is a small quick project I knocked up at the weekend while waiting for some of the paint to dry. It's the back of the bike rack. I have used a plasticard structure and coated it with home made corrugated panels made from tin foil that has been pressed into the lid of a coffee pot! Cheers Carl 10 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
carlw Posted March 12, 2016 Author Share Posted March 12, 2016 (edited) Hi all, A small update of what I have been up to over the last couple of weeks. I have finally finished installing and painting all of the 3rd rail. The signal box is pretty much done other than needing a few more small details but these will be done when I have the area it's going to be planted finished. As can be seen by the photo the latest addition is the walkway around the control room. I have been painting Satlink wagons recently, I have a rake of 8 so far. I have tried to make a few subtle differences between them. I have been working from photos that Paul Wade kindly provided. One of the wagons I have given a light coat of thinned down white so that it looks faded like these wagons tended to look after a while in service. Carl Edited March 12, 2016 by carlw 12 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
michaelp Posted March 12, 2016 Share Posted March 12, 2016 Great work so far Carl, following this with interest and looking forward to more. Michael 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RBE Posted March 13, 2016 Share Posted March 13, 2016 This is looking really good. The signal box looks superb. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
carlw Posted March 14, 2016 Author Share Posted March 14, 2016 Thanks for your comments. At the moment I'm waiting for my wife to finish one of the spray cleaning bottles, so that I can pinch it for wetting the ballast. While waiting I have been cutting up strips of microstrip to use as upside down cable troughs for the hard walkways in the areas next to the C&W buildings. I have just made the steps for each end of the jubilee walkways. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
carlw Posted April 8, 2016 Author Share Posted April 8, 2016 From the last post I said I have been cutting up microstrip to use as upside down cable troughs used as walkways. As can be seen from the photo below I have been laying and glueing these in place, the photo only shows some of the ones I have laid, the rest being down the other end of the yard. Looking at them I am wondering if I am mad or just trying to make them look ok? My wife finished with the spray bottle last week and it was duly pinched. I have spent several days so far laying ballast. Doing sections glueing and waiting for them to dry before moving onto the next section. The break between laying it is also because it gets very boring and monotonous. So far I have completed all the mains, jubilee sidings and the first 5 roads in the yard. Also as can be seen from the photo above I have managed to obtain a model of 73005. It does have some damage to the No2 side buffers on both ends and has come with no coupling pockets. Hopefully I will be able to get replacement pockets and buffers. But at £30 it was worth a shot 7 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
carlw Posted June 5, 2016 Author Share Posted June 5, 2016 Just noticed it's been almost 2 months since the last update. I have been in the loft sporadically over the last few months due to a combination of things. I have managed to complete all of the ballasting now. It's been very tedious but at least it's out of the way now. 6 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
carlw Posted June 12, 2016 Author Share Posted June 12, 2016 Hi all, Now age finished the ballasting I need to move on to making it look realistic, I have started looking out for line side details like AWS ramps, relay cabinets and point levers. But I think I should get the ballast weathered first. As a non airbrush user what techniques can people point me towards to make all the ballast look more realistic. Thanks Carl Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RBE Posted June 13, 2016 Share Posted June 13, 2016 I personally use an airbrush as it does the job so well however good results can be had with weathering powders or chalks applied with various sizes of brush. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
carlw Posted June 25, 2016 Author Share Posted June 25, 2016 This week I have been and purchased a couple of shades of chalks and crushed them into a powder. I mixed this with a bit of water and brushed over the clean ballast to give it a nice brown hue. Then I did the same with some black down the middle of the rails. In the pic below you can see a pot of the clean ballast, brown coverage and the front track treated with black. What are people thoughts on how it looks? Cheers Carl 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lyddrail Posted June 25, 2016 Share Posted June 25, 2016 Carl, The chalks are looking good. Cheers. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
carlw Posted June 29, 2016 Author Share Posted June 29, 2016 Carl, The chalks are looking good. Cheers. Thanks Paul, I was speaking to Stephen Farmer last night and he asked about what chalks I had used. They were just some,cheap ones,I had bought from a local art shop. I used a kitchen grater to turn them into powder, mixed them with some water and alcohol (to break surface tension) then painted it on. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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