Jaggzuk Posted January 18, 2017 Author Share Posted January 18, 2017 Cheers Chris I enjoyed the detailing work. Improving the motor and traction to work took a huge effort and the shortage of spares was a real frustration. But overall it has inspired me to detail other locos I have that are older and less detailed out of the box. Getting hold of the white metal drivers was a real bonus as I think it add a great finishing touch. I am struggling a bit with winter blues and motivation to get back in to making big progress on the layout post Christmas. But I have been making up some small Wills Kits (PWay Huts and Coal merchant) with my boys so at least that's something. The only thing I have done on the layout is taking a deep breath and starting to weather the concrete sleeper track in readiness for ballasting. This was a always going to be a big step, as I needed it to look right. So far I have done 1 yard of track; 5 to go! Following a few trials and to get it to look right I have gone for hand painting and stupidly I am painting each sleeper fastening a different brown to the rail sides! But I am happy with the look, photos to come shortly. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LongRail Posted January 18, 2017 Share Posted January 18, 2017 Jaz "painting each sleeper fastening a different brown to the rail sides!" Look out for the men in white coats Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaggzuk Posted January 18, 2017 Author Share Posted January 18, 2017 Well I did consider even touching up the fastenings to represent new Pandrol clips in one of the many colours they come in 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaggzuk Posted January 18, 2017 Author Share Posted January 18, 2017 (edited) So here is my effort on concrete sleeper weathering based on observation of real stuff. First the real stuff (Please note, these photos were taken as part on my job working on the railway and it was safe to do so as both lines were blocked to running trains) A good example of old fairly clean ballast with semi dirty concrete sleepers, this will be the effect I am trying to achieve out of the station area. Quite dirty sleepers with clean fresh ballast overlaid I will try to create some areas of my track to look like this. General view of concrete sleepered track with existing ballast which has been overlaid with new fresh stuff. Now my efforts My first off layout trial. This is to represent newly laid buff/pink ballast Same bit but ballast wetted to see what it will look like once PVA glued. To represent old dirty ballast with oily sleepers. The rails and sleepers have been weathered before laying ballast, because from observation, the ballast I have seen is pretty much not the same weathered colour as the sleepers, apart from near signals or in stations. My method was as follows: To take the shine of the plastic and to make the sleepers look more like concrete, I hand painted them with Tamiya acrylic Buff (XF-57). I will also use Flat Earth (XF-52). Next I pained the rail sides with Railmatch Frame Dirt (402) The rail fastening/clips were painted randomly with Model Air Dark Earth (71.029) and Rust (71.080) Finally I dry brushed the sleepers with a varied mix of Model Air paints to create the level of grim I was after. I also used very light washes of Woodland Scenics Earth Colours "Green Undercoat" and Daler & Roweny FW Acrylic Artists Ink "Burnt Umber"; the later being evident in the last photo top rail, the rusty brown stain on the sleepers. Yep, so 1 yard took an evening, but I am very pleased with the results. Now it really does not look like plastic and has the aged look I am after.. Edited September 8, 2022 by Jaggzuk 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Alister_G Posted January 18, 2017 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 18, 2017 Wow mate, the amount of effort you've put into doing that has really paid off! Superb looking track and ballasting, nice clean edges, and distinct cess. The only suggestion I would make is that your fresh pink ballast is very pink - you might want to add a grey wash to the fresh stuff, but the old and used one is perfect! Brilliant work, how many yards did you say you've got to do? Al. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaggzuk Posted January 19, 2017 Author Share Posted January 19, 2017 Cheers Al. So, I have about 5 yards to do, one of which is in the cutting approaching the tunnel. I take your point on the over pink colour, a bit of a light dirty wash should fix that. I think I will put in much more effort on the concrete track compared to the timber track in the main because it runs round the edge of the baseboards and so is much more visible. I am also sort of intending it to look like the track has recently been relaid replacing old timber track, so most of the ballast ill be new looking. The neat cess is just formed on top of the pained builder sand. I am doing this method over the whole layout, but in some palces it will disapear under vegetation of ballast spill. My next new area of effort along the line of concrete sleepers will be laying concrete cable troughs. these need to go down before the ballast is lauid. As from my observation these form quite a distinct divide between ballast and lineside vegetation. As with all things I appear to be doing it will involve some level of trials in the various method and products I have come across here on RMWeb. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Module00 Posted January 20, 2017 Share Posted January 20, 2017 I like very well the different ballast particularly the last one "old dirty ballast with oily sleepers". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Revolution Mike B Posted January 20, 2017 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 20, 2017 (edited) Hi Buddy Is this any good to you? It's not the best picture....I'm sure there's much better ones in my thread. I can tell you a very easy way to get your concrete track looking concrete if you need me to. Keep up the good work Mike Edited January 20, 2017 by scoobyra 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaggzuk Posted January 21, 2017 Author Share Posted January 21, 2017 Cheers Mike. I seriously had to look hard at your picture as to whether it was real or model. I am now about 50% the way through your Oak Road thread and wow your track and ballast, one of the best looks I have ever seen. So realistic and looks like the real thing, the variation is shades and colour if very good. Your weathering is a masterclass. I shall note the C&L concrete sleepers for the future on my next bigger layout. Very nice looking indeed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Revolution Mike B Posted January 21, 2017 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 21, 2017 Cheers Mike. I seriously had to look hard at your picture as to whether it was real or model. I am now about 50% the way through your Oak Road thread and wow your track and ballast, one of the best looks I have ever seen. So realistic and looks like the real thing, the variation is shades and colour if very good. Your weathering is a masterclass. I shall note the C&L concrete sleepers for the future on my next bigger layout. Very nice looking indeed. No worries at all. Don't hesitate to send me a pm if you get stuck - I'm no expert but I'm more than happy to share my experiences.......some of them have been a bit more costly than others! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaggzuk Posted February 2, 2017 Author Share Posted February 2, 2017 (edited) Can't belie we are already into February!! So little progress, not sure where the time is going. Anyway a very minor update. I have had a dabble in trying to weather the stone tunnel portals. I found this much harder to do than the brickwork retaining wall, not sure why. The overall effect is OK and will be much enhanced when I add a bit of foliage around the the base and up the buttresses. This is the before This is the effect after, but I forgot to the the tunnel parapet. I am rather pleased with my calcite treatment. I also tried to give some of the stonework a better sense of depth as the card kit just looks too flat. I think plasticard stonework would have been a better building material. But I went for speed of build. This is sort of where some of the inspiration came from: I hope to model my cutting scenics/grass on this one as well https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Totley_Tunnel_western_portal.jpg And a classic portal. https://locoyard.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/038-2014-paignton-and-dartmouth-steam-railway-view-from-pullman-devon-belle-observation-car-greenway-tunnel.jpg Edited September 8, 2022 by Jaggzuk 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Alister_G Posted February 3, 2017 RMweb Gold Share Posted February 3, 2017 Hmm, that last one looks strangely familiar... You've made a cracking job of the weathering, just as you did on the retaining walls earlier, you really have a great eye for detail. The calcite leaking out is spot on, as are the colours you've managed to get overall. Brilliant mate, look forward to seeing it surrounded by scenery. Al. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andi4x4 Posted February 3, 2017 Share Posted February 3, 2017 Lovely weathering ! What did you use to create the green, mossy effect ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Module00 Posted February 3, 2017 Share Posted February 3, 2017 Nice weathering, i like it very well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaggzuk Posted February 4, 2017 Author Share Posted February 4, 2017 Cheers for the comment guys. I was not sure about the over all finish, but for first effort on the stone card I am happy. Might try use of the airbrush for overall grime when I come to do the long length of the retaining wall along on the right-hand side tunnel. Lovely weathering ! What did you use to create the green, mossy effect ? I used Woodland Scenics Earth Colours "Green Undercoat". I goes on like a wash if mixed with a bit of water. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaggzuk Posted February 4, 2017 Author Share Posted February 4, 2017 Hmm, that last one looks strangely familiar... Well it was your layout and tunnel efforts that inspired me to try and weather my card kit. But I do think the Metacalfe stone card kits suffer from a lack of relief. The brick card ones are OK and I am very happy with result of weathering my brick retaining wall. I am now experimenting with home printed kits (Scalesecene etc) and seeing how easy it it to weather them effectively. I have bought the brick version of the medium town station to build. But I need to finish the girder bridge first. However, I made a bit of a booboo in that I glued the lower plinths flush with the bottom of bridge abutment, only to realise I need had least 10mm of road sub-surface under the bridge to get up to level crossing height! So its back out with the knife and glue. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaggzuk Posted February 4, 2017 Author Share Posted February 4, 2017 (edited) A little project that is on a very slow burn, but was ignited whilst I was doing my Class 43 HST project, is a Class 31 in BR blue. I have, from old, three Class 31s, and Triang, and Airfix and a Lima. Both the Triang and Airfix version are motor dead and the Lima is a fairly good runner with its Ringfield motor (currently DC only) and the bogies look fine Triang top, Airfix middle Lima bottom Triang right, Airfix middle Lima left Now, I am what could be said desperate for a good BR blue Class 31 in my collection. My childhood memory is that they were such a versatile loco back in the the 70s, and 80s and could be seen hauling long and short rakes of passenger coaches and all sorts of freight and departmentals trains. So whilst I wait for Horny to produce another version of R2649, as they are like hens teeth second hand and well over £110, I am left with a bit of a dliemma. My loco MR shop has one of the current Hornby Railroad BR blues for £44, Ok sounds like a good buy, but I know it will have to be super detailed to look right. Or do I buy the spare parts (Chassis, dummy and motor bogies) super-detail and then respray the old ones I have got; considering they are pretty much same moulding as the Railroad version (Triang excepted) I recon I can get a chassis, dummy and motor bogies new spares for about £34 ex postage, but only from two different supplies So, do I go the recycle option or buy the railroad version? As its going to work out a similar price before I get any of the super detail bits. As I want to super detail the 31 which ever way I go, this may involve the Railroad one being resprayed anyway. The other aspect is I have never super detailed a loco before, so messing up the old ones feels safer and maybe more satisfying. Anyway my current thinking is this. Leaving the Triang to one side, may be turn it into a scraped/parts/body donor static model one day. Buy a completely new chassis and bogies for the Aifix convert this in to a 31/4 version. Convert the Lima to DCC and see what the motor is like. If not very good then get a Railroad motor bogie and then super detail this up to be 31/0. Finally get the railroad version anyway cos of the price and super detail. So, I should end up with three different BR Blue 31s Oh yes, for me my, first super detailing project will hopefully be along the lines of: flush window, wire hand rails, lights, fan, buffer beam detail and re-spay. So any thoughts on which way I should go? Any thoughts on which way I should go? Edited September 8, 2022 by Jaggzuk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Vecchio Posted February 4, 2017 RMweb Premium Share Posted February 4, 2017 Looking forward to that - had an old Lima class 37 running on the test track today and thought this could be a candidate for DCC - with all the space above the dummy boogie one can put in 6000uF stay alive....Means - I cannot tell you were to go - but if you do up the Lima I look forward to your experience Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaggzuk Posted May 2, 2017 Author Share Posted May 2, 2017 (edited) Well I think you can tell Spring has arrived and the garden and family outings have overtaken any time for railway efforts!! However, one little project has been under progress and has finally been finished. The boys have yet to see/play with it and I am not going to let on here just yet as to what it is for, but, here are a few sneaky peaks in to what is my first completely scratch built item of rolling stock. I just need to sort a few things out "behind the scenes" before I can show the final result, but least to say I am quite excited at the result and future possibility!! Guesses welcome :-) The black 0-6-0 has just joined our shed. It was one of my Dads old locos and the one that I loved to play with as a youngster; it holds a lot of memories. After a quick search online, I found out it was made by Wrenn and was a Class R1 0-6-0. After just a bit a light oil, it still runs very well after 40 years! So I shall give it a further clean up and then chip it. Edited September 8, 2022 by Jaggzuk 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Alister_G Posted May 2, 2017 RMweb Gold Share Posted May 2, 2017 Interesting looking beastie! Okay, my first guess is an automatic ballast dispenser. Second guess, a mount for a video camera. I'll be interested to see the results! Al. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nicolasgreenin Posted May 3, 2017 Share Posted May 3, 2017 Great progress Paul, I agree with Al, I think this is a camera waggon. I to also had lots of fond memories with a Wrenn loco it was a West country class Barnstable and from what I remember was made it seems t be made of solid metal... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaggzuk Posted May 3, 2017 Author Share Posted May 3, 2017 (edited) Ok, so it was too obvious then! I recently splashed on a Tomtom Bandit barrel video camera, ready for some family holidays, biking and general messing about on water etc.. But I also chose a barrel type camera as I wanted the boys to be able to video cab rides on the layout. The cool feature of the camera is that you can use a Smartphone of Tablet to act as the viewfinder, so you can actually be the driver of the train in real time. The camera creates a mini WIFI network so you can control the camera from the phone and also stream direct to the phone in real time. As the clearance on the layout under the flyover and in the tunnels was a bit tight I had to make a special cradle wagon. A normal low loader wagon would be ideal if you have a bit more clearance So here is the finished item A bit tight, but it was made to measure And the final show off bit, the first cab ride video around the complete layout. https://youtu.be/QV_fc1kmfCw Sorry for the lineside clutter and dead animals, hopefully the next video will be better directed and will include other trains running. Edited September 8, 2022 by Jaggzuk 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold phil_sutters Posted May 3, 2017 RMweb Gold Share Posted May 3, 2017 Good to see a R1 with its original top on - my 50-year-old ones are under SDJR Jinties and a 3F! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Alister_G Posted May 4, 2017 RMweb Gold Share Posted May 4, 2017 Great video, really nice to see around your whole layout, and well done for keeping out of the way of the camera, I never do! Al. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LongRail Posted May 4, 2017 Share Posted May 4, 2017 Camera looks good and video quality is excellent what is the height to the top of the camera from rail level on the wagon you have built? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now