Grim-up-North; Goathland, Queensbury & Bradford.

[Jock67B]

Superb workmanship as usual Shaun, I am always inspired by your modelling!

Kind regards,

Jock.

[David Todd]

Have enjoyed,the last few pages, catching up.

Signals look great, along with the vans.

Look forward to seeing more refurb. Work at Gothland.

[Sasquatch]

Thanks for all your kind comments gentlemen.

Am struggling to get any modeling done at present. The hands are becoming a real problem so I'm putting the limited amount of work time into building 8 much needed gates. Then the heat  drains what energy I have left. It topped out at 109F yesterday and I've taken to having siestas around 04.30.

On a more positive note I have brought a second hand air conditioning unit and installed it in the train building so maybe things are gonna pic up with the upgrade work.

 

Regards Shaun.

[grob1234]

Thats a quality breakfast there!

 

And I love the picture of the Abbey on top of the hill. Very moody indeed.

[Sasquatch]

Thanks guys!

Welcome to the thread Grob1234. They do a good breakfast on this side of the world, eating out for breakfast is a big deal with some restaurants only serving breakfast, crab scrambles etc.

 

Yesterday I finally got the airbrush out!

The problems started with me choosing to spray a couple of the vans in LMS bauxite. Firstly my 30 year old jar of paint had dried up but I was pleased to find another jar that I'd mixed with airbrush thinners! At least I'd labeled this one. I must get into good habits concerning this. (A sealed container now sits in the back of the fridge containing some labeled jars and I will shop for more empty jars and some new labels that don't fall off!)  

So the next problem was the lumps in the paint kept clogging the air brush. My precious modeling time was being wasted dealing with it. In the end I thinned the paint a bit more and poured it through a paint filter. Hey presto! A train of vans looks much more authentic if they're all different shades, so it was well worth the effort.

The two styles of LMS van. Spot the difference? (8 at least). 

 

 

 

After the bodies were dry when it started to get too hot outside I decided to paint the under frames. Now here's where I needed to get crafty because I never use pure black for this any longer and the Floquil Grimy black I'd come to love has disappeared off of the market. My solution was to mix Humbrol Matt black # 33 with 50% panzer grey #67. I thinned each couple of brush loads as I went. All five under frames  took about 3 hours to paint. The roofs received the panzer grey.

This morning all the wheels sets and couplings have been replaced.

 

 

  The cattle van had sat in the "to complete tray" for months, as I'd hand brushed the early BR bauxite which dried glossy. The U.F. was masked up and the body touched up with the airbrush. 

  

 

The detail on the van wide. Showing the grimy black.

 

And one other  Dapol banana van which will need a Red Panda under frame. Super macro close up demonstrates the advantages of  the air brush.

 

Squatch. Mojo intact and running on all cylinders.

Edited July 5, 2015 by Sasquatch

[Anotheran]

Shaun,

 

The vans look great. The subtle differences will make for an interesting rake. I used a dirty black on my under-frames, but it's still too black, so will need some weathering down. I'll use your mix with Panzer grey in the future. I completely agree on the benefits to the finish with the airbrush.

 

Kind regards, Neil

[Jock67B]

Shaun,

Sorry to hear of the discomfort with the hands, which makes the skill that produced those wagons even more remarkable! Excellence we can only strive to get close to, thanks for sharing the images with us,

Kind regards,

Jock.

Edited July 6, 2015 by Jock67B

[Sweven]

Superb paint finish Shaun. The subtle difference in shades of body finish was well worth the effort.

Cheers

John

[Sasquatch]

Shaun,

 

The vans look great. The subtle differences will make for an interesting rake. I used a dirty black on my under-frames, but it's still too black, so will need some weathering down. I'll use your mix with Panzer grey in the future. I completely agree on the benefits to the finish with the airbrush.

 

Kind regards, Neil

Superb paint finish Shaun. The subtle difference in shades of body finish was well worth the effort.

Cheers

John

 If you have access to an air brush it can save a lot of time. I'm lucky in that I have a big air compressor. All I needed was a pressure valve and the right fitting. The reason it took me so long to get this done was that my machine was else where!   

 

Shaun,

Sorry to here of the discomfort with the hands, which makes the skill that produced those wagons even more remarkable! Excellence we can only strive to get close to, thanks for sharing the images with us,

Kind regards,

Jock.

 I haven't mentioned it on this thread before but back in 2005 I had a big to do with a 300 HP table saw. The saw won of course taking off all my left fingers down to below the knuckle. The fantastic doctor at the UZG (Universitat Ziekenhuis Gent, Belgium) reattached it brilliantly but the tendons have since calcified leaving me 46% disabled.

The complimentary psychiatrist deemed me highly motivated which explains my ambitious need to over come the accident. There were times during rehab. when  I cried thinking I'd never be able to model, work  or drive scooters again. I've never been so wrong Jock!   It's the other hand that I rely on so much that's giving me jip!

 

Now for the lettering.

 

Squatch, looking for his bifocals!

Edited July 5, 2015 by Sasquatch

[Sasquatch]

Too many 70 mile round trips  too the medical clinic this week that I care to mention has brought to light some health issues. Anemia is the main concern but once treated I'll have all my energy back which I'm quite exited about because what with all this spare time I've got on my hands I can turn my attention to modeling!

I did find the energy to get some more done on the vans. The lettering takes a steady hand and bucket loads of patience.

First I applied some model master decals to the Vanwide. I'm not liking these at all, so tried the HMRS on the other side.

 

A pack of 100 odd vacuum pipes arrived in the post, which I've been fixing to many vans which lacked this detail. 

I still need to find some steam pipes for the banana van. Parkside have announced a new model of this van due out by the end of the year.

 

 

The cattle truck has been loaded with steers bound for Smithfields in London. HO cows make fine OO steers when painted black. Mine have been mounted on a piece of card giving me the option to run a train of empties.

 

To wrap things up for this post , a picture of this young teen fellow who spent the day hanging out on our new gate arch.

[ChrisN]

Shaun,

Hope your health gets sorted soon and that it is nothing too serious.

 

Steers?  You mean bullocks of course.

 

Vans look as good as ever.

[Sasquatch]

Hi Chris.

Thank you mate. My new doctor is a specialist who has taught me more in the past week about blood glucose control than I've learnt in the past 25 years. So things are looking up! My goal is to get an insulin pump and 24/7 glucose monitor!

Mrs. S. is bringing home some nice big juicy steaks (bullocks or steer)so we'll see if that brings the red blood cell count up.

Am feeling a bit more lively this morning and hope to get these vans finished.

[Andrew P]

Hi Shaun, not only great pics of great Vans but great courage as well and a great spirit to boot.

 

Nice one Mate.

[mkwolf1877]

Hi Shaun,

 

I'm in Goathland this week. Let me know if you want any photos & I'll do my best to get them,

 

Regards,

 

Mark

[Sasquatch]

Hi Shaun, not only great pics of great Vans but great courage as well and a great spirit to boot.

 

Nice one Mate.

Thanks Andy. I've built up 4-5 rakes over the years, no two the same either and seeing as I enjoy building them so much no doubt I'll find room for a few more. A ply MOGO would be nice!

 

We're having a nice mild spell what with it being only 80F this morning  I went for a 7 mile hike with the dogs. So I'm still in good shape. I'm on a 6 month carb counting exercise and now I know what's been knocking me for six I'm beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel but I'm not allowed spirits!  

 

 

Hi Shaun,

 

I'm in Goathland this week. Let me know if you want any photos & I'll do my best to get them,

 

Regards,

 

Mark

Hi Mark.

Green with envy of course! What I have been trying to find out is the height of the three doll junction signal the other side of Cowarth Bank road over bridge? A picture of that and some of the details on the opposite side of the tracks would be most welcome.

 

Thanks and regards Shaun.

[emt_911]

Hi Shaun. As always some stunning work. I hope that you are back to full fitness soon

[Alister_G]

Hi Shaun, more great photos, of the rolling stock and wildlife!

 

Really glad to hear you're getting some help in sorting out your health, hopefully you will feel loads better when you can balance up your blood sugar levels.

 

All the best,

 

Al.

[Sasquatch]

Hi Shaun. As always some stunning work. I hope that you are back to full fitness soon

 

 

Hi Shaun, more great photos, of the rolling stock and wildlife!

 

Really glad to hear you're getting some help in sorting out your health, hopefully you will feel loads better when you can balance up your blood sugar levels.

 

All the best,

 

Al.

Thanks guys. I'm working on it and the vans!

[Sasquatch]

This one was just too hard to get straight. The lettering on my LMS wagons sheet is loosing its tackiness!

 

The Cambrian version came out a lot better.

 

Even though the lettering on this one was smaller it was much easier believe it or not. This brake van has sat in the to finish tray for months. I'll weather it in the morning and put it into service on the West Somerset Railway along with some others.

[Jock67B]

Morning Shaun,

Fantastic variety in those vans - I've not reached the half dozen yet, but I can understand how easy it is to get excited about the variety of designs found in all the different regions. The marshalling yard adjoining the shed at Hurlford, Ayrshire (where we lived in the fifties) was principally designated as 'mineral sidings' due to the large number of coal mines in the area, but I can remember trains of gunpowder vans as well as those that carried different produce (including Whisky!) being shunted there.

On the diabetic front, our daughter who is a nursing sister, has been coping with it for many years. She has a superb electronic tester which calibrates the dosage of her injections and she has carried on her busy life, without allowing it to affect her too much! I hope you soon get into a routine health wise and look forward to more of your fascinating tutorials.

Kind regards,

Jock.

[Sasquatch]

Hi all..

I can't believe it's been three weeks since my last post. A lot has been going on around here except modeling. After some treatment on my hand I hope to be getting back in the swing of things pretty soon.

 

Jock. My new doc has given me one of these new glucometers and I'm now weighing out all my carbs. So far so good I'm feeling more alive for starters. A course of ferro sulfate is underway which might help with the anemia but tests are still on going. Some things are off the menu such as potatoes, bananas and beer.

We took a two day trip to the beach with the dogs to escape the smoke from a huge forest fire not too far from here. The fire has burned 19000 acres in a week.

 

On a different note, one of my neighbors has built his own wood mill which he has taught me how to operate and for helping him out gifted me some lumber. So you could say I'm taking this scratch building thing to the limits by producing my own timber for the base boards. More on that later.

 

Squatch

[Andrew P]

Morning Shaun, great to hear the diet is working and the hand treatment is still progressing well, and as for the wood, DONT TELL JEFF, (Physicsman) he will be ordering direct from you for shipping to the North. hahhah

 

All the best mate and keep you and your Family (including the dogs) safe from the fires.

[Sasquatch]

Thanks Andy. I was thinking about Jeff the other day when we drove past the big mill on interstate 5. The yard was looking rather empty and I thought "Physicsmans order must have gone out"!

 

There was a small fire up in the woods here today and all I could think about was how to get my next door neighbors 7 donkeys to safety. They're away on a cruise leaving us the pleasure of caring for them. Little Marrio is only 4 weeks, I'll pop up a pic of him in the morning.

 

Squatch. Splint and bed!   

 

Edit: pics tomorrow lads!

Edited August 7, 2015 by Sasquatch

[Sasquatch]

Here's Jim's mobile wood mill, it'll cut a 40' log into 3/16" planks. He built it from scratch and it runs on an old fork lift engine. Some men have a mind for machines huh.
 
 
 
Others have a mind for wiring and electrics.
This is the change over switching which will allow me to run around trains at Goathland. It all works as I've tested it!
 
 
The wiring under the extension. Both switches throw at once along with the change over in the picture above which is two boards away.
 
 
My next wiring challenge will be the Queensbury triangle. Not much progress here apart from a drawing of one of the platform buildings. I'll need to make 6 in total, 3 this long and 3 about 2/3rds the length. I'm thinking Perspex structures with the detail applied but am still toying with the idea to cast many sections in two part plastic.

 
 
A haunting picture of all the smoke we had last week from the fire. Almost totally blocked out the sun one day.

 
 
And here's little Marrio.



With so much dead time on my hands recently (no pun intended) many running sessions have taken place on Dunster and I'll be boring you with more pics over on that thread in due course. link-here

Shaun.

 

Edit: to include link. 

Edited August 7, 2015 by Sasquatch

[Andrew P]

Cute Shaun, The Donkey that is, not you mate, SORRY, hahhahha.