S7 scratch building

[airnimal]

Thanks to Nick C and Sam for the information which is always helpful.  

 

Just when things were going well .......

Having made a reasonable job so far things have come back to bite me. I made a couple of brackets from Nickel strip to hold the tarpaulin bar in place on the ends of the wagon when the penny dropped !  I had missed the top plank grove on both ends. I am trying so hard to get things right that my observation skills went missing at an early stage and I hadn't notice the obvious.  I have managed to scrib the missing top plank with limited success but it's not quite as crisp as all the others. Then to top it all I broke one of the end brackets as well. 

I better have a break and do something else before I make some other mistakes. 

 

We had a house viewing on Saturday but the offer was so outrageous.  I am aware that people offer low offers hoping that people are desperate to move, but we are not in that situation.  

The offer was 50k below the asking price. We have 2 more viewings in the next 2 days so at least there is still interest around.

[magmouse]

Mike - when I was doing my LSWR 3-plank (below), I found a suggestion that Tamiya "flat brown XF-10" is a good colour for LSWR brown, and that's what I used. I am thinking that may be easier for you to find than specific railway colours, as Tamiya will be stocked by more generalist model shops.

 

 

 

 

Nick.

[MarcD]

That's the colour I have used on my LSWR goods stock works well for me.

Marc

[hayfield]

1 hour ago, airnimal said:

 

We had a house viewing on Saturday but the offer was so outrageous.  I am aware that people offer low offers hoping that people are desperate to move, but we are not in that situation.  

The offer was 50k below the asking price. We have 2 more viewings in the next 2 days so at least there is still interest around.

 

I think we all now expect to get a discount on the advertised price, unless the house is just what we want and know others are interested

 

When selling our previous house we found that our neighbor's estate agents took the other view by starting low and they had 3 offers all above the asking price. I took the other view by asking £50,000 more than the neighbors achieved (2 months earlier). we had two offers both below the asking price, but we got £25,000 more.

 

We then had a dash to buy a house for ourselves (we put the house up for sale at the end of Jan and moved at the end of March) we tried to get a discount but only got £2500 off, unknown to us at the time the house had just been reduced by £50,000.

 

I interview 6 estate agents, did not go for the cheapest quote but the one that gave me the most confidence, however the prize is not what you get for selling but what you buy, wait until you find the house you really want.

 

 

[Schooner]

19 hours ago, magmouse said:

 

 

 

But what did you use on the couplings and buffers? Looks unreasonably realistic!

[magmouse]

3 hours ago, Schooner said:

But what did you use on the couplings and buffers? Looks unreasonably realistic!

 

I'll try to be more reasonable in future...

 

The buffers and couplings were, from memory, treated with chemical blackening, followed by weathering powders - the later possibly mixed with a bit of paint or dilute PVA to get them to stick.

 

Nick.

[airnimal]

 

Finally the weather is warm enough to paint outside. So I took the opportunity to give my Arniston wagon a coat of red oxide primer from a rattle can followed by a coat of rust from Railmatch to make it look more like a brown oxide. As I want to try and hand letter this in a faded condition with worn lettering, I hope this is the right way to go about it.

I have also bought a pot of Tamiya XF-10 brown paint for my yet to be  completed LSWR wagon as suggested by Nick. 

I have brush painted a bit of scrap plastic with a couple of coats to see how easy it is and what the coverage is like. I must admit that I am not a fan of brush painting which is probably down to me rather than the paint because I can never get rid of the brush marks. I have tried using the paint neat or with a retarder to slow the drying time down, but the results were not much different.  

 

We have had 3 more viewings on our house with another this coming Saturday.  The same results came from these 3 that it's a lovely house in a great location but the kitchen is to small. 

Why to people come to view when the photographs show the kitchen and the brochure gives all the dimensions of the room sizes. 

[airnimal]

After a couple of hours letting the paint harden, I decided to assemble this wagon to see how it will look. This wasn't as easy as it is normally  because I have given this wagon several coats of paint plus a coat of matt varnish.  The etched W-irons had very little clearance behind them which caused a bit off a struggle to fit them in. I also had a problem with paint filling the brass nuts that I sunk into the floor to hold the W-irons. I had to run a flat bottom 12 BA tap in nuts to clear them out before I could screw the wheels in. Now it is assembled I can see that the brake blocks will need beefing up that I hadn't noticed before.  

 

[airnimal]

I have sketched out a basic outline of the letters on the first side with a white crayon. The lettering on the drawing has been followed as much as possible but it seems as though the sign writer had a bit of a hard time with the letter R. It does seem compressed somewhat but I am going to follow the drawing even if it's slightly odd. I want to try and paint it with faded lettering if I can. I am hoping to use some Humbrol matt oil paint providing my old stock hasn't dried up. 

 

We had another viewing on our house again this morning, but still no sensible offers as yet. 

It appears that everyone wants a large kitchen which ours doesn't have, but it served us well bringing up our 3 daughters and we found it adequate for our needs.

 

 

[airnimal]

My pot of Humbrol has dried up as I feared it might.  Well it was over 40 years old so I think I have had my money's worth out of it. So I have turned to Magic color ( not my spelling which we know is atrocious ) Lunar White ink with an old scratchy nib. The letters will need tidying up and adjusting including making them straighter because several are not quite upright.  But I think it is a start that hopefully I can put it right. 

[airnimal]

I know I shouldn't put the shading on until everything is right and the white ink has dried enough but I am impatient.  I might go and buy a new tin of white Humbrol and go over the lettering when it has has plenty of time for the ink to go hard. I may have a bit more control with a brush rather than a pen. 

Edited February 24 by airnimal

[Coal Tank]

Nice looking wagon Mike 

[airnimal]

I have attempted to make the lettering look worn with only limited success. I can cut plastic with reasonable success,  but painting is definitely not my strong point. Will this wagon ever get completed to my satisfaction  ?  Rembrandt I am not.

[Chrisbr]

Mike,

 

You may not be Rembrandt, but I  would be happy to have achieved that end result....

 

Chris

 

[airnimal]

Now I think I have gone to far with the weathering.  It's a lot more challenging trying to get that run down look rather than fresh pristine paintwork. 

[richard i]

Or not far enough at the left hand end. Consistency of weather is key I have found.

Prichard

[Mol_PMB]

2 minutes ago, richard i said:

Or not far enough at the left hand end. Consistency of weather is key I have found.

Prichard

Agreed. Consistency is important. Unlikely that the body would get into that state while the W irons and V hanger remain pristine. I think if you tone them down too, along with some judicious grease and brake dust on the underframe, it will look more plausible. 
 

Is there more lettering/numbers needed on the body? Number, tare weight etc? 

[airnimal]

Thanks to you both for your input.  I entirely agree on both counts. I have of course still to attach the rest of the underframe parts to complete before I get down to weathering these parts. 

I have tried to ghost write the number and tare weights in again with the same pencil crayon I used to set out the lettering. 

[Mol_PMB]

Already that looks better. Excellent work. 

[airnimal]

The reason I didn't paint the V-irons or put the axleboxes and springs on because I wasn't sure 

( still not ) if this wagon was going in the bin. I didn't want to fix everything permanently in case I had to retrieve all the expensive parts. Well I say expensive, they would be now but the brass lost wax buffers were bought at the GOG meeting at Telford many years ago from the bring and buy stand for £4. I think they retail now about £11. Likewise the brakegear etchings and the Slaters W-irons I have had for donkeys years. I have probably enough parts to last me until the grim reaper comes a calling. 

[Mol_PMB]

20 minutes ago, airnimal said:

The reason I didn't paint the V-irons or put the axleboxes and springs on because I wasn't sure 

( still not ) if this wagon was going in the bin. I didn't want to fix everything permanently in case I had to retrieve all the expensive parts. Well I say expensive, they would be now but the brass lost wax buffers were bought at the GOG meeting at Telford many years ago from the bring and buy stand for £4. I think they retail now about £11. Likewise the brakegear etchings and the Slaters W-irons I have had for donkeys years. I have probably enough parts to last me until the grim reaper comes a calling. 

The wagon looks superb - definitely not fit for the bin! Excellent modelling.

[airnimal]

I have painted the V-irons on this side before starting to do the lettering on the second side.  

I set out the letters basic outline using my white pencil to give me a head start. The sides are slightly different because of the end door so I have had to adjust where the letters fall in relation to the corner plate. 

 

We have had some feedback from our estate agent regarding the latest house viewing and the person likes the house and has booked a second appointment for a week today. Maybe things are looking up at last.

[airnimal]

I have blocked in the lettering with my nib and ink. It will need sharpening up and the shading applying before the weathering commences. It is not as easy as it looks this sign writing malarkey. I wonder why I don't see things clearly until after I have taken the photographs  ?

[airnimal]

I managed to get the shading on the second side lettering before attacking the weathering.  I haven't gone as far this time and the jury is out if either side pleases me. 

Can I ask a question from those more knowledgeable than myself. When I have used weathering powders and then sprayed matt varnish over the top sometimes the powders disappear.  Do other people have the same problem or is it something I am unaware of.  

[Coal Tank]

Yes it does