Ian's 7mm workbench - recent photos

[Hal Nail]

An attempt at old wood. The conflat was dapols lurid sand colour and the bolsters a much deeper brown but I started with a base of Humbrol 32 dark grey and then variations with gunmetal, frame dirt and hint of lighter grey. i alway use mr kipling pie tins as a pallett (they come in packs of 6 with a protective filling during tansport) so I mix randomly as I go.

 

I tried a black wash but it didnt work at all and just left watermark stains everywhere which I reworked (the advantage of enamels) so need to go and read up on washes.

 

And with some powders

 

Edited June 19, 2022 by Hal Nail

[Hal Nail]

 

[Miss Prism]

Nice wood colour.

[Hal Nail]

1 minute ago, Miss Prism said:

Nice wood colour.

Thanks!

The only slight dilemma is whether to seal the powders which would lose the contrast in finish so I think for my purposes I'll just avoid touching the tops. 

[47606odin]

They look great. I can’t understand why manufacturers think wood is either a sand colour or chocolate brown

[pwr]

On 21/06/2022 at 10:05, Hal Nail said:

Thanks!

The only slight dilemma is whether to seal the powders which would lose the contrast in finish so I think for my purposes I'll just avoid touching the tops. 

 

 

I have found that in the past. My trick was to overdo the weathering so when the varnish gos on its not obvious

 

Paul R

[Hal Nail]

Having finally moved house and retrieved everything from storage I can crack on with some unfinshed projects. So obviously I've started something new!

 

The Lionheart 45XX is a nice model. I am just doing a few tweaks to see if I can lift it towards my Mitchell and Masterpiece one. It certainly runs better than my Mitchell and isn't far off in looks.

 

The cab portholes are a bit of a bugbear of mine - most were welded up flush and all but invisible and so i was hopeful that the cab front might be an insert and indeed it is. So I can file those smooth. 

 

A few other little things will be to improve the steam heat pipes a bit, or replace with Warren Shephard, and I've already coaxed the front vacuum pipe (not shown) into a slightly smoother curve, a la Laurence Olivier in Marathon Man.

 

The tank fillers are not as refined as the Dapol 57XX ones so I will be doing something there with some spares and I'm tempted to swap the smokebox dart for the 14XX type which are much thinner.

 

The real rear cab steps were kinked in at some point to avoid fouling platforms. As the model is cast I found you can bend them in gently. I'll try to file the chunky steps down a bit. The smokebox hinge is a little solid as the door and ring are one integral plastic moulding so I am going to nibble away at the rear, it to suggest it is circular.

 

The other mod will be 4552's unique (I think) cab roof which had a sideways opening roof vent. I was a bit limited for options having bought the version with packing pieces in the valance as most of the early ones in Cornwall stayed in black but the other version comes with a tall safety valve and early sand boxes which weren't common by BR era.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited September 12, 2022 by Hal Nail

[Hal Nail]

Fettling under way. The 14xx smokebox door is a much finer representation and the right size for a swap but even though the 45xx one is plastic, I cant get it off.  So will live with it having modified the the hinge slightly. I will use 57/14xx darts though.

 

Also been filing down the steps which are very crude.

 

 

 

Edited September 8, 2022 by Hal Nail

[Hal Nail]

Flush cab front...

I got an almost perfect paint match on the cab front but when touching up a chip on the body I noticed the cab front was a slightly different shade to the metal body to start with.

 

Little bit more rubbing down then will match to the main body colour.

 

Edited September 9, 2022 by Hal Nail

[Hal Nail]

Some progress today.

 

 

 

 

The tank vents need to be moved back alongside the firebox but the base is integral to the cast tank tops with no access to sand it off. I might have to live with them in the wrong place.

Edited September 12, 2022 by Hal Nail

[daifly]

On 12/09/2022 at 14:26, Hal Nail said:

The tank vents need to be moved back alongside the firebox but the base is integral to the cast tank tops with no access to sand it off. I might have to live with them in the wrong place.

Or get a different photo?

Dave

[Hal Nail]

2 hours ago, daifly said:

Or get a different photo?

Dave

Thats not the loco im doing!

[daifly]

39 minutes ago, Hal Nail said:

Thats not the loco im doing!

Managed to find the number 4552 buried in the text above. From photographs, the position of the tank vent on this class seems to correlate well with the type of safety valve cover. Locos with the ‘older’, taller and slimmer cover (like your model) have the vent in the forward position. 4552 in BR days had the later, squatter cover and the aft vent position.

Dave

[Hal Nail]

7 minutes ago, daifly said:

Managed to find the number 4552 buried in the text above. From photographs, the position of the tank vent on this class seems to correlate well with the type of safety valve cover. Locos with the ‘older’, taller and slimmer cover (like your model) have the vent in the forward position. 4552 in BR days had the later, squatter cover and the aft vent position.

Dave

Thanks that's interesting - i hadn't spotted that link.

 

My model is actually the shorter cover but it certainly looks taller than my Warren Shephard one on 4505. I don't fancy getting it off though - its pretty solid and the paint chips very easily on these metal bodies.

 

I steered away from 4564 because they have done it with the taller type safety valve which I didn't want but I would have preferred one with the longer valences really. Mulling over getting a black one with that chassis and swapping the bodies!

[Hal Nail]

Noticed the other day that Antics had some 16T for 30 quid so snapped them up and I've been messing about with these. The 45xx is progressing, building up weathering on the cab front, firebox and boiler very slowly, removing most each time to try and get an even finish. Green is the hardest colour to weather as it "adopts" whatever shade you put on.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited September 19, 2022 by Hal Nail

[Hal Nail]

 

 

 

Latest state of play: I did end up painting the safety valve cover green in the end.

 

The contrast between my laptop and my phone is so vast its impossible to judge what people are seeing when i put a picture up. To the naked eye its quite a rich green with a dusty boiler top. 

 

Edited September 22, 2022 by Hal Nail

[Hal Nail]

Better light - although the usual problem its picked up the weathering far more than the naked eye sees. I probably need to get round to making a photo plank.

 

 

 

Edited September 28, 2022 by Hal Nail

[Hal Nail]

Yet another side project!

 

[Hal Nail]

On 02/10/2022 at 16:46, Hal Nail said:

 

 

No one has mentioned the deliberate error, which is good, but irritating now I've noticed. Yet another r-t-r model with the brakes on backwards. The morton cam should be on the other side.

 

Edited October 10, 2022 by Hal Nail

[Hal Nail]

Finished off an autotank. This started as a black 58XX which I'd tried to paint lined green but wasn't happy so it reverted to black, using various spares. 1438 fit the bill as a late black no top feed example, and a little variation in the tool box positions.

 

A bit too dark for photos at 3pm so will take some more next time its brighter and then this one will be off to a new home as I've since picked up a lined green.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited November 1, 2022 by Hal Nail
typo

[Hal Nail]

Slight change of plan - I have bought a 2nd 45xx in black with the extended vallance and late cab roof. The vallance has already been painted green and will be paired with the green body to form 4565 (if Lionheart hadnt put the tall safety valve cover on, I had always planned to start with their 4564 in the first place). The black one will become 4552.

 

Both these went green mid '57 so was always a toss up which to do which way but green with the longer vallance gives me far more options. I wont repaint the original vallance until I'm 100% happy the new one blends in once weathered. Worst case will just swap back.

 

Photos always help. Just spotted the covers in front of the side tanks that I've missed with the green.

 

 

Edited November 18, 2022 by Hal Nail

[Hal Nail]

Have abandoned the footplate switch and gone back to 4552 in green.

 

Made a mount for narrow planet plates and fashioning the unique cab shutter this loco had.

 

can't be bothered to work out why one pic is upside down.

 

 

 

[Hal Nail]

Home straight. I moved the tank vent (also noticed that 4552 had a flanged on on the fireman's side and plain on the drivers). I'd made the roof opening too big and had to pop in a filet in but that at least looks thin now.

 

Last jobs are to fit the cab glazing which I replaced with clear plastic and add the missing cylinder immediately below the drivers cab window (no idea what this was).

 

Now have to decide what to do with the black one which I didn't really need in the end!

 

Edited December 20, 2022 by Hal Nail

[Hal Nail]

First post of the year and had to go back so far to find the last time I worked on my Tower E147 B set it was before the photo loss!

 

Never liked the chunky pressfix transfers I'd used so finally bit the bullet and removed them and replaced with @railtec-models custom numbers plus some guards and 1st signs Steve popped on a new set.

 

Had to sand off the varnish and weathering then lightly polish up and clean it all again which was a faff, especially with the door bumps prone to coming off, so has been onging for a while. Both sides of the pair done now though and looks much better. At some point I need to get inside and dust!

 

[Hal Nail]

Rails had a couple of Parkside conflats at a very good price so I've raided them for the transfers and done my Dapol conflat as an ex GWR. The XP were too big so I used some spare Railtec. Had enough after one side - chopping up the number for variety was a trial of patience!

 

There was a bit of educated guesswork as I've still not found a photo of an ex GWR one in BR livery other than the later Denflat conversions. Which is also a tempting project...

 

I used to prefer kits but in all honesty these chassis run better than I can build, at least without an awful lot of work, so I'm coming round to modifying and painting r-t-r instead since its the part of modelling I enjoy most.

 

 

made myself do the other side - will seal later on. They are the same finish, just later in the day.

Edited September 28, 2023 by Hal Nail