Swindelton – inspiration from a challenge 7 years later!

[ChrisS]

It's been a while since I've touched Swindelton but I've found some mojo after working on another project- my BR crew van.

 

Though I enjoyed starting it and getting the buttresses finished, i never actually finished the bridge at the end of Swindelton. Partly this was due to over thinking what materials to use and how to put them together.

 

I had some Foamex which is light, strong and easy to cut, so thought I'd use this. I cut out a road deck and then another layer for the foot path. I measured and scribed the flagstones on the foamex. I used some evergreen strip to make the curb stones.

 

 

 

One day I'll sort out the backscene - the creases spoil it a bit.

 

I used some embossed plastic brick sheet for the bridge sides, glued on to a length of foamex. The deck was primed in grey and brick work with red halfords primer.

 

 

I painted the road and weathered the flagstones with blobs of lighter greys, which I rubbed in with some kitchen towel.

 

 

I painted the brickwork with a light grey and wiped it off to get the mortar joints. I used rail match concrete for the deck beam.

 

 

It's been a couple of years between the buttresses and deck, but colours seem to match, or will blend further with some weathering.

 

 

Not too sure why this took me so long, as it only took me a few hours in total!

 

I'll definitely consider using foamex for any future buildings and structures.

 

Till next time.

[ChrisS]

As with the bridge, i'd never finished the right hand embankment. With some further motivation I got the green keeper static grass applicator out, and spent a few hours grassing the embankment - much better now.

 

 

I've also re-done the yard area to accommodate the reason for the recent enthusiasm- the crew van project. This included rearranging the location of the gates and structures. A while back i aquired a conflat wagon and it came with a container. The aim is to make the wagon a runner for my 03. I've weathered the conflat container to be an engineers store. 

 

 

In the background, I've also been busy modifying break van roofs, replacing the inaccurate rain strip curves with different variations of batterns. 

 

 

Next job to weather and finish them off.

 

 

That's all for now.

Edited April 13, 2023 by ChrisS
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[ChrisS]

I don't know where the recent enthusiasm has come from - probably from having a week off work, but hope it stays!

 

Once upon a time I had a pair of class 20 railfreight twins. I always wanted a blue one but missed out. Before I found out Heljan were going to re-release the 20 in blue, albeit at a significantly higher price than i paid for mine, I had made a start in dismantling one of the twins but then lost interest.

 

I've felt guilty ever since. So I finally got round to ordering some IPA and stripped the body and cab. I was surprised at how long it takes, with some of the factory decoration being very stubborn!

 

As a test, this afternoon I primed the cab to see how good a finish I'd achieved, and I'm happy with it. After a little more prep, hopefully i will prime the main body soon.

 

 

 

What I found funny was despite being hidden under solid plastic horn grilles, the horns are moulded and present at both ends.

 

I've got some rail blue and hopefully I've enough warning yellow left over from the crew van.

 

Who knows how long this project will take to finish but at least its started to progress.

 

That's all for now.

[Georgeham]

That class 20 painting is looking great - I have just read through your thread and I think the layout looks great.

 

Can I ask how you managed to get the glazing out of the cabs - I have had a nightmare trying to remove some glazing on a Heljan class 25 - I broke part of the body and a piece of glazing whilst doing it! I just used to press the glazing out of models in 4mm, but in 7mm there is so much more glue......

[ChrisS]

4 hours ago, Georgeham said:

That class 20 painting is looking great - I have just read through your thread and I think the layout looks great.

 

Can I ask how you managed to get the glazing out of the cabs - I have had a nightmare trying to remove some glazing on a Heljan class 25 - I broke part of the body and a piece of glazing whilst doing it! I just used to press the glazing out of models in 4mm, but in 7mm there is so much more glue......

 

Thanks for the comments.

 

I was lucky with the glazing on the 20, the glue had been used very sparingly and i was able to push out with some relatively light pressure. I broke one of the side windows in the cab but it's along the length of the vertical central window frame so hopefully won't be obvious when re-installed. 

 

[ChrisS]

It's been quite a productive day again. I decided to create/ finish a few trees. One was a tree I made from floral wire and hot glue trunk a while back, with sea moss super glued on and used for the finer branches.

 

 

I used WWS static grass glue and fine woodlands scenic scatter to cover.

 

 

A few other trees were created from natural sea moss. I might have to tone down the trunks on these.

 

 

It's looking a bit greener on the embankment now.

 

 

Back soon.

[ChrisS]

So the second part of a productive Sunday involved the arrival of the fencing contractor to complete the yard fencing and fencing at the top of the enbankment to the right of the bridge. As before (along the rear embankment) I used the car repair mesh you can get from Halfords.

 

 

To give an overview, I sent up the drone to take an aerial photo of works to date.

 

 

Oh well, back to reality and work tomorrow.

[Georgeham]

16 hours ago, ChrisS said:

 

Thanks for the comments.

 

I was lucky with the glazing on the 20, the glue had been used very sparingly and i was able to push out with some relatively light pressure. I broke one of the side windows in the cab but it's along the length of the vertical central window frame so hopefully won't be obvious when re-installed. 

 

Thanks for that Chris - seems seems to be pot luck with the glazing then - the class 25 glazing I had was covered in glue! Masking it is then for future models!

[pwr]

Trees look good and help offset the back scene. Great work

 

Paul R

[ChrisS]

For my birthday my lovely wife bought me an amazon basics photo studio/ light box. Its portable and collapsible for storage. The lighting in my house is really poor, and I'd get really frustrated trying to take photos of models - having to find additional lights, prevent shadows and hide background clutter!

 

 

I'm using a tablet camera which is not the best, but I'm quite impressed with the initial results using the light box. 

 

 

 

Looks like a future project will be to build a suitable photo plank - though I do like the minimalist look.

 

On another note, I've primed the class 20 body. It highlighted a few seam lines so I've done some additional sanding.  It might take a little longer to complete, but looking forward to getting this in blue.

 

 

That's all for now.

 

 

[sb67]

Thos pictures look great, the light box makes a big difference. Been thinking about getting one myself.  

[ChrisS]

On 26/04/2023 at 19:02, sb67 said:

Thos pictures look great, the light box makes a big difference. Been thinking about getting one myself.  

 

Thanks Steve. It certainly does make a big difference. One feature I would have liked would be dimmable lights, but for the size and price, I'm certainly not disappointed with it.

[sb67]

Chris, do you have a link for the lightbox? 

[ChrisS]

On 28/04/2023 at 07:41, sb67 said:

Chris, do you have a link for the lightbox? 

 

Hello Steve, assuming links allowed and work, my wife said it was this one https://www.amazon.co.uk/AmazonBasics-EP53-010726-Portable-Photo-Studio/dp/B01GPY5EL4?th=1  from the amazon basics store. She said she paid significantly less due to a sale at the time of purchase. Obviously, usual disclaimers in that no connection to Amazon, and depending on budget, required features and size, alternatives are available. HTH.

 

 

Edited April 29, 2023 by ChrisS
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[sb67]

Thanks Chris, I think I will put one on my birthday list, I'd love to take some nice photo's of my stock. 

[pwr]

On 01/05/2023 at 19:01, sb67 said:

Thanks Chris, I think I will put one on my birthday list, I'd love to take some nice photo's of my stock. 

 

 

And very helpful for insurance purposes!

 

Paul R

[ChrisS]

 

2 hours ago, pwr said:

 

 

And very helpful for insurance purposes!

 

Paul R

 

Interesting point - I'd never really thought about that.

 

I've inadvertently acquired quite a bit over the years.

 

Something to start do ing over the bank Holiday, though my daughter and wife also want to use the light box for their projects too - lol

 

[pwr]

On 03/05/2023 at 19:46, ChrisS said:

 

 

Interesting point - I'd never really thought about that.

 

I've inadvertently acquired quite a bit over the years.

 

Something to start do ing over the bank Holiday, though my daughter and wife also want to use the light box for their projects too - lol

 

 

 

It's very surprising how much stuff you acquire. I have listed everything of mine in a spreadsheet and it runs to over 700 lines. It includes all kits, RTR, Die cast and scratch built along with an estimate of replacement value. 

 

At least I will be able to prove I had it all in the event of the unthinkable happening.

 

Paul R

[ChrisS]

At the moment im really enjoying my modelling. Something arrived today that I was really looking forward to. I had to wait a couple if weeks but it was definately worth it. It might end up being one of my quickest builds - an O gauge Spartan.

 

 

A bit of filing on the axles and opening holes in the back of the sprockets was needed for the tracks to fit. I won't secure the tracks or guards till I've done a bit of sanding and painted it.

 

But what a beautiful print!

 

 

 

This is obviously a railway forum - so I'd always wanted something more suitable for my warwell wagon (s!), but as yet could not find anything. I have my fictitious narrow gauge MOD trial loco, but i think the Spartan will look just the part when finished. I think Spartans are small and light enough to be carried on warflats but I've seen a photo that indicates they've travelled on warwells too.

 

 

The Spartan was later seen amongst an MOD consist waiting just outside Swindelton, ready to go to the paint shop.

 

 

That's all for now.

Edited May 5, 2023 by ChrisS
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[37114]

Looks good Chris, is the Spartan a 3d print or kit please?

[ChrisS]

4 hours ago, 37114 said:

Looks good Chris, is the Spartan a 3d print or kit please?

 

It's a 3D print and quite a good one too.

[37114]

1 hour ago, ChrisS said:

 

It's a 3D print and quite a good one too.

Do you have a link please Chris, my son is badgering me about getting one!

[ChrisS]

6 hours ago, 37114 said:

Do you have a link please Chris, my son is badgering me about getting one!

 

Further info here - the models and prices listed are OO but they quoted and up-scaled the Spartan on request. The one I got was an early Spartan but they also do a later version. Their website has further images.

 

 

 

[Trains4U]

I’m glad you are pleased with the larger scale print.

 

If you want some variety 

we are just about to release these… 

 

[ChrisS]

Hope everyone had a good bank holiday.

 

I've had the luxury of being based in my garage for most of the day and was able to spray a few of the projects that I have on the go. 

 

The road runner has had some varnish in anticipation of fitting some decals.

 

The Spartan had a rub down and re-prime.

 

However, what I was most excited about today was getting the first coat of blue on my class 20 Railfreight repaint.

 

 

 

It's always a squeaky bum moment to see if there has been any paint bleed under the masking tape but all is good. 

 

I was hoping to have done the cab too, but frustratingly when doing the final coat of yellow the other day, the airbrush coughed up a few blobs of paint - so i had to sand back the blobs and do a final, final yellow coat on the cab.

 

Back to work tomorrow.