Johnster's Comet Colletts

[The Johnster]

Done a little more; painted the interior except the seat cushions which need to be a dark red that I don't have.  Town later for paint for this, floors in mid brown along with lower sides and cream for upper sides and compartment dividers.

[The Johnster]

Progress progresses progressively; this afternoon has been spent painting the seats, dark red, and applying the first coat of carmine to the already primed outsides of the sides.  I've also filled in the black areas; outside ends, buffers, and underframe.  NEM couplers have been glued directly to the bottom of the bogie outer end stretchers and the bogies remounted to the underframe for what should be the last time ever; I've superglued the top of the NEM 'box' rather than attempted to fit the dovetail mount as the bogies on this coach are so very closed to the ends, and this method puts them in the correct position .  There should be enough play in the bogies to enable the couplings to operate without needing the flexibility of their wibbly bit (don't know what else to call it, tonsils perhaps, you know what I mean).

 

Stopping for vittles, now, but later in the evening should see the second coat of carmine and touching up any that's bled to the inside despite using masking tape; there's always a little bit!  I'll leave the glazing and door handles/grabs for today; we are out debauching over the club later!  

 

But I'm definitely getting a 'home straight' vibe now...

[The Johnster]

Second coat of carmine on the outside sides and inside sides touched up.  The coach is now ready for glazing and door handles/grab rail, but I need to do the numbers before I put the final sealing matt varnish coat on, as that needs to be done before the glazing.  4026-4065 and 5461-5490 are appropriate numbers for this coach.  

 

So. planned jobs for Friday are the numbers, spray matt varnish, and a coat of white inside the roof.  Then the outside of the roof needs to be done in roof grey; the primer it's in doesn't look quite right and the ventilators are not painted at all yet.  Then we'll have a look at the glazing and putting the no smoking triangles on, after which it only remains to stick the sides, ends, and roof on and the job is done; the coach could be in service before the end of the weekend!

 

This would mean that the job has taken over a week less than the 2 months that I estimated it might from the kit's arrival on 28th December, so I am pleased with myself and the progress made.  This is tempered by the thought that I've got all those doorknobs and handrails to do yet...

Edited February 15, 2019 by The Johnster

[The Johnster]

Friday's planned jobs have been completed; the sides are now numbered (W 5461 W) and matt varnished, and glazing has been put on; I'll do the triangles before bed!  That leaves Saturday for door handles and grab rails, and the roof, now white on the inside, needs a coat of grey on top.

[timbowilts]

Will you be posting some pictures?

 

Tim T

Modelling Cwm Cynon in EM

[The Johnster]

I was making enough progress to think about it, Tim, but we've had a setback, well, two separate setbacks actually.  Firstly, I have managed to sprain my wrist, without having a clue as to exactly how or when.  I've put a support bandage made out of an old sock (I never throw these away, they come in handy for all manner of stuff including emergency cycling gloves and hand protection for when the chain comes off) on it and it's getting slowly better but I'm trying to rest it as much as I can.

 

So I'm giving the modelling a bit of a rest.  Second problem; by Sunday night we were almost finished, glazing done and the sides/ends assembled on the underframe.  I glued the roof on.  It looked good.  I ran it in a train as a strengthener to the B set, and it looked ok.  I was happy.  I went up the pub with the squeeze.  I came home and went eventually to bed.  I got up the following morning and looked at my newly constructed masterpiece to see that the superglue had hazed the windows...

 

B*gger.  

 

There was a tip on this site about how to clean this off but I've forgotten what it was.  It may come to reglazing if necessary, in which case I'll glue it in with Glue'n'glaze and use Araldite for the roof.  Photos will appear sooner or later to those with patience; normal service will be eventually resumed...

[The Fatadder]

I have seen Johnson’s Klear recommended for defogging superglue 

[The Johnster]

Next thing on the list to try, Fatadder; I've started a topic on this over on Questions, Hints, and Tips and had some very good suggestions!  

[The Johnster]

I've had a bit of a change of mind on this problem; current thinking is to remove the fogged glazing, put new in, and attach the roof with Evostick.

[37Oban]

29 minutes ago, The Johnster said:

I've had a bit of a change of mind on this problem; current thinking is to remove the fogged glazing, put new in, and attach the roof with Evostick.

Hi,

be probably quicker, and easier to do, than trying to remove the fogging within the confines of the coach, especially with the interior details in place.

 

Roja

[The Johnster]

Had a few days off with a lost mojo, but we've picked it up again today.  Can't find any Evostick locally and am proceeding with Bostik; Evo was suggested by someone on Questions Hints and Tips and is apparently Coachmann's way of attaching roofs that he may need to remove one day.  If it's good enough for LG, I'm not going to question it!

 

I've reglazed the sides and have got as far as one side, the roof, and one end with the Bostik, a solid structure.  I'm going to leave it a few hours to go off and look at it again later, or tomorrow, but by tomorrow evening I should have a coach with a body fixed to it and regained that 'home straight' feeling a bit.  There is still plenty to do, and the joins are going to need a good bit of filling and tidying.  The roof needs painting and there will be various other bits of touching up/making good work, along with the still not done handrails and doorknobs.  It is possible that the Hornby suburbans are going to beat this coach into service on the layout...

[The Johnster]

Busy with some other stuff, life getting in the way, but I now have a coach with a body fixed to it and the roof on.  This evening's contribution has been to fill some of the bodywork gaps with Milliput, and the remaining work is to fit the grab handles and doorknobs, and generally tidy up bits of glue or solder, and touch up the now considerably tatty paintwork, as well as painting in the Milliput of course.  I've run it in trains and no issues have been apparent on the 3rd radius curves in my fiddle yard.  It's a hefty thing compared to RTR equivalents, but free running enough and all my locos can cope with a 3 coach train of this and the old Airfix B set.

 

I also need to fit lamp brackets, but don't know where to put them so I've started a topic asking this in Questions/Queries/Tips.  The instructions do not specify a position, and if nobody comes up with da goodz I'll put them in a 'probably guess' position above the left hand buffer, where a guard or someone placing the lamp would have been able to step on the buffer shank to access the bracket from a platform or the bogie step.

 

Then it'll be on to the next coach project, which'll be refurbishing and detailing a K's A31 auto trailer picked up at the 'small' Cardiff Show a few weeks ago.  It needs a floor and some seats.

[The Johnster]

Getting closer to finishing up, with the touching up done and Milliput painted over; the coach is looking less of a mess!  I've put lamp brackets about a scale foot above the buffer beam over the left hand buffer on the evidence of a similar style brake 3rd in a photo at Abergwynfi.  But I hit a problem with the door handles; these very small components are difficult to handle without sacrificing themselves to the carpet monster, and I need to think a bit about how I'm going to manipulate them into position.  I've already lost 2!

 

This has to be, quite literally, got to grips with as once I've fitted separate door handles to this coach I will have to do it to all my other coaches as this will become the new minimum required standard.  Otherwise RTR coaches with moulded door handles will be 'shown up' by the presence of this coach.

 

The other outstanding job is the roof, which needs a coat of proper roof grey which I must buy as the small amount I have has dried up in the pot, and this will have to wait until I go into town tomorrow.  Then she'll be ready for her photo call, Philou! 

[31A]

I usually use Humbrol no. 32 (or sometimes 67) for coach roofs; it's not an "official" roof colour but looks about right to me for roofs covered in grot from steam loco chimneys, etc.

 

[Mallard60022]

On ‎24‎/‎02‎/‎2019 at 17:03, The Johnster said:

Had a few days off with a lost mojo, but we've picked it up again today.  Can't find any Evostick locally and am proceeding with Bostik; Evo was suggested by someone on Questions Hints and Tips and is apparently Coachmann's way of attaching roofs that he may need to remove one day.  If it's good enough for LG, I'm not going to question it!

 

I've reglazed the sides and have got as far as one side, the roof, and one end with the Bostik, a solid structure.  I'm going to leave it a few hours to go off and look at it again later, or tomorrow, but by tomorrow evening I should have a coach with a body fixed to it and regained that 'home straight' feeling a bit.  There is still plenty to do, and the joins are going to need a good bit of filling and tidying.  The roof needs painting and there will be various other bits of touching up/making good work, along with the still not done handrails and doorknobs.  It is possible that the Hornby suburbans are going to beat this coach into service on the layout...

Homebase near you?    http://www.homebase.co.uk/evo-stik-impact-adhesive-65g_p899490 

Have you tried eBay? I'd rather use a decent Hardware Shop but they are hard to find these days, however we do have a really old fashioned one near me in Bawtry.

Phil

[micklner]

Toolstation stock Tins

[Philou]

Yay - well done Johnster, you're getting there and done oodles more than I've done since Christmas. Looking forward to those pictures .

 

Cheers,

 

Philip

 

[The Johnster]

Need to get to grips finishing off this coach, which is a bit of a mess and even when tidied up will still be a bit rough, as it's not my finest modelling moment.  I have been distracted with the new Hornby suburbans and rebuilding a pannier.

Edited March 21, 2019 by The Johnster

[The Johnster]

I've decided today that the job is finished and that's that,  I still haven't done the doorknobs and may have another go later, but a final coat of matt varnish to make the finish look a bit more uniform will be ok for the present.  I'm not 100% happy with it but it passes the 2 foot rule well enough and runs perfectly.  

 

I've fallen into the trap of having too many unfinished projects at once and am having a 'finish them all off today' session as there are 2 new projects in the pipeline.  Firstly, I've been given an 1854 pannier which needs a repaint and working up, new couplings, and my lamp irons; it is due in the post any day now.  Once that's done, shouldn't be a major operation, I'll start on my next project which is a K's A31 auto trailer that needs refurbishing and an interior. 

 

I'll try and have a photo session to show off the finished A66 over the next few days, not that I'm claiming it to be the pinnacle of even my modelling ability.  I've gained useful experience for further Comets, though, and should do a good bit better next time!  Thank you everyone for your input and support; there have been times when I needed my virtual hand holding, but we've made a coach that isn't the worst thing I've ever done and looks tolerably like a flat ended Collett.