Helston Revisited

[Harlequin]

2 minutes ago, Andy Keane said:

It’s really hard to know of course. But I rather fancy a change of colour since I got a crimson lake top light as a gift. Hence I updated my preorder on the autocoach to crimson and so the 517 will follow suit. But I do wonder how closely matched these colours would have been in real life.

These will all form part of stock for a slightly “earlier” Helston, set around 1920.

All "Lake" colours are difficult for modellers because they were somewhat translucent and so the final appearance depended on whatever colour was painted underneath. To reproduce them accurately you need to know the whole painting scheme, most notably what the undercoat colour was, then how many coats of Lake were used and how many coats of varnish.

 

(The railway companies liked Lake colours because they had depth - they looked "fancy".)

 

RTR manufacturers hopefully do their research and pick a composite colour that they think is the best match but there are a lot of variables involved...

 

[t-b-g]

12 minutes ago, Andy Keane said:

It’s really hard to know of course. But I rather fancy a change of colour since I got a crimson lake top light as a gift. Hence I updated my preorder on the autocoach to crimson and so the 517 will follow suit. But I do wonder how closely matched these colours would have been in real life.

These will all form part of stock for a slightly “earlier” Helston, set around 1920.

 

I agree that the crimson livery looks very smart indeed. I have just been having another look at the photo of 828. To me, it looks as if there is no discernable lining on the tanks and bunker but I could convince myself that there is lining on the boiler band just in front of the tanks. I could also convince myself that the cab sides might have a black border, with the possibility of an orange line between the border and the main colour. When you get colours like dark red, brown and orange on photos of that age, it can be really tricky to tell the apart.

[Andy Keane]

Given my very limited painting skill, she will have to be unlined!

[Gilbert]

1 minute ago, Andy Keane said:

Given my very limited painting skill, she will have to be unlined!

You need to go on a course.... 😉

[Mikkel]

1 hour ago, Andy Keane said:

@Mikkel I am working up a little horse drawn GWR delivery wagon and wondered if you could advise on adding the lettering to the sides? Do you make up custom waterslides or some other cunning scheme? I see Fox make one set of transfers but suspect they may be too big for a horse wagon. Thanks in advance.

Andy

 

It's a bit of a problem, as there isn't really anything ready-made, to my knowledge.

 

This is white lettering from the HMRS goods wagon sheet, coloured yellow with a marker:

 

 

 

 

This is HMRS Hawksworth coach lettering (!):

 

 

 

This is the only dedicated transfer for GWR horsedrawn wagons that I know of, included with an old Pendon dray kit:  No, sorry, just paper. Seems I've saved the Pendon transfer for another project.

 

 

This one isn't so good, but quick. It's just printed paper glued on:

 

 

 

Edited March 17 by Mikkel

[Tim Dubya]

Lovely horses @Mikkel where are they from?

 

Edit:  Pendon?

 

Edited March 17 by Tim Dubya

[Andy Keane]

Many thanks @Mikkel. Those are epic wagons, but I can see the lettering will not be simple. Maybe I will get a custom set ordered up when I have worked out sizing.

But how do you recolour transfers - I guess they must be pressfix?

Andy

[Andy Keane]

Another question is how many wagons would the Railway have kept at a yard like Helston in the 20s and 30s. The stableblock could have housed at least three horses, possibly more. Then there was the motor shed. I guess there may be a list somewhere, perhaps @The Stationmaster might be able to advise?

[St Enodoc]

2 hours ago, Tim Dubya said:

Lovely horses @Mikkel where are they from?

SHIRE Scenics of course!

 

I thank you.

[Mikkel]

10 hours ago, Tim Dubya said:

Lovely horses @Mikkel where are they from?

 

Edit:  Pendon?

 

 

Yes, they are all from the Shire scenes range. Although number three has been cut up and rebuilt for a different pose.

 

10 hours ago, Andy Keane said:

Many thanks @Mikkel. Those are epic wagons, but I can see the lettering will not be simple. Maybe I will get a custom set ordered up when I have worked out sizing.

But how do you recolour transfers - I guess they must be pressfix?

Andy

 

Yes, the HMRS transfers are pressifx, I just colored them with a yellow marker after applying them. Only tried it that one time though.

 

[Andy Keane]

Along with everything else I continue to potter at the signalling infrastructure.

These are the pulleys and detectors to go in the wire runs from the 'box to the signals.

[Andy Keane]

The crimson lake railmotor has arrived - a really lovely looking thing. Currently happily chuffing away on my rolling road.

[Andy Keane]

This is of the signal wire pulleys to lead the wires under the engine shed siding. The pins will obviously be cut down when I finalise their position - I find using 0.5mm piano wire pins really helpful when setting out this sort of thing and the little 3D printed parts have suitable holes in them as printed. Once these are finalised I can add the posts carrying the wires away in either direction.

[Andy Keane]

The wire run down to the far end ground signal:

[Andy Keane]

I have been reading the Journal of the Helston railway Soc and it notes that before the E140 B sets were used on the branch there were the low roof E40 B sets (a diagram for these is on page 126 of Russell). I will have to see if I can get a pair of kits for these rather charming coaches such as these 

Does anyone know how hard they are to build?

Andy

[Andy Keane]

This is the pleasingly complicated run of wires, rodding and detectors around the Helston starters and siding ground signals. I have also added (non-working) levers and pulleys to the base of the Dapol signal since they look rather bare as supplied. These are held on with micro magnets so the signals can be removed after the signal wire runs have been added.

Edited March 23 by Andy Keane

[Andy Keane]

Steam rail motor number 85 a very snug fit in the Helston carriage shed.

I am informed that the shed was probably built to house just such an SRM!

Edited March 29 by Andy Keane

[Andy Keane]

The madness of modellers. can somebody explain this please:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/276397381465

https://www.wizardmodels.ltd/shop/buildings/sf04/

Am I missing something or did somebody just pay three times the asking price for a GWR loading gauge etch?

[Andy Keane]

An interesting layout based on the Helston buildings and seen by Chris:

https://emea01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.flickr.com%2Fphotos%2F103471893%40N02%2F53621174939%2Fin%2Falbum-72177720315798867%2F&data=05|02||4ee5d3f64b4f4a43485908dc5536005a|84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa|1|0|638478937624475257|Unknown|TWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D|0|||&sdata=iUTztOfbcC%2FAuC6WPMeDIKNjilJZw%2BdfZIyS%2BLBYwDE%3D&reserved=0
 

[Harlequin]

1 hour ago, Andy Keane said:

An interesting layout based on the Helston buildings and seen by Chris:

https://emea01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.flickr.com%2Fphotos%2F103471893%40N02%2F53621174939%2Fin%2Falbum-72177720315798867%2F&data=05|02||4ee5d3f64b4f4a43485908dc5536005a|84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa|1|0|638478937624475257|Unknown|TWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D|0|||&sdata=iUTztOfbcC%2FAuC6WPMeDIKNjilJZw%2BdfZIyS%2BLBYwDE%3D&reserved=0
 

It's somewhere in a parallel universe that happens to have the name "Helston".

 

[Gilbert]

7 minutes ago, Harlequin said:

It's somewhere in a parallel universe that happens to have the name "Helston".

 

To be fair to the team there the layout name is caveated...

[Andy Keane]

It is built to a very nice standard, though being BR era not with stock that I would chose. There is some good video of the layout at about seven minutes in to this: 

 

Edited April 5 by Andy Keane

[Andy Keane]

It is also interesting to see how people chose to alter the track plan to suit their modelling aims. Their version has two platforms for example, with the engine shed swapped side to allow this.

[Andy Keane]

Meanwhile I have been working on the roadway over the bridge with its stone walls. The gaps in the walling are where GWR wire fencing needs to go as per photos of the site back in the day.

[Andy Keane]

On 17/03/2024 at 19:34, Mikkel said:

 

It's a bit of a problem, as there isn't really anything ready-made, to my knowledge.

 

This is white lettering from the HMRS goods wagon sheet, coloured yellow with a marker:

 

 

 

 

This is HMRS Hawksworth coach lettering (!):

 

 

 

This is the only dedicated transfer for GWR horsedrawn wagons that I know of, included with an old Pendon dray kit:  No, sorry, just paper. Seems I've saved the Pendon transfer for another project.

 

 

This one isn't so good, but quick. It's just printed paper glued on:

 

 

 

I have some transfers on order from Fox. But a related question - my wagon is the one with the rather boxy shaped hood over the driver and cart, see below - it has cream sides with lettering to come, but what colour would you paint the top - would that have been cream as well or something darker? It is currently in primer.