Blacker Lane D.P.

[Ruston]

23 hours ago, figworthy said:

Hulls were usually black below the loaded water line, originally tar (on the wooden boats), and I'm not sure what on the iron/steel ones.

 

If I were being critical, that bow is far too pointed, the traditional barges in the area where almost flat fronted, with a bit of curve on the corners.

I didn't realise how flat the fronts were until I saw those photos of the Rally. It's too late to do anything about it on this one now.

A combination of a malfunctioning airbrush and a failing bulb in the light above the workbench hasn't done any favours to the paint job but I'm sure it can be salvaged.

[figworthy]

35 minutes ago, Ruston said:

I didn't realise how flat the fronts were until I saw those photos of the Rally. It's too late to do anything about it on this one now.

 

It's an easy mistake to make.  In most parts of the world, the bows are pointed.

 

The colour scheme is starting to look good.

 

Adrian

[Ruston]

I have abandoned that barge. If it was just the bow being wrong then I would probably have kept it but a couple of things weren't right. I would have had to model it as empty, due to how much of it was out of the water and so the bottom of it would look look weird, being slightly higher on the inside and simply being flat along the bottom. I've noticed that they seemed to sit down at the stern when empty, so the stance didn't look right either.

 

The new one sits lower in the water and will have the rear part of the coal space almost full, with the front partly so. I think it will look more realistic.

 

[Dunalastair]

It is hard to abandon committed work, but that looks like the right decision. When I have been designing water craft for 3D printing, the stance was indeed important (along with the vertical curve often apparent in bulwarks) to make the result convincing. There is apparently quite an art in marine modelling ... For powered empty vessels which 'sit down' at the stern, it seems likely that the weight of the engine is a likely contribution. 

[Ruston]

It's looking better than the old one already.

I should be able to get all of the strips on the hull, tomorrow and may even get the coal space enclosure on. Another thing that is wrong with the old one is that the ends of the coal space ought to be curved, or peaked, rising toward the centre and not flat.

 

Perhaps I may even slap some paint on it, tomorrow. The Class 11 is in the post, so when that arrives I may have to stop work on the barge and play with the new toy instead.

[Fair Oak Junction]

Will you at least find a use elsewhere for the first barge? It's still a lovely model even if it didn't work for what you needed.

[mac1960]

2nd a lot better, that bow is a noticeable thing with them. Watching you build this due to the close proximity to where I lived, and indeed live for part of the time, and my experience as a young man in Yorkshire Coal Field makes it a very interesting project to observe for me personally.

 

Mac

Edited February 4 by mac1960

[Ruston]

22 hours ago, Fair Oak Junction said:

Will you at least find a use elsewhere for the first barge? It's still a lovely model even if it didn't work for what you needed.

I can't see any use for it, so it'll probably go in the bin.

 

Another thing that became apparent is that the coal hole, hold, whatever it's called, wasn't wide enough. It wasn't wide enough on the new one either until this afternoon. I think it looks better now, even if it may not be correct. It's never easy to build something like this when the only dimensions you have are the length and width.

There are still things not quite right about this one and it's all learning, so I could probably make a better one still but I can't keep on building barges until I manage to get one perfect, so this one will have to do.

The Class 11 arrives tomorrow and I've already got a sound decoder waiting for it. I'm excited. All that orangey English Electric goodness.

[AY Mod]

8 minutes ago, Ruston said:

The Class 11 arrives tomorrow and I've already got a sound decoder waiting for it. I'm excited. All that orangey English Electric goodness.

 

Do you think you'll do anything with the springs on it or will a dose of dirt and highlights improve it?

[Ruston]

26 minutes ago, AY Mod said:

 

Do you think you'll do anything with the springs on it or will a dose of dirt and highlights improve it?

Oh er... I don't know. Is there something wrong with the springs?

[AY Mod]

Just now, Ruston said:

Is there something wrong with the springs?

 

Sorry; I'll shut up!

[Ruston]

7 minutes ago, AY Mod said:

 

Sorry; I'll shut up!

Oh dear. Sounds ominous. They haven't modelled them upside down, have they? 🙃 I guess I'll find out tomorrow...

[figworthy]

2 hours ago, Ruston said:

Another thing that became apparent is that the coal hole, hold, whatever it's called

 

 

It's a hold.

 

Looking good so far.

 

Adrian

[Ruston]

18 hours ago, AY Mod said:

 

Do you think you'll do anything with the springs on it or will a dose of dirt and highlights improve it?

You mean just general weathering and appearance, don't you? I was imagining all sorts of horrors; that you had seen a review sample or something and it was awful. You just don't know what you're going to get when you order a loco that you haven't seen any real photos of. I'm no expert on these things but it all seems to be OK. They are the right way up anyway. 😁

 

When it comes to weathering, everything below running plate level appeared to be slathered in that typical greasy oily crud so I'll try to do that and perhaps some dry brushing to highlight the spring leaves.

 

As the model comes, it seems to be in Bowers Row condition - repainted and minus BR electrification flashes and 12099 cabside number. I guess it would have been just as bright when originally painted orange but photos of it at British Oak show it with the orange faded and with rust patches, but still with flashes and number.

 

British Oak, 1981. Another in this Flickr series shows it from the cab end where the BR number is more visible.

 

Bowers Row, 1985. Brighter orange, obviously repainted as the flashes are gone the green patch where the works plate used to be has gone, and with no trace of the BR number.

Making it as faded as in the first photo will take some doing. A complete repaint I expect, which isn't difficult for the orange but I don't want to try to repaint the stripes on the ends and I'm not sure how to go about fading the existing ones.

 

It does need something doing with it as it is a bit in yer face. This photo really doesn't do it justice. It's a lot more orange than this. If it looked like it does here, I'd be happy but it's like it's been Tango'd!

I'll probably fade it slightly, paint the small bodyside handrails orange and add numbers and flashes before a general dirtification.

 

I got it apart but whoever wrote the instructions for that needs a good hard kicking. They say to pull off the battery boxes to reveal two screws and to remove these. I took off the battery boxes and removed the screws. Nothing seemed to feel any different; the body wasn't loose in any way. The instructions then say to "carefully slide the body away from the chassis". Nope, nothing's moving but does it mean slide forward or backward? Is this perhaps to release a catch-type thing, where the body locks under some part in the chassis?

Whatever it means it still wasn't moving or even loose, so I suspected something was accidentally glued or jammed. I held the chassis between thumb and forefinger of one hand and pulled on the body with the other. The cab snapped off! Catches - that the instructions don't mention, did hold the cab down but broke in pulling the body off, meanwhile the body still remained on the chassis and had to be levered off.

Now I will have to glue the cab on and glue the cab end down when it comes to reassembly. The front end does indeed have catches, as on the Bachmann 08, that tuck under something in the chassis. Slide the body off, my a&$e!

It runs so I can now do something about weathering it.

 

[AY Mod]

5 minutes ago, Ruston said:

You mean just general weathering and appearance, don't you? I was imagining all sorts of horrors; that you had seen a review sample or something and it was awful. You just don't know what you're going to get when you order a loco that you haven't seen any real photos of. I'm no expert on these things but it all seems to be OK. They are the right way up anyway. 😁

 

I've not had one for review (competitor's product) but in many pictures the springing looked to be quite lacking in depth and definition. They'll be 'reet' once you've worked your magic.

[Ruston]

For whatever reason, the running plate was orange on the model so I've put that right. The frames, springs etc. have been gone over with matt black, just to get rid of the plastic shine. Weathering proper will come later. I've also painted the engine compartment handrails .

I will attempt to fix my airbrush and give it a blow over with a less drastic shade of orange before adding electrification flashes and number.

It has run up and down the layout a few times but hasn't pulled a train yet. The provided screw couplings are cosmetic only, which is a retrograde step as previous Heljan offerings came with very nice functional steel screw couplings.

 

 

[Ruston]

I managed to get the airbrush to work enough to spray some orange over the orange and have left that to dry whilst I made a start on the wheelhouse for the barge.

[mac1960]

I am sorry but I don’t remember them being that dirty . The early 70,s was an advertising age of quite bright colours, anybody remember the Canadian Pacific Containers in US / Canada or Alfred Bell Purple Container trucks on M62 over here , which were bull nosed Mercedes in early 70,s . The barges were quite clean. I moved away mid 70,s so not sure how distressed they became before their demise, but the one my friends Father looked at buying was still weathered Orange from photos and that was about 1973/74.

 

Cheers

Mac

[doilum]

I haven’t managed a decent scan of my old photos yet but looking at the ones I took in January 1984 the hulls are quite weathered. Imagine the boiler of a WD late in life and you have the picture. The decks however were bright orange in well maintained condition as was the wheel house. These comments apply to all of the four or or five examples moored at Castleford on that afternoon.

[Barclay]

Dirty? He hasn't painted it yet. Or am I missing something?

[Ruston]

15 hours ago, mac1960 said:

I am sorry but I don’t remember them being that dirty [snipped]The barges were quite clean. I moved away mid 70,s so not sure how distressed they became before their demise, but the one my friends Father looked at buying was still weathered Orange from photos and that was about 1973/74.

 

Cheers

Mac

I don't understand. I haven't shown a photo of how far I've got with the painting, never mind weathering it.

 

[mac1960]

Ruston

sorry looking at it on phone and it appeared to have an Orange / Yellow hue. I will await the completed product. 🙄

[Ruston]

I have painted the hull of the barge but have since repainted the deck orange after doilum's comment about the decks being orange. It does look orange in one of the pictures but I wasn't sure.

[03060]

I managed to dig my way into my supposed 'modelling room' this afternoon and found my copy of 'Ethel and Angela Jane,' suffice to say that your Mk.2 version is looking pretty good, Dave (not that I expected anything else !)

 

Probably a bit late in the build to offer any help to you but it's amazing the difference in displacement between an unladen boat and a fully loaded one.

 

Not sure whether you have this little publication or not but there is a photo of 'Prodesse' being loaded at the Calder Grove, British Oak loading staith which clearly shows a full chute with possibly 2 'gates' in it to control the flow of coal down into the boat as there is no wagon present on the unloading level.

 

I also wondered about how the boats were loaded and am now thinking that maybe the boat reversed until the cabin was just past the chute bottom and then a base layer was filled towards the bow in say 3 drops as the boat continued to reverse, the 4th drop then being put on top of the 3rd finishing with the 6th on top of the 1st as the boat moves forward. These load drops would just about match the amount of coal between the aforementioned gates in the chute, though different sized boats could maybe take 4 or 8 drops per load as suggested in some of the photos.

 

This is pure speculation on my part and may be wide of the mark as looking again at the photo of 'Prodesse' it would by my reckoning be on drop 5 but is still sitting quite high in the water all be it higher at the stern than the bow, so maybe only 3 drops being needed to fill the boat fully from bow to stern .... I'll PM you the photo shortly so you can see what I'm waffling on about. There's also a useful boat 'key' naming all of the different parts which I'll send.

 

Sorry for the ramble.

Regards,

Ian.

[Ruston]

Thanks for the photo and info, Ian. It's all very helpful.

 

Flickr photos, by The KDH Archive. Not British Oak, and probably larger boats than the West Country types. On the Aire & Calder at Primrose Hill colliery.

 

My tipper house isn't actually based on any prototype but it's the same idea.