Jo's Model Works - Plastic bashing in N

[Steadfast]

Hello All,

 

I've decided to combine previous workbench threads into one and start afresh. After the image loss in the great RMweb storm of 2022 and with some of the threads not being touched for a fair while, I've posted links below to the previous threads. Some of the pictures appear to have come back, but there's a lot missing and I've not got the originals any more as they've gone walkies on old laptops and phones. The oldest thread dates from 2011, and that was a scarily long time ago!

 

Right then, back to the present day, amongst the pile of chaos that is the desk I've been working on this. It is, or will be, an RRA runner wagon. There are several styles, converted from different 1970s 4 wheel air braked wagons. This is an ex OBA 'Bass' type, fitted with a mesh deck. The starting point is a Chivers OCA kit, of which actually only the chassis sides and wheels have been used. 

 

 

 

With the mesh deck being fitted, the framework of the chassis is very visible so I had a play in Illustrator and drew up something to be cut on the Silhouette Portrait cutter. Other than an hour wasted drawing and some plastic sheet, if it didn't work I'd lost nothing and could still build the OCA as intended. Anyway, it worked! Two layers of 0.25mm / 10 thou plastic cut and laminated. This gives finer results than a single layer of 0.5mm and also allows half relief to be included. Evergreen section was added to add strength and visual depth to the chassis members, with some 0.3mm Plastruct to represent the beams the brake rigging hangs from.

 

The mesh deck is a Hasegawa Trypart product, bought online from Japan a few years ago. Typically, the mesh on the sheet runs 90 degrees to that required for the wagon, so two strips had to be cut to get the pattern in the correct orientation.

Next up, I've got to design and cut the side raves and headstocks of the wagon, as well as work out where I can drop some lead shot or tungsten putty into the underframe.

 

That's all for now,

 

jo

 

Edited February 11, 2023 by Steadfast

[Revolution Ben]

 

Hi Jo,

 

Nice work.  Are the RRAs much in use nowadays?

 

cheers

 

Ben A.

[DavidMcKenzie]

14 hours ago, Steadfast said:

Hello All,

 

I've decided to combine previous workbench threads into one and start afresh. After the image loss in the great RMweb storm of 2022 and with some of the threads not being touched for a fair while, I've posted links below to the previous threads. Some of the pictures appear to have come back, but there's a lot missing and I've not got the originals any more as they've gone walkies on old laptops and phones. The oldest thread dates from 2011, and that was a scarily long time ago!

 

Right then, back to the present day, amongst the pile of chaos that is the desk I've been working on this. It is, or will be, an RRA runner wagon. There are several styles, converted from different 1970s 4 wheel air braked wagons. This is an ex OBA 'Bass' type, fitted with a mesh deck. The starting point is a Chivers OCA kit, of which actually only the chassis sides and wheels have been used. 

 

 

 

With the mesh deck being fitted, the framework of the chassis is very visible so I had a play in Illustrator and drew up something to be cut on the Silhouette Portrait cutter. Other than an hour wasted drawing and some plastic sheet, if it didn't work I'd lost nothing and could still build the OCA as intended. Anyway, it worked! Two layers of 0.25mm / 10 thou plastic cut and laminated. This gives finer results than a single layer of 0.5mm and also allows half relief to be included. Evergreen section was added to add strength and visual depth to the chassis members, with some 0.3mm Plastruct to represent the beams the brake rigging hangs from.

 

The mesh deck is a Hasegawa Trypart product, bought online from Japan a few years ago. Typically, the mesh on the sheet runs 90 degrees to that required for the wagon, so two strips had to be cut to get the pattern in the correct orientation.

Next up, I've got to design and cut the side raves and headstocks of the wagon, as well as work out where I can drop some lead shot or tungsten putty into the underframe.

 

That's all for now,

 

jo

 

Top stuff Jo, I am looking forward to seeing the finished wagon. Especially how that mesh looks at the end. I'm sure you'll do it justice and it will come out looking great (as your models always do).

I'd never heard of Hasegawa Trypart, something learnt for the future. 

All the best,

Dave 

[Steadfast]

18 hours ago, Revolution Ben said:

 

Hi Jo,

 

Nice work.  Are the RRAs much in use nowadays?

 

cheers

 

Ben A.

 

Thanks Ben.

 

There are three Super Salmon sets used for delivering bits of pointwork and other speciality rails. These always run RRA + FZA + RRA and are pretty much fixed sets.

 

There is also the as required use of runners with Salmon and Mullet, if an overhanging load is needed on one of those. I'd estimate there's probably 10 - 15 RRAs in use. These are a mix of the ex OBA type being modelled, ex VDA and a couple of ex SAA steel wagons, still retaining wooden floor and movable stanchions.

 

6 hours ago, DavidMcKenzie said:

Top stuff Jo, I am looking forward to seeing the finished wagon. Especially how that mesh looks at the end. I'm sure you'll do it justice and it will come out looking great (as your models always do).

I'd never heard of Hasegawa Trypart, something learnt for the future. 

All the best,

Dave 

Cheers Dave, very kind! I'm evenings this week so hoping I might have the time and energy to fire up the Silhouette one day before work.

 

The Hasegawa meshes aren't huge as the picture previously shows, but exchange rate depending are only about 4 quid each from Japan. They're not on general sale in Europe, but I did see an eBay seller doing them for 15 quid a pop. Other than Shawplan loco specific grills, they're finer than  pretty much any etched mesh I've seen elsewhere.

 

Jo

[Jim Martin]

Hi Jo

 

The runner looks super cool! That mesh looks pretty nifty too. As you say, it seems to be obtainable from Japan, but i think you'd want to work out what the other charges might be before piling in with an order.

 

Can I ask how you cut the stuff? I imagine that cutting it accurately enough for an n-gauge project is quite hard? I have a Farish freightliner flat and a TPM detail kit that aren't doing anything; and I've been thinking of building a "tench" like this one for several years, so that diamond mesh looks like it would be just the job: 

 

 

Did you use the "medium" size? As far as I can see, the choice is that or large, although even the large size looks quite fine to me.

 

Jim

Edited February 15, 2023 by Jim Martin

[Steadfast]

1 hour ago, Jim Martin said:

Hi Jo

 

The runner looks super cool! That mesh looks pretty nifty too. As you say, it seems to be obtainable from Japan, but i think you'd want to work out what the other charges might be before piling in with an order.

 

Can I ask how you cut the stuff? I imagine that cutting it accurately enough for an n-gauge project is quite hard? I have a Farish freightliner flat and a TPM detail kit that aren't doing anything; and I've been thinking of building a "tench" like this one for several years: 

 

 

Did you use the "medium" size? As far as I can see, the choice is that or large, although even the large size looks quite fine to me.

 

Jim

Hi Jim, 

 

Just dug the packet out, set PA-21, "modelling mesh 21" 0.54 x 0.32 is the size I used.

 

I used multiple passes of a scalpel with a new blade and steel rule to cut, then tidied the edge and fettled the size with a file, cutting onto a firm self healing cutting mat the metal didn't seem to deform at the cut much.

 

It's funny, I had one of the ex Freightliner flat Super Tench in mind too when I bought the mesh, it sat in a box and then Revolution announced the Mullet based Super Tench. The wagons will probably become an FDA Salmon twin set now.

 

Jo

[Steadfast]

On 12/02/2023 at 17:53, Steadfast said:

I'm evenings this week so hoping I might have the time and energy to fire up the Silhouette one day before work.

Well that was famous last words wasn't it! I managed to get the artwork for the headstocks and side rails drawn in Illustrator, but that's as far as it got. 

 

Time that may be for modelling has been filled with a mix of other things, lots of revision for work, which thankfully now is all a thing of the past.

 

The little bit of modelling time I have had free has been spent on something a little different. It's the wrong scale for starters...

 

My mentor is ex Res Barton Hill and always speaks highly of the Res days, so what else could I do as a thank you gift when I passed out?

 

It's a Lima 47 that I've tarted up with etched plates, Bachmann buffer beam hoses, fuel tank and class 90 buffers along with some ETH gubbins off eBay. The wooden plank is part of a book shelf picked up in a local second hand shop, cleaned, oiled and waxed with help from my dad once I'd chopped it to size. A nice gloss finish on the 47 adds to the presentation finish. Just don't mention having to respray the red, including hand masking all the Res logo printing...

Res logo from Fox, number and name cut myself from vinyl on the Silhouette cutter.

 

An M5 bolt through the fuel tank holds the whole lot together.

 

Now I've got a bit more free time, I promise the next entry will be N scale!

 

Jo

Edited May 1, 2023 by Steadfast

[Scott B]

Looks TOP that does Jo.

[Steadfast]

It seems I've been as rubbish as expected at keeping posts on this thread regular...ah well! I don't seem to have had much time for my own modelling the last few months, modelling time being spent either designing decals or comissions for other people. 

Rather a coaching stock heavy update, we'll start with 17105. I started this at the Swindon show in 2020, the last show I demo'd at before we had 18 months of nothingness! It's been a proper one step forward, 2 steps back project, especially with the paint, but it's getting there. The lining, letter and grill decals are all designed by me. The roof and ends are hacked about to match the real thing, and the doors have been modified too to resemble the wrap around type on the Mk2B. I'll get some better pictures of the modifications once it's less glossy and easier to photograph. Paint on this are airbrushed Tamiya acrylics. The chassis has been heavily modified too, but that isn't to hand at the moment.

Next up, 3 Farish Mk2Fs that I've resprayed into Anglia livery. There's the odd wonky line, but that will be tidied next time the airbrush is out.

Paint is celluolose, and these will be debranded and run with 17105 and some debranded Virgin Mk2Fs too, to resemble something like this:

 

 

This is a Farish Mk2F DBSO, modified to be a generator fitted RTOV as Network Rail call them now. Most of the work was the cab front, where a new panel was cut on the Silhouette to replace the gangway, vertical strips around the windows, blanked ETH recess and reworked headlight. There's also grill for the generator (less said the better...) and extra vents, NRN and GSM-R aerials on the roof. 

Cellulose again, the front is a subtly different shade of yellow, not that the camera picks it up at all.

 

The final coach we have is UTU1, no. 62384. This is a 3D print from Andy @LMSfan72 and is a shoot down from his 4mm models. There is some lovely detail on there, and it has saved me months and months of cutting and joining Farish Mk1s to make a UTU coach, so his efforts really are much appreciated! Considering its a shoot down from 4mm, it's amazing how much detail has printed unmodified. The handrails didn't (and Andy kept me up to speed on progress, so I was aware) so will be replaced with 0.2mm wire handrails, as will the filler pipe from the roof down the end. The orange warning lights are being replaced with 0.5mm Evergreen rod because I virtually removed the printed lights while attempting to clean what little print lines there were up. The model comes with the belly tanks, interior, coach ends and cosmetic bogie side frames, so all in all should hopefully be a speedy build.

 

The final vehicle in today's update is a 3D printed JHA, one from Nick @njee20. I've had several of these sat painted, waiting for me to finish drawing up the decals and get them printed. The blue stripe being part of the artwork makes things much quicker! Paint on the model is Tamiya AS-20 Insignia White, which seems to be a good match for Hanson light grey. So far I have 5 wagons in grey and black, but have got decals for all the wagons I own so once the first 5 are done hopefully I'll crack on with the next few. As the image below shows, there's variation in the weathering of the Hanson logos, accurate to each side of each wagon, as are variations in the positioning of the solebar labels. The idea is that everything on the grey part of the body goes on as one piece, it all being correctly spaced out on the clear carrier film. Once dry, the rebate for the ICD and ICR levers can be cut away before varnishing.

 

Jo

Edited February 20 by Steadfast

[njee20]

Superb, Jo! I’ve also played with printing the blue stripe, but obviously don’t get the intensity you’re getting on a home printer.