Minor Points: Annie's layout projects.

[Porkscratching]

I seem to recall reading somewhere that French polish or button polish etc  wasn't good for some reason, and the pukka shellac comes in reconstitutable flakes. Isn't it ground up bits of old insects or something? 

Tbh I'd rather do the polyurethane thing which is certainly spirit not water based. 

[harris0169]

40 minutes ago, Porkscratching said:

I seem to recall reading somewhere that French polish or button polish etc  wasn't good for some reason, and the pukka shellac comes in reconstitutable flakes. Isn't it ground up bits of old insects or something? 

Tbh I'd rather do the polyurethane thing which is certainly spirit not water based. 

 

I think you are right. Some come with additives eg: linseed oil to help with getting it onto the piece.  This one doesn't seem to...(random search)...
https://www.decoratingdirect.co.uk/viewprod/b/BUTTON_POLISH/

Suffice to say I am not  experienced with shellac...it is on my list of things to try...I'm just a google jockey.  Shellac flakes (from reading around) are indeed a product of insects ... "shellac, commercial resin marketed in the form of amber flakes, made from the secretions of the lac insect, a tiny scale insect, Laccifer lacca "

(from a random search: https://www.britannica.com/topic/shellac#:~:text=shellac%2C commercial resin marketed in,becomes rigid at room temperature.)

 

Shellac is thinned with meths which I think helps with (lack of) warping.

 

As well as Jim Reid's use of Shellac there is an article here by the late Colin Binnie on card coaches....

https://www.colinbinnie.com/card-coach.html

 

And there is a copy of E. Rankine Gray's Cardborad rolling Stock on Jim's site on this page:

https://ogaugemicro.blogspot.com/p/links.html

 

I have been trying to collect as many resources as I can on card railway modelling.  I have loads of card generated from everyday living. I think also I can see why plasticard was such a great hit when it came about when you look at how card has to be "treated" to be able to model with and protect it. But I still like the idea of using it.

 

All the best

 

Andy 

 

Edited November 23, 2023 by harris0169
some duplicate words

[harris0169]

PS: this is also a good (short, tantilising) read... John Fownes doesn't use Shellac but just cheap spray paints form "pound-type" stores (well the article mentions Wilko):

https://issuu.com/mortons-digital/docs/rmm007

page 56/57

 

This is the only article I can find on John's work with any detail.

 

Phil Parker shows a picture of his work in this post:

https://philsworkbench.blogspot.com/2015/06/great-central-railway-model-event-2015.html

And there is this page I wrenched out of the Internet Archive:

https://web.archive.org/web/20160418021844/http://homepage.ntlworld.com/instalek/cardboard.htm

Cheers

 

Andy

[Annie]

2 hours ago, harris0169 said:

PS: this is also a good (short, tantalising) read... John Fownes doesn't use Shellac but just cheap spray paints form "pound-type" stores (well the article mentions Wilko):

https://issuu.com/mortons-digital/docs/rmm007

page 56/57

 

This is the only article I can find on John's work with any detail.

 

Phil Parker shows a picture of his work in this post:

https://philsworkbench.blogspot.com/2015/06/great-central-railway-model-event-2015.html

And there is this page I wrenched out of the Internet Archive:

https://web.archive.org/web/20160418021844/http://homepage.ntlworld.com/instalek/cardboard.htm

Cheers

 

Andy

That's certainly interesting about John Fownes using cheap spray paint instead of shellac.  I take his point about the possibility of shellac making cardboard too stiff, - though that sets me wondering if using polyurethane works in the same way as John's paint due to it having a degree of flexibility.

[harris0169]

Yes

 

I'm not quite sure what he means by shellac making it "hard and crispy".  All the things about shellac and card is it makes card "hard" and therefore stronger. Who knows...it's tantalising being on the edge of nearly knowing what works for someone and why. Point is I think shellac, polyurethane varnish or paint sound like good options which may do different things and end up the giving the desired outcome... ie a model that is wanted that will stand the test of time! 😀

 

Is it time to throw in that I have also seen the use of PVA to create hardening and read about emulsion paint too?

 

PVA at about 3min 30s of this

 

And emulsion paint mentioned on page 3 paragraph 6 here:

 

https://tlrs.info/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Terry_Russell_Tramcar_modelling_in_O_gauge.pdf

 

And of course superglue is suggested on internet to soak into edges you might want to file...(and apparently shellac too?)

 

So...pick your poison.

 

I'm going to start with shellac because I have it and apparently soaks into card well. Also the lack of water in it sounds like a good thing.

 

I did a quick search just now and there are quite a few posts on here in relation to shellac...

 

Also doing a quick search for a comment I found before on polyurethane varnish I found this comment which whilst it is aimed at a model's finish could help with a formula for card perhaps?....

 

all just stuff I'm afraid...Proof in the pudding 

 

All the best

 

Andy 

Edited November 23, 2023 by harris0169
A few more spolling mistooks

[Annie]

I've heard of PVA being used to harden cardboard, but using it diluted would surely run the risk of sagging and distortion.  I don't think I would like to try it. 

The 16mm carriages are interesting, but when I was doing mine I did them using wood only with packets of lolly sticks from the local craft shop getting a fair bit of use.  I would use various types of thin modellers plywood as well, but that could get a bit expensive when used on larger models.  Good old coffee stirrers were very handy and for larger sections of wood I would raid the kindling box for suitable bits with a nice grain and cut them to size with a razor saw.  I wasn't keen on balsa as it's too soft and stringy with coarse grain and nearly impossible to get a decent finish with it.

Edited November 24, 2023 by Annie
more to say

[Annie]

Normally I don't hold with the imported American nonsense of Black Friday sales, but Ironhorse Hobbies are doing free postage during the sales and their Hornby Railroad 0-4-0's are the cheapest in the country this weekend.

Sooooooo I've purchased a 'not a Percy' R30200 OO RailRoad BR 0-4-0T and a classic R3064 Railroad OO BR Class 264 'Pug' 0-4-0ST 56025 'Smokey Joe' for research purposes.

 

 

 

The loco bodies themselves will be useful kitbash fodder with both being saddle tanks and while I have O-16.5 narrow gauge projects in mind I have always wondered how easy it might be to regauge one of these Hornby 0-4-0 chassis.

 

In other news my new Tamiya curved scissors and design knife were delivered this afternoon so things are starting to move along very nicely.

[CKPR]

When I was building US 'craftsman' kits, the advice was always to use white spirit or isopropyl alcohol as the thinner / medium for paint, not water, so as to avoid swelling of the wood and raising of the grain. Although PVA dries hard (and shiny !), I found that if used in diluted form,  it does exactly this.

[Annie]

30 minutes ago, CKPR said:

When I was building US 'craftsman' kits, the advice was always to use white spirit or isopropyl alcohol as the thinner / medium for paint, not water, so as to avoid swelling of the wood and raising of the grain. Although PVA dries hard (and shiny !), I found that if used in diluted form,  it does exactly this.

Thanks for confirming my suspicions CKPR.  Water applied to cardboard or wood when making models is rarely a good idea.

 

I always like to poke around on the Smallbrook Studio website to see what they have and just now i discovered this interesting conversion kit.   https://www.smallbrookstudio.uk/store/7mm-NG-Rhea-Kit-to-alter-the-new-Hornby-budget-range-0-4-0-into-Hunslet-style-saddle-tank-p582670858  

 

[Annie]

Latest silly idea and cheer up picture combined.

 

[Porkscratching]

I love the way you said you bought yourself some locos for "research purposes".. Epic 😁

[Annie]

3 minutes ago, Porkscratching said:

I love the way you said you bought yourself some locos for "research purposes".. Epic 😁

😃😀😄

 

Very important and secret research.  😉

[Porkscratching]

6 minutes ago, Annie said:

😃😀😄

 

Very important and secret research.  😉

Absolutely, I know nothing, nothing..... 

[cornamuse]

I used CA, again cheap super runny stuff for pound shops, building my own laminated card up from thin layers. It’s like making your own mdf… 

 

Boy are the fumes exciting, as Annie has pointed out. Plus I can identify all my models by traces of dna and fingerprints left glued to the models. 

[Annie]

17 hours ago, Annie said:

Latest silly idea and cheer up picture combined.

 

And further to this picture I found this one to go with it.

 

 

It would be 10 years ago that I purchased this 009 tram engine bodyshell from Shapeways.  It's plain what prototype it's based on.  I never did anything with it though, - firstly because I found 009 to be just too darn maddeningly small and secondly because I didn't like the printed bodyshell's rough surface.

 

[Annie]

It was a good many years ago now, but I've just remembered a friend taking me to see a Gauge 1 model railway.  It was a partly in the shed and the rest doing a circuit of the garden type of line and the retired owner was an ex-Swindon Works employee.

A lovely gentleman, - he gave us the tour, but the thing that I remember most of all was that all his engines and rolling stock were made from cardboard.  They were really stunning pieces of work and there was nothing about them to give any indication as to the material they were made from.

Why cardboard? you might ask.  Well what he told me was that he worked in cardboard so he could keep his wife company in the house during the evenings instead of disappearing into the shed and thereby causing any strife between them.  He had a neat and tidy small workbench in the living room and that was where all the magic happened.

He had tried out 'O' Gauge for a short while, - and he showed me some of his 'O' Gauge models which were nice pieces of work as well, - but decided in the end that Gauge 1 was the scale for him.  

 

For some reason I never was one to carry a camera about with me so I can't show you any photos unfortunately.

[Annie]

Wantage Tramway group on Farcebook.  https://www.facebook.com/groups/rtwantagetramway/?multi_permalinks=7179175858794098&notif_id=1701001794493376&notif_t=group_activity&ref=notif

 

I have little time for most of the social media garbage on Faceplant, but I've found some of the special interest railway groups to be worthwhile.

[Annie]

I'm struggling with being sleepy, but I'm managing to push on with clearing off the long layout table in my bedroom that used to have my Lego railway layout on it.  After my Lego layout was dismantled it became a general dumping ground and working my way down through it all is like some kind of model making related archeological dig with both misplaced useful items and complete and utter junk being all mixed up together.  Having a fatigue illness doesn't help either because often things will get put down somewhere and there they will stay with other things getting dumped on top of them and so on and so on.

 

My plan is to setup a simple 3 rail O-27 layout on this layout board, - which is in actual fact a 6ft 6in X 3ft interior door.  Having somewhere that I can run some of my older coarse scale wagons on and generally bunt them about with my green 0-4-2 tank engine will hopefully help to encourage me to push on with my other 'O' gauge projects.

 

[Annie]

The two Hornby Railroad locos I ordered from Ironhorse Hobbies have arrived.  I'm trying to remember when it was that I last purchased a model loco brand new in its box, - it would have to be one heck of a long time ago.  They are very cute though, - and so small, - but I mustn't hold that against them.  I must comment though that the brand new RTR loco smell is very nice and quite appealing.

 

It would have been a bit cheaper if I'd purchased two 'not a Percy' R30200 OO RailRoad BR 0-4-0T's instead of just one and a Smokey Joe, but the only other Smokey Joe I've ever owned was very second hand and had its chimney busted off.

Ultimately they both will be giving up their mechs for 'O' gauge purposes and the bodyshells used for kitbashing fodder, but In the meantime I can be a big kid and look at them with a silly grin on my face.

[Annie]

Two old favourites arrived this week.  They both went missing some years ago when too much life happened, - but now I have them again.  😄

With these books as an influence I tended to have a slightly old fashioned approach to building model locomotives, - and especially my 'O' Gauge ones.  Nothing wrong with that though and I certainly had a lot of fun doing it.

 

 

[Pacific231G]

On 08/12/2023 at 05:14, Annie said:

Two old favourites arrived this week.  They both went missing some years ago when too much life happened, - but now I have them again.  😄

With these books as an influence I tended to have a slightly old fashioned approach to building model locomotives, - and especially my 'O' Gauge ones.  Nothing wrong with that though and I certainly had a lot of fun doing it.

 

 

Perfectly valid techniques. Some of John Ahern's locos are still going strong on the Madder Valley, eight decades after he built them and probably seventy five years since he converted them to two rail (and remotored them as he used 6V DC for third rail and even grumbled about Hornby Dublo using 12V)

Edited December 13, 2023 by Pacific231G

[Annie]

On 10/12/2023 at 12:07, Pacific231G said:

Perfectly valid techniques. Some of John Ahern's locos are still going strong on the Madder Valley, eight decades after he built them and probably seventy five years since he converted them to two rail (and remotor them as he used 6V DC for third rail and grumbled about Hornby Dublo using 12V)

Forgive the not very good photo as the Kodak digital camera I owned at the time was not really the best.  This is my 3-rail 'O' gauge LSWR B4 I built over ten years ago now.  Most of the body was made from galvanised steel flashing off cuts with some brass and tinplate in a minor supporting role.  It was very much built according to John Ahern's methods.

Like a stupid fool I sold it when i was short of money.  For the little that I got for it I should have kept it.

 

[Annie]

A Christmas present I purchased for myself, - and I got one for my daughter as well.

Not quite a sonic screwdriver, but it is still quite a useful multi-tool.  It's a pen (with replaceable cartridge) as well as a spirit level, a metric and imperial ruler, a screwdriver and a stylus (for prodding at notebook screens).

It's made of alummminium, - so it's a proper job and not some nasty plastic gimmicky thing that will fall apart in a hurry.  My daughter is delighted with the one i gave her as she really likes useful tech type things, - and I'm pretty chuffed with my own one as well.

 

  

[St Enodoc]

11 hours ago, Annie said:

A Christmas present I purchased for myself, - and I got one for my daughter as well.

Not quite a sonic screwdriver, but it is still quite a useful multi-tool.  It's a pen (with replaceable cartridge) as well as a spirit level, a metric and imperial ruler, a screwdriver and a stylus (for prodding at notebook screens).

It's made of alummminium, - so it's a proper job and not some nasty plastic gimmicky thing that will fall apart in a hurry.  My daughter is delighted with the one i gave her as she really likes useful tech type things, - and I'm pretty chuffed with my own one as well.

 

  

Details please!

[Annie]

1 hour ago, St Enodoc said:

Details please!

It's a 6 in 1 Pen tool by Isalbi.com.au

 

The two I purchased came from Mighty Ape here in New Zealand.