Manchester Central, CLC & GN Warehouses & Castlefield Viaducts

[Ron Heggs]

The railings etches are now being produced by PPD, and will be back in approx. two weeks. Hopefully the bridge will be painted and assembled ready to accept the railings

 

A trial painting of the upper parapet sandstone has been carried out with a good result - adhesion is extremely good. This makes masking off this area a better option than painting the 'ironwork' first and then masking this off as the red oxide priming does not fix to the styrene well enough

 

The whole of the inner surfaces of the underdeck and beams will be painted in a warm white

 

Pictures when some parts are assembled after painting

[Ron Heggs]

The latest paint job on the 'sandstone' parapet -

 

The surface finish is nice and semi-rough - used Plastikote Suede Effect - will need a little weathering

 

Now to mask this off, and paint the 'ironwork'

[Stubby47]

Re post #2108 - could the overspray actually be bounced spray, back from the surface the bridge beam was resting on ?

[HAB]

Hello Ron,

 

Excellent work here as always - well done. 

 

Quick question:  do you spray the Plasticote suede straight from the aerosol and if so how controllable do you find it?

 

Best wishes,

[Ron Heggs]

Re post #2108 - could the overspray actually be bounced spray, back from the surface the bridge beam was resting on ?

Hi, Stu

 

I thought that, but the rear facing surface hasn't got any paint spray. I think it is a result of a wide angle spray from the spray can just catching the rearward protruding detail

 

Luckily this is only a problem on the two outer beams, Just need to clean it up with brush applied paint

 

Cheers

 

Ron

[Ron Heggs]

Hello Ron,

 

Excellent work here as always - well done. 

 

Quick question:  do you spray the Plasticote suede straight from the aerosol and if so how controllable do you find it?

 

Best wishes,

 

Hi, Howard

 

So far it has worked out ok. I always spray at least two light coats

 

I originally bought it about 5 years ago to try and give a better surface representation of concrete surfaces. It does just that

 

Cheers

 

Ron

[HAB]

Many thanks for that Ron - time to give it a go I think!

 

Best wishes,

[LongRail]

Hi, Howard

 

So far it has worked out ok. I always spray at least two light coats

 

I originally bought it about 5 years ago to try and give a better surface representation of concrete surfaces. It does just that

 

Cheers

 

Ron

I assume you are using the tan coloured suede affect paint hoe does this compare with concrete? Do you have to overpaint it

[Ron Heggs]

I assume you are using the tan coloured suede affect paint hoe does this compare with concrete? Do you have to overpaint it

 

Hi, Gary

 

It is the tan coloured paint, a dark sand colour but light washes with grey? and weathering applications will bring it close to the varied range of concrete colourings. The rough surface finish enables a more prototypical colouring/weathering effect

 

Cheers

 

Ron

[Ron Heggs]

Have decided to paint all the inner beams, inner faces of the outer beams and the underdeck white first then mask off and paint the outer faces of the outer beams red oxide. The suggestion to effectively mask off the inner faces of the outer beams from over/back/bounce spray through the open 'ironwwork', is to use blu-tack. Have bought a couple of packs of the Spanish equivalent, and will trial it first, before committing to the bridge beams

 

 

[Ron Heggs]

The 'blu-tack' method didn't work well enough. The problem appears to be that effective masking cannot be achieve with the 3D surfaces on both sides of the beams and with the opening faces being all one colour

 

So for the interim I will paint all the beams off-white - then consider another way forward for the future - possible hand finishing

[Grovenor]

My recollection of these bridges in my schooldays, the ironwork was an all over dirty grey, weathered here and there by pigeons. Only much later did it become in vogue to smarten them up with colour schemes such as are seen today, only then did we realise how elegantly they were detailed.

Regards

Keith

[the penguin of doom]

Hi Ron.

 

Might be a bit of a thick question, or even dicussed previously, but have you considered "Maskol?" It may be that you can't get it shipped out to you, but may be worth a try?

 

Cheers.

 

Sean.

[Ron Heggs]

Have finally tracked down a photo of the bridge as it was in 1967

 

The bridge appears to have undergone a few changes in paint finish over the years. Current photographic information indicates the bridge built in 1849, had the following paint finishes over time -

 

Dark grey circa 1910

 

White circa 1930 - when the line was electrified

 

Mid grey circa 1945

 

Mid grey circa 1967

 

White and Brown 1974 

 

White and Reddish Brown  Currently

 

As the layout depicts a wide period from 1955 - 1969 it appears that mid grey is the colour, similar to all the other railway bridges in the area

 

The model is currently all white - will leave it a few days to harden off - test paint a small area with grey primer to check for any bad reaction, before respraying all the under deck area and beams

 

Looks like we eventually got to a reasonable conclusion - thanks to all who contributed to this decision

 

Ron

Edited May 6, 2014 by Ron Heggs

[Ron Heggs]

Hi Ron.

 

Might be a bit of a thick question, or even dicussed previously, but have you considered "Maskol?" It may be that you can't get it shipped out to you, but may be worth a try?

 

Cheers.

 

Sean.

 

Hi, Sean

 

Looks like I won't need the Maskol for this build, but I will check out if it is possible to get posted over to Spain. If not may still get some bought for future use, and brought over by road/ferry in November

 

Cheers

 

Ron

[Stubby47]

Not knowing the specifics of your colour schemes, but I'm guessing the inner edges of the cut out sections need to be a match for probably the outside face.

 

If so, why not spray paint the inner face first, then put a piece of masking tape over each cut out, from the inside, then spray the outer face ?

 

Provided the masking tape doesn't pull the inner face paint off, then you should be able to paint all with a spray.

[Ron Heggs]

Not knowing the specifics of your colour schemes, but I'm guessing the inner edges of the cut out sections need to be a match for probably the outside face.

 

If so, why not spray paint the inner face first, then put a piece of masking tape over each cut out, from the inside, then spray the outer face ?

 

Provided the masking tape doesn't pull the inner face paint off, then you should be able to paint all with a spray.

 

Hi, Stu

 

That is the problem the masking tape does pull off some of the inner paint surface, and the outer paint skin sticks to the masking tape and then leaves a ragged edge when the masking tape is removed

 

It appears though that the problem is been circumvented by the info. in post #2122

 

Cheers

 

Ron

[ozzyo]

Hello Ron,

 

in post #2106 I did mention about bridges around here been painted in a (metallic) grey colour, this is what I think that all of the bridges were painted in around the time that you are modelling. One of the big bridges with the tall towers was painted in the same colour.

 

The colour of the bus looks right and the colour of the building looks correct. The colour of the vertical parts of the bridge is the colour that you should aim for ( some of the vertical parts look white, but that was just the sun reflecting off the metal in the paint).  

 

I don't know what the paint was but when it was been removed the only way that they could get it of was by grit blasting it off.

 

HTH

 

OzzyO.

 

PS. the L/Q signal is for traffic in the channel below the bridge. The lifting section starts about where the car is just behind the bus, and the other part at about the second car. At one time overhead electric trams run over this bridge on two tracks. (how did they move the wires with the bridge sections? The bridge opens vertically)

[Ron Heggs]

Hello Ron,

 

in post #2106 I did mention about bridges around here been painted in a (metallic) grey colour, this is what I think that all of the bridges were painted in around the time that you are modelling. One of the big bridges with the tall towers was painted in the same colour.

jubilee_bridge_c1982_01.jpg

 

The colour of the bus looks right and the colour of the building looks correct. The colour of the vertical parts of the bridge is the colour that you should aim for ( some of the vertical parts look white, but that was just the sun reflecting off the metal in the paint).  

 

I don't know what the paint was but when it was been removed the only way that they could get it of was by grit blasting it off.

 

HTH

 

OzzyO.

 

PS. the L/Q signal is for traffic in the channel below the bridge. The lifting section starts about where the car is just behind the bus, and the other part at about the second car. At one time overhead electric trams run over this bridge on two tracks. (how did they move the wires with the bridge sections? The bridge opens vertically)

 

Hi, Ozzy

 

Now know where you are - the bridge has two lifting sections pivoted either side of the channel

 

The bridges in Manchester were not painted in metallic grey, just plain grey - not as much salt in the air, so didn't require the same level of protection. Although the acid in the smogs could have done as much damage

 

Cheers

 

Ron

[Ron Heggs]

Bridge in its latest all white finish soon to be all grey -

 

The three inner beams above still to have their final 30 thou x 30 thou strip details adding

 

The inner beam has not been fixed - this will allow access for finished painting

 

 

[richard brown]

I think we need Andy York to add a WOW button as I don't think any of the rating buttons show how good your skills are.

 

Well done.

 

Richard

[Ron Heggs]

Done the paint over paint test early this morning - everything was ok

 

Sprayed the first inner beam and it's looking good - left to harden for a few hours - outer beams and the underdeck next

 

Pictures later on tonight if all goes well

 

Ron

[PaternosterRow]

Hi Ron,

 

WOW.  The things you can do with plastic is mind boggling.  That underdeck is absolutely superb - it'd be brilliant if it were a freelance, but given it's based on a prototype it's just gobsmacking.  Have you actually carved out the Gothic profiles by hand or is this some sort of laser cutter trick?  Whatever, the builds on this layout just get better and better!

 

Mike

[martin_m]

Hi, Ozzy

 

Now know where you are - the bridge has two lifting sections pivoted either side of the channel

 

The bridges in Manchester were not painted in metallic grey, just plain grey - not as much salt in the air, so didn't require the same level of protection. Although the acid in the smogs could have done as much damage

 

Cheers

 

Ron

Ron,

Just caught up with this posting - your tenacity is mindblowing, the results are superb.

I remember the roadside plates of bridges in Derby being in a 'sparkly' silver metallic finish in the 60's - not much salt here either!

They then weathered to a duller grey, only rain and sunshine then revealed the sparkle.

Keep up this amazing work,

regards,

martin

[Ron Heggs]

Hi Ron,

 

WOW.  The things you can do with plastic is mind boggling.  That underdeck is absolutely superb - it'd be brilliant if it were a freelance, but given it's based on a prototype it's just gobsmacking.  Have you actually carved out the Gothic profiles by hand or is this some sort of laser cutter trick?  Whatever, the builds on this layout just get better and better!

 

Mike

 

Hi, Mike

 

Thanks - The basic layer which both the inner and outer detail has been added to, is cut on a Silhouette Cameo craft cutter (not really designed for cutting styrene, but it can be tweaked) after creating a DXF file on a CAD drawing package

 

This does means all the gothic arches are identical with no hand cut wobbles

 

Cheers

 

Ron