Jump to content
 

James Makin's Workbench - 1990s dirty diesels & grotty wagons


James Makin
 Share

Recommended Posts

Very nice work on the vans James.  They might be a small addition, but I think the brake discs and painting the roof panel lines really set the model off. It's that attention to detail that I like with your work, great stuff! 🙂

  • Agree 3
  • Friendly/supportive 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

Fantastic modelling James, not much else to say! All very inspirational, I wouldn't know where to start on a project like that. The weathering is superb, I'll never tire of looking at your 'how to' pictures. 

  • Agree 4
  • Friendly/supportive 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

Hi James, I'm not sure if it's in the thread but what do you use to take your photos? I really like the way you document your work and after getting some photo's in BRM I want to take better pics of my stuff but can't seem to get the lighting right, also what's the white background you use?

I've been using my phone for convenience but not sure if that's enough. 

 

Many thanks

 

 

  • Friendly/supportive 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Premium

Thanks so much for the kind comments!

 

6 hours ago, sb67 said:

Hi James, I'm not sure if it's in the thread but what do you use to take your photos? I really like the way you document your work and after getting some photo's in BRM I want to take better pics of my stuff but can't seem to get the lighting right, also what's the white background you use?

I've been using my phone for convenience but not sure if that's enough. 

 

Many thanks

 

 

 

Thanks Steve! The workbench photos are just taken on a 2017 iPhone 8, but they generally seem to come out well! I’ll always take multiple pics just in case one turns out blurred after uploading it to the computer! For lighting on the workbench, it’s a bit old-school but it’s just an old anglepoise with old fashioned light bulb, angled over the model but not too close! 
 

My photos with the white background are in my Amazon Lightbox - it was about £100 for the large size and probably one of the best value modelling purchases I’ve ever made, all things considered! It’s a portable fold up box with integral lighting (like a cross between a mini tent and a picnic coolbag!) and folds totally flat afterwards.

Prior to that I used to photograph models in the garden and have white foamboard backdrops that would suddenly blow away(!) and often it'd suddenly get too dark, so the lightbox means you can take consistent photos even late on a winters night, job done! The main camera for these was last year’s Xmas treat, a Canon EOS250D and lens kit, which seems to be a good all-rounder and no complaints there!

 

A lot of the extra zing to a photo then takes place once it’s uploaded to the computer, on the Mac I’ll run each picture through the basic Apple ‘Photos’ editing facility, cropping, sharpening pics and adjusting light levels/contrast/brightness etc until happy, nothing too major or technical but it does lift the end images vs what you start with! 
 

Hope this helps and look forward to more of your pics in your threads and hopefully more mags sometime! 

 

Cheers,

James

  • Like 2
  • Thanks 1
  • Informative/Useful 3
  • Interesting/Thought-provoking 2
  • Craftsmanship/clever 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

Those TUAs are among my favourite wagons, and I've been planning to do some in n-gauge for quite a while. Yours are really nice.

 

Petroleum TUAs weren't built in great numbers because the design didn't come in until the early 1970s; and when the oil crisis of 1974 depressed the market, the oil companies had plenty of capacity in the huge fleets of 45-ton TTAs that had been built through the 1960s. 

 

 

  • Friendly/supportive 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...
1 hour ago, James Makin said:

The cavalry have arrived for Didcot Parkway😎

 

360DB031-7D69-4A50-B0E5-3384EA89A569.jpeg.0995b23356ff2984565ecbd05b6b5b21.jpeg

I’ve already had a cheeky start on renumbering to see how easy it’d be - it looks to be a case of gently

applying a tiny bit of Humbrol enamel thinners, and the digits soon wipe away from the gold band! 
 

50B4533E-C002-4A37-A3D3-9281E8AA0011.jpeg.d32d80eaa288c4fc646a0d57277f4eab.jpeg

 

Fun times ahead!

 

Cheers,

James

Holy smokes !is that the new release x 5 ? If so I’ll look for your listing on eBay of a kidney !

  • Funny 4
Link to post
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, James Makin said:

The cavalry have arrived for Didcot Parkway😎

 

360DB031-7D69-4A50-B0E5-3384EA89A569.jpeg.0995b23356ff2984565ecbd05b6b5b21.jpeg

I’ve already had a cheeky start on renumbering to see how easy it’d be - it looks to be a case of gently

applying a tiny bit of Humbrol enamel thinners, and the digits soon wipe away from the gold band! 
 

50B4533E-C002-4A37-A3D3-9281E8AA0011.jpeg.d32d80eaa288c4fc646a0d57277f4eab.jpeg

 

Fun times ahead!

 

Cheers,

James

An impressive fleet, James! Looking forward to see them muckied up!

  • Agree 1
  • Friendly/supportive 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Premium
On 10/12/2022 at 15:52, The Fatadder said:

Looking good, so much better than the coaches.  Can see a few minor errors but nothing a little paint wouldn’t sort.   Too pricy for me, will be doing a second Railtec respray in the spring (of a white end version)

 

I am reasonably impressed with these Rich! The stripes on the power cars are all tampo-printed, if only the coaches had been to match! Overall despite the niggles the overall train does look superb at a distance and with a little fettling they'll be good enough for me! Much as I love painting stuff, putting multiple HSTs into 'Fag Packet' and getting the consistently finish across each one could send me over the edge..! 

 

On 10/12/2022 at 16:17, rob D2 said:

Holy smokes !is that the new release x 5 ? If so I’ll look for your listing on eBay of a kidney !

 

I wonder how much kidneys go for? I have indeed gone for 5 new HST sets but there's always room for more 🤣 

 

It definitely seems one of those now-or-never purchases, all the other Great Western stuff seems to just disappear into a black hole only to later appear on eBay at crazy prices!

 

On 10/12/2022 at 16:45, CazRail said:

An impressive fleet, James! Looking forward to see them muckied up!

 

Thanks, I can't wait to have a go soon, though adding passengers into 40 Mk3s is the part I'm not so much looking forward to!

 

Cheers,

James

  • Like 4
  • Friendly/supportive 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Gold
5 minutes ago, James Makin said:

am reasonably impressed with these Rich! The stripes on the power cars are all tampo-printed, if only the coaches had been to match! Overall despite the niggles the overall train does look superb at a distance and with a little fettling they'll be good enough for me! Much as I love painting stuff, putting multiple HSTs into 'Fag Packet' and getting the consistently finish across each one could send me over the edge..! 

I know what you mean,  if I was modelling slightly later it would be a different story.  Fortunately with my choice of dates I can get away with the majority being in Merlin and fag packet being an exception.   Painting two power cars is definitely my limit (though I’m still tempted to

have a crack at doing a coach with Railtec’s transfers to see how it compares with Hornby’s efforts 

Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Premium
4 minutes ago, The Fatadder said:

I know what you mean,  if I was modelling slightly later it would be a different story.  Fortunately with my choice of dates I can get away with the majority being in Merlin and fag packet being an exception.   Painting two power cars is definitely my limit (though I’m still tempted to

have a crack at doing a coach with Railtec’s transfers to see how it compares with Hornby’s efforts 

 

Totally! I'm modelling the transition between the liveries with about 50/50 Merlin to Fag Packet, so there should be lots of mixed sets alongside complete ones in Merlin and the Fag, great fun times! Together with that and the Virgin services being a mix of Intercity and Virgin, the layout will be a hotchpotch of colour 😅

 

The Railtec decals will be lovely on the Mk3 and will match the power cars done up with their decals but one of the things that tipped me over to the latest Hornby releases are how fine they have got the silver window frames on the coaches, exquisitely thin! 

  • Like 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Gold

Have you done the green ended hybrid version of Merlin?  I was surprised just how few of the early FGW repaints actually made use of the powercars that they had prepared for the livery.  Hence all of those white end versions…

 

One small improvement would be to sort out the handrail channel (and the visible bit of the old Merlin livery showing through)   To be honest the main cab handrails look to have the same issue as the old one with really thick paint.

 

still has the painted on rear window I see, I might have a solution for that soon…

Still working on final refinements but should have a test early in the new year

A4E0D573-7240-4565-93A5-349D9432B94A.jpeg.2cd6ee0bfd3cb6a506b123d589f23085.jpeg

 

Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Premium
19 minutes ago, The Fatadder said:

Have you done the green ended hybrid version of Merlin?  I was surprised just how few of the early FGW repaints actually made use of the powercars that they had prepared for the livery.  Hence all of those white end versions…

 

One small improvement would be to sort out the handrail channel (and the visible bit of the old Merlin livery showing through)   To be honest the main cab handrails look to have the same issue as the old one with really thick paint.

 

still has the painted on rear window I see, I might have a solution for that soon…

Still working on final refinements but should have a test early in the new year

A4E0D573-7240-4565-93A5-349D9432B94A.jpeg.2cd6ee0bfd3cb6a506b123d589f23085.jpeg

 

 

Ooh that etch looks to be just the ticket Rich! Plus useful to help with converting any of the cheaper 'modern' Hornby power cars that they did without the window bars and so forth, before backdating to late 90s condition with original headlight clusters and so on..!

 

I've got plans for all of the varieties of livery, including the green-ended Merlin and white-ended Fag Packet. One thing I have noticed is that the Hornby Fag Packet release 'as-is' is only relevant for very few examples across the fleet if modelling later than 2000, it has the full green ends yet the original style roof radiator slats, FGW got quickly into their programme of updating the roof vents to newer versions by the time they got round to painting a lot of the nose ends green! Straight renumbers of the existing model will be minimal without changing the other details, so those of us doing the earlier period mostly need the white ends and those doing after 2000-ish need the different roof vents, but we can't have it all..! 😂

 

For a lot of the reference photos online one needs to go down to the specific month/year to establish when the change took place, and there's a lot of incorrectly-captioned HSTs out there I've spotted too, to add to the fun! I wish I'd taken more pics myself as always!

 

The first task is to finalise which numbers are to be recreated across all of the livery variations before starting work, there's also certain power cars I prefer in certain liveries/fun livery combinations before jumping in with two feet and changing the new Hornby release, so that should be a fun research project to close off over the Christmas break, and then get working on a set in the New Year!

 

 

  • Interesting/Thought-provoking 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Gold
3 hours ago, James Makin said:

Ooh that etch looks to be just the ticket Rich! Plus useful to help with converting any of the cheaper 'modern' Hornby power cars that they did without the window bars and so forth, before backdating to late 90s condition with original headlight clusters and so on..!

That was the original need, the first two of mine being repainted from EMT powercars and lacking the window detail (with a third powercar window braking in removal).  Though they will all be fitted with it once done.   Will sort out a route to sale once the design is proven. 
 

Are you repainting the ends of one of your new powercars?

  • Like 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Premium
1 hour ago, The Fatadder said:

That was the original need, the first two of mine being repainted from EMT powercars and lacking the window detail (with a third powercar window braking in removal).  Though they will all be fitted with it once done.   Will sort out a route to sale once the design is proven. 
 

Are you repainting the ends of one of your new powercars?

 

Nice one Rich, I am sure I'll be looking out for your window frames! Equally if you had anything in the pipeline around the lighting itself to aid converting the modern lights to the originals then it can't just be us who would find it of interest I'm sure!

 

I'll be painting white/buff ends of several of the new power cars, though quite how many depends on the final identities chosen for the Fag Packet ones, will probably combine this with another batch of Merlin power car repaints while the airbrush is going.

 

Wouldn't it be nice if Hornby did announce 'Merlin' livery on their updated HST too! Though if I was betting I'd say it'd more likely be a run of original Virgin, some GNER and '80s Intercity Executive for 2023 range, but who knows what will come!

 

Cheers,

James

 

  • Like 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Gold
1 hour ago, James Makin said:

 

Nice one Rich, I am sure I'll be looking out for your window frames! Equally if you had anything in the pipeline around the lighting itself to aid converting the modern lights to the originals then it can't just be us who would find it of interest I'm sure!

 

I'll be painting white/buff ends of several of the new power cars, though quite how many depends on the final identities chosen for the Fag Packet ones, will probably combine this with another batch of Merlin power car repaints while the airbrush is going.

 

Wouldn't it be nice if Hornby did announce 'Merlin' livery on their updated HST too! Though if I was betting I'd say it'd more likely be a run of original Virgin, some GNER and '80s Intercity Executive for 2023 range, but who knows what will come!

 

Cheers,

James

 

Presumably a Merlin powercar with green end will be amongst that  batch?  It’s one of those liveries that I always hated on the real thing (but really like my model version).  At any rate, look forward to seeing what you do with them all.   Will have to get my new layout and Didcot

at the same how one day, see how much stock can be mixed up! 
 

 

As for the lighting it’s a tricky one, I plan on changing all of the lighting boards as they really do need all four headlights lit up for the period rather than Hornby’s three.   As for backdating the later flush headlights, the hard part is dealing with forming the curve for the new lenses.  I actually have most of a 3d print for the actual lighting unit detail (as I want to use it to

upgrade my Lima powercars I plan on having with the nose ends open).  But I’ve yet to find a solution to forming the curved lenses (and printing sadly doesn’t seem to be the answer)

Link to post
Share on other sites

5 hours ago, James Makin said:

 

Finally I couldn't resist whacking out the legendary Accurascale Class 92 for the session. This one here is just the pre-production sample but my pair of full-fat meaty ones have now arrived and will feature in the "to-me-from-me" presents under the Christmas tree, and after then, some real fun awaits getting them just as weathered and grimy! 

 

52561882276_000937c9fb_k.jpg

 

That Class 92 really looks the business. Can't wait to get my hands on one!

 

Ed

  • Like 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

On 10/12/2022 at 15:14, James Makin said:

The cavalry have arrived for Didcot Parkway😎

 

360DB031-7D69-4A50-B0E5-3384EA89A569.jpeg.0995b23356ff2984565ecbd05b6b5b21.jpeg

I’ve already had a cheeky start on renumbering to see how easy it’d be - it looks to be a case of gently

applying a tiny bit of Humbrol enamel thinners, and the digits soon wipe away from the gold band! 
 

50B4533E-C002-4A37-A3D3-9281E8AA0011.jpeg.d32d80eaa288c4fc646a0d57277f4eab.jpeg

 

Fun times ahead!

 

Cheers,

James

 

James, when you remove the numbers like that do you apply the new ones over the factory finish or put a coat of varnish down first?

Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...