'O' gauge ? first tentative steps. Corrugated goods shed part 3: Painting and weathering

[David Siddall]

I am hideously envious Martyn (although my soul has probably gained yet another layer of tarnish by saying so ;-) ...you got to see Tornado and to trim the grass (which sounds rather genteel). I on the other hand spent Saturday chain-sawing branches off a tree that was threatening to have our phone line (nothing convenient and underground in the country) and Sunday battling with vicious blood-sucking brambles; failing to get the aforementioned cantankerous old mower to start and proving that soldering and I live on opposite sides of the planet. The cooker had the last small surplus which was earmarked for my first item of 7mm motive power and I can see a pattern developing here. I'm beginning suspect the mower has a similar devious agenda (and the car is getting ideas about its tyres as well)... :-/

 

Hey ho, at least I've still got a couple of unsinged fingers from last night's tie-bar debacle to type with... did you mention 6-wheel milk tankers? :-)

 

D

[3 link]

Hi David,

 

I must of been having a senior moment looking back at my last message, what I meant to say is that the Watercress line is half an hours drive away, not half a mile away ( that would be nice).

 

6 wheeled milk tankers are on the other forum you have just joined .

 

ATB, Martyn.

[David Siddall]

6 wheeled milk tankers are on the other forum you have just joined...

 

Thanks Martin... just PM'd Warspite who's doing one and suggested he drop by and take a look.

 

...and I won't mention senior moments if you won't lest folks start picking me up on some of mine :-/

 

D

[Donw]

I am hideously envious Martyn (although my soul has probably gained yet another layer of tarnish by saying so ;-) ...you got to see Tornado and to trim the grass (which sounds rather genteel). I on the other hand spent Saturday chain-sawing branches off a tree that was threatening to have our phone line (nothing convenient and underground in the country) and Sunday battling with vicious blood-sucking brambles; failing to get the aforementioned cantankerous old mower to start and proving that soldering and I live on opposite sides of the planet. The cooker had the last small surplus which was earmarked for my first item of 7mm motive power and I can see a pattern developing here. I'm beginning suspect the mower has a similar devious agenda (and the car is getting ideas about its tyres as well)... :-/

 

Hey ho, at least I've still got a couple of unsinged fingers from last night's tie-bar debacle to type with... did you mention 6-wheel milk tankers? :-)

 

D

 

I know the feeling. When we lived in Coalway we had 1000ft of hedges to deal with. It tended to eat up all the modelling time.

Don

[martin_wynne]

That's right but as to how much it actually helped I'm not sure as the permanent way were forever knocking the keys back in and replacing the rotten ones, also the keys were placed differently at the fish plates and check rails.

 

& on single lines with bi-directional traffic?

 

Hi Nigel,

 

Driving the keys "towards the nearest rail joint, towards the station, towards the river" is the usual rule of thumb.

 

This allows for the normal direction of rail creep for braking/acceleration and on gradients.

 

• Note for beginners that driving the keys in that direction means they are actually sticking out from the chairs in the opposite direction.

 

regards,

 

Martin.

[David Siddall]

Driving the keys "towards the nearest rail joint, towards the station, towards the river" is the usual rule of thumb. This allows for the normal direction of rail creep for braking/acceleration and on gradients.

 

• Note for beginners that driving the keys in that direction means they are actually sticking out from the chairs in the opposite direction.

 

I shall immediately adapt my plan to include a river Martin (...since it is obviously an essential aspect of track laying and maintenance). And furthermore I shall place it in such a way as to justify any chairs which I've managed to accidentally thread facing in the wrong direction ;-)

 

However most of my chairs, on the basis of your advice, would appear to be the right way round (breathes sigh of relief!)

 

D

 

PS: Forecasters suggesting rain on Sunday - this may well mean I can sort last weekend's tie-bar soldering debacle assocated with turnout no 2. Or even conceivably attempt to build a baseboard if I'm allowed to do woodworking in the kitchen again. Hopefully the last occasion (which resulted in sawdust in the bread-bin) has been forgotten :-/

[David Siddall]

At last... my second turnout is finally finished! And I think I've settled on a tie bar system that looks reasonably discreet whilst being practical to construct. Hopefully it'll be sufficienly robust in operation? OK, so I'll never be able to completely eradicate the evidence of last weekend's apalling comedy soldering on this turnout but I've learned my lesson. Hopefully a coat of rail-side grime should disguise the lumps and bumps which I haven't the nerve to grind away?

 

One things I have definitely noticed (IMO anyway)... whilst you don't necessarily need loads of money to make progress in 'O Gauge' what you do need is time. If I'd chosen to take the 'ready-to-plonk' track route I suspect I'd have had something almost layout-like on basboards by now!

 

Anyway, enough of that... here's a photo of No 2 in all its glory, another 'B5', finished but unpainted. Whilst I decided to give my first attempt the full painting and weathering treatment I think I'll wait with all future examples until such time as they're laid to ensure the colour is reasonably consistent.

 

 

This second shot is a close-up of what I hope will be my standard tie-bar arrangement. That closest to the 'toe' end is made from N Gauge copper-clad sleeper strip with the copper-clad faceing down (...so the shiny face doesn't show - the underside being a neutral colour which I hope will blend with my eventual choice of ballast). Pins soldered to the blades engage in holes drilled in the bar and a brass wire loop soldered to the underside which will engage the point motor drive. The reason I chose a loop is that the copper-clad is only a couple of millimeters wide and I suspect another hole of any size would weaken it to an unacceptable degree. The tie-bar infront of it is an Ambis etched jobby. Not (IMO again) man enough for the job of driving the blades but which actually looks rather nice now that I've tamed my enthusiasm for blobbing gurt lumps of solder over all the delicate detail!

 

 

So... time to order No 3 and start on some 60' plain track panels. I also ought to make a start on the Slater van kit Mrs S bought me for my birthday a month ago - she's still somewhat bemused by the fact that I haven't even prised the lid off it yet. But then again she's keeps on bringing in new business and I suspect that she wouldn't be terribly pleased if I kept bunking off to my modelling room when I should be working!

 

And so the tale continues... :-)

 

David

[3 link]

If I'd chosen to take the 'ready-to-plonk' track route I suspect I'd have had something almost layout-like on basboards by now!

 

 

 

David

 

 

Ahhh but answer these three questions,

 

1/ Would you gain the same satisfaction buying r-t-r ?

 

2/ Do the one's you build look more like a real turnout ?

 

3/ What turnouts are cheaper in the long run ?

 

Evening David,

 

You might be wondering as to what sort of point motors to go for, well a lot of modellers now choose to use servo's instead. There are a couple of threads on here somewhere ( can't find them at present !! ) but not only are they cheaper but also easily adjustable and more gentle and quieter in operation.

 

Nice turnout by the way, you'll soon have enough for Kings Cross .

 

ATB, Martyn.

 

P.S. Another chapter just finished on W/T .

[David Siddall]

Ahhh but answer these three questions,

 

1/ Would you gain the same satisfaction buying r-t-r ?

 

2/ Do the one's you build look more like a real turnout ?

 

3/ What turnouts are cheaper in the long run ?

 

You might be wondering as to what sort of point motors to go for, well a lot of modellers now choose to use servo's instead. There are a couple of threads on here somewhere ( can't find them at present !! ) but not only are they cheaper but also easily adjustable and more gentle and quieter in operation.

 

Nice turnout by the way, you'll soon have enough for Kings Cross .

 

Nice easy questions there Martyn...

 

1) Not a chance (...albeit I'd probably have slightly fewer soldering iron burns on my fingers)

 

2) Abso-flippin-lutely (...especially since I don't like two-part point blades and I'm using real wood sleepers)

 

3) Hand-built (...despite the fact that I'm using C&L's pre-assembled crossing vees)

 

My commment re. r-t-r was just a brief flurry of frustration caused by the lack of time I've got available to devote to modelling. Progress currently is at best glacial..!

 

 

Re. servo control I'm actually ahead of your there... I've got a superb twin-set plus custom-built control unit from the delightful chaps at G F Controls just sitting waiting for the day I can start to experiment. I also have two styles of Hoffmann, a Tortoise and a Cobalt Blue ready for comparative trials using DCC :-)

 

And this is probably the thread you were thinking of describing the use of servos? Some of the most fantastic miniature signal engineering I've ever seen. I bought kits for a pair of Scale Signal Supply BR(W) ground signals and a tubular post post 'home' on the strength of it :-)

 

D

 

 

PS: Perhaps not Kings Cross... maybe more Little Pottering in the Wold ;-)

 

PPS: Just need to pop back to the modelling room to check that my van end/side joints have set square and true and the floor hasn't gone banana shaped. After which I'll visit the 'other place' to catch up on tanker progress. I feel a Slaters order coming on :-)

[3 link]

Hi David,

 

Yep that's the thread I was looking for, it's the way I will be going once I get started but I am still at the planning stage at the moment. The double garage is nearly empty now so there will be no excuses soon .

 

ATB, Martyn.

[David Siddall]

I may not be devoting a lot of time to practical modelling at the moment but that doesn't stop me grabbing the odd moment to 'think' about modelling ;-)

 

And, as a result, I think I've at last decided on an era for my model... determined principally by the colour in which I personally think Hymeks looked their best - blue with white window surrounds. Now, all I need is to find one! Then perhaps an 03 to trip in my proposed rake of 6-wheel milk-tankers. I've also seen a superb photo of a grimy Hymek hauling a 16-ton mineral, a BR standard van and a BR standard brakevan on a distinctly run-down branch - the only problem being I forgot to save the link. Anyone come across anything like it in their on-line travels?

 

D

[Warspite]

I may not be devoting a lot of time to practical modelling at the moment but that doesn't stop me grabbing the odd moment to 'think' about modelling ;-)

 

And, as a result, I think I've at last decided on an era for my model... determined principally by the colour in which I personally think Hymeks looked their best - blue with white window surrounds. Now, all I need is to find one! Then perhaps an 03 to trip in my proposed rake of 6-wheel milk-tankers. I've also seen a superb photo of a grimy Hymek hauling a 16-ton mineral, a BR standard van and a BR standard brakevan on a distinctly run-down branch - the only problem being I forgot to save the link. Anyone come across anything like it in their on-line travels?

 

D

 

Excellent choice David.

 

I think I've also seen that Hymek photo before but can't remember where either! I'll see what I can track down.

 

In the meantime, I've just posted a couple of pics of my weathered blue/white window Hymek on the Gallery. Hope you like them!

 

Stephen

 

http://www.rmweb.co....-in-progress-1/

 

http://www.rmweb.co....-in-progress-2/

[David Siddall]

I've just posted a couple of pics of my weathered blue/white window Hymek on the Gallery. Hope you like them!

 

'Like' is rather a mild little word to describe how I suggest the majority of folks will feel about that dear chap! Absolutely superb (...again :-)

 

In the event I can lay my hands on my desired flavour of Hymek I'm proposing to reglaze the cab windows to lose the non-prototypical moulded beading Heljan chose to include. There was a 'detailing' article a while ago in BRM which featured this mod' and it made a huge difference to an already very fine model.

 

I have a feeling I'm narrowing down my location choices too now that I've got an era. I've already confirmed that blue 03s with 'D' prefixes to their numbers tripped milk tanks on the Highbrigde Branch of the S&D and I've just found two shots of a Hymek on milk tanks at Bason Bridge in 1967 (albeit the loco's in rail blue with full yellow ends :-)

 

D

[David Siddall]

In the meantime, I've just posted a couple of pics of my weathered blue/white window Hymek on the Gallery. Hope you like them!

 

And I've just noticed Stephen.... your loco is sporting that 7mm Hymek 'must-have' accessory - replicas of the cast 'D' and numerals (the 'D' appropriately overpainted in your case).

 

Which led me to find 'Prestige10' who do the number sets PLUS what look like a rather nice set of replacement buffers (the Heljan renderings of the latter, to my eyes anyway, produde a bit too far and look a tad chunky). 'Prestige10' seem to specialise in conversion parts for the Novo/Big Big Hymek but these two items seem to be appropriate to Heljan model detailing as well :-)

 

D

[mike knowles]

I've just found 'Prestige10'

D

 

Now that's another new company to me, again shows how useful RMWeb is. Many thanks for providing the link.

[RedgateModels]

Me neither, I could do without another O gauge project in my head, but a Hymek is there now

[David Siddall]

Just had a quick dig through my filing sytem (!) and the 7mm Hymek detailing article I referred to in a previous post is 'Heljan's RTR 'Hymek' by Steve Harrod published in the December 2010 edition of British Railway Modelling. Superb modelling from a gentleman probably better known for his awe-inspiring Gauge 1 hydraulics and 'Worcester Road' shed layout.

 

In that article Steve refers to Shawplan as an alternative supplier of cast numbering accessories for the well-dressed O Guage hydraulic but I can't for the life of me find 7mm etched Ds and numerals on their website - perhaps they don't produce them any more? Steve shortened the buffer shanks on his Hymek which (IMO) improves things considerably in that department, however his mod' doesn't address the heftiness of the moulded heads and 'Prestige10's replacements do look as if they do that rather nicely.

 

All a bit academic as yet because I don't actually own a 7mm scale Hymek, but I live in hope. My late lamented and much-loved Nan used to have a saying for such situations: 'The introduction to the recipe for tiger soup my boy is of course.... first catch your tiger!'. Soooo un-PC but she was a wonderful woman none the less ;-)

 

David

[TimC]

Just had a quick dig through my filing sytem (!) and the 7mm Hymek detailing article I referred to in a previous post is 'Heljan's RTR 'Hymek' by Steve Harrod published in the December 2010 edition of British Railway Modelling. Superb modelling from a gentleman probably better known for his awe-inspiring Gauge 1 hydraulics and 'Worcester Road' shed layout.

 

In that article Steve refers to Shawplan as an alternative supplier of cast numbering accessories for the well-dressed O Guage hydraulic but I can't for the life of me find 7mm etched Ds and numerals on their website - perhaps they don't produce them any more? Steve shortened the buffer shanks on his Hymek which (IMO) improves things considerably in that department, however his mod' doesn't address the heftiness of the moulded heads and 'Prestige10's replacements do look as if they do that rather nicely.

 

All a bit academic as yet because I don't actually own a 7mm scale Hymek, but I live in hope. My late lamented and much-loved Nan used to have a saying for such situations: 'The introduction to the recipe for tiger soup my boy is of course.... first catch your tiger!'. Soooo un-PC but she was a wonderful woman none the less ;-)

 

David

 

David

 

Give Brian a call as they have them. There is a 7mm set on Ebay at the moment. BTW - there are also a couple of 7mm Hymeks on there too................

[David Siddall]

Give Brian a call as they have them. There is a 7mm set on Ebay at the moment. BTW - there are also a couple of 7mm Hymeks on there too...

 

Thanks Tim, now there's a coincidence ;-)

 

With only a couple of new examples available from retailers at the moment I suspect quite a few folks will be watching the current Ebay clutch. I've had my eye on them for a while but I also have a plan 'B'... :-)

 

David

[David Siddall]

OK… back to proof that I am indeed a complete novice in this scale…

 

Earlier in the week I made a start on my second 7mm scale wagon and my first from Slaters. At first glance you’d have thought quite a simple choice – a BR Standard van.

 

Well now, is it just me or are what I’d imagined would come with it in terms of instructions missing from my example? What I’ve got (IMHO) is a comprehensively illustrated parts list with a few construction hints for the more experienced modeller – all a bit different from the almost Airfix-kit-like step-by-step guides contained with my first effort, a Peco 16-ton mineral.

 

The photo is proof that I did actually make a start. However I was immediately confounded by the complexity of the braking options. Fair enough, Slaters clearly state that they offer a ‘Morton’ option and a ‘vacuum’ option and tell you which solebars to use for which. They also tell you a few facts about both options which pointed me in roughly the right direction but I’m still really (despite several hours research on the Interweb) none the wiser about all the detail.

 

I’d also have thought it might be a good idea to be able to build the chassis first to make sure the whole thing was flat and true but without the buffer-beams (which are moulded as part of the ends) I couldn’t work out exactly where the solebars should be attached lengthwise to the floor and concluded that, without the benefit of the ends to position them between, there was the strong probability of parallelograms when it came to attaching the 'W' irons when what I actually wanted was rectangles! Hence the build approach illustrated which I suspect is going to be a pain when it comes to adding the running gear because the thing will rock back and forth on its curved ends unless I go for a bulk purchase of BlueTak!

 

Ah well… I think I shall just have to accept that, in my ignorance, what I build will probably be a bit of a mis-braked hybrid with issues which will undoubtedly have wagon aficionados chortling up their sleeves in the event that I dare post a picture of the poor thing when it’s finished!

 

That said, all the kit's parts are beautifully formed and really look the part (even though I still haven’t a clue where half of them should go); and none of the above mutterings will for one moment put me off the idea of a trio of 6-wheel milk tankers from the same manufacturer (...though perhaps I might try one of their BR standard brake vans first ;-)

 

David

 

[daifly]

David

 

I've been unable to track down an appropriate construction article for the particular wagon that you are constructing, but have you used the G0G Search Digest facility to find construction notes on a similar wagon?

 

Another excellent resource is Raymond Walley's site where he has kindly posted a whole series of construction discourses complete with lots of super photos which may be of help: http://www.raymondwalley.com

 

I'm sure that others will be along shortly with good info too!

 

Cheers

 

Dave

[Warspite]

I've also seen a superb photo of a grimy Hymek hauling a 16-ton mineral, a BR standard van and a BR standard brakevan on a distinctly run-down branch

 

David

 

I'm still looking for that photo but in the meantime, I've created this one - Hymek, 16-ton mineral, BR standard van and, sorry, GWR Toad. I haven't got a BR brake van (yet) so the Toad will have to suffice! The background isn't the backscene (still plain board) so I've had to improvise with Photoshop ..... again!

 

Stephen

 

[David Siddall]

I'm still looking for that photo but in the meantime, I've created this one - Hymek, 16-ton mineral, BR standard van and, sorry, GWR Toad. I haven't got a BR brake van (yet) so the Toad will have to suffice! The background isn't the backscene (still plain board) so I've had to improvise with Photoshop ..... again!

 

You've done it again mate, utterly magnificent! Now, having regained a little of my composure, suggestion time. With your Photoshop skills how about stitching a load of images like that together and taking them to a proper sign and exhibition supplier (the type who have a gurt big plotter which will print roll-up banners). They could print you off a custom backscene which would run the full length of your layout and lift it from awesome to positively mind-blowing.

 

Sorry, but the Toad's against the law... it's too clean ;-)

 

D

 

PS: I also know how long that little 'improvisation' would have taken... I do Photoshoppery for a living remember, and teach it to degree students, so I can confidently say you're being modest again :-)

[David Siddall]

I've been unable to track down an appropriate construction article for the particular wagon that you are constructing, but have you used the G0G Search Digest facility to find construction notes on a similar wagon? Another excellent resource is Raymond Walley's site where he has kindly posted a whole series of construction discourses complete with lots of super photos which may be of help: http://www.raymondwalley.com

 

Much appreciated Dave... will defo' check out the Raymond Walley link ...and the Guild website.

 

D

[Warspite]

The photo is proof that I did actually make a start. However I was immediately confounded by the complexity of the braking options. Fair enough, Slaters clearly state that they offer a ‘Morton’ option and a ‘vacuum’ option and tell you which solebars to use for which. They also tell you a few facts about both options which pointed me in roughly the right direction but I’m still really (despite several hours research on the Interweb) none the wiser about all the detail.

 

David

 

For what it's worth, I've just taken a few photos of my Slaters Standard Van. I think I got the underframe right but it was the first Slaters kit I made so I might have got it all wrong! Hope they help.

 

Sorry about the quality of the photos - I had to take them under the desk light. And, don't look too closely at the rusty ironwork on side 1. I was trying some experiments with a 'rust solution' and got a bit carried away. I haven't sorted it out yet or put any transfers on either (whoops!).

 

Stephen