Havenhouse - the reboot

[JCL]

Thanks everyone. So a couple of years ago I was at a sale and saw a Badger 150 airbrush. That airbrush has been sat staring at me since then, and I've been too nervous to use it (didn't want to break it you see). Every now and then I'd take it out the box and then put it back in again so that nothing was lost (you wouldn't think I'm 45 would you?). Well I think today is the day I take it out and push some paint through it. I've got Badger paint, and a couple of dvds to read. The footbridge won't be the first thing I paint! I don't want to mess it up at this stage, so I've got some lattice I made as a test and I'll give that ago.

 

In the meantime, 4" of snow, so gardening's definitely out now!

 

 

Mountains in the snow (or at least, hiding behind the snow)

[JCL]

Thanks everyone. As promised I got the primer on, it's lighter than Al's, but unfortunately the only spray primer and, I want to say overcoat, but that's not it, is in gloss, made to look like stone or a hammerite finish, which is probably going oto be overkill. I did try taking some photos under the roof overhang to avoid the snow, but unfortunately they came out worse than these as the clouds are pretty thick today! Anyway, here you go, this is the footbridge with primer on it.

 

 

As an aside, I had an accident yesterday with the pro weld and knocked it over my iPhone as I was putting the top back on (how come this is made to be so difficult? The Testers is even harder when you need to get it back on quickly!). Luckily I noticed straight away and whipped it out the way. Unluckily the home button (the only button on the front) was tacky as some of the glue got between it and the case. On the other hand, everything else was ok (phew). Well I've taken the phone apart before (the camera died) so I was able to do it this time. I always like to have a diagram handy when doing these things. Yesterday's example was a Dapol Lowmac. Actually I covered this in double sided tape and as each screw came out of the phone it was laid onto the tape into the same position. This meant that a) they wouldn't go missing, and B) I'd know where I got each screw from. After that it was just a case of removing the gunge from around the button. Lucky in a way it was the Pro Weld and not superglue! The phone made a full recovery and is currently in Puss in Boots at the Embassy Centre, Skegness.

 

 

[emt_911]

All I can say is that the bridge is a masterpiece.

 

Duncan

[Alister_G]

Oh wow, Jason!

 

That is seriously gorgeous. 

 

The precision and crispness is amazing, I think the cutter has justified it's price, already.

 

It's a serious shame to weather that, it really is.  (That's not to say don't do it, though)

 

Mate, you should be really proud of that, you really should.

 

Al.

[JCL]

Thanks everyone. Yeah, I'm not excited about the weathering! I've just got in  from shovelling the drive, so there'll be no airbrushing today. I do have the DVDs to watch though, so I'll be getting on with that.

 

So, thinking further about what to do next, I've pretty much just concentrated on buildings up until now - pinfold, corrugated hut, footbridge, goods shed, waiting room and platforms, and I only have the station building, gates and coal merchant shed left to do. I say only, those gates will be interesting! So I thought I'd have a complete change and not do a building - watch this space.

[JCL]

So I made a cuppa, grabbed my DVDs, wandered into the tv room, and ... the electricity went off for the night! Back on now (as you can tell) hopefully tomorrow then.

[westerhamstation]

Thanks everyone. As promised I got the primer on, it's lighter than Al's, but unfortunately the only spray primer and, I want to say overcoat, but that's not it, is in gloss, made to look like stone or a hammerite finish, which is probably going oto be overkill. I did try taking some photos under the roof overhang to avoid the snow, but unfortunately they came out worse than these as the clouds are pretty thick today! Anyway, here you go, this is the footbridge with primer on it.

 

IMG_0427.jpg IMG_0437.jpg IMG_0438.jpg IMG_0432.jpg

 

As an aside, I had an accident yesterday with the pro weld and knocked it over my iPhone as I was putting the top back on (how come this is made to be so difficult? The Testers is even harder when you need to get it back on quickly!). Luckily I noticed straight away and whipped it out the way. Unluckily the home button (the only button on the front) was tacky as some of the glue got between it and the case. On the other hand, everything else was ok (phew). Well I've taken the phone apart before (the camera died) so I was able to do it this time. I always like to have a diagram handy when doing these things. Yesterday's example was a Dapol Lowmac. Actually I covered this in double sided tape and as each screw came out of the phone it was laid onto the tape into the same position. This meant that a) they wouldn't go missing, and B) I'd know where I got each screw from. After that it was just a case of removing the gunge from around the button. Lucky in a way it was the Pro Weld and not superglue! The phone made a full recovery and is currently in Puss in Boots at the Embassy Centre, Skegness.

 

photo.JPG

Hi Jason, This now qualifies you for membership to this link.

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/69603-why-are-railway-modellers-so-clumsy/

The footbridge is getting better and better.

[will5210]

Hi,

 

great work on the footbridge - it looks fantastic!

 

I have access to 2 plotters at work so your use of them is of great interest. Was your plotter designed to cut styrene? Do you use a mat underneath the styrene, & if so do you fix the styrene to the mat?

 

Cheers

 

Will

[JCL]

Hi Will

 

Thankyou very much!

 

 

The cutter is different to a plotter because with a plotter the pen is up or down, with a cutter you get to decide how much force the blade comes down with. You don't need as much force for paper for example as you do for .020" styrene or even the very thin plywood they sell (I kid you not!). Also, I don't believe the plotter was designed specifically to cut styrene. This is because all of the marketing that the company (Silhouette America) does is aimed at the craft market, which is huge over here in N. America as you probably know. Consequently, there is very little information on the internet about using the cutter for model making. That said, there are a couple of threads that stood out for me:

 

http://www.hobbytalk.com/bbs1/archive/index.php/t-361584.html

http://www.therailwire.net/forum/index.php?topic=23354.0 - referenced in the first link, this shows a lot of trial and error, and is great to read through from end to end.

 

I always use a mat underneath the styrene because:

- I don't want the cutter wheels to mark the sheet

- I don't want the shiny surface sliding around.

 

After having a couple of sheets of styrene spinning around because they had come unglued from the backing sheet I now tape the sheet down to the mat every time. I did use Scotch tape, but this tears easily and leaves bits on the mat that you have to scrape off. Now I use a surgical tape that I found in the medicine cabinet. It has a pretty strong glue, but it comes off in one piece and doesn't damage the cutting mat.

 

My work order is as follows:

1. Use the styrene settings that I mentioned above (thickness 33, speed 1, knife 10 (this is a physical thing, you move the knife around within its barrel), cutting mat and double cut = yes)
2. If there is any residue on the cutting mat I scrape it off with a very thin sharp ruler
3. Smooth the card down on the mat feeling for bumps from residue you might have missed.
4. I tape the styrene down 1" in from the left hand side (make sure you take this into account when laying out the design in the software). This means that the rollers won't go over it. 2x 2" pieces of tape along the top, then 2" (ish) tape pieces down the side.
5. Cut
6. Cut again if neccesary
7. Carefully push the pieces from the mat. If they don't look like they are going to come out, run a scalpel blade around them and remember to adjust the settings next time.

The first cut might look bad with the card indented. Even on .010" thick card the knife won't necessarily go through the card the first time (though it can surprise you and do just this, it doesn't seem to be an exact science). If it looks like it hasn't I then either cut again or change the settings to only do a single second cut. I haven't done .015" card, but I'm told the Cameo will cut through that but nothing thicker. If you have .020" styrene then it's  score and bend. If you are sending the styrene through a second time, don't press the eject button on the machine. By leaving the card in there you will ensure that the second series of cuts will exactly go over the first series of cuts.

 

This image has been on the thread before, but it gives you an idea of what you get when the cutting is done. If you got the cutting right you could be able to just push the pieces out. I'm still a bit out on this. The sheet is full of cuts, and I ran a pencil over some to get them to show up.

 

 

One other thing, if you are doing something that is cut intensive (is this even English?), then pause the machine every now and then and fish out any pieces that have come away from the card so that they don't get in the way. I also open the blade end of the blade cartridge and blow out the white paper or styrene dust that builds up. If you don't do this the cuts become less accurate as the blade has difficulty moving around.

 

It seems like a lot of work, but it really isn't. It's just a case of getting into a process.

 

One other thing, in the same price range is something called a Cricut. I'm not really up on that one, but reading around it doesn't seem suitable for this type of work as it uses predetermined and expensive templates/cartridges that you must buy from them. I've a feeling they don't have one for a Wainfleet footbridge!

 

I got the cutter for my birthday, and because living a fair way from anywhere, I have to fabricate more parts than I necessarily would have to if I lived next to a large town or city. I get to the model shop about 3-4 times per year, and I'd rather try to make something myself than wait for the couple of weeks for the items to come in the post! The Dollar Store is also my friend for repurposing bits and pieces, as is the Canadian Tire; who would have thought to put together a shop that you can buy plumbing and electrical items, tools and cookware in while getting your Winter tyres put on?

 

It's a long and slightly rambling answer, but there really isn't a lot on the internet, so hopefully it will help other people who happen by here as well.

[JCL]

Before I go on, does anyone have a recommendation for a decoder for a Bachmann B1? There's not a lot of space in there and I'm about to make an order from the UK so it'd be good to include one as well!

---

So the last couple of builds were pretty major for me and I thought I'd have a bit of light relief and make use of an old Hornby insulated 6 wheel milk van that I've had knocking around since I was a kid.

 

 

I've really only been at this lark for a year now, with about 6 months of actual work, and I'm still gaining skills. I haven't built any rolling stock in my life other than a couple of kits (and you'll remember the lowmac diagram above) so I thought I'd have a go at kitbashing some sort of 6 wheel coach. I'd have to adjust it to the size of the wheelbase, and the thing would hardly be authentic, but I'd like it to be as GNR as possible and just enjoy treating it as a learning exercise, carrying on with working out the capacity of the cutter for accurate cuts and all without spending a lot of money. Hopefully this will work; if not then at least I'll have learned something.

 

I'm thinking about something similar to the ones here: http://www.thegoodsyard.co.uk/archive.html or this http://www.flickr.com/photos/david_christie/10348015623/ . I've splashed out on a couple of LNER carriage design books so will make a proper start then.

 

If this works then I've some old Hornby Gresley coaches I can cut up. Part of my inspiration was finding Coachman's epic thread. He's amazing!

 

Until then I've got some touching up to do on the site of the new footbridge, pavememtns to lay, and finally put the stone caps on the edge of the goods yard ramp ready for the footbridge.

[will5210]

Hi JCL,

 

thanks for your thorough reply to my query. I'll definitely give cutting .10thou  a go on the cutter at work. I'm not sure what to do about a mat though, as our machine doesn't have one. I'll probably experiment with sticking the styrene to a sheet of the vinyl the machine usually cuts & be careful not to go to deep.

 

Even if I don't cut all the way through, at least the pieces should be accurately marked out & I can release the pieces with a scalpel blade or similar.

 

Cheers

[JCL]

Hi Will

 

Sounds like a plan, as long as the glue isn't too sticky! As far as I can see the mat is mostly to keep the small pieces together that have been cut out so they don't get in the way, or lost.

 

I'd like to say that I've just been on your thread, you do some great work! Are you thinking about using the cutter for buildings or to help with the fleet of locos that you are building? Oh, and I wish I'd remembered the word bodging, I'd have used it in my previous post!

[JCL]

Here's the plan for the coach. I suppose I should have lengthened the chassis, but again, this is my first time, so instead the vehicle length was reduced from 125mm to 120mm. To do this, instead of making everything a bit thinner I was able to take out one panel that was 5mm wide. I don't think it detracts too much from the look of things. This is a rough mock up to show you what I'm thinking of. From this I'll put together the cutting drawing. The left end has windows, which will be interesting, as will the duckets! If I can manage it this will be the test for painting teak, if it looks rubbish, then it will be the start of a weedkiller train - the Skegness line is very fertile and needs a good dose of weedkiller from time to time!

 

[freebs]

Jason, that bridge is STUNNING! - absolutely awesome mate!

 

I really fancy having a go now

 

ps - I tried cutting awnings with the vinyl plotter, but it's not up to the job

[JCL]

Thanks very much Lee And - oh no, that's a shame!

[JCL]

Here we go. I've roughed in the cutting file for the coach. To start with I'll be cutting the parts out in card to test them out as it's a lot easier to come by around here than plasticard! The card will be a different thickness to the plasticard, but it'll do to test the height of the sides for example. They will be longer than the plans show because I'll have to take into account the tumblehome. Doing this in card also means that I'll also be able to make sure there's nothing that I've forgotten or plain done badly! I've already decided that the panelling on the end will be a lot longer and joined at the top so that it stays stable when I'm gluing them down (think sprue). I did this with the handrail verticals on the footbridge otherwise they'd have been all over the place!

 

On the plan, the colour coding is as follows:

red = .010" plasticard (or .050" plasticard when I can get it)

blue = .020" plasticard

 

 

I'm in two minds about the beading around the bottom. An MRJ journal advises to score the location of the beading into the side and use this to mount very thin plastic rod. This would definitely give the fine line I'd be after. I'd also score the sides of the doors at this point as well, so I'd need three files, one for each thickness of plasticard and one for the scoring.

 

Here is the result of the cutting file. The layers are just laid on top of each other at the moment. I haven't done the lower beading (as you can see!). I'm hoping that the slots would be used for locating the ducket. If this works I[ll be happy to give the file to anyone else that wants it.

 

 

Although a 4 wheeler, here's a coach on the M&GN site with he same look I'm going for. Nothing like aiming high on the first go eh?

 

http://www.mandgn.co.uk/images/rollingstock/129%20500px.jpg

Edited November 13, 2013 by JCL

[Jack P]

How have I missed this, it's great!

[JCL]

Thanks Jack

[uax6]

Wow, That coach side is looking the business! I could do with one of those cutters (but the drawing of the sides on the computer would drive me mad!) as I have lots of panelled coaches to make at some point. Could you use a scan of a drawing (edited to remove the seperate layers) as the cutting drawing?

 

Having made the test cuts in cardboard, could you not just shellac them (on both sides) and then use them to be the finished body? Might be worth a go if card is easier than plasticard to get hold of.

 

Having only just popped in, I'm dead impressed with the modelling going on here!

 

Andy G

Edited November 13, 2013 by uax6

[JCL]

Thanks very much Andy!

 

I did think about actually using the card in the model, but I have a problem with delamination. Pritt Stick doesn't seem to be strong enough to last and can become unpeeled, and PVA (including the waterproof variety) causes the layers to warp on me - I know I'm doing something wrong but I've no idea what. I *can* get the plasticard, but it's a couple of hours drive, so I'd rather not use it for testing I will have a go at putting together the coach in card though as you've just given me an idea ;-)

 

On the scanning business, well yes you can up to a point. If I have a clean plan and scanned it in in a high resolution you could get the software to try to trace around the lines. Unfortunately you often finish up adjusting the points so much that you may have well drawn them freehand by tracing over the plan yourself. The tracing I did was over a plan from a magazine, and it took me about 30 minutes. The way I did it was as follows:

 

1. Draw the whole thing in one go making sure you colour the lines as you go so you can separate out the two different layers of each side and three separate layers of the ends.

 

2. Duplicate the layers the appropriate number of times

 

3. Remove the detail not needed on each layer.

 

4. Copy all the layers on one side and flip them to form a mirror image.

 

Doing it this way means that i only actually drew one side in full, and I know the side layers are exactly the same size and shape, and the slots for the duckets and the windows in the blue layer will be exactly in register with those in the red layer.

 

The other great thing about doing this is that once I get this right,vin theory if I had more chassis I could create another set of cut out parts fairly easily, of I could make some changes to create an all third for example. For me, it's faster than actually getting out the scalpel and doing the panelling manually as I promise I wouldn't get it right first (or second) time!

 

Cheers

 

Jason

Edited November 13, 2013 by JCL

[Alister_G]

That coach side is looking the business, really good. Can't wait to see how this turns out.

 

Al.

[JCL]

Cheers Al.

 

This thread is going to get very boring when I start on the fencing, isn't it? ;-)

 

Before then, I found this thread by MikeTrice (http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/75178-reproducing-varnished-teak-improving-latest-Hornby-thompsons/) about painting teak models. In for a penny, in for a pound! I'm going to call the model shop in Lethbridge. If they have all the doings I'll make a day of it and drive over and do some other stuff as well (I need a new hob), if not I'll wait until I drive over to Vancouver as there's a model shop in Chilliwack (a great name!), and a couple in Vancouver and on Vancouver Island.

 

Google maps suggested the Coquihalla Highway to Vancouver for some reason. Well I don't think so. There's a reality program on TV over here about all the rigs that are pulled from ditches and the avalanches. I'll be taking the more sedate highway three route through the vinyards

Edited November 13, 2013 by JCL

[Jaz]

Fencing as in everything else needs to be done to a certain standard or else it lets down beautiful modelling. I am sure your take on it will be interesting. Acg_mr's cattle grid had some interesting thoughts, regards sizes and ratios. I'm sure you'll find something to keep us awake.

[westerhamstation]

Cheers Al.

 

This thread is going to get very boring when I start on the fencing, isn't it? ;-)

 

Before then, I found this thread by MikeTrice (http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/75178-reproducing-varnished-teak-improving-latest-Hornby-thompsons/) about painting teak models. In for a penny, in for a pound! I'm going to call the model shop in Lethbridge. If they have all the doings I'll make a day of it and drive over and do some other stuff as well (I need a new hob), if not I'll wait until I drive over to Vancouver as there's a model shop in Chilliwack (a great name!), and a couple in Vancouver and on Vancouver Island.

 

Google maps suggested the Coquihalla Highway to Vancouver for some reason. Well I don't think so. There's a reality program on TV over here about all the rigs that are pulled from ditches and the avalanches. I'll be taking the more sedate highway three route through the vinyards

Coquihalla Highway, sounds so much better than the A449, have a good day day out. regards Adrian

[freebs]

It just keeps getting better and better - scratch building coaches now? Wow!