Bakewell - Peak District Line BR - Layout Views

[Andrew P]

Excellent work Al, looks a lot better with the backscene, well done.

[Alister_G]

This evening, I've applied the first coat of white primer to the complete signal.

 

I used Halfords primer, and I will be using their Ford Diamond White for the top coat, as well as Fiat Gloss Black.

 

Here's the signal after a good wash:

 

 

Please note the expensive spray booth I have invested in...

 

 

and here's the first coat;

 

 

Now drying:

 

 

 

I'll leave it to fully cure, and do a first top coat tomorrow.

 

Thanks for looking,

 

Al.

[RBE]

Will these be working signals? My N gauge ones will be and in order to prevent any issues with movement I painted the arm separate from the post. To be honest I feel it would be easier to paint in any case whether its working or not. Just my 2p!

 

Looking good though.

[Alister_G]

Hi Cav, yes, I've left the arm removable, with a too-long axle on it so that I can take it off and paint it separately, but I left it on for the primer so it doesn't gunge up the bearing. It will be a working signal, but I haven't added the operating wire yet.

 

Cheers,

 

Al.

[georgeT]

Sorry Al, 145 degree solder for brass and low-melt for white metal, (like adding the small detail parts), but as l say practice, and practice, it will come l promise, l use 145 on everything, you just have to be really careful with the iron but the main thing with soldering l have found, it must be clean so a glass fibre pen it the answer a few wipes with it on both pieces will bond much better.... good luck....the back scene really pulls it all together very nice..

[ChrisN]

Al,

The backscenes do bring it to life, even the crinkly ones with the light shining off them.

[Removed a/c]

That looks good Al, I'll take a half dozen please ! 

Edited June 6, 2015 by thebritfarmer

[JCL]

Can I have a somersault or four? Nice signals Al.

[Donw]

Good work on the signal. The backscenes really work well.

 

Don

[Alister_G]

I gave the signal a couple of thin top coats of white first thing this morning, and this evening I've completed the detail painting.

 

I masked up various ares to try and get nice straight lines between the colours.

 

Here's a few shots of it masked up and painted:

 

 

 

 

 

 

And then here it is with the masking removed, and all painted:

 

 

 

 

 

And a few shots of the signal in position on the layout:

 

 

 

 

I need to add the operating wire, the coloured lenses in the spectacle plate, and some form of lighting, but apart from that it's done.

 

I'm really quite pleased with how it's turned out.

 

Thanks for looking,

 

Al.

[uax6]

Al, thats looking cracking! Please don't forget to add ballast or ash or something to the baseplate so that it blends in, or else it will look wrong.

 

Whats the plan to make it operate?

 

I take it you will be using an LED for the lamp? I us a 12v GU10 LED lamp in my BR(LNE) Shunt signal in the garden, and with 200 ohms in series to get about 9V across the led, it looks spot on! Funny that its only been my daughter that has noticed that its lit all the time (Solar panel and car battery), I wonder if the Mrs will notice a searchlight signal.....

 

Andy G

[Marcus 37]

Hi Al

Yet again some superb modelling mate.

The signal looks excellent. Great workmanship.

That back scene really brings the layout to life. Should look good on Peak Dale Wood as well eventually. Many thanks for sending me the files.

Cheers

Marcus

[LNER4479]

Here's a novelty! A post by me which includes some modelling!

 

And, It's my first ever attempt at modelling using solder, brass and whitemetal!

 

Ages ago, I bought an MSE signal kit, but it's taken me a while to gather the right iron, solder and other bits needed to tackle the kit, plus it's taken a while to pluck up the courage to try it

 

As I said at the start, this wasn't as hard as I thought it would be, and I only made a couple of errors. I know it's nothing like the standard a lot of you produce, but I'm happy with how it turned out.

 

Al.

Yay - way to go, Al

 

There'll be no stopping you now...

[Highlandman]

That signal in situ is looking great. A job well done. Onwards and upwards, as they say, to completing the others as I am looking forward to seeing the other builds.

Edited June 8, 2015 by Highlandman

[Rowsley17D]

Hi Al, a good way to extend your photo back-scene to twice the size is to make a mirror image if you have to software thingies and join them together, nobody seems to notice with different foreground items. Where did you get yours printed?

[Alister_G]

Hi Jonathan, that's a good idea, I had never considered it. I don't think I'll need to, personally, as my other backscene is nearly 16foot long, but worth remembering, nonetheless.

 

I had mine printed by a friend who owns a graphics company, they do advertising signs and vehicle signwriting and things like that, so he has a massive vinyl printer.

 

Al.

[Rowsley17D]

Hi Al, one side of mine is 25 feet long and I need a back-scene all the way round. As a matter of interest which of the two files you kindly sent me is 16 feet long?

[Alister_G]

I think it's the second one, backscene-full-002.tif

[freebs]

Hi Jonathan, that's a good idea, I had never considered it. I don't think I'll need to, personally, as my other backscene is nearly 16foot long, but worth remembering, nonetheless.

 

I had mine printed by a friend who owns a graphics company, they do advertising signs and vehicle signwriting and things like that, so he has a massive vinyl printer.

 

Al.

I've got a massive photographic printer (1.2mx 50m)... prints with a satin finish on photographic paper as opposed to the stretchy glossy vinyl.... #justsaying

[uax6]

Well if the vinyl is produced correctly for fitting to a vehicle it should have a clear laminate put on top of it (the colours fade rapidly if not). Now this is available in matt as well as gloss. I always specify the matt for the GPO posters I produce.

 

Andy G

[Alister_G]

Right!

 

There's no excuse now, I've got lots to be getting on with!

 

The postman's been busy, so I've had the following deliveries:

 

 

All the bits to make the double signal for the Down Starter and Up Home - they will be Lower Quadrant signals, this time, as that type persisted until the early 60s at Bakewell.

 

 

Plenty of options for the signal arms.

 

I've also finally received these:

 

 

Which are all:

 

 

That little lot should keep me out of mischief for a while

 

Cheers,

 

Al.

[Alister_G]

So this evening I've had a go at the first Parkside kit.

 

I started by removing the body sections from the sprue, and cleaning off any flash - there wasn't a lot, to be honest, they are nice clean mouldings:

 

 

I attached an end and a side to the base, and squared it all up before adding the other side:

 

 

Once the body was built, I painted the inside in Humbrol Matt Acrylic No.113 Rust:

 

 

and the outside with some splashes of the same, and also some bright rust weathering pigment:

 

 

 

Then I took some of this:

 

 

and sprinkled some sparingly on the model:

 

 

Then I applied the Grey top coat:

 

 

once that had dried a bit, I washed off the salt under a cold tap, and used a wet brush to blend some areas, to give this affect:

 

 

Not sure about that, I'll wait 'til it's all dry and see what it looks like.

 

I then turned my attention to the running gear.

 

I had to drill out the holes in the axle boxes to allow the Romford bearings to seat properly:

 

 

 

and then I attached the solebars and buffer beams to the floor of the body. There doesn't seem to be much precise location on these kits, to get the axles lined up square, the solebars are located laterally by the lugs under the floor, but there's nothing to stop them moving longitudinally apart from the positioning of the buffer beams, Which aren't located at all, so you could end up with a parallelogram instead of a rectangle:

 

 

I did the best I could, and have now left it all to set solid.

 

Thanks for looking,

 

Al.

[Jason T]

You shouldn't need to drill the bearing holes out, Al. wipe a smear or tiny drop of MEK in them and then push the bearings in (with the handle end of a small brush) and they will go, sit square in and be less likely to fall out. Lining up the solebars to ensure the axles are square can be a bit of a pain but for horizontal alignment, I try to get an axle in as early as possible so I can see if all is square and for vertical (far more important for smooth running), pop both in and place them on a mirror / my iPad to check that all four wheels are touching the glass. Any small adjustments can be made by applying a bit more MEK before the initial stuff hardens and gently moving the solebars until all looks good.

 

Hate to say it, but I'd take the paint off and start again as it's on too thick. I give mine an undercoat with Halfords primer first and then use thinned enamel grey to give a decent cover whilst avoiding brush strokes. I do the weathering last, after decals have been applied so that I can place them on a flat surface, and any rust patches, etc., are applied with dry brushing and a bit of weathering powder to give some texture (more dark brown and black than rust orange, as rust doesn't seem to stay bright orange for long),

 

Sorry for being critical mate

[Alister_G]

Hi Jason,

 

I have no problem at all with criticism from you or anyone else. I'm still learning, and you build Parkside kits in your sleep

 

Thanks very much for the tip about fitting the bearings, I'll try using MEK to get them in on the next one. I managed to get the solebars and axles aligned horizontally and vertically, and it runs very sweetly with all four wheels on the ground, as you say.

 

On the painting, I agree, the paint is too thick, but my thinking was this:

 

Normally, we as modellers, do it wrong - that is to say, we apply rust and other weathering over the top of the paint finish, when in reality, as we all know, what happens is that the rust starts underneath the paint, causing it to bubble up, and flake off, until the rust is visible.

 

So that was what I was trying to replicate, hence why I added splashes of rust colour first, and then paint over the top. In this case I used undiluted acrylic, brushed on, for the top coat, and this wasn't so successful, maybe if I get some rattle-can grey, I can try that to see if it works better.

 

This is what the body looks like this morning in daylight:

 

 

 

 

I hope you can see what I was aiming for.

 

Cheers mate,

 

Al.

[Jason T]

I can mate, but I think you'll struggle to get the decals on now, especially the white stripes that denote the door end (not forgetting that the top of the stripe usually aligns to the end door hinges and not the top corner).

 

From that perspective, although adding rust later seems the wrong order it does give a better finish. Plus, most photos of them show the rust to be really dark brown and verging on black.