-missy- Posted January 9, 2014 Share Posted January 9, 2014 Something green has appeared on my workbench: Whilst progress on the layout has been painfully slow the past few months I've experimented here and there with different methods of producing grass which feels in scale for the embankment on Ropley. The latest test involves Teddy Bear fabric, green acrylic paint and scissors. This forms the basic grass base layer, to which brambles and other growth will be added. I'm quite pleased with this as it feels less uniform than previous attempts with static grass. Note, no actual teddy bears were harmed in the production of this piece of green and pleasant land. Tom. That looks really good Tom and its great to see some more of your work. I do have a couple of thoughts on this though... 1. How are you planning on hiding the edges. From what I remember the fur comes on quite a thick backing and its something that has always worried me because it doesnt look like you can feather the edges easily. 2. It might be worthwhile giving it a light coat of matt varnish to try and remove the 'glossyness' of the artificial fur. I think it will help lots overall. Missy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold TomE Posted January 9, 2014 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 9, 2014 Hi Julia The backing on this fur (Raw grass from Treemendus) doesn't seem to be too thick and doesn't show much at the edge. I think it could be easily blended in with suitably coloured static grass if required. (The cable trunking on Ropley will hide the edge at the bottom of the embankment anyway) This may be down to how I coloured it, which was done by watering down the green paint on a plate then letting the fur soak it up through the backing. Once it dries out fully it seems to flatten down the fabric the backing is made from a little. When I update the blog I'll add a few more photos to illustrate. Cheers, Tom. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John lewsey Posted January 9, 2014 Share Posted January 9, 2014 Hi I had a long discussion with a guy at expo EM a few years ago he used the wolf colour as I remember and used hairs trimmers to cut it I have to say that I was really impressed John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold TomE Posted January 10, 2014 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 10, 2014 Well here are the test pieces of ex-teddy rested in place on the layout. It maybe needs a little toning down and as Julia mentioned above a spray with some Matt varnish to take the shine off, but otherwise I think it looks ok, and i'm pleased with the variations in tone and colour, something which is difficult to achieve with static grass I feel. Must sort out that errant piece of cable trunking though! Tom. 17 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold queensquare Posted January 10, 2014 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 10, 2014 Well here are the test pieces of ex-teddy rested in place on the layout. It maybe needs a little toning down and as Julia mentioned above a spray with some Matt varnish to take the shine off, but otherwise I think it looks ok, and i'm pleased with the variations in tone and colour, something which is difficult to achieve with static grass I feel. CU0J0364.jpg Must sort out that errant piece of cable trunking though! Tom. That looks superb Tom, a slight toning down and matting of the sheen would enhance it even further Jerry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cornish trains jez Posted January 10, 2014 Share Posted January 10, 2014 Well here are the test pieces of ex-teddy rested in place on the layout. It maybe needs a little toning down and as Julia mentioned above a spray with some Matt varnish to take the shine off, but otherwise I think it looks ok, and i'm pleased with the variations in tone and colour, something which is difficult to achieve with static grass I feel. CU0J0364.jpg Must sort out that errant piece of cable trunking though! Tom. Hi Tom, The embankment looks great but I must say that both your track work, and colouring of the track and sleepers looks absolutely amazing. Best regards, Jeremy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rabs Posted January 10, 2014 Share Posted January 10, 2014 I agree, it is fantastic. I've been looking through your blog to find a description of your method for ballasting, painting & weathering the track but coudn't find it. Can you point us to the right place? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold TomE Posted January 10, 2014 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 10, 2014 I agree, it is fantastic. I've been looking through your blog to find a description of your method for ballasting, painting & weathering the track but coudn't find it. Can you point us to the right place? Now you mention it I'm not sure I've covered the exact method in the blog! It's a fairly basic method though, using Treemendus Normandy earth powder which is first roughly applied before being more accurately positioned with a small brush. It's then fixed using Johnson's Kleer floor polish, which through capillary action is drawn along the length of the area you are working on. I use Kleer as it causes much less disturbance to the dry ballast than spraying it and it dries rock solid. You can also work on small sections at a time and then come back to it without fear of displacing anything you've done previously. Any weathering is done with powders, which for the most part has been some black dusted along the rails. The more grungy ballast is standard Treemendus Earth powder. This is slightly finer than the Normandy type and a darker colour. As before Kleer is used to fix it, but whilst this is still damp, black & grey weathering powder is mixed and applied on top. The excess is blown off almost straight away but it leaves enough to give a sooty, grungy look. Hope that all makes sense! All the methods I've used on ropley are really simple ones, but the key is trying to maintain similar tones and not getting colours too uniform. Cheers, Tom. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Valentin Posted January 10, 2014 Share Posted January 10, 2014 (edited) SECR / SR Wainwright 0-6-0 Class C Goods Engine I bought the kit (etched brass locomotive & tender bodies plus chassis) last April from Andrew Cox but I started to build it just a couple of weeks ago. The kit is a reduced 4 mm etch, as such some gaps are very thin and some are not even fully etched but the part can be removed from the fret quite easily. The chassis is going to be the Fence Houses' one. This is the stage I reached yesterday: Tender Body Tender Footplate Andrew was very kind and emailed me a few pictures with his tender, built about 20 years ago; with his permission I share a couple of them here: I'm not sure I can get even close to this but... Edited January 10, 2014 by Valentin 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Donw Posted January 10, 2014 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 10, 2014 Tom's embankment and trackwork looks very nicely observed and modelled. I hadn't thought of using the earth powder. Thank you for posting the details. Don Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Douglas G Posted January 11, 2014 Share Posted January 11, 2014 Something green has appeared on my workbench: image.jpg Whilst progress on the layout has been painfully slow the past few months I've experimented here and there with different methods of producing grass which feels in scale for the embankment on Ropley. The latest test involves Teddy Bear fabric, green acrylic paint and scissors. This forms the basic grass base layer, to which brambles and other growth will be added. I'm quite pleased with this as it feels less uniform than previous attempts with static grass. Note, no actual teddy bears were harmed in the production of this piece of green and pleasant land. Tom. Inspired by your post I have just received in the post an A3 piece of the Treemendus Teddy Bear fabric that you used, to try it out for myself. The hairs are actually a lot longer than I expected and will definitely need cutting down a lot - I am going to try cordless electric hair trimmers bought cheaply off eBay. Your embankment looks fantastic. But looking closely at the teddy bear fabric now I have got it, I don't think it would work to stick this fabric down on its backing if you are modelling very short grass, as the weave of the backing will show through as a grid pattern. This is the same with the roll of surgical absorbent lint that I have also bought to try out. I intend to try dyeing both the teddy bear fabric and surgical lint with Dylon olive green and seeing what results I get. Douglas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold TomE Posted January 11, 2014 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 11, 2014 Inspired by your post I have just received in the post an A3 piece of the Treemendus Teddy Bear fabric that you used, to try it out for myself. The hairs are actually a lot longer than I expected and will definitely need cutting down a lot - I am going to try cordless electric hair trimmers bought cheaply off eBay. Your embankment looks fantastic. But looking closely at the teddy bear fabric now I have got it, I don't think it would work to stick this fabric down on its backing if you are modelling very short grass, as the weave of the backing will show through as a grid pattern. This is the same with the roll of surgical absorbent lint that I have also bought to try out. I intend to try dyeing both the teddy bear fabric and surgical lint with Dylon olive green and seeing what results I get. Douglas Hi Douglas, I shaved a fair bit of the piece of fur, and then went at it with scissors after that to try and give an uneven feel to it, so you do loose quite a bit of the fur in the process and I may still have to take a little more off in some places. I think the Treemendus stuff has its origins in 1:35 scale military modelling, so on first glance it does seem on the large side for 2mm. You are right that it wouldn't be suitable for very short grass, but I think for overgrown embankment the backing is less of a problem. I certainly can't see any showing through on the pieces I've made up but the key is to make sure you colour the backing as well as the fur, which is why I placed mine in a shallow pool of paint on a plate to let it soak up the paint through the backing fabric. Please do post the results of your trials, I'm interested to see how the surgical lint comes out. Cheers, Tom. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Douglas G Posted January 11, 2014 Share Posted January 11, 2014 Hi Douglas, I shaved a fair bit of the piece of fur, and then went at it with scissors after that to try and give an uneven feel to it, so you do loose quite a bit of the fur in the process and I may still have to take a little more off in some places. I think the Treemendus stuff has its origins in 1:35 scale military modelling, so on first glance it does seem on the large side for 2mm. You are right that it wouldn't be suitable for very short grass, but I think for overgrown embankment the backing is less of a problem. I certainly can't see any showing through on the pieces I've made up but the key is to make sure you colour the backing as well as the fur, which is why I placed mine in a shallow pool of paint on a plate to let it soak up the paint through the backing fabric. Please do post the results of your trials, I'm interested to see how the surgical lint comes out. Cheers, Tom. Hi Tom, Will do. I have just been searching "teddy bear fabric grass" in Google and found some interesting war gaming articles and posts on using teddy bear fabric as grass. One point mentioned there that has already occurred to me is that being an artificial fibre, the teddy bear fabric may not take up the Dylon dye and so it needs to be painted as you did. It isn't a problem dyeing surgical lint as it is cotton and Barry Norman amongst others has shown how this can be done. What is really needed is a short pile fur fabric where the weave of the backing does not show through. I wonder if colouring the PVA green will help by filling in the square holes in the weave of the backing when it is stuck down. Your technique of soaking the backing in green paint probably has a similar effect of filling in the holes, especially if the backing fibres also swell up. Cheers, Douglas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul-2mm Posted January 12, 2014 Share Posted January 12, 2014 CU0J0364.jpg You've made a cracking job of that Tom, it's probably one of the best track weathering jobs I've seen in any scale never mind 2mm. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Douglas G Posted January 12, 2014 Share Posted January 12, 2014 (edited) Hi Douglas, I shaved a fair bit of the piece of fur, and then went at it with scissors after that to try and give an uneven feel to it, so you do loose quite a bit of the fur in the process and I may still have to take a little more off in some places. I think the Treemendus stuff has its origins in 1:35 scale military modelling, so on first glance it does seem on the large side for 2mm. You are right that it wouldn't be suitable for very short grass, but I think for overgrown embankment the backing is less of a problem. I certainly can't see any showing through on the pieces I've made up but the key is to make sure you colour the backing as well as the fur, which is why I placed mine in a shallow pool of paint on a plate to let it soak up the paint through the backing fabric. Please do post the results of your trials, I'm interested to see how the surgical lint comes out. Cheers, Tom. To save clogging up this 2mm workbench topic, I will post the results of my experiments with surgical lint and teddy bear fabric on my Dulverton thread, starting with the dyeing process: http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/46817-dulverton-station-in-n-experimenting-with-dyeing-grass-materials/page-4 Douglas Edited January 12, 2014 by Douglas G Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-missy- Posted January 16, 2014 Share Posted January 16, 2014 Mk3 Chassis, Mk2 Body! The latest rebuild of my 52xx is nearly there. It now just needs a smokebox number and the brakes refitting. The body was rebuilt as it was dropped a while ago meaning the front was all buckled. I have also rebuilt the front pony truck and added a spring behind it as it was jumping off the track all the time. Missy 17 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Donw Posted January 16, 2014 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 16, 2014 It has been ironed out well Julia. Great result. Don Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Nig H Posted January 17, 2014 RMweb Premium Share Posted January 17, 2014 Here are some pics of a chassis for the GEM L & Y saddle tank. It went together ok, just a couple of tweaks to the artwork needed. The motor is a Nigel Lawton 12V 10mm diameter midi, and it runs a bit fast, but I hope that a decoder can tame it. It didn't take too long to build the chassis. Nig H 12 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold queensquare Posted January 17, 2014 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 17, 2014 (edited) Here are some pics of a chassis for the GEM L & Y saddle tank. It went together ok, just a couple of tweaks to the artwork needed. The motor is a Nigel Lawton 12V 10mm diameter midi, and it runs a bit fast, but I hope that a decoder can tame it. L & Y saddle tank #1.jpg L & Y saddle tank #4.jpg L & Y saddle tank #5.jpg L & Y saddle tank #2.jpg L & Y saddle tank #3.jpg It didn't take too long to build the chassis. Nig H That looks excellent Nigel. What a difference having a descent chassis under it makes - the body castings are rather nice. Out of interest, what is the wheelbase of the L&Y tank? Jerry Edited January 17, 2014 by queensquare Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Nig H Posted January 17, 2014 RMweb Premium Share Posted January 17, 2014 That looks excellent Nigel. What a difference having a descent chassis under it makes - the body castings are rather nice. Out of interest, what is the wheelbase of the L&Y tank? Jerry Hello Jerry, I'm not sure about the prototype, but the model is 15mm plus 15mm, which seemed to fit the GEM body. Do you have in mind another loco for the chassis? Regards, Nigel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Horn Posted January 17, 2014 Share Posted January 17, 2014 (edited) A bridge I'm working on at the moment. It's come out ok for the first run off the laser machine, but I need to adjust the artwork for 2mm fitting still Cheers Tim Edited January 17, 2014 by Tim Horn 13 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Valentin Posted January 17, 2014 Share Posted January 17, 2014 Some progress with my SECR / SR Class C. I cut a slot into the foot plate for easy removing / replacing the tender body. And a photo with the underside: Everything goes quite easy and I managed to get to this stage without much trouble; I am just afraid I'm doing something wrong (this is my very first attempt in building a tender). Can anyone spot any mistakes?... 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
richbrummitt Posted January 18, 2014 Share Posted January 18, 2014 Honestly, if you're happy with it and one side is insulated from the other you ha ent gone wrong yet. If the answer to those questions is yes I'd be patting myself on the back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Valentin Posted January 18, 2014 Share Posted January 18, 2014 The sides are insulated from each other and from the footplate, the wheels are moving freely with some inertia, the motor fit is rigid with no vibrations at any speed, so... yes, I'm happy! The next step is to finish the tender's body and I have a question: is it easier to solder all the steps, hand-rails and lamp irons before OR after assembling the body? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-missy- Posted January 18, 2014 Share Posted January 18, 2014 Hello... Sometimes CAD isnt enough... ...so you have to go 'old school'. M 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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