Traeth Mawr -Building Mr Price's house , (mostly)

[uax6]

Are you flooding those bits of rods? Try a very light application of lemenone, I've never had them grow....

 

Andy G

[ChrisN]

Are you flooding those bits of rods? Try a very light application of lemenone, I've never had them grow....

 

Andy G

 

Thanks Andy,

I have not deliberately flooded them but maybe I will try even less.  My problem in the past with Mek Pak and Plastic Weld is that you seem to need a lot to get any result.

[Simond]

Chris,

 

I'm surprised by your comment - it's certainly the case that you need a lot for gluing chairs to wooden sleepers, but I have not found that to be the case gluing plastic to plastic. As long as the gap between the parts is wet, for at least a couple of seconds, it should make a firm joint, which will set very quickly.

 

Different brush perhaps?

 

Best

Simon

[ChrisN]

Chris,

 

I'm surprised by your comment - it's certainly the case that you need a lot for gluing chairs to wooden sleepers, but I have not found that to be the case gluing plastic to plastic. As long as the gap between the parts is wet, for at least a couple of seconds, it should make a firm joint, which will set very quickly.

 

Different brush perhaps?

 

Best

Simon

 

Simon,

Thank you.  I have always found the liquid glues excellent if the two layers of plastic are actually touching when applying the glue.  Even then though I have had to 'flood' the joint.  I had real problems until my son bought me a solvent brush for Christmas  couple of years ago.  (To be fair that was not the only thing he bought me.)  The brush had long bristles and held lots of solvent.  After a couple of joints the bristles would become stuck together and not hold as much and again I would have problems.  Maybe I am just not doing it correctly.  Using Limonene so far I seem to have needed less.

 

On that note I was thinking about which brush to use for the beading.  When I had decided I realised that this was the brush that I had used earlier on the sides and not the one I used for the first beading on the end.  It is what comes of leaving something for two or three weeks and getting old so that only certain things stay in my mind.  I am about to try the beading again.

Edited April 16, 2017 by ChrisN

[Simond]

Chris

 

Try a nylon bristle brush

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/TESTORS-BROAD-TIP-MODEL-PAINT-BRUSH-NYLON-SHED-PROOF-BRISTLES-glue-TES-8701-NEW-/351515536058

 

The bristles won't stick together

 

Best

Simon

[NCB]

With things like Plastic Weld and Mekpak I give each surface a distant coat to prime them and then quickly another coat before whacking them together. The stuff evaporates so fast I don't find flooding a problem. I reckon if I've put so much on then it doesn't rapidly disappear then that would be too much, but that doesn't seem to happen.

 

By the way, I just use old modelling brushes, like Humbrol or whatever.

Edited April 16, 2017 by NCB

[ChrisN]

Chris

 

Try a nylon bristle brush

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/TESTORS-BROAD-TIP-MODEL-PAINT-BRUSH-NYLON-SHED-PROOF-BRISTLES-glue-TES-8701-NEW-/351515536058

 

The bristles won't stick together

 

Best

Simon

 

Simon,

Thank you, I may just have one of those.  I have however just spent a semi successful evening with a thin brush putting minimal solvent on the rods.  I do not think they have spread but it does not mean they are straight!  I will put up pictures tomorrow if I can if not it will be a day or so.

[ChrisN]

With things like Plastic Weld and Mekpak I give each surface a distant coat to prime them and then quickly another coat before whacking them together. The stuff evaporates so fast I don't find flooding a problem. I reckon if I've put so much on then it doesn't rapidly disappear then that would be too much, but that doesn't seem to happen.

 

By the way, I just use old modelling brushes, like Humbrol or whatever.

 

Thanks.  I think that is what I have done by default in the past, as it does evaporate, I think too quickly.  Sometimes I got so frustrated that I put too much on and it went soft.  I found neither was any good for making chairs, 4mm ones that is because I put the pieces together and they would not stick.  The same with the framing on the Parliamentary coaches and I resorted to polystyrene glue.  I will see how I get on with Limonene.  I get the impression that it does not evaporate so fast.

[ChrisN]

Just to make the most of actually doing hardly anything here are the ends with beading.

 

One end first.

 

 

This is the end with the first 'spread' rod.  The others have been attached held in place with a finger and lightly applied with solvent using a 00 brush.  (No that is the brush size, it was not a 4mm to the foot one!)  I had used the back of a knife to hold it but this time decided that a finger gave more control as long as it was away from where the solvent was applied.  I found it extremely difficult to see the grooves so I decided to rub a pencil back and forth over it to blacken them and then rub the excess graphite off.  Only afterwards did I worry that it might stop the solvent getting to the plastic underneath.

 

 

This is both of them finished.  I am not sure the rodding is straight mainly because my eyesight is not good enough all the time, but the graphite certainly helped.  Also, when I applied the solvent it seemed to run more freely down the underside of the rod so half the rod was stuck with only an application to the top couple of mm.  This could have been my imagination of course.   I tried to make certain they were straight using the back of a scalpel or the end of a metal rule, or both.  I will not start the sides until I have some 15 thou strips to add as spacing for the glazing.

 

I am leaving the van for a while as I have taken Quarryscapes advice and will get new buffers and axleboxes although I may start the others.  This means the next on the list is Bedders 4 wheel luggage composite but more of that when I have actually got somewhere with it.

 

If you have been, thanks for looking.

[CKPR]

Just a thought but how about cutting a groove for the end beading with a 'scrawker' or Olfa cutter rather than just relying on the lightly scribed pencil line ? The rod should centre in the groove, making it much easier to apply solvent without it moving out of position.

Edited April 17, 2017 by CKPR

[ChrisN]

Just a thought but how about cutting a groove for the end beading with a 'scrawker' or Olfa cutter rather than just relying on the lightly scribed pencil line ? The rod should centre in the groove, making it much easier to apply solvent without it moving out of position.

 

Thanks.  The line is already scored as it was cut on a Silhouette cutter.  I could score it a bit deeper but I was worried it would go too deep. I will certainly think about that for the sides.

[CKPR]

I was musing on your problems with solvents as I had similar problems the last time I was using plasticard to build a M&CR horsebox. My problem was that the brand of plasticard I was using, Jarvis, seemed immune to most solvents bar  Revell 'Contacta', which was a major problem in itself but was exacerbated when I tried to attach parts made from Evergreen or older material from Slaters and Kenline (I told you it was old !). My impression was that the composition of styrene may have changed over the years and also probably varies between manufacturers. Our basic techniques for working with styrene are essentially developed  over 50 years for the original Slaters plasticard and Mek-Pak but these  probably need a re-think given the multiplicity of possibly incompatible materials and solvents.

[CKPR]

Thanks.  The line is already scored as it was cut on a Silhouette cutter.  I could score it a bit deeper but I was worried it would go too deep. I will certainly think about that for the sides.

 Please tell me you'll do a test piece first - I would hate to have given you duff advice !

Edited April 19, 2017 by CKPR

[ChrisN]

I was musing on your problems with solvents as I had similar problems the last time I was using plasticard to build a M&CR horsebox. My problem was that the brand of plasticard I was using, Jarvis, seemed immune to most solvents bar  Revell 'Contacta', which was a major problem in itself but was exacerbated when I tried to attach parts made from Evergreen or older material from Slaters and Kenline (I told you it was old !). My impression was that the composition of styrene may have changed over the years and also probably varies between manufacturers. Our basic techniques for working with styrene are essentially developed  over 50 years for the original Slaters plasticard and Mek-Pak but these  probably need a re-think given the multiplicity of possibly incompatible materials and solvents.

 

I was musing on your problems with solvents as I had similar problems the last time I was using plasticard to build a M&CR horsebox. My problem was that the brand of plasticard I was using, Jarvis, seemed immune to most solvents bar  Revell 'Contacta', which was a major problem in itself but was exacerbated when I tried to attach parts made from Evergreen or older material from Slaters and Kenline (I told you it was old !). My impression was that the composition of styrene may have changed over the years and also probably varies between manufacturers. Our basic techniques for working with styrene are essentially developed  over 50 years for the original Slaters plasticard and Mek-Pak but these  probably need a re-think given the multiplicity of possibly incompatible materials and solvents.

 

That is interesting.  I have got styrene from various places, some of it looks quite different, and I have at least one piece that has a price label from Beatties, you know the company that became Modelzone.

 

 Please tell me you'll do a test piece first - I would have to have given you duff advice !

 

The sheets are 10 thou but are laminated.  It is possible to hold the rod in the scribed groove but it is not very deep, and the rod is so thin that it tends to bend quite easily.  I may scribe a little deeper the longer panels, very carefully and see how I get on.

[Simond]

Possibly make the rod far too long and tape it tightly to the bench at the ends, slip the flat part under it and then apply solvent. Trim to length when dry?

 

Best

Simon

[ChrisN]

Possibly make the rod far too long and tape it tightly to the bench at the ends, slip the flat part under it and then apply solvent. Trim to length when dry?

 

Best

Simon

 

Simon,

Thank you.  It is certainly worth thinking about and trying.  I have looked at scoring the lines deeper but two of the horizontal lines are only on 10 thou and the third is really to close to the windows.  The sides will be quite thick when I put the beading on but some method of keeping it straight and tight as I work along the coach would be good as the rod has no stiffness of itself.  Taping it down, then gluing one end and working along the side for each panel, then cutting it at the end could work better than doing the panels separately.

[ChrisN]

While I am sorting out the windows, that is, is 15 thou thick enough to slip glazing in or do I need 20 thou I have been working on Bedders MSLR tricomposite 4 wheeler.  The pictures there are of it show vacuum brakes and gas light tops, but I can see nothing underneath, no brake cylinder or gas holder.  The drawing I have seen shows oil lamp tops.

 

Now this is a modern picture so my questions are:-

 

1) Did it have gas or oil lamps in 1895.  The six wheel stock the (more modern) diagrams I have show gas tops.  More modern means 1886 and later builds.

 

2) Did they have brake cylinders, if so where, or were the brakes piped?

 

3)b If they had gas tops where did they get the gas from?

 

Where could I go to find these answers?

 

Thank you in anticipation.

[Edwardian]

I have been sampling rattle cans to see if I can find an approximation of the colours I hand-painted to test my freelance coach livery.

 

Here are two that did not work, but that point me in mind of the Cambrian!  Mind you, I am notoriously unfussy about attempting exact colour matches! 

 

I don't know how near or far these colours are from pukka Cambrian colours, but if close enough, they are an easy way to paint your coaches.

[ChrisN]

I have been sampling rattle cans to see if I can find an approximation of the colours I hand-painted to test my freelance coach livery.

 

Here are two that did not work, but that point me in mind of the Cambrian!  Mind you, I am notoriously unfussy about attempting exact colour matches! 

 

I don't know how near or far these colours are from pukka Cambrian colours, but if close enough, they are an easy way to paint your coaches.

 

Thank you.  The green may not be dark enough.  I will have to see how my white heads towards cream once varnished.  What colours are they?

[Edwardian]

Thank you.  The green may not be dark enough.  I will have to see how my white heads towards cream once varnished.  What colours are they?

 

Halford's rattle cans: Ford Ivory and Vauxhall Leaf Green

 

Not a fit for my livery, but they look really good together in the flesh, so to speak. I now want an excuse to have coaches in these colours!

[ChrisN]

I thought  ought to explain why I have not been posting or following other's threads.  I was taken hostage by these two.

 

 

 

 

They are in fact German, and come from Romer Shop, although they claim to come from Londinium and are called Bert and Ernie.  They are seen guarding the gates of Calleva, (Silchester) having spent a considerable time in Hispania. 

 

The reason I have them is that we are involved in a Community Event tomorrow, a Local History half day, (the history of Bracknell),  and my wife saw these and as they were cardboard thought they would be easy to put together.  Fortunately I decided to start them three Wednesdays ago not this Wednesday as they have taken every spare modelling moment and more since then.  The instructions are good, if written in English with a German accent although I had to think carefully about some bits and alter the way I did some things.  They have a javelin each but I need a kebab skewer which I do not have.

 

They will also mean I am not at EM South tomorrow, although if they are not looking then I may make it on Sunday.

 

So if you are at EM South tomorrow and want to come and say 'Hello', I will be at the Forest Park Community Centre between 13:00 and 16:00 which is no more that 15 minutes from the Exhibition looking after the tea and coffee, and cakes.  Yes we have cakes. 

 

PS., my wife painted the picture of Calleva.

 

If you have been thanks for looking.

Edited May 12, 2017 by ChrisN

[Northroader]

What sort of scale/ gauge do they run on?

[ChrisN]

What sort of scale/ gauge do they run on?

 

71/4" live steam I think. 

[BG John]

The reason I have them is that we are involved in a Community Event tomorrow, a Local History half day, (the history of Bracknell)

It would take a massive archaeological dig to uncover Bracknell's history, seeing most of it was destroyed for the benefit of tens of thousands of invaders from foreign parts, turning some of us from local families into refugees, searching for a new home away from the all the concrete and massive roads network!

[Mikkel]

They have a javelin each but I need a kebab skewer

 

Hence the fall of the Roman Empire.

 

Looks like an interesting project Chris, though I'm not sure what Mr Price will say!