Leaderboard

Many years ago I made a CR 782 class from the SE finecast kit. There are some pictures of in in service in some earlier blog posts. The basic whitemetal body was fine, pretty accurate and it went together well. It was getting to look very tired, needed a repaint and some details were the worse for knocks and being stuck back badly. I was never entirely happy with the chassis. Centre axle drive, semi rigid with slightly rocking outer axles. Never picked up really well, too highly geared and the motor filled the cab. Hmm. However the most obvious fault is that it is the wrong loco. A bit of history. The 9 members of the 29 class date from 1895 and were fitted with condensing apparatus for working the Glasgow central lines. The same basic design was used for the later 120 members of the 782 class built between 1898 and 1913. So for where I’m based the 29 class is a bit more appropriate. Right, it was 782 class No. 245 and now its going to be 29 class No. 203. Chassis built up. AGW frames and wheels re used. Rear axle driven from a high level gearbox and extender with a mitsumi motor. Compensated with high level hornblocks which I thought were a very clever fold up design. Having a silhouette makes cutting balance weights a doddle. The body ready for quite a lot of filling and a spot of primer. Backdating to a 29 class mainly involves extra pipework, a westinghouse pump, air tanks and different footsteps. Paint shop next.

I was posting some pictures of Sherton Abbas on the "O gauge Guild" forum https://www.gauge0guild.com/, where it was pointed out that my poor signalman had no means of communicating with the rest of the world. This situation obviously had to be rectified by the addition of some telegraph paraphernalia! I spent some time researching the subject, but as is so often the case in this hobby, the more I read the more questions I needed answering:-) During my search I came across a number of interesting sites including this one http://www.telegraphpoleappreciationsociety.org/ For what its worth, I feel that any site with a "Pole of the Month" has to be worth a read! One of the O gauge guild members "Jim Snowdon" is a font of information about the subject and has given permission for an article he wrote to be posted on the forum. Railways and Overhead Pole Routes - with pictures.pdf The article goes a long way in helping to demystify the world of Telegraph poles, with an emphasis from a modelling point of view and I thoroughly recommend anyone interested in the subject giving it a read! I decided to use the Peco poles https://peco-uk.com/products/telegraph-poles-pack-of-4 as a starting point, hoping to customise them into something more appropriate for an early 20th century Great Western branch line:-) Photographs of prototype poles around the turn of the last Century appear to only have had two insulators per arm and the arms are also of two different lengths and staggered. This was something I was keen to represent on my layout, so some surgery of the Peco arms was required! Peco Arms as supplied in the kit The arms were cut to the appropriate length and then drilled with 0.5mm holes before insulator supports at he correct spacing could be fitted using Slater's Plastikard micro rod. Arms after modification on right side of image The Peco poles have provision for fitting 3 arms into rebates cut into the poles, so depending on the number of arms that need fitting to the modelled poles, either some filler or additional rebates will be needed. Example of modified pole The next thing to be considered were the insulators, which appear to come in two main types. The majority of insulators enable the supported wire to pass through it and then run on to the next post down the line, however where wires are terminating at a post, or building a different type of insulator was used. These are known as Pothead insulators and have a distinctive flat top rather than the conical shape of conventional insulators. Pot head insulators are also mounted on "J hangers" below the post arm which help to minimise any twisting of the arms. I was keen to model these features, on my model poles. The Peco kit contains quite nice representations of conventional conical topped insulators, so these were fitted onto poles where the wires were not terminating. Poles with conventional insulators. The pole adjacent to the signal box would have been fitted Pothead insulators mounted on "J hangers" for any wires that would terminate at the signal box, insulated cables would then have been used to carry current from these insulators, down the pole and into the signal box. Telephone wires would have continued from this pole to the Goods Shed and Station building, so on these arms conventional insulators would have been employed. To represent the "J hangers" I used some 0.5mm brass wire, bent into shape using some round nosed pliers and fitted into pre-drilled holes of the correct spacing into the arms. J hangers mounted into arms I simulated the flat top appearance of the pothead insulators by heating a screw driver blade in a flame and then pressing onto the top of a standard Peco insulator. The thermoplastic distorts quite easily and can be pressed into a more convincing shape, most of the time :-) Signal box pole fitted with pothead insulators on three of the arms and conventional insulators on one arm. The poles were painted with enamel paint, first with a dark brown and then dry brushed with gun metal to simulate weathered wood. Once the poles had dried they were fitted onto the layout by drilling holes and then held in position using 5 minute epoxy resin. Example pole Once all the poles had been installed in their positions on the layout, the "fun" could begin adding the telegraph wires. I used E Z elastic thread https://www.modelscenerysupplies.co.uk/brands/EZ-Line/EZ-Line-Rope to simulate the wires, attached to the insulators with a drop of cyanoacrylate glue applied with a cock tail stick. Fortunately I only need 3 poles on Sherton Abbas and with the addition of some insulators mounted on J hanger brackets where the wires terminate on buildings, the telegraph/telephone system is now complete. Images of the completed poles on the layout The signalman at Sherton Abbas is delighted with this new addition, he's no longer startled by the arrival of the 8.17 am and spilling his tea is a thing of the past!:-) The 8.17 am train arriving at Sherton Abbas Thanks again to Jim Snowdon for his excellent article and for allowing me to publish it on the forum. Its a subject that I knew very little about before starting this project, but I've enjoyed finding out what was used and why so much that I might even join the Telegraph Pole Appreciation Society:-) Sherton Abbas will be appearing at Railex later this month http://www.railex.org.uk/ hopefully I'll see some of you there. Best wishes Dave

What goes through a modeller’s mind? 'Very little', my wife would say, and she’s not far off! Am I the only one who enters a Zen-like state of mind when operating the layouts? It begins like this. You decide to run some trains, forget all the worries. Get the gear out, set up on the dining table. The engine purrs into life, pulls a train off the traverser. You get down to eye level, begin to dream. What if there was something else behind those windows? Distant spires maybe? Lots of spires! Then even that melts away, and you enter a world of dreamy blue skies. Floating freely… …in an uncomplicated world… …where time… …stops… …and the light… …is mellow. Peace, man. Then reality kicks in. It seems I’m expected to lay the table. Ah well!

Finished - now that is a word that is not often associated with my models! Well finished for now that is as will need a bit more detailing when in place. This finishing lark does actually give me an interesting idea but more on this when I have thought it through a bit. Got quite carried away with the detailing in the end with the bouncy seat, side stays and working brake lever. Seemed a pity to paint it and cover up all that brass. It got treated to an undercoat, a couple of coats of olive drab, a couple of transfers, some matt varnish and then a bit of weathering - all done in gaps during real work! Really quite pleased with the results. And with a bit of a load.

Recently I've been building a few wagon kits up including these two Parkside GWR 10T gunpowder vans which represent the diagram Z2 wagons built between 1913-1926. From 1934 they were fitted with Morton brake gear and became diagram Z3 wagons which I would imagine would be a simple conversion. I've already built one of these kits and finished it as a BR version which runs on Juniper Hill. They are lovely kits to put together. These two have been finished with Tamiya acrylics (German Grey) and received a coat of Klear prior to applying the decals sourced from Fox/HMRS. The GPV logos silvered in places and will require further attention before they are finished and weathering completed. One question I have is would these wagons carry a 'Not Common User-Return to GWR' notice on them? If so I would imagine it would be placed above the 'tare' script on the left hand side? Here we see John Fawkes having is tea break and having a crafty smoke before the load is placed in the quarry's explosive magazine. Obviously in the days before health and safety. Next up is a Cambrian P18 GWR ballast wagon. Again finished with Tamiya acrylics. I've added the corner step from some soldered up scrap etch. I need to build a few more of these. Finally, the Southern Railway built a number their standard uneven plank vans for the GWR/LMS during the war. Here we have a Ratio SR 12T box van finished as a GWR version recently repainted. I'm not sure how these wagons were initially finished. Would they have been painted or left unpainted? Cheers, Mark

Hi Folks, I've completed another wagon using the decalfix + powders weathering technique. This time around I have gone for a heavier finish. The wagon is a parkside 13t Steel Open wagon kit. As before, the wagon is completed to ex-works condition, applying decals by modelmaster. With this wagon, I left it with the gloss varnish finish I applied for the decals to adhere to and attempted to apply the decalfix +powders mix. The solution pooled up and left a powdery residue upon drying which didn't look good at all. So, always work on a matt surface with the decalfix+powders. So, after spraying the wagon matt varnish I applied decalfix + humbrol smoke weathering powder. The solution is applied all over the body, adding more smoke powder around the raised details. The blackness of the smoke powder naturally build up in random areas and can be made heavier by adding more powder as per the right hand end of the wagon here. As with most weathering, lighting can change the effects quite drastically. With that in mind, it is worth weathering under the same type of light conditions as your layout is under or checking the look of the vehicle periodically. Whilst the decalfix + smoke mix is drying, rust powders are worked over the top, thicker this time so they build up in areas to build up a rust texture as caught here on the right hand end. Again, lighting is everything and I have to say the effect isn't quite as pronounced by eye as it is here. As before, the underframes were painted dark grey originally then worked over with a decalfix + brake dust mix. areas of fresh rust are dusted further with powder. This time round I elected to matta varnish the vehicle to dull the sheen of the decalfix which was more apparent on this wagon van the planked van I did previously. Matt varnish spray should be used in thin powder coats as the heavier you go, the more the powders will be dulled. You may wish to dust your vehicle first (note the top lip of the wagon). Although blurry, note how the texture looks different from this angle and looks a little "dusty" for my liking. The inside planking was done using a technique described in Martyn Welch's the Art of weathering. A palette was prepared of humbrol 121, 64 and gunmetal. The 121 and 64 are stippled onto the planks, not mixing the colours entirely to make an uneven finish. whilst still wet/tacky the gunmetal is drybrushed on to create a weather worn unpainted plank effect. I often become impatient and over do certain bits or don't follow instructions. Sometimes, I use the varnish spray in poor conditions (too cold) and over spray also. This leaves a frosty white finish which van ruin your model but in some instances can help create a faded effect like the top of the far side of the wagon. This also helped with the below example. Again, I am pleased with the results of my recent flurry of modelling which usually comes of a good holiday! Again, if you do try theses techniques, do so on something non-precious!!!

I write two blogs, one on pre-Grouping GWR and one on Broad Gauge GWR but, while I am experimenting with 3D printing, I shall be hopping between the two so, if you wish to follow my various trials, it’s necessary to look at both. From 2D to 3D modelling It’s almost six years since my modelling aspirations took a great leap forward, through my acquisition of a ‘Silhouette Portrait’ cutter. The first prototype that I chose to model with my cutter was the Tri-composite carriage, built in 1886 to diagram U29. This carriage presented quite a challenge in preparing the 2D drawings! In fact, I commented at the time that “It turned out that Diagram U29 is somewhat 'the design from hell', since every panel seems to be unique! It certainly gave me plenty of practice in using the drawing tools.” I enjoyed making the Tri-composite model and a number of other models from a similar period but there were some aspects of my constructions that I never felt were really satisfactory, especially my fabricated clerestory roofs. Now that I’m exploring the possibilities of 3D printing as a modelling tool, I thought it would be interesting to re-visit the panelled carriages from the late 19th century and see if I could now produce something better. After creating a few relatively simple 3D models of carriages from earlier Broad Gauge times (described in my other blog), I decided that it was time to move on and tackle something a little more complex. I felt that I had gained a reasonably firm toe-hold in Fusion 360 drawing techniques, so a panelled coach seemed a reasonable next step. I also thought that 3D modelling offered the potential to create a clerestory roof rather more easily than the fabrication techniques I had used earlier. Since I already had my 2D drawings of diagram U29 ( prepared in Autosketch and saved as DXF files) I could use these to create the various panels and mouldings by use of the push-pull tools in Fusion 360. The first stage was to prepare the carriage body and I decided that, rather than add raised mouldings, I preferred to ‘emboss’ the panels into the outside walls. My 3D Modelling Process As described in an earlier post, I started from one end of the carriage, drew the end-wall profile and then extruded this profile to the length of the carriage. I used my 2D drawing, pasted onto the end wall, to emboss the panels by 0.5mm from the outside framing. From previous experience, this depth is around the minimum that will show clearly when using my printer. One caveat is that all shapes to be extruded must be ‘closed’ I found that one of my panels had a tiny gap in one side that only became visible on very close inspection. It had me stuck for some time, as I tried to determine why that particular panel refused to cooperate! What’s good enough for the Silhouette cutter will not do for the more demanding task of 3D construction. I also realised that there were several different depths to which different features of my model needed to be recessed. These include the panels, the various window sections, and the window openings themselves. In each case, the part of the drawing to be extruded must be placed on the appropriate plane of the model for the ‘push-pull’ tool to work. My method was to make the shallowest panel sections first, then shift the ‘sketch plane’ to this deeper location, to select the next areas (e.g. window frames) for further depression, and so on. To save having to work on the two sides separately, I completed all the detailing on one side then ‘split’ the model lengthways and created a mirror image for the other side, as described in a previous post. Some of the key stages in constructing my model are shown in the following screen shots from the Fusion 360 software. In fact, having struggled at times to find my way through the various modelling procedures, I went back through the steps, taking these screen-grabs as I went, and found it a lot easier the second time! Stages in 3D Modelling diagram U29 The roof required separate consideration, since I did not want a solid model but had, nevertheless, to provide support for the roof panels. I decided to split the model horizontally at eaves level and treat the carriage body and roof independently, as regards interior fittings, with the intention to join the parts together again for final assembly. Once the roof had been removed, I drew a rectangle on the top of the sold carriage body and extruded downwards, to open out the interior of the carriage, leaving a 1mm thickness floor at the base. I then drew rectangles for the bases of the partitions and seats, and ‘pulled’ these upwards to their appropriate height within the carriage body. (all these procedures are described in more detail in a previous post) For the roof, I left the flat base in place, to support the side sections and used the ‘push-pull’ tool to open out the interior of the clerestory section. I used my existing 2D drawings to place the panels and window openings on both sides of the clerestory. To ensure adequate support for the clerestory roof, I allowed the ‘Cura’ slicer software to generate supporting in-fill within the raised section, which I planned to remove after the model was printed. Once I had drawn these two components in Fusion 360, I exported the data to the Cura slicer program, to prepare for printing. Although the overall dimensions lay within the specified print volume (130x130x130mm) of my Geeetech E180 printer, the Cura software would not accept the model until I rotated it diagonally on the print bed. The screen display of the two components, when prepared for printing are shown below: Screen Views of Model Ready for Printing Printing the Clerestory Roof Because of its shorter printing time, I decided to print the clerestory roof first. I was very pleased with the outcome and felt that the surface finish, after being printed on the diagonal, seemed smoother than when I had printed items aligned along the X-axis. The space inside the clerestory was filled with a ‘grid-style’ supporting structure for the top surface and, at first, I was a little apprehensive about how easy this infill would be to remove. Clerestory in-fill During Printing Once printing had completed, the underside of the roof did look rather daunting but, in practice, the in-fill was not really difficult to remove. The support structure is much weaker than the main structure and I found there was little possibility of damaging the main structure while attacking the in-fill. The first stage was to insert a knife into the slots around the edges of the infill. Then it’s a case of chiselling away at the material until the cavity has been cleared. After initial trepidation, I found I could proceed quite rapidly, scraping away all the debris! Stages in Scraping Out the In-Fill Printing the Carriage Body While I was engaged in all this scraping and cleaning-up, my 3D Printer was busily getting on with the carriage body. This is an advantage of 3D printing - it does not stop the modeller from getting on with other things! The carriage body took over 5 hours to print, so I had plenty of time not only for modelling but also to take my cycling exercise. Unlike the roof, the body needed very little by way of cleaning-up, apart from opening out all the window openings. I was pleased that most of my design objectives were achieved in this ‘first go’. Printed Carriage Body after Clearing Window Apertures Assembling the Components There’s quite a lot of ‘fettling’ still to be done but I finish this post with a photo of the assembly after placing the roof over the body. 3D Printed Tri-Composite Carriage to Diagram U29 The result is a much more robust body than I had made from Silhouette-cut plasticard. With 3D printing, I don’t have the advantage of pre-printed body sides, which I could produce with the Silhouette cutter. One thought is to investigate combining both techniques, with 3D printing for the main structure and Silhouette-printed laminates to provide elaborate pre-Grouping liveries. More ideas to try Mike

This diorama will represent a small section of a lane with ditches both sides, one with standing water, and the other drier with a few puddles, hedgerows, trees, a meadow one side and a field with crops on the other. The meadow will also feature the access and entrance gate but I'm not sure what the crops will be yet, any suggestions appreciated. A piece of 50mm thick insulation board was again used as the base. It is 600mm x and the topograhy was formed with a hot wire cutter. Once I get my head down I am terrible at remembering to take photos so unfortunately the first photos I have to show are after a few basic preparations had been completed. The puddles are formed with clear plastic, old CD cases are good, painted with a muddy colour on one side. Two pieces of plastic tube were cut to represent the pipes carrying the ditch water under the access. The base was then given a coat or two of a muddy coloured mix of acrylic. The water, puddles and pipes were then placed in position and plaster of paris mixed with the same paint was used to bed these in, form the verges alongside the lane and generally create the topograhy required.

Inbetween building the goods shed and drawing up the artwork for the station building, which has now arrived, I've been building a twin set AEC railcar set for Cheddar. This is from a set of etches from Worsley Works. To be fair, they are sold as a set of scratch aids, but I've found it all quite a challenge. Unfortunately the etches contain a number of errors which regrettably I didn’t discover until fairly late on. Notably, the windows in the rail car sides are set too low, with the exception of the central door. For some reason they’ve all been set about 1.5mm too low whereas they should all be at the same level. The drawings in the Judge book clearly show it though I’ll admit I didn’t notice at first. The problem became apparent when I started to paint and line the rail cars. The line between crimson and cream should be at the top of the sloping triangular fillet in the front nose, then continue at that level along the body side. I’ve had to bend the lining round to have it in the correct place at the crease in the nose front, otherwise it would have been too low. It’s one of those things that some people undoubtedly won’t notice but once you know it’s there it does kind of leap out at you. I've let Allen know at Worsley and he says he's corrected the etch now. He has offered me a replacement should anyone else order one so I've no complaints there. The droplight for the front door is the right size, unfortunately the window opening is too large so the droplight isn’t very effective. I formed some new ones from painted plasticard but I can see in the photo one needs more attention. I deviated from the intended chassis construction arrangement as the skirt section is supposed to join to the body at top of skirt, but is too narrow resulting in an obvious join. I cut the chassis parts in half longitudinally and soldered to the body sides. I used Lima mouldings for the railcar bogie side frames from Peter’s Spares, coach corridor connections were from MJT and I used Kadee No 21 couplings to represent the knuckle/buck eye connectors. I‘ve used a Replica motorised chassis to power the railcar no 36 (the restaurant car). This is the 57ft version cut and shut to match the reduced wheelbase. I used one of their mark 1 coach interiors in the unpowered car, cut and shut to fit the seating arrangement. The unpowered car No 35 sits on MJT CCT's. It does look at home on the layout, though the sides issue will niggle me for a while. Just wish I'd spotted it earlier! Next will be the long build of the station building. I've a large box of bits to work my way through but it should be fun.