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Andy Y

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Blog Entries posted by Andy Y

  1. Andy Y
    Whilst on a visit to the Ricoh Arena ahead of RMweb Live in September it was all too tempting to stage a shot which combines a couple of elements of the weekend with Phil Parker's pizza layout grafted onto the roulette wheel in Britiain's largest casino which is on the same site.
     

     
    For those who know Phil he's quite a funghi.
     

  2. Andy Y
     I took the opportunity yesterday to take my last ride on these venerable and extremely comfortable machines on a route that I have a soft spot for. Years of memories of watching them trundle over the bridge at Lymington made it too hard to resist. The Lymington branch racks up another last to follow on from the last steam branch; I wonder if 2050 will be seeing the last Desiro service on the branch with as much interest?
     

     

     
    Anyway, I gather there will be a more professional video coming soon; more details in due course and for a good cause!
     
     
    Source: The 3-CIG 'Slammer's' last days.
  3. Andy Y
    Another day shower dodging.
     
    Baseboards connected, train turntable cut out, front scenic boards knocked together and the boards corked.
     

     

     
    I've not decided yet whether the water (front middle board) will be done as before with paint/PVA/varnish layers on the flat ply top or to invert the board and create some depth to the water within the well. I'll try a couple of ideas and see where it heads.
     
     
    When it's all locked together it's reasonably stable; I did manage to disassemble and get it back indoors inside 5 minutes as another shower headed our way.
     
     
     
    Source: K2yhaven
  5. Andy Y
    Dear Number 57, whoever you are or more probably were, today I really appreciate what you and your colleagues did all those years ago!
     
    I'd had a Dapol Prestwin in the to-do drawer for a year or two and decided a few weeks back to put into the works. What an utter disaster it was and virtually put me off buying any of Dapol's current production of these time-served moulds. The chassis was so distorted that at rest only two wheels would touch the rails, three if a digit was placed on a corner; I can't even remember where I'd bought it so it now lives in the parts bin for its other components.
     
    The kit started life under Airfix around 1964 and it's a very different story with crisp detail on decent plastic (if a little brittle with age resulting in a broken brake lever at a late stage) that can still make a decent showing placed next to the current pick of the crop. Assembly is a dream with sharp alignment, positive fit and achievable in under an hour despite the 60+ parts that make this up. The only modifications to date to the kit are the addition of a couple of Cambrian brake wheels (I owe you another thank you Brian!) to the discharge pipes on the roof and the handrails above the short ladder to the platform on one side. The original transfers are somewhat yellow and curled but handily there were appropriate lettering and numbers left over on a Modelmaster 4644r sheet after the Presflo project (I really must post some snaps of the finished article).
     

     

     
    I accept that the seams in the tanks are more prominent than you'd like to see on a wagon produced last week but in the flesh they don't look as pronounced as they do on the snaps and that some final touching up is needed before a dose of Dullcote.
     
    Show me anything as good from 1964 that you can pick up for a fiver if you can!
  6. Andy Y
    In turning around a Parkside Pallet Van I took the usual course of referencing Paul Bartlett's site and found that the Palvan's seemed to have a fairly distinct way of weathering after lounging around in backwaters following a fairly premature absence from action - http://gallery6801.fotopic.net/p24203000.html . In all likelihood they were probably as drab and mucky as any other van whilst still in service but I fancied a go at something a different shade of brown.
     

     
    Starting from a base of Railmatch BR Bauxite and metal strapping picked out in a dark chocolate shade variations in tone were made via airbrush layering dark bauxite and a faint black towards the edges of panels and the strange sensation of spraying yellow/orange shades towards the centre of the larger panels.
     
    The overall finish is not as pronounced as shown in the prototype pics on the assumption that wagons aren't as old. I must overcome the temptation to treat more vans like that.
     
     
     
     
     
  7. Andy Y
    Got the crayons out and had a scribble.
     

     
     
     
    And then tried to put it into a 'real world' context.
     

     
     
    That's definitely not to scale, that ferry would be huge!
     
    For anyone who hasn't been to Keyhaven (which is probably in excess of 99% of the population) this snap shows where the car ferry ramp would be.
     
    http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/19508
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Source: K2yhaven
  8. Andy Y

    Fleur

    By Andy Y,

    So what's an L&Y pug doing down at the seaside?
     
    This was an innocent bystander sat in the bottom of the drawer that I'd picked up for less than a tenner moons ago, no I didn't need it, want it or foresee any need for it but there you go. It'd be boring if everything was done to a plan wouldn't it?
     
    After a strip down and clean it was the quickest DCC hard-wire job I've ever done, hiding the decoder's another matter hence the use of 'Big Hands' on the footplate. A quick blast from the spray gun and weathering from the Tamiya make-up packs, paper nameplates (which give a clue to future Keyhaven developments) and job done. It still runs like a 3-legged dog though.
     

     
     
  9. Andy Y

    ICI Presflo

    By Andy Y,

    Follow up to http://www.rmweb.co....n-silo-presflo/
     
    I'd set off on a desire to be different more than anything else in trashing a previously perfect Bachy Presflo into a twin silo variant. I set off knowing that I'd got no reference material other assumption and guesswork and even the resources to complete the model in its supposed form.
     
    Looking back Hornby Dublo produced a Presflo in a slightly bluish green with ICI logos and bulk salt and Dapol some years later in an even more garish shade. That's all I'd got to go on other than Paul Bartlett's reference material to the later life Slate Presflo which was actually more helpful than the pseudo-collectable items of yore in taking a stab at what the colour may have been before age and filth took them to the state shown in Paul's pictures.
     
    Trying to achieve a 'is that blue or is that green' shade took some trial and error with garish shades of Tamiya acrylics that would look more fitting on some yoof's Corsa and a touch of black. I was happy when I'd got a shade that seemed to change in tone dependent on the light it's in.
     
    I'd never expected to find the ICI logos and had an alternate DIY plan for them until I called Modelmaster to get the lettering. I mentioned the ICI logo and lo and behold I was advised that sheet 4651 contained just what I needed. Brilliant. However it's no exaggeration to say that applying the transfers takes longer than the conversion shown in the previous posting.
     
    Out came the Tamiya weathering powders again for pure guesswork on how such a wagon in that usage would have weathered. It's at this point when this blog entry gets posted that someone will step forth with definitive proof that I've got it wrong. Great, do it; I'm ready and waiting with another blank canvas that I can rectify these wild assumptions.
     

     

  10. Andy Y
    Several people have asked me several times in person, at talks or on RMweb to write a bit of a 'how-to' on the 'photoshopping' of images for the magazine.
     
    I've taken a scene from Tim Maddock's excellent 'Engine Wood' layout as featured in the May 2014 issue of BRM to show the whole process but somewhat condensed as an image typically takes a couple of hours to fully work through and gone from this:
     

     
    To this:
     

     
    This has been done as a video and narrative tutorial using screen capture software here - http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/84168-whats-involved-with-processing-an-image-for-the-magazine/
     
    Various images of me sticking the camera into places I shouldn't on reader's layouts have appeared from time to time so I thought it would be good to show what happens when the photos get back to base. Andy Peters took this shot of me taking the pictures for 'Trebudoc' which also appears in the May 2014 issue of BRM.
     

     
    See if you can spot which image was being taken when you get the mag!
  11. Andy Y

    Ratty LYP

    By Andy Y,

    Sorry; did I say tidy up in the previous blog entry? A slip of the tongue.
     

     
    Hopefully ready for action on BCB at DEMU Showcase this weekend - http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/78016-demu-showcase-2014-burton-upon-trent-31-may-1-june-2014/ - even if you're not a D&E modeller it's a show well worth a visit for the quality of the layouts.
  12. Andy Y
    Every now and again I suppose many of us go beyond what we'd normally expect as our own "it'll do for me" criteria and get carried away with something.
     
    Keyhaven wouldn't have been right without a late 60s Crompton rattling away on idle and so the saga of the 33/0 began with much hacking to get a 33/0 with decent roof profile and one thing just led to another. To follow on from the blog link above the Archer's rivet transfers never did surface so I got round to ordering some more. Once you start to look really close another 'find' creates more work and I thought I may as well make handles for the roof panels rather than Heljan's distorted nipples. Then there's the louvre/grille debate which, having gone an obsessive step too far, meant that I spent time creating ambiguity rather than a definitive action. See, it's getting silly isn't it?
     
    Whilst deciding to slim down the tanks a fraction rather than just slice out some unseen bits I decided that fitting a bass reflex speaker and mounting the tank sides onto that would be another way of upping the spec, adding unnecessary cost (but it don't 'arf sound beefy now!) and creating another to do task.
     
    Virtually every snap of a working Crompton shows the roof to be a fairly overall sooty charcoal but having taken some snaps of a 33 with a comparatively clean fibreglass roof I could make out there were some ribs under there which affected the uniformity of finish so it would be nice to give a hint of that. Oh, and I mustn't forget the slightly fibreglassy tone to those parts, and the normally less filthy exhaust (but of course some snaps show a hint of rust spots). And then cover it in grime. I must be mad.
     
    Now I'm not that stupid to have been at this weakness full time but I did start it 23 months ago and I've finished
     

     

     
    Now for the really silly bit:
     
    1 x Heljan 33/1 £55
    1 x Heljan 33/0 body £20
    1 x Howes sound decoder £115
    1 x Bass reflex speaker £10
    1 x Archers Rivets £11
    Transfers / Paint £15
    Replacement wheelsets £5
    Time @ minimum wage £don't even go there and it would have been even worse if I'd seen Pugsley's body scraping at some time in the process.
     
    Total > £230.00
     
    No thanks; I don't want one that much!
     
    Having learned some useful lessons along the way I fancy one in original livery. Utter madness.
     
     
    (don't be silly) done all that I can until Mr Hanson can get some extreme etches for the grilles and laser cut windows sorted*.*Other nags are on his list I'm sure.
     
    Source: Unhealthy obsessions .....
  13. Andy Y
    After months years of chewing over the next phase of Keyhaven everywhere I turned there were self-created compatability issues and also the legacy of bits that could have been better so I'd decided some time back that its offspring would recreate some of the old but improve upon it, especially from an operation viewpoint, and take the idea a stage further.
     
    If I keep deliberating and looking for problems it'll never happen so now is the time of year to make a start, a time when you can traipse in and out of the house fetching and cutting things without turning the rest of the house distinctly nippy.
     

     
    A pile of wood, today.
     
    A picture of a pile of wood shouldn't really merit an illustration but it's there to say that I thought that part through too and saved myself a whole bundle of time in return for a fiver by getting Jewson to cut the ply. It seems fewer and fewer of the DIY tin sheds actually trust their staff to cut bent timber in straight lines or for customers to not end up with splinters and claim inordinate levels of dosh for psychological trauma of timber related injuries. It's hardly top quality but with the construction techniques I'll be using it won't be a problem.
     

     
     
    Within 30 minutes a ply sandwich forms the first 3'6" x 2' baseboard frame, fairly lightweight and reasonably rigid (well it will be when the cross-member goes in when I've finally decided on point locations). Another layer of ply or foamboard will sit upon the ply deck. I was tempted to go with foamboard for the whole thing but some recent experiences told me I'd possibly get frustrated with the amount of bracing required to eliminate any variations in level that could happen if unsupported.
     
    Another timesaver was to use a staple gun as the principal tool rather than ommer'n'nails or screwing it together.
     

     
     
    So what will K2yhaven look like? It will be the equivalent of turning the existing layout through 90 degrees (on the right of the plan) with the station at 90 degrees to the quay across the back of the layout. The station will be a terminus formed from a truncated branch route. The left foreground will be a boat yard with a ramp down onto a car ferry with the centre foreground being the harbour water.
     

     
     
    My target is to get it reasonably complete by Taunton next April.
     
    The topic will run here but significant posts will be copied over to the blog as a digest.
     
    Source: K2yhaven
  14. Andy Y
    "Ooh, I didn't expect it to be that big", long time since I've heard that one.
     
    Whilst showers just about managed to hold off I was able to get the main baseboards and legs knocked together. I hadn't properly considered the leg issue when I made the previous board so that's also been replaced which now means the legs are interchangeable between boards with an easy slot in. No more bulky steel trestles!
     

     
     

     
     

     
     
    A little more time would have enabled me to fit the internal angle bracing and baseboard connectors but I don't think it's too bad for an afternoon's work. There's still two more boards to make for the front section but they're scenic only.
     
    Source: K2yhaven
  15. Andy Y
    Remembers those Solvite ads decades ago where they papered a bloke to a plane and flew around and the one where they pasted him to a board and swung him from a helicopter? I never believed them for one minute but I now reckon they used this stuff:
     

     
     
    It's 1mm thick, 38mm wide, double sided and self-adhesive on a thin core of foam. I thought it would be worth a go for laying the track on the train turntable onto expecting something that would allow secure fixing without the use of pins ( being unsatisfied with latex-based adhesive last weekend) and the ability to lift and adjust if necessary. WRONG.
     
    This stuff must rate high amongst 'sticky things that don't do what you want them to' with it's propensity to adhere to any organic substance within a 3 yard radius rather than where you want it to go. Face, body hair, clothing etc. Once it's in contact with wood or track that's it, fixed. Forever.
     

     
     
    Eventually I did get part of the TT and the approaches sorted; when I've got a day when I want something more agonising than a needle in the eyeball I'll get the other end done. I'll now be trying to work out how to slide some copper-clads under and solder for additional rigidity at the join as the only weakness is in the chairs - certainly not in the track being fixed to the board!
     
    Source: K2yhaven
  16. Andy Y
    A chance to get a bit of personal modelling done as it seems as we've been doing Sentinels to death of late (although this one's slightly different so I'm videoing it as I go along as a test of video more than anything else) but someone may find it of use later on.
     
    The intention is to get to something close to the pictured Sentinel in Sheffield's back streets at Grimesthorpe so it's a case of subtraction and addition to get the right result.
     

     
    An hour later the destruction's complete and it's time to move onto the construction phase (when some extras have arrived) and hopefully have it on BCB at the end of the month at DEMU Showcase.
     

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