Ian Smith
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Posts posted by Ian Smith
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2 hours ago, Izzy said:
Always nice to see your work Ian, the high quality of it gives me something to aim for, so thanks for showing it.
Bob, thankyou for such a nice comment, although in reality I think it is me aiming to accomplish what you and others do!!
I think pheasants an pigeons are about the same in the sense stakes, although to give them their due they didn’t evolve to have to avoid anything tearing down at them at 50+ mph!! (although pigeons may have an odd peregrine to worry about).
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As a bit of a change from making and painting coaches, I've begun adding a little more life (or rather wildlife) to Modbury.
The catalyst for actually getting on and doing something (as I've intended to do this for quite some time) is an invite to the Manchester exhibition in December. In filling out the documentation requesting all of the normal things like size of layout, number of sockets required, etc, at the end was a little section asking for a couple of questions for children to answer as a type of "treasure hunt" (something along the lines of “How many dogs in the main street of Dewsbury Midland?”).
Now, I must admit that I've never considered a target audience of children for Modbury (although we do have a series of little cameos on St. Ruth for children to find - my effort was a picnicking family whose child has got her kite stuck in one of the trees). However, although there are some "cameos" on Modbury they are there more to breathe life into the scene rather than the "can you spot ..." kinds of things.
Examples of the "cameos" already in existence :
Couple awaiting their train for a day out in Torquay
Sisters patiently waiting for their train for their "new hat" shopping trip to Exeter
Coal merchant John Clarke discussing business with a customer
So back to the wildlife!!! I intend to model some rabbits at some point but decided some bird life would be a nice touch to start with. Now, clearly in 2mm scale something like a wren or even a blackbird would be a bit pointless, so I've elected to model something a little larger - some pheasant. According to my ancient "Observers Book of British Birds" :
The pheasant would be between 4 and 6mm long in 2mm scale, so actually reasonably visible. These little chaps (and chapess) were simply formed with a length of 0.45mm brass wire for head body and tail (left over long at each end!!), with a couple of twists of 0.3mm wire to bulk out the body and provide a leg to mount in the scenery. Once soldered together, further 70 degree solder was used to build up a bit more mass before final bending to shape and thinning with a small needle file.
Unfortunately I forgot to take any construction photos, but once primed and painted the results were quite pleasing (although difficult to photo) :
It was then a simple matter of deciding where to put them - in the end I elected to put them where they would be most visible (at the front of the layout around the hedge that disguises the board joint) :
The lone male looking for something tasty in the grass
And on the other side of the hedge the "old married couple". I have since touched up the male as I had inadvertently damaged his plumage with my tweezers as I forced his leg into the ground.
One thing I did notice a couple of weeks ago was that one of my platform trolleys had been lost in transit at one of the recent exhibitions. The missing trolley was part of another small cameo on the down platform consisting of a couple who were taking some of their produce from their market garden to sell in Plymouth. The original trolley had a couple of crates of greenery on it, but having to create a replacement has led to something a little more adventurous!
The trolley itself is one of my own etchings which was soldered/superglued up and painted. I then made a couple of wooden boxes (I felt that wicker baskets were a little too tricky although I did try weaving some 0.1mm wire between staves a little thicker!) from 0.005" plasticard with a 0.015" bottom. An additional pair of stacked crates was also made from small squares of 0.020" plasticard, the middle layer having its sides filed away to leave small squares at each corner to represent the upstanding corners of the lower crate. Once painted, the voids in the side of the middle layer were dressed with a little green flock, as was the top. The two wooden boxes have been filled with cauliflowers and cabbages - the hearts of each being small balls of pre-coloured tissue, then outer leaves of more pre-coloured tissue being added. Once dry a few cabbages were glued in one box and cauli's in the other.
That's all for now. Thank you for looking.
Ian
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As mentioned in my previous post, I have made a start on another clerestory bogie coach to accompany the All Third and Van Third recently completed. This one too comes from the Worsley Works stable and is marketed as a diagram E14 - a 1st/2nd Lavatory Composite. A look through Jim Russell's "A Pictorial Record of Great Western Caoches (Part 1)" provides a diagram for the E14, but unfortunately when referring to Richard Spratt's website https://gwrcoaches.org.uk/Clerestories.shtml, the E14 is shown as having 12" deep eaves panels (and no lavatory facilities). Further down the page though is the diagram E17 which is a match for the sides produced by Worsley Works.
Therefore using the sides and ends of the kit I intend to build it up as an E17. The rest of this post will be a set on annotated photos of the build so far (although I omitted to take any of the early part of the build!) :
The main carcass of the coach assembled. While the sides were still on the fret, I soldered all of the door vents in place. Once the turnunders (tumblehomes) were formed, the sides and ends were soldered together using the fold up internal bracing pieces to strengthen the corners (at the bottom), these bracing pieces also include a hole to attach underframe to body, so a 12BA nut was soldered in place on the upper side of these holes.
A rudimentary underframe is included in the kit, comprising a flat floor under which a bent up solebar and upper step is soldered. A pair of headstocks complete the bits that are included in the scratch aid kit. One thing I did have to do was to drill new holes for the bogie pivots some 1mm inboard of the etched holes. More 12BA nuts were soldered above these new holes in readiness for attaching the bogies later.
A roof was cut from some 0.005" brass sheet and rolled to the profile of the ends - I tend to do this on an old mouse mat using steel bars to get a general shape, then burnish the roof to final shape around suitable bar stock with a thick wooden lollipop stick (from a "Magnum"). Once formed it was soldered in place which combined with the embryonic underframe gives the body a reasonable amount of strength.
Finally, as is my wont, I solder all of the G hand rails and door handles in place on the sides. I much prefer to solder these things in place to ensure that they are really secure - during the build the model will be scrubbed after each build session so any bits that aren't secure will come away at some point!!
The other side showing the step end. The steps are part of the internal end brace and have to be folded out and project through slots in the end proper.
The next stage was to add the clerestory on top of the main roof - annoyingly, the clerestory ends were not included on the etch (an oversight I expect), so these had to be fabricated first from some spare etch, luckily the E17 had an arced roof to the clerestory by a three-arc profile for the main roof. A lightly scribed line down the centreline of the roof aided getting the ends centred, then the sides were tack soldered in place then the joints made good once I was happy.
Once the clerestory sides and ends were secure, I attacked the gap down the middle with a slitting disk and files so that I would be able to get an iron in to solder the roof on the clerestory and also so that I can glaze it once fully painted. Those of you paying attention might notice that I have put this side of the clerestory on upside down and the wrong way round - the blank portion should be above the luggage compartment doors. I didn't actually notice this until I had fitted the clerestory roof, so had to remove the roof and this side then reassemble it all the correct way once I'd straightened out the somewhat mangled clerestory side!! Oh how I laughed!!!
The completed clerestory roof.
And the other side having had my earlier mistake corrected!
At last night's Midland Area Group meeting, I managed to add the rain strips to both the main and clerestory rooves. These are simply made using strands from multi-core flex (each strand being 0.15mm diameter). A strand is straightened by rolling between my cutting mat and a steel ruler. Then positioned on the roof and initially tack soldered in place and once satisfied flood with flux and the bond along the length made good. A sharp knife trims off the excess hanging over the ends of the coach before the next strip is applied. A thorough stiff rubbing with a fibreglass stick removes all of the excess solder on the roof.
Todays task has been to turn and fit the gas lamp tops on the clerestory roof for the 1st and 2nd compartments and on main roof for the lavatory compartments.
The next task will be to fit the gas piping (and lamp feeds) along the roof, then fabricate and fit the handrails on the step end, and finally fabricate the brake tell tails to the non-step end. Then I can move on to the underframe. The Dean 6'4" bogies have already been made up ready - these are from my own artwork and custom etch - although I have yet to fit the volute springs to them (although they too have been turned up in readiness).
Thanks for looking
Ian
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Having been in the modelling doldrums for several months where virtually no railway modelling has occurred in Modbury Towers, over the last three or four weeks mojo has finally returned!!
With Modbury due to attend the Loughborough exhibition in August, I have finally managed to complete the first two bogie coaches for Modbury. They are a D37 Van Third and a C4 All Third, sides and ends coming from Worsley Works with the bogies being my own etches (although the functional carcass of the 10'0" ones under the D37 were provided by Richard Brummitt with the cosmetic bits coming from my own 8'6" bogies.
The coaches in question were last seen several months ago and an aborted attempt to paint the C4 led them both to be consigned to their respective bags and put aside. Following a bit of mojo return, the D37 was finally structurally completed a couple of weeks ago, and since then the pair have progressed through the Smith paint shop.
Here are a few snaps of the pair on Modbury's embankment :
Today, I took the pair along to the 2mm Expo at Derby and entered them in the modelling competitions, and am proud to say that they were awarded the "Chairman's Trophy"!! Thank you Chairman Alisdair!
With the successful completion of that pair, mojo is now fully restored, so I have now made a start on the next one in the rake - another from the Worsley Works stable, a 1st/2nd Composite (sold as an E14 but actually is an E17).
Description of that build will have to commence in a new post as I seem to have reached the picture limit in this one!
Thanks for looking,
Ian
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Very nice Aberdare!!
For boiler bands I have simply used some old transfer film strips for my unlined locos (applied either to the primer or sprayed green and applied after top coat - the latter is my preferred option). For my Dean Goods that has lined boiler bands, I simply applied Fox transfers lining where the bands should be.
All of my lining is Fox transfers with the exception of the curved sections around the cab sides, these I paint free hand with humbrol gloss orange then a thin Matt black inner line. If applied after allowing the Precision Paints green to fully harden for a few days, any errors applying the orange can be rectified with a thinners moistened fine brush. Similarly I allow the orange to dry for at least a couple of days before applying the black, again deft use of a moist brush can neaten the job up!
Ian
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11 hours ago, queensquare said:
I’ve used these. Designed to be stomped on so pretty robust!
Jerry
Jerry,
I have used the same for the uncoupler electromagnets on Modbury - in series with a multi-way switch.
Ian
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In order to try to rekindle a bit of modelling mojo, today I have been
playing trainshaving a running session on Modbury. Whilst running a few trains, I also took the opportunity to video a few of the movements. After an hour or two of editing, the result has been uploaded to YouTube :Thanks for looking.
Ian
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2 hours ago, Compound2632 said:
The very question I found myself asking myself half-way through reading your post. I suppose limewash would only leak out through any apertures in the lower sides - possibly around the doorframe. But if I understand the design, those square things just above the siderail are sliding hatches, with some apertures behind?
A little variation in the shade of red is, I'm sure, no bad thing and if it's a incentive to creating that not-straight-out-of-the-paintshop look so much the better!
Stephen,
Yes, there are sliding covers within the framing on the lower body sides. If I do add limewash, I will have dribbles from the slats in the upper body and around the doors and also the sliding covers in the lower body. I have always assumed that the whole of the inside would be treated not just the lower half. Also, my assumption is that it would have been “splashed around” with something like a broom - indeed I have modelled a wheelbarrow of limewash with a broom leaning against it on my cattle dock!
Because I mix my red shade, there is always a small variation within my wagon stock, which is further varied by weathering. The image containing the 4 plank wagon shows it to be fairly brown in digital format (it doesn’t look quite so brown in the flesh).
Ian
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Very little modelling has taken place over the last few months, but over the last couple of days (having seen Richard Brummit's post on his latest "Beetle" (diagram W4)) :
I finally decided to do some work on the one that he so kindly gifted to me at the Portsmouth exhibition. On getting it home, I had already removed the 3-link coupling hooks that he had fitted so that I could replace them with DG couplings. In that guise it has happily traversed Modbury over the last couple of months or so. Below is a photo that I took at Portsmouth :
The model as provided by Richard
One of the things that I felt Richard's model lacked was any form of rain strips or cross strips on the roof. Having searched my library for photographs of the diagram W4, I really only found one dated in the late 1920's that showed the roof properly, and that had full length curved rain strips, however the diagram in Atkin's showed cross strips above where the side uprights were (similar to the contemporary W1, W5 and W3 cattle wagons). I therefore decided to put narrow strips of masking tape across the roof to represent these and then repainted the roof in a mucky grey colour.
Unfortunately, as Richard had absolutely no idea what shade of "Red" that I dreamt up for my GWR Red wagons, the shade that he had chosen (whilst perfectly plausible and probably a better choice than my own) was somewhat at odds with my own rendition! With that in mind, I elected to mix up a little of my own colour and applied a wash of it to try to bring the red shade closer to the other red wagons on Modbury. Doing this also had the advantage of toning down the bright white of the transfers too.
Finally, I attempted to weather the lower portions of the sides and ends (and underframe) with further washes of Precision Paints Frame Dirt and Humbrol 110. The following photos show the wagon at home on Modbury
Vacuum cylinder side
Non-vacuum cylinder side
Finally a comparison with one of my dirtiest red wagons.
Overall, I am really pleased with this addition to my goods fleet, and it makes an interesting addition to my cattle train - Thank you once again Richard!!
The only thing that I am really unsure about is whether these "Beetle" cattle wagons would have received the lime wash disinfectant treatment that normal cattle wagons received until the 1920's. My assumption is that they would, but trying to find photographic evidence is proving tricky - therefore I will leave as is for now.
Thanks for looking
Ian
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Thoroughly enjoyed the Portsmouth exhibition!! With just Steve and myself operating for the day, I don't think either of us managed to get a good look at the other exhibits. However, the short time I spent away from Modbury proved that the show was an excellent one with a variety of good quality layouts/scales on offer for the public.
Unfortunately, within the first few minutes of running it was noticed that my Dean Goods had an intermittent short, so we had to deploy John Russell's somewhat out of period Collett Goods for the day, but it is such an excellent and reliable runner that we'd have run it anyway!!
I didn't manage to take many photos of Modbury (and unfortunately none at all of Nigel Ashton's wonderful Drwys-y-Nant), but here are the few I managed :
An overall view of the scenic section before the public were allowed in. Steam Railmotor just departing towards Newton Abbot. Once again, the SRM attracted a lot of interest and favourable comment.
517 tank in charge of a short cattle train departing Modbury.
Prairie (later 45xx) draws a short Plymouth bound pick up goods over the embankment into the station.
A closer view of Prairie and leading wagons of Down Goods train.
Finally, fellow 2mm Association member and friend, Richard Brummitt, provided me with a surprise gift ...
A rather beautiful "Beetle" - a diagram W4 Prize Cattle Wagon. Richard said that he took my artwork for the W1/W5 cattle wagon and amended it. I think that is a gross understatement as the only bits recognisable from my original work are the ends and the drop flap side door!! He has 3D printed the body, and "cobbled together" the running gear from various bits of etch. The result is simply stunning and to say that I am thrilled is an understatement - Thank you Richard!! Unfortunately, because Richard uses 3 link couplings (!!!!) on his stock I wasn't able to run it on the day as it will need a set of DG's fitting.
Thank you for looking.
Ian
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2 hours ago, Compound2632 said:
Last! No!
(Can't make this Saturday, unfortunately.)
Panic not Stephen. It’s only the last exhibition for this year. Currently, it should be at Loughborough and Swindon next year.
Ian
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Just a heads up. My train set, Modbury, will be making its last appearance of 2023 at the Portsmouth Model Railway exhibition on Saturday 18th November (Admiral Lord Nelson School on Dundas Lane, Portsmouth, PO3 5XT).
Ian
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On 17/09/2023 at 09:51, DLT said:
Stunning piece of work Ian, especially as on my screen, its the size on a 7mm model!
Thank you. On my screen it's the same. The actual building has a footprint of 32mm x 24mm - I should have included a suitable coin of the realm in the photos 😆
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Well, "Yeovil Pen Mill (South) Signal Box" is finished (apart from adding a nameplate), although "Yeovil Pen Mill (South) Signal Box" on a single plate won't fit the space available!! Therefore, I need to ask Laurie what he feels might be a suitable alternative - I can't remember ever seeing a signal box plate being shown that had two lines of wording (but then not many locations would have needed that anyway!!) Anyway, for now I'm not going to do anything.
Anyway, the previous instalment left me with just detailing to do really. So in short, the interior has been dealt with - an instrument shelf added behind the front windows, an armchair added with a driver/fireman sitting in it having a conversation with the "bobby" who has a cup of tea in his hand. None of which is particularly visible even when the internal lighting is lit!!
The down pipes have been added - from the poor photographic evidence we have I couldn't really tell where these were so I've put one near the front right corner and one near the rear left corner. The pipes themselves are bent up pieces of 0.5mm diameter nickel silver wire. The fixings are from a doubled up loop of thin copper wire, the ends of which being twisted together and the whole soldered in place on the pipe, the twisted tail then fits in a suitable hole in the wall/framing of the box (having first threaded on a small patch of 0.010" plasticard to represent a wooden block fixed to the wall to which the downpipe fixing could be screwed). Once fitted in place, the roof was offered up and any excess pipe carefully filed off so that the gap between gutter and top of pipe was minimal.
With the interior detail added, the roof was permanently attached with canopy glue (used because it dries reasonably quickly but isn't as instant as superglue would be). Once dry, the flashing around the chimney stack was added and painted in light grey.
One (of the many) details that we are unsure of is whether there was any sort of extension on the non-step end of the box - the large scale maps of Yeovil Pen Mill that Laurie shared with me seem to show that the box footprint was not a simple rectangle, but there was a (varying size, depending on the map) extension of some kind at the rear left corner. I elected to offer Laurie a choice (neither of which could be right!) of a small coal bunker or a wooden lean to privy/store. Both of which have a small peg on their bottoms which engage in a hole in the signal box base to provide a positive location. The coal bunker I constructed as a brick extension (although because the only embossed brick plasticard I have is English Bond, I had to make the walls 1.5mm thick so that the headers on the outside face would be sensible. I decided to give the bunker a corrugated roof. The privy/store was constructed to be a wooden construction rather like a shed (again with a corrugated roof). The door has 0.005" hinges fitted, and a latch handle from a bit of fine bent wire with a thumb lever from a flattened piece of the same.
Finally, a few photos of the finished item ...
Thanks for looking.
Ian
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5 hours ago, Bulwell Hall said:
Very nice work indeed - it must be tiny in 2mm scale!
Thanks Gerry. Yes, it is quite small - a footprint of 30mm x 24mm (1.25” x 1”).
These small boxes are personal favourites of mine too, I much prefer the earlier small paned windows. This particular one being a “type 2”, which photographically seem to be quite rare (excepting the preserved one at Didcot).
Ian
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This post simply contains a couple of photos of Pen Mill signal box in its current state :
The next task is to complete the interior of the box (instrument shelf mainly). The exterior still needs the safety bars fitting across the windows, and the down pipes from the guttering.
Thanks for looking.
Ian
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Progress with the Pen Mill signal box seems pretty slow by my usual standard, not that I have a lack of enthusiasm, just life generally getting in the way!
Anyway, progress is being made and this post will show where we're at ...
We left the previous post with the ceiling (with gutters) and the hip roof having been formed. The two were united, then the process of slating the roof was attended to. I printed a grid of slate sized boxes onto a sheet of printer self adhesive label, then cut the grid up into strips of slates. What will be the exposed lower end of each slate was cut through so that each slat looked separate when the strip was stuck to the roof.
The roof structure with the slate strips applied. The lead flashing between the facets of the roof is in the process of being added, having first glued lengths of 0.3mm brass wire along each joint.
The lead flashing was prepared from more self adhesive label :
The flashing being prepared by forming the roll-over over a length of 0.3mm brass wire by pressing down each side with a pair of tweezers.
Once the roll-over had been formed, the length of adhesive label was cut to length and the excess at the corners trimmed of at 45 degrees. With that done, the backing was removed and the flashing stuck in place over the brass wires on the roof corners.
Once complete, the whole was given an application of runny super glue to ensure that the slates and flashing were securely fixed together and to the plasticard roof underneath. When all was fully dry, the slates were painted overall in a mid-grey colour, with odd slates picked out in a slightly darker shade, and the flashing painted in a lighter grey. The outside of the gutters were painted in GWR Dark Stone, the soffits below the gutters painted in GWR Light Stone, and the inside of the gutters painted in Precision Paints Frame Dirt (although any generally mucky colour would have done!)
The completed roof structure. I have since touched up the flashing in the near corner where I caught it with Dark Stone. The eagle eyed may have noticed that I put end caps on my guttering - these are simply bits of 0.005" plastic scraps that are cut to profile once fully dry.
With the roof essentially finished (although I will put flashing around where the chimney stack protrudes through the bottom rows of slates once the roof is finally stuck in position), it was time to move the main structure on. The first thing was to paint the upper part of the box in the GWR Light & Dark Stone shades as appropriate :
The painters have been in, and the glaziers have also started their work. Also evident is the small LED that I have fitted to illuminate the interior should Laurie ever want to. The LED is a particularly small one which supposedly runs off 12v (with a suitable resistor) which I purchased from some stand or other at an exhibition a few years ago. In order to fit it I had to drill firstly down the chimney stack then up into that hole from the locking room (forward planning would have been a godsend!!!), I elected to run the +ve lead down the corner of the room into the locking room as it was hard enough to thread the -ve lead down the small hole I had provided!
It was originally my intention to form the windows as I had for my Modbury signal box - with frames cut from sticky label, but trying to cut the arches for the locking room windows proved particularly challenging as the label was apt to tear or fray as I tried to cut out the shape. I therefore decided to cut the frames from 0.005" plastic sheet which allowed very small slithers to be sliced off to correct the arc of the window frame tops. The glazing bars were formed by scrawking the bars on a sheet of thin cobex (from the Association), then covering the grid with white ink and once dry buffing off the excess on the panes with cotton buds.
The frames were attached to the cobex with DLimonene which doesn't appear to have affected the transparency of the cobex at all.
The following 4 photos show each aspect of the box now that the glaziers have finished and all of the windows have been fitted :
The front of the box. As can be seen it is a warm day and the bobby has opened up all of his siding windows to let in a bit of fresh air. The reality is that my panes of glass were very marginally too narrow such that when the frames were set side by side the inner and outer frames did not overlap each other enough!
The locking room door end. The door was simply formed by overlaying a fretted out 0.005" piece with the panels in on a 0.030" backing. The door knob is less than 0.5mm diameter (with a 0.3mm shaft that is glued in a hole in the door), and was a simple turning operation with files and a mini-drill.
The rear of the box. The windows in this face of the box do have their frames cut from a self adhesive label as they were the first to be fitted. Having done the locking room window frames in 0.005" plastic sheet I elected to do the rest of the windows in the same fashion.
The ladder end of the box. The upper storey door has a basis of thin cobex (glazing bars as per other windows), with a fret of door panels and window frame of 0.005" plastic sheet. The sign on the door is simply a piece of black painted 0.005" with edge and "writing" scratched in with a needle.
Having reached the limit of photo upload, I will draw this post to a close. Thank you for looking.
Ian
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1 minute ago, Jeremy Cumberland said:
Surely the frames are painted brown? I have never seen the locomotive, but the frames definitely look to me to be painted brown in the colour photograph, the same colour as the edge of the front buffer beam. The axleboxes might be bare dull brass, but I am more inclined to think they are painted too, in a lighter brown than the frames.
Apologies, you are quite right. I originally viewed the post on my phone (so the image was quite small). Looking again at a much larger image reveals that what I saw as a brass shade is indeed painted a brown colour. Being a post 1900 modeller I am used to seeing (or imagining I’m seeing) Indian Red frames, Iron Duke is clearly sporting a lighter brown rather than Indian red.
Ian
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First, May I also thank you for starting this thread and for the effort involved in your experiments.
Secondly, the thing that jumped out at me with regard to the Iron Duke photo experiment is the tone of the frames - in colour they are clearly polished brass (as are the tops of the splashers), however when the filter is applied the splasher tops still look polished bare metal however the frames look completely different looking painted rather than bare metal!
Ian
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My thoughts regarding the size of the mounting plate is that the larger size was necessary because the coaches were originally built with oil lighting (a much larger fitting) requiring a larger hole in the roof, so converted coaches needed the bigger plate to cover said hole.
Unfortunately, when I built my coaches in 2mm I neglected to notice this, so all of my gas lit coaches (all single pipe) have a small plate.
There we’re a couple of articles by John Lewis in early BRJ’s on coach lighting. I will see if I can find them as I know there were drawings included.
Ian
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Steady progress on the Signal Box ...
Firstly, the bank of levers have been assembled and painted :
The left hand one is for the detonators, so really needs white chevrons on it - rather than trying to paint these on I may firstly try just scratching off the black paint to reveal the white plastic below!
Secondly, the steps have been constructed and attached - well actually, they were built up in situ :
First, the two side rails (stringers) were cut to shape (from 0.020") and attached, ensuring that they were vertical and parallel. Once these had fully dried, the treads were added from strips of 0.015" - to ensure that they were at a consistent spacing, short lengths of 0.040" square strip were used as spacers (as can be seen in the photo). Once the step was pretty dry, the next one up was cut and fitted. Needless to say this took a few hours overall as I wanted to make sure that the step below was secure before the next one up was added.
Once all of the treads were in place and fully dry, the railings were added, firstly, the top and bottom newel posts were fixed in place (the bottom ones having had their tops cut diagonally at the same angle as the staircase), these and the handrail being formed from Evergreen 0.030" square strip. Once the posts were fully dry, the handrails were added, then the central posts were cut and fitted (again with their tops cut at the angle of the staircase). Finally, strips of 0.010" were fitted half way up the newel posts.
The final bit of progress is the start that I've made on the roof. Firstly, a rectangle of 0.030" was cut to represent the soffits around the roof and also to provide a flat base plate to build the rest of the structure upon. Once happy that all of the edges were perpendicular, some little noggins of 0.040" square plastic were fitted to the underside which engage within the "ring beam" of woodwork forming the top framing of the windows. The guttering was then added using my normal method of gouging a 0.8mm round groove in the edge of some 0.030" plastic sheet. This is done with the non-fluted end of a 0.8mm drill in a pin chuck. Once the groove has been made, the sheet is turned over and a razor blade scraped along the edge of the sheet (where the groove is on the other side!) to form the underside of the guttering. Once happy, the guttering is cut from the sheet with a bit of land to allow fixing in place on the base plate.
The roof "base plate" showing the pieces of 0.040" which engage snuggly within the "ring beam" of the main structure. Also evident is the underside of the guttering.
The top side of the roof "base plate" showing the guttering in place.
The roof base fitted in place on the main structure.
The next task was to form the hip roof. This was cut from 0.030", and was surprisingly simple to execute (although I did mock it up in thin card first to make sure that my calculations of angles gave me the shape and size I wanted.
Although I ended up with a hip roof of the correct height, when it was tested against the guttering on the base I discovered that it was very slightly too short (the guttering stuck out a bit too much on one end). Rather than re-making the guttering, I elected instead to lengthen the roof! This was accomplished by simply welding on a sheet of 0.015" onto the triangle at one end of the roof, and once dry cutting and sanding it flush.
The next task will be to unite the hip roof to the roof base and guttering. Then I will cut some slate strips from sticky label and get those fitted. Then it will be painting the woodwork before finally making and fitting the doors and windows.
Thanks for looking
Ian
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Just a little bit of progress on the Pen Mill signal box (I've been baby and dog sitting so have been away from the work bench for a couple of days). However, before embarking on those duties I did manage to get a bit of paint on the box. The whole of the brickwork was painted in a mortar colour (actually Precision Paints GWR Light Stone let down with a dash or two of white), then the bricks themselves were applied by dry brushing a couple of red brick shades mixed up from Humbrol 73, 100 & 113.
The views below show the results :
Before I start to paint the box's exterior woodwork, I want to paint the inside. But before I do that I have decided to make up the levers. These are simply a representation as although there are lots of windows experience shows that they won't be that easy to see so the fidelity of some nice etched levers seems an extravagance.
The base for the levers is simply a strip of 0.020" plasticard which has a series of parallel scrawked grooves across it at 0.8mm centres. Because I had made one of the grooves a little deep the base separated so has been backed with a piece of 0.005". The edges of the strip have been scraped with a razor blade to give a bit of a domed profile to the strip. The levers themselves are even simpler, being cut from a 0.010"x0.020" strip of plastic. I have made them 6mm long, a cut being made in one end and one side of the split cut short and splayed out to represent the catch handle.
The next job will be to assemble this little lot and paint the levers. However, before I can do that I needed to establish what colours each of the levers needed to be. Luckily, Laurie's research had provided me with the signalling diagram for Yeovil Pen Mill's South Box (this one). He also has the same for the North Box, but that is out of scope for his model.
Yeovil Pen Mill South Box signalling diagram. Now I'm no signalling guru, so have absolutely no idea what "FPL's 11 & 13 stand normally 'Out'" means but I assume that the levers lean forward (i.e. towards the signalman) when Normal. Similarly, "Points 19 fitted with Langley & Prince's 'Economic' lock and stand bolted" indicates to me that there was no separate Facing Point Lock Lever for Points 19. Also, "Discs 5 & 23 mechanically selected" means nothing to me, but I assume that the states of those ground signals is determined mechanically depending on points 10 and 12. Finally, "Spagnoletti Block on Main Lines" is also a mystery to me and may have something to do the with the dotted lines A-B, C-D and T.C.
Signalling engineers should probably stop reading this entry NOW!!
However, armed with what little I do know about signalling I decided I would try to determine the lever colours from the above diagram, so produced a little spreadsheet :
I have written a little formula in the "Colour" column that "calculates" the colour based on the text in "Type". The "Action" column is simply my description based on reading the signalling diagram above. I have called the platform roads by the A-B or C-D shown on the signalling diagram merely so that I can provide a sensible (to me) link between my description and the diagram. I have no idea what 26 is on the signalling diagram as it seems to relate to the two little 'O's and +'s adjacent. As the levers at the left and right hand ends of the frame generally relate to signals I will paint lever 26 red.
That's it for this instalment, if anyone can enlighten me further with regards to the signalling diagram it will be much appreciated, even though for my purposes I probably don't need to know.
Thanks for looking
Ian
- 8
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A little progress on the Pen Mill signal box. Initially, I was going to paint the brickwork before making a start on the upper works, but in the end I decided that I would be handling the model quite a bit so have delayed the brickwork painting until the stage I have now reached.
Since the first instalment, I have again been studying the post card view which is the only view that we have of the rear and non-step end of the box. The signal box (and the Pen Mill engine shed complex) can be seen in the middle distance, and my interpretation of this view is that the signal box has a window in the upper storey to the right of the chimney stack, which makes some sense as the line to Yeovil Town station runs behind the box. With that in mind, I have removed a window sized area from the back wall in this corner.
The post card view that shows the rear of the signal box. The whitewashed cattle pens are towards the left of the view, slightly further to the right is what looks like another wooden signal box but is in fact a Linesman's hut (according to one of the large scale maps Laurie has). The subject of this build is the signal box immediately to the right (and nearer to the camera) of the Linesman's hut.
The following photos show the state of play of the model :
The upper works have been cut from 0.020" plasticard (the parallel plank grooves having been scrawked on first). Once fitted in place, various strips of suitably thick plasticard were used to build up the framing on the basic elevations.
The corner posts had pieces of Evergreen 0.030"x0.030" welded in place to build up the profile of the corner posts (as the butted sides and ends left an L shaped corner post). Once fully dry, a fine file was applied to ensure the posts were square and the correct size. The window sills were 0.015" plasticard strips cut to fit between the framing, and sit atop of the scribed panels.
The odd shaped piece of plastic in all these photos is effectively a "ring beam" that will give strength to the corner posts and form the framing above the window and door openings. This was cut from a piece of 0.060" plastic sheet so that it fits between the walls and corner posts. The hole in the middle is to allow me to get into the upper floor area to furnish it after painting. The hole will also serve as a method to allow the roof sub-assembly to be retained - the plan is to have a removable roof.
The "ring beam" temporarily slotted into position.
Another view with the "ring beam" temporarily popped in place. This view also shows the new window reveal in the back wall of the signal box.
The next job will be to paint the brickwork. Then the steps, doors and windows can be made and fitted.
Thanks for looking
Ian
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1 hour ago, 65179 said:
Is it the box shown in the photo a third of the way down this webpage that you are doing Ian?
https://www.yeovilhistory.info/penmillstation.htm
Simon
Simon,
Yes, the box is at the end of the engine shed complex, in the junction of diverging lines.
Ian
N Gauge Journal article about females in the hobby
in 2mm Finescale
Posted
Within the Midland Area Group we have Barbara who can often be found sticking bits and pieces of Severn Models kits together (last time I think she was working on the levers for a signal box), and was responsible for at least one of the cameo scenes on St. Ruth.
Ian