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40 minutes ago, Mallard60022 said:

Open goal there St. Far too tempting. However I have taken an oath...……………..

Cracker that Dave, really excellent shape. I'd be up for going to Pendon just to do that course. Presumably there is suitable accommodation nearby? Unless, of course, it might be another idea for one, or part of one to do at Bytham/ the Pub? 

Phil

Phil

This is the course at Pendon https://pendonmuseum.com/events/event.php?s=make-trees-the-pendon-way-weekend-workshop

but the Nov 19 course is fully booked. There will be another 2 next year = need to get in early.

There is accomodation near by. Worth a look at Gordon Gravett books (Wild Swan) if you would like to get some idea of what is needed.

Dave

On 20/07/2019 at 09:38, jwealleans said:

He was due to be moving back to the UK - maybe that's taken his time?

FYI from loco builder U tube

Does anyone know waht has happened to Tom. I was following his loco builder u tube videos with great interest - last one over 4 months ago.

12 hours ago, Brinkly said:

@Tony Wright

 

 

Where did you get that handy device from Tony? 

 

Kind regards,

 

Nick.

The painting handles are available from Phoenix Paints

Dave

For those doing the Gloucester conversion. Modelu have put the vacuum cylinders on their web site

https://www.modelu3d.co.uk/product-category/detailing-components/locomotive-detailing/rolling-stock/

Following on from some correspondence with Bob, the alternative route for the different discharge equipment of the Cemflo would be a photoetch for the complete unit. This would give finer detail than a 3D print. I will have a go at the design after a couple of other jobs for artwork have been completed. Bob has kindly supplied some engineering drawings.

Dave

7 hours ago, Clearwater said:

Tony

 

If you’ve not seen it, this picture may be of interest:

 

 

https://transportsofdelight.smugmug.com/RAILWAYS/MIDLAND-GREAT-NORTHERN-JOINT-RAILWAY/MGNJR-MISCELLANY/i-DPnPg3v/M. Someone called Paul Johnson - interesting collection of photos.

 

David

 

What a good find!

Pity we haven't got one of those Star Trek viewers so we can get a closer look and see the bridge deck

David

1 hour ago, jamie92208 said:

I suspect that the upper pair of londitunal beams seem to support walkways. I also suspect that the rails would be supported on londitudinal beams a la Brunel which would make it easier to get the levels correct on the sloping deck plates.  There would, I think, be plenty of drainage slots along the side otherwise corrosion would be a real problem. One idea might be to look at photos of the rails on the Forth Bridge, which was from a similar date and used a special rail section on bearer beams. 

 

Jamie

Here is a modelled example of the longitudinal rail bearers - possibly add walkways and ballast up to the beams for LB

Tony

Looking at the original drawings there are 4 sets of longitudinal support beams (rail bearers) lying between the cross beams and directly underneath the 4 rail centres (double track). It is possible that the supporting sleepers could be longitudinal with tie bars connecting them or cross sleepering - need that photo! The rail bearers should govern the spacing of the two tracks.

There are also two raised longitudinals (sitting on top of the deck plate) running the length of the span with top plates connected to each truss. This would be a nice feature to add. I expect it would be ballasted up to the beam shown. Check rails as well? Would be good.

Hope this helps

Dave

Thanks to all who have opened up and shared their stories (and advice) about mental health problems and relationships over the last couple of days. It does seem to be a topic that is getting more discussion and no longer carries the stigma that it used to. I got into railway modelling just 10 years ago (rather late but never too late), and it has helped me to not only get over a health anxiety crisis, but to bring back fond memories of my father who passed away far too early. He was a Civil Engineer working for British Railways. It is only recently that I have realised how lucky I was to go 'walking the track' with him when I was a youngster. So railway modelling brings back happy times, has given me the chance to be creative which is a great medicine, and has brought me into contact with like-minded guys who are always willing to help and be supportive.

I note the messages re not falling into the perfectionism trap and knowing when to stop and be satisfied. This can be difficult when you see superb modelling skills that you can only dream of getting close to. The other point I guess is to get the railway modelling / life balance right which is just as important as the work / life balance. So for me walking in the great outdoors and getting on the bike (push) are equally important. Having a partner who understands your needs is a bonus (still looking), and then it is only fair to understand their needs too.

Was out walking in Nitherdale, Yorksire last week and spotted these two

Would be great to include on the layout. I wonder if they would keep still long enough for a laser scan

On 03/06/2019 at 18:54, Tony Wright said:

I don't know, John,

 

It's certainly different from my TC Antex, which has a great big box to control the temperature. The one you've shown is also cheaper. 

 

I don't think mine (660 TC) is made any more. 

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

I also have the Antex 660 TC which serves me well. I see the equivalent analogue and digital replacements have been posted.

I would very much like to mention how much I have been impressed with the RSU (from London Road Models). It's got to the state where I often have both operational and switch between them depending on the task in hand.

When I first used the RSU I guess it was a bit scary, but over time it been an enormous help with difficult tasks. It has been especially useful for soldering tinned (with the Antex) joints where there is limited access. Below are a couple of applications - sorry about the untidy working area!

The last photo shows a method to solder two parts back to back which are clamped via pieces of balsa (for heat and electrical isolation). In this instance 2 probes are used instead of one probe and a connected plate.

David

1 hour ago, Pillar said:

 

Fantastic weathering you've achieved there. Can I ask whether you had any issue with the white spirit affecting the factory-applied finish on the models? Unfortunately I managed to spill isopropanol on one of mine and it removed a patch of silver from the barrel within a few seconds! This surprised me, as I've previously found that isopropanol needed a long soak to remove any sort of factory-applied paint by other manfuacturers. I suppose it could be due to the finish being metallic.

 

Hopefully I can cover it up with some strategically placed cement strains...

 

White spirit did not adversely effect the paint finish (when mixing with the oils), and even when I used a flat damp brush (white spirit) to clean up overpaint with the very first task of panel lining. I guess flooding the surface might have behaved differently. I did have one or two issues with decals being attacked so was careful not to paint too much oil over them and kept the spray clear when airbrushing acrylics to the lower tank area. The Dullcote varnish might give a degree of protection. Your solution with a stain cover sounds ideal. The Isoproponal will be more aggressive (last resort for cleaning unwanted paint off), so perhaps there lies the problem. Pleased to help

David

24 minutes ago, RBAGE said:

If anyone would like to express any interest, it might help to cover the cost of CAD drawings and printing and encourage me to follow the printing route.

The barrel on the Gloucester's and the Met Camms are, as far as I can tell, the same size. That the Gloucester's sit higher on the chassis explains many of the visible differences:

 - air pipe offset

 - higher support gusset

 - end platform cylinder positions

I don't intend changing the end cylinders but I did commission Gloucester cylinders for my Triang conversion a few years ago. These cylinders are still available.

If you want to convert your cemflos to the correct height, you also need to consider the barrel ribs. These will need to be extended to the chassis.

I have drawings from the Gloucester archive. Surprisingly, the archive also had Met Camm drawings. I have a great contact for such information but I'm not sure if he would be happy for him to post his name but suffice to say, these conversions would be much more difficult and very much approximations without his help.  

You might need a few expressions of interest for the 3 D printing but you can put my name down so far. Would it be possible to scan the relevent parts of drawings and post them here assuming you can get permission.

Bob

Looking good, and I see quite a few changes. 3 D printed sounds a nice option - I would be interested to hear what Alan Butler comes up with. I like your attention to detail - 0.75mm higher! I assume you have a good set of drawings for the Gloucester?

I expect there could be a quite a number of modellers wanting to do this conversion.

David

Thanks Fran

Now we come to the 4th and final stage of the Cemflo weathering.

a) The components around the lower part of the tank are highlighted by applying blue / black wash. It is also applied for a second time to some of the hatch closure parts and to strengthen some of the darker spillage areas.

b) Then, the underframe and ends are treated with pigments; dark mud, track rust, burnt umber and European dust. By checking the prototype photos the extent of dirt / corrosion / overspill can be replicated. The dark mud is particularly good when applied to the brake pads. The combination of burnt umber and European dust around the discharge chute is used to give a dirty cement effect.

c) Next (assuming some maintenance has taken place), leaking and stains exhaust oil effect if applied to some of the lubricated parts and engine oil around some of the axle boxes.

d) The buffers need to be toned down. This is done with the burnt umber / European dust combination, followed by spotting the contact points with leaking and stains. The gloss can be reduced a little with pigments once dry.

Here are the 12 Cemflos in weathered conditon. You may notice that two (near the front) have had less service and therefore have lighter weathering, but from exactly the same pallette.

Well they are not quite finished. The screw link couplings will be modified before adding and then weathered (to match).

The handwheels also need to be cleaned up a little around the rim - possibly with a touch of white paint.

Another 2 will be weathered after Gloucester conversion - I have kept one pristine as it is good to see the contrast.

This weathering has only been possible by expert tuition and guidance provided by Mick Bonwick and Tim Shackleton at courses, at both Missenden Abbey http://www.missendenrailwaymodellers.org.uk/ and Pendon Museum https://pendonmuseum.com/.

Thanks guys.

Good luck with your weathering!

David

The remaining 8 Cemflos were airbrushed over the lower tank areas as before, so now we come to stage 3 of the weathering involving the spillage around the hatches and the blending of tank sides

These are the materials used for stage 3

a) A wash of deep grey is applied to the workings around the hatches and the platform. Spread and thin with white spirit

b)  Then LC liquid pigment (dried salt) is applied to the areas where the spillages will extend to. This was done in 3 layers with partial drying each time and some spreading to avoid drips and blotches.

c) After the last coat, and when the surface was tacky LC pigment European Dust was patched on top of the areas as shown below

d) Another 2 coats of dried salt added (this can be done until the desired effect is reached)

e) Again pigments are added to a tacky surface this time using the the European Dust and Ab 502 Alkaline Dust as well to give some tonal variation

f) Next, to get a bit of depth to the spillage the tanks are spayed with Dullcote and when tacky European Dust is tapped from a brush onto the higher part of the spillages and around the platform and hatches. This is then adjusted with a brush to even out any clumps. Thanks to Mick Bonwick for showing me this technique at Pendon. This can be repeated depending on the intensity required.

At this stage Ab 502 Ashes grey can be added around the spills with reference to the prototype photographs.

It is blended in carefully with the European Dust. The sequences d) to f) can be repeated as often as necessary to get the desired effect with new areas of spillage being revealed.

g) To give fresh areas of spill and white patches where the upper dirty layers have peeled off, the LC Dried Salt is applied with a small brush a number of times to get the right strength and blended in (when dry) with the European Dust

h) Next the upper and lower parts of the tank need to be blended. For this use the Urban Industry Dirt pigment which is very close to the air brush mix previously applied to the lower tank area. This is worked upwards and European Dust worked downwards to remove any obvious division between areas

So 4 Cemflos have reached this phase and 6 more to do before the final stage. This will involve further weathering of the underframe and ends

I have included the original 2 completed Cemflos in the photo below for reference, which if you recall was the maximum grubbiness I was going to.

David

Here goes with stage 2 of the Cemflo weathering

a) As previously mentioned we now come to oil paints which sounds a bit scary, but it can be worked and easily removed with white spirit  so there is plenty of time to adjust. I was using the colours as below

The Paynes grey is too dark so it was made paler with some white and a touch of yellow. The colours are spotted onto the tank sides with different patterns to give variability. Load to a piece of card so that excess oil is soaked away.

The colours are then mixed with, first dry and then with a damp brush finally giving vertical strokes. The amount of paint applied will give variability and determine how much of the previous layers are maintained.

The same is done on some of the ends to a lesser extent.

Additional dabs of paint (white and black) are added for localised variation and to give some streaking effects - done with a dry brushing method

b) Airbrushing next with a mix of the paints below. Initially this was mixed 2 parts frame dirt / 1 part sleeper grime / 1 part track dirt

This is applied to the lower part of the tank and the upper part of the underframe plus frame ends. The paint applied was generally light and variable from tank to tank but if too heavy then it is manipulated with thinners which gives a secondary effect. Areas can also be treated with thinner and a comb brush to generate some streaking. As acrylic is used it needs to be done soon after applying paint. The lower part of the tank will have more treatment but base layer is now applied (2 out of 10 for now!)

After completing the other 8 as above, then up next will be the base layers for the spills around the hatches

David

40 minutes ago, 'CHARD said:

 

This is a footbridge, yes?  

Sorry - I have corrected the grammer above.

This is the railway bridge

As promised here is the first installment of weathering Cemflos by the same (or similar) method to those shown earlier in this thread.

Background - I was trying to get a 4  - 6 years in use look. Most colour Cemflo photos are much older, so I looked at how weathering of similar cement carrying tank wagons looked after the shorter service time. They would therefore still show signs of continuous cement spilage and staining from hatch lubrication but the frame would be suffering more with accumulated dirt rather than severe corrosion. The photo of the two Cemflos earlier are about as far as I want to go with intensity. The remaining 11 will be weathered to a lesser extent but I need to keep the same colour pallete.

Below are the materials used for stage 1

a) Dullcote over the tank including the sides

b) Panel lines using the blue /black wash - this is optional and will give a shadow under subsequent layers. It is especially useful on the tank ends where there are recesses.

c) When dry (overnight) - brush the Tensocrom white oxide diluted with acrylic thinners 50:50 over the tank body and ends making sure it spreads (not evenly but without blotches) - use thinners to clean off the numbers etc.

d) The Tensocrom was then airbrushed on - first Dust type 1 again diluted and with the air pressure turned right down to get up close. Random over the tank (a little on the ends perhaps), and filling in gaps around the decals. Finally Dust type 2 around the hatches. These last two are again optional but do give some tonal variation (and they were included in the LC set!)

Then moving onto the underframe as below

e) LC frame dirt airbrushed over the underside and then sides (blow tank) and in the ends (light dusting)

Next time will be more colour variation and streaking effects on the tank side using oils (scary! - method courtesy of Tim Shackleton)

On 24/05/2019 at 08:08, The Ghost of IKB said:

They look fantastic, any chance you could explain what you did? I have no idea where to start with weathering these.

 

No problem to share the technique I have used to get this particular weathered look. I have just started another 11 Cemflos so will take photos as I progress (with explanation). Planning to convert two of them to Gloucesters so those will have to wait (hopefully RBAGE will share?). Please give me a little time as busy building a bridge (from brass frets) just now.

The Cemflo weathering takes quite some time and involves many steps (perhaps more than needed as I was experimenting)

I will give the initial installment later this weekend but the starting point is Dullcote followed by Lifecolour Tensocrom - White Oxide (diluted) on the tank to give an oxidised aluminium base plus a light dusting of LC frame dirt over the underframe.

David

A couple of Cemflos weathered - 13 to go!

Thanks to Tim and Mick, these were started at the the Pendon Museum weathering course. Finished at home. Quite a variety of media to get this effect including oils.

David

I have managed to strip the weathering and paint off 3 sets of preTOPS plate bogies which will be fitted to pristine TOPS wagons for preTOPS coversion (with transfers conversion to do later). They are of course brown plastic and need to be painted grey. The colour is battleship grey (Pantone 415C). Could anyone please advise which paint colour to go for so I can get a reasonable colour match to the bodies.

Hattons have very kindly exchanged 3 over weathered hoppers for pristine versions. Unfortunately I could only get TOPS era as all pristine or lightly weathered pre TOPS are sold out. So a conversion will be needed as the axle box design changed to roller bearings from oil pad, plus a plate is needed to carry the runnng number. I will then weather them to a lesser degree. The bogie conversion will not be easy (they do not have spare bogies), either with styrene or perhaps white metal castings. Transfers will be another issue. I reckon this will be easier than trying to cut back the heavy weathering but only time will tell.

Hi there, Can you return the PC2 please to  Rapido/SH Models 40 Meadowfield Road, Darlington DL3 0DX with a note with what's wrong! & your address and we will sort you out, all the second batch is due shortly along with the spares. Thanks Charlie (DCKits)

Thanks for your support. I will let Locomotion know what the plan is as the purchase was from those guys. Cheers