LDM34046

Granted I've not been very active this side of the year however I greatly appreciate all the support the layouts and my modelling has received! RMWeb continues to be a gold mine of inspiration and knowledge! Hopefully time will be more friendly and allow time to post more regularly on this feed.

Wishing everyone a very 'Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!'

It’s not just green diesels I’ve got a thing for. Peckett’s seem to be getting the better of me!

‘614’ returns to the fleet, suitably weathered by Neville Grove.

No.4 ‘Bear’ also joins the line-up. The first of the open cabs and a great way to show off the Modelu Crew and details.

This’ll join the queue for DCC fitting and weathering at some point in the future!

That brings the total up to four….

When will it end! 🤣

You may have noticed the hulking great trees in the background. They’re from MBR Models in Poland, as recommended by a well known Wooly member of the site!

The detail and build quality is absolutely phenomenal and despite their side, with a bit of blending with the scatter, they’ll fit in quite nicely.

Since you last saw them clad in PolyFiller, the two remaining buildings have been restarted, this time with plastic sheet. I felt the filler would have lacked the detail and texture compared to that of the plastic.

I’m looking forward to making a start on getting these painted. I’m undecided on whether to model some interiors however with the plan to eventually fit lighting I would definitely be doing it injustice if I didn’t.

The road bridge at the far end has also been painted with a variety of dry-brushing and washes. It’s coming along nicely although will benefit from some weathering powders and foliage.

Using more products from MBR, Bushes have been added, predominantly along the front of the layout and between the sidings. This as added quite a bit of depth and height and provides some great low angles for photography.

10 hours ago, sb67 said:

 

I like weathering on those vans, how did you get that? The fading of the panels looks good  👍

Unfortunately I haven't got any photos to demonstrate the process.

A simple case of wipe on, wipe off. Using a dark grey acrylic, paint the entire model, it always seems a bit scary at first. Allow to 'set' for a couple of minutes before wiping it off with cotton buds in a downward motion. This will remove the paint from the flat surfaces but will remain in all the edges, creases and gaps, as it would in real life.

Once that's done I go over various areas with a variety of different powders. Rust and browns for the under frame with black and soot to further detail the body. I use a white weathering powder in the centre of the body panels to give a faded look.

20 minutes ago, McC said:

accurascale green 37’s are in hand and shipping to customers? 

So I hear.

Originally due in April, I cancelled my order a while ago after getting increasingly frustrated with delays.

The 31’s were also due in April, then due now, but now delayed to next year.

More weathering practice continued on the growing fleet of box vans. Again, more trials and tribulations with weathering powders and acrylic paints however I'm slowly starting to find my rhythm! 

Lancaster Lane made a reappearance...

It's small size and nature means that it can quite easily be erected from under the better to on the bookshelf in front of the natural light. It's a great way to kill some time with a shunting puzzle or photograph a few new cameos. Perhaps in the not too distant future I might revive some of the scenics and track work.

As with my previous update, my love affair with BR Green continues to thrive and a new addition of the Bachmann 37 as only strengthened that. A fantastic models, all the lights and sound and excellent detailing has made it a regular for me running on the club layout. It's a shame Accurascale never delivered with their variant as the Bachmann model really does shine through. 

Well it's about time I start posting on here a bit more. Fair to say I'm absolutely useless at posting updates on here. Facebook & Instagram are much more my forte! A visit to Uckfield MRS today and meeting a few RMWebber's as spurred me on to be a bit more active on this thread and forum!

An imposing building now sits on the above the tree-tops at Dewar's Street.

The distillery is now in place with huge thanks to Colin, a good friend of mine at Flexxgenix and his work in designing and creating this brilliant kit. Loosely based on elements of the real Dewar's building in Aberfeldy, the kit and sizing was based on scale drawings found in the distillery's museum.

Painting consisted of layers of Vallejo acrylic paints and Citadel washes to build up the shades and highlights of the brickwork. A lightning conductor was also scratch built out of brass, clearly working to good effect! 😂

The first layers of paint and dry-brushing was also applied to the distillery gates…

Another project I've been working on is a 'childhood' loco of mine.
 

Original in BR Blue and numbered 25245 it was my first 'proper loco' on my old layout 7+ years ago. It was fitted with Legomanbiffo sound at the time and was poorly weathered by me however in recent years I couldn't bring myself to sell It.

Thanks to the Bachman Spares website and a replacement shell it has now taken on the BR Green guise numbered as 25043, much more suited to my current modelling era.

The original chassis and under frame still needs some work and weathering to match the shell but is now a lovely new 're-addition' to the layout, complete with its original sound and lights from my childhood.

The first of a couple new locomotive additions to the fleet and my first foray into Heljan.

Class 27 ‘D5347’ in BR Green

The loco itself looks great, lovely proportions and a smooth motor. However the downfall soon came about regarding the bogies.

I found the couplings drooped heavily and there was no option to run both couplings and snowploughs. The snowploughs also fouled the bogies and the detailing pack was too chunky to fit in the allocated holes.

After a profanity filled evening, the bogies were modified to fit directly onto the chassis with a Bachmann detailing pack used instead. Couplings were fashioned using 0.45mm brass wire which work surprisingly well across all my stock.

Apologies for the absence.

Life has been rather cruel recently throwing a few horrible unexpected events and changes.

The layout has been untouched from a running standpoint however I’ve been working  on a few projects on the workbench to keep me busy.

Painting started with a layer of grey, followed by a dark brown wash. Various dry brushing layers of light grey, cream and white were then used to build highlight the cracks and edges.

Particularly fond of the results in the garage. Streaky dry brushing on the smooth surface resulted in an oily concrete finish.

Next job is to add some foliage around the edges of the buildings to blend them in along with a few bits of moss on the cobbles. Also looking to experiment with adding some puddles.

Productive start with the new and improved street. Started with a thin layer of DAS clay and laid into place.

The cobbles were scribed into the clay with textured rolling pins. A great little tool and a great finish. Quite like the inconsistency in the pattern along with the different depths and heights of the bricks.

A thin layer of PVA to seal it all and then to start on the painting.

A few shots of the main street to the east of the layout. 
 

After much deliberation I decided I wasn’t overly happy with the look of the area, in particular the street surface. 
 

I want to experiment with some cobble stones, along with shrubs, rough grass and maybe some puddles to improve the whole area.

I’m hoping to go for a more rustic, uneven, country look. Similar to streets I’ve seen on my travels in Scotland, Cotswolds and Devon.

Sunrise over the dales…

Another project completed! ✅

Originally in BR Blue, the Class 25 has been resprayed in BR Green and so the domino headcode is incorrect. It’s been on my list for a while to change and I finally got round to it.

Using a scalpel I was able to carefully remove the glazing. The glazing was then soaked in strong thinners to loosen and remove the ‘domino’ paint behind the glazing.

The new headcodes are off a sheet from Pacific Models, cut to size and glued to the plastic. I settled on a generic code for mixed freight, the most common working I tend to run.

The edges of the headcode were painted with black acrylic to minimise light leak.

They were then carefully glued back in place and the frame tidied up with some grey acrylic paint

A vast improvement and now comfortably in the correct era!

2 minutes ago, Graham T said:

You're welcome - I'm also enjoying watching this build.  The weathering and the development of the scenery are very instructive.

 

I live in Austria, and if I remember correctly MBR are in Poland, so I can't really give you an idea on postage times, sorry.  But MBR were very good when I bought from them and turned things around pretty quickly.  You will have to cross your fingers with regard to the UK postal "service" though!

 

‘Service’ is a strong term for it! 😂

It’s stressful at times! Post depends on what way the wind blows!

As with most things in Europe, I imagine it’s a much for efficient service!

8 minutes ago, Graham T said:

Another thumbs up for MBR from me 🙂

 

Thank you Graham! Fills me with more confidence. How long was the postage?

I’m very much enjoying your progress on Chuffnell Regis!

Slowly working on trees. Having been distracted with weathering wagons scenic work has slowed.

I’ve ordered some more products and materials, this time from MBR on the recommendation of @NHY 581 of which he’s used to great success. 
 

I’m not sure on postage times but very much looking forward to adding some more trees and depth, especially towards the front of the layout.

12 hours ago, jafcreasey said:

 

Some lovely weathering up the thread (specifically the rust application), but special mention for the editing of this picture - the smoke-effect is perfect and utterly believable.  One of the best edits seen on RMweb, in my opinion 👏 

Thank you!

I know photoshop is sometimes frowned up in modelling as it’s not a physical thing and a lot of can be faked. However, photos like this really are a testament to the quality and up close detail of current RTR models.

12 hours ago, Dragonboy said:

Very nice weathering indeed. I have to say I think I enjoy making wagon kits and weathering them, and it  is possibly the area of the hobby that I enjoy the most, and is my go to when the mojo gets a bit low.

 

I’ve modelled in N now for 50 years so have amassed far more rolling stock than have layout space for but perversely I take delight in opening a draw, tray, or box and  find things I know I can do better now so into the paint stripper they go. 
 

Brian

I’m really enjoying the weathering processes at the moment. Doing one wagon a night is a great little project and it’s actually very hard to mess it up! If you’ve over done it, then it’s quite easy to remove and start again.

I agree, rolling stock is rather addictive, I’ve amassed way more than my layout can use! Luckily I’ve got the excuse of the club layout to run it.

What with the recent centennial celebrations for ‘Flying Scotsman’ I thought I’d take a bite at Hornby’s latest offering of the model.

It’s a stunning model, which one would expect for the prices. Excellent details and faultless finish on the lining and lettering. The model suffers from that ‘plastic shine’ however a subtle weathering job should relieve that.

The model performed well on the club layout, pulling the rake of Mk1’s around the tight radius and steep inclines.

A touch of photoshop magic…