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paulprice

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  1. paulprice
    Well I may have missed the Wigan Show this weekend, and all the bargains but I have managed to find some modelling time. The Domestic Overlord has been a little poorly, so because I am such a good Boy I have been looking after him, and providing many, many hot toddies.
    The problem with this is it made the DO very sleepy and he could barley keep his little eyes open (insert Evil Laugh here > > ) and this is where my plan fell into place. While the DO snored away in the land of nod, and the neighbours hid from what they must have thought was a massive thunder storm I worked away.
    The first of my little projects that got some attention was my attempt to produce a Princess, the body has had quite a lot of filler, and a few added details, but she has now got a coat of grey paint. I also did a little work on her chassis, and front bogie. I will have to remove a "wedge" from the back of each cylinder so her bogie will have more sway to get round tighter curves, and then work on the trailing wheels but I think she is looking promising?
     
    What I have noticed thought, just after I have built and primed the tender, is that the old Gem kits are a bit wide, maybe I should dissemble the tender and then try to thin the sides, oh decisions, decisions Oh and yes I know the wheels don't quite line up with the splashers, but this is because I just plonked the body on the chassis, to does fit moved forwards a little.
    Away from Passenger locomotives, work on the "water heater" 7F has seen as much of the gubbins I could research attached and a coat of primer applied. When I have given her a nice coat of black I will darken the worm gear to try and hide it. I still have to add her handrails and steps and do a little more work on her chassis, but soon, I hope she will be ready to get a goat coat of grime, and then she can join her two sisters in the fleet.
     
    After a bit of filler, I managed to get a coat of primer on my Prince of Whales tank, and she has been plopped on her intended chassis just so I can get a feel for how she will look when finished, she is still a little high, so that will take priority. Then I need to attach her front bogie (which means I have to work on the pivot a little) and then her trailing wheels and quite a few other bits and bobs but she is getting there.

     
    While I had the primer out, I thought I would give something else a coat of grey, yes my left hand got a coat but so did the black Duchess (the one with the original terrible lining), this has led to a bit of a decision. Should I finish her off in works grey livery OR should I turn her into a member of the class that ended up attached to a streamliner tender? Now the fact that you cant see her tender, maybe a hint but it could also be because I put the tender somewhere safe, so safe in fact I forgot where it is.

     
    So that's the end of the progress for who knows how long, the problem is with progress it tends to show you how much still needs t be done, and I have a hell of a lot still to do. So there you are the Price Paint shop is beginning to fill up, which means some of the locomotives will need lining, and that maybe a problem as after the last locomotives left the paint shop I swore I would never line a locomotive again :(


    So until the next time when ever that may be, as ever Happy Modelling
  2. paulprice
    The problem is with making locomotives is that sooner or later you have to paint them, now even though I have a thing for great lumbering freight engines life should be easy, but when do I ever make things easy for myself?
     
    So over the last couple of weeks, there has been a little progress down and the Price paint shops, initially I thought thanks to almost constant hand spasms that I would just concentrate on simple black engines, but when do I ever make things easy for myself?
     
    Originally I thought I would add another big passenger loco to the fleet, and had thoughts about an ex LNWR Prince of Wales tank, so one slowly made its way along the production lines on the workbench of DOOM. Once I got to the stage where I could apply undercoat, I thought I would give her final coat a little thought, I had thought a nice simple smart unlined black....definitely no lining as I had seen too much of that in the past.

    So it would be simple a few passes of black, a little more detailing to add to the locomotive, bang a few numbers of and LMS branding and the locomotive could be added to the fleet. So I had a thought, even though my hand spasms were a bit of a pain (literally and figuratively) I thought if I tried, if it looked a little wonky I could always repaint it into black again? So armed with some severely adapted paintbrushes, I set to work, a centimetre or so at a time.

    So far I have managed to get one side and the back of the bunker lined, and the results of my shaky hands is more than obvious, but in real life and from a bit of a distance away its not so obvious and a good coat of muck will hide a lot of it. To try and restore a little sanity I set to work numbering the 7F (water heater) that had been hanging around getting in the way, all I need to do is add a few more details under the running plate and then I can get my weathering equipment from the train prison (that is if the Domestic Overlord will let me have the key )

    This will definitely be the last Fowler 7F to join the fleet, as there are lots more LMS type I can make a mess off, plus I have to finish off a couple of G2's to add some balance to the fleet. Getting back to messing up other locomotive types, time for a little update on my attempt to produce a Princess, I had got her to the stage of receiving a decent coat of crimson, just like all proper loco's should have.

    Again working very very slowly and with a nearly bald paintbrush, I have managed to get the majority of the lining done on her, she still needs one cab finishing off, and one side of her tender but she is nearly there, though paining yellow-black-yellow lines on the tender has nearly seen the end of me, and from normal viewing distances I am not sure its worth it but she is slowly getting there (wherever that is?) and I think I am beginning to like the Princess class, but she will be the sole example in the fleet.

    Well all that leaves is the progress on the poor Jubilee I has to rescue, from Evil Bay, thankfully she is out of her terrible BR livery and I have started to paint her new black bits, but as for lining I'm afraid the poor girl will just have to wait.....

    So that's pretty much it, I have re-numbered what was supposed to have been my last Jubilee into Agamemnon, I just have to decide if she needs so serious weathering?

    Hopefully if I get a little more modelling time over the next few days and I use it wisely I may see projects actually leaving the workbench of DOOM, but for the moment it looks a little tidier, and definitely NO MORE JUBILEES

    As ever Happy Modelling
  3. paulprice
    Well a little progress has been made on the locomotives clogging up the Workbench of DOOM, progress has been slow as three of them need lining, and trying to do this by hand in N gauge is not easy, especially with hands that seem never to stop shaking.
     
    Anyway a decent coat of weathering will hide a multitude of my sins, so really when you come to think about it, is it really worth the effort, and boy has it been an effort. The first of the Locomotive slowly progressing towards completion is my attempt to represent a Princess, I have a few more details to add to the body and a little tidying up of her crimson coat and I will have to finally sort her chassis out, especially the leading and trailing wheels.


    She is missing a bit of lining but I'm not saying where from, I will let you work that out, the problem is which number to apply to her, a hint would be that I have always lined the name Arthur. What I need to do Is order some new numbers and insignias as it appears I have either used the ones I thought I had in stock or they are somewhere in the storage unit of terror?
     
    Progress on the Prince of Wales tank has got a little further than the Princess in that all her lining is applied, like the Princess its now down to adding a little detailing to the body and doing the finial work on her chassis (the trailing wheels need fixing) and then I can work on the mounting the loco body onto the chassis.


    I must admit I have a bit of a thing for big tank engines, though I get the feeling she will be the sole 4-6-2T in the fleet, though you never know.....when I finally order the relevant transfers I will number and letter her just like the Princess.
     
    The other locomotive that has required lining was the £40 Jubilee I rescued from Evil Bay, she is now happy in her new coat of crimson, and is slowly being lined out like a decent locomotive should be, I still need to sort out her cylinders and the lining on the lower part of her cab but she is getting there.


    I'm not sure if she is turning out to be the bargain I thought she originally was, as I dread to think about how many paintbrushes I have destroyed in anger whilst lining her and the other loco's on the bench. Perhaps what I should have done is just model the BR period modelled by buying loco's and stock off the shelf that need no modifications, I mean lots of people seem to do it , but if everything was easy where would be the fun in that?
     
    Waiting for space on the Workbench is a locomotive I worked on last year and thought would by now have been a valuable member of the fleet, that is until I took it along to the Wigan exhibition.
     
    Everything was going well, I took the loco from my storage box and put her at the head of a local passenger train, setting off on her maiden trip around the layout I drew her to a stop in the station, at which point someone who should have been old enough to know better hoisted the loco off the layout, when I asked what the hell he was doing he slammed it back onto the layout and said "its only a toy %%&)&$*&)" train" the abuse I got from what appeared to be the animals mother was even worse.

    The net result was that the leading carriage was badly damaged, and the loco chassis mounts where broken, the buffers and couplings are destroyed and one side of the valve gear is badly damaged and bent, but I suppose it could have been far worst, though it has made me very hesitant about future exhibition attendances as its not the first time the layout has been damaged.
     
    So there you are an update on the progress made and an indication of all the work that still needs to be completed, at some point I will actually complete some of the projects, but are we modellers supposed to actually complete projects. One thing is for sure, I will not be adding any more Jubilee's to the fleet......
     
    As ever until the next time Happy Modelling
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