Spitfire2865

Wow...thats..really good. Shame about the tender lining though. Though with the dark colour, is hardly noticeable. Those fire irons look perfect as well.

Well then. I just spent the past 2 hours picking out th ironwork in black, then a quick touch up of any overflow. It looks neat and clean from a foot away, but as you all know, the camera shows all faults. A quick shot with the other wagon currently being worked on. I need decals for L&Y and LNWR. Anyone know where I could buy just enough decals for one wagon? The letters are the important parts. The numbers on both could be substituted for ones I already have. All thats needed now is handrails and both wagons are fully built!

Well then. Finally this wagon is completely built. Glued the wheels and brakes on the other day and just tonight, glued the brake levers on. A lot of procrastinating and waiting. I still need to touch up the paint before lettering. Though...not sure how to letter it. I was thinking old and faded LNWR livery as found in some photos... But I would have to hand letter it all if I wanted it to look faded and worn. 4 letters doesnt sound hard but making them look good is hard. Well. Any ideas? Maybe somehow stamping it and then scraping off the ink a bit. Hmmm...how to make rubber stamps... Or using decals and aging them... I dont know. All I know is this took FAR too long to get built. But once this and the L&Y van are finished, Im thinking of taking a break from wagons and going for either my micro inglenook OR my first loco kit. Need suggestions though. I have some ideas but I cant decide.

Wow. Two updates in three days. Havent managed that in over a month. Well. Day off from work saw quite a bit of work. Body was glued together. Ive started painting the buffers and I attached the couplings.(temporarily, as initial measurements show that I can once again have sprung couplings on a wagon, Im not ready to bend the pins as on a built wagon, theyre a bit of a pain to remove cleanly.) I attached the springs and thinned the backs considerably. It is "almost" flush with the solebars. Solebars have been thinned even more, though it hasnt helped fit the axleguards. Im considering thinning them, or at least removing the paint on the bits where its too tight of a fit. Ive also given it another coat of paint. The floor has been cut to shape and a piece of plasticard cut to size for a start on wheel packing. And Ive done a lot of wrestling with the CA glue which keeps gluing itself shut. Ill let the pictures say the rest. Just a loose fit together. And thats that, back to work tomorrow. I may have gotten my modeling spirit back finally! Edit: yes I realize the damn glue frosting. Ill fix that in my touch up painting. Also, the floor is not yet glued on.

Wow. Its been a while. Not done much. Started on the LNWR diag 103 last night and its half glued together at this point. Though, Im not using Davids unsprung design, but using some sprung units so the solebars need quite a lot of thinning to get everything to fit between them. I need to cut even more for the spring castings as I just got the sprung units to sit between the frames. I do believe my skin now has quite a bit of ground whitemetal embedded in it.

Even though I know exactly where the seam is, I cant see it. I do like the simple livery. Are the coal rails broken or is there just that gap in then?

Oh wow! Ive been wanting a model of this. If a kit does get developed, Id seriously consider buying one.

Looking good. Your conversion came out wonderfully.

Well it only took me 3 weeks but I finally stuck the roof bit to the wall bits. And here you can see my "door hatch". I figured it would look fine even if I didnt cut an actual hole. At this rate Ill get the next kit done by next summer.

I think it looks better with the black ironwork. But prototype wins I guess.

Very nice. Much cleaner than my attempt. Though Id like to see your mounting of the brakes as mine were so off that I had to cut parts of it.

Hey! I see youve finally started on it. Looking good so far.

I am impressed. I dont think I could bring myself to cutting up a loco. Looking very nice. The curving came out perfectly.

Well. A quick update. My L&Y van is slowly progressing. I have just finished the roof. I was torn between actually cutting a hole in the roof or making it look like there was a hole. I opted for the false hole to make fitting the roof easier. The roof is the plastic supplied by david geen but thats as far as the kit goes in my build. I decided to not use the weather strips from the kit as they were overscale and not shaped ideally. So thin plastic strip created the weather strips, some paper made the metal edge strips, and a plastic strip was put on the roof center to end the door opening. Then the roof door...tarp was considered. Waterslide decals come protected by some wax paper which seemed a nice texture for a tarp. I cut a bit off and wrapped an end around a brass rod. This will be fixed to the roof once on the wagon. Ill only glue it at the top and bottom, leaving the sides and middle loose to have a bit of an uneven surface. I havent done much work but what I have done took a lot of thought and preparation. As always, I was terrified to start on the roof as it required cutting and I only had that to work with. But Im happy with how it turned out. Cant wait to get more superglue so I can actually finish this wagon. I think itll turn out nice. All thats left to do is add the roof, handrails, brake levers, and letter it...by hand...unless anyone out there wouldnt mind sparing some 4mm L&Y pressfix transfers. Not sure if I should just by a sheet. I dont plan on making much more L&Y stock for a long time. This wagon was just for my like of roof hatches. And if I were to do a pregrouping layout, it would be Midland. Oh well.

Well then. My Spitfire is finished. All decals were applied lovingly, except the damn red squares on the guns. They were a pain in 1/48th and theyre a pain in 1/72nd. Im happy theyre on though. The square of paper underneath is the plans for a base with a bit of grass. I just need to work out how to do the borders. I thought a nice wooden picture frame with a respectable border but those are hard to find. Maybe Ill just get edging wood and build a frame. Yeah. And finally, continued work on the L&Y van. I picked my prototype and I found a very nice 1925 photo of it in L&Y lettering. My first wagon with mismatched wheels. Now a stupid photo so you can see how bad I am at lining things up. Doesnt help I broke one of the brake bits. Well. There. More work. Last night I applied probably 50 decals, today, all the rest. I still dont like waterslide decals.

Well, heres a plane update. I honestly tried to find any work done on my trains since my last update but I havent had time or resources. So... There is still another star to add on the bottom but I need to look up its positioning as its not referenced in the instructions. And the Spitfire. Cockpit is done. All held together by rubber bands now till I can find the best paint colour for the camouflage. I have a few browns to choose from but I may need to mix up a green. A lot has been painted, sky bottom, wheel wells, wheels and gear, prop, cockpit, and some details. There isnt much to this kit to be honest, and is a walk in the park compared to my Swordfish which is still sitting in bits while I neglect to find a rigging solution. May be a train related update tonight if another package comes.

That wagon is looking very nice. I have a David Geen kit of the diag103 sitting on my desk. For inside, check your other topic. I replied and if you want more help, I have either my workbench thread or Nelson Jacksons. http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/78266-painting-realistic-wood-second-attempt-on-pg2/

I have since learned how to solder.