cooley_boy

Having painted the Handrails it was just a case of fixing them onto the bulkheads. Now the next step is weathering which will hopefully happen this weekend.

Having painted the Handrails it was just a case of fixing them onto the bulkheads. Now the next step is weathering which will hopefully happen this weekend.

Thank you Mike. You get more satisfaction when you personalise your rolling stock or at least more enjoyment as you are more involved. What do you model? Regards Rand

Well now comes the "fun" stuff with making the finer details like the handrails that sit on the side of the bulkhead. Time to put on a good series and get the tweezers out. I found some .25mm nickel silver wire which is just about the right size for handrails in my reckoning. After making 30 of these with 2 spare I will paint them white tonight and fix them in place once dry. Also I have seen in pictures that after they added the holes in the bulkhead to allow air through that they have later added struts across the holes to prevent logs flying out. Just as well as from these photos several have been broken and bent outwards as a result of sliding logs. So looked for the smallest styrene strip I could find from Evergreen which happened to be 0.01mm by 0.25mm and cut up several lengths into 4/6/8mm lengths to go over the holes in the bulkheads. Simply gluing them onto the back where the joins will be weathered over helping loose them in the rust.

Well now comes the "fun" stuff with making the finer details like the handrails that sit on the side of the bulkhead. Time to put on a good series and get the tweezers out. I found some .25mm nickel silver wire which is just about the right size for handrails in my reckoning. After making 30 of these with 2 spare I will paint them white tonight and fix them in place once dry. Also I have seen in pictures that after they added the holes in the bulkhead to allow air through that they have later added struts across the holes to prevent logs flying out. Just as well as from these photos several have been broken and bent outwards as a result of sliding logs. So looked for the smallest styrene strip I could find from Evergreen which happened to be 0.01mm by 0.25mm and cut up several lengths into 4/6/8mm lengths to go over the holes in the bulkheads. Simply gluing them onto the back where the joins will be weathered over helping loose them in the rust.

Just to give an idea of the area I am looking at covering.

Well now every wagon has had the bulkheads fixed on and the vertical struts fixed down. Next step will be weathering all of them which will hopefully be something that can be done this weekend as the weather is looking good for it.

Well now every wagon has had the bulkheads fixed on and the vertical struts fixed down. Next step will be weathering all of them which will hopefully be something that can be done this weekend as the weather is looking good for it.

This is very true. I am focusing more on the mainline section of the climb for this reason as you are right in regards to the station at Shap which is no longer there. I am only looking at going to just before the summit on the north end of the cutting. In regards to the catenary it will be a challenge for sure but I have done something similar in the past and will be looking at transferring it across for this.

There will be a few things that may be a bit of license needed but we will just have to see. From what I have seen in research they seemed to be replacing the wooden sleepers in the early 60s with concrete and by that time most of the line was flat bottom rail which helps too. Depending how far up to the summit I model yeah the top will be interesting. I know there is a signal box on Scouts Green http://www.davidheyscollection.com/userimages/jrc-shap-eecotype4.jpg This will have to be removable. The idea may be to have scenic modules that can be swapped out. I shall meet your good shot with another http://www.davidheyscollection.com/userimages/000-0-a-jr-carter-46250-shap.jpg North bound this time.

Yes I would agree that Dent has been done to death but is certainly a dramatic spot and having had the privilege myself to drive along the line I can certainly see why. I had thought of doing a spot on the S&C but every part of that line has been done which is why I stuck with the West Coast Mainline. I will have a look at your blog. Thank you for the reference. The design I have will require about 50' Length. I will be moving most likely next year so will be looking for places that may be able to accommodate that. A nice big shed is what I need.

I am certainly looking into doing that yes. Having a system for taking the catenary off and placing back on depending on the era of operation. I know in my mind how I can do it and I suspect there will be small clumps of grass up and down the line =P. Signals will be something along the line of removable modules or hidden plugs. Will see what developments have been made by the time I get to that point. I already have most of the stock of which I am going through and detailing in the mean time.

Thank you for the references =). The design I have will have about 100 ft of scenic track length. I am still finalising the design but will post it once I have finished it.

I appreciate the company under the table =)

Next step: Remove the factory up rights and take the wooden decks off the wagons and replace with 0.5 thick styrene sheet and spray the tops with a red brown paint to give a base coat of rusty brown for when we get to the weathering stage which will blend it all together.

Next step: Remove the factory up rights and take the wooden decks off the wagons and replace with 0.5 thick styrene sheet and spray the tops with a red brown paint to give a base coat of rusty brown for when we get to the weathering stage which will blend it all together.

That's where the trickery will come in. Looking into designing removable Catenery.

I have also been working on striping mk1/2s to repaint into a full length WCRC excursion based on the versions I have seen with the Cumbrian Mountain Express with Royal Scot 46115 Scots Guardsman on the front. I am still try to get the shade right as I am sure those that have also tried this it is very much a hit and miss affair as the colors in prototype are not all the same and every new cost they apply seem to be a different shade. Nothing like a good challenge though. Whilst waiting for the weather to improve to paint I have been working the on BSK support coach needed. Taking a Bachmann BSK and blocking out 2 windows and adding in a Larger opening for the Roller door to be installed. This was done cutting infills out of 0.5 sheet styrene and fixing these in from behind using an epoxy. Then using a very fine filler I filled the surfaces on the outside of the coach letting dry. Then sanding it down with a fine 800 wet-n-dry and again with a 1200 wet-n-dry (wet this time) to really smooth out the finish. Now I just need the weather to behave.

It has since been a long time in doing anything with my projects as life in its usual way as gone off on a tangent. Lately though I have finally had a chance to get into my scratch building projects again. Now I have been getting back into this project to make 15 KFA log carriers converted from cargowaggens. I have had the ends 3D printed and have hand built most if the stays and am now at the point of assembling the everything together. In the shots below we can see that the pints came out pretty good although they needed a lot of cleaning which was easy enough by time consuming getting all the soft resin off. Then the just get a primer paint finish. Having now cleaned all the bulkheads it was time to create all the verticals of which I need 210 of them and with each having 11 parts to them that ends up being 2310 components to make!!!!. Its a good thing I made a whole bunch of these earlier. Now that everything has been made it is time to paint it all...

So back in 2015 I started a project to scratch build a series of KFA units from taking Heljan cargowaggon flats and converting them over much like how it was done in protoype. I have seen other to something similar in laser cut MDF but these looked to bulky to me and I looked into making everything from styrene. I made all the uprights for one car and modified the top of the cargowaggon getting rid of the timber layer and replacing it with a smooth sheet of 0.5mm styrene that has been sprayed rusty brown to simulate the steel plate surface that seems to have replaced the timber judging by photo research. I then handmade one Bulkhead end but then got these 3D printed to save time and help with consistency. Below is the first prototype.

It occurs to me that I left a few details out in what I am planning so let me add them on. I will be modelling in 4mm scale with a optimal layout length of 50' and width of 12' and will comprise of a folded figure 8 track plan. This will be possible as the layout will include the 1:72 gradient that Shap possesses. The fiddle yards will be under the scenic area. Granted the area modelled will have to be squashed a bit to get it to fit in and at present I do not have a location to build which is why I am focusing on the Rolling stock side of things. I will however work on finalising a track plan. Rolling stock wise I am working on fitting sound to all my locomotive of which I am almost there. I am working on recreating a 11-coach WCRC excursion train with Scots Gaurdsman 46115 on that duty. In regards to this I have modified a Bachmann BSK MK1 Coach to be the support coach for this train. Just like to really thing I have blocked up 2 windows on either side and added the roller doors to either side. Now just waiting for good weather to give it a as-close-as WCRC paint job. Also most of the way through creating a 15 car KFA Timber train as used by Colas. These just need weathering and loads which I will show through my other blog - KFA continued

For a while now I have been wanting to build a layout and have so far built 3 layouts which have since either been sold or dismantled into other projects. In previous layouts I have been a bit free lance in my design moving into a layout based off a location but not true to prototype. So now I am looking at modelling a location as true to prototype as possible space willing. In doing so the search was on for a layout that can be used for both 1960 operations and current day which narrows the field down a bit but the challenge was to find a place that has not really changed much since the 60s so anything near a city was more-or-less out. I therefore moved into the country side and into the LMS region which is where I personally think the best trains were made (ducks for cover) and where some of the most gruelling and dramatic scenery is located. This is certainly true of the S & C but this have been modelled to death and wanting to look into an area where not much has been done in recent years I looked into the West Coast Mainline between Preston and Carlisle. Here we have 2 major Climbs being Grayrigg and Shap both of which are gruelling grades which in steam days required helpers which would be a very neat thing to replicate in operation which with DCC will be very easy to achieve. I have settled on Shap for no real reason other than for several reasons: 1- Shap is more open in its landscape and will be in my opinion be more dramatic to recreate. 2- I have spent time around the Shap incline and know it better. 3- Shap has less of a range of traffic than Grayrigg due to all the Stainmore traffic turning east at Tebay which means there will be less traffic to cover than Grayrigg which from a budget perspective is always a good thing. Having said that last point though there is still a huge amount of traffic on this line: 1960's Highlights: The Royal Scot The Mid-day Scot The Night Scot The Caledonian The Lakes Express All Freight Traffic Duchess's Princess's Britannia's Royal Scots Black Fives 8Fs 9Fs ETC Current Day Highlights: The Caledonian Sleeper Tesco Train Virgin Pendalino's Virgin Super Voyagers All Container Traffic All Engineering Traffic Colas Timber Traffic Flyash Traffic Coal from Ayrshire to Wales Class 66, 68, 88, 57, 92, 90, 86, 60 Colas DRS EWS/DB Frieghtliner Network Rail WCRC Excursion Trains All in all a lot to model and consider. I have already accumulated a fair bit of rolling stock in regards to both settings for this layout and as I don't have the space at this time to built the layout I am focusing on getting all the rolling stock ready and running this in at the local club. So what is to follow will be a series of works in regards to the rolling stock and locomotives. Regards Rand

It occurs to me that I left a few details out in what I am planning so let me add them on. I will be modelling in 4mm scale with a optimal layout length of 50' and width of 12' and will comprise of a folded figure 8 track plan. This will be possible as the layout will include the 1:72 gradient that Shap possesses. The fiddle yards will be under the scenic area. Granted the area modelled will have to be squashed a bit to get it to fit in and at present I do not have a location to build which is why I am focusing on the Rolling stock side of things. I will however work on finalising a track plan. Rolling stock wise I am working on fitting sound to all my locomotive of which I am almost there. I am working on recreating a 11-coach WCRC excursion train with Scots Gaurdsman 46115 on that duty. In regards to this I have modified a Bachmann BSK MK1 Coach to be the support coach for this train. Just like to really thing I have blocked up 2 windows on either side and added the roller doors to either side. Now just waiting for good weather to give it a as-close-as WCRC paint job. Also most of the way through creating a 15 car KFA Timber train as used by Colas. These just need weathering and loads which I will show through my other blog - KFA continued

Having now cleaned all the bulkheads it was time to create all the verticals of which I need 210 of them and with each having 11 parts to them that ends up being 2310 components to make!!!!. Its a good thing I made a whole bunch of these earlier. Now that everything has been made it is time to paint it all...