grob1234

Thank you very much. Also, I notice Tony Wright 'likes this'. I'm delighted! I'm in Jakarta today, which doesn't lend itself to modelling, but all interiors are nearly complete (constructed, not painted), which means I can work on adding the detail, doing the touch ups and adding the glazing. Thanks for looking in and all the best for the New Year.

Marry Christmas and a Happy New year to everyone here! Over a month since the last update! Thats not to say work hasn't been progressing at a snails pace though! All the coaches are fully painted, with the exception of the observation car which is in silver at the moment. The coaches still need a couple of touch ups, but overall a reasonably pleasing result. The next thing on the to do list was make the window for the observation car. Complex shape, and I wanted it to be all one piece, so the obvious answer was to vac form one. Only trouble is, I dont have a vac forming machine. So I made one: Its basically 2 pieces of ply glued together, then a hole drilled through to accept the vacuum cleaner hose, then a mesh grille epoxied onto the ply, and a smooth top. There it is, plugged into the hoover. Then I cut two bits of wood out to hold the plastic with bulldog clips: Its as simple as that. Then you just make a master for the mould. I used wood which I carved and sanded to shape. Very important this is smooth because the plastic will show any imperfections. I don't have a pic of the mould for some reason. Anyway, you simply clip the plastic sheet between the wood, heat under the grill til it sags, about 40-50s heating time seemed ideal, turn on the vacuum and plunge the hot plastic onto the mould. This is the first attempt, the plastic wasn't hot enough! But after a few more attempts, I got this: A perfectly formed and fitted transparency for the rear of the observation car.Just needs a trim and a dip in Klear, and it can be used! Worth the effort? Probably not, but I enjoyed myself! More to come over the next few days, I have been working on the interior detail. Thanks for looking. Tom EDIT: This arrived in the post, isn't she lovely? WIll look great fully weathered I think.

Beautiful picture, looks spot on. I am most impressed by the teak finish. Any chance of a tutorial or step by step guide of the process you too to achieve such a finish? Either here or on another topic... I would be most interested to learn how you achieved such a natural look to them. My compliments on some superb modelling.

Sorry for interweaving this reply amongst the loco chat... I'm sure contributors are able to keep up! A very nice solution there, and one which could be mass produced so to speak, however, it still relies on gluing each chair to each sleeper? I fear I am far too lazy to do this, and at the moment I lean to using chairs in combination with plastic sleepers. Like you I share the concern that they may not be rigid enough. I will have to get some turnout making stuff and have a go. I do feel there is great mileage in the 3d printed track work we saw earlier in the thread. The possibility of simply pressing print on a Templot turnout plan is almost irresistible. Surely with the pace of development in 3d printing, this could be a very viable option in less than 5 years. Endless plans for an infinite number of turnouts, and then simply slide the rail in, and you're done. Sounds almost too good to be true!

I think my biggest wish would be OO-SF track in RTR format. Please, this is not intended to being a gauge war, we have been there and done that. I model OO, as I know many others on here do too, and it would be fantastic to have a range of finescale point work to compliment the SMP flex track that exists. I know Marcway produce copper clad points but I do prefer the chaired look to track work. I also am aware that chairs can be added to copper clad turnouts, but surely that is as fiddly as it comes? I suppose it all boils down to what one is happy with visually. I believe track is arguably the most important aspect of a model railway. Get it wrong and the trains will fall off all the time, which makes playing trains laborious rather than enjoyable. As running the trains should be an important part of the hobby, it stands to reason that the track should be reliable, and look as good as possible. At the moment, the only option for the look I require is to build, or have built, turnouts to suit. Costly, time consuming, but to my way of thinking, worth it, especially when the end result is like LB or Peterborough North.

Very nice indeed. I lived in Brampton for a couple of years prior to moving abroad. Good to see a local themed layout.

Ah thank you very much. I was hoping for a nice A3. Oh well. Will just have to rename/renumber the A4 to something more suitable. Train pack is still worth getting just for the coaches really, if one is aiming for a prototypical rake.

Hi Folks, probably already here, but a quick search didn't turn much up. Does anyone know what loco will be included in the train pack?

I had to do a double take on the black and white image. Superb. And don't those Pullmans look smart?

Well, the old adage, 'never get complacent' really applies here. Always the case when you think you're making good progress, that the modelling gods come and bite you in the arse! Yesterday I finally finished dry brushing and touching up around all the raised lettering which is a very time consuming job, due to the drying times etc, in readiness for the gloss coat. So off I go with my usual Alclad Gloss Clear, and lo and behold, the black undercoat starts showing through the shades of blue. Am I p"£$ed off or what?! I think I made the classic error of laying the gloss coat on too thickly, which reacted with the very thin enamel paint, and started to show through to the undercoat. Not a total disaster, and I am now in the process of fixing my error. I'll mist over light and dark blue, which needs only a very thin coat. Luckily not all of the sides have been affected. When I get to the gloss stage again, I will lay down a couple of mists of Klear, to protect the enamel, and then finish off with the final gloss coat, built up in stages as I know I should. My impatience to finish got the better of me (as usual). No pictures I'm afraid, I'm too cheesed off!!

You're quite right, with hindsight that's what I would have done, and certainly if I ever built a similar kit again (unlikely!) its what I would attempt. Alas, they're done now

Hello Ted, Thank you very much for the kind comments. It seems there is a very healthy interest in the Coronation down in Oz, so I hope it's providing some entertainment. I'm just in the laborious stage of small touch ups, which take an age to dry, and are very repetitive. Hopefully will get a gloss coat on the remaining coaches tomorrow.

Doh!!

Very nice indeed Mike. I shall be interested to see what you come up with for the inter coach fairings. So far on my build I have been unable to come up with a reasonable interpretation, very impressed with how fast you work too!

They're etched brass sides, white metal ends, and alu roof section. Sydnope Scale Models kit, about 30 years old, that I acquired off an auction website... EDIT: Chris beat me to it, thanks Chris

Thank you Jonathan, coming from a builder of your quality, it means alot. I have Klear, I also have a specific canopy glue, similar to PVA, which dries, well, clear! So will try both. I do have the packaging from a Terrys chocolate orange as a back up, but I have a cunning plan for the window of the Beavertail, which I shall reveal when I have painted A-H. It's a little bit of an experiment, but as they say, nothing ventured, nothing gained EDIT: It was mentioned at the start of this thread by several contributors that nickel silver plating would be a good idea for the bright work on this model. If I ever built this again (which I won't!) then nickel plating would be the way I would tackle it. Hindsight being a wonderful thing! Maybe I can use this technique when I build a Jubilee set if need be.

Thank you very much for the 'likes' and kind comments. Although I model for my own pleasure, it gives me great satisfaction that others are looking in and hopefully enjoying the build. By sharing my experience, I am able to learn more, so it really is 'win win'. Now then, what do people use to stick the 'glass' in the windows of their coach models? CA is no good as it will cloud the plastic.

Hello all, If I may be so bold as to share with you something I have made. Alas, it has no moving parts, but it is hand built, and I would appreciate any constructive criticism. It is the Coronation set I have been building, its ECML themed, so I hope it has some merit within this topic. They are just placed loosely on their chassis at the minute, so they may be a bit wonky. Anyhow, please be gentle Another 3 pairs are nearing completion in the paint shop. Thank you very much for looking.

Hello everyone. First of all apologies for lack of recent updates. Work got in the way, and also, the paint process is very slow. That coupled with all the masking (I should buy shares in Tamiya) has meant not a lot to show you and little progress, but they are now coming out of the paint shop, and I have the experimental pair (E & F) to show you. After spraying the insides the correct (as far as I can tell) colour, I then coated the outsides with gloss black enamel to take the chrome silver finish. The smoother the gloss, the deeper the shone of the chrome. In the end, I achieved a fairly nice result: Then it was the tedious task of masking all the bright work off. I used 2mm and 1mm tape which luckily was a perfect fit. Every other mask, for the windows and doors had to be cut with a scalpel. I was able to batch produce them to save time. You'll notice the foil around the lettering on this one. I subsequently removed it before painting as there was too large a ridge showing through. Finally after about half a dozen more paint processes we can do the fun bit! Unmasking, and seeing the result of the work. In this instant the result is OK. They won't stand up to super close scrutiny, but as Tony Wright says, they are layout coaches (and were always intended to be so). Here they are just placed on my spare track for a quick photo. Hopefully the rest will look similar. I have some detail painting to carry out and a few minor touch ups to go, but I believe I am starting to achieve a reasonable representation of this iconic train. Next up will be interiors. As usual the digital camera exposes every flaw! I just posed them with an A3 as all my A4's are in the UK. Thats all for now, I'll post a picture of all 8 when they are done.

That's more points than I thought to be honest with you. Like you allude to, it's not cheap, but as often, you get what you pay for. Maybe the possibility of having hand built turnouts on my layout project isn't as unrealistic as I once thought! Thank you and please keep the pictures coming.

I know nothing about p4, but this is certainly an outstanding layout on a forum full of excellent railways.

This is very interesting to me, as for my future layout, I am considering commissioning someone to build the point work. I would however like the satisfaction of laying and ballasting the track myself. Obviously, without going into detail on the cost, you mention it is well into 4 figures. To me that is an eminately reasonable price for the beautiful flowing point work you have. I could probably look at photos and count the number of points in the scenic section of your layout.. Or I could ask you the same question?! Much appreciated, and keep up the good work on this cracking layout.

I think its superb, Tony. If my LRM J69 turns out anywhere near as good as that, I shall be delighted! I have the gearbox from High Level, and I am just awaiting the wheels from Romfords. I've ordered a few additional tools as well, but sadly I will have to wait until Christmas to start on the project! Modern digital cameras do indeed highlight all sorts of nasties... but fortunately, our eyes seem to be less sensitive to the real model. I actually believe there is a danger of models that are too perfect beginning to look unrealistic. Prototypes like the J69 would have been 'about a bit' so to speak, so I think its appearance is very fitting. As an extra comment, I think its astonishing how invisible the coupling bar at the back of the model is. I will be using this coupling method on my Coronation rake, the beauty of it being, when I finally come to building my layout, I can tighten up the coupling distance to match the radius of the curves. Lovely modelling.

This is awesome. Brings back many happy memories of building my first layout with my dad. I remember getting Sir Nigel Gresley in LNER garter blue for Christmas and I was so pleased with it. I still have that loco. My passion for model railways is now stronger than ever, and my desire to create an LNER layout is particularly strong! Looks like your lad really enjoys it too. Keep up the good work.

Nice to chat to you today Chris, I'm very much looking forward to receiving my first HL gearbox.