brylonscamel

.. it's been a blue era week. 47408 get's a bit of weathering ....

.. some gardening completes the weekend's activities on the cutting mat!

A rather simple project but this small workshop has just come off my cutting mat .. and it marks a bit of a switch to using plastic sheet rather than paper and card. (I make no claims to have built the hoist, which is a Bachmann item to complete the picture!)

The cutting mat has been my friend this weekend with a scratch built workshop and a repainted lorry for the harbour!

Each set of windows has 3 x individual pieces of glazing (cut and filed to shape from transparent plastic sheet). The sheet has to be reasonably thick to give the glue and edge to fix to. PS The Shawplan etchings are very nice but I struggled a bit with handling them and you still have to cut away the original window surrounds.

Re: Weathering - I also had a couple of 'old tat' practice pieces to start with! That's definitely a good plan. The airbrush is a very useful tool, you can 'soften' any colour applied with a brush or a pen - plus it's great for applying varnish coats. Re: The old Lima (now Hornby) class 40 body is a good moulding and I found it possible to pick them up relatively cheaply. The window surrounds are the worst part of the moulding, really heavy, thick bars but they can easily be filed back to something more pleasing. There is a very fine etching available from 'Shawplan' which also does the trick but I had some issues working with them and settled on some careful filing. The thing is you have to make your own glazing which is pretty time consuming. Here's the previous one I did - D234 "Accra" using a modified Hornby body. The glazing is a bit wonky but I'm happy with the overall effect!:

Hi Paul - thanks again for the kind words. There are a few fun winter modelling projects in the pipeline; a class 26 and a class 29 plus some carriages & wagons, lighting for the layout and trying my hand at foliage and trees!! .. have you got much planned? (PS I forgot you were following my Flickr account - be warned, you'll probably be bombarded with pictures of my cycling adventures and the dog among the railway stuff)

That's very kind of you - I must say I'm liking the 'I'll show you mine, if you'll show me yours' aspect of this forum - there are some fine examples of other peoples work popping up on this thread already! PS I'm sure each one of us has an activity we like least. I don't enjoy stripping paint - messy, time consuming and nerve-wracking!

.. I've really been enjoying the chance to spend time with the cutting mat and some sheet plastic.

I stumbled on this and I love some of the details - the mould around the gutter spout is brilliant!

..more first class figure painting there Phil! - what scale are the military figures you posted? .. the detail that you've picked out on the mouldings is impressively fine. (I just answered my own question by going to the W^D Models website)

That's superb work in that scene from your O gauge layout - everything about that scene works so nicely - even down to the the cat at the man's feet and the punctured oil drum! I agree about the relaxed poses - that was my hope when I started to place figures on 'Braeside' - I feel these groups work better for a lack of 'shovelling'?

Oh I wouldn't worry about being boring - we're all members of a railway modelling forum after all and you can assume we are like minded individuals!

.. Thanks for the tips - I'm interested that you found acrylics that work for you. I found myself using enamels as I'm used to the way they flow and remain workable when thinned. I might invest in some Games Workshop acrylics to see how I get on. I assume you still finish off with a matt varnish to protect against handling?

Oh I love these! .. the facial detail and colour really brings them to life. Hmmm .. this is something I need to work on. PS I did laugh about 'looking like coal miners' - although a mistake in this area could come in handy if you are modelling a coal mine.

.. lovely sequence of photos of the V2.

Thanks to the intervention of wind and rain, another Sunday was spent in the company of glue, modelling implements and a cutting board! Fettling an old Lima class 40 body-shell A rough card mockup of Aberdeen Ferryhill signal box Some gardens for a domestic terrace

Thanks for the feedback Ben - Yes - I did these. I'm pretty happy with the way it's going, especially some of the steam loco weathering (which aren't from a period I remember) I started with light touches before my confidence grew and I've had a chance to do a couple of WDs - one of which we sold on : To be honest, there were so many photos of them in a 'well used' state that it was easy to find some examples to copy. Have you tried your hand? I must admit to being nervous of making a mess of it when I first started out! Fortunately a couple of early disasters were restricted to cheap body shells that I was happy to strip or scrap.

My Dad has acquired this as an 'out-of-era' special treat!

... after a bit of a diesel invasion - we've been running some steam engines again at Braeside. To be fair, the steamers were always being run on the railway but I was sidetracked modelling (and photographing) various green-era diesels!

I can't speak for Father Christmas but I'll be able to whet your appetite with photos of our other Gresleys after the next 'model-making' weekend down at my Dad's place.

.. would be great to see some examples!

Aberdeen Ferryhill was largely inspirational for our shed building ...

Regarding the (rather beautiful) A4s - My Dad recalls them in use back in the 60s. I never saw them 'in service' but I can remember witnessing (as a schoolboy) preserved A4 "Union of South Africa" being turned on the Ferryhill turntable long before the shed was finally closed.

.. fair do's! - My Dad would certainly like the balance to be redressed as he's especially fond of the A4s. I have some more photos of steam locos (including A4 "Woodcock"), a 2P / 4F combination, a WD and a rather unlikely(?) visit of a 9F to share ..