saxokid

Just few of growing fleet of Hornby class 60s im working on this week..

all weathered and detail done now,waiting on more accurascale loud speakers in post to arrive👌👍

On 12/02/2024 at 13:12, RikkiGTR said:

That weathering work is absolutely first class. Stunning. 

Are many thanks RikkiGTR thanks for popping looking over my modelling👌👌

cheers neil

Few more scratch build towers now all wired into loom and switch pannel..

station carpark flood lighting tower..👍

One of our new younger members getting stuck in on some new scenery builds..

Few more favorites on workbench with sounds now installed,upgraded speakers using ones from Accurascale and weathering..

My accurascale class 37423 with Rail exclusive boom box speaker..

Been trying out another favorite speaker i use alot of in my Bachmann locos.

testing out in my accurascale class 37423..

Cheeky night shift on yard..

Trusty yellow br crane in yard next to drivers mess room..

Few class 37s waiting for freight traffic collections..

Another one of my new accurascale DRS 37s now with sound decoder and speaker installed.

class 37609..

Few more pockets of scenery now added here n there from new guys helping to build this layout at Merseyside Model Railway Society ..

Little test run from class 60029 with new sound speaker from accurascale..

Alot guys at club rooms have been asking about what type speakers to install on there dcc locos!!

so we had evening talking and fitting sound decoders and speakers into locos like here with this Hornby class 60…

Made start on another favorite subsector loco,this one being coal sector class 58..

little dry brush weathering for change to airbrush..

Another favorite on wotkbench this week for some dry brush on weathering!!

prefer this type weathering over airbrushing.

This weathering is more hands on,blending colours and making colour bleed using IPA in to caps round doors ..

On 29/01/2024 at 23:09, James Makin said:

Time to conquer Ben Lui..!

 

60031 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr

 

Gently picking off the '60's one by one, it was only a matter of time before a former Trainload Metals machine would get added to the fleet, and here we can now welcome 60031 Ben Lui, modelled in early 1998 condition.

 

60031 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr

 

I've a soft spot for all the Trainload sectors, and though my favourite one still alternates on a regular basis, it's hard not to like the bold yellow and blue chevrons that still look so fresh, even some 37 years since first being unveiled.

 

Where to start? Much as I'd love a nice Cavalex '60' when it drops, for now we'll make do with a bargain used Hornby one, and picked up for £70, couldn't say fairer than that!

 

60031 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr

 

The donor model was once a Mainline Grey 'Canisp' example, with the old branding removed back to the base colours and gloss varnished, ready for the new decals to be applied. Railtec's excellent Trainload decals were added, alongside numbers and electrification flashes where needed.

 

60031 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr

 

At this stage of the project, a couple of the unique details could be added - the bodyside doors on one side was a slightly lighter grey than the rest of the loco, and interestingly, a little bit of the blue triangle was missing from the sector logo, so this was carefully cut away before the model was finally sealed with a coat of Railmatch matt varnish.

 

60031 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr

 

The bodyshell was then left for around a month for the varnish layer to harden, after which the invasive paint-on & wipe-off layers of weathering could commence - the dangers of not waiting could be that the varnish layer is accidentally stripped off when enamel thinners is used for the washes, so it's worth waiting! I know many modellers have moved over to acrylics these days but I'm a bit basic and just stick to my old fashioned techniques, I may do some experimenting one day with the new generation of acrylics that seem to have moved on a whole load since first fettling with them in the late 90s!

 

60031 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr

 

Time for the weathering stage, and accompanied by a lovely bit of Röyksopp, the layers of browns were added onto the luscious triple grey body - starting with shades of Humbrol 113 and Humbrol 251.

 

60031 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr

 

I tend to vary the application of the paints depending upon the final look being sought, in this case going for nearly-neat paint, but other times I'll mix a large amount of thinners - you get a feel over time fo the effect you're looking for and how much to thin the paint, it is ideal for a bit of trial and error! 

 

Next, a kitchen towel is used to wipe vertically downward and remove most of the paint in one go: 

 

60031 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr

 

Thanks to the layer of matt varnish applied previously, the paint will then cling to the bodyside, leaving you the option to remove as much as you like, using cotton buds dipped in enamel thinners - letting you  create streaks dirt patches as you wish.

 

60031 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr

 

One feature of 60031 noted from photographs of the time, was an ingrained dirt build up on the bodyside around one end of the bodyshell, and this was recreated by rolling a cotton bud around in some thinned paint on the body, with lots of fettling before getting the effect being sought!

 

As well as this, Ben Lui also had a long scrape on the side too - possibly some sort of shunting yard mishap maybe?

 

60031 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr

 

Regardless of how it happened, it was recreated by running a strip of Tamiya masking tape down the side, and touching in the relevant areas with a fine 5/0 brush and three different shades of brown and grey paint to replicate the damages. 

 

60031 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr

 

60031 in all its glory! The bold blue and yellow of the Trainload Metals markings really set off the triple grey, it is a shame that more of the Metals machines didn't make it far into the privatisation period, '031 was one of the very last!

 

60031 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr

 

The machine would lose one of its Ben Lui nameplates around 1996 - leaving just bolt holes and a few marks where it used to be - presumably liberated 'unofficially' and perhaps still out there on someone's wall, all these years later...

 

60031 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr

 

After reassembly of the bodyshell, the chassis had the full-depth bufferbeams added at both ends, and the tension-lock coupler and self-catering swing function entirely removed, to be replaced with a 0.33mm brass wire loop, drilled into the chassis and superglued in place, to allow the usual bufferbeam pipe detailing to be fitted, yet still haul tension-lock-fitted stock. 

 

60031 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr

 

A view here showing the somewhat forlorn bodyside on 60031! The scrapes and damaged sector logo add to the character of the machine, whilst it would've been lovely to model the loco in peak ex-works condition, it's fun to do something that portrays the hard life and bad luck they often experienced!

 

60031 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr

 

Up on the roof, the exhaust silencer was painted in several rusty shades, along with a bit of talcum powder mixed in for texture, before being coated with shades of roof dirt, dirty black and my custom black/blue exhaust fume mix too.

 

60031 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr

 

60031 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr

 

A driver was added in the cab - one of the cheap eBay Chinese 1:75 figures was chopped up and painted up, and homemade blinds added in each windscreen too.

 

60031 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr

 

60031 was a hard working beast! New to BR's Trainload Metals sector in 1990, the locomotive was allocated to Thornaby and wore the iconic Kingfisher depot plaques, with the legacy of its time there being the scars left on the cabside where the plaques were removed in 1997.

 

60031 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr

 

The geographical names on the '60's were most magical - namesake Ben Lui being one of the Scottish 'Munro's in the Grampian mountains of northeast Argyll, and measuring in at 3,710 feet tall. 

 

60031 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr

 

One of the fun little oddities seen on 60031 was the damaged No.2 end - a big punt in on the yellow just inboard of the buffer on the secondman's side - after some head scratching, this was achieved using a soldering iron, and touching in the damage with some spare yellow paint!

 

Completing the story, the real 60031 would go on to lose its remaining Ben Lui plate later in 1998, and then swapped the 'Metals' colours for a shiny coat of EWS red in 2002, along with a new name - ABP Connect. The mighty beast would continue in service until storage by DBS in 2009, after which it would see out the remainder of its years to date in the confines of Toton yard, alongside its many classmates all awaiting their final fate.

 

60031 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr

 

It's been great fun bringing this one to life, part of the special club of '60's to retain the original sector colours into privatisation and into the history books, and what a looker it was back then!

 

Cheers,

James

 

Can spend hours looking over your work james 👌👌

great work again as always 

many thanks neil

6 hours ago, SRman said:

As posted in the Cavalex class 56 topic, my 56 120 arrived from Rails today, together with some of the new-style Peco loco lifts. 

The 56 was tested and ran fine, so was set up on the rolling road for a running-in turn.  As usual, I left it for over half an hour before reversing it, with sound on so I could hear it screaming away in the distance.

After that, I placed it in front of a passenger train - maybe an excursion or an emergency replacement for a failed train locomotive - where it really didn't look out of place on the NSE and blue and grey liveried coaches.

I posed a Hornby coal sector class 56, 56 127, next to it for effect.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now, to the loco lifts. I bought two double packs knowing I would need at least three for the purpose I intended them for. I knew that for the loco and train I wanted to store would have difficulties with clearances, mainly in height ... Stephenson's Rocket has a tall, out of gauge chimney. Coupling and uncoupling the coaches is a right royal pain, especially if one has shaky hands. With the old-style loco lift, I could fit Rocket plus only two coaches, whereas with three of these new ones, I can fit Rocket plus four coaches, which is as many as I dare ask it to pull. 

Both styles of lift required modification to clear the chimney. The old one had a narrow slice taken out of the centre of the top support at one end, connected back together with some stout brass wire. The new one has had a chunk milled out at one end. In both cases, this requires me to reverse the loco and train on to be able to drive it straight off later.

 

 

Another good catch up here SRman👌

On 06/02/2024 at 23:21, Gloucester Road said:

Prepping an NSE class 47

Another well detailed scene here👍👌

Been asked by few fellow modellers for walk through video of banks road so far!!

so heres were layout stands at mo,stil lots behind scene modelling stuff for layout..