Paul_in_Ricky

Interesting to see that Design Scan Print 3D have just started offering their figures as digital downloads; http://www.designscanprint3d.co.uk/ I think the pricing is acceptable, at about £4 per figure. I've bought a couple of their 16mm figures and the design is good, but the print quality left a lot to be desired. I assume that using a good resin printer would solve that issue. Being able to edit the files would, I hope, allow fine tuning of pose to suit purpose and location too.

As a relative beginner, in addition to the above I've found the following bits really useful; Cleaning kit; cotton buds, lots of kitchen towel, Teepee interdental brushes, a small jar for putting the nozzle in when cleaning, much more thinners than you would think. Also consider buying a decent branded brush, rather than a cheap chinese clone. I got a Harder & Steenbeck Ultra which wasn't an overdraft more than a cheap nasty and is really well made and worked well right out of the box. It's much easier to learn if you know you're using a good brush and only having to worry about your own failings, rather than not knowing if you've a duff airbrush. Parts will be easier to source should they ever be needed too.

My experience with this isn't very good. Although it can spray well, the finish has been nowhere near a proper matt surface. The Humbrol acrylic matt rattle can is better, but not much help for the OP

Thanks for the reply Alan. You've done a brilliant job of this and thanks for documenting the build so well. Your thread makes a good addition to Slater's instructions which leave something to be desired (although better than some). I've now got one of these kits and am starting to prepare everything and research the prototype even more. Sadly I now can't get to see one of the actual engines for the foreseeable future, so photos will be all I have to go on. Working out the chassis rivet detail is quite a challenge. Huge admiration to you for going so far as filing off the heads of 14ba ch bolts, that takes some dedication. It's really difficult to see from photos what the chassis fixings are on the prototype, round flat heads, domed heads or hex heads. I think a mixture of all three in different locations. My added challenge will be putting batteries and radio control in mine. Currently planning on making an alternative boiler in acrylic tube and having a removable saddle tank to gain access to a battery compartment.

I've been using proxxon MB200 drill stand, FBS12 drill and KT70 micro table and have been delighted at it's performance. Quite remarkable accuracy for such a small bit of kit.

I'm just starting a 16mm Slaters quarry Hunslet kit of 'Rough pup'. Inspired by Quarryman's build detailed here before. Has anyone else here made one of these ? If so can I ask a couple of questions please ? How did you add the rivet detail ? I don't have and can't really justify the expense of a rivet press. I wasn't too happy using a centre punch on a slate wagon kit, so it looks like drilling each hole and soldering in a brass rivet. I can't decide what size to use and in the current lock down can't get to an original loco to measure up. Having bought some different sized rivets none seem the perfect size for the frames. 1.17mm head into a 0.8mm hole looks a bit small, whereas 2.1 mm head into a 1.2mm hole seems too chunky. That's the 1/32” and 3/64” sizes from EKP, 1mm rivets from Prime Miniatures seem almost identical to the 1/32” EKP, but possibly better finished. Any other suppliers out there offering something in between ? I want it to be self-contained and battery powered with radio control. A Deltang RX65 will be no trouble to hide, but what battery set and where ? A quick try suggest it'll need at least 4.5v, so maybe a 4xAAA pack of Nimh or two 3.7v Lipo, but how to hide the packs and make them accessible for future maintainance ? Your thoughts and experience would be gratefully received.

Most acrylic thinners and brush cleaners are a mix of clean (distilled) water(about two thirds), IPA (a third) with the addition of some flow enhancer which acts as a detergent. DIY a batch for a fraction of the commercial product. Search You Tube and you'll find plenty of recipes that will work fine and plenty of cleaning tutorials too.

Have a look at Tinkercad. Free online cad package and allows exact dimensions to be used. Needs a little creative thinking to get the best from it, but great value when free.

I've never spent a day working in an office. As I've said I've spent forty years working on location and studio floors making TV, so I can sniff incompetence in a production team from a great distance. Not sure where you're getting this idea of extra days from no one else has mentioned it. The smart thing to do would have been to left the teams to finish within their promised time allowances and concentrated on working more efficiently on the last day. In a nut shell; don't over shoot.

If you'd spent days planning how you were going to approach a task and then had the timescale changed effectively on-site you'd be justified in feeling there was some unfairness in that process. They would have known that well in advance. It's just poor planning on the production's part. Hardly, it makes competitive sense to be as ambitious as you think you can be within the defined timescale. Not the same at all. One of the team members made a mistake, literally a self inflicted injury. If that injury had been caused by a third party then your argument may have more validity.

It seemed a very good show. Lots of excellent layouts, interesting and relevant trade stands, plus enough room to move around easily. It might have helped to have had a few signs to where exactly the hall was in relation to the car park, but that's nit picking really.

It's not simply changing deadlines, it's changing the rules of the game half way through. It's simply not fair. Imagine the furore if it got out that in The Great British bake off half way through a four hour technical challenge the contestants were told they only had an hour left and that left half baked products around. If the production team realised they hadn't enough time to shoot what they wanted, they should have re-evaluated their plans, not screwed up the contestants plans that compromised their final results. Yes, I know a fair bit about TV production having working as a cameraman for over forty years. This is an example of the production company getting it wrong from what we've been told.

That's pretty outrageous. Messing around teams that have carefully planned their schedule and then cutting time just shouldn't be done. A pretty incompetent production team to make a mistake like that. Also hugely poor not to explain why the teams might not have managed to achieve what they'd planned because of the production team's mistake in planning too. Whilst drama and jeopardy might make good television, a great end result to show on screen is just as important.

It will be interesting to see what thickness brass sheet you can mill with this. If you could manage 0.2mm in one pass it would be a far more economical option than photo etching for small batches.

Sadly trying to reference by HTML code is futile. It's just numbers without reference to any real world colour. Using a Pantone reference would have more validity. For an interesting perspective on the accuracy of railway paint it's worth reading page 2 of Precision Paint's catalogue. https://www.phoenix-paints.co.uk/uploads/cat 30 sept 2016 01.10.2016aa.pdf

Generally artist acrylic paint is far more viscous (thick) and more similar to artists oil paints than modellers brushing paint. Having said that, there are a huge range of acrylic paints and inks that 'artists' use, so it's not a simple subject. Have a look at https://www.jacksonsart.com/blog/2019/10/18/the-four-acrylic-consistencies/?utm_campaign=1468168_Blog_Newsletter_2019_10_22 for more detail.

Sorry to make such a late comment to this fantastic and inspiring thread, but I wonder if I could ask Alan for a couple of clarifications please ? From an earlier comment; are many of the parts laminations of layers of photo etch brass sheet for the parts needing greater strength (eg frames, con rods) ? If so, does that mean (as mentioned above) you've used a lower melting point solder to join parts to already built components to prevent previous joints/laminations disassembling ? If so did you use just one iteration or several (Carr's list at least half a dozen different melting point solders) ? Just to add something some may have missed. This old (1960) colour film from the BFI archives is a great source of information for seeing how these locos looked when working. https://player.bfi.org.uk/free/film/watch-dinorwic-and-penrhyn-slate-quarries-1960-online

I've just had this dilemma having just bought my first double action airbrush and compressor. I went for the Vallejo model air range and have found it a very easy product to use and get good results with. When you don't have to worry about thinning paint you can get straight on with learning the effects possible and adjusting pressure optimally. The small dropper bottles make it very easy to dispense into the airbrush reservoir without waste. One drop of flow improver per 1ml seems to improve coverage marginally too. Be aware that some of the Vallejo weathering products aren't in the model air range, so will need thinning. A few drops of thinner from a dropper bottle and mixed with a paint brush* in the reservoir cup does the trick nicely for smaller volumes of paint. *a No 1 liner brush does the job very well and also is good for cleaning afterwards. As others say, you'll need to learn how to clean your airbrush, but there's loads of tutorials on You Tube that cover this well. Nothing to fret about, after a couple of cleans it becomes second nature and will only take a couple of minutes.

I wouldn't expect this to be particularly suitable for scale modelling as it creates a real, full size, rust effect. Also as it is an effect that 'develops' you haven't much control over the process. Maybe with some experience and experimentation it might be useful on the larger scales, but when there's so many existing products that you have full control over I'm not sure why you'd bother trying it.

It's worth checking all the parts are correct, have a look at the exploded diagram at https://www.obeeliks.com/contents/en-uk/p2174.html Are you sure the small seal marked 50-046 is in place ? If so, a 24hrs soak in cellulose thinners, then put everything into an ultrasonic cleaning bath (apart from the air valve) and a careful reassembly with a tiny bit of re-lubing should solve the problem. Also worth reading this old thread

Another vote for the AS series from here. Last month, after a lot of research, I bought a TC-80T (AS186 clone) from https://www.everythingairbrush.com and have been very happy with the performance. For me buying a compressor with a tank is a 'no brainer', it adds very little to the cost, but is sure to provide good consistent pressure. Probably important if you're considering using a bigger 0.4mm nozzle airbrush. If you haven't already got, or need, a better airbrush, the sets from everything airbrush work out a good price from a reputable dealer who will happily give advice over the phone. I'd also expect them to give better service in the future if anything does go wrong compared to the eBay cowboys.