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Paul_in_Ricky

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Posts posted by Paul_in_Ricky

  1. No one else has jumped in here, so I'll add my thoughts.

     

    " I dry it by blasting straight air at it" this isn't a good practice and is probably why a finished surface will be poor.

     

    I either allow paint to FULLY dry before second coating, or follow the manufacturer's instructions for multiple coats. Usually that means putting on a second coat before the previous coat has started to dry to allow it to effectively become a part of the previous layer of paint. That allows it to dry as one solid layer of paint. The crucial part is not overloading the layer and getting runs.

     

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  2. 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.

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  3. 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.

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  4. 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. 

     

  5. 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.

     

  6. 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.

     

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  7. 1 hour ago, RobjUK said:

     

    It's the only free package I know of that allows you to enter exact dimensions as you are working on designs.

     

    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.

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  8. 11 minutes ago, phil-b259 said:

    I'm sorry but that sort of statement reeks of office bound management speak arrogance!

    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. 

     

    Quote

     not being able to get people to stay on an extra day,

    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.

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  9. 29 minutes ago, phil-b259 said:

    Not a particularly good comparison because the teams on the GMRC were advised BEFORE work started.

    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.

    Quote

     faced with the gargantuan task of extending the contracts / hire agreements, booking extra accommodation at short notice etc is it any wonder the production company reduced the build time instead when the practicalities of shooting the final emerged.

    They would have known that well in advance. It's just poor planning on the production's part.

    Quote

    you could also say that going for an ambitious layout that will be a challenge to build within a deadline is their choice in the first place and something a bit less ambitious would have been a wise idea anyway 

    Hardly, it makes competitive sense to be as ambitious as you think you can be within the defined timescale.

    Quote

     Rail Riders team lost a team member for a good few hours after they drilled through their finger and if you really were that picky about 'fairness' then you would be demanding all the other teams had to forfeit a team member for the same length of time to keep it 'fair'

    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.
     

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  10. 22 minutes ago, phil-b259 said:

     

    Its not an unusual thing in the TV world for deadlines to change if needs be 

     

     

    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.

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  11. 12 hours ago, LNER4479 said:

    Whinge alert! My only real gripe with KBG was that they altered the rules for the final at the 11th hour and 59 minute.......we would require to stop building at 5pm on the third day. They'd been thinking....... that they needed all of the fourth day for that. ...... our 32 hour plan for our zany layout was impossible enough as it was but to then have 5 hours taken off us

    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.

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  12. 2 hours ago, rab said:

    What is the difference between acrylic model paint and the stuff artists use?

    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.

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  13. 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

  14. On 31/07/2019 at 11:27, westerhamstation said:

    Though saying that I may have narrowed it down to a choice of two, Vallejo Model Air or the LifeColor Rail Weathering set, so if any one can advise me as to which one of these would be the easiest for someone who has never used a airbrush before

    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. 

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  15. 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.

  16. 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 

     

  17. 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.

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