Nile

Thanks Tiptonian, and others reading this. I'm glad you are enjoying it. And now it's time for another Wagon Interlude This wagon dates from the 1970s and came from a Hornby trainset, with GWR no.101. Although I may own older models, this is the one I've owned the longest. Like many models from this era the body is ok but the chassis wasn't. A few years ago I replaced the chassis with bits from the kits box. I can't remember their origin, Cambrian maybe? The buffers at each end are different, so they may be from other sources. This shows the new chassis. I've added some lead for weight. I recently revisited this model and tried some painting and weathering to reduce the plasticy finish of the body. I first sprayed it with Dullcote. I painted the inside with matt black, then thin washes of dark brown. I also applied the wash to the outside. As this is supposed to carry sand, I then applied washes of a lighter brown (Revell Dark Earth), including the chassis. This is what I've ended up with. It still needs links fitting to the coupling hooks. Meanwhile I'm also working on a diorama/small layout type thing that I can display these models on. Still ballasting, but slowly getting there. Also on my workbench is this. The next model definitely runs on rails.

The other LMS loco (in the photo) will be heading into the workshop eventually. I'm thinking about converting it to a 4-4-2, maybe, we shall see. The next loco due up has a tender. PINNED ! How did that happen?

After a final coat of satin varnish I put all the bits back where they should be. I haven't replaced the coal, but as it's not fixed in place I can do that later. A side by side comparison with the original loco (another one) I've also got a BR one, and more plans for these locos. But that's for the future.

Moving forward from the cab, I've changed the safety valves into the ramsbottom type. I filed the top off the existing ones, inserted a bit of brass rod between them, and shaped some square nickel silver rod to go on top. The new bits were painted steel. It looks ok from a normal viewing distance. Handrails. I accidentally used the old ones on another model (doh!), so I made new ones from 0.5mm brass rod. They were painted to match the adjacent body colour. The smokebox door handles have also been fitted. Nearly there now, just a final coat of varnish needed.

Some detailing work in the cab. The screw reverser had to go, it being the last thing you'd want on a small tank engine. I replaced it with a piece of styrene strip painted red, to represent a lever. I thought the hand brake column was rather in the way in its original position, so I moved it to the back of the cab. I drilled a small hole in the floor to locate it securely.

Something that I forgot to mention in a previous post was that I painted the inside walls of the cab top with Polly Scale Aged White paint. This gives a nice off-white appearance. You can just about see it in the photos. Onto the transfers, or decals as the maker calls them. These are from Microscale no.90106, Railroad gothic letters and numbers yellow. It has plenty of numbers and letters in five different sizes. The loco is named after one of the suburbs it serves. The boiler bands are from another Microscale sheet, no.91102, black stripes. I cut away the carrier film either side of the stripe, leaving a long thin decal that was a bit tricky to handle. The carrier film wouldn't normally be a problem on a flat surface, but the combination of curved boiler and raised boiler band make a difficult surface to conform to. Plenty of setting solution helped keep things under control and allows the decals to be moved around until they look straight. I used both Micro Set and Micro Sol here. The model is still in separate parts, making the task easier.The parts were put together for another photo.

I'm sure I'll get around to some coaches eventually. As well as loads of Ratio kits, I've built up a stash of Triang clerestories. I've even got some French coaches that might prove useful. Before then I've got lots of part done projects in boxes that I'd like to make some progress on. Stay tuned!

Yes Corbs, that's the idea. I usually apply another coat of Klear over the transfers, so seal them in. But that may be overkill. Dullcote certainly dulls things down (see the 0-6-0 above), so much so that I applied some Humbrol Satin varnish to most of the compound to give it a bit of a shine. Thanks for all the likes and nice comments. There's plenty more to come.

Before moving on to the painting, I made a few more mods. I wanted to make the dome a bit shorter, so I made a horizontal cut in it with a razor saw. After cleaning up the parts, sticking them back together, filling and filing, I'd lost about 2mm from its height. I filed away the vents from the corners of the cab roof. These were needed for the water pick-up system, which this loco now doesn't have. Lastly I removed the coal rails from the bunker. These may end up on another model. The parts were painted separately, matt black and oxide red. They were put together only for the photo. Klear was applied to get a nice glossy finish, ready for transfers.

Starting at the front, I've removed the handrail and numberplate from the smokebox door, as well as the retaining clips around it. I will be fitting handles to the centre of the door, the first part has been fitted. The two handrail knobs are for the handrail that will curve around the top of the door. They look a bit wonky here, but should look ok when it's all painted black. As the chimney is fixed to the smokebox, I decided to modify rather than replace. I filed away the lip to get a stove-pipe look. I've glued a thin strip of styrene around the top to form a small lip. Onto the cab top. I filed the openings in the sides into a semi-circular shape, which looked good to me. I then glued a strip of styrene onto the edges. I also glued styrene strips to the edges of the tank and bunker sides. These will be painted as part of the lining.

Onto the next loco. This time it's a suburban tank engine. This is what I will be using. When Bachmann announced this model I thought it had potential, and thought about what I could do with it. This one isn't the only idea I've had! The good news is that it comes apart easily in a way that makes modifying it easy. I've posted more photos like this in the Bachmann section. http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/53404-Bachmann-announce-ly-2-4-2t/page-17&do=findComment&comment=1283871 Next, the modding begins.

And now to finish off the brake van. The ends of the body,made of clear plastic, are held in place with minimal amounts of glue. It didn't take much effort to remove them. As the paint on them is a bit thin and lets the light through, I painted the insides black, then grey. While the body was in bits I removed the two pillars inside. I attached the body to the chassis with a few spots of canopy glue (similar to PVA). This is the view through the end windows now. The finished (for now) model. I just need a Midland loco for the other end of the train.

Micro-sol (and Micro-set) should work well with any water-slide decals. I've never had any problems, and I've built lots of model aircraft. Thicker, multi-colour ones may need something stronger, like the Daco solution in the photo (above). The Decals I've used are by Microscale (same as the solution), they make lots of useful general sheets as well as ones for specific railroads.

Nelson, Yes, normally. Although I do carefully dab the transfer with the brush if it needs help conforming to the surface. As for the coal load, as it's removable I can sort it out later. I've got some coal here, somewhere.

Back to the compound. Various coats of Testors Dullcoat and Humbrol acrylic satin varnish have given me a finish I'm happy with. This is the result. Here it is joined by its Midland cousin. That is all for now, I'm still faffing about with the brake van.

And I thought I was mad! Best use of a GBL Mallard so far? I'm looking forward to seeing this one finished. Anyone fancy stretching one to a 4-8-2 or 4-8-4 ?

I've finished applying transfers to the models above. I'm now waiting to spray varnish over them to finish them off. Until then, here is some other transfer related work. Last year I bought some Slaters coal wagons that had been built and painted, etc. That makes them RTR . The only problem with them was the transfers hadn't been applied very well, particularly over the raised detail. However, I thought I may be able to fix that. The first two photos are of an as bought wagon. Meet my weapons of mass distortion. I only needed to use the micro sol, the transfers are quite thin and responded well to the solution. These are the after photos.

If you want to add rivets to a model, you can use transfers. http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/8149-rivit-counter-alert-archer-scale-transfers/

Putting all the bits together makes this. So far so good. But there is something missing, a name. My original idea was to name all the passenger loco after towns served by the railway, much like the LTSR, amongst others. But I thought that by 1920 they might have ran out of names, so I thought of an alternative, rivers. Ones in the area served include Thames, Colne, Brent, Cherwell and Wye. Out of those I chose Wye simply because it's the shortest. Instead of trying to make nameplates I will use transfers to represent painted on names, like the LTSR, LBSCR and others. Here I am trying the letters out on the front splasher.

Yes, it does seem an odd place to put lettering. But all the images I've found so far have it that way.

Thanks for all the likes, I shall continue with this malarkey. On to the tender. As the LMWR had no water troughs, there was no need for water collecting apparatus. The dome came off easily enough, but that left a hole with a rim and a line of rivets around it. I carved away the unwanted raised detail and filled the hole with a disc of styrene. The green stuff is Squadron green putty, filling any gaps around the disc. After cleaning up and painting. I removed the filler cap as it was in the way. You can't tell from this angle, but I have also removed the water pick up operating handle from the front of the tender.

While waiting for paint and transfers to dry I'll start the tale of the next loco. Post war passenger traffic needed more powerful locos. These came in the form of Midland 4-4-0 compounds with some modifications (the Midland was a significant LMWR shareholder). This was achieved using the excellent Bachmann model of the LMS built compound. The good news is that this model is left hand drive, which is what I want. But it needs some modifications to make it more Midland like. What I was aiming for is a left hand drive version of this (public domain image). Loco body modifications. Left to right, the mods are: New whistle. The Bachmann one is fragile and broke.I found one in the bits box, could be an old Hornby one. Replace safety valves with Ramsbottom type, scratch built from bits and pieces. Sand the dome into a rounder shape. I attached it to a mini-drill and used some sand paper to re-profile it. I replaced the chimney with the one I'd removed from the C class earlier. Moved the upper lamp iron from the smokebox door to the top of the smokebox. Cut away the frame extensions in front of the smokebox saddle. With the chassis and boiler removed, you can see where I've cut and filed the frame extensions. I've started re-painting the body into the passenger livery of red oxide with black lining. Cleaned up and painted. In the background is the boiler with its new rounded dome. Putting the bits back together, this is what you get.

I have some Slaters transfers from their Midland brake van kit, the water based press-fit type and meth-fix type. As I haven't used them before, I thought I would try the meth-fix ones on this brake. One side done, all seems ok so far. I took the easy option of just adding 1 to the M.99 number on the sheet.

I was going to do another loco next, but then these arrived. The one on the left will stay as it is, but the other is going into the time machine back to its Midland origins. Rather than a full repaint, I'll remove the black panels and touch up the paint before applying Midland decals. The handrails are metal and can be prized out of their holes with some care. This is the chassis, in case anyone is interested. Using a curved scalpel blade, I carefully scraped the black panels off. I then tried some paints on the inside of the body, to see which best matched the paint on the body. 1 is Railmatch early BR grey , acrylic. 2 is the same , in enamel 3 is Precision Midland freight wagon grey. I thought the enamel paint was the closest, so that is what I used.

Short answer - yes. Longer answer - a smooth glossy surface will prevent the transfers from silvering, they will also stick much better to it. Gloss paint, or matt paint + gloss varnish , will work. A final coat of matt or satin varnish will seal the transfers in and get rid of the gloss finish. If you are applying the transfers to a flat surface you shouldn't need any setting solution, just water.