Phil Traxson

A follow on to the last two video's, showing de-moulding the castings, words to help understand it will be to-morrow. https://flic.kr/p/2kqSrgp

I have always used clear plastic as you can see that you haven't squeezed out too much resin and so allowed air to be drawn back into the casting. I look out for "Javis" clear sheet as it seems to release of the casting better even if you have been economical with the wax polish (must be wax, not wax free polish). "Slaters" just doesn't want to let go. Hard plastic packaging is often quite good too, a rough guide, I find, is that if you look at the edge of the plastic and it has a slight blue/purple cast to it it will usually do the job. For more delicate stuff like my various window castings I use really thin stuff, I was given a wad of overhead projector film about 10-15 thou thick some time back and it is excellent for the more delicate castings, Georgian multi pane & 1950's steel frame windows etc.

https://flic.kr/p/2kqCab4 https://flic.kr/p/2kqyd9J https://flic.kr/p/2kqWxj2 https://flic.kr/p/2kqWxuH I managed to take some video of pouring some castings by using a tripod to hold the camera. As you will see there is nothing special about mixing. I'll try and put some captions up tomorrow. (or today even!) I took them a bit late in the day as a tryout. Being a very amateur cameraman who had not really tried this properly before, I now realise that if I had waited until my next spell in the workshop I could probably, perhaps, have managed to put some sort of commentary on as well. I'll redo the resin label pictures in focus too. The first video shows my method of mixing and pouring "Fast Cast" polyurethane resin into silicone rubber moulds. The resin is a 50/50 (ish) mix of resin & hardener, once thoroughly mixed you have around 3 minutes to get it into the mould. You will notice that despite beating it to death with a stick there are no air bubbles, a property of these low viscocity resins. The deep mould block is for a railway van body & floor, the resin is poured gently and evenly, using the mixing stick to pour it down and guide it into the mould starting with one corner and allowing it to flow at it's own pace into the mould cavities. The plastic cover plate is then placed over the resin, pushing out the excess, to give a level base making sure not to squeeze it down too hard as if you do air will be drawn back into the casting as you release finger pressure. The mould next to it is the chassis for the van, same technique again. The other casting at the top left is a partition to separate the saloons of a coach, parts of which feature in the second video The second video follows on to the previous one and shows the next mix being poured into the van roof mould, the ends of of the roof are in the undercuts which the resin flows into quite easily if poured gently. the other castings being made are for the brake gear and brake handle(the small moulds) and, out of sight at the top of the picture, the van sole bar/ axlebox castings. The other castings are parts for a coach, sides, ends,and a pair of doors. During this video the van body and chassis, poured previously, can be seen turning opaque and beige colour as they begin to cure. They can be removed from the mould in an hour or so's time but will be done tomorrow now as dinner awaits.

I've just added 4 more photo's to My Flickr "Resin Casting" album to fill some of the gaps between prepping the mould for pouring and the finished casting. Can't show the actual pouring as I haven't enough hands to pour and take photo's. That will have to wait until we are allowed to gather again so some one else can work the camera.

They are actually 24.5 mm axles, but yes they are available(most of the time) from Colin at Alan Gibson.

Photo's now added. Phil T.

Thanks to Jordan's prompting I'm going to take some photo's, next time I'm in the workshop, of a two part mould I use for making a body for the Leek & Manifold transporter wagon. This is cast on end rather than flat, with the two halves clamped together, and the casting is set on the diagonal so that you have one corner as the high point for the riser and the runner is at the lower of the top corners. By pouring slowly, controlled by the choke point, and having a reservoir cup at the top of the runner, the resin runs down one corner of the inside and fills the mould. There is just time to do this before the resin becomes unpourable (does that word exist!) so long as I'm not interupted mid pour! I have a much higher success rate than I ever hoped for with this, in fact I'll tempt fate by saying I can't actually remember my last failure. At the moment I'm staying at my daughters place, a few miles from home, as I normally live on my own, but I visit the workshop every couple of days for an hour or two so will make the photo's a job for my next visit, but don't hold your breath waiting. I have a suspicion that this may possibly help with this wagon although it would mean making a new mould. Clicking on the photo' will take you to my Flickr page and under "Albums" you should find Resin Casting with these photo's and others with explanatory captions Phil T.

Absolutely spot on Jordan. I too worked in a foundry for a number of years and my next suggestion was to be runners and risers. The only thing with these and resin casting is to remember to keep them as straight as possible as they have to have the resin poked out of them after each cast. Easy enough with a piece of wire, so the red runner should at least be curved rather than a sharp corner if you cannot make it straight.

Definitely Ecton, if you look carefully you can see that the tankers are on transporter wagons.

They were the bus operators!! Of course that wouldn't help, the two different departments wouldn't be in the same building or communicate with one another.

Perhaps a totally silly suggestion but, looking at the photo's and not having seen the set up in the flesh, would it be possible to turn the loco gearbox upside down and have it slung under the axle for large wheel loco's to keep the shaft under the footplate?

Took my test on a BSA M21 600 single + sidecar, about 1969, the 250 limit didn't apply if you had a sidecar attached. The examiner sat in the chair for part of the test, I think he passed me because he didn't want to do that again!!

Those shots shout Burton on Trent, High Street Crossing, by the Blue Posts pub, now a street called Worthington Way. Takes me back about 60 years, I can almost hear the crossing box warning bell before he opened the gates to let a darkish blue Worthington steam loco or smelly, smokey, petrol Motorail through, though the latter would be later than your chosen era, great modelling.

That is pretty ambitious for a first attempt, but a good try. I still some times have the same results with the first casting off a new item, some times needing a complete rethink on either mould or casting method, though after 20 plus years I like to think that I have met most of the problems and overcome them, but there is still the odd one that catches me out. Like wise I am sometimes surprised how easy some, apparently difficult ones at first glance, are to cast. I think that, like I did at first, you are perhaps trying to pour too quickly, both rubber and resin and trapping air. I had the same problems when I first attempted a two part mould. Pour from one end and let the mix make its own way, you've plenty of time with the rubber when making the mould and longer than you think with the resin. Experiment with coating the plug top in the awkward corners too, a couple of drips from the mixing stick often helps. Try not to be tempted to push the plug in too quickly, rather assist it to sink than force it down, if you follow my meaning. I'm dubious about mixing any thing else with the resin as the two parts are made to react with one another and adding anything else is an unknown and in extreme cases may even make a dangerous mix (poisonous or explosive fumes), there are many different types of resin and they are not all compatible. A lot of the 3D resins are actually more brittle than the fast cast ones you are using, in fact development of them seems to be paralleling what happened in the mix and pour types 25 years ago, going from shattering if you dropped them on a carpet to bouncing back if you throw them at a wall, fortunately the improvements happened much faster with 3D. Sorry for the long diatribe but I really wish I could either be there when you cast, or demonstrate one to one, as you are definitely on the right track and I would hate you to give up in despair. After my first attempts failed I almost gave up, and that was with much less complicated flat cast items items, but it came right in the end. Just to justify my advice,(and brag a little!!) if any one bought resin kits in the years between 2000 and 2017 from Mercian Models, Invertrain's Highland Castings Building range, Alphagraphix or Ten Commandments then there's a fair chance that I cast them, plus my own Port Wynnstay Models range, (which I still produce). I only stopped most outside casting in 2017 due to life throwing me a couple of curved balls, and the realisation that at 70 years old I ought to be slowing down a little, so I retired to Porthmadog, and set up a smaller workshop there. Phil T.

I have some pre group Scottish Vehicles and an odd Great Northern/LNER pulley wagon. Not all available at the moment as due to circumstances before the move and setting up the workshop my already small stock about ran out. The resin castings can be done to order but I need to stock up on bought in items, buffers and "W" iron/axle box units etc. I usually do this at Telford or other shows, but of course these aren't happening at the moment. I must get my backside into gear and phone around for prices and availability, soon!! I do a couple of small huts too and a selection of domestic and industrial windows for buildings as well and a few oddball items which were used for a group layout I was involved with. When the world calms down a little it might be an idea to have a get together and swap notes. Better give Graham his thread back now! Phil T. Port Wynnstay Models

I'm just down the road in Porthmadog, moved here a couple of years ago. modelling 7 mm standard & narrow gauge and producing resin kits for both.

Love that picture for the variety of wagons and vans, particularly the containers in open wagons not on conflats, enough to give rivet counters apoplexy. Really brings to life "mixed freight", just the first two vans have differences in door type, overall height and roof radius.

Just tried Dettol for the first time as a paint stripper. I'd bought a model of a REO bus, metal body with the rest plastic, and stripped it down years ago for a repaint from the bright yellow it was in. I've failed to get anything that is not really nasty to shift the paint, modern brake fluid didn't touch it. Last night I put one of the metal parts in a bath of Dettol in a takeaway container with the lid on, this morning the paint just fell off, result! Mid-day I put the main body in and the paint is bubbling up and falling off in sheets now, going to leave it in soak tonight and it should clean up easily in the morning. Do not know what it's like on plastic yet but its not eaten its way out of the takeaway container yet and showing no signs of. Will not be trying it on the plastic bus parts as they are all self coloured or the right colour anyway but I'm impressed so far. I might just spray one of my resin seconds (c--k ups) with primer and then paint and let it harden off for a few weeks and see if it works on that. Phil T.

I know it's a long time ago and probably impossible to source now and so of little use BUT. I'm sure around or just after closure of the railway in 1956 "Meccano Magazine" ran a series of articles on the LOR I can remember reading my pals copies and being fascinated by it. It was probably a most accurate series as of course Meccano/Hornby were based only a stones throw away from it in Liverpool and their engineering articles were always excellent. I've no doubt that if anyone has these back numbers they will be worth a mint as collectors items if they are any still about but it's just a thought..

And here in Wales we will not even be able to drink in a pub after Friday because our beloved leader has decided that they can only open until 6 pm, and even when open are not allowed to sell alcohol. So they've almost all decided to close completely until further notice, even Wetherspoons. Some of them will never open again. This, of course, is not be expected to cause folks to meet up and drink at home or cause any employment losses!!

No reason at all why you can't just make one open mould. I tend to find making separate ones uses less rubber, particularly if I'm making a one piece body as that will need to be deeper than the mould for the chassis, but that's just the commercial side of things! The beauty of a one piece body is that, apart from the flat base, all the surfaces can have detail put on as well. I used to demonstrate casting alongside my trade stand at some exhibitions but we don't have those at the moment. I've toyed with making a video but would need some one else to help as I haven't enough hands and that's a no-no at the moment. It would need some one who was good at editing sound too to put in the bleeps when it doesn't quite go according to plan. Some one did offer to help some years ago but life got in the way and it didn't happen.

And Honda did it with the RS 250 single around 1980, but with a 4 valve OHC set up.

After 20+ years of resin casting using silicone moulds and fast setting poly urethane resins, both of various makes over the years, I would suggest making the body and chassis as two separate pieces. Try to give yourself a split that allows for one flat surface on each part. Preferably the bottom of the body and top of the chassis so that you only need a one piece, open, mould for each. My method using these open moulds, is to pour the resin, slowly and carefully so that you don't trap air in the detail pockets, and slightly overfill the moulds. I then cover the mould with a piece of flat clear plastic which displaces the excess resin, don't press hard or as you ease off air will be drawn back into the mould, and leave this on until the resin has cured (ideally "Javis" brand 40 thou clear sheet, as it does not stick to the cured resin though after a few uses it may pay to give it a wipe over with a WAX polish, clear plastic packaging often works as well). Peel the plastic off and remove the castings from the moulds, with a little luck, and a following wind, you should be able to glue the two flat surfaces together to form your wagon. If you find you have an air trap on the same point each cast you can usually give that point a prod with a piece of wire to displace the air bubble before you put the plastic cover plate on, I've got several moulds that need this treatment, just some thing that comes with experience. Unlike some of the "experts" who may pop up to tell you how, this method is derived from experience of making and selling several thousand items over the years for myself and other suppliers. I'm not an expert and get annoyed if some one calls me one, merely had a lot of experience and no few failures in learning, and you may not wish to use my methods but they are there for you to consider. You will no doubt find a method that works best for you. Incidentally, using low viscosity fast setting resin I have never found need for a vacuum chamber, and I don't think that with the short pot life after mixing I would have time to use one before the resin becomes unworkable. If you have any questions you think I may be able to answer please feel free to PM me. Phil Traxson Port Wynnstay Models

A little "Superglue" or careful work with solder? Having not seen the Slaters parts I don't know what materials they are made from but either way I'm sure they could be made rigid, usually easy if you don't want them to be!!

Also, it might be worth while considering that (hopefully) Boris will not be in charge in 2030 and later governments may well apply a certain amount of common sense (another doubtful) to the problem in light of the circumstances that apply at the time.