James Makin

Lovely choices and a Dutch one in the basket for a grotty makeover sometime next year! 😎

Ah definitely China, and wouldn't it be fun to see it all happening! I must admit the UK doesn't even enter the mind when one thinks of model railway manufacturing these days 😄

I thought it was great, sad to see the last episode conclude! As a casual viewer I didn't really pay attention to any mistakes, the only visual thing spotted was the Merchant Navy with the backwards tender, and surely no one really cares that much anyway! Possibly reflective of the habits of many my age but I watched it on the sofa while I had my laptop out editing some model photos, and had my phone plugged in charging next to me with social media/Whatsapp notifications popping up, to have Simon Kohler there fondling an old steamer made for a nice warming backdrop to a good evening in! It's back to just C5's 'Traffic Cops' next Monday night when it comes to shows worth bookmarking...as wishful thinking lets just hope the upcoming final series of 'Inside the Factory' with our Lord Himself Gregg Wallace includes a tour of the Hornby factory...! 😄 Cheers James

Amazing progress so far Rich, annoying about the water leakage issue though! As an idea there, with the blotched parts would it help to add a bit of paint on the resin surface above it before the next resin pour, or maybe even intersperse with some silty sandy bits, it depends on your prototype but you could almost make it look like it’s bunged up and got some reeds and bits sticking out, and the odd shopping trolley and so forth, going in on the forgotten dereliction theme to hide the blotches! Cheers, James

Impressively fast work Rich, I don’t know how you manage to do all that so quick, let alone have time to then do an RMWeb post on it too! In comparison this week I’ve barely managed to dismantle and rub down a half of an old Class 60 😂 Looking forward to the next bit! Cheers James

If it helps with the liveries, I don't know if this counts but there's a few Green sheds around that had been turned into mobile job adverts - 66524 at Didcot Parkway 13.08.18 by James Makin by jamesmakin2002, on Flickr My pic from hallowed Didcot in 2018, it's just the base green of 66524 with a vinyl, but possibly useful for compiling the ultimate list! Cheers, James

I must admit I always found it amusing that First Class on Southern was exactly the same seats but with an antimacassar on 😆 It used to remind me of the scene in Ricky Gervais’ Extras where the lead character Andy pays extra to sit in the VIP section of a club, only to find that behind the red rope, it’s exactly the same seat..! Cheers, James

Bachmann did the Fastline for Rail Express and Hornby did Advenza on their ex-Lima, but they were certainly snazzy! I've bagged a Freightliner one and excited for future runs with some original EWS beasties for some boat-fresh 1998 examples! Cheers James

Beautiful choice guys! The EWS 66 would look superb with a nice little coating of grime in all the right places! 😉 Cheers James

Looking awesome Rich! 😎 The coupling fittings on the Bachmann TTA/MKA/MTA chassis are a right pain, my lazy technique I’ve got into is to drill a massive circular hole with a minidrill sanding attachment behind the bufferbeam - The giant hole then makes it easy to get access for the coupling, with an Archimedes drill in at the bufferbeam to open out the front end of the hole and oodles of superglue to fix! This is another reason why I can’t wait for the hopefully-definitive Hornby TTA to come out, the end of the overly fiddly faffing around on the chassis of these things..! Cheers, James

Thanks for all the tips and advice here guys, much appreciated!

Hi guys, Forgive me if this has been discussed recently, does anyone know where fine Liquid Lead dust shot can be purchased please? I recently bought some from DCC Concepts but was dismayed to find the balls are approx 2mm diameter, the old Liquid Lead sourced via the defunct Eileen’s was 0.5mm-1mm, a more useful size for getting in those nooks & crannies on underframes! If anyone has any pointers to fine dust shot that would be very much appreciated please! Many thanks, James

The entertainment value in this series is up on the last one so far! I must admit laughing at the scene of the cheeky Montana approaching Simon's office, hatching a plan for the 3D scan and the camera focusses in on an unsuspecting Simon, talking to himself in a world of his own at the computer screen 😄

Last year I was given the irresistible opportunity to weather up some of the brand new Accurascale MHA 'Coalfish' wagons, and now that they've been shared as part of the recent Accurascale 'World of Railways' coverage and featured on their weathering blog, it seemed the time was right to share a few more gratuitously dirty wagon pics here! Accurascale MHAs by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr The MHAs have long been a favourite, as most will know, they owe their existence to the old HAA merry-go-round coal hoppers, with large batches being built on redundant underframes from the late '90s onwards, and the second, revised body style appearing in the early 2000s, as depicted by the recent Accurascale model. Accurascale MHAs by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr My mission was to show how these models can be turned into typical examples of the breed during the mid-2000s era when the wagons had a few years service under the belt and the conversions had already started to show their age. The full step-by-step weathering guide is shown on the Accurascale website, but here's a whistle-stop tour to get a flavour of the process! Accurascale MHAs by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr What you get out of the box is rather fun! The wagons are so red, almost too pretty to weather, but needs must! There's the option here to change the running numbers if need be, otherwise the wagons are given a coat of Railmatch matt varnish and left for a month to harden, before some fun weathering would begin. Accurascale MHAs by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr I went with the tried and tested paint-on/wipe-off methods to initially bring out some of the detail in the ribs, creating shadows and dirt deposits that are normally sheltered from rainfall in real life. Several layers of Humbrol paints were added, looking at prototype pictures to see what kind of shades would work, painting on almost neat and then wiping away vertically downwards using a cotton bud. Accurascale MHAs by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr More of the superb Rose Gray accompanied layers of Humbrol's 62, 186, 113, 119 and 32 being applied - each layer leaves a residue over the matt varnish layer which tones down the bright EWS red to a much duller well-used shade as seen during the onset of the 2000s. Depending on the specific wagon and the life it led, the weathering could vary from sandy shades to darker grey appearance, so my advice is to pick a wagon photo for each model from Flickr/Google/Smugmug etc, and copy it exactly - otherwise there's a risk of getting more of a generic weathering finish. Next it came to weathering the all-important insides! Accurascale MHAs by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr From the start of the project I wanted to show the variety that was possible - one wagon would be 'empty', with a bit of ballast, and the third would be filled with sand - a commonly-seen load in the MHAs, alongside the usual ballast. The insides of the 'empty' wagons tended to be a rich mix of sandy, earthy shades, reflecting the loads seen in the wagons. A large scratchy brush was dipped in paint and then wiped almost clean of paint, before drybrushing against the wagon interior, creating upward streaks on the inside walls, and then across the floor working from side to side and mottled downward. It's a good idea to use an old dedicated dry-brush for this as it will fray your brush hairs in no time at all! Accurascale MHAs by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr At first it can look a bit rubbish, but after building up 6-7 colours, soon the effect starts to look more convincing, all range of greys, beiges and browns start to mix in, following the prototype pictures for guidance all the time. Next, the noticeable panel marks could be added in, using a few layers of brown paint - Accurascale MHAs by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr These panel lines match to the position of the external ribs, I believe this to be where the thin sides gently bow outward between the stiff strengthening ribs, making the ribs touch more against the interior load and therefore more susceptible to wear. Layers of light brown and darker brown were added with fine brushes, and working from pictures to try not to overstate the appearance. If it goes overboard at this stage, just rub over with a cotton bud and flatten out the effect accordingly. I couldn't resist having a little fun at the same time! Back when I did research ready for tackling my old Hornby MHAs many years ago, I remembered how many had been subject to graffiti attacks, so it was this in mind I set about recreating an MHA that had been similarly abused here..! Accurascale MHAs by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr It was a fairly simple two-colour 'mural', alongside a few extra tags. The backing colour was carefully painted on in the right place, and then this was lined out in black, using a fine 5/0 paintbrush. As always with this kind of work, it's all down to having the right tool - the brush hairs must all line up in a specific point in order to get a clean sharp finish. It's amazing how many new paintbrushes don't end in a point, so I always buy face-to-face and I'm that crazy guy at the brush stand at Warley, individually sorting through the hundreds of brushes to buy a stack of pointy ones... 😄 As well as graffiti, the 5/0 brushes came out again for recreating the little damages seen on the sides, normally where being unloaded by a mechanical grabber dents the inside, damaging the paintwork on the outside. Accurascale MHAs by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr Tiny marks were painted on in very light brown, Humbrol 62 and 186, then overlaid with dabs of more dirty, rusty shades, 113, 133 and 251, building up the shades gently as needed, and matching to pictures. There were also lots of little spots and dings that can be recreated too like this. Accurascale MHAs by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr Next, the stark black underframes were painted in a range of colours - Phoenix Paint's 'Track Dirt' or 'Frame Dirt', together with some Humbrol 251 dark brown, 32 dark grey and a bit of 27004 Metalcote Gun Metal. From looking at photographs, the darker shades were concentrated around the oily moving parts such as the brake levers and suspension components. After this came some more fun! So many MHAs have received markings on the side, from various engineering possessions, often the loads or position within a train are chalked or written on, and seem to survive in traffic some time after first being written. An example here had a giant 'E' and a 'Rail' marking on the side! Accurascale MHAs by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr The last bit was to tackle the loads, and for the sand wagon, I wanted to try out the range from Attwood Aggregates - their bucket of 'dust' caught my eye at a show so I had to give it a go! I'm pretty impressed how it has come out. Accurascale MHAs by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr The dust was applied on top of a false-floor load, being a bit of foamboard and a smoothed-down Peco/Parkside coal load from an HAA hopper, then just painted sand colour, covered in PVA glue with the Attwood product sprinkled on top. Accurascale MHAs by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr Accurascale MHAs by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr Loading the other two wagons was fun as well. From what I've seen rarely is there ever a truly 'empty' MHA, their lack of doors means that there's invariably some trace of load left in the hard-to-reach places, whether it's sand, ballast or some other spoil debris, it is fun to model! The 'emptyiest' of the trio had small lumps of Attwood Aggregates ballast applied in the corners of the wagon and at various places further in, mimicking patterns seen in real life where the grabber-boxes scoop up most of the load, but always leave some behind. Accurascale MHAs by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr Down on the chassis, the final layer of Humbrol Metalcote Gunmetal brings out the harder edges of the underframe, whilst the wheels themselves were weathered too. A layer of Humbrol 32 dark grey was painted on and wiped away, taking away the bright appearance of the brake discs and giving the appearance of oily dirt residue in the recessed bolts on the discs. The rest of the wheel and axle is carefully painted in a brown/grey mix to finish. Accurascale MHAs by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr The side profile of the MHAs is always fun, one of the things I liked about these was the ability to see right underneath the wagon, and Accurascale have really managed a good job here with the separately-applied ribs showing their extra detail caught in the light here! Accurascale MHAs by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr The 'graffiti wagon' was a lot of fun to work on in particular, I've always thought it amusing when graffiti pays no attention to the surface on which it sits, resting over the contours of the ribs and continuing on! The smaller tagging was added also with the fine 5/0 brushes and using beige sandy shades. Accurascale MHAs by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr Eagle-eyed viewers will see the graffiti itself has been weathered on top of too, often with wagons, graffiti is never removed and simply becomes part of the finish, just as seen here, with layers of dirt and even rusty damage patches showing through. Accurascale MHAs by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr The front wagon above here also shows a few additional drybrush passes of light stone/grey shades, if a certain wagon has been used for loading a very dusty material then it will weather differently to the others in the batch, so it makes it even more fun when picking out prototypes to model. Accurascale MHAs by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr Accurascale MHAs by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr The sandy-load wagon is an unexpected favourite! I am hoping to do a few more with MHAs and some MTAs too in due course. Accurascale MHAs by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr Accurascale MHAs by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr Accurascale MHAs by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr I'll stop sharing pics now as you'll be getting bored of them but it's been a great fun project to tackle, so glad that these often unsung heroes have a definitive model, let's hope for an early-body variant too in due course please! Accurascale MHAs by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr I'd like to extend a massive thanks to Fran, Gareth and the rest of the superb guys at Accurascale for letting me rip with their wagons, a very brave move!! Cheers, James

Hi Rich! Good work so far on the OCA! I did have a look through my collection for the Limpets, sadly I have nothing immediately to hand but will share over should I find something! I had a load of old pics saved from the much-missed Fotopic on an old PC but can’t retrieve, then somewhere I photographed an entire trainload of Limpets at Didcot in 2004 that featured both Yeoman and ARC examples but I have mislaid the CD the pics are on, but they are somewhere in the house, when I find them I’ll post them up! Cheers, James

The wagons look lovely, I'd long wondered if they would benefit from a more simplified retool, drastically cut down the number of separately-fitted parts and make them equivalent spec to the Dapol/Kernow/EFE blue Nacco Imerys wagons; separate handrails but not a lot else, price them up at under £50 and they may well fly off the shelves in big numbers! Cheers, James

Thanks Rich, will be great to see your OCA coming together! Limpets would be equally good, they were just disgusting and ideal for a modelling project...I've got dozens more to work on myself but they are one of the more time-consuming wagon projects with all the extra chassis detail that needs adding too. It'll be interesting to see whether Hornby venture out in this area once they've mastered the new TTA! Cheers James

Lovely choices, and with a D9000 in the bag, my miniature Virgin CrossCountry gricer passengers will be glad of another 47/8 loco failure 🤣 Cheers James

Thanks! The team should have some 2023 info loaded up shortly as a placeholder, plus we'll also update layouts & traders once we get details finalised. Cheers, James

Worthing Model Railway Club - Annual Exhibition Worthing MRC are excited to once again host our Annual Exhibition, bringing together a wide range of model railways, traders and society stands. Full details of each will be uploaded once confirmed nearer the event. Venue: Durrington High School, The Boulevard, Worthing, West Sussex, BN13 1LA Refreshments & hot food will be available throughout the show. The event takes place at a spacious venue, and includes free parking and disabled-friendly access. Further details can be found at https://www.worthingmrc.co.uk/

Interestingly there looked to be a white Class 59 or 66 bodyshell on the test layout when they were running the new starter set, I wonder if that’s just their existing Railroad one or a scaled up one from their TT development! I do hope the staff have teasingly put in all sorts of ‘Easter egg’ bits in knowing us lot will be snooping over every shot, I know I would do just that..! Cheers, James

If this was me, I’m sure this would be the outcome..!

Thanks Rhys, hope you're doing good! I thought I was just the one trying to decipher those codes on the cans haha! The Railmatch ones seem to be printed on a little white label on the sides of the cans, and Phoenix do the classic reverse date on the sides. There's one well-known modelling supplier that I've bought Railmatch aerosol cans from over the years and they have all failed on me prematurely it seems, shaken well but blocking during their first usage leaving you with about £8 of varnish you can't get at, or exchange heads and still can't unblock! I think it may be down to how they store the stock between shows possibly, maybe being left in a cold van or warehouse, you never know what happens to it before you get at it! I did once have a milky white finish with a project, my BR Green 47004 I did in 2013, it was a Winter project and I was rushing to get it finished, sprayed it on too cold a day and very recently after weathering, and it went a bit ghostly! Fortunately it just managed to be saved with some over coating with more varnish but that was a good lesson learnt! Cheers, James

I think my favourite are the Railmatch varnishes, bought in the aerosol format to save airbrushing, they are getting pricey these days but generally you do get good results! I’ll spray a gloss varnish coat across the bodyshell before the decals go down, a matt varnish coat after the decals and then a second matt coat after the paint-on-wipe off weathering stages, prior to the final blow over with airbrush traffic weathering. I normally buy regular small batches directly from main distributor Howes of Oxford with the aim of getting the freshest batch, to ensure maximum success and hopefully minimal clogging or malfunctioning aerosols, and they’re all stored indoors in the warm! The danger of buying the aerosols elsewhere other than Howes is it’s not immediately obvious how long it’s been sitting on their shelves! Hope this helps! :) James