Jump to content
RMweb
 

johnteal

Members
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    809

  • Joined

  • Last visited

 Content Type 

Blog Entries posted by johnteal

  1. johnteal

    Class 20 Paint job

    By johnteal,

    The basic colours are now in place, but will need some rework, in particular the red which is still somewhat transparent.
     

     
    Following the yellow, the next colour up was the Railmatch Grey for the sides, which like the yellow was applied from a rattle can in very thin coats "force" dried with a hair drier, then another coat applied until an even coverage was achieved. The grey went on last night.
     
    This morning the sides were masked a the lighter grey roof was done (actually primer grey) several proto pictures show the livery as having the same grey on the sides as on the roof, but the picture I am working from HERE shows the lighter roof.
     
    Early afternoon the red stripe was added with a brush, the black was also applied by brush, both these colours need a bit of tidying up for depth and edges, but I'm not going to push my luck to far, it really needs a chance to all harden of now.
     

     

     
    Next job is to work on some "arrows of indecision" for on the sides.
  2. johnteal

    DITCH LIGHTS

    By johnteal,

    You may or may not have noticed that last nights weathering did not include any locos, thats because the plans include fitting ditch lights and i decided any mods would be easier to disguise with the weathering.
     
    I ordered some Surface mount LEDs from Express models at the weekend and they arrived today. At first when i opened the packet, saw the resistors and then wondered were the LEDs were, all they had sent was a black plastic strip???
     

     
    Then I realised that was the packing and it had six LEDs in it !!!!!!!! you may have missed the loose one in the last picture so I have circled it in red in the next picture
     

     
    Solder that, "your having a giraffe!" But as you can see from the loco behind the story does have a "happy ending"
     
    but I set to work, a tiny piece of PCB was found a cut made across the middle and the LED soldered on to to tinned blobs either side of the cut, at least I had somewhere to solder the wires now.
     
    Resistor legs were used as LED connections and taken through the body to easier to handle wires behind.
     

     
    Both were then connected to the common and the green decoder wires so they come on as function 1 (headlight is function 0)
     
    As you can imagine its hard to decide which side of the LED is positive so it was a bit of trial and error.
     
    Body back together and onto the track with some grey touch up paint
     

     
    Some weathering and Hoses should hide the colour mismatch in the greys.
     
    The big moment, switch on, you would expect them to be a bit tame given the size...............
     

     
    There must be a CV even on a Hornby decoder to get function output 1 to flash, but that's a job for another day
     
    John
  3. johnteal
    Looking at the last batch of pictures I realised the back scene's were a mess, with the remnants of former hills, and a very white look they didn't give the look of a sunnier clime.
     
    So :
    1 tub of dulux blue left over from the boys bedroom
    1 tub of white poster paint
    1 brush and 40mins of dabbing gives .. On the right
     

     

     

     
    On the left
     

     
    I think its made a significant difference, the shed certainly feels sunnier
     
    While in an artistic mood I did some work on the storm drain, last night I had sprayed it all with some "porcelain" plasticote. First job tonight was to cut a piece of plastic to a scale 10' and then use it to mark out the drain sections with a pencil. Then some Humbrol "concrete" acrylic added to suit. This next picture shows the spray base coat only on the left and some acrylic brushwork on the right.
     

     

     

     
    Stepping back, you will see more sections need brushwork
     

     
    At some future point it will get overgrown with a trickle of water in the bottom and some junk?
  5. johnteal

    Layout 2

    By johnteal,

    In my last post I showed some thoughts regarding how the layout on the right side of the shed may look. Well after my 3 days away on the girls camp and a full day yesterday at a wedding, last night I had some free time to play trains !
     
    Here is what I got up to.
     

     

     

     
    The buildings are just things I had in the "recycle me" box but they give the general Idea that there will be some low relief going on along the back behind the road
     
    John
  6. johnteal

    Barge and Gantry

    By johnteal,

    Today I've had the house to myself while Mrs RJR is out with the the youngest who is playing netball, so after getting some chores done it was escape to the shed
     
    The Barge.
     
    Rails are glued onto the surface without the sleepers / ties using super glue. I've used this method before and its handy that the plastic sleepers can be slid off the bottom of the rail and clipped on the top to maintain spacing during gluing
     

     
    Spacing to the next pair of rails is then done using 2mm (80thou) plasticard stuck in place
     

     
    Plasticard is then stuck on the outer edge of the outside track to the barge edge and a further piece stuck on the side wall shimmed 10thou up from the water. This shimming is so the barge is only sliding on the 2 plasticard batterns previously stuck across the underside.
     
    Between the rails plastic padding is applied and wiped off using a shaped template. This is to fill some of the height and further trap the flat on the bottom of the rail
     

     

     
    Last job for the time being is a start on the gantry that will support the "wet end" of the float bridge
     

     

     
    Pictures are not brilliant as I used my blackberry but hopefully they explain the progress
     
    John
  7. johnteal
    Cant say its thrilling work but the track needs power so it needs doing, I don't mind soldering and when all said and done I served my time at GEC as an Electrical/ electronic engineer so it should be fun, but its one of those has to be done jobs !!
     
    The layout will be DCC so its pretty much a case of making sure I have power to every spur, now I know my method is not the "done thing" but it works for me, I find no pleasure in sitting under the workbench soldering droppers and bus wires. My own experiences has been that for a layout in a 8 x6' shed, any voltage drop caused by having no bus wires is negligible. So all I do is solder a pair of thin link wires to each point as this...
     

     
    On link red circled rail to red circled rail and like wise on link between the blue circles, you can just about see them. This means which ever track the insufrog blades select all spurs are live. I than just have a single feed to the neck of the yard. More or less DCC with 2 wires. The main thing is it works.
     
    Once each point has
     
    been linked as above the whole lot got a spray with sleeper grime.
     

     
    I'm pretty happy with the "artistic, sweeping curves"
     
    In the last picture the observant that some stock has arrived, the post man delivered 3 boxcars I won on ebay..
     

     

     

     
    They are bigger than I had expected, yes I know 50' in 1:87 is something I could should have worked out but there we go, the only problem I have found is the mocked up barge is 60mm too short to hold 2 cars on each track, I guess I'll make the proper one bigger.
     

     

     
    John
  8. johnteal
    After some more messing, thought and ploughing through Shortliners ideas, I think I'm getting there.
     
    I've made some baseboard mods to create a dock with a barge and connecting float bridge, this will form a non hidden fiddle yard, that's the decided part,
     

     
    then some playing has come up with this.
     
     

     
     

     
    Latest Ebay purchase arrived today as well seen here sat dockside
     

     
    John
  9. johnteal

    Another track plan

    By johnteal,

    After printing out some Peco templates which are now available on their website HERE I had another think and play.
     
    Here is what I came up with
     

     
    With a pair of points to be added where the green loco is stood to allow it to cross back to line line behind
     
    John
  10. johnteal

    The Shed

    By johnteal,

    I have created a basic plan of the shed, to illustrate the space available. Including the new workbench over the now hidden curve section.
     
     
     

     
    Doodles of track plans to follow
     
    John
     
  11. johnteal

    N gauge no more.

    By johnteal,

    Today I have placed an advert on the forum to part with the small amount of N gauge I have. HERE . 1 item has sold already but the 170?4 and container wagons remain if your interested
     
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMkoe9olxXY
     
     
    I have also made a secret ebay purchase ..... Watch this space
     
    John
  13. johnteal

    Control circuit for the 20

    By johnteal,

    KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid) well that's the theory. So the control for the 20 is more or less the same as the 25, a motor, batteries and a switch. In fact this is a little more complicated in that the switch is DPDT with a centre off position, so this loco can go in reverse !!
     
    A rare few shots of the underside... Note that there are a pair of holes at either end for the bogies to pivot on, for static pictures I use the external pair but this reduces the turning circle due to the front of the bogie fouls the body slightly. The inner set of pivots gives a little more clearance.
     
     

     
     
    All the electricary, the connector block is for the wires from the motor bogie to go into
     

     
     
     
     

     
    The wheels are obviously "under gauge" but that is disguised when its the other way up as the bogie frames are wider.
     

     
    Finally I added some door handles
     

     
     
     
     
    John
  14. johnteal
    Today's update is a double day effort as I didn't post yesterday.
     
     
    On the one side that had been seen previously I have now added the second skin made from 20 thou (0.5mm) plastic. In this' the window aperture's are 1mm smaller all round and have radius corners.
     

     
    On the other side I have started the thicker first layer of side panels.
     

     
    I have also fitted the seat backs and bases, which pointing man seems to find quite interesting.
     
     

     
    This last picture shows the window step formed by adding the thinner second wall on the outside. The glazing will sit into this step. The seating will have "cushions" added to thicken them up
     
     

     
    John
  16. johnteal
    The last couple of days have seen the 20 have some more small details added followed by a first coat of primer.
     

     

     

     

     
    This of course highlighted all the lumps bumps and surface scratches caused by over enthusiastic sanding.
     
    So an application of P38 body filler was needed followed by a couple of hours of sanding and "tweaking"
     

     

     

     

     
    Of course the second set were always going to look better as they were taken in sunlight !
     
    If you fancy a change from Railway model pictures, check out my Dads new blog, he has just started to build a new large scale model narrow boat HERE I am sure he would appreciate a few blog hits !! He's new to it age 70+
    Go "silver surfers" !!!
     
     
    John
  18. johnteal

    Lostwithiel

    By johnteal,

    My lack of modelling this last week has been due to being in Cornwall, staying in the former Brunel works right alongside Lostwithiel station on the main Plymouth to Penzanze line. Lots of trains to watchn some far to early in the morning to be passing 30' from the velux windows. Also very poor signal on my blacberry. But I have been emailing pictures and entries to my Blogger account. if this section of railway is of interest check it out at
     
    www.rjrmodels.blogspot.com
     
    Several videos of various locos to post when I get back too.
  19. johnteal
    A combination of a late finish and calling at my parents to set up his new lap top, has left me with limited time / energy to do much tonight, so I have blended the roof line to the body sides with a rad. Then I shaped a piece of balsa for the nose and bedded it on some P38 filler. when it has dried this will all be blended in too.
     

     

     

     

     

     
    John
  21. johnteal
    This afternoon I have been doing some roof colouring, lots of 25 pictures show the roof as being near black with dirt. The coach roof was too light as well.
     
    I also have sprayed some sleeper grime on the bottom of the coach, which still needs a lot of glazing ( I keep putting it off !)
     
    Roof ..

     

     
    Grime..
     

     
    In the next one I like how you can see the coach through the cab, one of the benefits of larger scales, this sort of picture is easier !
     

     
    And my favourite picture of the month !!...........
     
     

     
    John
  23. johnteal

    Buffer Details

    By johnteal,

    If you collect together enough scraps of rubber tube, wire and plastic sprues then add in a couple of plastic card offcuts and you have just enough bits to make some buffer beam details
     

     
    The green is a garden plant tie.
     
    I also have moved the numbers to be on the drivers window at each end as per the discussion with James after the last blog post.
     
    Then add a bit of black, orange and silver paint..
     

     

     
    Finally pointing man is devastated it appears the platform is not built to the correct height.
     

     
    He has taken it hard
     

     
    But I can report despite at least one of his colleagues looking like he is not offering help he has made a full recovery.
     
    John
×
×
  • Create New...