Ian's 7mm workbench - recent photos

Miss Prism · March 6, 2022

Excellent. I'd like to see a dark wash over the bufferbeam fixings:

Edited May 2, 2022 by Miss Prism
image re-instated

Hal Nail · March 8, 2022

Thanks to the middle at lidl, I've armed myself with a mini drill and what better place to test it than my expensive new coaches.

Edited April 28, 2022 by Hal Nail

Hal Nail · March 18, 2022

A holiday weathering project. I was tempted to say it needs a bit more grey scrubbed from the end door until it occurred to me its actually the rust I am removing! Next time I do one I might add a bit more rust again in the areas that look a bit scratchy. The video i saw had the stuff coming off easily whereas I was hacking away with an emery board to get anywhere but admittedly i was trying white spirit rather than enamel thinners.

photos not saved anywhere sadly.

Edited April 28, 2022 by Hal Nail

Hal Nail · March 20, 2022

Shaping a pair of Dapol 14xx sandboxes for my 45xx: as far as I can tell Swindon standardisation was one of the earliest examples of spin, since virtually every part is actually different! The left one has had the cutaway for the injectors nipped away. I've snapped one of the injectors off and couldn't get it to glue back so I'm hoping the sandbox will support it.

Hal Nail · April 2, 2022

Sadly many of the recent photos were taken on my phone and I deleted them once they were posted, so I cant now reinstate them.

Hal Nail · April 25, 2022

Can you tell what it is yet? A mock up of a coach using Ian Kirk coach parts including some he kindly offered to throw in. Its a 57' brake composite E135 B set which ran on the Looe branch.

The sides dont taper in above the waist so I will mount them leaning in slightly but that aside, I love the design and there is huge potential. I'm even thinking I could do a C54 bow ended corridor 3rd out of these (bottom pic mock up).

I've got a Dapol E140 from a B set that I wanted to turn into a full brake. I'd been toying with trying resin casting and I might well start by making a door master.

Edited April 28, 2022 by Hal Nail

Hal Nail · April 28, 2022

Switched attention back to a Dapol 121 and giving people some air. The windows are made of brittle stuff and easy to crack and the drivers window suffered - I popped this out and cleaned it up again after the photo.

Edited April 28, 2022 by Hal Nail

Hal Nail · May 1, 2022

Jumping between projects a bit at the moment. I have picked up a top feed 14xx which I decided was easier than trying to add one. Ironically, I've then had to modify the piping arrangment anyway to sit flat on the tanks. I've already removed the early crest ready for late totems and rubbed down the mould lines. The only other body mods will be to fill the crack in the chimney and move the smokebox darts to the correct position.

The chassis work will be the same as I did on 1419 some time back but for now I am just doing the body, to be sure I am happy before i sell my non-top feed version.

Hal Nail · May 2, 2022

Filling the chimney crack is worthwhile: in fact annoyingly so, as I'm going to have to revisit 1419 and 8702 again.

I popped the brass chimney off, put filler where it seats and plonked it back on, letting the filler extrude and filed it down when hard. The black is just a rough base coat.

Can anyone recomment paint brushes? My old favourite has gradually clogged up but everything I've bought recently is too stiff to flow paint on.

Edited May 2, 2022 by Hal Nail

Miss Prism · May 2, 2022

I can't find any prototype pics of where the top feed pipe black ends and the green begins. (But presumably where you have got it, just about at the front of the tanktop.)

May 2, 2022

10 hours ago, Miss Prism said:

I can't find any prototype pics of where the top feed pipe black ends and the green begins. (But presumably where you have got it, just about at the front of the tanktop.)

Perhaps a look in Peto's Register ( the 4800 and 5800 tanks) may help? I'll have a look myself later and see if there are any hints.

atb

Phil

Hal Nail · May 2, 2022

11 hours ago, Miss Prism said:

I can't find any prototype pics of where the top feed pipe black ends and the green begins. (But presumably where you have got it, just about at the front of the tanktop.)

47 minutes ago, 34006 said:

Perhaps a look in Peto's Register ( the 4800 and 5800 tanks) may help? I'll have a look myself later and see if there are any hints.

atb

Phil

Thanks Gents. I hadn't really thought about this! These are still how they came other than snipping off one half way and rotating the back half 90 degrees as Dapols ramp upwards into the cab. I got sidetracked by the chimney half way through doing this

I'll have a look through my photos but the boiler and tank tops will be fairly grimy so the contrast won't show as much anyway.

I've spent all day looking for my Peter Roles castings for the autogear but cant find them so will crack on with scratch building the electrical covers on the buffer beams next. The fiddly job is the electrical wiring under the footplate which I swore last time I wasn't going to do again!

May 3, 2022

Can't find anything in Peto's,but just found the livery data sheet for the 48xx/58xx,which states" tank sides and ends, GREEN ,tank tops BLACK,as is all associated tank top equipment" so my best guess is anything forward or above the tank tops would be green.(Assuming a green liveried loco).

atb

Phil

Hal Nail · May 3, 2022

Just now, 34006 said:

Can't find anything in Peto's,but just found the livery data sheet for the 48xx/58xx,which states" tank sides and ends, GREEN ,tank tops BLACK,as is all associated tank top equipment" so my best guess is anything forward or above the tank tops would be green.(Assuming a green liveried loco).

atb

Phil

Thanks.

I had a quick look through photos and I couldn't find anything remotely clear so will leave them as they are and cover it all in crud. I don't have any matching green anyway!

The pipes are probably bit too high above the tanks at the mo - I'll look at that when i finish them off although as ever the photos pick it up more than to the naked eye.

Hal Nail · May 5, 2022

Getting the various detailing parts together ready for an araldite session. PRC autogear, Shephard pipes and my own electrical covers.

Plus one to remind me what im doing....

Edited May 5, 2022 by Hal Nail

Hal Nail · May 9, 2022

1451's top feed pipes finished off and front autogear and better pipes fitted. I'd started to make a front sanding gear cover when I noticed it only acquired that when the top feed was removed (most of the photos are after a boiler swap in '62 and I'd taken this detail for granted!). Will add a couple of little brackets missing on the model below the footplate plus the totems and then go to main weathering. Electrical conduits can wait - I'm keen to get happy with the main finish before I sell my spare lined green one.

Edited May 10, 2022 by Hal Nail
typos and clarity

Hal Nail · May 16, 2022

1451 progressing. Its amazing how the green changes with weathering - I wasn't totally convinced by Dapols shade out of the box but it improved for light buffing and then the dirt colour (variations on roughly 4 black to 1 frame dirt - in fact basically the smokebox colour) has warmed it up a bit.

I put on as little wash as possible all over the relevant area then dunk the brush in white spirit, wipe off the excess and use the clean damp brush to work the paint back off again, trying not to end up with it flowing everywhere. You get a more even finish than just wiping it off with a cotton bud or tissues which can take the lot off sometimes. Its had a few goes, a little at a time, trying to keep consistency. Half the battle is knowing when to stop fiddling! The top photo is how it looks to the eye just before the sun came out and looks rather harsh!

I've separated the smoke box darts, drilled through, threaded onto micro-rod and fixed back at a different angle. Very fiddly but I'm very fussy about darts and decent ones are hard to come by. I bought some very fine lost wax ones by GWR castings at the Dorchester show maybe 30 years ago which were superb but I doubt are still around. Dapol's are very good for plastic, so I bought loads of spares but of course they are all the same if left alone.

Hal Nail · May 17, 2022

Bit of a result today as have found that although half the Dapol spares disappeared from DCC Supplies website a while back, they do still exist. So have picked up a spare 57xx topfeed and pipes which will go on my Dapol rivetted pannier tank. Meanwhile I've got some Heljan class 50 windscreen wipers from Gaugemaster as they look finer than those on my 121 and I hope they are about the right size.

Hal Nail · May 20, 2022

Class 121 bits have arrived so have renumbered mine today (Railtec) and working on the destination boxes. The top and bottom strips are slightly chamfered so I can slide in alternative names.

Some Heljan class 50 wipers are much finer than Dapols although rather get lost against the thick edges of the glazing.

Edited May 20, 2022 by Hal Nail

muddys-blues · May 20, 2022

44 minutes ago, Hal Nail said:

Class 121 bits have arrived so have renumbered mine today (Railtec) and working on the destination boxes. The top and bottom strips are slightly chamfered so I can slide in alternative names.

Some Heljan class 50 wipers are much finer than Dapols although rather get lost against the thick edges of the glazing.

Ooh I like the Heljan class 50 wipers idea 👌

Hal Nail · May 20, 2022

31 minutes ago, muddys-blues said:

Ooh I like the Heljan class 50 wipers idea 👌

The Dapol mounting is quite large so will probably have to live with that or remove it and have to touch up the yellow but I think it is worth it.

I'd meant to buy 3 one way and one the other for variety but realised I was ordering class 53 by mistake and then forgot and got 2 of each.

Edited May 20, 2022 by Hal Nail

Hal Nail · May 21, 2022

The replacement wipers in place. Not a perfect fit but better than the originals. Dab of yellow, overhead warning transfer and ready for weathering. Will just leave the headcode blank for now and wait for spare rooves before I plate it over, as I might still revert to slightly earlier.