Tuesday, 25 December 2012
Sunday, 16 December 2012
Class 08 DCC with working lights and a 12t Van
Well a very relaxing weekend of modelling as transpired. I have managed to get two projects finished, the class 08 shunter and a 12t goods van.
Finished class 08 shunter, note the windscreen wiper masks
The class 08 project has been a bit of an epic. I reckon I started it about two years ago and it was one of those projects that just lost momentum and stalled for several years. The model came with an 8 pin socket. However, as I wanted to fit the Express Models lighting kit I decided to cut this socket out and hard wire the decoder, making more room for the lighting kit.
Front end, this is the end with the working lights. Note the buffer beam detail
The fitting of the lighting kit is hard-work, not least due to the tiny amount of room available within the locomotive. In the end I decided to go with only working lights at the front of the locomotive, due to the complexity of getting the lights into the cab/rear of the locomotive. It sounds like a bit of a cop out, but I could not get the body to reassemble properly with the full kit inside.
The class 08 shunting on Georgeham
With the front lights working I reassembled the locomotive and added buffer beam details and a few gubbins underneath the chassis. It must be said that even with only half the lighting kit in the loco, and a large amount of the chassis metal block cut away, it still is a really tight squeeze.
Note the working light!!
The weathering was done over the top of the Bachmann factory finished weathering. It was undertaken over the space of probably 2 - 3 weeks, in a non-intense way. The rear windscreens had wiper masks from PH Designs, and a few spays of weathered black frame-dirt and light rust were applied to help all the components blend in together and accentuate/improve the factory finished weathering. I weathered the locomotive fully assembled, so I took care to mask the wheels etc, before I started. After sealing the weathered finish with Acclad varnish I gave it a test run and it works perfectly.
Overall I am pretty happy with this effort. Like everything in life it is no perfect, but it is getting closer and I think (hope) my modelling is getting better. The body is still a tight squeeze on the chassis and this is my only concern with the model. But this is the first bit of stock ready to go on Potting Quay - specifically a shunting micro layout. I should also add that the model with a TCS decoder in performs faultlessly. It traverses points with ease and was a joy to run around on my micro test layout earlier.
The other project I finished today was the weathering of a 12t goods van. This is one of the standard Bachmann wagons which has had 3 link couplings added. With this wagon I applied a weathering wash to the whole wagon, a mixture of thinned weathered black and frame dirt. Once this had settled in all the nooks and crannies I accentuated this weathering by spraying weathered black over the raised detail/roof and frame dirt over the body sides. I don't think the photos do it justice (I am rubbish at photography!!), but I am delighted with the finish on this one. It will be the standard way I weather a number of these good vans for Pottington Quay.
Weathered 12t van
The class 08 project has been a bit of an epic. I reckon I started it about two years ago and it was one of those projects that just lost momentum and stalled for several years. The model came with an 8 pin socket. However, as I wanted to fit the Express Models lighting kit I decided to cut this socket out and hard wire the decoder, making more room for the lighting kit.
The fitting of the lighting kit is hard-work, not least due to the tiny amount of room available within the locomotive. In the end I decided to go with only working lights at the front of the locomotive, due to the complexity of getting the lights into the cab/rear of the locomotive. It sounds like a bit of a cop out, but I could not get the body to reassemble properly with the full kit inside.
With the front lights working I reassembled the locomotive and added buffer beam details and a few gubbins underneath the chassis. It must be said that even with only half the lighting kit in the loco, and a large amount of the chassis metal block cut away, it still is a really tight squeeze.
The weathering was done over the top of the Bachmann factory finished weathering. It was undertaken over the space of probably 2 - 3 weeks, in a non-intense way. The rear windscreens had wiper masks from PH Designs, and a few spays of weathered black frame-dirt and light rust were applied to help all the components blend in together and accentuate/improve the factory finished weathering. I weathered the locomotive fully assembled, so I took care to mask the wheels etc, before I started. After sealing the weathered finish with Acclad varnish I gave it a test run and it works perfectly.
Overall I am pretty happy with this effort. Like everything in life it is no perfect, but it is getting closer and I think (hope) my modelling is getting better. The body is still a tight squeeze on the chassis and this is my only concern with the model. But this is the first bit of stock ready to go on Potting Quay - specifically a shunting micro layout. I should also add that the model with a TCS decoder in performs faultlessly. It traverses points with ease and was a joy to run around on my micro test layout earlier.
The other project I finished today was the weathering of a 12t goods van. This is one of the standard Bachmann wagons which has had 3 link couplings added. With this wagon I applied a weathering wash to the whole wagon, a mixture of thinned weathered black and frame dirt. Once this had settled in all the nooks and crannies I accentuated this weathering by spraying weathered black over the raised detail/roof and frame dirt over the body sides. I don't think the photos do it justice (I am rubbish at photography!!), but I am delighted with the finish on this one. It will be the standard way I weather a number of these good vans for Pottington Quay.
Friday, 7 December 2012
Class 25 update
Today I got some time to paint a few of my models which are in the queue for the air brush. The class 25 repaint is nearing completion and I have to say, I am hopeful of how this one might turn out!! The photographs show the model before the first bout of weathering, after application of a faded BR blue livery and transfers.
It is all coming together quite nicely. The model was separated, with the body and the bogies removed from the chassis. The bogies and chassis were merely weathered over the top of the factory finish, whilst the body was stripped and repainted.
The application of weathering on this project is going to be quite light. The pre-shading underneath the BR blue provides some perspective for the weathered finish, and I only intend to apply some frame dirt and weathered black to the body sides to portray a little bit of grime for a locomotive in service.
Sorry the photographs are not the best quality in the world, but hopefully they do provide an impression of what the locomotive will look like when finished. I will try to finish this project off next weekend, so hopefully a further update then of the final version.
Other projects are also progressing well, so hopefully it will not be too long before there is a finished BR blue class 08 on here too. This is being weathered at the same time and is only a couple of coast away from completion and there are a range of wagons nearly completed as well. Now I really must get on with some track laying and soldering so I have somewhere to run this stock!
Sunday, 2 December 2012
Class 08 update
Recently I have been working away at a few modelling project simultaneously. This means that no projects have been finished recently, with each one inching along slowly. I have slowly been detailing a class 08 in BR blue and this project is now close to getting a proper weathering over the factory-finish weathering.
Front end detailing
The model is the the Bachmann and 08 and I have spent sometime time adding details, as shown in the Model Rail issue a couple of years ago. All the pipes have been painted up, some underframe detailing parts and added the cab interior painted. The model has also had the Express Models lighting kit added.....more on this in a later post.......The glue and glaze is currently drying on the cab glazing and then it will be assembled for weathering.
Front/side view
Normally I remove the body from the underframe for weathering and remove the wheels. However, in the case of this model it is quite problematic to remove the wheels, so this time I am going to mask off the wheels and then weather the whole model in one hit. Maybe I will get this finished this week....
Back end detailing and cab interior
The model is the the Bachmann and 08 and I have spent sometime time adding details, as shown in the Model Rail issue a couple of years ago. All the pipes have been painted up, some underframe detailing parts and added the cab interior painted. The model has also had the Express Models lighting kit added.....more on this in a later post.......The glue and glaze is currently drying on the cab glazing and then it will be assembled for weathering.
Normally I remove the body from the underframe for weathering and remove the wheels. However, in the case of this model it is quite problematic to remove the wheels, so this time I am going to mask off the wheels and then weather the whole model in one hit. Maybe I will get this finished this week....
Monday, 19 November 2012
GWR tunny wagon
Some beautiful good North Atlantic weather has meant that work has been very wet and tiring and this has limited the amount of modelling I have done. Projects are progressing, but nothing has been finished. However, in between detailing a class 50, building a 16t mineral wagon, repainting the class 25 and detailing a class 08, I have been painting a GWR tunny wagon, available from Chivers Finelines.
This wagon is very similar to a grampus wagon and the kit literally falls together. The livery this will be finished in is a very weathered engineering olive green. So far three coats of paint have been applied to the body and two to the chassis. Hopefully an update soon of the finished wagon.
GWR tunny
This wagon is very similar to a grampus wagon and the kit literally falls together. The livery this will be finished in is a very weathered engineering olive green. So far three coats of paint have been applied to the body and two to the chassis. Hopefully an update soon of the finished wagon.
Sunday, 11 November 2012
Bachman 20t Engineering Brake Van
Another engineering wagon is ready to join the southern engineering department. this one is the pre-weathered Bachmann 20t brake van, finished with an engineering code. This is an older Bachmann product and although a good model, has some dated features. the most obvious of which are the moulded handrails, rather then separately fitted wire ones.
Weathered brake van, now in the engineering fleet
The original Bachmann weathering is the best I have seen on a wagon, it is multi-tonal and fairly realistic. Rather than stripping it off, I decided just to weather over the top of this finish. I think that this is just about as much fun as you can have with an airbrush. I used railmach enamels, using a mixture of weathered black, sleeper grime and framedirt, and sealed with railmatch satin varnish. Overall, I think it is now a more realistic finish, although, with hindsight I wish I had replaced the handrails and the buffers. The only cosmetic surgery was the adding of the three link coupling.
Original factory weathered finish, not too bad...
But I prefer this finish
Other projects are waiting for a bit of attention. The class 25 repaint is waiting for decals, as is the southern tunny. A GWR tunny is in the paintshop and a 16t mineral wagon and sturgeon are in the process of construction. The class 08 detailing is ongoing and is currently at the point of having its cab detailed. So there is plenty going on, but absolutely no time. Work is flat out again, which is a good thing when you run your own business, but this will leave no time for modelling at all the next few weeks.
The original Bachmann weathering is the best I have seen on a wagon, it is multi-tonal and fairly realistic. Rather than stripping it off, I decided just to weather over the top of this finish. I think that this is just about as much fun as you can have with an airbrush. I used railmach enamels, using a mixture of weathered black, sleeper grime and framedirt, and sealed with railmatch satin varnish. Overall, I think it is now a more realistic finish, although, with hindsight I wish I had replaced the handrails and the buffers. The only cosmetic surgery was the adding of the three link coupling.
Other projects are waiting for a bit of attention. The class 25 repaint is waiting for decals, as is the southern tunny. A GWR tunny is in the paintshop and a 16t mineral wagon and sturgeon are in the process of construction. The class 08 detailing is ongoing and is currently at the point of having its cab detailed. So there is plenty going on, but absolutely no time. Work is flat out again, which is a good thing when you run your own business, but this will leave no time for modelling at all the next few weeks.
Sunday, 4 November 2012
13t Engineering wagon and a class 08 with working lights
A long time has passed since my last post. Although I have managed to get around to doing a little bit of modelling here and there, modelling has certainly been second to pretty much everything else. However, this weekend I managed to finish a couple of projects and further some others.
Another 13t wagon in the southern engineering fleet
Firstly, I finished my second 13t mineral wagon, now being used within the engineers fleet on the southern region. This is the Parkside Dundas wagon kit, which I have finished with a mixture of weathered black, rust, sleeper grime and frame dirt. The transfers are model master decal ones. I notice that the sheet with the 'E' has probably seen better days,with the decal not properly adhering - however, I can live with that for the moment! I am pretty happy with this one and it is another one to add to the growing engineering stock.
The second project I have furthered is the detailing of the class 08. This has involved attempting to add to the Express Models lighting kit. This has been a slightly frustrating project, however, after many attempts, I am nearing the body detailing stage. I decided to add the lighting kit first, as previous experience has taught me that a lot of handling of the locomotive/fiddling around is required to get these kits working. I am now ready to add the buffer beam pipes and add further detailing components.
Hooray working lights!!
Lastly, all these photographs have been taken on the the next layout we are building - Pottington Quay. It now has some track glued down and is partly operational. So progress on all fronts. I have almost finished another couple of projects, so hopefully it will not be so long before my next update......
Firstly, I finished my second 13t mineral wagon, now being used within the engineers fleet on the southern region. This is the Parkside Dundas wagon kit, which I have finished with a mixture of weathered black, rust, sleeper grime and frame dirt. The transfers are model master decal ones. I notice that the sheet with the 'E' has probably seen better days,with the decal not properly adhering - however, I can live with that for the moment! I am pretty happy with this one and it is another one to add to the growing engineering stock.
The second project I have furthered is the detailing of the class 08. This has involved attempting to add to the Express Models lighting kit. This has been a slightly frustrating project, however, after many attempts, I am nearing the body detailing stage. I decided to add the lighting kit first, as previous experience has taught me that a lot of handling of the locomotive/fiddling around is required to get these kits working. I am now ready to add the buffer beam pipes and add further detailing components.
Lastly, all these photographs have been taken on the the next layout we are building - Pottington Quay. It now has some track glued down and is partly operational. So progress on all fronts. I have almost finished another couple of projects, so hopefully it will not be so long before my next update......
Monday, 15 October 2012
More on Georgeham Halt
Very little modelling got done toward the back end of last week, although I did manage to get a couple of trees glued onto Georgeham, from the Hornby skale scenics range.. A bit of height and greenery to back of the scene helps give the layout a little more depth....with a class 45 running light along the line.
Georgeham platform at night with light working
A couple of new trees make all the difference
Friday, 5 October 2012
Georgeham passenger service
A day off today has resulted in a bit of modelling and taking some photographs of some trains running on Georgeham Halt. Just a bit of fun, but..... a failed DMU has resulted in a passenger service being run between Barnstaple and Ilfracombe by a class 45 and a solitary Mk 2 BFK. Just a couple of shots of the service running into Georgeham halt, representing a 'plausible what if' scenario c. 1983.
Tuesday, 25 September 2012
Bachmann class 25 repaint - the next one..
A quick update on the repainting of another locomotive, this time a BR blue class 25 (just like the last time!!). Building on the lessons I learnt with the last one, I decided to pre-shade this one, painting weathered black along all the seams of the body shell, after it had been primed in white. After painting the ends yellow I have put on 3 shades of BR blue, but deliberately thinner over some parts of the body sides, to mimic faded paint. The photographs were taken after 2 coats, a further coat has been added this evening. Transfers, weathering and varnish to go. Hopefully, I will get an update up in a couple of weeks showing the finished article...
Original paint finish on the model
The variation in the livery on the body sides is an attempt to replicate faded paint
The roof of the locomotive shows the pre-shading beneath the BR blue
Sunday, 23 September 2012
Departmental brake van and a GWR tunny
At last some modelling time!! This weekend I have finally had sometime to play trains and the first task has been to paint my class 25. This is coming along nicely and I hope will be ready for transfers next week. In between bouts of air brushing I have been building and converting some wagons.
Brake van with couplings converted, note the factory finished weathering
First up has been the coupling conversion of the Bachmann BR 20T brake van, now seconded into departmental stock. The model comes factory weathered and I must say I think it is pretty good. The roof weathering is a bit weak, but the body sides are pretty well done. The coupling conversion to 3 links couplings was a complete pig to do - in common with nearly all Bachmann wagons!! Once the holes were opened out a bit to accept the coupling hook, part of the underframe moulding had to be dremmelled away. Anyhow, it has all fitted back together pretty well and is ready to be washed and then have the weathered finish slightly upgraded!!
GWR tunny on on the work bench
The other project which I was working on yesterday was a Chivers Finelines GWR tunny wagons. I have built loads of Chivers kits and they are top quality. The build on this wagon will get finished this weekend and it will get washed with the brake van for spraying next week. I also have the sturgeon wagon sat on my desk and I also hope to progress this build today.
I have seen on the interweb that Bachmann are about to release a series of wagons as olive green departmental stock, such as the 13t and 16t mineral wagons and a PMV. These are all projects I have undertaken recently, building wagons kits and converting them into departmental stock!!! Hey ho, sods law I guess, although I think I probably prefer building the kits anyway.
First up has been the coupling conversion of the Bachmann BR 20T brake van, now seconded into departmental stock. The model comes factory weathered and I must say I think it is pretty good. The roof weathering is a bit weak, but the body sides are pretty well done. The coupling conversion to 3 links couplings was a complete pig to do - in common with nearly all Bachmann wagons!! Once the holes were opened out a bit to accept the coupling hook, part of the underframe moulding had to be dremmelled away. Anyhow, it has all fitted back together pretty well and is ready to be washed and then have the weathered finish slightly upgraded!!
The other project which I was working on yesterday was a Chivers Finelines GWR tunny wagons. I have built loads of Chivers kits and they are top quality. The build on this wagon will get finished this weekend and it will get washed with the brake van for spraying next week. I also have the sturgeon wagon sat on my desk and I also hope to progress this build today.
I have seen on the interweb that Bachmann are about to release a series of wagons as olive green departmental stock, such as the 13t and 16t mineral wagons and a PMV. These are all projects I have undertaken recently, building wagons kits and converting them into departmental stock!!! Hey ho, sods law I guess, although I think I probably prefer building the kits anyway.
Sunday, 16 September 2012
13t open wagon in southern engineers stock
It has ages since my last post. A combination of being away and a broken camera put pay to my modelling and blogging activities recently. After a lovely family wedding last weekend I got home last week. This has allowed me to finish at least one of my current projects which is a 13t open wagon which has been drafted into the southern region engineering stock in the 1970s/80s for transfer of spoil and aggregates.
It was a fairly simple project, building the parkside wagon kit for the 13t open wagon (diag 1/041), with only some metal buffers added to the build. After priming it was painted with light rust and weathered black. The transfers are standard Model Master ones, and the underframe had a light dusting of frame dirt over the chassis, after the transfers had been sealed with matt varnish. The whole wagon was given a sealing coast of satin varnish and there you have it. Another wagon to put into my varied mix of engineering stock.
I have a sturgeon and GWR tunny on my desk at the moment, and I also have the transfers for the tunny wagons (CCT transfers thank you!!), so hopefully I can finish a couple more wagons off over the next couple of weeks. I also plan a day or two on my stalled class 119 DMU. Incidentally, the news from Bachmann that they are releasing a class 101 DMU is welcome news to me, I just wonder if I can persuade them to also do a class 120 DMU too...
Wednesday, 22 August 2012
Class 153 summer saturday service
Caught on a summers saturday in June 1993, a class 153 runs into Georegham Halt, heading toward Ilfracombe. How things have changed since the days of 10 coach ACE workings direct from Waterloo.
The 153 is the popular Hornby model. It represents one of my first attempts at weathering and needs revisiting in the not too distant future.
The 153 is the popular Hornby model. It represents one of my first attempts at weathering and needs revisiting in the not too distant future.
Sunday, 19 August 2012
Engineering works on Georgeham
Today I managed to put the finishing touches to a Heljan dogfish wagon. This model had its original dutch paint removed in superstrip and was repainted/weathered using weathered black and rust, with the frame dirt around the solebars. Transfers were added from Modelmaster, before a unifying satin varnish finish. It is seen here on a summer Sunday within a short engineering train passing through Georgeham, behind a very grubby class 25. The class 25 has been demoted to the running secondary freight and permanant way department workings across the southwest and needs a good clean!
Short engineering working passes through Georgeham
Finished dogfish wagon
The shark wagon is also pretty grubby
As is the class 25
Saturday, 18 August 2012
Georgeham detailing
Today I have spent a bit of time pottering around the railway room, trying to make some space for the new layout. Pottington Quay is now up on the trestles ready for detailing and Georgeham was moved to the living room to make some space. With Georgeham in the living room I added a sign for station and added a few rocks in the station car park - something which is quite common down in Devon.
Birds eye view of the micro-layout
New sign pointing the way to the station
This layout is now finished (something I have probably said before on this blog). Now what to do with the layout.......it has to go - we have no room to store it with a new project on the go. But what to do with it - it seems such a shame to throw it landfill or break it up......what does everyone else do with their old layouts I wonder???....thoughts or suggestions welcome.....
Some rocks at the edge of the car park
My favourite view of the microlayout, viewing towards Ilfracombe
This layout is now finished (something I have probably said before on this blog). Now what to do with the layout.......it has to go - we have no room to store it with a new project on the go. But what to do with it - it seems such a shame to throw it landfill or break it up......what does everyone else do with their old layouts I wonder???....thoughts or suggestions welcome.....
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