Class 25 repaint update

Well following on from last weeks slightly euphoric post about my first attempt to repaint a locomotive, I had got to the first stages of varnishing. I consulted George Dent on how best to finish this loco off, transfers and varnishing details and the like (thanks George!!), and got ready to apply some of the first varnishing coats. However, as I was readying the airbrush I noticed quite a lot of dust had settled on the roof of the locomotive. How this had got there I am not sure, as I keep the model in a sealed plastic box, but there it was!


Front end, with the blistered paint

I was washing a DMU ready for for some weathering that morning, so I decided to give the class 25 a quick wash at the same time. Well this proved to be a critical mistake. I took the class 25 out of the box this morning to give it a blast of varnish from the airbrush. The water from washing it has got under the enamel coats and blistered them. The finish has been totally ruined, producing small speckles all over the locomotive.


Body side, again showing blistering

So there we go, one totally ruined paint job. Straight back into the paint stripper tonight for another go!! To be totally honest it is not a complete disaster. This was my first attempt at this sort of thing and the separation between the blue and yellow was not perfect. Also I forgot to add the handrails on the front, before painting!! So I can address these issues and hopefully be 're-painting the repaint' by the weekend. The other positive is that this is my first repaint of many and I do not intend to make this mistake again!!

Class 25 repaint

Hopefully the variation in the faded levels of the coat is visible

As things turned out I got home a little earlier than expected and have spent a couple of evenings playing trains. The project I am most keen to finish is the class 25 re-paint that has been dragging on for months!! I gave it a blast of standard BR blue over the top of faded BR blue at the weekend and left it to harden for a couple of days. Last night the masking came off.


As things turned out I got a little keen and realised I had forgotten to replace the handrails on the cab!! A job for later this week.

This is the first time I have ever tried to repaint a locomotive and my first attempt at proper masking. I am pretty happy with the result. It is not perfect, but it is close enough, the minor imperfections being my limited ability to mask around the corners on the cab. With a bit more experience I would have set the edge between the yellow and blue on the body edge of the cab or further back towards the window. A little bit of internet research has shown where the yellow stopped and the blue started was quite variable.


The other end - the masking job seems ok - any imperfections I can hide with a little bit of weathering

Anyhow, this repaint represents a step change in my modelling, being able to strip and repaint a locomotive is a big step forward to me. I am not saying this one is perfect, but hopefully future attempts will get better. Both yellow and blue coats have been applied as faded matt coats. The bright white light I model under has done little to show the true colour of these coats. However, I am going to seal this with a satin varnish just to take the edge of it a little, before adding some transfers and then a heavy weathering job.

Hopefully, the images show that there is some significant variation in the coating of the livery, through mixing standard BR blue and faded BR blue in different coats. This will hopefully be the basis of an uneven sun and rain weathered BR blue livery in the early 1980's, but we shall see how successfully this turns out. Hopefully, I will get the transfers on within a week, leaving only the weathering to finish this off. A phone call from Modelmaster assures me that the transfers are on the way. However, this time I was planning to use Humbrol Decalfix for the transfers - I have never used this product so if anyone has some tips on this they would be much appreciated.

Some Amberleigh favourites and a break in blogging

Class 47 at Amberleigh, which is a rarity. Most locomotive hauled passenger services were worked by either 31's or 33's in the mid 80's

Another week flies by, with little to show in the way of modelling progress. Fortunately business is booming and I am completely snowed under with both fieldwork and report writing. It is all very enjoyable but leaves nothing in the way of time for anything else, such as playing trains.


Dutch liveried class 37 shunting a sealion

I am now away for another couple of weeks, so again there will be no posts for a while. However, when I return I should quickly be able to complete a couple of long standing projects. Primarily, the whale wagon, which has spent another couple of evenings on my modelling desk. I decided to rebuild the canopies yet again - I was still not happy with them, this was at the third attempt. I need to paint some of the individual components on the wagon then it will be ready for transfers.....and a quick e-mail to model master decals assures me the transfers for the whale will be available in a couple of weeks - watch this space.


More engineering works at Amberleigh, with a salmon wagon and dogfish wagon being shunted in the small engineers siding

The class 25 has also had a good coat or two of paint this week. This will be ready for transfers after a couple more coats and the class 121 body is ready for a light weathering and replacement glazing to be added - again I am waiting on the transfers for the destination blinds from model master. However, these should soon enter service.


And one of my first attempts at building rolling stock, a grampus wagon

So in lieu of any real modelling, here a few of my favourite shots from Amberleigh, which was my sons and mine first attempt at a layout. I hope you enjoy the pics. And sorry for the interruption to posting, but progress will resume in a couple of weeks - see you then.

Georgeham platform

A rather long absence has ensued since my last blog post. Another project working in the midlands meant that I have been away from home working 14 hour days for over a week. The work is great and time flies, but it leaves no time at all for anything else, including modelling.


The new Georgeham platform

So getting home yesterday was a real relief, and the chance to pick up some projects where I left them over a week ago was most welcome. The last thing I did before I left was give the Georgeham platform a coat of weathered black under the platform to mimic diesel exhaust on the stanchions. The photographs do not do the structure justice I feel, but they do give an impression of the developing Georgeham platform. I added in a variety of different colours to the concrete to give some variation, as per Chris Nevard's article in model rail. However, the lighting in the image does not allow this variation to come through. If I get time I will take a few photographs in natural sunlight.


Showing the platform surface

The platform is constructed from MJT whitemetal stanchions and plasticard for the platform. It was a quick and pleasurable project to put this together.


The platform is pretty much the length of the scenic section

With the backscene also now painted the platform is almost ready to glue down. These photographs give a taste of how the test track will look when finished. It is getting there. Track painting is due to commence any day now, so ballasting can start after that has been completed.


View into the tunnel at the Spreacombe end of the platform

Georgeham non-shunting microlayout landscaping

Backscene painted

Over the last couple of days, it being half term and all, we have been doing some detailing on our non-shunting microlayout, which is doubling as the DCC test/programming track. In addition we have got the NCE powercab up and running, ready for some decoder programming. Everything looks a little bit messy at the moment. The backscene got a coat of paint from a Delux tester paint pot. It looks about right I think, although I might blend the bottom of the backscene with a dose of white misting. However, for £1.35, this is certainly a cheap backscene and I hope pretty effective.


And a little landscaping started

We also got out a roll of plaster bandage and did the landscaping for the layout. The hill which the tunnel is set into has been landscaped, as has the front portion of the layout. At the front of the layout is drop in the topography, an attempt to replicate the lower floodplain of the River Caen. The start of the landscape was some paper mache, with the plaster bandage laid over the top.

The layout is now fully operational, with the next job to paint the track. The little platform is also finished and is ready to glue to the layout. I am not entirely happy about concrete stanchions on the base of the platform so I might tweak these,before gluing it down. Hopefully, I will put up a post of the platform later next week,but all in all progress is being made.

Class 121 DMU progress

This week I finally got the bit between my teeth to progress my class 121 DMU. The chassis was mostly finished and the solabars weathered, with the craftsman detailing kits added to each end of the DMU. Footsteps were also added to the solebars. All in all it was looking pretty good (well I think so anyway!!). Then came to soldering the pick ups, motor wires and lighting kit. It should all have been simple, but it actually two evenings of cursing to get it right!!


Working lights from Express Models - recommended!

The lighting kit is from express models and is brilliant. The instructions are crystal clear and it was soldered up in no time. I added the pick ups to the decoder socket and put in the decoder and tested - nothing. After an hour or so of testing and head scratching I realised the decoder was faulty. I replaced this - and the lights worked. I then soldered up the remaining motor pick ups. Hornby do not label the wires, and predictably, I got them back to front. Travelling forwards with red lights showing is not prototypical! This was corrected and in the end it went on the track and it all works. Result!!


The underframe weathering on the 121 DMU

This is one of the more complex detailing jobs I have undertaken, adding lights and soldering up the decoder pins, etc. It is an excellent learning curve. The chassis and solebars were weathered with a mixture of lifecolour shades. There is a little bit of finishing off on the underframe to do, but it is close to finished. The interior seats are going to get a coat of paint, and a driver needs adding. Then the body needs a bit of weathering, with some new windscreen wiper blades added and some new front windscreens. These are the next tasks, but I think I will have it finished in a week or so. It can then provide the regular passenger service on the little Georgeham layout we are currently building.

BR Blue class 37 with a VI trains chassis

This Saturday I received a very exciting parcel from Hattons, with a VI trains replacement chassis for a class 37. The locomotive being upgraded is a an old Lima large logo class 37. This locomotive is one from my teen years, when I decided I really wanted to build a modern image layout, set in the highlands of Scotland. Why there? I am not really sure, but there was certainly a strong desire to produce my first real model layout.


Upcoming class 37 detailing and repaint for an old favourite.

It was about this time I got semi-serious about modelling and saved up some money to buy some rolling stock to achieve a model layout. The Class 37 got a craftsman set of grills added and buffer beam detailing. I had a go at replacing the windscreens, and adding some glazing. Then it has sat for about 20 years, in pieces, trundling along during each house move since about the year 2000.


The old Lima shell just resting on the VI trains chassis

So at long last, this slightly nostalgic model is going to form a project. The next job is to add the Lima model to a bath of stripper, get rid of that terrible paint job and grime (powder paint), which will also hopefully dislodge all of the metal bits stuck to the body. Then after a good sand down, a whole assortment of detailing parts can be added, with working lights. I plan to finish this locomotive in a faded blue livery, but I might keep the same number, for memories sake!! This will be one of my longest projects ever. Probably started sometime around 1991 and it will be hopefully be finish in 2012, 21 years in the making I reckon!! However, maybe this is a good omen, as most modelling projects I started in my teens I never finished. In recent years I have got a lot better at finishing models. I hope this will be a super-detailed model when I am finished, with a plethora of detailing parts suitably added, but we shall see.


The basic layout for the new programming track

My son and I have also been busy starting the landscaping on our small DCC programming layout. The various components have been decided on (platform, house, tunnel, derelict signal box and agricultural building). The farm building is hopefully going to have a camera installed, so it is now going to be set behind the platform, to give a different perspective to the normal front view. We got the tunnel glued down today started sculpting some of the landscape on the floodplain at the front of the layout. Hopefully, it will not be too long before we start adding some static grass. I just need to get the track painted and the platform this week, ready for ballasting at the weekend.