1/32 Slaters Midland Railway 10T Van Build

Mike W

Western Thunderer
To pick up on Spitfire's post, I believe the 7mm and Gauge 1 kits are injection moulded plastic made by Slaters in-house, whereas the Gauge 3 version is an outsourced resin casting made from an outsourced hand-made brass pattern. Keith shouldn't have a problem with release agent.

I am well through the Gauge 3 version and I too am struggling in places but it will be very nice when done. Your posts have been helpful, thanks Keith.

Mike
 

Keith Phillips

Western Thunderer
Finally found some time to do a bit of painting on the van.

I have used Vallejo acrylic paints from my airbrush. I used the grey and the black primer for the first bit. I decided to have a go at 'pre-shading' at the priming stage. I have never done this before but the idea is that the primer coats will show through the thin top coats to give depth and interest to the finish. So rather than shading and weathering over the top coat it should show through from underneath.

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Here is the van in all its pre-shaded glory.

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Here is the finished top coat. I made up the bauxite colour from Vallejo Model Colour Cavalry Brown (70.982) and Orange Brown (70.981) mixed 1:1. I had to thin the paint with Vallejo Airbrush Thinners to enable it to be sprayed (1:1:1) as the Model Colour paints are designed to be brushed on and are much thicker than the Model Air colours.

I'm fairly pleased with how it worked out. I could have gone a little heavier with the black in places but the varying tones are quite pleasing. This is the first thing I have airbrushed (another new skill being learned) and I am sure that I will improve but it shows what a complete novice can achieve. I still have the pin wash to apply to pick out the planking and raised details and some washes around the more worn surfaces after I have found and applied the transfers. Where did I put them safely away so that they do not get lost????

The roof of the van shows my aborted attempt at using tissue to create texture to the surface. I found that the tissue puckered and made too many creases to be believed. fellow WT'ers will put me straight on method (thank you Mr. P.I for your input already:thumbs:).

Cheers,

Keith
 

Michael Osborne

Western Thunderer
image.jpeg Keith,
When I did the roof on my LNWR brake van I used a single sheet of a very plain tissue. I placed the tissue on the plastic roof and brushed on Limonene with a wide flat brush and smoothed it out from the centre with my finger. I then left it to dry overnight before tucking it underneath and doing the same.
I did put this method on the GOG forum once but one member wrote that the texture would not be seen as the roof would be covered in tar/paint.
 

LarryG

Western Thunderer
When David Jenkinson was at ours discussing his then new hobby of building 0 gauge coaches from Plastikard, I suggested as a joke that he glue writing paper to his wooden roofs to save me spending so much time trying to fill the woodgrain. He took it up and it provided a finish something like canvass.
 
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Mike W

Western Thunderer
... one member wrote that the texture would not be seen as the roof would be covered in tar/paint.

Having recovered a real carriage roof with white lead and canvas, you can see the texture. I guess with repeated coats of paint it will fill in eventually but it would never be smooth like a coach or wagon side. Yours looks spot on to me Mike.

Mike
 

Yorkshire Dave

Western Thunderer
Here is the finished top coat. I made up the bauxite colour from Vallejo Model Colour Cavalry Brown (70.982) and Orange Brown (70.981) mixed 1:1. I had to thin the paint with Vallejo Airbrush Thinners to enable it to be sprayed (1:1:1) as the Model Colour paints are designed to be brushed on and are much thicker than the Model Air colours.

Looks good.

I also add a few drops of Vallejo Airbrush Flow Improver when using their Model Colour range with an airbrush. This acts as a slight retardant.
 

Keith Phillips

Western Thunderer
Been a long time coming but here are a few pictures of the van with transfers affixed and with the roof tissue papered and painted. Lots of light coats of Vallejo Neutral Grey applied with Matt varnish mixed in and Flow Improver to , well, improve the flow.

20190907_153435.jpg 20190907_153448.jpg 20190907_153512.jpg

The Workshop is currently full of furniture as I am busy working and trying to renovate our bedroom. No small task as it involves a new floor, walls and ceiling. Cannot see me doing much more to the van this year but hope to get on with the rest of it in January.

Cheers,

Keith
 

Keith Phillips

Western Thunderer
As a conclusion to this thread I would have to say that the kit is very good value, easy to construct and produces a very free running model. I don't know enough about the prototype to say if all the dimensions are spot on or if the correct number of rivets are present but I am very pleased with how it has turned out. It looks the part and runs very smoothly and I would recommend it as a great starter kit.

Cheers,

Keith
 

Sarah Winfield

Active Member
Thank you Keith for your "heads-up" on this thread.

My G100 kit is nothing like that shown. The instructions are an A3 sheet printed on each side with some rudimentary drawings. The plastic spruces have no part numbers other than a simple moulding reference.

On the reverse of the van body side moulding there are 4 dimples however the drawing only indicates there are two which should be drilled to 1mm dia. Which of the 4 do I drill?

Similarly, on the sole-bar drawing, there are X's for 1mm holes but too many indications on the actual moulding.

I would welcome some assistance, please.

Thank you.

Sarah Winfield
 

Sarah Winfield

Active Member
My apologies, there are part numbers on the spruces.

There are 2 sets of leaf springs. A long and short set. Which do I use, please?

Thanks,

Sarah Winfield
 

Keith Phillips

Western Thunderer
Hello Sarah,

Welcome to the Forum.

That is a shame, I was hoping this might help you. I would suggest contacting Slaters directly by phone as they were very helpful to me. Also if you are not already a G1MRA member I would recommend joining and using the collective knowledge they have. There may also be a local group nearby too.

Don't despair help will turn up.

Kind regards,

Keith
 
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Sarah Winfield

Active Member
Good morning.

Attached are pictures of the instructions for my Slaters G1oo van. These are all the details for assembling it.

As I said previously on the drawing of the side there are just 2 "+". However, the actual part has 4 dimples. Which do I drill, please?

Thank you.
 

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Keith Phillips

Western Thunderer
Having looked at the pictures, I would take a side and line it up with the diagram (fig 1). Looking at it side by side one of the 'dimples' at each end should line up with the '+' on fig 1. It looks like the holes are for mounting the door catch castings on the side of the van.

If you did drill a hole in the wrong place, a bit of Milliput or similar filler will hide a multitude of sins. Hope this helps.

All the best,

Keith
 
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