Cookie's G3 Workbench

Steve Cook

Flying Squad
Thank you very much for your comments chaps, I'm flattered :oops:

How large are those free hand letters ?

Around 5.5mm for the big ones and 4.5mm for the little ones.

Earlier this evening I had a practice run for the shading on some scrap plasticard, subsequently I'm having night off the paint brushes :)) Not a good night for detail work apparently, I've been cutting out glazing instead and writing what seems to be a long list of jobs required to finish the thing off. Better luck tomorrow hopefully.
Steve
 

Steve Cook

Flying Squad
Got the shading done today, so put a few bits together to see what it looked like.

GER Brake 111 letters7.JPG

Looking at it and my reference photo, I reckon the roof surround that sits against the body side was body coloured rather than roof coloured. Buckjumper has also been a great help over the last few days, answering questions on vermillion headstocks, buffer guide colours, roof planks and general iron work - cheers Ade :thumbs:

The roof surround and chimney have been given a quick coat of body colour, as have part of the running board supports - photos and Ade reckon that ironwork on the solebar was body colour, only changing to black below the bottom of the solebar.

GER Brake 113 roof surround.JPG

Unfortunately, I need to paint the headstocks vermillion which means masking off the ends, made a bit more difficult by using watercolour paints which are taking a while to dry as they are not on a porous surface. Still, thats a job to face tomorrow - I'm getting excited about putting it together properly now :)

Steve
 

Steve Cook

Flying Squad
With the battery electric done, it was back to the brake van. I had masked off the body and buffer guides, leaving just the headstocks exposed for a coat of vermilion - or in this case, Tamiya flat red, sprayed on in thin coats until it looked about right, ie not too bright. The buffer guides and drawbar plates were then picked out in black. The brake hand wheels were also sprayed at the same time.

GER Brake 115 vermillion headstocks.JPG

The veranda floor was given a coat of beige, then a coffee colour was drybrushed over the top. A darker brown was then crudely painted in patches over the floor before a few drops of water were added and the whole thing blended together. Dark dirty brown weathering powders were applied by brush to represent heavy foot fall trampling dirt into the wood.

GER Brake 114 veranda floor.JPG

The makers plates have had an edging of white paint applied and some splodges of paint applied - its better than nowt and will do for the time being.

GER Brake 116 makers plates.JPG

The glazing has also been cut out from some PETG sheet that Adrian kindly sent me. Its good stuff, it burrs like any plastic sheet when cut with a craft knife, but it does not split, delaminate or crack at the cut edge. It can be shaved down to size with a shooting board with no ill effects and sands or files fine, the only downside is a small rag on the filed edge which can be cleanly scraped off with a knife. It comes with protective covering on both sides, I must remember to remove both when gluing it in...

GER Brake 117 Glazing.JPG

And lastly, here is my kit of parts, ready to go together :)

GER Brake 119 Ready to go together2.JPG

GER Brake 118 Ready to go together1.JPG

Steve
 

Captain Kernow

Western Thunderer
It really is such a pleasure to see quality like this, Steve. Whilst I am in awe of your brake van (no, really), the way you have made the wasp stripes on the little industrial look so easy is fantastic. Really clever wheeze with the masking tape, and nice, subtle weathering, too.
 

Simon

Flying Squad
Really good work, the wasp stripe masking wheeze is particularly good!

On the brake van, is that all the vermilion that's going on? I thought they generally painted the whole end in vermilion or is it all part of some fiendish Cookie plan to achieve an even better result.....

Simon
 

Steve Cook

Flying Squad
Cheers chaps, I was pleased when the wasp strip method worked out, no idea how to make chevrons easy though.

On the brake van, is that all the vermilion that's going on? I thought they generally painted the whole end in vermilion or is it all part of some fiendish Cookie plan to achieve an even better result.....

No clever plan here Simon, I'm just cashing in on the fruits of Adrian's / Buckjumpers research :) From what I understand, there was a paint crisis @ 1887 and the price rocketed as a result. In order to save costs, the full vermilion ends (wood, iron work, buffer guides etc) were reduced to just the headstocks. My van was built to an 1887 design and is modelled after a couple of years service so we figured the current scheme was the most likely, based on the data that Ade has been able to find.

Steve
 

adrian

Flying Squad
That does look a damn fine model - you should be proud of that. So many points to be positive about but my first thought is I'm really impressed with the lettering - especially the 1513 - that is spot on.

Now you just need half a dozen open wagons and a loco to complete the set.:)):))
 

Mike W

Western Thunderer
Now you just need half a dozen open wagons and a loco to complete the set.:)):))

Absolutely agree. I have six GER open wagon kits in stock Steve and will put them to one side for you!

Seriously Steve - you put my own to shame and most important of all, I hope you enjoyed it and are satisfied with the result.

Mike
 

Steve Cook

Flying Squad
Now you just need half a dozen open wagons and a loco to complete the set.:)):))

Absolutely agree. I have six GER open wagon kits in stock Steve and will put them to one side for you!

Steady chaps, lining up the next projects when this one is still not finished :))

Got to split it into its main sections, varnish the sides to protect the lettering, weather the roof, dry brush the rest of the chassis and the running boards, then put it back together and give it a final detail paint / weathering session. Some mileage left in it yet :)

Seriously Steve - you put my own to shame and most important of all, I hope you enjoyed it and are satisfied with the result.
Thanks Mike, and yes, I enjoyed it even if it pushed me in a few places. Happy with the result, but as ever as the builder, you can look and see things that could have been done better. Will try harder on the next G3 build.......another brake van :thumbs:

Steve
 

Steve Cook

Flying Squad
Spent today at the G3 AGM which was brilliant (well, I didn't do the AGM bit) but I caught up with lots of friends and talked myself hoarse. I took the GER brake van along and put it out on display.
That was the good news.

The bad news is that I am able to demonstrate in one simple photo the combined definition of frustration and gutted.

GER Brake Frustration.jpg

I don't know whether it was the heat or what, but the lettering is peeling off the bodyside. It was always a risk, highlighted when the black was taking a long time to dry, but I didn't think it would end up here. Fair to say I can't recommend using watercolour paint over anything non-porous.

I am off to shout at some inanimate objects until I calm down.
I may be some time.

Steve
 
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Mike W

Western Thunderer
Steve,
My heart goes out to you after all the hard work you put into this beautiful model.
But I also admire you for having the courage to share it with the whole world, whereas my latest disaster was put quickly back into its box and remains there to this day!
Mike
 

Neil

Western Thunderer
I don't know whether this would work Steve, but I wonder if you photographed the lettering flat on whilst it's still substantially complete, then printed it full (model) size onto ordinary paper could it then be cut out with a fine scalpel to give a mask that you could stipple acrylic or enamel paints through, to give a head start on re-lettering the van?
 

Steve Cook

Flying Squad
Thanks for your thoughts Mike :) I have to say I think one should show the disasters as well as the success stories, although the photo mainly illustrates a poor paint choice and I hope it stops someone from doing the same as me.

Thats a good idea Neil - the stencilling may not work, but having the right size lettering to copy from the photo will definitely be a boon. When I've stopped sulking about it, I'll post any progress made.

Currently cheering myself up by starting to mock up the bits for my 7/8ths scale Waril :)
 
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