With the end in sight for the shelf queens my thoughts have turned to the fact that I only have one coach so far, albeit it that one of the shelf queens is a coach. With that in mind and prompted by Heather's excellent Mark 2 builds, I dug out a spare side for a JLRT Gresley D114 (I have a D113 BG and the D114 in the stash) with a view to having a go at "teaking" it. I have had some good successes at this in 4mm and wanted to see if using the same methods would work in 7mm. Previously when "teaking" coaches I have used some peach acrylic as my basecoat which worked well. But when she ordered the D113 kit, Chris bought me a can of the JLRT Spray away teak undercoat too, so I gave that a whirl. This is the initial result of a sprayed coat of spray away followed by 4 brush painted coats of Ronseal teak varnish - the water based stuff. I have also sprayed a couple of pieces of plasticard with both spray away teak and my previous peach base coat and I am currently doing various test sections to try to get a successful combination
Nice to see another coach build here Rob. Looking and sounding very well so far; I shall watch with interest. .. Steph
Thanks Steph. I have a few in the stash (LNER/LMS) so there should be a bit of variety when I get started.
I guess that I have had a head start on others in that Rob showed the first stages of the D114 to me when I visited him last week... and the results in the flesh look very good, brighter than in the photo above and with a grain which is subtle and attractive. regards, Graham
I was never really into modelling coaches before, but I am now a convert. I shall follow this build with interest.
Nice one Rob, looks lovely in the pics. Do you have a Stanier Brake/3rd in the queue? I'm looking for pointers on mine, which will be modelled in the BR period. A pic attached. (Off topic, I've noticed while uploading images that the percentile graph goes up to 101% – is that in the same vein as Spinal Tap's amps' volume going up to 11?)
Hi Steve, Yes I have a brake 3rd to D1720A (60') and a CK to D1925 also 60' both will be finished in simple LMS livery to go with my non streamlined Princess Coronation which will be Duchess of Buccleuch.
Hi Jon, I sprayed the base coat and them using quite a coarse brush applied the teak varnish. Because of it's pigment it has a tendency to leave lines creating the grain effect as long as you don't brush it out too much.
thats surprisingly effective then, it does look very ... um ... teaky. Jon (just making sure he's not falling for the old tartan paint rouse )
Hi Rob, that looks realy good, I'm looking forward to reading about the rest of the builds. cheers Mike
I bet that Rob has never built a 7mm kit straight out of the box or without modification/improvement.... so just what is on the cards for the Brake Third then. Lights? Working buckeyes which allow coupling without going three rounds with the World Wrestling Champ? What period will you be representing? You will need to do the research to get the passengers in appropriate garb. regards, Graham
Ah yes, just so... and varnished teak was not a livery for LMS carriages. Gresley 61'6" corridor stock had a LNER version of buck-eyes... not quite like the later BR style. regards, Graham
Hi Graham, there is every chance of working lights it depends on what detail I manage to get inside that's visible. My modelling period is 1923-1948 and by coincidence I have been looking at people recently and scaring myself stupid at the price never mind how appropriate they might be......
You and me both.... self production in resin might be the way forward for generic passengers. regards, Graham
I have been a bit quiet for a while but not idle. In between taking photos of Chris's latest paintings I have continued to dabble with the coach side and the colour samples that I mentioned previously. These are with various amounts of teak and oak Ronseal varnish layers applied to both the JLRT basecoat and a peach acrylic basecoat. Other samples with some lining applied Humbrol gloss enamel applied with a Peter Poorer lining pen (a cheaper version of a Bob Moore type pen) I then had a go at lining the coach side - there are a couple of lines missing but it was only a test run to see how easy it was. And a close up of a section of the brake end I have to confess I was astonished how easy it was to get the results I got. These have had minimal tidying up with a fine brush and white spirit.
The photos show clearly how the visible appearance is influenced by the colour base and the number of coats... top left of the second photo ticks the box for me. regards, Graham