4mm Learning On The Job...

Richard Insole

Western Thunderer
I'm pretty sure that some special young boys and girls would very much appreciate a little model of their own, or perhaps even nan and grandad's house to appear on the railway - if that is not a bit too close to home for you...?!

Pete.

I agree. That would be a lot of fun and I am a little disappointed that I didn't think of that sooner :) This will definatly be happening to the layout :)

Rich
 

Richard Insole

Western Thunderer
So, Time to take on something a bit more 'scary'...

I have had this 'non-runner' for a little while and always had the intention of trying my hand at fixing it up and getting it running. Sadly, after much poking and prodding, I decided to not do that. It's an option that I could look into in the future, as I now know what the problem is with the ringfield powered tender.

So why do I say scary? I'm sure you will all be with me when I say that locos are not the price they used to be 15 years ago when I bought my first loco in 2005 for £43. Even though the non-running loco only set me back a whopping £9.. they still have this premium feel to me that just adds the tickle of fear to not mess around with and or make worse.

I have been slowly building my collection of paints, and various powders and washes for the last few months (not all at once as to not raise alarm with the wife). I am almost at a place where I have enough to get cracking with the basics of tasks.

So, What to do with this sad little loco with no puff...

Let's make it rusty to within an inch of its life!! It's probably a good starting point right? Do my worst and see if I can then bring it back to a place of believability and or realism. after all, if it went so badly that I hated it, I could take this as a line in the sand to better my skills (or lack thereof).

This is where I wanted to get to and I came up with the plan to lay down the base coat of rust to apply detail on top of.
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WOOH... I went a bit too far... There is rusty, and then there is this rusty. But, hey, I said I wanted to go too far and then see what I can learn from that.

It wasn't all bad tho. I liked the patchy and flaky-looking tones ontop of the boiler. As seen here
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Time to start dulling it down and adding the flaking paint. This was achieved with the use of some 'Maskol' and after allowing the paint to go tacky, removing the masking (thank you dad for the tip here).

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That's heaps better but, I didn't feel this was all I could do... It was missing highlights...

Time to start some subtle blending and pulling back more...
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Well.. so far, I am rather pleased with this... Don't get me wrong, I have a long way to go to get this better. It's really hard to make something look authentic and I fear that I am still too hand-fisted with my methods.

I would love to see some examples that you have of this type of weathering. I have seen some on here and sit back in awe of the talent required.

The tender is on its way and once this is closer to completion, I will take some more photos of them together for the 'full effect'.

Cheers,
Rich
 

adrian

Flying Squad
Well.. so far, I am rather pleased with this... Don't get me wrong, I have a long way to go to get this better. It's really hard to make something look authentic and I fear that I am still too hand-fisted with my methods.
The peeling paintwork over the rust looks very effective to me. All my models are either ex-paintshop std or very lightly weathered. I think I'd need a couple of pints of dutch courage before trying something like this.
 

Peter Insole

Western Thunderer
That really worked out terribly well Richard. You should indeed be pleased with it!

It brings back memories of wandering around and clambering over many of the locos at Barry Island way back in 1970 and 71!

I also recall that on the way home from that last visit in a hired Vauxhall Viva, we were overtaking a London Country RF in Bishops Stortford, hit a big puddle and aquaplaned, hurtling round and fetching up rear end first in someone's front garden! I recall the driver and passengers on the bus all peering at us as they serenely carried on with their journey!

Pete.
 

Richard Insole

Western Thunderer
Goodness me.. That was quite a while ago since I last posted in here...

Since I have returned to work, work on the layout has somewhat become sporadic. So, I will try to fit in as much as I can on one post of what has happened to the layout since then... It will probably be a couple of posts to catch up, as it were.

Some major experimentation with brickwork and weathering has been underway, with a small raised section of the railway. It was too flat for my liking and needed some raised interest.

This is what I would class as a 'modern era' layout of the late 80's to early 90's so, it wouldn't be totally unreasonable for brickwork to be rather grubby. during the steam era's there was a lot of acidity in the air from the burning of coal etc, which would make this much less 'black'. however, I rather like that I can get away with making it look all grubby and pretty pleased with this finish.
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I continued with this and made a retaining wall as well as a (lets call it) first attempt, at a row of houses. In the end, I wasn't happy with a brick finish paper and changes would have to be made.
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I wanted to start playing around with making some different foliage and bushes etc.
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Not a bad-looking overgrown bramble bush. you can see in the background here the class 66 that has pulled into platform 2 for a crew change. It is pulling a very small train of wagons filled with ballast for some ballasting of some of the sidings.

okay, quite a lot of ballasting is needed here...
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Quite a nice little area at the forefront of my layout where the line carries on up the discussed branch line long overgrown and uncared for past the level crossing... some time was spent trying out some new techniques here
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I will have to make another update post as sadly, I can't fit all of what has been happening including some more buildings/kitbashing, a new signal box, a new project Loco amongst other things.

Cheers,
Rich
 

Richard Insole

Western Thunderer
As previously promised...

Onward with the updates of what I have been up to on the layout.

In traditional fashion, many jobs on the go at once... quite a while ago I got my hands on a laser-cut signal box. after a short amount of time spent on that, I found that the dimensions and design were just not quite what I was looking for. I always remembered the one that dad had made for our childhood layout/circuit fondly and wanted to try and recreate something similar.
This is dads one that he kindly lent to me to use as a reference/guide to what CAN be done :)
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However, I have always been a little bit fond of a brick box. With other features (as well as some to come) on the layout with red brick, it seemed fitting to include a nice little brick box.

I wanted a nice wood floor colour in the box. I chose this sandy colour and once it had dried, I was unhappy with the finish, just a bit too light. However, it did afford me a 'happy accident' when I realised that I could paint over this colour, and whilst the paint was still wet, use a cotton bud to wipe off and reveal a worn look of where various signalmen and women would have walked.
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Work on the box itself was rather quick to put together also.. and I must say, I am getting a bit better at this brickwork stuff (hehe)
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whilst this is a lovely little kit, I must say, the interior is somewhat of a pleasure point for me (the apple doesn't roll far from the tree here). I obviously wish to light the box up inside, so attention must be given to the inside so that it doesn't look empty. Firstly the walls needed to be lined. I am just using some thin plasticard to remove the garish brown unfinished pastic.
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I scored some planks into the plasticard too, to add a layer of interest to the eye, that should hopefully bring out some light and shadows with the LED. This also facilitated the ability to make the wiring disappear behind.

As for the LED, I have found some rather nice warm white lamps that are otherwise awful and cheap. I can't however fault the colour which is perfect, and when you can get a pack of 20 for the lonesome price of £7.19, you really can't fault that. the old plastic lamp is removed by squeezing the top of the plastic formed lamp and the LED can be slid out and used on its own.

Excuse the funky angle! I tried to get a photo with the right colour in the photo. My phone has a tendency to 'warm up' the colours, so using the background with white lights, pushed it back to what the naked eye can see, all be it making the light spot on the floor seem much more concentrated into a spot, which is much more pronounced than it actually is :)

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So, still an ongoing project here. I still need to add some furniture, fit a door, fit the stairs and a couple of small additions as well as working out how I am going to fix the roof in place where it can be taken off at leisure. It would feel wrong to just glue it in place.

Other than that, really happy with this cute little box so far :)

Cheers,
Rich
 

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Richard Insole

Western Thunderer
Regarding 'warm white' LEDs you could reduce the input voltage to make them appear more incandescent and less intense.

I also paint the LEDs with thin layer of yellow glass paint which also makes them appear more incandescant.


Hi Dave,

Indeed. When I started to wire the layout (which I would say has been the BIGGEST learning curve), I had next to no soldering experience. Of course, there is video aplenty on the internet, however, I did from the start wire in a voltage resistor PCB. I can then control the output voltage. The plan was to have sections of lights, controlled by individual switches so I can control what I want on and off (street lights, building lights etc). At the moment, they are all either on or off.. so, soon perhaps :)

Interesting, glass paint you say?

I had thought about doing this with my street lamps. All the available lamps to buy out there are generally 'bright white' lights. Which is fine however, I would love them to be orange. (sodium neon)

They are the exposed square diode variety (so not a plastic dome LED if that makes any sense). Does this cause any overheating issues etc?

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Cheers for the response Dave :)

Rich
 

pricei

Western Thunderer
Those lights look very similar to the ones I purchased and which also came with cold white LEDs. If you're feeling dextrous, you can carefully remove the existing LEDs and replace them with soft white versions. If you search for '1206 pre-soldered soft white LEDs' on eBay you'll normally find a selection available - just make sure you chose ones with fine connecting wires so that these can be threaded through the lamp post.

The photos below show before and after shots of my conversion.
Ian

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Yorkshire Dave

Western Thunderer
I had thought about doing this with my street lamps. All the available lamps to buy out there are generally 'bright white' lights. Which is fine however, I would love them to be orange. (sodium neon)

If you use the warm white LEDs as @pricei has done and then paint them with an orange glass paint they should appear orange. It may take some experimenting to achieve the best density of glass paint.

With yellow LEDs I would use a red glass paint.
 

Richard Insole

Western Thunderer
I think it's about time that I did another update on what has been going on with my learning experience, Aka - The layout.

So, I alluded a couple of posts ago about a little project. Some months ago now, I managed to come across a little bargain! I have always wanted a Class 31 for the layout but, the going rate for one is just a little too rich for my blood. I would never be able to sneak an expense like that past the wife/accountant who sits on high ;).

For me personally, Hornby 31 in full green with a head code box and half yellow ends is the one that I would LOVE to get my hands on. They are rarer than rocking horse doo to find but, keep your eyes peeled, you never know right?

Well, insert what I found here...
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Looks like a smashing bit of kit. Okay, no head code box or half yellow ends but, the correct colour scheme and the kind of price I could stomach. A steal really. Sadly, that's where the luck runs out.

I know that you are all already saying it. "Mazak rot". I took the plunge and purchased it right away, I didn't want this one to get away from me, having missed some in the past by meer moments. Once I knew that it was safe, I sent some emails asking for more images and information and took the plunge.

So yes, it has got some mazak rot to one of the buffer beams. The rest of the chassis, on the other hand, appears to be in good shape. This won't probably last forever but, for now, at the price I paid, I am happy.

Upon closer inspection when this arrived we found the damage (that I was aware of) where the expansion of the chassis had pushed on the body and given way at the weakest point which you can see is at the bottom edge of the door. It has twofold, pushed the buffer beam down and the cab upwards, as you can see here.
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Whipping it open, I can confirm that the cab popped right back where it should be and hasn't left any lasting bends or twists to the body.

And this is what we had found...
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These two small plates that sit over the top of the buffer springs and allows for the light contacts to allocate into had swollen and become brittle, pushing upwards against the body pulling out some screw grubs and a small number of plastic breaks. Nothing that can't be fixed with the body. So, really not too bad. However. The question of what to do with the buffer beam is a headscratcher. I don't want to stress the metal by introducing any heat or excessive pressure to pull it up the 1 or so mill that it has been pushed down by the swelling but, I can't really leave it as it is. I could see about trying to source a 'good' chassis and move all of my hardware over, as this loco runs fantastically well but, they are just as hard to come by. It surprises me that Hornby doesn't actually offer this. They are one of the best for being able to source directly from them, replacement parts.

Some research will have to be done before I make any bold decisions with this one. Thankfully, it is almost exclusively concentrated on one end of the loco. I just got lucky that even though the other end had begun to swell, it hadn't had the pinnacle moment of a break.
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Not fully decided on what I am going to do with this one yet. I am probably going to strip it down to the bare chassis and go from there, once I have a bit of time to do this without little people asking what I am doing. And so I can say some naughty words when it inevitably fights me.

Long story short, I have seen examples that are in much more 'crumbly' condition and sadly, these seem to be the points that they like to go (the buffer beams first) but, I paid under a 3rd of what these are going for new or in 'good' condition so, it's well worth a go.

Where there is a will... there's probably a fool like me trying to do something the hard way!?!

Cheers,
Rich
 

Peter Insole

Western Thunderer
Sorry Rich, I have been so busy with the big trains I had forgotten about the 31!

I'm sure we had the beginnings of a "cunning plan", but it seems like such a long time ago, and I can't remember what it was. We will probably have to have a new one now ?!

Pete.

Edit: A plan, not the 31 !!!!
 

Yorkshire Dave

Western Thunderer
The class 31 brings back memories......

I was given £5.00 as a birthday present way back in the early 1970s (just after we returned from Germany when my dad was posted to RAF Wattisham) and the Tri-ang HORNBY class 31 was my first loco I purchased for £4.35 from Everybody's Hobbies in St Nicholas Street, Ipswich. I remember the shop being narrow with the counter at the back.

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Richard Insole

Western Thunderer
It's alright Dad. Me too, I have gotten caught up with big boy toys that I have been neglecting my little railway. I am months behind on updates to the layout. Yes, I believe we did have a plan to whip up a replacement floor piece. Last night I tore it all down to get down to just the chassis. It's not good news :'( I did make the replacement pieces that had swollen and broken. You can see them in situ either end in the white styrene.
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Dave, I love those sorts of memories. I believe I have put it up on here somewhere about my first loco. It is a Bachmann Class 20. Bought in 2005 in a place near Colchester. The same situation where my memory was in this narrow shop that was chocked from floor to ceiling with anything and everything hobby-related. I was so thrilled when I got my first loco.

It's frightening to think how far they have come since the '70s and even more frightening when you consider your little beasty was the lonesome price of £4.35 compared to today's £197.99. My 20 cost around £45 and I saved up all my birthday money for that.
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2005 seems like yesterday and yet, so long ago...

To continue on from what I was saying Dad. The not-so-good news! It has a fracture where I was hoping it wouldn't.
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I fear that it is going to need the whole front end whipping off and false floor construction put in its place. We can modify the boogies to hold the coupling and save on the buffer beam but, it is only a matter of time before this just sheers, sadly.

Failing that, Perhaps I need to see if there is some sort of 2 part epoxy that could be used to strengthen either side in the hopes of slowing the sheer.

Cheers,
Rich
 

Tom Insole

Western Thunderer
I fear that it is going to need the whole front end whipping off and false floor construction put in its place. We can modify the boogies to hold the coupling and save on the buffer beam but, it is only a matter of time before this just sheers, sadly.

Failing that, Perhaps I need to see if there is some sort of 2 part epoxy that could be used to strengthen either side in the hopes of slowing the sheer.

Cheers,
Rich

I could possibly get you a little bit of double bubble epoxy resin, one thing you could also do to strengthen the fracture is carefully cut a slot or two across the fracture and lay in a little dowel from some wire/metal rod and then some epoxy or if it's metal possibly some metal epoxy putty and then file it gently back to prevent leaving a large "Blob" on your model :)

Also if you did need little bits re-making/modelling and 3D printed give me a shout and we can see what we can do :)
 

Richard Insole

Western Thunderer
Cheers Tom. Good idea and thank you for the offer of assistance. It is possible that we may take you up on that one...

I am currently looking into options that I might want to take. This is a slow burner project as is entirely dependant on having the time to sit down and try some things before I make and major decisions like sawing off ends to chassis etc :)

Cheers,
Rich
 

Richard Insole

Western Thunderer
Almost caught up now with a couple of posts. I will post another now as I sit here sipping the nectar of the gods, coffee...

So I have been catching up with some ballasting and some much-needed landscaping! This is part of the hobby that I am really loving. Taking something that looks a little plain and bringing it to life. I will not pretend for a moment that I am any good at it but, I suppose that is all part of it, to get the enjoyment out of it and get better with practice. I went for a patchy mismatch of ballast colours to give the sensation of previous works of maintenance.
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Take a real-world example of all the patchy ballasting. granted the is next to the sea so a pinch of salt will need to be taken due to the salty air which will have an effect on the weathering of the surrounding trackbed with rust levels etc but, I really like this look. I prefer it over a generic 'all one colour'.
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One of the things that don't come too easy to me is colour matching however, possibly through dumb luck, I manage to mix some colours until I get something close, if not at all.
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I also used a real-world photo that I took near a local line near me. I feel the colour match is not too bad. I still need to work on some rail webs and the sleepers also need some focus but, overall a good step in the right direction.
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A good airbrush session later, I have got some basic weathering done and I couldn't resist getting some grass down. One of the major things that I would do differently in the future is to have the trackbed raised (perhaps on a future project) as I love the idea of a nice grassy bank. With that said, I found a small opportunity to have one on my layout. I have a bridge that I have made for the raised suburban section on my layout. I made it hollow to keep weight down using foam board (I am not sure what it's actually called). I used Sculptamold to create I nice uneven surface, painted it brown and grassed with 6mm tufts to give the impression of a wild unkept bank. Some very small bushes and weeds need to be added to bring this all together.
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Getting close to being up to date with progress now. As always, I wish I took more photos along the way but, it's always the way that I get so caught up in the process I forget to take a few snaps.

Cheers,
Rich
 

Yorkshire Dave

Western Thunderer
Reading blurb on t'interweb alot of modellers with the Mazak Rot 31's have ripped out the drive mech and replanted it a Hornby Railroad (ex-Lima) class 31 chassis and and used that instead.
 

Richard Insole

Western Thunderer
Thanks for your reply Dave.

Funnily enough, I was looking into this as a possibility. I was discussing this with Dad last night about this possibility. I was unsure whether they were using the old tooling body shell to fit their railroad chassis. I will look into this further to see if it is possible to fit.

It looks as if Hornby and Peters Spares don't currently have any for sale. See if I can get my hands on one :)

Cheers,
Rich
 
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