Tempus Fugit - Pete Insole's workbench oddities and other things

[Osgood]

So Peter - the use of emulsion paint for mortaring:

I'm guessing you flood the entire brickwork, then wipe off excess?
And the action of doing so leaves a very thin residue which is plenty enough to matt down your gloss brickwork finish?

Also -

Have you tried thinning Mary Jane down with a little water, and/or adding a drop of detergent to break down surface tension?
Would this facilitate filling the joints?

Tony

 

[Peter Insole]

Thanks Tony. Yes on your first points! I couldn't take photos of the method in progress as I have to work too quickly!

The trick is not to get carried away and try to cover too large an area when applying with a broad soft brush, but dab it in sections just a bit bigger than a fifty pence piece, then wiping off with a folded up damp cloth.

The problem I have found is that the cloth needs to be absorbent enough to lift off the excess, but tends to draw the stuff back out of the joints at the same time! Thinning by adding water seems to exacerbate the problem!

Although it gets rather messy, I always resort to using a Mk 1 painting tool; my fingers!

The fun part is that there is not enough time to properly rinse the sticky emulsion off, so if I'm not careful, I quickly run out of clean digits to work with, or forget which ones I've already used!

I wonder if there is something that could be added to make the stuff into a paste?

Of course, it goes without saying that whatever is used, it must not be abrasive!!

Pete.

 

[Yorkshire Dave]

I wonder if there is something that could be added to make the stuff into a paste?

Could you use french chalk (talc)?

 

[Eastsidepilot]

Have you tried thinning Mary Jane down with a little water,..

Tony

I remember her, ... it didn't work though .

 

[Yorkshire Dave]

Or this..... Yorkshire's most wanted.... and not even watered down!

 

[simond]

Peter,

Thank you for your explanation on brick & mortar painting. I shall shamelessly copy your technique!

Thanks again
Simon

 

[Yorkshire Dave]

The problem I have found is that the cloth needs to be absorbent enough to lift off the excess

Would a kitchen foam sponge work.

 

[Peter Insole]

Thanks to everyone for your comments!

Whilst I am myself a teetotal, I would be the first to recognise the beneficial effect of any form of libation - The products of Ilkley Brewery may well top the bill for those with a discerning palate?!

I was also amused to note that the B&Q matchpots got a double plug here on Thunder yesterday, although it would seem that only I remain faithful to dear Mary! Lady luck however dictates that having discovered the perfect match, she will not be on the shelf for much longer, if not lost already?

On a more sensible note; the chalk does sound like an interesting idea! I will give it a trial soon.

The sponge might work too, but I fear that I shall be stuck with my sticky fingers in the meantime?!

Pete.

 

[Giles]

There has been some amusing talk about the use of naughty words and going AWOL when things go wrong!

I had a phone call this morning from my bank, (it was nice of them to remember me?) but although thanks to his accent (not his fault) I was unable to understand most of the words that the nice man was saying. I think I got the gist of it!

Which doesn't exactly help matters. Being a bit short of pennies has never acted as a spur for me. It just makes me even more terrified at the prospect of tackling those tricky jobs that are guaranteed to fight back or fail!!!

Mortaring is one of them...

...I was going to do it today anyway!

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The B&Q tester pot; "Mary Jane" emulsion, is really nice for colour - but it really isn't the best stuff to use! Sometimes it works perfectly, but then again...

It didn't quite fill properly this time, or at least as much as I would have liked. I could try a second application, but there is a real danger of losing too much of the background brick colour.

I might scrape out a few bits here and there (to better match the corners) and will be adding some weathering to finish when the mortar has cured anyway!

A good time to get the details sorted this afternoon?!

View attachment 78554

I have already decorated the interior with a coat of "Eau de nil" distemper over some more of that lovely "Chocolate" mix!

Mention of which brings me back to my promise for Jonte; Though I'm not sure that this will be of much more help?

Proportions of Humbrol mix for BR (WR) Brown (weathered):

5 full brush loads of Matt 113 "Rust" (my tin had the all too common consistency of thick yoghurt - but it mixes OK - so dollops might be a better description?) on a palette, then;

1/2 (half) brush of GLOSS 20 "Crimson", (there is no other similar red shade available in Matt) and finally;

1/4 (quarter) brush of Matt 33 "Black".

Add only a Gnat's ..... at a time, of the last two to the mixture and stir for personal taste!

By the way, a licked finger applied to the original paint on the sign gave what I imagine to be an impression of the originally applied shade - although this is an even less scientific approach...?! I added brush full of Matt 100 "Red Brown", and a tiny whiff more black to a second batch and happily got a reasonably satisfying match with the wet patch!

Then I turned my attention to the BR (WR) cream...

Please ignore the previous waffle; Matt 103 "Cream" is so damn close it is not worth bothering about, so use it neat out of the tin...!

What then would happen if I did mix a smidge of 113 with it then?

Ah-hah! 103 could be quite accurately described as "Light Buff" in old fashioned parlance, and 113 is pretty good for plain Red Oxide - both commonly used back in the day.

So what do you get when you mix 'em? A stonking good match for Southern Railway No. 1A, and LNER "1937"; "LIGHT STONE"; that's what!!

But dear reader, please BEWARE!

Just to confuse everyone; GWR "Light Stone" is a completely different animal...!!! It just so happens that I have some super (1923 to c1930) genuine paint samples to prove it!

All good, irresistible fun, but it wont keep the wolf from "a-huffin' an' puffin..."

Pete.

I saw this building at Telford today, and Peter - your painting of it is just sublime..... one day I shall save up for a piece of your work.

 

[Heather Kay]

I saw this building at Telford today, and Peter - your painting of it is just sublime..... one day I shall save up for a piece of your work.

I can only say "I agree with Giles".

 

[Osgood]

I feel compelled to add "I agree with Heather"!

 

[Wagonman]

Talc is magnesium silicate and available from any potters' supplier for a nugatory sum...but for one of my generation Mary Jane has an altogether different connotation – and one not much use for painting unless you're a latter day Jackson Pollock.

Any chance of all this being put together in article form for the Newsletter? You need to maintain the recent dominance of the East Anglian Area Group!

 

[Peter Insole]

Thank you all so much for the compliments. I've been hiding while desperately trying to work out how to reply?!

All I can say is that every task is an enormous challenge! It might sound strange, but although I have made and painted an awful lot of models over the years, I seem to forget how to do it for each new job? That scares the living daylights out of me sometimes!

"Bish - bash - bosh, that'll do" isn't for me! I have frequently been asked if it is worth all the worry, and I will always reply that it is - especially if the result brings a bit of pleasure or encouragement for anyone else!

I'm not so sure about "dominance" though? I will accept that as a gentle rebuke, for I am only too aware that I can be a right old pain in the **** most of the time, no, correction; ALL of the time!

Pete.

 

[Peter Insole]

I phoned my old friend yesterday and said; "Don't worry, I'm now back on the LMS clock case..."

"No!" he replied, "you're only doing the dial...!!"

Believe it or not, it got worse...!

Anyway, here is more "worse" than that:

While working on Phil's Telford deadline, the paint on the dial would have a chance to cure off nicely, so I put the thing in what I imagined was a safe place. Being overly cautious, I left some tissue on top, just to make sure nothing could contaminate the surface.

Guess what? I was too late. As I removed the tissue I discovered that it had stuck in a number of tiny spots. Something had mysteriously got splashed on between the last working session and storage? The nice new paint came off right down to the primer, leaving as scatter of little craters! If they had been in the vicinity of the numerals and lettering I might have been able to drop in some of the last remnants of the old spray can with a fine brush to fill and disguise the damage?

Nah! Of course, not possible! Every blasted mark was sitting and shouting in the only clear spaces available! There was nothing for it but cut the whole lot back and spray another couple of coats from a fresh can!

Ow! That hurt!

It is just about hard enough again to move on (I hope?):



To keep everything tidy and reduce the risk of distorting the trace I have only pricked out the curved line points so far. The template will have to be relocated a few times in between the different procedures anyway.

Although I am using other registration marks as well, you can see the original small "vee" cut in the top edge of the dial at twelve o'clock, for correct alignment.

Now I'm going to have to get that dreaded ink flowing....!

Pete.

 

[Peter Insole]

Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear! Was I right to be nervous...???

Indian ink is water soluble while wet, so if you make a mistake it can be quickly wiped off... ....Yea..? ...Not this afternoon!

Firstly, my special pen decided to suffer from a completely invisible blockage - despite several very messy cleaning cycles. Then when refilled and tested (during which it performed perfectly of course) the moment the nib touched the actual dial... BLOB...SPLURGE...****...!

I had the presence of mind to keep cloths and a pot of clean water handy, but did that make any difference? Not on your Nellie. I still ended up with a load of nasty indelible stains. I had to scrub the whole damned lot off, polish up and start all over again.

Then, when cleaning the pen for the umpteenth time, I only managed to lose a vital part of the pen down the sink plughole!

Arrrrrrgh!

I will spare you all a graphic description of the unpleasant plumbing job that followed, suffice to say that the errant object was eventually retrieved!

Finally this evening, after THREE completely failed attempts/restarts, and after leaving a heap of wreckage in the kitchen, I got to this point...:



Apologies for the grotty photo - but I just couldn't be bothered tonight after all that grief!!

There are still a couple of small "blobs" at the 12 o'clock starting points on the minute ring. Not a problem, as the hours are marked with solid black, inward facing triangles that will happily cover the discrepancy.

But that will be for tomorrow - I've had enough for one day...!!!

Pete.

 

[Peter Insole]

Now is a good time for a quick post while I'm waiting for the latest application of ink to dry.

Yesterday I mentioned my "special" pen; the same one that was unusually giving me such a rotten headache!

Although I have used bow pens many times in the dim and distant, I have never been particularly at ease with them. The thing that has always worried me is the prospect of the ink running out before completing a long line, especially when using a compass. No matter how careful I am, a curved line never seem to perfectly align when interrupted by the need to refill the nib!

The cheating answer would be one of those rather expensive "lining" pens that have apparently been specially developed for our hobby?

Those things are however little more than the old "Uno" or "Rapidograph" pens that way back we used to chuck around and away without a second thought! If only I had saved a box or two of them?

I do still have some of their more modern equivalents though...



Very nice to use, but as they are effectively sealed units it is impossible to load thinned enamel paint or proper indian ink for our purposes.

Being plastic, they are however very easily modified...



Part of the nib holder was removed, thus releasing the needle, and a section at the fitting end of the "disposable" reservoir cut and refitted.

I haven't got round to it yet, but it would be a damn good idea to attach a length of soft wire with a small loop to the weighted end of the needle for retrieval. That would certainly have avoided that rotten plumbing job yesterday!



Another handy feature of these modified pens is that they fit neatly into an extendable compass.

When it works, it does so superbly; or at least when I have made jolly sure that I have done a proper cleaning job on them!

The main trouble with indian ink is that due to the shellac, it will dry very quickly inside the pen, requiring frequent rinsing out. Not much different to using a brush with that stuff though!

Now on to today's fiddly task...



Having laboriously ruled the outlines of the minutes and hours with the pen, they are then flooded with more ink with a fine brush.

Even though this part doesn't take too long, I still have to pause frequently and thoroughly clean the brush to prevent it from becoming irretrievably gummed up and unusable!

By the way, the little pencil marks visible will wipe off, but that will only be attempted after the ink has been "baked" for an hour or so in UV light (ordinary sunshine will do nicely) at the end of the job!



Naturally of course, the wretched material otherwise takes an age to dry enough on the work piece!!

Must get on...!

Pete.

 

[Peter Insole]

Last post for today - just in time for dinner...!



More inking and flooding.

I had a really nasty moment when "joining the dots" on one of the "V"s, as just a split second before making contact I realised that I was about to draw the pen toward the wrong mark!

The fissile effect might have made the Six o'clock News if I had drawn that line?!



There's still time to make a spelling mistake yet...?

Pete.

 

[BrushType4]

This is true craft Pete. I'm in awe.

 

[adrian]

The cheating answer would be one of those rather expensive "lining" pens that have apparently been specially developed for our hobby?

Those things are however little more than the old "Uno" or "Rapidograph" pens that way back we used to chuck around and away without a second thought! If only I had saved a box or two of them?

Fascinating work however please permit me a couple of small points about the lining pens, or specifically Bob Moore's lining pen because these myths seem to perpetuate and I can set the record straight.

I can assure you it was specifically developed for the hobby furthermore I can assure you that whilst superficially similar to the Uno pens in fact it is slightly more than those.

I was fortunate to get 2 weeks work experience in Bob's workshop and spent many years admiring his work so I know a little of the history of the pen. It was developed by Bob for a specific job to paint and line a rather exquisite 5in gauge Lord of the Isles loco. He tried a bow pen but couldn't get the consistency he wanted. So he started to develop his lining pen. An important requirement for him was that it had to run Humbrol enamel paint neat. He didn't want to line to be pale but a good solid line hence the insistence on neat enamel. The Uno and radiograph pens were obvious and the first things he tried. No matter what you do you will not be able to make a Uno pen run neat enamel consistently. 20 plus years of demonstrating the pen and he had plenty of people saying it was just an Uno pen - the reply was always the same - fine go and try it. When you can't get it to work then you always have the option of buying one of Bob's pens. We never had anyone able to come back and demonstrate a working Uno pen with neat enamel.

The pen Bob developed was purely for his own use to help him on a job and it was my Dad who persuaded him to put it into production.

Anyway the 5in Lord of the Isle made it to the front cover of the Model Engineer magazine.



A further example of Bob's work can be seen in the National Railway Museum. There is a rather nice 5in gauge Midland Johnson Compound, fully lined out bogie tender. That was built and painted by Bob.

 

[Peter Insole]

Sorry Adrian! I had an uncomfortable feeling, even as I typed those comments that I would be treading, nay stamping on someone's toes!

Now feeling rather embarrassed, I wish I hadn't made those foolish utterings, but then again, your most informative and valid reply is much appreciated.

I have had many a go with ink bows, old rapidographs and the "Master" lining pen. Although mostly attempts to produce my own roundels and other insignia on aircraft models, I have done some railway rolling stock too, with varying degrees of success - or should that read "failure"?! I had always attributed my struggle with all the tools to a lack of confidence...

...or maybe going giddy while holding my breath for far too long when trying to use them?!

Pete