The Chronicles of Canary Sidings - the Tale of an Untidy Workbench

[Herb Garden]

Right after som time away in my home county of Norfolk + the obligatory railway related trip with @Liver & Fry I'm back and getting on with the chassis disassembly and prep.


One of the things still to do was sort out the reminder of the crank in the driving wheel moulding

And that's one side done after some careful filing and scalpel work. It ain't quite perfect but the outside frame axlebox hides much

On with the other one...

 

[Herb Garden]

Oh the joys of masking wheels.... I'm sure there is an easier way to do it but I can't think of it and this seems to work

 

[Herb Garden]

Important milestone today.... the number plates arrived.... I don't enjoy doing the CAD work but I really like it when the parts arrive in the post

 

[Herb Garden]

A little teaser of things to come.... rest assured painting has commenced!

 

[Herb Garden]

Although I didn't make it to scaleforum I was really chuffed to be sent this. The GER diag 17 wagon in the middle is one made from a bunch of scratch aid parts I made a while back... mostly for myself but a few friends got a couple. They make a lovely vehicle but are very fiddly to make... so it's really exciting to see one that John built on Martin's lovely layout Eccleston.

I've got a few more to build at some point so watch this space....

Thanks to John for the photo

 

[Herb Garden]

Well not quite the moment we've all been waiting for but.... certainly on the way to being

A first glimpse of the loco in all it plum glory



I am using similar techniques here as previously described in earlier posts and weathering as I go along to create the jaded effect you see here

The next job is the lining..... luckily this time I have some new toys at my disposal

 

[Herb Garden]

Well what can I say lining has commenced....

 

[Liver & Fry]

View attachment 197503

Well what can I say lining has commenced....

View attachment 197504

View attachment 197505

Looking good! The lining and the blue plates really bring the livery alive!

- James

 

[Lyndhurstman]

A lovely piece of work. And history. A very pleasing form and colour. And testament to your talents.

Cheers

Jan

 

[Herb Garden]

Thanks both for your kind comments.

Yeah the livery is really growing on me. I had initially thought when I started painting that it looked a bit like lady from Thomas and the magic railroad.... thankfully many layers of acrylic paint later you have the colour you see before you.

Thanks are very much due to @Rob R for pointing out this detail in a small paragraph in the back of a book on Samuel Johnson.... otherwise it would have been painted green

 

[David Waite]

Your workmanship has captured a machine with age and style and you couldn’t have chosen a better colour,
absolutely magnificent, cannot wait to see it finished.
David.

 

[Herb Garden]

Your workmanship has captured a machine with age and style and you couldn’t have chosen a better colour,
absolutely magnificent, cannot wait to see it finished.
David.

Thanks David!

I probably should make a confession... some of you may have noticed that I did not post any progress shots of the colour being painted on. Mainly because I was nervous of a reaction to my techniques that are frankly not the done thing in model railway circles although are more common in other modelling worlds. Needless to say the plum colour was six shades of acrylic paint layered on top of each other to give the richness and depth of colour you see in the images. This was also all applied by brush and no airbrushes were used or harmed in the making of this model. Varnishing was also done but three different gloss levels applied by brush to give the various tones of surfaces. Light dry bushing of dark greys were used to tone down surfaces as a pre weathering where needed. The aim is this looks like a lived in machine


So the start of the tender panel lining has commenced.... 2 panels done 7 more to go.....


The lining is a bit bright but will get toned down and I haven't even started the edge lining but you get the idea of what #74 will look like.... can you imagine if this had caught on on the GER what a different railway it would have looked like...

Talking of the modern GER look what is hiding in the background.

 

[Herb Garden]

Well it looked a bit odd only lining the two large panels on the tender


So I've gone and done the two side ones as well.

So it's back down the other side of the loco.... then a coat of varnish, then get the lining pen out...

 

[Herb Garden]

Well it's been a while.... Trips away with @James Spooner and @Godders53 to see Retford and Buckingham followed by a manic lead up and very successful Workshop Wise has slightly reduced the amount of modelling time I've had


However all the transfer lining is complete


Just got to get the pens out to do all the curvy bits

 

[Richard Gawler]

George, this loco is full of character, thank you so much for sharing all of the progress.

 

[john lewsey]

Lovely work George

 

[Liver & Fry]

Oh, that is beautiful!

 

[Herb Garden]

Here at Canary Sidings I think I'm going a bit mad .... At some point I should probably stop practicing and get these two lined....



But practice makes perfect and in the meantime there's some serious developments afoot of a very different kind....

 

[Herb Garden]

So back at workshop wise 2 weeks ago I did a layout design demo.... I suppose I have designed loads of layouts over the years.... Just not built many....

Anyhow to do this demo I refreshed a concept that has haunted me since my modelling returned to east Anglia best part of a decade ago. That of the fictional terminus of Skeetsmere & Rushall on the Mid Suffolk Light Railway. I've built 2 layouts that never got finished (they worked though) to this concept allready and designed a few more in between.... So this is probs Mk6?


So this is what I came up with on the day.... The same concept but based around a different alcove in my new office.

Then in the pub after the event someone suggested I should build the layout by next year's show..... And because I was in the pub by that stage I thought it was a good idea....

So in between practices with the lining pen I've been getting on with it


From a paper plan a 3d mock up has been made to a quarter of the final scale. It's in 2 scenes to split to fit nicely in the car.




The first scene being a river crossing with water mill and the rear of the loco shed



The second being a station with a village at the end.

I think the mockup has sold the design to me so I'm cracking ahead....


The track plan is now templotted.... Is that an irregular verb?

I templot
You scream at computer
He/she/they go back to peco 00 code 75

 

[Herb Garden]

So back on the work bench lining practice carries on with a bit of a step forward


I dug this G5 out of the rescue collection to play around with and although it's a bit messy in places and I never will be able to hit museum standard unlike some of the professionals out there I'm getting to feel confident in the use of the pen....