Very Little Gravitas Indeed*

[adrian]

Adrian, that is looking very nice indeed! I am glad you opted for the machined angle strip for the trusses, well worth the extra cost in my opinion. I have used Malcolm's way of springing the buffers on most of my coaches and it is cost effective.

Thanks for that info - I will set them up that way. The whole kit went together nicely following his instructions so I see no reason to deviate now.

A suggestion for painting the roof. After priming I mask off the roof and use car bumper spray which comes in several medium to dark grey colours - anthracite and. dark grey on mine.

Thanks for that as well, although I suspect I must have picked up on a comment from you before on the colours. I'd already ordered the paint, I'm using the Zero Paints RAL colours as it's already premixed for airbrush use and for the roof I'd selected RAL 7016 a.k.a. Anthracite Grey

That's looking beautiful. Stepping back a little to the skirting board jig - did you then form the metal by had - palm of the hand or thumbs maybe - from one end to the other?

It was a combination of things. I'd already tried the broom handle method for forming it which didn't work but I then used the broom handle rolled up and down the side when in the jig to form the curve. I then finished off with a rawhide mallet, not striking the brass but just rubbing it along the length to smooth out and wrinkles.

 

[adrian]

This weeks update - still too cold to be in the paint shop so attention turned to finishing off the bogies.

As mentioned I always prefer insulating brake shoes where possible so a replacement was drawn up for 3D printing, this was mk 1. The top part of the shoe is vertical to avoid rubbing against the sprung wheel, but only the bottom half is visible so I reckon I'll get away with it being a fixed unit.


It needed a couple of updates, the shoe needed to be tapered to stop the rear portion rubbing on the wheels, also an offset applied to locating lug to line up the shoe with the Scale7 "broad" gauge, so they clipped in nicely.





From the side - it lines up well and the top half is suitably hidden.



So now I have a forest of shoes to extract and fit.



Whilst iterations and printing were ongoing plans for the next project(s) were started. Sort of spurred on by Mickoo's and Nic's comments w.r.t. to kits and whether sometimes having thrown so much away whether it would be better to start from scratch. This is also going back to my roots starting in 7mm so I've decided the next projects are going to be scratch build efforts. As they are going to be something slightly different from my previous output and from each other I'll probably start a separate build thread for each. In the meantime a little taster, whilst drawing and printing brake shoes I started one project by reprofiling a set of Slaters wheels for Scale7.

 

[michael mott]

Hmm.. this looks interesting!
Michael

 

[Bill Campbell]

Don't think there were many 6-4-0s around!

Or was it a 0-4-6?

 

[michael080]

could be a 2-2-2-2-2 or 1A1A1 in UIC notation?

 

[Yorkshire Dave]

I've decided the next projects are going to be scratch build efforts. As they are going to be something slightly different from my previous output and from each other I'll probably start a separate build thread for each. In the meantime a little taster, whilst drawing and printing brake shoes I started one project by reprofiling a set of Slaters wheels for Scale7.

Bayerische Pt2/5 H would be different as would a LTSR 'Tilbury' tank.

 

[adrian]

Don't think there were many 6-4-0s around!

I didn't want to make it too easy! As Dave has indicated - it's all the right notes not necessarily in the right order.

 

[michael mott]

Or even a 4-4-2 Atlantic and he is not showing any signs of the tender
Michael

 

[adrian]

A little bit of a potpourri of an update for this week.

The 3D printing has been a little hit and miss development - getting clearances and geometry sorted but I think it's there now. Brakes are in place but just need to finish off the linkages and rodding. If I ever build a cameo scene I've got plenty of scrap brake blocks for a breakers yard!


Desperately trying to get it finished this week so that I can take advantage of the warmer weather and waft a coat of primer over everything.

Whilst redrafting and waiting for the 3D printer to spit out the next iteration of brake blocks - attention turned to the new projects. Yes I will admit to being slightly subversive with the reprofiled wheels - well I couldn't make it too easy for everyone. So yes these are all the right notes and in the right order.


With the reprofiling the boss is skimmed down, to allow the securing screw to sit correctly I did try on one wheel to increase the counter bore on the wheel boss but it wasn't that sucessful, it seemed to put too much heat in and the brass boss started moving in the plastic so I scrapped that straight away. As seen on the above photo the screw stand far too proud on the hub.

Looking at the screws I wasn't sure if they were a little too large on the diameter to fit in the countersink, there was plenty of metal on the screw so my solution has been to skim a little off the diameter and a little off the face of the screw. A before and after shot.


I was much happier with the fit now.



Whilst carefully inspecting the screws, I noticed that the socket on the screws seemed to be more "torq" screw than Allen key shaped. It seems the hole has been drilled then lobes cut in hence the curled up metal at the bottom of the hole.



Looking at the way the socket is formed it definitely has a lobed form and having a mobile phone repair kit one of the little torq drivers fits a lot better than any allen key.



I mentioned in the previous post a couple of scratch build projects. This is a taster for the second, again rather unique, so I will probably start a separate thread for this one as well. So for an introduction a couple of strips of nickel-silver cut to shape.



This needed a length of riveted angle along the top edge, the only problem being that by embossing rivets it stretches the metal and you end up with something not quite straight.



Fortunately this is a job where the parallel jaw pliers are very useful as they don't have a central pivot so I can feed the angle through whilst straightening it.


Straightened and soldered to the strips.



That's all for this week - I'll leave this last project as a Christmas conundrum.

 

[Dog Star]

Your use of the Maun to help in straightening rivetted strips is inspirational, I shall use that technique when working through the next Finney7 A4 tender.

regards, Graham

 

[michael mott]

Lovely job on straightening and soldering those strips.

Michael

 

[adrian]

Just to try and finish off a couple of things - work has been full on recently so difficult to get anytime at the work bench at the moment. I did get a recent Scale7 newsletter and spotted a couple of photos of the part finished palbrick wagons. These were completed earlier in the year but realised that I hadn't posted any photos in the finished state. I hesitate to say finished because at some point I will need to take the plunge on doing some weathering.

 

[adrian]

Not had the opportunity to post much recently due to work pressures and some projects have their own threads. However for the workbench I've recently been deliberating about custom made stock boxes for a couple of reasons, as my stock is slowly increasing I'm running out of display shelf space and I'm fed up of ferreting out various wooden port boxes and cardboard boxes.

The idea is to have 3 or 4 different height cassettes for individual wagons that can then drop into a carry box of some format (tbd). Making them a standard width but differing lengths to be arranged in a tray a bit like tetris. The different heights are so one tray will be tall enough for lowfits, bolster wagons etc, another height for 5 planks, another height for 7/8 planks and finally a tall one for vans etc.

I've slowly settled on a couple of designs - one a totally fixed box so the wagon has to be "dropped" in from above, compressing the buffers at one side to make it a snug fit. The second is a sliding door at one end so that the vehicle can be rolled in and out with minimal handling, despite a little more complex build it's to one I'm favouring, laser cut from 2mm mdf and foam lining.






I'm conscious just posting the finished items sometimes is daunting for other users to have a go, so I will point out I certainly didn't get it right first time! there were a good half dozen iterations where every time I fixed one issue I found another one - scrap boxes shown behind but won't go to waste as they will probably accumulate all the different bits and pieces I generate during any project nd loathe to throw away.

 

[Pugsley]

What a great idea! I've been contemplating stock boxes for a while, but this had never crossed my mind. Could be a good first project for the laser cutter.

 

[adrian]

One more iteration - gluing the boxes was a little hit and miss with the end finger joints to I've switched to tab and slot joints, I also made a small set of tabs on the top side edge and cutouts at the bottom to provide some positive location when stacking the boxes.






At least some of the test articles have been re-purposed as oddment trays for other modelling materials.

 

[adrian]

Far too long without an update! Things have been ticking along vey slowly in the background but too busy with work meant few photos to show for anything. Quite a few different things worked on to unwind but nothing different to share.

The observant may have spotted a couple of Slaters PO wagon kits in the background. One aspect of modelling I've never really got into is weathering my stock but I'm slowly accumulating enough to think I should make a start on practising. So perversely rather than weather anything I have built so far I decided to buy 3 Slaters PO wagons via POWsides to practice on. As always is the way I can't just build straight out of the box so they ended up with MMP etched interiors, 2 of the kits had etched W irons these were modified to be sprung with guitar wire in the style of Bill Bedford springing units. The third one had plastic W irons and these were replaced with similar Ambis units.




I'm not too sure quite how anyone can just throw these kits together, there seemed to be an awful lot of fettling getting the bevelled corners to fit consistently, and then the floor and solebars but I got there eventually.


Once the main bodies assembled the sprung W irons and brake gear was fitted to all 3. Still no weathering done! However at the time there was a discussion on how to tone down the lettering and making it look worn. I started with some of the suggestions, burnishing the lettering, wet and dry sanding etc. All anything seemed to do was chip off the lettering rather than fade it out. All I ended up doing as a first pass was dry brushing the base body colour over the lettering.

 

[adrian]

During the build for the underframe on the wagons the Gazette had a little workshop tip for a little tool to compress coupling hook springs to help fitting the washer and split pin. This was my interpretation of the tool using a little bit of brass U channel and square bar.






and in use



After several months of a "quick" build I finally had 3 wagons to start having a go at weathering.

 

[Paul Tomlinson]

Adrian, I find the burnishing with a glassfibre brush (as already suggested to you) works very well on the printed P.O. liveries from Slaters, Dapol. I believe the POWSides liveries are created using a transfer, which doesn't seem to succumb in the same way.

 

[adrian]

Adrian, I find the burnishing with a glassfibre brush (as already suggested to you) works very well on the printed P.O. liveries from Slaters, Dapol. I believe the POWSides liveries are created using a transfer, which doesn't seem to succumb in the same way.

Yes - thanks for the suggestion, you're right the POWsides are transfers rather than pre-printed and just chipped or flaked off with burnishing.

 

[adrian]

A short update on the weathering - after a few months build I now have 3 PO wagons to delve into area of weathering which is a new experience for me so a little bit of making it up as I go along, helped by various guides and examples on WT and youTube videos.



Rather than attack it all in one go I thought I'd tackle it in a few stages, leave it and come back later to see if I was happy with each step. Whether the recommended stages or not the approach I decided on was trying to work out the different timelines in seeing a worn wagon. Such that I decided the different layers to apply:

1. Fade out the body work
2. make the chassis and components rusty
3. apply road grime

This being stage 1 for the first wagon. Using the MIG oil brushers applied streaks of brown, grey and bone(?) to the bodywork and started blending them together at which point I wondered what a mess I had made but then with a dry brush tried streaking the colours an rubbing off and into the corners it slowly started looking a little better. Eventually I got to a point I was happy with the results but spent so long working the oils I seem to have lost much of the streaky appearance and ended up with an overall faded patina. I then used a mixture of dark brown, starship sludge and a touch of gunmetal to pick out the iron work.



I did also try apply a light rust was but it did give a rather orange overcast that I wasn't happy about



So I ended up with a little more judicious fading colours and then decided to stop at that point and review my efforts a couple of days later. I have noticed that different lighting conditions seems to make a huge difference to the appearance.