Multiple small projects

What is your latest project?
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philipy
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Re: Multiple small projects

Post by philipy » Sun Jan 13, 2019 5:45 pm

Peter Butler wrote: Sun Jan 13, 2019 3:05 pm As an alternative I use fine weave curtain lining material, which gives a fine canvas like texture when painted.
Any fairly fine weave fabric works. I've used an old polycotton shirt and old handkerchiefs as well as lining material. Don't use printed fabrics though because that will affect the glue take-up and subsequent surface finish.
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Re: Multiple small projects

Post by invicta280 » Sun Jan 13, 2019 5:55 pm

I have used a stretchy fabric from one of the girls' old discarded dresses. I stretched it over the roof and sprayed it with aerosol glue if I recall correctly, before trimming with a craft knife.

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Re: Multiple small projects

Post by Keith S » Mon Jan 14, 2019 6:30 am

These are all great ideas guys. Thanks! I imagine the bog-roll gives a more "roofing felt" type of appearance, while the cloth liner material gives more of a "canvas" look.

Maybe I'll try both. I have loads of unfinished roofs. (rooves?)

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Re: Multiple small projects

Post by ge_rik » Mon Jan 14, 2019 8:09 am

Keith S wrote: Mon Jan 14, 2019 6:30 am These are all great ideas guys. Thanks! I imagine the bog-roll gives a more "roofing felt" type of appearance, while the cloth liner material gives more of a "canvas" look.

Maybe I'll try both. I have loads of unfinished roofs. (rooves?)
Either. Oddly whereas we're more likely to see or hear hooves than hoofs, we're less likely to see/hear rooves than roofs
Interesting thread. Picking up all sorts of useful ideas here, thanks.

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Re: Multiple small projects

Post by FWLR » Mon Jan 14, 2019 9:01 am

Keith S wrote: Sun Jan 13, 2019 2:15 pm How do you apply it? Lay the paper on the roof first and brush on the PVA?
Exactly that way Keith. Real easy to do and once dried it goes hard enough not to chip if knocked, I then paint it, which also hardens it.

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Re: Multiple small projects

Post by Keith S » Wed Jan 16, 2019 12:12 am

Here is the progress on the "Gladstone" coach. I managed to clean up the worst of the smudges and scratches on the windows. A bit of guitar-polish made most of the scratches disappear and a scrub with a cotton swap soaked in thinners got rid of a lot of the paint that bled under the masking. I'm now fairly pleased with it. The vehicle does look much nicer in its new paint than it did when it was brown. I can't remember what I was thinking when I painted it brown! Work left to do on this coach is the brass door-handles and vacuum pipes from Brandbright and the transfers from IP engineering, as well as the bracing wires under the frame.

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Re: Multiple small projects

Post by FWLR » Wed Jan 16, 2019 7:41 am

That does look 100% better Keith, well done. :thumbright: :thumbright:

Have you seen Peter Butler's post on his thread

http://gardenrails.org/forum/viewtopic. ... start=1995

They are brilliant and work very well.

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Re: Multiple small projects

Post by Keith S » Wed Jan 16, 2019 8:12 am

Yes, I've been following that thread too. Clever use of the brazing rod. I ordered vacuum pipes from Brandbright a while ago though, they're already in the post. For now I'm not going to equip the goods stock with continuous brakes, just the coaches.

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Re: Multiple small projects

Post by GTB » Wed Jan 16, 2019 9:53 am

Keith S wrote: Wed Jan 16, 2019 12:12 am I managed to clean up the worst of the smudges and scratches on the windows.
The model looks good in the new colour scheme. Glad to hear you were able to repair the damage to the windows without resorting to major surgery on the model.

You didn't say which masking tape you used. If it was the cheap cream coloured masking tape in hardware stores, avoid it like the plague. I found out the hard way very early in my modelling career that it leaves glue residue behind, is close to impossible to remove if left on after painting and usually has a furry edge.

The Tamiya masking tape mentioned in another thread is better for modelling, but do you have a hobby shop that sells it in Yellowknife?

I use the Tamiya tape mostly for colour separations, as it is very thin and less likely to form a step between the colours when spraying the second coat. It's also flexible enough to follow curved edges, although the radius achieved depends on the tape width. Being very thin, it can be difficult to handle in long lengths. I've also had it lift paint though and it is dynamite on waterslide decals, as it is definitely sticky. I remove it straight after painting so it has no chance to leave residue, or set hard. I also had it react with a clear coat on one occasion, but the model wasn't painted by me, so I don't know what type of varnish was used.

Most of my masking now is done with the 3M Scotch blue masking tape from the local hardware store. It comes in several varieties and the best version for our purposes is the one made for 'delicate surfaces', which has a smooth surface and unless they've changed the packaging again has an orange patch on the label.

The adhesive is based on the one 3M use for Post-It notes, so the tape can be left on after painting for several days and it isn't sticky enough to be a risk for lifting paint. I've never had it leave any residue, or become difficult to remove, even after being left on a model for a week or more. You need to be a bit more careful using it for colour separations, but being thicker it is easier to handle and it gives a very clean edge when cut with a scalpel.

Post-It notes also have their uses when masking off for painting models........

Graeme

ps. You asked earlier about railway terms for underframe parts. In US/Aus terminology, the longitudinal rods tensioning the underframe are truss rods and the adjusting screws in the middle of truss rods are turnbuckles. Not all truss rods had turnbuckles, sometimes they were tensioned using nuts on each end. Truss rods could be supported by two queenposts, or a single kingpost in the middle.

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Re: Multiple small projects

Post by Andrew » Wed Jan 16, 2019 1:12 pm

Your Gladstone Car's looking very good indeed - the "pride of the line", as the real thing always was.

I painted my version in vermilion, having read that was the colour used in early WHR days and retained on the Gladstone Car when other carriages were painted green. Alas, it seems that whoever wrote that had misidentified the colour used - analysis of the layers of paint in the most recent restoration indicate that it was
likely to have been a deep red, not the orangey shade I've used. Oh well, it brightens up the train!

All the best,

Andrew.

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Re: Multiple small projects

Post by Keith S » Wed Jan 16, 2019 6:33 pm

Thanks guys as always for your advice and comments.

Hi Andrew the colours of spray paint are always a source of stress for me. The only place to get them nowadays is the "Canadian Tire" (sic) store, something like B&Q or Halfords. They seem to change the names of the colours and of course the colours themselves. They had one colour, "Wild Raspberry" that looked a lot like "Victorian Maroon", or at least I thought it did- (we shall see if I ever bring my loco to the UK with me and have a chance to run it with other Roundhouse engines)- anyway I thought it looked close. I managed to paint my loco and one Brandbright coach in that colour but now they don't carry that brand of paint anymore and the new maroon-like colour is called "field berries" or something and is what you see on the Gladstone coach, which is more purple-ey and less brown-ish than the loco and the single Brandbright coach. I have three other Brandbright kits and they will have to be the new colour now, which is somewhat annoying. I have about half a can of the original "wild raspberry" left but I feel like I'd better save that in case the loco ever needs touching up.

Graeme, thanks for that! I think I knew the term "truss rod" at some points it sounds familiar. Oh wait- I remember now, that's what the metal rod is called inside the neck of a guitar that opposes the pull of the strings. The only thing I could think of was "anti-hogging rigging" because that's what it's called on old wooden lake ships and riverboats, which had a tendency to sag in the middle. "Truss Rod" is a lot more economical to say.

To mask the windows, I very unfortunately used that type of tape that one uses to wrap gifts- I forget the name of it, other than it's made by "scotch". It's the kind that's meant to look invisible. I've had good luck with it in the past because it leaves a nice edge... but this time I left it on too long and it got hard and was the devil to pry off. I think I will follow your advice and get some Tamiya masking tape next time I'm in the city. We can also get the blue stuff here- the engineers at work use it for masking when they touch up the paint on the aeroplanes.

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Re: Multiple small projects

Post by GTB » Thu Jan 17, 2019 8:04 am

[/quote]
Keith S wrote: Wed Jan 16, 2019 6:33 pm To mask the windows, I very unfortunately used that type of tape that one uses to wrap gifts- I forget the name of it, other than it's made by "scotch".
Yes, I got caught many years ago by Scotch Invisible Tape. Great for wrapping presents and covering books, not so good for modelling. The cheap clones available are even worse.....

I had the same problem that you did when I used invisible tape to mask off windows on a HO railcar many years ago. As well as leaving a residue on the windows, I found it could also lift paint and it removed some irreplaceable decals from another model. Then Tamiya tape became available and I switched.

A friend introduced me to the 3M blue tape when it first appeared in panel beaters workshops here. It eventually turned up in the hardware stores for consumer use and I've used it ever since.

Current paint quality is a sore point in my workshop. The inability of some paint companies to now make two tins of paint the same colour is part of the reason I use an airbrush and mix my own colours to a reference chip. There's no equivalent to Canadian Tire here in Oz, but they look like a combination of Bunnings and Supercheap Auto, neither of which is on my list of preferred model paint suppliers.....

Regards,
Graeme

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Re: Multiple small projects

Post by IrishPeter » Thu Jan 17, 2019 3:03 pm

We still have a local hardware shop - 'Rocking R' - here which also does some agricultural supplies. It is literally a place where you can pick up to tins of spray undercoat, some BR maroon (Burgundy) spray paint, some cabbage seeds, a light switch, some vinyl letter for a yard sign, and a galvy steel water trough for your cattle. It is my 'go to' place for the various odds and ends I need for the model railways as you never know what you will find in there. Paint is my main thing. The CIE coach was done in school bus yellow (!), black, and white all from their range of paints! They also tend to have things like one-eighth steel rod, doorbell wire for electric locomotives, and weird stuff like that. Best bit of it is they are one block north of my house, so I can walk over there any time I need something. If I have a hunt around they probably have strip wood somewhere in there.

The local craft store, which I hate and despise, is useful for Bristol board, and stuff like that, but shopping there is somewhat is a bit like having a root canal, but without the sheer terror before hand. They have stopped doing square section strip wood, which is a nuisance, but they usually have a limited amount of basswood in stock, but the display is almost always a total shambles, which trips off my OCD tendencies.

T'internet takes care of the specialist things like wheels, couplings, door handles, and transfers for rolling stock building.

Peter in VA
Traffic Pattern? What pattern? Spuds out; grain in, but cattle, sheep and passengers are a lot less predictable.

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Re: Multiple small projects

Post by Keith S » Thu Jan 17, 2019 5:44 pm

I know exactly what you mean Peter. Those big shops look very promising on the outside, but they seem to telepathically know what you're going to be looking for before you get there, and contrive to have everything under the sun OTHER than the one thing you're looking for.

Your little farm- supply/hardware shop sounds delightful though.

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Re: Multiple small projects

Post by FWLR » Fri Jan 18, 2019 7:00 am

Those little or not so little hardware shops are very few and far between nowadays. You walked into them and straight away the paraffin smell hit you. You could always find what you were looking for and more...Oh how I miss them.....

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Re: Multiple small projects

Post by Keith S » Fri Feb 15, 2019 7:54 pm

I've managed to finish a couple of the vehicles I've been trying to improve a bit. I'm quite pleased at how they've turned out.

I mentioned before the "Gladstone" coach, which I finished in a plain varnished-wood scheme about five or six years ago, and have recently repainted to look like the real NWNGR "Gladstone car" which I now think looks nicer. I've done it in its "as preserved" condition, although I like the lantern chimneys so I left them on, so it's a bit of a combination of its preserved appearance and how the coach is described as looking in its early days. It's not a nice as it would have been if I had built it like this in the first place, because with the masking and repainting I've got the windows a bit mucky, and some of the trim around the balcony windows is damaged because of an attempt I made to remove the roof- it's glued down well enough that it pulled the coach apart when I tried to remove it. Anyway, I'm actually quite pleased with it. Some improvements to the original IP Engineering kit I've made: I've removed the bracing/truss details from the IP kit and replaced the wood parts with more realistic longitudinal timbers and metal truss rods. The wooden "truss rods" were extremely easy to break, and an examination of old photos shows that the timbers aren't just posts, they go all the way athwartship. I made dummy turnbuckles out of some nuts and a bit of aluminium tube. I replaced the white metal door handles with some brass ones from Brandbright, and fitted Brandbright vacuum-brake hoses. The decals come from IP engineering, and the little coat of arms decal is on a plate I made from a bit of card. The interior was already made when I built the coach originally, (thank goodness because the roof won't come off) and features a blue carpet, patterned seat-cushions and red curtains. Notwithstanding the slightly mucky windows I am quite well pleased with how it looks.
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The next thing I've completed is my "Brandbright" coach. I mostly finished this several years ago, but was unable to decide on a way to finish the roof. So it stayed unfinished for quite a long time. This week I decided to try something a bit unconventional, but it's worked quite well. I have a collection of coloured tissue paper that I use for model aeroplanes. I had some black tissue that I use for details on the models. It occurred to me that perhaps a doped-on coating of black tissue might resemble tarred linen. So I coated the roof with watered-down PVA, and sprayed water on a piece of tissue, then carefully smoothed it into the PVA. Once dried, I gave it a coating of model-aeroplane Nitrate dope. It's dried into a pretty decent representation of black roofing material, I think, and is water-resistant. I stuck on some lamp chimneys from IP engineering and some vacuum hoses, and now this coach is finished as well.
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The next part of this project will be to install some braking gear on my brake van. I have some braking-gear details from Brandbright, including a vacuum cylinder, and some brake shoes from "Ozark miniatures" in America, having failed to find any brake-shoe details I particularly liked in the U.K.

I find it a bit frustrating that it is easy to find kits for brake vans, brake hoses, brake cylinders, brake hand wheels, anything to do with brakes, except BRAKE SHOES. However, now I've got some 1:22 scale ones from Ozark Miniatures (who, it must be said, offer some extremely well-detailed narrow-gauge kits) which are a little large but will be perfectly fine once I modify them a bit.

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Re: Multiple small projects

Post by laalratty » Fri Feb 15, 2019 8:06 pm

Nice work, I do like all of the improvements to the Gladstone car in particular, with the large windows and balconies putting extra detailing in is very much worth it. If you ever find yourself in this country (or more specifically North Wales) I recommend going to the Welsh Highland Heritage Railway and having a ride in the Gladstone Car, if it is in the set in service at the time of course. Otherwise it can be found in their excellent museum.
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Re: Multiple small projects

Post by Keith S » Fri Feb 15, 2019 9:08 pm

I agree, it's worth doing a nice job on interiors when the windows are big. It makes the model much nicer- I just wish I had been able to get the roof off. I have a little figure with a top hat who would look at home in the first class section.

I actually do find myself in the U.K. about twice a year on average, although I spend most of my time getting up to mischief with my fellow reprobate/favourite cousin I do sometimes manage to see some railway-related things. A trip to Wales is definitely on my list of things to do. My English family are always recommending against long trips in the UK- it reminds me of a saying I heard once that North Americans think 100 years is a long time, and Europeans think 100 miles is a long distance- but I intend to visit Wales at some point. Ridiculous not to, really, considering my hobby, and I have some friends there I would like to visit as well.

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Re: Multiple small projects

Post by ge_rik » Sat Feb 16, 2019 9:33 am

Beautifully finished models. I really like all the fine details. I'd give my right arm for your modelling skills, but then I'd have problems trying to model with just one arm ..... :?

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Re: Multiple small projects

Post by FWLR » Sat Feb 16, 2019 9:35 am

Neat.........

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