Skarloey Railway dabbling

[Sleeper Agent]

Hello, name is Steve but I'm more well known as Sleeper Agent on other forums. I've dabbled with some OO/P4 in the past but never got too far with it and have since decided to upscale to O and to my surprise SM32 as well it seems after I came across PDF Models's nifty TR loco range and brought a kit for both Talyllyn and Dolgoch.

http://pdf-models.com

Lots of plans up in the sky like most and the 3D printed kits have received a hell of a rubdown in preparation for a prime or two but before getting ahead of myself I thought I would start with a relatively strait forward project, namely I P Engineering's Penrhyn Quarrymans Coaches.

http://www.ip-engineering.co.uk/acatalo ... Range.html

Given the 4 pack bundle on offer that's what I opted for in order to build Ada, Jane and Mable seen in The Railway Series book 'The Little Old Engine' and the forth i'm dubbing Clair to help deal with the upsurge in traffic after the railway's 'lean years' period had finally passed.
Never tried a wooden laser kit but the picture friendly instructions are simple enough to follow, it's mostly an issue of trying to effectively plan ahead in terms of painting. The first thing instructed is to add the 'side frames' that run underneath the floor unit. I tried using G clamps on the first for a real tight bond but this was mistake as the floor bowed. On the follow ups I simply turned the floor units upside down on a hard flat surface, laid the side frames in place after applying wood glue and then kept them pressed down with hardbacks and any other weighty household items that were suitable (only did one side at a time as it's easy for them to slide out of position when applying the weight on top). If anyone happens to be building these kits down the road make sure the side frames are all in an identical position, as two of mine will need to have some surgery in order to support the hand brake levers


So far the main pieces have received their third coat of sanding sealer and are in the process of being rubbed down once more. I am looking for guidance on what to use for paint. The floor and seating are to be stained so i'm not too worried about that but the rest are to be painted in an opaque blue-would say a Phoenix Precision enamel be appropriate on wood?

Three other points i'm a little unsure on is regarding to some additional detailing. The budget kits have solid seats when in fact there would be 7 (I think, at least 6) strips running along under one's caboose.

I've currently got some extra long matches being sent out to me which i'm hoping will scale up somewhere close but if not i'm after alternatives.

There should also be some bumps/rivets dotted on top of the circles printed on the wooden kit sides.

As can be seen in the B&W photo they're smooth and rounded, not really sure what I could use to replicate them as any panel pin types I can think of either have flat heads or misshapen lumpy heads. Anywho they measure at 1.5mm or so in diameter and the ones midway up are a wee bit smaller.
Finally i'm in need of some TR castings. Buffers are required for the above, as the kits come with the central type as on the the coaches when running on Penrhyn metals. I could perhaps ask I P Engineering for some spares off their 1-5 TR coach kits but i'm wondering if any patterns already exist elsewhere as I know some people have modelled the TR in this scale. For the Lowca locos I am also after some replacement chimneys, as the printed ones aren't quite to my liking.

Any advice appreciated for this noob to the world of garden railways and 16mm scale.

[philipy]

Hi Steve and welcome.

My answers to some of your questions are: After rubbing down and priming, properly, almost any paint will do, you are only painting a piece of wood as the bottom line.
There have been several threads recently covering rivets/bolt heads. Personally for these I'd use the 'Nail art' stick on 'blobs'. They only cost peanuts for hundreds, on Fleabay, and come in a range of diameters. Again these are mentioned in various threads.

[bazzer42]

I'm sure Peter Butler's "time to build a railway but where?" thread under Railways and layouts mentioned that the Cambrian models rivets were 1.5mm..The same Cambrian in 4mm.

I have used nail art rivets like Philip (see 7/8th tippers under Projects) but from memory the ranges I have bought have been 1, 2 or 3mm.

Personally I think matchstick will be fine but if you aren't happy there are ranges of model timber from boat suppliers or eBay. If you plan to run in the garden you can get away with more as stock is often viewed from a distance. Outside an element of robustness doesn't go amiss.

Welcome aboard, a lot of people here dabble in other scales. On occasions I revert to 70/80s 4mm.

[tom_tom_go]

For the seat planking you can try coffee stirrers.

Welcome as well!

Tom

[Peter Butler]

Welcome to the Forum Steve, a positive start to your 16mm collection, nicely made and well thought out.... long may it continue.

[Sleeper Agent]

Thanks for the advice and encouragement guys I've started looking about on this forum to see who's trying what but there's a fair amount already up (some really great stuff though).
Much obliged for the Nail Art stick on notion, wouldn't of thought of that and i'll check out the coffee stirrers and model ship timber if the inbound matches purchase proves a dud.

Cheers and i'll try to have an update in the not too distant future.

[Killian Keane]

Hi Steve and welcome to the forum
Have you noticed on the kit there are four rivets on the bottom and six on the top (of each side panel) but this is the other way around on the prototype photo, must be a variation
Pugsy

[ge_rik]

Welcome aboard.
Escutcheon pins are another source of rivet heads if you want them in metal - eg http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/253053230873

Rik

[Sleeper Agent]

Thanks Rik, hadn't come across those round headed 'rivet' pins before, just the usual flat circular ones or the ruff lump types. I've already ordered the nail art stick ones so i'll give them a try first but will definitely keep them in mind

Hi Steve and welcome to the forum
Have you noticed on the kit there are four rivets on the bottom and six on the top (of each side panel) but this is the other way around on the prototype photo, must be a variation
Pugsy

Ah there you are Pugsy Yep I did notice. The Penrhyn workmen coaches were built in a few batches so there is some variance like you supposed. I don't really know much about them in their former lives but the above example was TR No.8, which was Penrhyn carriage P. The I P Engineering kits appear to be based on the same type as carriage H, which was TR's troublesome No.7,

before it was rebuilt into the Tea Van. Beside the different rivet layout it had solid seating so the kit is accurate in this regard,

but Ada, Jane and Mable are based on former TR No.8

Curiously Kenny who was quite good for accuracy in his illustrations left out the guard running along the non platform side of the TR/SR

but he does show ribbed seats over the flat solid alternative.

My long matches turned out to be far too chunky to try for replicating these and I've failed to find any model ship timber small enough online but I have come across some square tooth picks which I think will fit the bill. I fear they may be a little short in length but i'll see when they arrive, worst case scenario I'll just use the flat solid seats that come with the kits.
Not too much noticeable progress I'm afraid but I did get some paint on today. I already had a few blue spray cans from when I was trying to find a shade suitable for my intended 4mm NWR feet a while back. Not sure if you can see properly with my camera but the result is the darker example on the right.

The other has been brush painted with Phoenix Precision Paint's 'Prototype Deltic Blue. Judging from the computer screen I thought mixing it about 50/50 with 'Anglia Railways Blue-Green' would give me what I wanted but seeing it in the flesh it's a lot more turquoise than I thought!

Anywho the Deltic shade i'm happy with, might add a little white the mix for the final coats perhaps but i'll have to get it when i'm stocking up at the upcoming Warley expo.
The IP kits only have ten planks on the external ends and from what I can tell all the Penrhyn coaches had eleven. To rectify that I used a Stanley guided by a metal ruler to make my own and then opened them up further with a V wood cutting blade,

but this has blown up in my face a bit as the already existing lines are deeper than I had believed. Not the end of the world as I think with enough coats and sanding I can overcome but if starting again I wouldn't bother trying to go for greater accuracy and if I did fresh pieces of wood cut down to size would be substituted (also I would of groved the inside face before glueing the sides and headrest on).

Well that's it for now, more blue to add tomorrow and i'll be picking up a stain of some sort for the floor units shortly

[Big Jim]

Hello Steve, welcome to the forum.
This looks like a great little project, the NG stuff from the Railway Series never seems to get modelled.

[Sleeper Agent]

Helo Jim and thanks for the welcome.
Yep you're right about that, even to this day the Arlesdale and Culdee Fell have scarcely been touched by any fans outside of the sim community but a fair few have done some neat stuff in OO9, great how much kit and even RTR support has opened up in the last few years.
I'm sure someone will prove me wrong but not counting the TV show's few close up static engines I think these will be the largest SR models to date as the mostly freelance Skarloey and Mid Sodor Railway models were something close to 1:32.
https://thomastankmerch.blogspot.co.uk/ ... ained.html

I've also got the original TR coaches and the Corris brake van (Cora) along with a few slate trucks on order from Perfect World which look pretty neat. Hopefully they'll arrive within the next 3-4 weeks but I suspect these four opens along with two other I P kits i've got of TR's No.8 are going to take longer than I intend. That said i'm really enjoying working in a noticeably larger scale, always found 4mm rather fiddly.

[Peter Butler]

Steve, if you look on-line for Dolll's House supplies and fittings I'm sure you will find the strip-wood you need there. I use several items from their listings which are easily adapted to our scale.
Also, if you are interested in literary railway stories and illustrations, at Warley Exhibition this year you will see the 'Far twittering and Oysterperch Railway' displayed for the first time in several years. It sounds as though you might enjoy it?

[Sleeper Agent]

I'm afraid my being used to the world of 4mm is leaving me a little out of water in terms of innovation but my square tooth notion has also proved a flop as they're too short.

Going on the box dimensions I was hopeful but alas the picks were not cut for lengthways packaging, real shame as the width and height of 2mm (or a shade less) was what i'd been hoping for. I've tried checking out a few dolls house suppliers but haven't got anywhere, perhaps I am trying the wrong search engines. Any particular key words or website you would recommend?

While it's not Tolkien or anything there is actually a lot more to Sodor lore once you start scratching the surface, to the point in fact that it could keep me going for a lifetime of modelling and crosspatch research but I do like seeing other peoples 'what if' railways as well. Warley is such a kid in the candy shop experience but i'll be going Sunday this time as I heard it's slightly quieter over Saturday. Anyway between jotting materials and tools off my shopping list I plan to have a good look at the exhibitions, will keep an eye out for the Far twittering and Oysterperch.

Cheers

[bazzer42]

As you're painting would you get away with plastic or evergreen styrene strip?

[Sleeper Agent]

I have considered that option but as the seats themselves are to be light-medium stained I would prefer wood if possible, even if they end up being a solid unit like the other Penrhyn coach batches. I've also been trying to look at any model benches that could be trimmed to fit but so far haven't found what i'm after.

[tom_tom_go]

Coffee stirrers for the benchs would be alright here surely?

[Sleeper Agent]

The ones i've looked at are all too chunky for the slim quarrymen seats and I would like to squeeze in 6 or 7 lengths, do you know any that are 2mm by 2mm or less? Looking at the laser kit offcuts again I think I might have enough appropriate material to do up to two coaches so I'll try and fashion one how I want to prototype it and if its too flimsy i'll just fall back with the solid seats that come with the kits.

[philipy]

Try Cornwall Model Boats, if they havent got what you want it probably doesn't exist!
http://www.cornwallmodelboats.co.uk/aca ... bechi.html

[River Lin]

Hi SA.
Any good?
https://www.alwayshobbies.com/materials ... .Stripwood
David

[LNR]

Hi,
On my first coach, wishing to represent battened seats, I glued down separate battens and getting them all with the same gap was fiddly to say the least.

Ritg 117A.jpg (39.14 KiB) Viewed 14442 times

After that I made a solid seat moulding of timber and heavily scribed the battens, then rubbed it with a dark colour then sanded the tops. Result equally spaced battens, parallel gaps, and through the windows you can't tell the difference.
Just a thought.
Grant.