RWLR - Robin Wood Light Railway

[Mitch stack]

Love the Little Crossing and Station at the reverse Loop Tom!.
Mitch

[tom_tom_go]

New staff members being introduced to the railway:

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It's too hot for me to run trains...

[FWLR]

Toned the roof down as it was too plastic looking even though it is plastic!


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I don't like the colour of the concrete foundations of the water tower either so trying to get a colour I like (you can see the lighter colour on one of the corners).

It's been very hot lately so can't be arsed with railway stuff at the moment, not even running...

Hi Tom,

Here are a couple of photos of the paint I used my old N Gauge stuff. The concrete it was used on was for a quarry and also a garage base that was in progress of the workers building it.

The photos show what I used for differing shades of concrete.

Unfortunately I cannot for the life of me remember where the heck I bought them from. They were a set of 12 I bought a couple of years ago. It may have been Airbrush Heaven, but I think they have stopped trading for the time being for testing on new products apparently.

These are the two paints.They don’t have a makers name on them.

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This is the paint on a piece of slate, the Stone Gray one hadn’t dried completely.

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Dried.

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And this one has been mixed about 60/40, it all depends on what shade you want really.

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Sorry I can’t be more helpful, but I hope this will give you some idea on what you can do with different paints.

[ge_rik]

New staff members being introduced to the railway:
It's too hot for me to run trains...

Marvellous how cats always manage to find the coolest or warmest places dependent on the weather.

Rik

[tom_tom_go]

Those colours do look good Rod.

I am mixing various Humbrol enamels so when I find what colour I want I shall report back. These also waterproof the wood unlike acrylics.

[FWLR]

I use this Tom. I find it to be brilliant stuff and it’s lasts really well, only need a small amount thinly applied Tom.

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Will post some photos hopefully of your concrete paint please Tom.

[tom_tom_go]

Although it's been raining all weekend it has lowered the temperature for me to do some railway work finally.

Roly has become the workshop cat, or my supervisor as cats tend to own their humans:

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I have wanted to extend this siding for a while so it comfortably fits larger locos or a smaller loco with an item of rolling stock:

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The ballast is mess after replacing the track so when the weather clears it will be done again and I will try out setting it in place with SBR (this will be my test patch).

The buffer is the Peco SM32 type which I built a while ago but has now found it's place. The point lever has had a lot of work done to it that you can't see. It was originally screwed to a wooden block but the screws had corroded and the wood rotten so I have now soldered it to a brass block with a brass CSK screw soldered inside the block. This then simply screws down into position with an added piece of bake bean can (to mimic a platform) cut to size and reinforced with Plastikard to stop it bowing.

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Speaking of Plastikard, I thought it was meant to be resistant to the elements?

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Is it because I have used wooden planks and they have absorbed rain water and expanded?

The is one of my ramps to the ungated crossing and it was flat when I built it.

[Peter Butler]

Speaking of Plastikard, I thought it was meant to be resistant to the elements?





Is it because I have used wooden planks and they have absorbed rain water and expanded?

I think you have identified the problem there Tom, For the past weeks since you installed the crossing the weather has been dry, at the first sign of rain the wood has reacted to the change..... moral of the story.... avoid wood!

[philipy]

I think Peter is correct, but on top of that, of course styrene softens with heat...! So the soft styrene will not resist the wood expansion, but the water will then cool it so that it retains its curve!

[Peter Butler]

Agreed Philip, but even with wood strips on wooden cross-members the expansion rate would be greater across the grain than along it so would result in distortion or destruction.

Edit..... while we are on the subject, the Plastikard buildings on my railway have been outside during this heatwave and have been stable throughout with no distortion whatsoever. The only movement has been in a cast resin roof from a commercial manufacturer and described as 'exterior quality'. This has slightly lifted away from the gable end of my market hall. The resin roof has also lost some of the paint from its tiles whereas the Plastikard models are perfectly good.

[tom_tom_go]

Plastikard replacement on the way (not as quick as building with lollipop sticks!):

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I like using wood as it takes paint and natural weathering well, I will see if I can make these planks look as authentic as the original ones used on the first ramp.

[Peter Butler]

Try to give a grained effect to the card by either scraping a razor saw or coarse sandpaper in the direction of the grain. This will improve the appearance and take paint much better.

[tom_tom_go]

Ta da!

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Hard to take photos in this light but I think it looks like wood now, paint next...

[Big Jim]

Nice,
I think that looks better that if you were to make it out of wood.
(Ducks to avoid backlash from timber enthusiasts)
I suppose it is because you can't scale nature. Grain on a piece of wood is 12'' to the foot scale what ever you build with it.

[Peter Butler]

I totally agree with Jim. Now you have begun Tom I'm sure you will see the benefits of Plastikard. A grey plastic primer spray followed by a coat of brown and finally a thin wash of darker colour to enhance the grain effect will work wonders. Looking good Tom!

[philipy]

I think that hand looks fantastic, it might almost be real!
Timber is looking good as well.

[tom_tom_go]

I am glad someone noticed the hand as it took ages.

[tom_tom_go]

The low-loader brought this today (gave me the shove I needed to extend the siding):

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It's not mine to keep sadly as it belongs to Andrew but it will be staying at the RWLR for some work which I will update as I go.

[bazzer42]

That plasticard wood looks good, wonder what shape my loco shed will be in when we get home tonight...
.
Never realised Russell was such a good looking loco.

[Andrew]

Glad to see Russell's arrived safely and looking very at home! Looking forward to hearing what the RWLR shed staff make of it...

Cheers,

Andrew.