The Wakefield Weathering Wizard has weaved her magic again on my sand wagon.
I had read that these wagons sat in sidings and were mostly covered with a tarpaulin sheet to keep out the worst of the weather so I asked Chris if we had anything that we could make one from.
Not only did she come up with the material, she attached the ropes and weathered the sheet before tying it onto the wagon using the etched rope rings that are supplied – a very fiddly job.
I have been a bit quiet on the build posting front because I have been building a Dragon models L&Y 30 ton bogie van and I decided to do an article about it for the gazette so I thought that it wouldn’t really be fair to post progress. I will put up some photos of it when it’s finished.
In between I have been doing a bit more on a pair of Parkside LNER 12 ton vans. I used these initially to experiment with springing before commencing the build of the scale 7 wagons for Love Lane. I have also used them to experiment with Bauxite colours. One of them has been done with Railmatch enamel over a dark red Vallejo primer and the other is Vallejo Dark Fleshtone as recommended as a substitute by a friend (I do find the acrylics so much easier to spray and clean up). What I have found recently is that although the Vallejo Game colours spray well when thinned with de-ionised water they spray even better when thinned with Tamiya Acrylic thinners. This one is thinned with de-ionised water. Both have come out very much on the red end of the spectrum due to the dark red primer. Further experimentation will take place using different coloured primers to see what I prefer.
Still to add are the couplings, hoses, door handles and weathering.
All the while, I have been building locos and rolling stock. But it’s only recently that I realised that I only have one coach (that’s built at any rate). My very first 7mm scale kit was a CRT LMS 50′ Full Brake coach that Chris bought me for Christmas a few years ago. In the shelf queen pile I have a Slaters Midland coach that is well on it’s way to being complete (it just needs the bogies and a few underframe details. The un-started stash holds quite a variety- A couple of JLRT Gresley’s, a Newbold Models Gresley Buffet, a couple of Sidelines LMS Period III gangways and a couple of Inspection Saloons (an LMS kit again from Sidelines and a Midland diagram that I believe is originally a Janick kit). Some time ago I have a look in the JLRT boxes and noticed that one of the coach sides was damaged so I got a replacement from JLRT. At the time they sent a pair so I let a friend have the damaged one to practice painting on and I kept the good one.
So having covered the preamble I get to the point. I dug out the spare JLRT side and gave it a coat of JLRT spray away teak under coat and four coats of Ronseal Teak varnish (the water based variety).
Which gave me this:
I also made some samples up from plasticard and painted them with various layers of varnish using both the JLRT base coat and some peach acrylic that I have had success with in the past on 4mm scale teak coaches.
I also tried adding some lining to some of the samples
At the same time I lined the coach side itself using a Peter Spoorer lining pen which is a poor man’s version of a Bob Moore Lining pen and neat enamel straight from the tin with just a good stir.
In between building track, painting coach sides, vans and things I have also been messing about painting some etched plates. I have the technique perfected for coloured backing/brass fronts but it’s the ones that need black background/white lettering or the reverse where I have been struggling.
Here are a few that I have been playing with.
Then we get onto the more complex ones…..
These don’t look too bad not perfect but on the side of a weathered wagon they will do nicely. Spot the deliberate mistake here….
Then we get to really fiddly. Once again magnified to the size that they are they look a bit rough but I think that I am getting there.
In terms of getting them to this point, all the plates were chemically blackened using Carrs brass black – diluted. Then they were all painted with Games Workshop Chaos Black with a brush. After 10 mins drying the ones that were to be brass lettered were then rubbed with a piece of the mounting board type card that etched kits come attached to from the likes of Connoisseur etc. I find that this rubs off the paint from the letters while polishing the brass at the same time and it doesn’t create grit that will stick to the still soft paint on the backing. They were then varnished with satin varnish after a couple of hours.
The ones that needed to have white lettering were treated in the same way up to this point with the exception that they were left on the fret initially. Next I got a small piece of plasticard and painted the shiny side with cream Humbrol enamel and left it for 15 minutes.
At this point I pressed the plates face down onto the painted plasticard and the paint was transferred to the face of the lettering. The smaller Charles Roberts plates were done in a similar fashion but I tried sticking blue tack to the backs of them in an effort to hold them better but it wasn’t a success
In conclusion they are not perfect but they will do on a weathered wagon sole bar at normal viewing distances. I think that I am on the right lines I just need to perfect the technique.
In between a few other modelling jobs I made up another couple of track panels.
They consist of another straight panel for the engine shed and a curved one – to see how difficult it was.
Now for a tale of two Parksides…..
I haven’t been well for the last couple of weeks which sadly caused me to miss out on York show but I have managed to do a little bit and finish another couple of lurkers on the bench.
Some may recall this being constructed some time ago it’s one of Parkside’s latest kits.
Those that recall it may remember that I modelled the vents in the toilet compartment in the open position which seemed like a great idea at the time. They were the absolute devil to glaze…..
The opaque windows are made from the plastic trays that chinese takeaways come in. I keep them for strage of parts during builds but realised that some of them are obscure enough for the window glazing job.
Thanks also have to go to a gent called Paul Gallon (who posts on RMWeb under the handle of Worsell Forever) who pointed me in the direction of the Vallejo equivalent of LNER coach brown (Game Colour Flat Earth) as I fine the acrylics so much easier to get on with for spraying and cleaning up. I still need to make up some brass vacuum pies to replace the whitemetal ones supplied then it’s off for a light weathering as it would be another newish one in my time frame
Followed by what could be one of their first kits an NBR 8 ton outside framed van.
I picked this up second hand. It still has solid unsprung buffers and a very plain underframe. Still a nice kit that makes up well enough.
