Monthly Archives: May 2022

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Procrastination is an Artform

Procrastination is an Artform. Slightly silly title but I find myself sat at the computer procrastinating. I could argue that its not procrastination but I’m stuck waiting for paint to dry on a modelling project with a deadline, waiting for the 3D printer to print something, thwarted by some parts that are clearly in a safe place but that will turn out to be in the last place I look. Just to cap it all my wonky leg is giving me some gyp so I am supposed to be resting it.

Instead of all that I thought I’d write a little update on stuff that is `coming soon’ as they say.  I posted some stuff on a forum and some other stuff on Facebook so I should pull it together here.

Campbeltown & Macrihanish Railway 8 ton Brake Van

All being well this should be out as a detailed kit in the not too distant future.

This is actually a kit that was started something like 15 years ago and stalled in the development when a friend, Tim, made superb patterns for the axleboxes but which wouldn’t cast. Tim wasn’t the sort you tell his work needed changing. We bottled out and the project stalled. Tim is, sadly, no longer with us and technology has moved on a bit so now seems to be the time to do it.

The body for the kit is a four part resin casting. When done originally the ends included the buffer beam but that now becomes part of the chassis. I did think about redoing this as a print but can’t justify the effort replacing a perfectly good part.

The, hopefully, innovative part is the new chassis which is 3D printed but with etched and cast added details and featuring 3 point suspension.

The chassis features separately printed axle units which pin into the main chassis, one end fixes in rigidly whilst the other end has a rocking hinge centrally placed.

 

 

 

 

This makes sure a relatively long wheelbase wagon stays on the track. The picture below rather exaggerates how this works in practice.

The aim is that the kit included NEM tension lock couplings which gives and easy provision for exchanging them for Kadee NEM couplings.

Also included should be spring buffers, cast details, safety chains, wooden floor, some internal details and, maybe, transfers.

I had a plan to have it available for the 7mm NGA Convention in June 2022 but that was before I came up against the current supply inertia in getting castings and etches done.

Including internal detail might be open to interpretation. I have a full size copy of the RY Pickering drawing that shows a couple of internal lockers and the brake wheel but after that it’s anybody’s guess. By all accounts the van got used very little. The man from the ministry apparently insisted on it so it probably only got used if he showed up. Given the remote location, that fact that they could pull the brake van or three more coal wagons and ran two rakes of coal wagons but had just the one van it was most likely to be found in a siding!

I’ve long been a fan of the Campbeltown & Macrihanish Railway and long ago when I had big lasers to play with these two things happened.

First is a C&M Rly coach made out of laser cut laminated sides. The plan then was for it to be a kit but the realisation that it was a foot long and would give the “will it go round my 6″ corners” brigade heart failure meant it didn’t go any further..

The second bit of laser nonsense was this. I laser cut, in plastic, a chassis for the C&M locos.

I think I quickly realised that it wasn’t going to be rigid enough and took it no further but I do still have the CAD which wouldn’t take a lot of effort to adjust it for etch construction.

 

Who knows what may happen.

Quarry Hunslet Developments

I have the Agenoria kits for all flavours of the Small Quarry Hunslet’s, Lilla and Manning Wardle Jubilee 1897 and, just at the moment, they are all unavailable due to the death of our whitemetal caster and the need to recover the moulds and find a new caster. The kits are designed to use some now obsolete parts so as I work to make them available again replacements are being sought.

This is taking far longer than it should and I am currently evaluating the alternative of making new patterns and going for all brass castings in the kits. To cap it all the mould for SL1, the Alice class, has been lost.

The first picture shows the traditional construction of the model with an etched working inner frame, cosmetic outer frame and a set of Romford wheels. This is all soldered construction and the wheels are captive once assembled.

Already there is a replacement drive.

Instead of the Mashima motor and 30:1 gears there is now a 12v  coreless motor, flywheel and 54:1 gears. Don’t be misled by its tiny size. It’s amazingly strong and more than enough for a quarry shunter.

When doing these new parts and revamps I am trying to engineer out some of the painful bits of construction or, at least, the parts that seem to give people the most trouble.

One innovation is ready to go but I am wrestling with the issue of changing the original kits to accommodate it.  The originals are from hand drawn artwork for the etching so not easy to mod.

The new innovation is assembled and quartered wheelsets.

The problem then is that having addressed the wheel & quartering bogeyman the problem has moved to having to slot the frames without damaging the positioning and making a keeper plate.

I’m still thinking about that one and it may get overtaken by events.

The new Alice Class?

 

I may have shown a similar CAD image before but things have moved on. This image now features the assembled wheelsets and the new drive incorporated but much more of it exists.

We start with a chassis block printed in a rigid resin Then there is the frame overlay, 3 variants for Alice Class in a more resilient resin Together with cylinders a full chassis is getting close.

Developments are not just confined to the chassis.

The firebox is a horrible fabrication that is made from flat and is difficult to get together truly. The right hand edge still needs filing quarter round to form the shiny bezel of the real thing A printed version requires no bending and screws to the running plate. A polished brass casting for the bezel goes in after painting. Same works for the smokebox. Saddle tank and boiler will be the same. All the rolling and bending designed out!

In some places the thin metal edge and strength are needed

The running plate will be a new etch but will feature added assistance to do the soldering The cab for the cabbed Alice (Kit SL3) remains brass but printing now provides a tool to bend and assemble the cab

I’m aiming for and easy build Hunslet and may end up, with a few more innovations up my sleeve close to a ready to run one.

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Murder Of a Garratt – Colour Me Red

Murder Of a Garratt Pt3 – Colour Me Red

It’s been way too long since I reported progress with the Garratt and a long time since there was anything to report. Just as the first lockdown was looming as Covid got away from London our local hospital had a policy of no admissions & no surgery as it prepared for what was to come. I made the strategically dodgy move of winding up in hospital as an emergency admission and two days later having surgery on the grounds it was the quickest way to get rid of me.

The result was that I missed the impact of most of the first Covid lockdown as I was being otherwise unable to go out.  Recovery has taken a long time with all manner of side effects and a real blow to my mental health at the turn of last year. Being a one man band, Self Employed, Sole Trader I was cunningly positioned to avoid any of the various help schemes offered. As I was able to very slowly return to work in a limited fashion priority had to be given to business recovery, filling orders and making the retail stock.

It has taken ages to get to the point where I have the combination of the time, ability and desire to build models and if my heart isn’t in it the results won’t be what I want to achieve.

Anyway, enough of that. We left the saga with the tanks having their livery and lining applied by decal and I am really pleased with the way that they came out. The front tank has had the trough style water filler added as a 3D print.

There are decals for parts of the cab but the boiler is going to need painting but what colour?

For a start I am not a fan of the “it must be the right colour because the label on the bottle says it’s #138 red” idea. Believe me, paint colours don’t always work when scaled. I have a Blanche model painted with paint from the same tin that painted the real one and its doesn’t look right because the volume of it isn’t the same and therefore the way it reacts with the light is different.

There is colour matching to do that starts and continues…..

  • Mr Decal man please do me the decals to match 138 red
  • Decals Arrive: Colour is close but not 100%
  • Match the boiler paint to the decals
  • Get sneaky with the boiler paint

As I am trying to paint this as much as possible with acrylic paints I got a collection of reds and sprayed them on a test piece and then also over sprayed them with assorted varnishes.

Here’s the test plate with the paint splodges from each of the reds I had along the bottom. The larger panels are then painted with the two closest matches before applying the various varnishes.

I am trying to use acrylics as much as possible, and certainly for spraying, for health reasons and to avoid the pong of oil based paints.  At first I hated acrylic paints but then with practice, watching a lot of You Tube videos and the purchase of decent paints and matching products I am now converted.

Go on, admit it, you’re thinking WTF aren’t you?

This is another demonstration of a pet peeve of mine. When I do modelling demonstrations of soldering kits at exhibitions I regularly hear people say, “I wish I could solder like that”.  Well, once upon a time neither could I. I practiced, I learnt and I left a few pretty poor models along the way that ended up never being finished and in the bin.

Practice is the only way

When it comes to spraying I have been watching lots of videos by military modellers and learning from them. I’ve learnt about different primers, pre-shaders, washes, filters, pin washes and lots more. There’s loads but have a look at Nightshift

So, what’s this wrong boiler all about? This 0n30 Mogul has valiantly given its boiler to experiments with pre-shading prior to the body colour going on. The only time the red on the boiler was uniform from end to end was the day it came out of the paint shop. Actually, I’d argue that probably not even then as the light plays differently on the different bits.

Given the boiler starts with a black base in a paint that is resistant to stripping that will be our base. Around the firebox and under all the plumbing will get a waft of black primer, a band of brown just behind the smokebox and white in between. They will be faded into each other. The idea is that when the body colour is sprayed on the pre-shading will result in subtle changes to the red.

So, what’s this wrong boiler all about? This 0n30 Mogul has valiantly given its boiler to experiments with pre-shading prior to the body colour going on. The only time the red on the boiler was uniform from end to end was the day it came out of the paint shop. Actually, I’d argue that probably not even then as the light plays differently on the different bits.

Given the boiler starts with a black base in a paint that is resistant to stripping that will be our base. Around the firebox and under all the plumbing will get a waft of black primer, a band brown just behind the smokebox and white in between. They will be faded into each other. The idea is that when the body colour is sprayed on the pre-shading will result in subtle changes to the red.

Further weathering will them be done with an assortment of products to add the patina of grime on a cared for but hard working engine.

I am not going to reveal any more on the painting until its completed now. Two reasons: I don’t want to spoil what I hope will be the big reveal and it might just end up in the paint stripper!

Lots of other bits and bobs have progressed. The chimney on the loco is wrong so I have a 3D printed replacement ready to go on.

After a lot of delay and misunderstanding with the caster I finally got castings for the manifold, top feed, whistle and other valves. These are being prepared for fitting with pipes being made up now in copper wire

Not sure that I can put what I want to say into the right words here but I’ll give it a punt.  If I am not in the mood I can’t do a model justice. Mentally , I can find all manner of other things to do to avoid the thing I can’t really face. Then, the really daft thing is that I’ll do something that undoes the mental block and I end up cracking on with it wondering what the heck was stopping me. I am full on with this Garratt now but aware that there are a number of other projects all vying for my attention.

What I have learnt from the little mental health event earlier this year is that I can’t carry on like this  and so this is probably the last loco rebuild I do commercially.

The next instalment should follow shortly and it may well be the final part

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