A Festive box....

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Dave Franks

A Festive box....

Postby Dave Franks » Fri Jan 21, 2022 9:21 pm

Not been on for a while but on reading about what other people have done over the last month I thought I should show what I got done during the Christmas break.
Signal box 2.JPG

Signal box 3.JPG


Churchward Midland box for Wharfeside.
Not bad for an old etched kit but I did think the etches were a bit 'flat' so I beefed up the corner and middle posts with N/S fret, The height was increased too as the box has a lye in front of it, you can see the discolouration where the join was made near the top of the lower panels. The extended ladder is still to be finished and the interior is started with the lever frame made up but not fitted. The finials or vents were castings though the metal was very brittle and I broke one just holding it for cleaning up so I turned up some new ones. The handrail was fun, verticals were 0.5mm brass wire with 1mm flattened at the end then filed round and drilled 0.35 for the 0.33 wire to go through. I don't like to see overscale handrails!!!
Box will be finished in NE region colours of off-white with Oriental blue base as the boundry changes made their mark in the late fifties.
Back to work after the bells and a load of orders to get out means work has stopped on the box for the moment.
Next might be a Midland lattice footbridge which will need a lot of reworking to improve the poor 'shortcuts' which were drawn into it....

Cheers and keep safe.

Dave
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Steve Carter
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Re: A Festive box....

Postby Steve Carter » Fri Jan 21, 2022 11:47 pm

Nice Dave :thumb
Steve Carter

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Julian Roberts
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Re: A Festive box....

Postby Julian Roberts » Sat Jan 22, 2022 7:03 am

What a beauty, Dave! :thumb :thumb :thumb

Dave Franks

Re: A Festive box....

Postby Dave Franks » Sun Jan 23, 2022 12:43 pm

Well thanks gentlemen. I mentioned a lattice footbridge, well, I took a maddy and started it on Friday after posting a pile of orders and by last night 11 O'clock it was more or less finished with just a little cleaning up to do then a quick shot blast, fit the cast columns and out with the 'Acid 8' primer.
Will post a picture later, but what do others suggest to represent the dull silvery grey finish BR used back in the fifties?

It's great to get some mojo back it's been sadly lacking these past two years what with one thing and another. :thumb

Got some new items to finish for the business so better get on with them before I sink low again. :?

Cheers,

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PeteT
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Re: A Festive box....

Postby PeteT » Sun Jan 23, 2022 12:50 pm

Looking good! Nice tip with the beefier strips, I have one in the mountain to construct one day...

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Winander
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Re: A Festive box....

Postby Winander » Sun Jan 23, 2022 1:40 pm

The box looks great Dave and I'm pleased to hear your mojo's back.

Would the roof have flashing on the ridges that run from the corners to the top?
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PhilipT
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Re: A Festive box....

Postby PhilipT » Sun Jan 23, 2022 3:04 pm

No, the Midland used a "mastic joint" so no ridge tiles, flashing, etc although a few boxes might have been so modified in later years.

Phil Tattershall

Dave Franks

Re: A Festive box....

Postby Dave Franks » Sun Jan 23, 2022 8:19 pm

Yes that's right, on the box I've based this on the vent finials and flue have had flashing added so I'll maybe do the same if I can find evidence of this flashing in the fifties.
Anyway I promised a photo of the footbridge.
MR Footbridge.JPG


Balanced on only two columns for the photo.

Thanks for the comments guys.
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Daddyman
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Re: A Festive box....

Postby Daddyman » Mon Jan 24, 2022 9:01 am

Dave Franks wrote: what do others suggest to represent the dull silvery grey finish BR used back in the fifties?


I've been wondering the same thing, having had a NER footbridge awaiting painting for a while. It would help if anyone knew of photos of the colour when it was clean. I suspect it wasn't that dull, but quickly became so, especially on footbridges. Was it also used on some signals - perhaps metal ones which needed protecting from the atmosphere? - in which case, photos might be easier to come by.
This doesn't give much away:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishswis ... 923356850/

Dave Franks

Re: A Festive box....

Postby Dave Franks » Thu Feb 10, 2022 10:23 pm

Hi, just an update on the footbridge. Completed and primed with 'Acid 8' then spoke to our club weathering bod who suggested a silver and white mix of enamel paint so a few colour swatches were tried and a mix of humbrol silver 191 and satin white 130 at 5:1 seemed to look best so set up the spray booth and airbrush and job done then a slight weathering with a mix of matt black and mid brown which was built up further when more pictures came to light of some decrepid examples which were more to my liking. Picture taken with flash.
Footbridge now painted.JPG



A bit more weathering produced this.
Footbridge painted 2.JPG

Picture in room lights with a blizzard going on outside.
I'm happy with this now so back to the signal box.
Or maybe the platform surface!!!
Oh, just noticed the rail sides are still to be painted on this baseboard.
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Daddyman
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Re: A Festive box....

Postby Daddyman » Fri Feb 11, 2022 6:40 am

Dave Franks wrote: a mix of humbrol silver 191 and satin white 130 at 5:1 seemed to look best


I was thinking something along those lines, too, but useful to have the ratio, thanks. It certainly looks right. How was the silver to airbrush?

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Neil Smith
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Re: A Festive box....

Postby Neil Smith » Fri Feb 11, 2022 8:53 am

That looks great Dave. Was this the Alan Gibson one, or a different kit? And what were the things that you needed to "rework" please?

All the best

Neil

Dave Franks

Re: A Festive box....

Postby Dave Franks » Sat Feb 12, 2022 12:11 pm

Thanks guys, the Humbrol silver was fine to spray, gave it a very good whizz with the stirrer and again before pouring into the airbrush cup as it was settling out.

The bridge is the Gibson one originally produced I believe by 5522 models for the GSWR association then distributed by Alan Gibson. Certain tags and slots don't line up well and the outriggers supporting the bridge sides don't fit in the slots in the underside of the deck. I persevered and added a 0.5mm plasticard deck to the span to hide the empty slots in the deck. The stairs fold up cleverly but they end up with one side member uppermost and the other side member downward so to me they don't match, I altered the short flight of steps by taking one side member off, folding the steps and fixing the side member on the underside making them match, wish now I had done it to the main stairs as it still catches my eye but no-one else has noticed or commented so far.

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Winander
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Re: A Festive box....

Postby Winander » Sat Feb 12, 2022 2:32 pm

Dave Franks wrote:The stairs fold up cleverly but they end up with one side member uppermost and the other side member downward so to me they don't match, I altered the short flight of steps by taking one side member off, folding the steps and fixing the side member on the underside making them match, wish now I had done it to the main stairs as it still catches my eye but no-one else has noticed or commented so far.

That's because we look at it and think "that looks really good" and cannot see the side members. I doubt you can in real life either; try to stop letting it catch your eye and build something else for us to appreciate.
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Neil Smith
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Re: A Festive box....

Postby Neil Smith » Sat Feb 12, 2022 4:50 pm

Dave Franks wrote:The bridge is the Gibson one


Thank you Dave, I had suspected it was, and it is good to hear your expert thoughts and workarounds. That model is a pretty good match (visually at least) to the footbridge put up by the Furness Railway at Cark station - and is therefore on my "at some point in the future" list!

All the best

Neil

Dave Franks

Re: A Festive box....

Postby Dave Franks » Thu Feb 24, 2022 10:50 am

Another structure which has taken a number of years to come to fruition was the viaduct, originally started as a demo at Modelrail Scotland four or five years ago and then placed on the layout so running could be enjoyed. Luckily before the lockdown I removed it to work on at home, the corners of the piers needed filling where the embossed stone produced gaps, a bit mind numbing so a bit at a time was filled and filed to shape then end of last year it was ready for painting and weathering. Now got to get some bridge plates made up with a suitable number, I have numbered the footbridge 17A so the viaduct would need to be 19 as a culvert in between is 18. Track was laid earlier on but I've left the ballasting till the viaduct is permanently fixed down. The plywood frame was clad with 3mm plastic sheet (in one piece from an 4 x 2ft sheet) fixed with pins not glued, overlaid with 7mm embossed stone for the piers then 4mm stone for the arches, brick for the under arches, plastic sections for the details and coping stones.

Viaduct.JPG

Luckily I had a dimensioned Midland Railway drawing to get the proportions correct as my eye is often drawn to structures which are too heavy or improbably awkward, there was a comment from a punter at a demo who said the piers were too skinny so I showed him the drawing, 'Oh okay' was his last comment.

Dave.
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Last edited by Dave Franks on Sun Feb 27, 2022 1:56 pm, edited 2 times in total.

Steve Carter
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Re: A Festive box....

Postby Steve Carter » Thu Feb 24, 2022 11:00 am

Nice work Dave. :thumb
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