Beer and Buckjumpers

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45609
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Re: Another Round...

Postby 45609 » Sat Nov 30, 2013 7:59 pm

Hi Paul,


Nice work. The cellulose black finish looks very gritty. This is a symptom of holding the airbrush too far away from the model. The paint is dry before it is hitting the model surface. You should be able, with practice, to get a really smooth glossy finish onto which the lining will flow even better. Having said that you seem to have got some very nice results with the lining.

Cheers....Morgan

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Paul Willis
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Re: Another Round...

Postby Paul Willis » Sat Nov 30, 2013 10:47 pm

mlgilbert30 wrote:Nice work. The cellulose black finish looks very gritty. This is a symptom of holding the airbrush too far away from the model. The paint is dry before it is hitting the model surface. You should be able, with practice, to get a really smooth glossy finish onto which the lining will flow even better. Having said that you seem to have got some very nice results with the lining.

Hi Morgan,

Yes, it is gritty. It's the first time that I've ever sprayed cellulose, so it was very much a voyage of discovery for me.

I'd read Ian Rathbone's section on "flooding" cellulose on to get it to flow together on the surface before it dried, but I didn't get it quite right. It was borderline about whether I stripped the whole lot off and tried it again.

I decided to stick with it, as it's a shunting engine, and wouldn't have been in a highly polished cosmetic condition. It's certainly not going to be weathered to the state of filthiness of an end-of-steam loco, but I will be taking the finish down with dust, rust and ash.

Plus the prototype pictures of the original engines in GER days show that almost all of the bodywork was buried under huge heaps of coal!

Cheers
Flymo
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Paul Willis
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Driving forward

Postby Paul Willis » Fri Dec 13, 2013 11:44 am

Whilst I was spraying up the body of the Coffee Pot, I took the opportunity to drift a coat of black paint across the unassembled gearbox as well.

This picture shows the result, but it's mostly to show what a neat and tidy solution the High Level gearbox is for this model. As with the Pug that I also built with a High Level chassis kit, this is a bespoke gearbox designed to fit compactly and unobtrusively within the loco.

IMG_7381.JPG


I'm looking forward to installing it in the chassis and seeing how to fit the DCC chip around it...

Cheers
Flymo
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Re: Another Round...

Postby nigelcliffe » Fri Dec 13, 2013 1:04 pm

Chip should fit under the motor, in the shell of lower boiler. Run the wires across the motor and down through gearbox.

Stay alive capacitors (practical how-to in next half of Scalefour News article) in tanks. Or if those are full of ballast, may fit at end of motor before boiler. Or could fit in various rectangular gaps in chassis, such as between cylinders and below cab. For an 0-4-0, this is *really* worth the trouble.

There is also room for a speaker in the bunkers (I did measure carefully...). Coupling mechanism with "cranked shaft" fits on chassis behind buffer beams.

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Will L
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Re: Another Round...

Postby Will L » Fri Dec 13, 2013 1:36 pm

nigelcliffe wrote:Chip should fit under the motor, in the shell of lower boiler. Run the wires across the motor and down through gearbox.

Stay alive capacitors (practical how-to in next half of Scalefour News article) in tanks. Or if those are full of ballast, may fit at end of motor before boiler. Or could fit in various rectangular gaps in chassis, such as between cylinders and below cab. For an 0-4-0, this is *really* worth the trouble.

There is also room for a speaker in the bunkers (I did measure carefully...). Coupling mechanism with "cranked shaft" fits on chassis behind buffer beams.


Just remember that next time your wondering if there's enough room to get something in.

Will

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Today's discovery...

Postby Paul Willis » Sat Dec 14, 2013 7:43 pm

If you put amps from your Resistance Soldering Unit on the 4.5V setting through an LNWR lost wax casting of a lamp iron, it *very* rapidly collapses.

Which is a shame, as using the 3V setting hadn't allowed the solder to make a strong enough join. It's a good job that I have spares...

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Flymo
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Another Round... Breathe in

Postby Paul Willis » Tue Dec 17, 2013 6:11 pm

But carefully...

And preferably using one of these. In response to the question from John Lewis over in a different thread about the location of my spray booth, about twenty minutes ago it was here:

IMG_7838.JPG


Sat in the middle of my desk, which is located at 90 degrees from where my modelling bureau is. It's very convenient for the "overspill" of kits that is inevitable when something is being built.

And (hijacking John McAleely's discussion) is the depository for all of the tools that I'm using when I decide to do some soldering. They are swept, en masse, from the left surface to the right surface to prevent them being splattered with liquid flux fumes. Since doing this, even if it is imperfect, the incidence of rusting has significantly reduced.

The particular subject of the spraying is the inevitable Coffeepot, receiving a coat of varnish over the transfers before progressing on to the weathering.

IMG_7839.JPG


Now to leave it for an evening to harden, and perhaps make some progress on the chassis...

Cheers
Flymo
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David B
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Re: Another Round...

Postby David B » Tue Dec 17, 2013 6:40 pm

I do like the smoke effect in the last photo, Paul.

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Re: Another Round...

Postby Paul Willis » Tue Dec 17, 2013 6:57 pm

davidb wrote:I do like the smoke effect in the last photo, Paul.


<snigger> Can't get any decent coal in Suffolk. Have to burn turnips you know...

I hadn't noticed that mark on the filter when I took the picture :-)

It dates back to being rather heavy handed when spray painting the Pug earlier in the year. I've cleaned the filter since then, but that freed the dust, rather than shifted the paint stains.

I'm still undecided what modelling to do tonight. The next step on the Coffeepot is to paint the backhead and associated fittings, and if I'm going to get the paintpots out, I might as well wait until the body is hardened and start on that at the same time.

So I'm currently thinking of cooking scrambled eggs with smoked salmon (a gift from a friend in Barkway who has a home smoker and experiments a lot), then renovating some goods wagons...

Cheers
Flymo
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It's just like Christmas all over again...

Postby Paul Willis » Sat Jan 18, 2014 7:07 am

When Harry the Postman knocks on the front door and hands you a package with this return label on it:

IMG_7942.JPG


It contained a lovely shiny sheet of brass, the very first one that I've designed myself.

Now to do some modelling and see if it works :-)

Cheers
Flymo
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mikeg

Re: Another Round...

Postby mikeg » Tue Jan 28, 2014 3:58 pm

Paul - sorry to cross threads but have put a note on Will l workbench re Hadleigh branch - might need a mortgage though!

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Re: Another Round...

Postby Paul Willis » Tue Jan 28, 2014 6:54 pm

mikeg wrote:Paul - sorry to cross threads but have put a note on Will l workbench re Hadleigh branch - might need a mortgage though!

Yes, but what *have* they done with the extension around the back???

That looks entirely out of keeping with the rest of the building. I hope that the landscaping beds it in a little as well...

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Flymo
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It's been a while...

Postby Paul Willis » Wed May 07, 2014 4:50 am

Gosh, where did a quarter of the year go to?

Well, the start of a new job in January put paid to a substantial amount of free time, as have lots of other commitments. All of that doesn't mean that modelling stopped entirely. Just the writing up of it and sharing it with friends...

There has been progress on several fronts (even if not others. Who mentioned Standard Gauge Workbench?) and there have been occasional photos along the way. I intend to go back and reprise the key points of these in the next few days, but in the meantime here's a first try at a spot of video.

Over the May Bank Holiday weekend, I had every intent of producing a running Coffee Pot. It's all very fiddly, as subsequent posts will show, but with coupling rods in place, and rolling road set up, on Saturday the locomotive moved under its own power. I can't work out how to embed video on the Forum without opening a YouTube account, so here's the link to it on my blog:

http://beerandbuckjumpers.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/its-been-while.html

I hope that gives you a small sense of the immense satisfaction that I felt.

Since then, it's progressed to having cylinders and connecting rods fitted and (touches large wooden object!) it still runs :-)

Until next time!
Flymo
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Nervewracking...

Postby Paul Willis » Wed May 07, 2014 9:43 pm

Nervewracking...

Is balancing an etched brass numberplate on a lump of blutack, poised on the end of a cocktail stick. And even more so when as the very last touch, you're putting them in place on a completed Coffee Pot!

See what you think. *I* reckon that they're on straight, and in the middle :-)

I hope to be taking this along to CHEAG tomorrow night to show how it runs...

IMG_8027 (Large).JPG


IMG_8035 (Large).JPG


All that it needs now is some final weathering and a couple of crew.

Cheers
Flymo
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Re: Another Round...

Postby DaveHarris » Wed May 07, 2014 9:48 pm

I like the results of your efforts..... but is the loco a little 'nose heavy', or is it my failing eyesight?

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Re: Another Round...

Postby Paul Willis » Sat May 10, 2014 9:55 pm

DaveHarris wrote:I like the results of your efforts..... but is the loco a little 'nose heavy', or is it my failing eyesight?

It's highly unlikely to be your failing eyesight...

The angle of the photo didn't help. I should have levelled the line of the rail across the picture by rotating it slight before posting it.

However your fundamental premise was correct, and also mentioned when I took the loco to CHEAG on Thursday evening. What I believe that I have done is set the compensating beam fractionally too high when originally putting the chassis together. It sticks out from the front spacer, and is quite difficult to check the correct height at that stage of the build.

I'm slightly confused about how it all lines up, as the model still has the centreline of the cylinder in line with the centre of the axles, as the prototype photos seem to show that it should. Nevertheless, a check with a static bufferheight gauge showed that it was down slightly at the front. I've put a 0.5mm spacing washer in around the hole for the front fixing screw and that has levelled it out.

It's funny how having something pointed out to you means that it stands out like a sore thumb until you've fixed it...

Thanks for pointing it out. The model now looks much better for it.
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Flymo
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Must Do Better!

Postby Paul Willis » Wed Jun 25, 2014 6:25 am

Where has the time gone?

I've been up to lots of bits and pieces over the last few months, but very few of them have made it onto this blog... As I mentioned earlier in the year, I'm making a determined effort to finish off a number of projects that I started in parallel.

The Coffee Pot is one, and the last post, back in May, covered the finishing of the "out of Shops" modelling of this. The next step is to complete the weathering of it, and put it to one side as Finally Finished.

It was an absolute pleasure to see Paul Tasker of Prickley Pear (as mentioned on our own Forum on the Scaleforum thread) who apart from his lovely range of esoteric kits, also had with him his own Coffee Pot and we could compare the models side by side. His is truly lovely, and makes me realise that I need to make mine look much more careworn. So that is a challenge.

Also I've been quietly beavering away in the background on the 5522 Models range.

I acquired the artwork, masters and instructions over a year ago now. At that point in time, I was cash-rich, time-poor. Since then, a period of unemployment and a new (and very enjoyable) job means that I've changed relatively to being cash-poor(er) and time-rich(er). So I've been doing bits and pieces.

This morning I was cutting sprues at 5.45am on a new mould that I've made for castings.

IMG_8122.JPG


More on castings at a future date...

Anyway, I'll be trying harder to keep up to date!
Cheers
Flymo
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Only shunting planks

Postby Paul Willis » Thu Jun 26, 2014 6:33 am

That's a comment, or perhaps an implied criticism, that is often thrown at P4 modelling. Usually by someone that actually isn't a finescale modeller, because it suits their prejudices that larger layouts in 18.83mm gauge can't be made to work properly.

Well, at the Scalefour Society's AGM last Saturday, there was another layout that I hadn't seen before but is yet more proof that these statements are nothing more than myth. A model of Wadhurst station and its surroundings was on display. Not in a final form for exhibition, but close to it, and an excellent demonstration of high quality modelling. It's in roundy-roundy form, and enables locomotives to really stretch their legs.

This video clip posted on my blog website is of Society Treasurer Chris Mitton's ex-Great Eastern E4 2-4-0 locomotive running along the front scenic section, through the station.

http://beerandbuckjumpers.blogspot.co.uk/2014/06/only-shunting-planks.html

This is also a prime example that not all locomotives in P4 are little shunting tanks - even if that is the type that appeals to me! I have two of these locomotives to build, from kits by Alan Gibson, and if they turn out to run anything as smoothly as Chris's, I'll be very pleased indeed.

More pictures of the AGM, and Wadhurst, can be found on the Society's Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.784562454910505.1073741828.252675384765884&type=1

Cheers
Flymo
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David Knight
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Re: Another Round...

Postby David Knight » Thu Jun 26, 2014 1:23 pm

I've always been puzzled by the "shunting planks" sneer. Quite apart from the fact that Adavoyle , Heckmondwyck (sp?), and many others have shown that to be wrong ages ago, what's wrong with a shunting plank? It's a layout, it works (hopefully) and it's a whole lot more than most of the moaners have built. The 'planks' will fit into most houses and vehicles, are a great learning experience and are an opportunity to do some intensive modelling in manageable space that you can operate somewhere other than an exhibition hall.

Wadhurst looks very nice BTW.

Cheers,

David
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Terry Bendall
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Re: Another Round...

Postby Terry Bendall » Sun Jun 29, 2014 3:32 pm

Flymo748 wrote:That's a comment, or perhaps an implied criticism, that is often thrown at P4 modelling. Usually by someone that actually isn't a finescale modeller, because it suits their prejudices that larger layouts in 18.83mm gauge can't be made to work properly.


At Scaleforum this year we have two very large layouts booked, both of which will disproove the theory, if ever it were needed, that large P4 layouts cannot be made to work.

Epsom and Epsom Town is the work of one person, Bob Cummins, and will show the new station built by the Southern Railway in 1928 to replace the former pre-grouping LSWR and LBSC stations. The layout comes in at 60 feet long. We will also have the more widely known Calcutta Sidings which measurs 52 feet x 17 feet. We will also of course have layouts of more modest size and some small ones just to encourge people to think "Yes - I could do that."

To take a sentence from a well know OO modeller from some years back, the concept of P4 is now proven! :D

Flymo748 wrote:A model of Wadhurst station and its surroundings was on display.


And one day, when the club feels ready to do so, we will have that at Scaleforum as well.

Terry Bendall

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A Scandanavian journey...

Postby Paul Willis » Mon Jun 30, 2014 6:35 am

I normally dislike people that spend time doing little more than posting links to spurious "news" articles online and YouTube clips of kittens in cardboard tubes. But in this case I chanced across something railway orientated that I felt merited sharing, particularly if you have an interest in continental prototypes.

Reading the Financial Times each day, there is actually a surprising variety of articles on different subjects. One that caught my eye was a story of how an airline is showing a video of a train journey to lull passengers to sleep.

Link to FT article http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/88ffba3a-faf2-11e3-a9cd-00144feab7de.html

As it's shot from the driver's cab, it makes really good viewing to see the railway infrastructure and some spectacular scenery. The video appears to be available in full, but split down into manageable chunks for download, on YouTube.

Link to YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=NJRYWDqUj9A

Finally, once I re-read the article title, it did click with me that this was the perfect headline for a journey to a Biscuit Factory ;-)

Cheers
Flymo
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dal-t
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Re: Another Round...

Postby dal-t » Mon Jun 30, 2014 2:12 pm

Wow! Love that double slip at the station throat - who says you don't get such things on running lines any more?
David L-T

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Re: Another Round...

Postby Paul Willis » Wed Jul 02, 2014 7:38 am

The lovely thing at this time of year is that it's bright and sunny in the morning. That means that with a bit of enthusiasm, I can sit down at 6am in the morning for a quick 15 minutes on modelling before having to make myself ready for work and leave the house.

This morning it was weathering. The dirty grimy stuff, rather than the bright sunny stuff outside.

Weathering in the morning.JPG


In the foreground is my Coffeepot, which has started to lose its "fresh from the shops" sheen courtesy of some black washes to knock back the brightness.

In the background is a whitemetal kit of a Highland Railway open wagon, which has had parts of the floor repainted. Last night I replaced parts of it, as preparation for re-mounting Sprat & Winkle couplings on it.

The former mountings were horrible and inaccurate, with twisted wire melted into lumps of plasticard. All of that was removed, and the floor suffered as a result. So I "let in" some new planks, and I have a natty little etch for a coupling mount that I designed last year to be part of the 5522 Models range. This is another opportunity to test the design out to make sure that it works as I intended.

Given the long days, I hope to have some more painting done tonight...

Cheers
Flymo
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Terry Bendall
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Re: Another Round...

Postby Terry Bendall » Wed Jul 02, 2014 8:09 am

Flymo748 wrote:I can sit down at 6am in the morning for a quick 15 minutes on modelling before having to make myself ready for work and leave the house.


That is called enthusiam - or perhaps being creative in finding time for modelling. :D

Terry Bendall

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Will L
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Re: Another Round...

Postby Will L » Wed Jul 02, 2014 2:40 pm

Flymo748 wrote:..I can sit down at 6am in the morning for a quick 15 minutes on modelling ...


In my case it would first be necessaries to stand up, and at 6am in the morning that is something I'm not really ready for.


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