Atso wrote: ↑Tue Sep 04, 2018 11:21 pm
Ah, The Big Four in Colour, the best £7 I ever spent! There is a lovely picture in there of an A1 (sorry it's not at my present location and I can't remember which one) which is generally clean but far from spotless! I'd love to recreate that look on some of mine one day...
2584, Galtee More, coming off the coaler at York in 1937. The fallout on the boiler top from the coal that had been burned to get to York very evident, but it is clear that the paint is in good order, and the loco probably was clean wherever it came off shed for its first turn. There are plenty more delights for those who haven't had the joy of this book yet. Where the LNER suffered worst in appearance was the varnished teak coach exteriors. Lovely when fresh, horribly dowdy once work stained. (There's even a glimpse of what is effectively a pre-group livery in this book, part of the side of a Metropolitan coach standing at Aylesbury, clean varnished teak with what appears to be ivory colour cartouche style lining. Gorgeous.)
And (thread undrifting) facing contents page there's K3 no. 207 circa 1937 at Brookman's Park on the up fast, carrying lamps for a class A express freight. The K3 is 'tidy', probably cleaner than the excellent model K3 Atso posted the image of upthread, and the seocnd and third vans are very evidently new into service, absolutely sparkling. So selective absence of weathering is acceptable.
Bunkerbarge wrote: ↑Wed Sep 05, 2018 8:23 am
That is a beautiful job in 'n' gauge. It can hold its head up against many 'OO' gauge models.
Thanks Bunkerbarge, it took a long time for this particular loco to come to fruition waiting for a suitable donor chassis (Farish N class) to become available. As with most of my locos, there are compromises but I think that it works overall.
Bunkerbarge wrote: ↑Wed Sep 05, 2018 8:23 am
That is a beautiful job in 'n' gauge. It can hold its head up against many 'OO' gauge models.
Thanks Bunkerbarge, it took a long time for this particular loco to come to fruition waiting for a suitable donor chassis (Farish N class) to become available. As with most of my locos, there are compromises but I think that it works overall.
I am a great believer in compromising on technical 'perfection', to a point obviously, for the sake of a pleasing, atmospheric overall view.
Just back to earlier comments regarding the standard of steam locomotives in their earlier days. While I agree that money and manpower was not the issue it became in later years and, certainly pre-war, locomotives, rolling stock, permanent way and even buildings all enjoyed a very high standard of maintenance I think we can tend to overlook general everyday use and how things can become noticeably weathered. I am not so sure that things were as perfect as some may advocate, possibly as a result of an understandable reluctance to want to weather their models. Each to their own as far as I am concerned but, very interestingly, just take a look at this shot of a preservation A4 taken only last year. I think most would agree that preservation locos have a fairly easy life now and are maintained to a standard higher then they have been used to historically but just look at the levels of soot across the top of the boiler.
My chosen modelling period doesn't often mean that I can apply a lot of grot to locomotives and vehicles (nor does it mean that everything will remain spotlessly clean either!) but I couldn't resist doing some heavily weathering to these N Gauge Peco PO wagon kits painted to represent the LNER's own builds to the RCH diagram.
There are only six wagons in total - number three got into both photographs! I initially used a couple of washes of Railmatch roof dirty followed up by a liberal coating of Humbrol soot and, to a lesser degree, dark earth weathering powders. These will probably be the dirtiest wagons in a coal rake made up of LNER owned stock which will include a few NER style hoppers - I didn't think that these wagons made it down south but there is a picture in one of my copies of Yeadon's of an O2 hauling such a rake that says differently.
The wagons have since been coaled although I'm yet to fit my wire 'loop and hook' semi-permanent couplings.
Atso wrote: ↑Mon Sep 17, 2018 11:29 pm
My chosen modelling period doesn't often mean that I can apply a lot of grot to locomotives and vehicles (nor does it mean that everything will remain spotlessly clean either!) but I couldn't resist doing some heavily weathering to these N Gauge Peco PO wagon kits painted to represent the LNER's own builds to the RCH diagram.
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There are only six wagons in total - number three got into both photographs! I initially used a couple of washes of Railmatch roof dirty followed up by a liberal coating of Humbrol soot and, to a lesser degree, dark earth weathering powders. These will probably be the dirtiest wagons in a coal rake made up of LNER owned stock which will include a few NER style hoppers - I didn't think that these wagons made it down south but there is a picture in one of my copies of Yeadon's of an O2 hauling such a rake that says differently.
The wagons have since been coaled although I'm yet to fit my wire 'loop and hook' semi-permanent couplings.
Lovely job very realistic and believable. If I put together a rake such as mineral wagons which I know I'm not going to split I use scale three link couplings as they really do look so much better. You won't get away with pushing them around a tight radius though but pulling is OK.
By the way as regards the A1 in "The Big Four In Colour", you might be referring to a shot of 2548 Galtee at the coaling plant of York shed in 1937. The sides and even below the footplate all look very bright and shiny but the top of the boiler and the sides of the firebox are all covered in soot and muck. It is a very interesting subject.
Unfortunately, three link couplings are a little fiddly in N Gauge (but I have seen it done!) and, as my fiddle yard will have some 'kickback sidings', I'll need to be able to push the rake as well as push it.
Galtee, is exactly the loco and photograph that I was thinking of - a service clean loco!? Take a look at Granthamm, the Streamliner Years and you'll see some wonderful weathering by Tom Foster based on the image we've referred to (and others too).
I did a pretty typical escape to the country and, while I used to be in Halifax for the majority of my life, I am now in a field in Lincolnshire. I still do visit Halifax occasionally and fairly frequently go to a public park in Batley to sail my RC model boats.
I think one of the biggest challenges for weathering our models of the big four era is obtaining good quality colour pictures. I am always on the lookout at book shops and feel very pleased with myself when I find something. The Big Four in Colour is a superb book and worth its weight in gold!
Bunkerbarge wrote: ↑Tue Sep 18, 2018 8:19 am
The Big Four in Colour is a superb book and worth its weight in gold!
Indeed it is and I for one am very grateful to John (sadly not all are still with us) and the others who put this book together - thank you. There are a few of the images where the quality is so good you'd think they'd been taken yesterday!
I've been following this thread, and more importantly doing some practical weathering using old HD and Airfix wagons, and I must say that even my amateur efforts make a lot of difference to them, destroying the toylike appearance.
One mistake - needing some matt spray varnish to finish off an old Kirk CCT, used a can of Winsor & Newton which had worked ok on several earlier efforts, but this time it looked like a snowstorm had hit - dried white and powdery, but several applications of white spirit seem to have lifted it without disturbing the new decals. Won't use that again.
Sbagliando s'impara as the Italians say! Or he who doesn't make a mistake makes nothing!
Bunkerbarge wrote: ↑Tue Sep 18, 2018 8:19 am
The Big Four in Colour is a superb book and worth its weight in gold!
Indeed it is and I for one am very grateful to John (sadly not all are still with us) and the others who put this book together - thank you. There are a few of the images where the quality is so good you'd think they'd been taken yesterday!
Sadly, I am the only contributor left of the original authors, although I was much younger than David Jenkinson and John Edgington.
I went to Batley pond with my father to sail a steam launch, it did not go well. My Grandfather used to sail his models on the boating ponds in Peasholm Park, Scarborough, including an excellent model paddle steamer, not steam driven however.