West End Workbench

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Chas Levin
NBR D34 4-4-0 'Glen'
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Re: West End Workbench

Post by Chas Levin »

Woodcock29 wrote: Wed Jun 24, 2020 9:21 am Hi Chas
I'm not surprised you got a response something along those lines.
I'm planning on preparing a pdf file with photos of LNER lettering from preserved coaches (examples I think are correct). Plus a drawing of the sides I want lettering for plus photo of the real thing. Hoping this will be sufficient?
I'm expecting it to be expensive compared with off the shelf stuff. I had some etches done some years ago and they were very expensive for what they were, but I only supplied a hand drawn diagram not CAD.
Andrew
Hi Andrew, I'd be happy to contribute to the costs in order to have copies too, if you would like that. Robert (of Steam and Things) explained to me that while he has done many custom jobs over the years, they don't generally make it to the website on general sale, but if people ask about obtaining copies of such items, he asks whoever commissioned them for permission to supply elsewhere.
(Jonathan, I hope this extended discussion about these transfers is OK on your thread :) )
Chas
jwealleans
LNER A4 4-6-2 'Streak'
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Re: West End Workbench

Post by jwealleans »

does the pic of the end with duckets look like the BFG?
I assume we're in Doom territory rather than Roald Dahl?
MikeTrice
LNER Thompson B1 4-6-0 'Antelope'
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Re: West End Workbench

Post by MikeTrice »

I gave up trying to find reasonable GNR carriage transfers and ended up making my own:
https://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index ... nt=3170926
jwealleans
LNER A4 4-6-2 'Streak'
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Re: West End Workbench

Post by jwealleans »

Update from last weekend - I took to the J6 and added most of what I could without making it too delicate to hack about should any problems show up in testing, although it's fine on the rolling road. The next job will be to add pickups to the tender.

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Banana van has had primer and this very evening received its first coat of teak.

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I've lettered a couple more containers. i can only do one an evening before going crosseyed, but it's progress. They've all had the chain eyes added and you might also spot the rest of the Conflats Mr. King cast for me. I had added the undergubbins to these two - that was my demo at Warley two years ago - and the unpainted one then developed a nasty twist. I'm pleased to say it has undeveloped it and can now be painted and lettered along with the other one and in due course the rest.

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I took my new soldering gear to a D & S Lowmac this week. This was one of a pair bought on Ebay some time ago for not very much. They had been built but not painted and a couple of the castings have gone astray. Now I don't generally criticise other people's building, we don't all work the same way and to the same level and there are some things people just can't do. This, however, was appalling. The components didn't fit together because the etching tabs hadn't been filed off, the solder had either been used without flux or with an iron which wasn't hot enough (or both) and then to make sure it all stayed together some sort of glue had been applied to the underside with a fire hose. I've got one complete one so far and I'll see about replacing the missing castings for the other in due course.

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I had started with by far the worse of the two, but here's the one I haven't yet touched to give you an idea.

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Danby Wiske
GER D14 4-4-0 'Claud Hamilton'
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Re: West End Workbench

Post by Danby Wiske »

jwealleans wrote: Fri Jul 03, 2020 8:24 pm Banana van has had primer...
... in a very appropriate colour!
drmditch

Re: West End Workbench

Post by drmditch »

Good Morning.
What design are the Lowmacs please?
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Atlantic 3279
LNER A4 4-6-2 'Streak'
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Re: West End Workbench

Post by Atlantic 3279 »

Are they ex GE Mac K, very similar to the BR Lowmac from the Airfix kit range, now with Dapol, and whose mould tool was once thought lost?
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jwealleans
LNER A4 4-6-2 'Streak'
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Re: West End Workbench

Post by jwealleans »

Graeme has it - kit DS 104, GE Lowmac which I think the LNER called MAC K.
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Chas Levin
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Re: West End Workbench

Post by Chas Levin »

All very nice :D .

Are you using Halfords yellow Filler Primer there on the Banana van Jonathan? I have found it a little prone to giving a powdery finish - do you find that? Am I doing something wrong - too thick a coat or something? It doesn't always happen by any means, but enough to be annoying and it never happens with their greys or reds (etch, plastic or normal) :?:
Chas
Dave S
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Re: West End Workbench

Post by Dave S »

Chas Levin wrote: Sat Jul 04, 2020 9:35 pm All very nice :D .

Are you using Halfords yellow Filler Primer there on the Banana van Jonathan? I have found it a little prone to giving a powdery finish -
If it's the one I'm thinking of it needs to be rubbed down to remove the powder, any holes are filled by it. I'm using a VW orange colour (from a Mike Trice thread) as a base coat although it has a gloss fisnish so I tend to flat it a little with 1000 grit paper or a fibre pen
MikeTrice
LNER Thompson B1 4-6-0 'Antelope'
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Re: West End Workbench

Post by MikeTrice »

Chas Levin wrote: Sat Jul 04, 2020 9:35 pm Are you using Halfords yellow Filler Primer there on the Banana van Jonathan? I have found it a little prone to giving a powdery finish - do you find that?
It might be you are holding it too far from the model.
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Chas Levin
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Re: West End Workbench

Post by Chas Levin »

Dave S wrote: Sun Jul 05, 2020 12:22 am
Chas Levin wrote: Sat Jul 04, 2020 9:35 pm All very nice :D .

Are you using Halfords yellow Filler Primer there on the Banana van Jonathan? I have found it a little prone to giving a powdery finish -
If it's the one I'm thinking of it needs to be rubbed down to remove the powder, any holes are filled by it. I'm using a VW orange colour (from a Mike Trice thread) as a base coat although it has a gloss fisnish so I tend to flat it a little with 1000 grit paper or a fibre pen
Hi Dave, I've resorted to rubbing it down and that does work, but as it never happens with the red or grey and it only happens sometimes with the yellow I just wondered. I realise it must be a different composition as it's described as 'filler primer' which the others aren't, so that must account for it in part.
MikeTrice wrote: Sun Jul 05, 2020 8:59 am
Chas Levin wrote: Sat Jul 04, 2020 9:35 pm Are you using Halfords yellow Filler Primer there on the Banana van Jonathan? I have found it a little prone to giving a powdery finish - do you find that?
It might be you are holding it too far from the model.
Thanks Mike, hadn't thought of that - I'll experiment next time I use it...
Chas
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Atlantic 3279
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Re: West End Workbench

Post by Atlantic 3279 »

I imagine that if you hold it closer, to get a wetter application that dries to a smooth unified layer rather than something powdery, you'll need to move the aim of the spray can across the model a bit more quickly to avoid flooding it with paint
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MikeTrice
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Re: West End Workbench

Post by MikeTrice »

Can I suggest practicing on some pieces of styrene.
jwealleans
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Re: West End Workbench

Post by jwealleans »

I use it in the same way as all the other rattle cans I use and haven't noticed the powdery effect up to now. This is teaked directly onto the primer, to see what the effect would be like:

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Question about this - do we think the end steps would be black or teak painted?

Now, with four locos stalled awaiting test running and no wagons to hand that I fancied fiddling with, I turned to a new project this evening. Some time ago (just over a year, actually) I came across an RMWeb user called Gazman424 who was making some really nice carriages using laser cut card. We had a discussion about materials and techniques and in the end he kindly offered to cut me a set of sides for a D265 TL. For those not familiar with them, they're a 54' steel carriage with a lav at one end and an internal corridor so all compartments can access it. They were common across the GE Area and I have photos of a couple at Framlingham, so it was a vehicle I wanted for Wickham Market. This:
D265_TL_E82522E_Southend_Victoria_Jul_1954.jpg
Why they were built to 54' I don't know, but they're a characteristic vehicle and just a little different.

Things went quite for a while, and Gaz then contacted me again a few weeks ago to say he'd cut the parts out and they'd be with me soon. Sure enough a parcel arrived, but it didn't contain sides....

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This is almost entirely card - there are wooden blocks for the bogies to screw into and the underframe components (which I thought were butchered Hornby) are 3D printed by the man himself. It's entirely home made, in other words. This is how it breaks down for painting:

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For comparison, this is it against a Bill Bedford etched side which I'd laid in in anticipation of building one of these in the future:

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The full width end compartment windows are slightly narrower - I'm guessing that's to keep it within the correct overall length and accommodate the thickness of the ends. MJT roof, buffers and handles to complete once painted. The card has just been primed and I'm told I can finish it with rattle cans, so we'll see how that goes. There's some slight warping of the internal partitions and one of the trusses and I also cleaned up inside the window reveals where the surface was a bit hairy, but overall I'm far more impressed than I expected to be. We'll see how this develops.
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