Atso's new loco works - now including my Hadley Wood layout build

[Atso]

Spearmint's tender has progressed a bit with the outer lining now complete. I've also found a cab interior/back head which has been added to the loco along with the nameplates.

[Atso]

I've done some further lining work on Spearmint's tender today. The original plan was to represent the center panel lining using some hand made decals. However, I couldn't get into that today and after several failed attempts, I decided to try ruling the outer lines directly onto the tender.

This is something that I've never managed to make a good job of before, as getting two consistent, paralleled lines that are only 0.5mm apart has proven too difficult. However, I think that somebody must have been smiling down on me. The lines are a little bit messy but this is all on the inside where the black line will be added later. The corners were added in using a fine brush. Overall I'm quite pleased that I seem to have cracked this technique.

[Atlantic 3279]

I think you're safe from any complaints there Steve.

[Atso]

I think you're safe from any complaints there Steve.

Thanks Graeme. I've got a bit more tidying up/patch painting to do, but I got the center black line onto the tender today. Below is a cruel enlargement of the tender with Dapol's standard factory finish on the tender at the rear.

[Quicksilver95]

If you told me that was in 00 I'd be mightily impressed. To achieve such a finish in N is something quite spectacular! Out of interest, what bow pen and paints are you using for it?

[Atso]

If you told me that was in 00 I'd be mightily impressed. To achieve such a finish in N is something quite spectacular! Out of interest, what bow pen and paints are you using for it?

Thank you for the kind comments. I have two pens, a Haff bow compass (fitted with a brass rod fitted for offset work) and a Kern ruling pen. The Kern is a nice pen, and gets a lot of use. The Haff is exception but I don't have a pen grip for it. I do use is occasionally for regular lining by turning the pen attachment 180 degrees so that the compass "point" doesn't interfere with the lining. The corners are brush painted and a lot of clean up afterwards! I actually brushed a little Precision gloss donny green around the outer corners today just to make them a little finer.

I use old enamel paints that have thickened beyond use for brush or airbrush work. The white lining is Humbrol 22 with 14 or so drops of black added to make a light grey. This was suggested to me by Ian Rathbone, and I'm not going to argue with such advice. It tones the colour down but still looks like white when applied on top of any other colour. The black is Precision gloss black that I use for airbrush work. This is quite a runny paint, so I put five or six drops onto a piece of plasticard and left it for 30 minutes before putting some in the pen. I would have used Humbrol gloss black, but my tin has now gone completely hard!

[Quicksilver95]

Thanks for the tips - I shall have to have a look out for a kern pen myself.

Joshua

[Atso]

Thanks for the tips - I shall have to have a look out for a kern pen myself.

Joshua

No problem Joshua. Kern have been out of business for some years. However, Haff are still trading and, based on my bow compass, I would recommend their ruling pens over Kerns (I will purchase a "standard" pen to replace the Kern when I can afford it).

[Atso]

Having returned from Pickering (where I built the second scissor crossing for Hadley Wood's fiddle yard), I decided that I really should think about tackling designing and building a locomotive chassis; but what to build?

It has to be relatively simple for a first attempt and of something that would be of use to me. Therefore, I've decided on this.

One of Ivatt's 0-6-2s which became the N1 class in LNER days. I've only completed the basic body so far as I'd like to understand where there is room for the motor, etc. The chassis will be etched but I'm undecided if I'm going to make it split frame or not. Farish 4F wheels are a possibility for split frame and Peco Collett wheels for wiper pickups.

[Atso]

Today has seen some more work done on the N1.

Other than the front condensing gear pipes, this is about as far as I can go without selecting the loco that it will represent. This will be a saturated engine as the super-heated ones had some differences at the front end. I've also been offered two sets of spare (new style) 4F wheels by a 2mm modelling friend of mine. This decides whether I'm going to design and build a split frame chassis or not. These are a bit under scale but will fit nicely under the splashers without having to raise them.

[Atso]

I found a photograph of 4557 near Hadley Wood in 1935 and so decided that this will be the identity of N1.

She's fitted with an older boiler with Ramsbottom safety valves and still retains the original GNR lamp iron arrangement. However, she had been fitted with plated bunker rails, a smokebox door stop and sheet metal shields to the cab by this point.

Next up will be working out the chassis arrangement!

[Paul_sterling]

Looks really nice Steve,

Can I ask, what CAD software are you using?

Thanks, Paul.

[Atso]

Looks really nice Steve,

Can I ask, what CAD software are you using?

Thanks, Paul.

Thank Paul.

I'm using Alibre Design for my CAD but I'm planning to learn Fusion 360 in the not too distant future.

[Dave]

Looking very nice, thanks for the info on the cad I was going to ask you about that.

[Atso]

Looking very nice, thanks for the info on the cad I was going to ask you about that.

Thanks Dave.

Alibre is a "professional" package that needs to be paid for. However, Fusion 360 is free and, from what I've seen of it, looks to be a far superior CAD package; just the requirement for me to learn something new.