Sunday, August 5, 2012

Paint it Black

After painting the town red a few posts back, I decided it was time to paint it black. Grimy black that is. First cab off the rank was the Second Class Redfern car that I'd recently put together. First, was a coat of Purple Brown followed by the black for the under frame and roof. Here's how it turned out

Isn't Purple Brown is a lovely colour?

Next was a wooden under framed BKG

Tuscan Red isn't too bad either

Then a steel under framed BKG

No Electric Lights for this baby

Followed by a KKG

All the horsies are AR Kits modified as necesary

Then a loaf of bread EHO

I have a flat roofed EHO also from Mike McCormac models that's in the paint shop at the moment

And then a BKD

All carriages have sprung buffers and screw couplers

Still to go are a KB, GT and EHO that I mentioned before plus a few touch ups for the cars above. I'll start on the decal artwork again this week as I think I've cracked the problems I was having before with the colour registration moving all over the place so I hope to have them lettered soon. If anyone has any idea how the Second Class Redfern was lettered for the First World War period, I'd love to know. All the photo's I have showing the lettering date from the late 1890's and shows a simple car number only.
Then there is the lining for the EHO's.....shudder.

6 comments:

  1. Nice work Rob!

    Sprung buffers and screw couplings? You have my attention.....tell me more!

    I have a loaf of bread EHO that's waiting assemby - sprung buffers and screw couplings as well I think.


    PS. We chatted in an earlier post about extended/double buffers on the MLV's; can you get me the evergreen part number please, the AndIan LWW is 1/2 way through being built (now how do I spring those????)

    Cheers,

    Tom.

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    1. Thanks Tom. The sprung buffers are done using Wizard Models 13in Buffer heads and springs.
      http://www.wizardmodels.co.uk/FrameSetShop.php?DM=wizabout
      I used the buffer housings on the models or Kerroby models passenger buffers and drilled them out half way with slightly larger than 1mm (can't remember the size) and followed through all the way with a 1mm drill. Then the heads can be mounted with the springs and the buffer shaft bent to hold it all in place. The couplings are a combination of Stephen Johnson Models (why didn't I buy more when they were available) and Ian Lindsay etches. The ILM etches also dried up a while ago though I see he has some new nickel silver etches available again. I tried everywhere to get HO scale screw couplings but couldn't find any. I thought I found some from a P87 French supplier but he wouldn't respond to my queries. Failing that you could use 4mm couplings but they are slightly to big and can hang down below the level of the rails.

      The Evergreen tube is used for the extended cammel buffers is #223 3/32 tube. Good luck with springing them!! Mine, when I do it, will be auto coupled. I'm soft, I know!! Post some photo's when you finish it

      Cheers,
      Rob

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    2. G'day Rob.

      Thanks for the info, the Wizard website is bookmarked!

      I hear your pain with European suppliers - amf.fr was a potential source of P87 8-spoke wheels (ex-Huet) - emails remain unanswered and wagenwerk.de for P87 split-spokes - again unanswered emails.....extremely frustrating.

      I've bought a few sets of the ILM n/s screw coupling etches and I might knock a few sets up. There is also the brass cast (kit) version that Casula and AR Kits do, I've got a couple of sets of these as well.

      Have you fixed the drawhook in place or is it sprung as well?

      Cheers,

      Tom.

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    3. Tom,
      I tried sending the French guy (I think it was Huet) an email and in French too (my wife speaks fluent French) but got nothing. C'est la vie. I also tried getting the AR kits version but they were out of stock too. BTW, I ended getting some split spoke wheels from Wizard for my Ashbury but these are OO scale, they do have P4 but not sure if this is of use to you.

      Regarding the couplings, I ended up fixing them in place so I hope this doesn't cause too much of a problem. As I said to Linton, if none of this works I'm modelling planes or Caledonian in P4 :-)

      Cheers,
      Rob

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  2. Hey Rob,

    Do the sprung buffers actually work when going around curves? Are the buffers always in contact when coupled? If so how do you precisely set the distance between wagons thus setting the correct tension? I have always wondered if there would be enough weight in wagons/ coaches to overcome the force of the springs without tipping them? Do you find kits by different manufactures have slightly different buffer positions and does this make it hard to match rolling stock? Sorry for all the questions I have just always wondered how effectively it all works.

    Love all your old timers stuff. I am sure you're already aware of it but Thirlmere has an 8 wheel radial coach (mountain type?) under restoration at the moment.
    I snapped a few photos the other day. Would make a very nice model!

    It's all looking great Rob,

    Linton

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    1. Hi Linton,
      Why do you have to ask the difficult questions??!?!!? ;-) The springs are quite soft and take little or no effort to compress them so I'm hoping that it all works. The buffers stay in contact mostly on the carriages as the only ones I've sprung are the MM models (via ILM) EHO's, ILM KB and Old Buggers BKD. The others have had their buffers added by me so they're all pretty much in line. If it doesn't work, I'm going to start modelling planes!! It's a bit of trial and error I guess. I'll be laying some track again soon so I'll try it out then and let you know. Thanks for the compliments too.

      Cheers,
      Rob

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