Readying ready to run - Part 2

I've collected several ready-to-run locos since they have started to become available in 009 and Hexworthy is an ideal place to run them. However, as with the Peco coaches, there is something about a pristine RTR loco that jars in a layout setting. They are just too clean. Now I don't want to model heavily weathered almost derelict locos, I'm modelling a preserved railway setting so locos would be kept clean, but even so a working loco will not be box-fresh pristine as soot settles from above, paint dulls due to heat, oil builds up on and near moving parts, and brake and track dirt is thrown up from below.

So here's my attempt at making Exe look used but clean. If you can't tell much difference from a fresh model, that's kind of the point, but subtle differences are there.

Having had issues with enamel-based washes starting to lift the lining on Nesta (fortunately recovered) and not having good results with dilute acrylics I was looking for a new solution. I've a couple of Vallejo ready-to-use washes which work well, but having seen the results of someone using water-soluble oil paints I thought I'd try them. The paints are found in art shops. A little paint is dissolved in water and used as a wash, the concentration can be varied as can how much is applied, but it can also be removed with a damp brush, cotton bud or kitchen towel while damp meaning it is very controllable. I've used a dirty brown mix on underframes and buffer beams, and black in spots where soot/oil might accumulate (like between boiler and side tanks), over brass and copper (it tones them down nicely) and on the motion too. 

With my recent increase in confidence with the airbrush I took the brave decision to use it for weathering locos. As with the coaches I've used a mid brown misted very lightly over frames and buffer beams, and black misted very lightly over the cab roof, smokebox, footplate, and a little over the boiler and tank tops. This is done by winding in the "end stop" at the tail of the airbrush (it probably has a proper name) until the needle stops opening with just a faint mist emerging, this means I can spray without risking a wobbly finger causing an unexpected splurge of paint. Better to spend time building up a level of weathering than accidentally overdoing it. The down-side is such a small nozzle opening can block up so every so often the stop is unwound, the needle opened fully and paint sprayed until it is flowing easily again, before winding the stop back in. 

I've also painted another batch of people, including crew figures from Faller, Dapol, and Model-U. There are also some "civilians" at the back which I will come back to later. 

So here's Exe from another angle. I may have overdone the track dirt up the rear, but the sides remain clean. The motion and pipework are toned down and look oily, while the cab roof, tank top and footplate are a more matt, sooty finish. The boiler top is a little sooty too. Hopefully a superficially clean but used look. A Dapol figure stands in the cab, getting him in was like getting a ship in a bottle! I figured one was enough, and still allows some of the interior detail to be seen. Finally, the bunkers have been filled with crushed coal. 

The Kato Prince comes with "brass" knobs to fit to the sand pots and tender, these are on a sprue "tool" which is cut off the main sprue and used to place the knob in the hole before being twisted off. Spares are provided which is useful as I broke one in the wrong place, but it is the work of a few minutes to fit them. I also glued a strip of microstrip to the vertical support for the slide bars, as the flat metal looked a bit too flat.

The can is tiny. Fortunately, it is easy to unclip (removing the blower pipe first helps), but even using Faller HO figures they needed their feet and heads filing down until they fitted under the (overscale thickness) roof. Of course, once in there they can hardly be seen, but nor can the basic interior. I installed a figure in the tender too, as often seen on the prototype! The plastic addition to the slide bar support was painted with gunmetal metalcote, as were some details under the cab. 

Again, the weathering aim is clean but used. A hint of the dark wash around the whistles, dome, and tank filler plus a misting of airbrushed "soot" makes the top of the tank look like it betrays a hard day's work, but not neglect. Real coal was added over the moulded plastic load. I've also fitted staples to the Peco coupling droppers for magnetic uncoupling. 

Next time, the rest of the RTR loco fleet...

Upnor Castle

As an easy post-Christmas project I looked out a 3D printed loco kit I got for my Birthday last year. It is a model of Upnor Castle on the Ffestiniog Railway which was produced by the Merseyside group of the 009 society in memory of Roger Christian, a long-time member of the group who inspired many with not only his modelling skills but his willingness to encourage others, through articles in the 009 News and Railway Modeller, many exhibition appearances, and the 009 Society groups, along with Stan Williams. When I was a young 009 modeller Roger and Stan were a great help and encouragement to me. What a great idea to produce a model in his memory.

The loco is finely detailed and appears to have a good finish, comes with a separate roof and interior, and was supplied with a Kato 109 chassis. This model had a partially broken and distorted cab step, Stan had warned me before dispatch. There are no instructions, but clearly the Kato chassis would need shortening to fit the body. 

I cut of the balconies leaving the chassis much shorter than the body, it fitted neatly in but I felt the body sat too high. I cut off the clips and a strip from the "shoulder" of the chassis alongside the motor which allowed it to sit much lower, but the chassis rocked fore and aft. I added strips of 40-thou plastic to the flats at the corners of the chassis allowing it to sit level. Finally, plastic end-stops added in the corners of the loco frames stop the chassis moving fore and aft within the body. The chassis is held loosely vertically in the body, though it doesn't fall out I may use blue-tack or a spot of glue to hold it in place when finished. 

The next job is fitting couplings. Opening up the buffer-beams for the Microtrains couplings was easiest with a saw, since the 3D printed resin is sawn and files cleanly but isn't easy to cut with a knife. I passed a fretsaw blade through the slot and opened out the hole, then cleaned up with a file. I drilled a hole for the retaining screw, and made a recess in the bottom of the buffer-beam for the screw head. 

I spent some time checking the body and cleaning up blemishes, which I guess are from the support structure during printing, and were mainly on the bottom of the frames and footplate, and around the window openings. The deformed step was easily superglued back together, and I glued plastic strips across the back of the cab handle recesses which were open into the cab. I also thinned the back of the cab back where it meets the roof, and the back of the protrusion below the cab roof, as it initially sat a little forward with no overhang to the rear. 

Now I need to get some primer to continue, the first coat will show how smooth the surface is though it appears pretty good.

Larking Around

I did buy a can of primer last week, but I haven't got any further with painting the coaches, instead moving on to another project! This is the Chivers kit for a Kerr Stuart "Skylark" that I got last month, along with a Kato chassis. On the face of it this is a reasonably straightforward white-metal kit that should fall together over a few evenings, right?

 

So here are the main parts, nicely moulded on the whole with just a little flash. It is always tempting to see how with a little extra work the end result can be improved, for example here I couldn't help thinking that the cab-side doors were a little unlikely and would look a whole lot better opened out - you can see I've done this to the right hand side already.

 

The more immediate challenge is fitting the kit to a chassis it was never designed for. Actually it isn't too hard, the footplate needed the opening extending under the smokebox, and the chassis having it's plastic footplate and side detail cut back to slide into the dummy rear frames of the kit. There were also some bocks cast under the footplate to sit on the Ibertren chassis it was intended for, which I have had to cut away, and with a little fettling the chassis slides into place.

 

The Kato chassis is low but long, and protrudes under the smokebox, the front support to the boiler has needed a recess cutting into it. On the other hand, much of the "missing" boiler that would have fouled the motor of the Ibertren could now be reinstated! I should point out that I will be building this as a tram loco, and the chassis will be completely hidden behind skirts.

 

Another minor improvements is to the fit of the buffer beams, if slotted under the footplate as intended the rivets fall too low and the bufferbeam is very close to the rail. The best solution seemed to be mitring the join, as shown  here. I've also had to open out square holes to take the Microtrains couplings I use.

Well I'm a few evenings in already and so far I have just cut and filed lots of metal, and sliced my finger and thumb open. You know that rule about always cutting away from you?