Building an Avalon Line Enclosed Coach Kit - 3 (Acrylic Afternoons)

It's been a while since I reported on my Avalon Line coach build, to be perfectly honest it was primed using a Halfords grey primer then sat for some time awaiting a flash of inspiration.  That came from the Sherwood Forest Railway's new enclosed stock painted in dark blue.  Although I considered using a Halfords aerosol to paint the main body colour, I decided to try something I wouldn't usually do - paint a complete coach body using brushed-on acrylics.

I chose the colour 'Regal Blue' from the Games Workshop Citadel range of paints.  Four coats of this applied with a flat brush built up sufficient colour depth, with little sign of brush marks.  The solebar and roof were painted using Vallejo black (suitable toned down) and Humbrol grey respectively.

Following a coat or two of Johnsons 'Kleer' over the areas in question, lining came from Fox transfers (Royal Mail TPO lining!) and the crests an old set by SMS, I think they are Caledonian Railway examples.  Inside the interior walls are the original grey primer and the seats and floor suitable shades from the Citadel 'Foundation' range.

Following a spray with Citadel 'Purity Seal' varnish, windows were individually cut from 20thou clear styrene to fit within each window opening to give a flush glazed effect.  Each pane was touched in around the cut edges using a permanent marker pen to reduce refraction within the glazing material.

The finishing touch for the body were door handles from the 7mm Narrow Gauge Association, secured in place from behind using Araldite.  Bogies were refitted and the official photographer summoned to record the completion of the build.  I am happy that the full-acrylic paint job stands up against sprayed models with little evidence of brush marks in the underlying paint finish.

Of course, there is something missing, passengers!  For some time I had in mind using this coach for an experiment in colour and shade. I had read a theory that passengers in coaches could be painted a dark colour and simply be 'shapes' behind the windows.  Just look at the next full size bus or train to pass you at a distance and give this theory some thought....

The figures involved are a set I purchased from Aidan Campbell at a show some years ago, they were an experiment by him in resin casting, from the conversation we had I'm not sure if it is one he repeated.  All were legless below the knee.  I had previously started to paint these but I had fallen out with them as some of them looked rather odd.  Using some cheap Chinese Prieser copies I gave two of the figures new heads, and then got carried away and added the lower parts of their legs, using further oddments, and some genuine Prieser parts to complete this process.  Milliput covered the joins and hid a few bodges.

The figures were sprayed with grey primer, then given a coat of flesh colour on their faces, arms hands etc.  Once this was dry, a wash of black was applied over the entire figure, seeping into the creases and shadows.  This darkened the grey areas and avoided a solid mass of colour.

The real test is what they looked like through the coach windows...

I'll leave readers to judge for themselves on the effectiveness of this treatment.  I have the coach in my display cabinet for daily inspection, I do wonder if the upper body clothing could do with a dry brush of light colours, but we shall see, at the moment I feel that it works, certainly for fully enclosed stock.

'Rails to the Sands' - the Sequel

Today saw my first trip to the Cleethorpes Coast Light Railway for several months, in fact the last time I was there I was the first person to remove and exhibit from the old 'Rails to the Sands' exhibition in the craft units when 'Shifting Sands' returned home. I was intrigued to see what the re-use of much of the display material in Griffin Hall at Lakeside station would look like.  I had many personal connections to the original exhibition having painted sections of the structures and other smaller tasks....

'Mighty Atom', Bassett-Lowke no. 11 of 1908 is a display centrepiece.  This loco ran at Southport and Great Yarmouth so has genuine seaside links, alongside it's place in the Sutton Coldfield collection.

The ticket office transported from over the road, I'm told a TV is due to go in the opening very soon. The lifering that was cosmetically back-dated using 'mod-roc' on our old kitchen table looks a little tired, I do have the paint somewhere if anyone wants to touch in the chips....

'Blacolvesley' (L), Bassett-Lowke, 1909, veteran of Saltburn and Seaburn as well as Blakesley Hall, and currently out of traffic 'Sutton Belle' (R). 

SMR no.4, the canopy over the doorway has recycled from the old display in the craft units with some adjustment. 

The Triang-Minic locomotive.  When the original display was set up my modelling skills were put to use cleaning up and spray painting the reproduction arrows it carries.

Whilst there is no doubt more to do to enhance the exhibition, the inclusion of the 'Rails to the Sands' material has enhanced the offer in Griffin Hall no end.  In fact, the only thing missing appear to be my sandcastles...

Of course the longest-term resident in Griffin Hall is the SMR 'Loco Coal' wagon, inspiration for one of my recent models.  I now have a good, clear picture of it (I should have moved the bin...):

My model is definately an 'inspired by' one, having now seen several details in close-up a lot has become clearer, for example the how the end door hinges actually form the door retaining system:

Outside 'Mountaineer' and the GCR 'ROD' O4 were in operation, however I was keen to see the latest arrival at the CCLR, the rather interesting remains of the Les Anderson (of Minirail fame) RapidoRail articulated railcar set, a long-term restoration job no doubt!

RapidoRail railcar ex-Flamingoland, Dudley Zoo, Rhyl and long-term storage.

Hudson Hacking

It looks as if the Somerthorpe Miniature Railway's PW department has relented, as another wagon build has emerged on the workbench.  This again uses parts recycled from a previous, slightly unsatisfactory build...

This RCL Hudson frame is the one used previously under a cut-down Black Dog Mining flat top.  It didn't run to well , I had put this down to replacement wheelsets, but I have subsequently discovered that during the build (itself something of a bodge) I hadn't aligned the axle box mouldlings properly, hence a wobbly ride.  Removing the axle box mouldings in one piece was a no-go, so a slightly more innovative solution was called for....

I'll be modelling this, the PW wagon of the Sherwood Forest Railway, one of a few 15" gauge wagons I can say that I have travelled in:

This real-life Hudson-bash actually has the axleboxes mounted on some angle iron behind the main frames with with the axles shortened for 15" gauge, I'm assured it was like that when they bought it from Tal-yCafn.

Model wise this has allowed something of a cheat, please look away now if you are a time served O14 modeller...

Yes, that is a much butchered Peco chassis living under there!  I was inspired to work this way after the success of the Peco/Black Dog adaptor under the 'Loco Coal' wagon, where I see the frame as a 'veneer' over the Peco chassis.  I this case I also slimmed down the recovered RCL axleboxes and glued them over the Peco axleguards, shorn of their N gauge detail.  Once the glue was set the axleguards were cut and filed to the same shape as the axleboxes, completing the illusion.  From normal viewing angles the deception is not visible, and the fact that the wheels are too small isn't noticeable.

Progress with the other two wagons has reached the varnishing stage, whilst some loads are being assembled from the spares box:

Gonna Paint That Wagon...

"Gonna paint a wagon, gonna paint it good, we ain't bragging, we're gonna coat that wood..."

The Simpsons have a lot to answer for!  OK, so it isn't actually wood, it's styrene pretending to be wood, and I used a water based paint, but apart from that....

A variety of acrylic paints, Humbrol, Vallejo and Citadel were employed in painting the two wagons, edging out all of the ironwork was actually a lot simpler than I had imagined it would be.

The next stage was to add lettering to the loco coal wagon.  This was done the old school way, using dry print lettering.  I tend to use the end of a cocktail stick in a pin vice to rub down the transfer, it has a fine, replaceable point, and you an see what you are doing.

A coat or acrylic matt varnish sealed the transfers into place, although an overall coat of varnish will be applied in due course.

More developments on the wagon front may be on the cards, although this is very much dependent on the whims of the Somerthorpe Miniature Railway PW department! However, readers may be interested to know that all traces of industrial O9 left the building yesterday....

Eyes Wide Open

The birth of baby Amelia on Sunday 25th March has created a new regime in the Peake household, and seeing her with eyes wide open made me open my own...

I had started to wonder some time ago whether my more recent O9 industrial models, such as the Drewery-bash loco and some open wagons on Black Dog Mining chassis, were a journey in the wrong direction.  Although that project including a replacement flat wagon (on Hudson chassis) for the 'Shifting Sands' fleet, that didn't work out as planned, and I was perhaps a bit too hasty in whipping chassis away from the 'Shifting Sands' works fleet.  What was required were new miniature railway style wagons.

At Narrow Gauge North I had picked up an old example of the Black Dog Mining WA01 chassis frame to fit over a Peco 10ft wheelbase wagon chassis.  With the odd half hour to spare each day during my first week of  paternity leave I used this as a basis to create a body based on the ex-Sutton Miniature Railway 'Loco Coal' wagon that lives in the Griffin Hall museum at Cleethorpes.

(L) Sutton style 'Loco Coal' wagon (R) Cleethorpes style general-purpose wagon

This is a fairly faithful recreation of the original, down to a set of N-Brass buffers on the headstocks!

The other wagon illustrated is a revival of the 'Shifting Sands' wagon that used to carry two oil drums.  Shorn of it's newer industrial drop-side body this has received a new, simpler body based upon two of the Cleethorpes works fleet.  The eagle eyed will see that the body is slightly short of the chassis length - this is deliberate in order to make it look different from the normal Black Dog products.

These little projects have kept me occupied at a time when starting something new is all to daunting, I must get around to painting them!

On Being Industrious

I'm pleased (perhaps relieved) to say that my i/c industrial loco project is now at a degree of completion.

Following a coat of Games Workshop varnish, I have glazed the cab windows with individual pieces of glazing, including a representation of a sliding window in the cab side.  I have also made the headlights look like lenses using Araldite.

At the moment the couplings (and indeed chassis) are in O9 mode, however it can be made to sit on a 24mm 'Spud' and fitted with modified NEM-fitting tension lock or Kaydee couplers with a few moments work to run in O-16.5 mode.

Inside the cab some of the detail (mostly Sidelines parts) can be seen:

It could really do with a heavy dose of weathering but that will have to wait until I decide it's fate, It is a bit of an alien interloper in my existing fleet, and certainly looms over any of the 'Shifting Sands' fleet.  Of course it is intended as an 18" gauge industrial loco rather than a 15" miniature one.  Although I did start work on some wagons for it to pull, these are on hold at the present time until I decide whether to pursue the industrial approach or whether to explore other options.  But don't worry, either way will be reported here in due course.

Preservation in Miniature

I've alluded in a past update to a project to restore my early miniature railway models, from my 'experimental' phase almost 10 years ago, to something close to their original condition.  This involves the first 'Intrepid'  being lowered to as-built ride height on a dummy chassis and my Routemaster based coaches being given new bogies.

Here's the target 'look' - the yet to be named locomotive with the Routemaster stock in tow:

The bogie donor is a Del Prado UP locomotive, sadly the cast chassis block is too long for this project. Interestingly the body of this has a separate roof panel in just the right place to sit a miniature railway driver...

The bogie details were stripped back and modified to resemble the conversion carried out originally on Bachmann bogies.  2mm Evergreen channel added over the top edge, plus new bufferbeams and other details in styrene.  In the background MicroTrains 'Archbar' bogies are having the mountings altered to suit the Routemaster coaches and hook and loop couplers replacing the MT originals for between coach couplings (i.e. the cheapskate way!):

A styrene chassis frame will hold the dummy bogies in place, this will locate into the fitting used on the frame I built to fit the present Atlas chassis (now what will happen to that....?!)

A waft of primer over the bogies and chassis frame was followed by a spray of matt black on the frame itself, whilst the bogies were painted using Valejo acrylics and everything subsequently varnished using Humbrol 'Matt Cote'.  A bit a dry brushing here and there has brought out the detail in the bogie sides:

The dummy couplers are Bachmann mouldings as supplied with wagons in the US N range, they are bit on the chunky size but do the job (i.e. are cheap and non-functioning).  They don't look so bad with the body in place.  This picture is an attempt to re-create one that I took for 'Model Train International' several years ago which has featured on the blog before:

The coach bogies were also toned down with Matt Cote and a bit of drybrushing, three coaches have been treated this way, this photo is of coach number 1 which was repainted a couple of years ago after a disastrous attempt to re-livery it in Maroon.  The underframe was modified at the same time to better resemble my loose prototype of the ex-Sutton Miniature Railway coaches.  This is set off by the 'Archbar' bogies that closely resemble those of the Sutton Stock:

The completed train presently has pride of place in my display cabinet.  Which reminds me, I better find something to fill the other shelves...