The Imposters Return - In Colour!

Sorry, despite the name this is not a forgotten ITC TV series from the 1960s! 

I cannot quite believe that it was September when we last saw these two wagons. In mid December my attention returned to them and I decided to reverse the earlier decision to fit a simple coupling system of loops and hooks, opting instead to fit MicroTrains couplers after all. This would entail a little surgery to the headstocks in order to accommodate the draft boxes.

With the openings cut at the correct heights Milliput was used to create a level, solid area behind the headstock of both wagons. On the longer one this is key to giving an area that can be drilled to take the mounting screw, on the shorter wagon it is just to stop the draft box tipping backwards. Once set, holes were drilled centrally 1mm back from the front face of the headstock, taking care not to drill through the floor... On the longer wagon part of the hole is in the styrene headstock, part in the Milliput, no doubt a bit in the lead weight and then into the styrene floor! The holes were crudely 'tapped' using a MicroTrains coupler screw ready for when couplers are fitted.

Before Christmas the two wagons progressed through the paintshop. The shorter wagon in Humbrol red-brown and the longer one in grey. New Years Eve again provided the opportunity to apply Humbrol matt varnish from and aerosol. There is still some weathering work to do, notably on the coupler pocket on the grey wagon! 

The shorter wagon has brown couplers, from a pack I picked up in desperation at some stage. The previously completed "matching" wagon carries the other pair. This set had been on my Chivers Theakston wagon, but had never looked quite right. I had fitted this wagon with Bemo 7mm wheelsets that I had acquired from 009 sales at a Mansfield members day a few years ago, but it always looked a bit tip-toed and out of balance with other stock with the couplers hanging under the buffer beam. Playing about I popped a set of Peco wheels in and sat it alongside the short wagon it had donated it's coupling to.

It now seemed to sit a little happier alongside the other stock, so I may look at fitting different MicroTrains couplers (1023's) and it may have a place on the future layout. I have previously conjectured about using a Black Dog mine tub in an agricultural setting for the disposal of manure etc, but rejected it as it looked out of place with other vehicles. The Theakston could fulfil this role... 

A wagon assured a place alongside the new stock is my tool wagon. Probably last seen on the blog in Exmoor on Tour as a coupling adaptor. The chassis already matches that on the new grey wagon and the opportunity has been taken to refine the strapping detail and add Grandt Line hinges on the roof doors to match the open wagons. 

With all that work a repaint was necessary, this gives a chance to change the colour and I have chosen to go down the route of something a little more unusual...

Colin

Bumper Bungalow Update - Painting and Finishing

A patch of reasonable weather a week or so before Christmas allowed the workshop to be used for spraying without having to warm it up too much, giving an opportunity to give the bungalow a full coat of primer. As ever the primer brings all the different materials together as one and forms a good base for what follows. Throughout painting I have tried to use the principle of applying washes and near dry-brushes wherever possible, avoiding "solid" colour if I can. 

The roof tiles were given a wash of Vallejo 'Black Grey', then almost dry-brushed with a mix of Vallejo 'Hull Red' and a terracotta shade that I had bought especially for the job. A further wash was then followed by dry-brushing with the terracotta shade, actually Army Painter 'Tanned Flesh'. This was bought especially for the job after my home-brew mixes failed to get the right shade.

The concrete render started out as Railmatch 'Concrete' with a touch of grey added, then washes of brown, black-grey and dry brushing with light grey and sand shades. Generally the old Airfix render mouldings come out rather well! Window frames were painted away from the model in Vallejo 'Olive Green', dry brushed with the same manufacturers 'Green Grey'. The same treatment was given to the sills on the wall mouldings. Windows frames were fixed in place once most of the painting was complete.

The 'Tanned Flesh' paint formed the basis of brick and chimney pot colouring, and once painted the chimney stacks were flashed into the roof using pieces of foil harvested from an egg-shaped Cadbury's product available in the early part of the year. With painting completed before the Christmas break I waited on a relatively mild, dry day to matt varnish everything...

That mild, dry day turned out, rather unexpectedly, to be the afternoon of New Year's Eve. Humbrol acrylic matt varnish was applied from an aerosol giving a pleasing finish. The next step was to add some moss and bird deposit effects to the roof, both for realism and to try and hide some of the dodgy tiling that I can only blame on myself...

Vallejo matt medium was applied to areas that needed moss adding and a blend of fine foam scatters scattered on through a sieve. Once dry various green, yellow and grey acrylics were stippled on to add to the effect.

That shot really does show that the roof tiles are far from perfect...

After the New Year weekend the bungalow got placed to one side as I got involved in some wagon projects (more another time), but I have finally got around to adding the glazing to the windows. This uses 20 thou clear styrene, fixed behind the frames using Kleer.

The front door and two of the narrow windows (to represent the bathroom and toilet) were "frosted" by sanding both sides with wet wet and dry paper. I think some internal partitioning might eventually be required to stop the see-through effect, and of course some curtains on the windows to stop you seeing in too far, and depending on how it is eventually used even some grunge inside or out of the glazing.

Overall I am very pleased with how this had turned out. Although officially a project with no place, it has proved a useful refresher in building colouring and techniques that will be useful for future 7mm scale work...

Colin