The Road to Humberston

Earlier in October I completed the paintwork on my 009 LCLR Simplex 'Wilton'. Citadel 'Lothern Blue for the main bodywork, which had 4 slightly-thinned coats; Vallejo red on the bufferbeams, and a slightly lightened black on the frames, all hand-painted. Humbrol matt acrylic aerosol varnish has done a reasonable job of hiding the brush marks.

Glazing was almost as tedious as I thought it might be, 20 thou sheet cut to size to fit the apertures and held in place with Johnson's Kleer. Just for an idea of scale, the cab front window is 4.5 x 15mm... Just visible in the cab is the driver, a Hornby figure with his raised right arm lowered to about the position of the handbrake wheel on a Simplex (don't tell anyone but I haven't modelled it!). Primed, given a black wash and then dry brushed with flesh colour and overall blue in appropriate places he is certainly minimalist. Once he was fixed in place the cab roof was secured in position.

I realise I have been a little remise and not mentioned anything about the LCLR diorama for the coach and 'Wilton'. Here is a glimpse at an early stage or development, the platform is a much modified Wills station halt kit, reduced in height and with alterations to the support structure.

The track was painted using Halfords matt brown sprayed at the rail sides, and Humbrol matt brown (a lighter shade) sprayed down on the sleepers. Ballast is Woodland Scenics fine grey mixed with ash and AK smoke grey pigment, secured in place using Johnson's Kleer. Ground cover is my usual PVA/polyfiller/brown paint mix with WS fine turf sprinkled on, and grass from hanging basket liner. This was manicured with nail scissors and hair clippers, the various effects added with hairspray and scatter and some Martin Welberg weed tufts to add extra colour and texture.

The platform was sprayed in grey primer and then painted using washes of dark grey and brown followed by dry-brushing to give differing wood shades. The white line was masked off and off-white dry brushed on, which looked far too straight so I added in a few points of disruption...

The wooden platform at the North Sea Lane terminus of the LCLR was backed with a stanchion/rail fence, no doubt recovered from elsewhere. It is seen to good effect in this picture on Dave Enefer's website: http://www.davesrailpics.bravehost.com/lclr/img337w.jpg 

As this would appear at the front of the diorama I had some reservations about building this as it might be a view blocker, but decided to rise to the challenge and obtained some 15mm 3-hole model boat stanchions from eBay. With the aid of a jig drilled in some scrap ply I soldered 0.7mm brass wire in as the cross bars. When setting the posts into the platform I drilled 0.9mm holes and then opened then out with a 1.9mm drill to sink the base down a little. The post at the end looks to have had a sign on it at some point but I'm not sure what it was.

The platform fence had a light coat of etch primer and was then painted in Humbrol red/brown, with some red and yellow mixed in in an attempt to lighten it a bit. A lighter shade was dry-brushed over this and Humbrol matt varnish sprayed over, maybe a little too heavily on purpose to get a bit of a ghosting effect. Once dry it was set in place, showing here how it isn't that much of a view block despite being at the front.

A distinctive feature of the LCLR North Sea Lane station was the ex-GNR somersault signal used as starter (although I get the feeling it was more ornamental!). Seen here in a rather overgrown state: http://www.davesrailpics.bravehost.com/lclr/img685w.jpg 

My attempt is scratchbuilt with the aid of a couple of etched parts supplied by my Dad. He also supplied the post, vintage Hornby Dublo, which (collectors look away now...) was cut down in height. Barring the ladder and wheel (both from old A1 etches) all other parts are scratchbuilt in styrene, with the bracket holding the arm being reinforced with wire to represent the operating rod.

The signal was painted, firstly with a waft of etch primer, followed once dry by a coat of white primer, and then some careful masking to apply the black and red with acrylics. Following a coat of matt varnish I applied some light weathering and posed it with the ladder in place. This is now ready to go in place on the diorama, update soon...

Colin

A Tale of Hinge Envy

Earlier in the year, before the world of lockdown, my thoughts turned to rolling stock for a future O9 project. Whilst some existing wagons could be used, more would be required if I went down a light industrial or agricultural route. In my analysis, my usual way of wagon building had three points of time consumption:

• Scribing plank lines on styrene sheet
• Creating wood grain effects
• Adding bolt detail individually

The chance purchase of a Slaters sheet of rivet details on 20 thou styrene sheet prompted some experimentation. Using this and Slaters planked sheet the wagon body on the left was built, eliminating all three points of contention... However, it looked more like a wagon built from shed timber than planks! So the Mk2 version on the right returned to scribed planks on the sides (but retaining the Slaters sheet on the floor). 

The rivet strips were cut slightly finer on the second attempt and the end result looked quite reasonable. On the ends Evergreen channel section added further relief for minimal effort. However, once painted 

I wasn't entirely happy with the result, and I eventually realised why when the Chivers Finelines O-16.5 wagons became available again... very little can match the finesse of Roger's tooling on the hinge straps etc. I realised I had hinge envy!

When ordering Evergreen rod for 'Wilton' last week I had a glance down the Grandt Line listing from 7mm NGA sales and found some 'Engine House Door Hinges' (ref 3524). A quick Google confirmed that they might fit the bill with a bit of adjustment so a pack was added to my order. A Mk3 wagon body was assembled, and I took the opportunity to put a new blade in my scriber for the first time in a while, which has improved the plank lines compared with the previous build.

 

 

As the photo shows, I've shortened the hinges, and then carefully recovered the top two bolt heads and fixed them in new positions. I've also added the redundant top sections at right-angles to create the point at which the sides will be secured in place. I opted for some simple extra hinge detail added from 10 thou styrene strip and some rod through the hole of the moulded hinge. Simple pieces of bent 0.5mm wire represent the locking devices for the doors, I had started making something much more complex but decided to keep it simple.

After a coat of primer I was impressed with how the hinges/straps looked. As and when wagon production is decided upon the Mk2 version will be upgraded to match, it is 0.5 mm narrower but that will add some variety, as will differing hinge details and end supports etc, with the aim that there are a group of similar, but not identical wagons.

Colin