Sitting Comfortably?

The driver of the Lister was not alone in his journey through the paintshop. For company he had the passenger and baggage for the 4w coach for 'odsock Corner. He's a 3D printed figure from 3D Printing for Charity (Facebook) raising money for the Lincs and Notts Air Ambulance.

He looks very relaxed in his shorts and cap! I could see a hint of a beard in the print so painted this in accordingly. The bag is from a set of Prieser unpainted figures bought in Shifting Sands days, both were finished in a similar way to other items in the recent batch, dry-brushing colours over a black-grey wash.

Colin

Caravan and Cake

I recently had one of those annual occurrences that involves cake and a few beers, and in amongst the presents were a couple of O9 models to build. On the left is a FK3D print of the Motor Rail/Simplex 'Caravan' which is designed to fit the Kato "core" in the same way as their Lister model, which will go a long way to overcome the issues I resolved on the 'Druid' print.

On the right is a self-directed present, a Unit Models 1-plank wagon cast resin kit. Years ago I built a Unit models 2-plank wagon kit but it didn't lead to any more purchases, this one was prompted by seeing Stephen Clulow's 'Apadobe Mine' at the 7mm NGA even to Mickleover in February (or January 32nd if you prefer...) It was a pleasure to meet Stephen for the first time and see the layout in operation, you can read more about his models on his blog Steve's Narrow Gauge Railway Adventure.

Stephen operated using a mixture of Black Dog Mining and Unit Models wagons and this prompted me to have a look again at the kits at the Doncaster exhibition the following week. Having purchased a 3D print Heywood-style wagon at Mickleover I now have a few "out of the box" projects to be getting on with in the coming months.

As for the special day, we had a trip on the Sherwood Forest Railway and Bob Colley treated me to the birthday headboard for the run!

In the next couple of weeks there should be developments to report on both 'odsock Corner and a project that I have been keeping under wraps...

Colin
 

Finishing Touches for Number 6

Work progresses on the FK3D Motor Rail 'Simplex', firstly with a little weathering... 

Initially I focussed on the underframe, where I first sprayed with Humbrol matt varnish before starting the weathering itself. To achieve this relatively easily I used post-it notes to mask off the bodywork during the spraying. This gave a much flatter base to work the weathering into, including colour washes, dry-brushing and a few oily/wet patches. On the bodywork some lighter blue was dry-brushed around the body edges to give a lightly-worn effect and weathering applied to the grilles, chimney/exhaust and air tank on the bonnet top. 

Once I was happy with the weathering I glued the driver into place using the pin in his posterior in the hole drilled into the seat support, having to clamp him down whilst the glue dried as otherwise he did not sit into the seat properly. Unfortunately his feet don't quite touch the floor but I'm not sure what I can do about that! The cab roof was then glued in place and again had to be clamped as it had a slight bow to it. 

At this stage I had thought I was finished but having revisited David Malton's drawing in the Railway Modeller I realised that 'Druid' retained the Motor Rail handrail at the bonnet end despite there being nowhere for someone to really stand and hold on for dear life! I therefore fabricated one from 0.9mm brass wire and soldered it together in an improvised jig.

 

After cleaning up the soldered joints the handrail was blackened and then painted to a faded black finish and sealed with matt varnish, before carefully gluing in place into two carefully pre-drilled holes on the front footplate.

Photography of the completed loco on the mini-diorama and 'The Headshunt' shows how well the Kato chassis vanishes into the murk in layout conditions. I believe taking the skirting away from the base of the print has really made a difference in this area. However, the finished loco is currently residing in the display cabinet on a shelf at eye level, where the chassis is all too conspicuous...

Colin

Simplex Number 6

Since I last posted about the FK3D 'Druid' print a couple of weeks ago I've been busy with the paintbrushes and masking tape and the result is an LCLR-style Simplex. One of the downsides of the (almost) all-in-one print is that delicate masking is required between the underframe and the bonnet/cab areas to get a neat result, but well worth the effort. 

The blue is Citadel Lothern blue as used on my 009 LCLR coach and loco, applied in three coats with the paint thinned as required to help alleviate brush marks. The red and black from Vallejo, the latter reduced in blackness with a spot of WW1 beige. The whistle was picked out in Vallejo brass whilst the printed oval plates on the cab sides and rear, which had troubled me at first, were painted black with white boltheads to complement the numbering, taken from a Replica Railways 4mm scale 'Rail Express Systems' rub-down sheet. Number 6 reflects the running number of 'Druid' at the ALR, despite this being a freelance interpretation.

The cab interior was treated with a coat of thinned black-grey and then various items were picked out in different colours. This was actually quite tricky to reach some of the features. The driver figure is the Monty's 'Industrial Driver' figure that I had prepared for the O9 railcar last year but didn't use as he was slightly on the tall side. A length of 1mm brass wire was Araldited in a hole drilled in his posterior and a corresponding hole drilled down the seat support to accept it. Milliput was used to add some "shape" to fill the bucket seat in the cab (Thinking about it, I may have flattened out his original shape for the railbus project...).

The driver has had a touch-in on the original paint job and a waft of Humbrol matt varnish. The loco itself has had a coat of Halfords matt varnish but is actually quite satin. I'm hoping this can be knocked back with some careful weathering and since taking the photos I started this process by masking the bodywork with post-it notes and spraying the Humbrol matt varnish over the underframe, which has the immediate effect of knocking back the shine.

Colin

 

Future Echoes

It's been a quiet few weeks since I posted at Christmas, and it does seem a bit late to be wishing readers a Happy New Year!

I have spent a little time recently considering "what next?" and "what's achievable?" There are various thoughts at play and despite the appeal of something that the Shifting Sands stock can run on, another part of me wants to push in a different direction. I've always struggled with non-miniature railway O9, but I may now have a helping hand... my dad wasn’t sure what else to buy me for Christmas and I was out of ideas, so this was a complete surprise on Christmas day. I thought “that's too light to be a mug” when I was passed the almost square box...

This is  3D print from FK3D based on the 2ft gauge Abbey Light Railway's Simplex rebuild 'Druid' to fit a Kato 11-109 chassis. It is certainly not to miniature railway proportions but very believable as an 18" gauge locomotive. 

The irony was that I had actually asked for a FK3D print from my sister, who I wouldn’t see after Christmas. I was relieved it was not the same print, although I suppose there is no limit to how many of these you might want and potential variations thereof...  

So a few days later I opened up this little Lister, a very finely detailed print that will require careful painting. I was contemplating adding it to the 15" gauge fleet as a companion to the railcar on a slightly crazy micro layout scheme, but the arrival of the Simplex has meant that I am presently working through a few ideas for something else... 

There's not a lot of modelling underway at present, the Leyland National is slowly heading through the paint shop, currently in reverse, but in a few idle moments I have been working on a driver figure for the Simplex, but he's being photo-shy for now!

Colin

'The White Rose' is Revealed

A vintage photo of a 15" gauge Bo-Bo diesel 'The White Rose', mid to late 20th century, location unknown...

I can now reveal the completed A1 Models 3D printed diesel. Why the name? Well 'Royal Anchor' was named after the pub where the workshop it was built in was located, and this name sounds like of could be the name of a pub. Of course the loco isn't actually white, but neither is the Curwen diesel 'The White Heron' at the Stapleford Miniature Railway...

I last illustrated this prior to going onto the paintshop and it has been a slow process to get it through to the finishing point. The main body colour was sprayed using Halfords Rover Tahiti blue, which was left for a good week or so to dry in order to avoid any masking mishaps. The bufferbeams were masked off and painted with Vallejo red, similarly the roof in London grey and the solebar in black-grey. As can be seen I chose to paint in the curved join between the blue and grey on the cab front, achieved using masking tape cut against a template.

I painted the window recesses in matt black and picked out the frames on the front windows in silver, which looks a lot untidier in the pictures than reality. Headlights were picked out in light grey and the tail lights in a dark red. The yellow chevrons are Dapol railbus transfers, applied with plenty of Micro Sol and Set, then varnished with Johnson's Kleer to protect them prior to the final varnish coat of Testor's Dulcote. I say coat, it was several coats as the first (from an old can) went on a bit patchy, leading to me starting my final can... Again I left the model for a week after this to dry thoroughly. Once dry the lights had Araldite floated on as lenses and I started the tedious process of glazing the windows with individual panes.

Looking down from the roof the fan grille can be seen, this was added during painting, as the recess below had to be painted matt black prior to fitting the grille just before the roof was painted. Despite the many coats of Dulcote the roof had a slightly speckled appearance so it has had a slightly heavier dose of weathering than I might normally give a miniature outline locomotive. But miniature railway locomotives do get dirty! Air horns are old whitemetal castings from a very old A1 models packet and the nameplates are also A1 products.

Taking these photos did reveal a window that was not in position properly, which has now been corrected, and there are a few areas that really do look worse in close up than reality! But generally I am happy with the result although the jury is still out on using a chassis with a shorter bogie wheelbase than intended, that could be revisited in the future if required.

Colin

Pushing the Bo-Bo towards the paintshop

In my last post I left the MicroTrains coupler hanging below the bufferbeam of the A1 Models 'Royal Anchor' look-alike, looking for a way to make this look more realistic. My initial thought was to use an extension plate to the centre of the buffer beam, based on the arrangement of ex-Fairbourne 'Rachel' (left below). However in practice this did not look so good with the chunkiness of the MT coupler box. What was desirable was something more like ex-Fairbourne 'Katie' in Haigh Hall/Cleethorpes condition (right) where the angle-sections remained from former Fairbourne arrangement of "cow catcher" either side of the coupler.

One problem, I had no Plastruct 'L' section and slicing it up from channel did not look right. I was also concerned that plastic section here would be quite vulnerable during construction and painting and could snap or just become unstuck from the brass bufferbeam. Make that two problems, I had no brass 'L' section small enough either. After some rummaging I found some brass fence posts, etched with a join down the middle which would fold nicely to 'L section of about the right size. If only I could have soldered them to the bufferbeams before I glued them to the loco, that would be super-strong! Oh the benefit of hindsight... However, what I could do is solder them to a backing plate the of the same strip as the bufferbeam and glue that in place, giving the advantage of a greater glued area. It was a fiddly soldering job but I got there in the end (inset).

One of the completed coupler units was offered up to the loco and I was pleased with the result. This did however show up that it really could do with is some empty boltholes for the other bits of ironwork and where buffers may have once fitted.  I made up some templates to allow marking and drilling of the brass but this was proving very difficult to make it look how I saw it in my minds eye.

After some thought I cheated and made up 5 thou styrene pre-drilled overlays and superglued them in place. Job done! I also added tiny bits of Plastruct hex rod to the brass angles to emphasise what might have been bolted in the holes. By the time this photo was taken I had blackened some of the exposed brass areas ready for the painting stage

After a wash down I then applied a light coat of primer to the body. As I suspected it might this revealed a few areas that need attention before moving on. Also, a little nagging doubt started to form, was I really happy with those curved lines over the windscreens? I started to delve deeper into 'Royal Anchor', because whilst I wasn't actually modelling her, most of the inspiration was coming from that direction. It started with looking at liveries, from the original two-tone grey with red trim (very 50s!); R&ER dark blue; and the various schemes work at Carnforth, such as two-tone green. What was clear is that the line on the drawings that I had scribed into the body was just the paint line of the R&ER livery and was not there in reality other than perhaps being the point the curvature started.

 

As I was not really happy with the way the lines had turned out this prompted me to fill the "furrowed brow" and once smoothed out re-apply the primer. I now have the freedom of choice between a curved paint join or straight across as per the Carnforth repaints. I then masked up the bufferbeam areas and sprayed them with red primer to give a base to the bufferbeam red in due course. This is a bit rough around the edges but will be lost in the final paint job.

As per my usual rule I don't generally take photos of paintshop progress, so you may have to wait for the next update!

Colin

A firmly 'Anchored' chassis frame

Although I have the Bachmann chassis that the A1 Models diesel is designed to fit (in my case a U36-B) I have opted to instead use an Atlas GP7 chassis to power the model. This is a slightly more sophisticated chassis and has a smaller die-cast section and allows for a figure (of sorts) to be represented in each cab, whereas the Bachmann chassis would only really allow something at one end. This particular chassis was previously used under my original Dapol railbus loco conversion and it was still in the chassis frame from this era. This proved useful as a blueprint for the new frame that would be required for the A1 body.

The new unit is largely 40 thou styrene, reinforced with Evergreen strip where required. Through careful measurement it and the original clip onto the Atlas chassis block using four dimples drilled into the inner sides of the upright sides. Between the bogies I have added a section that hides the fuel tank area of the chassis but also reflects the design of 'Royal Anchor'.

I found two suitable figures to sit in the loco, they had to get head and shoulders within the width of the chassis upright as this slots into the A1 Models body (there are substantial strengthening ribs along the bottom edge). The figures are actually glued in place as they will only get require minimal painting to give an impression of colour. The chap at this end looks rather bored, he must be awaiting the right-away!

Having been reminded by an observer of the absence of any Dapol kit parts so far in the build, I delved into the railbus and drewery shunter bits boxes in order to maintain this tradition. Space constraints ruled out my initial thought to use the part from the railbus kit that represent the side of the engine block, visible through the side window. I considered Drewery shunter vac pipes but in the end I resorted to a railbus air tank under the bufferbeam at the far end and a box of some sort at the the closest end. 

The next step was to make provision for MicroTrains couplers. As luck would have it the bottom of the bufferbeams is 7mm from rail level, and there is just enough material to drill a 1mm dia hole to screw the coupler into. There is just one problem... it looked tacked onto the bottom of the bufferbeam!

This would take some thought to resolve, we shall see how next time.

Colin

A new spin on 'Royal Anchor'...

On return from a week in Scarborough I cast around for something to do model wise, and my eyes fell upon the A1 Models O9 3D printed Bo-Bo locomotive I had completed the initial preparation work on some time ago. Although clearly based on the former Ravenglass/Carnforth locomotive 'Royal Anchor' I wanted to put my own spin on the model. I had discussed this model with John Flower at the Mansfield 009 Society members day and now had a clearer idea of what I might like to do to it.

A reminder of how it looked...

The first job was to get a little drastic with the windows. This is not as drastic as I had initially envisaged as I had pondered creating a single windscreen with a slightly curved top edge, reminiscent of the former Dudley Zoo Bo-Bo machine prior to rebuilding at Cricket St Thomas. I think it would be do-able but I am never sure just what modifications a print will withstand so as it stands I have just opened out the cab front windows to loose the chunky surrounds. Each window is perhaps only 0.5mm bigger each way but it does change the look a little. The wobbly dividers in the door windows have gone and will be replaced when the glazing is installed. The body side windows have lost their frames completely with a resultant colour patch where sanding down has occurred. The circular opening (fuel filler?) has also been reduced in the same way.

The biggest change is the new bufferbeams. John admitted that he had totally forgotten to add these to the design. Brass etch waste 3.5mm deep was Araldited to the bottom of the cab fronts and once set I scored a line along the bodysides at a corresponding height to represent the rest of the underframe. This line was deepened and neatened using an Olfa-style cutter. Two vertical panel lines were also added to the bodysides, all corresponding with 'Royal Anchor' despite this not being a model of that machine. Milliput was used to fill the corners behind the new buffer beams, being brass these exposed corners are now very robust.

Using a template (actually an old A1 Models cab etch) a line was scored above the windscreens, which will eventually be the colour join between cab front and roof colours. Again this follows 'Royal Anchor', but helps break up the large area above the windscreens, which was in danger of looking like a slimline Metro-Cammell DMU! Above this line I have smoothed back the join between front and roof to a more rounded profile.

There are still a few details to add, such as door hinges and some roof detail, but at present I am concentrating on getting a chassis under there, which isn't going to be the Bachmann one the manufacturer envisaged...

Colin

 

Big 'Keef

I received this new Alan Keef K30 print from A1 Models a week or so as John Flower felt that it might be suitable for O9 use. With a few provisos it isn't bad for a maximum-width O9 loco, 28+ mm wide and 43 mm tall when sat on a Kato 11-10. In fact I think my green Knightwing bash might have been a similar size a few years ago. 

It is difficult to see in the pictures in raw form that it is print with a rough finish (it is incredibly difficult to photograph in this form too!)

I thought I would show the stages of finishing the print to a ready-to-paint state. Firstly the raw print was bathed in white spirit to degrease, then washed, dried, and the surface sanded with 400 grit. Then washed and dried again.

(Note: All sanding used home made sanding sticks  made using wet and dry stuck to lolly sticks/coffee stirrers and was carried out wet.)

Red plastic primer was sprayed onto the model - this tends to highlight the surface and the print looks really rough and gritty.

More sanding followed, this time 800 grit sticks, then washed and dried.

A coat of yellow filler primer were applied, then another sand with 800 grit, revealing that a second coat would be beneficial. 

After the second yellow coat I sanded with 1200 grit to the state seen here. Washing and drying occurred again after each sanding session (of course!).

Finally, grey primer has been applied to my satisfaction, giving a smooth finish with only a few minor imperfections. I have managed to achieve this with no loss of detail on the print, luckily it is mostly flat surfaces and angles, with no fine detail.

In all I think about 3+ hours of work went into finishing this 3D print to this state, broken up over several evenings and waiting for paint to thoroughly dry before sanding. I ask myself if I could have built it in less time from scratch, and no, I couldn't.... at this stage I think that it may stay in grey primer, it isn't really the locomotive I need at the moment, but at least it is making me think about what is...

Colin

Alan Keef K12 in O9 - Everythings Gone Green...

With a dry spell of weather over the weekend I managed to get a coat of varnish over the ever-so-slowly painted Alan Keef K12.

The green is Halfords 'Meadow Green', but you might have guessed that! Black and red areas were brush painted, red first over red oxide primer and then the green and red were masked off for the black to be painted.

Grilles are some old etched fencing panels cut to shape, blackened, painted and added in between painting and varnishing. The cab side panel has not come out too badly in the end, although this is somewhat helped by the very flat finish the Humbrol varnish creates.

There are a few jobs to complete such as glazing and I think it will definitely need some weathering to hide the ropier parts of the paintwork. It might have to wait though...

Colin

Alan Keef K12 in O9 - 3D Print Manipulation

I haven't managed to get much modelling done over the last couple of weeks, but I have managed to tweak the 3D printed K12 a little to better reflect the prototype. 

Having removed the original axleboxes and smoothed away the remains I added 20 thou styrene behind the frames cut to the correct shape, and then 40 x 30 thou strip to build up the depth below the axlebox positions. The bottom of each buffer beam gained a 60 x 60 thou strip. Once set in place these items were shaped to suit and Milliput used to fill any gaps.

New axlebox and spring detail is formed using various sections of styrene strip, the springs being much thinned down rod. I did try to scribe a spring effect onto this before cutting but it remains to be seen whether this will actually show up.

The grilles caused some fun and games as I initially thought I had no suitable square pattern material in stock. In the past I have used old sections of A1 Models chain link fencing etch for this but had nothing the right size in the usual place. Thinking that I had some fresh pieces in my 4mm scale scenic stash I was stumped when I couldn't find them, it was only when locating the diamond pattern etch I'd used on my 1/24th Lister that eventually found the spare length of fence!

The coupler blocks that I created a few weeks ago by laminating together styrene sheet and strip have been located at a height to suit MicroTrains couplers. They are drilled to allow a 1015 coupler to be secured with a screw from underneath. Bolt head detail is from EDM Models

On the front end I have added slithers of Plastruct hex section to represent the bolts at the top of the bonnet front. 

At this stage rather a lot of paintwork had been rubbed back, and I did have a concern that in places the primer had not adhered to the rubbed-down factory finish. Several edges saw the paint chip away all to easily... After a good scrub down I applied a very light coat of primer as a proof coat and also in the hope that it dried better as a thin coat. After a few more adjustments another coat was added and the end result was this.

 

It's a bit rough in places but it will have to do, and hopefully painting and weathering will distract the eye a little. I've now given it a rub down with 1500 grit wet and dry in preparation for a sprayed coat of green, I've chickened out of Keef factory applied orange!

If you fancy an O9 K12 yourself, A1 Models have the print listed on eBay here...

 

Colin

Alan Keef K12 in O9 - Take 2

"I have a bodyshell I have adapted from a commission job that may be of interest." So began an email discussion from John Flower at A1 Models, in a later reply he said "The body I am sending you was done for a customer in 7mm scale for him to fit a chassis. He isn't doing O9 but it would be used in these gauges." The resultant parcel that arrived a few days later was opened with a mixture of excitement and trepidation, as John had described how the vendor he is using for printing now offers the prints ready-sprayed in a semi-gloss finish.

There it was, instantly recognisable as an Alan Keef K12. Those with long memories may well remember that I scratchbuilt one of these nearly ten years ago, then regretfully exported it to the other side of the globe! 

I'll have to admit, that on first impressions the finish didn't really grab me, but after about 3/4 hour of smoothing using 400 then 800 grit wet and dry, I had flattened off most of the finish. Certainly different from finishing raw prints with cycles of filler primer and smoothing, but with hindsight I would perhaps rather have that level of control. It is worth noting that the print is actually in a black material, apparently this is unpopular with some customers, are they conditioned by what Shapeways churns out? Personally I cannot see anything wrong with it....

Getting adventurous I marked up and scribed in the lines denoting the upper edge of the frames and buffer beams, and the panel join towards the front of the bonnet using an olfa (style) cutter. I also created some extra clearance inside to allow the body to sit on a much modified Bachmann Plymouth chassis.

When I say much modified, I mean filed and cut to within a millimetre of it's life, and converted to 4w in the process.

Compared with the drawing in the Alan Keef book, reduced to 7mm scale, the print is about 5mm too long and 3mm too wide, understandable as it was intended for a 16.5mm gauge mechanism. The other main area where the print differs visually from the drawing is in the bottom edge of the frames and the axleboxes.

A coat of grey primer allowed me to better judge the finish I had achieved. Unfortunately the printed bolt heads on the cab side panel didn't look as happy as I had hoped they would and I will be looking to reduce these considerably before going much further.

I'm also looking into modifying the bottom edge of the frames, as I would really like to add the correct shape by adding small fillets at the bottom of the frame and also to add depth to the bufferbeams. This will also mean that I need to alter the axleboxes. As printed the front one is not the same distance from the front as the back one is from the back (and they should be the same), altering this will actually make it match the power unit and better reflect the drawing.

More when some progress is made...

Colin