albergman

Thanks for the complement. Re: Renshape. I get it from a local company here in Ontario, Canada so that won't help you as I see you're in the US. If you can't source a free/cheap supply (and it's VERY expensive to buy) I'd suggest you look into composite decking. All the big box stores carry it now and it's not a bad substitute for Renshape. I got a bunch of off-cuts from a neighbour's deck project and screwed/glued them together .... Massaged it to this ... And eventually became ... not overnight mind you Frank http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234992475-scratch-built-flying-scotsman http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234991589-scratch-built-triumph-tr6 http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234991814-some-artsy-fartsy-wooden-cars http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234991630-anyone-for-scratch-built-half-hulls http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234991611-scratch-built-trojan-sport-fishing-boat

Hi all Had some nice comments and emails on my model of 4472 and I thought some might like to see how it came to be. As I said elsewhere I started it 10 years ago and I was fairly new to model building of any kind. I have done a few kits in my ill spent youth but since retirement 20 years ago I took up scratch building of racing cars from my era and later some half hull boats ... several of which are sprinkled around BM forums. As with all hobbies one's skills (should) improve with time and with each project and I am no exception there. My nemesis against moving forward in the hobby has been that every time I look at something I made a few years ago I take apart because "I can do it much better now". This is my long winded excuse for why I've taken so long to complete 4472 .. and it's not done yet. Mind you, I've shelved her for years at a time when I took on other models so, nowhere near 10 years of solid effort there. Nevertheless, I started building the entire loco in Renshape, a material I have ready access to and it's made specifically for the pattern-making industry ... prototyping if you like. Things were moving along swimmingly and progress was quick but I soon came to see that thin components were too brittle and were getting damaged in handling. I was in a big department store one day and came across a wall rack with many samples of Arborite and Formica to help your missus decide what colour of counter top she wants you to install. A light went on in my head as I handled a few of them and I thought ... "Blimey these are tough, flat, uniform and best of all FREE! and just perfect for 4472's cab and tender!". My wife went into a dither about what colours she wanted and the salesman just kept loading her up with samples. That helped 4472 along and those new components were fabricated from the booty ... no pics of the replacement tender I'm afraid but you'll get the idea. Eventually I came to another epiphany when I inherited some brass sheets of various thicknesses and off we went on another set of revisions. The front end was sawn off and over time a whole new brass replacement appeared. Naturally, this didn't all take place at one time as thought I'll just replace this and this with brass ... more steps backward. As you can see there are aluminium components beginning to appear as well as I branched into the new field of metallurgy. I should mention that I don't have a proper lathe just a machine with a faceplate and a 3 jaw chuck bolted to it. My machining is done by hand, resting on a tool rest and holding a cheap Chinese wood carving chisel. Most of my aluminium is salvaged from old computer hard drives that have a lovely solid cast body that is nice and "soft" as alloys go. The buffers were turned from an old, aluminium Exacto blade handle. Wheels ... these were tricky. I studied many pictures of wheels and eventually drew a pattern for myself and fabricated a single, perfect (well, sort of) driver. I made a silicon mould and cast a set of 6. A similar process was followed for all bogie and tender wheels. I made a master for the spring set for each tender wheel (much smaller than shown here) and cast 8 of them too ... While I'm at it here is one of the large spring sets for under the cab ... 2 are needed. Springs are strips of brass soldered together. The rest is a mish mash of pieces epoxied together. Rivets are straight pins raided from the missus' sewing supplies. From there I moved on to replacing the entire "chassis" of 4472 with some heavy brass plate to provide more rigidity and give me a solid platform to mount the wheels and motion ... more steps in the wrong direction. At about this time I had finished my second set of drivers and all components in brass ... having made the originals in WOOD!! I didn't care for the brass here so naturally I started all over in aluminum which I hacksawed from a piece of strapping. Much filing and use of various Dremel tools provided me with a set I was happy with. The depressing part about it is that I now had to repeat the process and make every piece for the other side. All this metal work had an unexpected problem ... 4472 was getting too heavy for its cast wheels and they began to sag!! This set me off looking for some aluminium pipe that I could machine down to make a metal wheel rim for strength ... and I found some! I hacksawed slivers off the pipe and machined each rim down to size then I inserted this rim into the silicon mould and poured fresh urethane into the mould to create a new set of spokes which also adhered themselves to the "tyre". Worked a charm. Well, things were pretty much sorted now and I could keep going in the right direction. 4472 got painted and striped ... and then a year later all the clear coat began to crackle (my own fault) and I had to strip it right down and refinish ... giant steps backwards. Eventually it was back to where I started, the tender is painted, stones of a suitable size glued in and painted to resemble coal. Many detailed pieces fabricated and installed ... oiling systems, handrails, lanterns etc. Now I'm working on a display stand and have cut and glued down sleepers and attached some ancient track I got at a model show but looks the right scale. One day soon she might actually be finished ... if I don't decide to remake some pieces I'm worried about. I hope some of you find this useful, helpful, educational? whatever. I'll be happy to answer any questions you have here or offline. Frank Smart

Thank you Steve. And, yes, I am very proud of it. To me it's one of these things that brings back youthful memories of the good old days.

OK I've posted a couple of pictures of Flying Scotsman ... http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234992475-scratch-built-flying-scotsman/

Hi all Here are a couple of pictures of my static display model of 4472. This is not built to any known scale but IS built to scale ... actually 22" buffer to buffer. I grew up in Scotland in the 50's and used to see many Gresley Pacifics pass my house and they left an abiding love for their clean design and beautiful lines ... not to forget the beautiful sound of their exhaust and that Gresley "knock". I've been labouring over this model off and on for 10 years and it started out being entirely fabricated from Renshape but over the years as my skills got better I started replacing much of it with brass and aluminium, To be honest, every part of it except the boiler has been fabricated twice and sometimes 3 times!! So, before any rivet counters get their magnifying glasses out I would appreciate not having to hear that there are obvious mistakes etc. I am now 77 and this is just a project I did for myself as a nice display model ... not to win any contests. Every piece of the engine has been hand made. All the motion (third times a treat!) is hacksawed from aluminium scrap and hand shaped with files. The main drive wheels have metal rims and cast spokes ... yes, I made a master and cast the six. Likewise all the bogie and tender wheels. Decals were all made by me. The model is just being test fitted to its display bed here and several pieces are missing ... one smoke deflector, one lantern, one buffer and one set of bogie wheels. The cab and tender still have some work to be done, Anyway, here it is and I hope you like it for what it is ... a handmade locomotive display model ... just for me! Thanks Frank Smart PS Lots of pictures of the build if anyone wants to see how some of it was done.

Well, since you asked!! Here's some old shots I took that include one of my 57 TestaRossa's . It was carved from basswood which is not a pretty wood so it got painted. I then used it to make a silicon mould from which I've cast 7 others ... and one still in progress. Wow ... taken 12 years ago! Top left ... Maserati 250F, 57 TR (3 of them) GTO, Lancia D50, 375MM unvarnished, 4th 57 TR shell, 375 MM basswood (traditional style). The 7th Testa Rossa. Collage of all the other TR's ... Here's a traditional styled 375MM Ferrari. This is a basswood carving and you can see it has had many chunks removed and reshaped. Umpteen coats of paint applied over the years. This car is 90% done now ... engine, interior and gas tank. I'll get some pics soon. Very tricky shape to get right ... for me anyway. Frank

Thanks A5h and all the others. As it is I have several other models in various stages of undress (pardon the expression) and I have to push myself to get back at it sometimes. It's much more fun to start something new. Maybe you find the same thing in the kit world? Too many models and not enough time. Frank

Yeah, have to be paint as this material has no qualities for clear coating.

Sent you a PM Dan. Send me an email address and I'll forward some loco pics. I don't think they belong here. Frank

Hi All Here's a few shots of a model I've been labouring over for a long time ... and losing interest! It's supposed to be a Lola T70 coupe and a design that I think is one of the most beautiful ever created. Anyway, my other scratch builds have had a lot of interest so I thought you might like to see how I go about them. Here are the patterns laid onto a block of Renshape then I bandsaw around the outer lines. I like to cut the block down the middle as the seam, when glued back together, gives a nice centreline for reference. It's also handy for shaping to have easy access to the "middle" of the block. Shaping done wit several tools ... orbital sander, Dremel MultiMax tool, small wood planes, files etc. Also use Dremels with a flex shaft and various tools on the end. Additional pieces rough cut before glueing, filling and shaping. Body halves glued back together Some old paint applied to test the shape ... Temporary Renshape wheels in place. The large block in place of the windshield will be used to mould some plastic sheet over. Further along ... black primer and a scratch engine fits snuggly in the 'ole. Started turning some wheel rims from aluminum salvaged from computer hard drive chassis' That's about as far as I've got and, as I said earlier, I've lost interest in it ... for now. Hope you find this interesting and maybe even inspire some to try fabricating some parts. Frank

Thanks Dan Black walnut does sound interesting and just might make for a nice model. As it is, I've got too many things on the go at the moment and I've promised myself to finish a few before tackling anything new ... must admit, I've made myself that promise many times. However, there's nothing like starting a new project to get the creative juices flowing and getting excited about the hobby. I'm into my 10th year (gulp) of off-and-on tackling a scratch build of the famous Flying Scotsman steam engine and it's now sitting on rails on a board and within months of finishing and I've promised myself .... see, there it is again!! Anyway, thanks for the offer of the wood but I'll gratefully decline (for now) ... how big a piece is it ... now stop that!! Maybe I could help you scratch build an aircraft model for yourself Dan? I think it would make a lovely varnished Lancaster! Frank

Thanks, glad you liked it. Spent a while looking at your "Illustrious" build and I think you did an outstanding job on it. Well done. I had a tour of the original Ark Royal in the 40's when my Dad took us to a "Navy Day" at Rosyth when we lived in Dunfermline. Can still remember the thrill as a wee lad of going down to the lower decks on the enormous elevator they moved planes on. Cheers Frank

Thanks Seadog. Actually it's a Trojan design but they all look similar to me. I'm a lifelong sailor myself and only did the powerboat because the owner and I have been pals for over 60 years now. More to the point I've just spent an hour or so looking through your build of Scottish Maid and I'm truly impressed. (Will spend time on your other builds later but my wife is getting anxious as we're supposed to be packing to fly to the Azores today). Scratch builders are few and far between so I could relate to your problem solving and pleasure at creating something from scraps. I smiled at your comment about looking at something you've already finished and deciding you could do better and start over again. That kind of thinking has kept me working on a steam engine for 10 years now (off and on) and, apart from the boiler, I've remade every part at least twice and often 3 times! Finally, I am really impressed with how effectively you captured the surface of the sea and its colours ... wonderful carving that and a beautiful, realistic model sailing upon it. Thanks again. Got to run Frank

Yep, I know the airport. We often go down to Boundary Bay for walks. Lovely area when tide's in otherwise it's a mudbowl. The Triumph "lives" up at 54A Street in Tsssawwwwasssen.

Hi all As the Monty Python group used to say ... "And now for something completely different!" I don't always like doing fully detailed models (as in the Triumph TR6 I posted recently) so when I can find some really nice wood I like to hack out some of my favourite older cars that are appreciated for their flowing lines and hack out a bit of a show model. Here are 3 that are done in different woods with a varnished finish. Hope you don't mind this sort of stuff showing up on BM. First is an XK120 a car that has wonderful flowing lines. I used a tropical hardwood called cocobolo for it and cut and glued many strips together (8 or 9 in the boot/trunk lid alone) to get the grain flowing where I wanted it. Awful stuff to work with and the dust tastes awful. Metalwork all filed out of scraps of aluminum. Next is my all time favourite car ... the 250 GTO. I bought a block of padauk many years ago and just knew I wanted to do something special with it. This was my first ever scratch build ... long before the internet and plans. It sat for mnay years without wheels till I started making my own wire wheels ... still needs knock-offs in this pic. I like to build up many coats of lacquer and when it's dry, wet sand it absolutely flat till there are no hollows in the finish, then wax it. I've since made tiny metal door openers for it. Ah ... knock offs done. Next is a Ferrari 375MM that I'd never seen before and I just loved the shape. I carved it from some mahogany I salvaged from an abandoned boat. Starts off pretty crudely ... After much chiseling and sanding ... it starts to resemble the photo. Someone asked me "How do you do that?" and I said "I just take away all the bits that don't look like a Ferrari". Months later ... The lacquer makes for a beautiful finish on all woods. Actually I do this on all my painted models too ... paint, apply several coats of lacquer , lots of drying time in between, rub down with 1000 grit wet paper, apply wax. Hope you don't mind this departure from the norm. We now return to the standard program! Frank

Don't know where you are on the coast but my TR6 model is in Tsawwassen. (always forget where all the W's and S's go) http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234991589-scratch-built-triumph-tr6/

Certainly a cat would look a bit awkward done as a half hull. Looks like you'll need to do a full model then Want some help?? LOL Frank

Here's Jessica again!! See what you've started after giving me all that help to post pictures?? Thanks for the kind words. One port and one starboard huh? I was thoroughly fed up with these by the time I was done so there was no way I was going to scratch build a brand new hull for the second one. The wife had all the pictures I needed to do it for the ex-husband and it was a condition ... you want the pictures, I want a model. That reminds me though ... you're on the left coast and one of the models is in Parksville on the island. Cheers Frank

Started watching EBay and there's 2 there but they want (what will be) $100 Canadian! Think that's a bit steep for what I'm hearing is a so-so kit. I'll keep looking. Leaving for the Azores tomorrow so I'll be offline for a while. Frank

Hmmm ... what kind of cat was it .... do you remember?

Philtn Me again with a follow up. If you decide to do a model it makes it easier if you do the cutout of the hull without all the attachments ... keel, rudder and even (sometimes) the cabin. If the cabin extends out to the width of the hull include it but if there is deck space on each side I would do it as a separate piece. Anyway, the rudder and keel are easier to do and attach as separate components. Sorry if this seems too evident. Had a closer look at the Leisure 23 on Google and it would be a fairly easy shape to replicate. Frank

Hi Philtn Thanks for the compliments. First thing you need are good drawings/plans from above and the side and after a quick look at Google images just now I see those are both available for your Leisure 23. I usually scan those and use a photo editor program to stretch them out to the exact size I want to build. Now I print them off and after cutting around the perimeters I glue them onto thin cardboard (cereal boxes are great) to use as templates. Don't know if you are thinking of a full hull or just a half hull. Half hulls are nice because you can fasten them to a backboard and hang them on a wall while a full hull requires a cabinet top or shelf space to display ... very nice to see though. Next is to decide what material you want to build from. I am fortunate that there's a pattern making company near me and I can have all the Renshape off cuts I can carry. I see you are in Germany and that's where it's made so maybe you can locate some. I have also used chunks of synthetic "wood" that's available here in Canada. It's a composite very much like Renshape and is not bad to work with too. Basswood is also a good choice for any carving. I trace the deck shape onto my block and bandsaw the rough shape out. Then do the same with the profile (side) view and bandsaw those lines. Now you have a very rough approximation of the boundaries of the shape. If it's a large model I might use an angle grinder to remove unwanted material (very crude I know) but a hand plane will do the same work just more slowly. If you don't have the luxury of drawings that have what are called "station lines" ... the shape of the hull at regular intervals ... then you need a keen eye to determine what the correct curvature should be. Here's a half hull at an early stage. I'll try and insert an example of station lines here ... hope it comes through. If you want to discuss this in more detail I'm happy to continue but I'll leave it for now. Cheers Frank

Thanks for that link. VERY impressive build. Don't know if he's really good at making plastic look like real metal or he actually fabricated those cylinder barrels from metal ...very convincing anyway. Lots of metal looking parts everywhere too. I remember the red Vincents back in the day so I know it is a factory colour. Just my personal preference that a Vincent should be black. I love fabricating small parts from metal and I can see it would be fun to replace a lot of the plastic in the kit with suitable metals. You can see a couple of my scratch built models right here in the forums ... Ready for inspection "Scratch Built Trojan Sport Fishing boat" and a Triumph TR6 in the Vehicles Section (both posted this week). One last thing, are the Revell Vincents still in production or is this going to be another hard to find item? Thanks Frank

WOW, that is encouraging. Looks like he re-spoked the wheels with proper wire and it looks great. Not wild about the red though. Still, impressive work and a nice model. This is a Revell you think? Thanks Frank

Me again I told you it wouldn't be hard to find an R.A.E. kit ... on E Bay today there's one in the US, brand new in bags for $600!!! That's $800 plus shipping to Canada. Guess I'll pass on it. Frank