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Scratch Build of 1951 Pullman Carriage


hendie

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5 hours ago, harveyb258 said:

While it may not be my "mug-of-tea",

 

Harvey - likewise, I have been lurking over on your nearby scratch build, following from a dark corner. 

The Fiat is not my cup of tea either, - but I am a sucker for some good scratch building... and am absolutely in awe of the ingenuity and skills you have been putting on display there.  Your metalwork (and other) skills are of the highest order  !

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yet another teeny tiny update. This does not mean that nothing has been getting done - more that the work going on in the background is pretty boring and not particularly photogenic.

 

I continued to get more comfy chairs from the comfy chair mold, though I think the mold has now passed it's sell by date.  Take a look at the flutes inside the mold - you can see they are really beginning to tear up quite badly.  However, I needed 16 chairs and I managed to get 20 chairs by this point, though the last couple of chairs do need some clean up.

 

P9150008.jpg

 

What time there was available today was spent sanding,

and sanding

 

and more sanding

 

followed by more sanding

 

until I got to this point

 

P9150011.jpg

 

Quite happy with that lot though it is pretty nigh on impossible to see how good or bad they are in that whitest of white whites.  I'll need to hit them with some primer to see how many little air holes got captured, and just how much more cleanup they will require.

I did face one problem though - if you remember back to the mold.  I used modeling clay in there to help build up the body and give these parts some strength.  The down side to that is now i do not have a reference point on the underside - it's all lumpy. How do I know how long to cut each table leg ?

 

P9080004.jpg

 

In order to be able to set the height of these tables I need a reference point/surface.  The top of the table is now nice and flat but I need to be able to fix a table leg and two brackets to the underside in order to fit them to the wall panels.  I needed a consistent surface on the undersides.

Some time back (years?) I purchased an end mill - for what I have no idea, but it did come in handy.

The end mill was mounted in my bench press and the stop set a few mm higher than the wooden block shown here.

 

P9150002.jpg

 

That meant I could then plunge the end mill into the resin knowing that I wouldn't push right through it - and the depth would be consistent from (and parallel to) the top surface.  This gives me a uniform level to fit the mounting brackets and the table leg to (whenever I get around to them)

 

P9150003.jpg

 

Proof of concept worked, so now back to the boring stuff.

 

until next time...

 

 

Edited by hendie
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13 hours ago, hendie said:

I needed 16 chairs and I managed to get 20

Good job you stopped be four you got two many :whistle:

 

Nice work with the end mill, a proper engineering solution. I would have just cut the legs to different lengths, but then I'm lazy…

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1 hour ago, limeypilot said:

I would have drilled right through, mounted the legs, then cleaned up the table top.

 

that was a very real option... until the grey matter kicked in and I remembered I had bought and end mill at some point in the distant past.  I'm just surprised I actually managed to find it amid the clutter that doubles for my work area

 

 

 

6 hours ago, CedB said:

Good job you stopped be four you got two many :whistle:

 

giphy.gif

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Momentous moments No 1

 

look what just arrived !!!

My trial sheet of transfers. Hooray!  Although this trial sheet is mainly to test dimensions and colors, there's a few transfers that I can use - namely all the stuff that goes on the end vestibule - and that will let me get started on some actual long awaited construction.

 

P9160010.jpg

 

 

WOW !   What can I say ?

These transfers look fantastic - way better than I imagined.  Just look at that detail  (trusty blade included for scale factor)

 

P9160008.jpg

 

Even more scale factor - that's the tip of my index finger wavering there in the foreground.

 

P9160007.jpg

 

Yes, I did have a little 'artistic' moment there and included my name as part of the transfers - am I allowed to do that ?

 

Blown away I am.  Blown away.

It's really tempting to jump right in and try these but I want to wait until I've calmed down and have plenty of time in front of me so there's no rush. 

 

Hend the impressed signing off...

 

Edited by hendie
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Nice! I love the "personal touch" of adding your name too, especially since you were involved in the real thing.

I just tried going back to see who did those, with no luck. Please save me the effort and remind me who did those decals! 

 

Ian 

Edited by limeypilot
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37 minutes ago, limeypilot said:

Please save me the effort and remind me who did those decals! 

 

Ian, it was Railtec who did this job for me.  It's taken a while but Steve (Railtec) had to work through some issues with the file formats I had available.  He was very easy to work with though he seems to have a lot of work going on - but he delivered when no-one else did!

I'm not sure if he does anything other than trains but it's worth asking.

 

If I can  get some time this evening I may try a couple of samples on a test piece - can't wait to find out how they work - and if my planned top clear coat is going to work with them.

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as promised, I managed to spend some time down at the workbench.

This time I dived right into the transfers - it was a learning experience - I've never worked with spot printed transfers before. (you can probably tell after looking at the pic below)

The 4 samples are for choosing the colors.  Based on these I think I am going with Sample A (yes, the one I damaged).  I also managed to add a small twist to Sample C.

I initially tried using MicroS1 and MicroS2 but they didn't seem to make any difference whatsoever, and I messed up a couple of the transfers  - so then I followed the instructions (getting old you see).  Basically, wet the transfer, slide off into place, then press down to remove all h2o stuck underneath.  It's slightly more difficult than the type I'm used to but I'll get there.  I have to!

 

P9170012.jpg

 

I'll give those a coat of clear next time I'm in the basement - just to check that my chosen clear coat won't mess them up.

 

It's just as well these are samples, but I can see I am going to have to make sure I order enough spares to get me through - they can be quite fragile when subjected to Hend treatment.

I also had a go at what promises to be one of the more difficult applications - those double lines will run the length of the car - about 600 mm or so.

I also learned that I'll have to let each individual transfer dry thoroughly before trying to add another transfer adjacent to one already in place.

 

P9170010.jpg

 

Altogether a very valuable learning experience but I'm sure I have a long way to go yet before I'm proficient at this malarkey.  It was worth the investment in getting this trial sheet before committing to the full shebang.

 

I did get these two transfers in place before I packed in for the evening.  Progress.

 

P9170009.jpg

 

I thought these were the first 'official' transfers on the build but apparently I added one to the undersides two or three years ago (yes, it's been that long!)

 

Hend the still impressed signing off

 

 

 

 

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On 9/18/2019 at 9:30 AM, perdu said:

Great results H, best order them in

 

On 9/18/2019 at 9:35 AM, heloman1 said:

looking good Alan.

 

On 9/18/2019 at 10:54 AM, Bigdave22014 said:

Nice transfers.  I've used Railtec on some commission builds I did a few years ago. They are some of the best available in the model railway market.

 

well, things did not go quite as planned.  I mentioned last time around that these appear to be more difficult to apply than standard waterslides.  I'll correct that - they are a LOT more difficult to apply than the standard waterslides I am accustomed to. A lot more.

I gave the test samples a coat of clear gloss  and left that to dry overnight.  What isn't clear from this shot is that you can still clearly see the carrier film.

what you can't really see in this shot is that I managed to get a whole bunch of wrinkles in several of the transfers and that wasn't very obvious the other night when I applied them.

 

P9210006.jpg

 

A lot more visible on this shot.  Now I'm not knocking the decals in any way - the quality of the artwork is top notch and I really couldn't have asked for better.  However, I seem to be lacking some skill in applying these.

When I left that last night I was sure all the carrier film was pressed flat and there was no air trapped anywhere.  I couldn't have done a very good job.

 

P9210008.jpg

 

Bear in mind that some of the decals are going to be around 150mm long and 10mm high.  If I can't remove trapped air from a smaller one like these I'm on a hiding to nothing on the larger transfers.  I really need to consider my options going forward here.

So after those shenanigans, I had a few failed attempts at upholstery on the chairs - I'll post more on that next time.  Things were not going well and I needed to do something positive.

I was determined to get into some actual construction - but there were a few things that needed done first.  Part of the test sheet of transfers contains a few items that I need on the end vestibule (I'm sure you've heard me harp on about that many times) - I was about to cut those out and apply them when I noticed (or rather remembered) something about Pegasus - there is an orange line around the car just below the cant rail... something to do about electrical danger.  Now, if I had been bright I would have had a transfer made up for that orange strip but no, I had completely forgotten about it, and it needed done before I go sticking transfers all over the place.  Nowt for it but to paint the blighter.

How do you paint a narrow very narrow orange strip along the length of a train car ?  Thank heavens for Aizu tape is all I can say.

I took a roll of 1mm wide tape and applied it along the top edge of the sideframe.  Not an easy task keeping that straight by any means.  It was a case of stick it down at one end then slowly, carefully grabbing the tape with tweezers about every 20 - 30 mm and touching it down with the tweezers, then using a cloth to make sure it was burnished flat.  I got that as straight as I could and both sides probably took me a good 30 minutes to get that first strip of tape down.

That was followed by Aizu 0.5mm tape. Again, starting off and using tweezers every inch or so to touch the tape onto the surface before burnishing the length that had just been applied.  The tape was lifted and relaid many times along that length as I needed it to nest right into the previous strip.

This shot shows the 0.5mm tape being applied - minus the hand with the tweezers as cludgey old me can't operate tweezers and a camera simultaneously in the same hand

 

P9210009.jpg

 

Once that effort was completed and my eyes had recovered, it was time to lay down a third strip.  Again Aizu tape but this time 2mm tape (I think) - but again had to be very closely aligned with the 0.5mm I had just laid down.  Once I was happy with the masking... grab one end of the 0.5mm and rip that stuff right off again.  Yes really.   All that time and effort to get the tape nicely in position, only to remove it again.  Isn't this modeling malarkey fun ?

As you can see for yourselves here - this leaves a nice 0.5mm wide gap between the first and third strips of tape.  It should be a relatively even gap as well although I did spot a couple of places where it seemed to narrow down.  No!  I wasn't going to do it again!

 

P9210010.jpg

 

I mixed up some orange gloss with a few drops of dark grey just to take the brightness away from it.  Then it was time to attack...

I was taking no chances this time - my Tamiya tape with integral blast screen was used as protection.

 

P9210012.jpg

 

The same process was applied to the end vestibules.

Painting was quite frightening - it was very difficult to tell how well the orange has covered the umber, and I was very conscious of laying the paint on too tick, and also terrified it would cover well enough. Once the masking was removed I'd never be able to mask to the same lines again and it would be a strip back and start again job. Again!

 

I was extremely nervous when it came time to remove the masking - this paint job has been my worst nightmare and I didn't want to botch it up this late in the game.  Thankfully the masking came away cleanly (another nice thing about Aizu tape) and the orange seemed to have covered sufficiently.  Strong enough to be easily seen , and not too bright.

 

P9210013.jpg

 

Ditto on the side frames

 

P9210015.jpg

 

It even looks to be relatively straight.

 

P9210014.jpg

 

Large sighs of relief

 

P9210016.jpg

 

Then at long last, the transfers were applied to the vestibule ends

 

P9210017.jpg

 

Another milestone reached.  I can now actually begin some construction on the ends now. (well, as soon as I have clear coated these first!)

 

I seem to remember I had built a whole bunch of stuff made and ready to stick on... now where did I put them.  Where's that safe place again?

 

 

 

 

 

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Typical. I take my eye off this for only several weeks and then catching up with progress is like watching a film on fast-forward. So much has been going on that I don't  know where to start with the compliments.

 

Seldom can an orange stripe have been the cause of such incredible tension.

 

Tablecloths are ultra-chic: watching with interest what approach you take with the cruet and cutlery now. I can foresee issues with the bowl of carnations on each table however.

 

Delineation on those decals looks superb too: racking my brain for any parallel techniques in disciplines like book-binding &etc. that might help with pressing them flat during drying but nothing springs to mind. This is the only thing I could come up with:

1afa1b7d5d7dad.jpg

https://alexnld.com/product/car-auto-body-surface-window-wrapping-film-yellow-rubber-roller-scraper-sticker-tool-black-with-black-wrapping-rubber-handle-small-size/

 

Suspect it might me too rough on the decals....

 

 

 

 

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Wow! Airbrushing a thin line? Crikey! In my world, that would have been done using a draughtman's bow pen or similar. Equally as heart-stopping, but less masking required! Mind you, I have heard a friend of a friend that volunteers on a heritage railway masked and airbrushed lining on the tender of a full-size loco, so, you know… 

 

I have used Railtec transfers, and as you’ve found they are superbly printed. I don’t know if Steve's changed anything since my last encounter, but there were strict instructions regarding protective varnishes. Some formulations, I seem to recall, could cause issues with the carrier film, and it was definitely recommended to airbrush the stuff rather than paint.

 

I find the finishing aspects of builds the most likely to raise my blood pressure. Keep up the excellent work, though, as it seems there is an end in sight, and I can’t wait to see the finished article!

 

 

 

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11 hours ago, TheBaron said:

Seldom can an orange stripe have been the cause of such incredible tension.

 

It did have a certain pucker factor Tony.

 

11 hours ago, TheBaron said:

This is the only thing I could come up with:

1afa1b7d5d7daddb3d-60x60.jpg

 

Thanks Tony - I may look into that.  If I can find one with a soft enough durometer it may be worth a try

 

 

11 hours ago, Heather Kay said:

I have used Railtec transfers, and as you’ve found they are superbly printed. I don’t know if Steve's changed anything since my last encounter, but there were strict instructions regarding protective varnishes. Some formulations, I seem to recall, could cause issues with the carrier film, and it was definitely recommended to airbrush the stuff rather than paint.

 

It seems Alclad Aqua Clear works fine with them (so far).  The info that came with the transfers recommends Testors Dullcote so that confused me a bit.  Normally I use a gloss coat to seal in transfers and 'hide' the carrier film.

 

Having had a whole night to themselves, it was time to add the final coat to the transfers.  First the orange line was given a quick buff with micromesh to remove the ridges left my masking.  Then another pucker moment or two was had while I applied the final clear coat to the vestibule ends.  I ended up with two tiny spots but so tiny even I am not going to get bothered by them.

 

P9220014.jpg

 

Everything looks great but you can still catch the carrier film in the light quite easily.  It seems a gloss coat will not make the carrier invisible which is a bit of a bummer, but I don't know that there's much if anything I can do about that. 

 

P9220015.jpg

 

I'm guessing this is a limitation of the media.  I don't suppose it matters much on most of your normal teensy weensy train scales, where it would hardly be seen.  However scaling up to this size means that I do need large areas of carrier film to hold the numerous parts of the decal together - ergo, there are going to be large areas of carrier film present.

On the vestibule ends I am not too bothered by the carrier but on the side frames where there is such a large expanse of flatness.... the transfers could make or break the build.   Well, maybe not that drastic, but it would be a shame if I couldn't make a decent enough job with these to make it look presentable.

Quality though, is unquestionable

 

P9220017.jpg

 

I'm leaving the clear coat for a few days to harden up properly before I start handling it (just in case).

 

 

 

 

 

 

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