Tue, 10 Jul 2012 13:32:18 +0100 admin@modelrailforum.com (Model Rail Forum) IP.Blog 60


After assembling the body it was on with the soldering iron. I had a little practice first on some scrap plastic and found that the surface in contact with the iron was damaged really roughly and the opposite surface bulged and blistered smoothly. So from this test, I decided to use the tip of the iron on the outside of the wagon, in quick stabbing actions to create small 'puncture' effects and the side of the iron tip on the inside of the wagon to produce a larger 'buckled' effect. Don't pause too long with the iron in contact with the plastic, as it is very thin and you'll easily push the tip right through the body if your not careful.



With the damage complete, the rest of the parts were assembled and some basic colour was applied. As the wagon was going to be loaded, I wasn't too worried about the roughness inside of the wagon. I folded up a card packer to build the scrap load on and also hide some lead weight on the wagon floor. The card packer is a friction fit and doesn't need gluing in place. Plastic sprues cut up and painted make great scrap loads.



You can see the rough surface finish on the inside of the wagon in the next picture.



95% there now, with the brake levers & buffers on, Kadee couplings fitted and some more detail to the paint work. The bike frame is scrap, because there was a slight problem when it came to fitting the back wheel



I'll finish filling the scrap load as more off cuts become available and I still have a bit more weathering to do, to tone down the red panels and ribs.

]]> Tue, 10 Jul 2012 09:45:41 +0100


The first thing to attack was the Lowmac wagon and the thing that screamed out imediately to me were the wheels. They are a two piece plastic wheel that require gluing together at the axle and I wanted to go for metal wheels/axles for smoother running. I had some Hornby 3 hole ones that were slightly larger in diameter at 12.8mm, the original Airfix ones being 10.0mm. After a quick measure up of the parts, my solution was to insert a 1mm thick strip of plasticard the length of the wagon between the frame and the deck of the wagon. This gives the clearance needed to accomodate the larger wheels without fouling the underside of the deck and once painted doesn't stand out too much. I have marked the added strips with a yellow arrow in this picture.



I am slowly converting the rest of my stock to Kadee couplers, so this wagon was getting Kadees from the start. A rectangular hole was cut in the buffer beam and a plasticard plate was glued at the correct height on the underside of the wagon to take a No.5 coupler. The Kadee Height setting gauge is invaluable for doing this job quickly and easily.



With the Lowmac completed I moved onto the JCB. I really enjoyed this little model and I like the fact that you can assemble it so that the front & rear arms of the buckets can be manipulated. The rear arm can also be slide from either side on it's mounting and the seat rotates too depending on what your operator is doing. These nice touch's allows you to place the model around your layout doing different jobs and not have it stuck in one place doing the same old task. I deviated from the painting instructions a little and I didn't use the transfers as supplied, as looking at the age of them I didn't think the finished results would complement the model, but I may sort something else out in the future. I still need to get an opperator sorted and a bit more weathering, but here are a couple of pictures of progress to date.



]]> Sun, 08 Jul 2012 01:35:36 +0100


Then a two part silicone mould compound was mixed and poured into the master mould and left overnight to cure. As some of the retaining wall is alongside a curved track, it is nice to curve the wall panel slightly to match. This is easily done by packing out the centre of the mould to get a concave wall face or packing out the ends to get a convex wall face, as in the next picture.



Here are two curved panels. I have made the mould the height of the highest wall that I need, but if I only need a low wall panel I don't worry about completely filling the mould, as in the wall panel on the right. Once completely dry (usually takes a couple of days) the plaster panels are easily cut to size by scoring the back face and then snapping. The flat panels can be snapped over a steel rule flat on the bench, but a little more care is needed to do the curved ones. Expect to break your first attempt



Here's a flat panel. Banging the mould on the bench will help fill the mould and expell the bulk of the air bubbles. But I don't mind the odd random air bubble as it helps to make each panel unique and once painted will give the look of a chipped brick.



Here's a quick picture of the first few panels in place and given a quick coat of paint to add some colour. Once I have completed the entire length I will go back and add details and pick out individual bricks etc.

]]> Sat, 07 Jul 2012 03:16:13 +0100 MRF thread.
Once I had layed all the track I had on hand I decided to have a crack at making some trees. I had bought some ready made trees, but was unhappy with the look of them and felt I could do better. I used copper wire for the trunk & branches and some coarse scenic material for the leaves. I made four small samples which proved the theory, next time I will make some taller versions. I solder the strands together in the middle to form the trunk and splay the base and top to form the roots and branches. Keep soldering extra wire to the top to form more branches as required.

After a coat of brown paint, I use spray laquer to stick dog hairs (I have three donors to choose from!) to form the smaller branches. Once dry I then spray on more laquer and sprinkle the green scenic scatter onto the branches. You have to do this two or threes times to build it up and then give it all a final going over with the laquer one last time to seal it all.
I have also repaired and painted an old Tr-ang crane that I bought as a wreck with a broken boom and made up a match truck/tool truck to go with it out of a spare wagon chassis I had. The crane will end up in the firewood yard, pushed around with a Tri-and dock shunter that is on my 'to be fixed & painted' list and a long list it is too
Some more pictures of what I have described above.




]]> Fri, 01 Jun 2012 11:50:31 +0100


I will be building each bench as I have numbered them in the plan and will do the bulk of the tracklaying and some scenery, before moving on to the next bench. This will make it easier to do some of the harder to reach parts and mix up the work a little to make it interesting.

Here is bench frame No.1 completed. 45mm x 20mm softwood framing with panels of MDF to aid rigidity.



A close up of the framing with holes predrilled for wiring.



After the framing was sealed, I added thin blocks to the top of the frame to give structure for the contoured top panel and also rebated a channel into the framing for the fiddle yard access. I then cut out the top sheet from 6mm MDF and glued and pinned this into position over the profiled framing. This has produced a very rigid surface, that is not too thick and is easy to drill, cut and fix to. After sealing the top panel I have marked it with a grid of 50mm x 50mm squares and have started to mark out the track routes.

]]> Tue, 22 May 2012 01:22:31 +0100

Welcome to my Blog on the building of my new layout called 'Buggers Muddle'. It is an around the room layout and is approximately 3.4m x 2.8m. It is a ficticious place with a mixture of early British diesel locos, some NZ style diesel locos and a hint of NZ styled scenery & buildings. But basically I will model what I want, so everything is fair game really Control will be DCC, with parts switchable to DC for testing.

Here is the layout plan and some of the features are:
A twin track mainline 1 being an inverted fig 8 up line & 2 being a single loop down line.
There is also a small branch line 3, which services a goods yard 4, an MPD 5, a refueling station 6 and a firewood yard 7.
8 are forested areas, 9 is a reserve area and 10 is an industrial area.
The track at 11 is an isolated DCC test track, 12 is a removable access board and the two tracks marked FY are entry/exits to a below level fiddle yard.
The layout will be slightly contoured with the lowest part being around the forested areas, gradually rising up to the highest point behind the station.

]]> Tue, 22 May 2012 00:55:53 +0100